REFORTR E S U. M E S ED 013 282 UD 004 022 TO IMPROVE TEACHERS FOR INNER-CITY SCHOOLS. FINAL REPORT.. BY- REDDICK, L.D. COFFIN STATE COLL., BALTIMORE, MD. REPORT NUMBER BR -5 -0771 PUB DATE MAY 67 REPORT NUMBER CRP-Y-003 CONTRACT OEC-5-10-275 EDRS PRICE MF-$0.75 HC -$6.48 162P. DESCRIPTORS- *DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS, EVALUATION, *PRESERVICE EDUCATION, ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, TEACHER EDUCATION CURRICULUM, - TEACHER EDUCATION, TEACHER INTERNS, INNER CITY, *INDIGENOUS PERSONNEL, LABORATORY SCHOOLS: VOLUNTEERS, *URBAN SCHOOLS, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, COFFIN STATE COLLEGE .A 1-YEAR UNDERGRADUATE TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM- DESIGNED TO PREPARE VOLUNTEER STUDENTS TO TEACH IN INNER-CITY EL:MENTARY SCHOOLS WAS INITIATE° BY THE SMALL, PREDOMINANTLY NEGRO COFFIN STATE COLLEGE IN BALTIMORE, MD. THE 19 , VOLUNTEERS WERE MOSTLY LOWER MIDDLE-CLASS, 15 WERE FROM THE BALTIMORE *AREA, AND 18 WERE NEGRO. THUS, AS-"INDIGENOUS" PERSONNEL THEY WOULD HAVE GREATER RAPPORT WITH THE INNER-CITY STUDENTS WHOM THEY WERE TO TEACH. THE PROGRAM OFFERED COURSES WHICH FOCUSED ON PROBLEMS IN EDUCATING THE CULTURALLY DIFFERENT IN LARGE URBAN AREAS. A SPECIAL LECTURE SERIES WAS PRESENTED WITH THE EXPECTATION THAT COMMUNITY RESIDENTS WOULD ATTEND AND THUS FEEL'A PART OF THE COLLEGE'S TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM. TEACHING DEMONSTRATIONS AT THE ON-CAMPUS LABORATORY SCHOOL HELPED TO PREPARE THE VOLUNTEERS FOR THE SUPERVISED PRACTICE TEACHING WHICH THEY SUBSEQUENTLY DID IN THREE INNER-CITY ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. IN SOME OF THE COMMENTS IN WRITTEN EVALUATIONS OF THE PROGRAM, THE VOLUNTEERS CRITICIZED THE LABORATORY SCHOOL FOR HAVING AN UNCHARACTERISTIC MIDDLE-CLASS STUDENT POPULATION. HOWEVER, THE PROJECT WAS GENERALLY FELT TO BE A SUCCESS. FOUR MONTHS OF FOLLOWUP OBSERVATIONS SHOWED THAT THE VOLUNTEERS WERE FUNCTIONING EFFECTIVELY IN THEIR NEW FULL-TIME CLASSROOMS. (APPENDIXES INCLUDE THE COLLEGE'S HANDBOOK FOR STUDENT TRAINING AND OTHER RELEVANT MATERIALS.) (LB) CO (NJ ..14 CD f r." 7 "..."1 a * s tizt 3c ^: `Terle 1--17-30C-P7 rn -3i 5 --Q./- St-6 . r. 1.44 = T r.37 t .174-4\1 .a.C10 1.42341.1 c..4..)..LCIA./ :ay.-, 71. 1,71'2 '..."`aell 7 -tr'-'t X,1,1"...Dift*OSSIM SIOOT2-:,11S PROJECT Y-003 BUR AU NO. 5-0771 (NI U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE CO OFFICE OF EDUCATION (NI 141. THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM ME PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT.POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT. NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION CI) POSITION OR POUCY. Report to the U. S. Office of Education TO IMPROVE TEACHERS FOR INNER-CITY SCHOOLS A DES IGN FOR TEACHER EDUCATION FOR INNERC ITY SCHOOLS Project Y403 Bureau No. 5-0771 L. D. Reddick May 1967 The research reported herein was performedpursuant to a contract with the Office of Education, U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Contractors undertaking suchprojects under Government sponsorshipare encouraged to express freely their professional judgment in the conduct of the project. Points of view or opinions stated donot, therefore, necessarily represent offidial. Office of Education position or policy. In order to insure thatno one but the'author would be responsible for the opinions expressed in this report, it has not been mad byanyone, outside of the Y003 staff, prior to its publicrelea3e. Coppin State College Baltimore, Maryland ,N.mm.E.011111.111111111101111/01671111ft ,AMIIIINIMISIIIMM...10...1011101.11 CONTENTS chapters Pages I A SUMMARY VIEW 1 II PRELIMINARIES III GETTING STARTEDs 1123 IV THE COURSESAND THE SUMMER 110111 36 V DEMONSTRATIONSPLUS VI * 45 PRACTICE FAKESPROGRESS 0 64 VII INSPIRATION ANDEVALUATION ef,g 79 VI II CONCLUS IONS ANDFUTURE PIANS * 108 APPENDICES AGREEMENT WITHVOLUNTEERS 133 BETTER TEACHERSFOR nutzs-cm 134 HANDBOOK FOR STUDENT TRAINING 99 144 LETTER FROM BUSINESS .OFFICE.-so 155 INVITEES FORORIENTATION MEETING 156 I.y-003: liNb4.AX Setting: Two general conditions may embrace a great deal of the thinking-that went into this project as well as its ultimate disposition. First, Y-003 had its ,life and death during a period when the middle-class was firmly in control of the American public schr11.Accordingly, some of the turmoil and ineffectiveness experienced in numerous inner-city schools may have been essentially, we would think, a clash of cultures:middle-class teachers versus lower-class children. Y043 was one effort to ascertain if this inter- cultural misunderstanding could be eliminated by seek- ing out prospective teachers from among the ethnic and cultural groups to be served and giving these instructors- to-be the benefit of all that we have learned about urban life and education. Secondly, Y-003 was developed at a time when a few big universities were consolidating their control . over federal funds for research in the field of education (and much else). For example, at the White House Conference on Civil Bights (June 14, 1966) "conferees advocated that the smaller institutions, especially negro colleges, should gain a fair share of government research and other contracts, and thus develop their-capabilities to serve their communities. They criticizedthe concentration ofresearch grants in a few majorinstitutions." Coppin State Collegeis small, predominantly Negro institutionof higher learning,located on the rim of the Baltimore's inner-city. Y -003 was activated January 1,1965 and terminatedDecember 31, 1966, despite a documented requestfor continuation. Thesis: Stated in generalterms, Y-003 isa design for preparing effective teachersfor so0.calledinner-city schools. This programwas meant to operateat the under- graduate level though its principlescould be adaptedfor in-service or graduate instruction.A prime featureof Y-003 is itsemphasis upon recruiting prospectiveteachers from inner -city communities. If interested,such recruits might bring withthem an initial knowledge of theconditions of life thatmay be hard to come by otherwise. Then, too, school children often identifymore easily with their teachers whoare neighbors as well as models forinspira- tion. The Y -003 design embraced abouta half dozenmore or less distinct phasesof theory andpractice: 1. Selection: Only Volunteerswere selected forthis experiment. They werescreened byinterviews and attitudetests. People-oriented aMOONWOOPIMINPIONONION......;~1111.11;RIM 39 personalities rather than bookmorwething- oriented personalitieswere preferred. Of the nineteen who were finallyselected almost all of them had livedin or near the inner- city or adjacent to similarlydepressed urban areas. Since the Y-003program operates at the junior and senioryears of colleges all of these Volunteers hadhad two years of general college educationand were interested in becoming teachers II. Vhderstandina.she Cityandthe Inrier"CitY: Since a good heartis not enough,we sought to buttress thefavorable attitudes and the firstYglandexperiences ofour Volunteers with thefindings of social science and psytthology. Thus, we provided such coursesas "The Sociology of theCity" and "MinorityPeoples." The aim herewas to deepen the understandingof the positive values thatmay inhere in the sub-cultures of Americanlife. III. 22casofei.......U.....121ediaio: Our course, Education415, "Educationof the Culturally Different,"is an introduction to pin - pointing thespecial "problems"that often arise inour inner-city schoolsand a consideration ofmethods and materialsthat 4. may make for solutions. For example, to what extent is a positive self-imageon the part of a child necessary for his maximum progress in school? Will this be helped by readers and other classroom materialsthat contain pictures of inner-city children and stories that are related f-,:o the conditions of Life that are known to thesechildren? Again, what are the social-psychological, medical as well as educational factorsthat may inhibit a child from learning to read or reading well?Ferhaps our course, Education 416, "The Reading Problemsof Modern Communities"may be a good inter- disciplinary approach to this problem. tV. The College and Community Ins4tutess To promote cooperation between the college and the inner-city andto deepen the experiences ofour Volunteers, we held several institutes orprograms that were geared to bringing "town" and "gown"closer together.One of our patterns has beento invite a prominent American, who emerged from a modest family background- perhaps similar to that of the inner-city- to come and tell us of hisups and downs as he grew up in America,Suchspeakers have varied from Scottish MayorTheodore McKeldin..:ter Negro labor leader A. Ehilip Randolph and concert singer and wife of civil rights leader, Mts. Martin Luther King. If moving words and the examples oftheir lives can inspire, our Volunteers and thecommunity leaders certainly receivedinspiration during this series.We always made special efforts to have the inner-cityresidents and the parents ofour Volunteers present and recognized. Our Volunteers did much ofthe. planning for theseinstitutes, presided at the meetings, introducedthe speakers and moderated the questions fromthe audience. This, too, contributedto their enthusiasm for the project. Another pattern is indicated in the displayon the campus of art work from inner-city schools. V. Teaching Demonstrations: The campus LaboratorySchool was our site for demonstrating thelatest and best in teaching. The Laboratory Schoolbuilding, equipment and facultywere adjudged adequate except that there wasno school social worker and no teacher whowas free of regular duties so that she could concentrateon the "slow" and "fast"