REPOR TRESUMES ED 020 288 UD 006 142 ABC SUMMER PROGRAM, 1967. BY- KERR, FRANCES M. RUSSELL, VALERIE E. MOUNT HOLYOKE LOLL., SOUTH HADLEY, MASS. PUB DATE 67 EDRS PRICE MF-$0.50 HC-$3.20 76P. DESCRIPTORS- *SUMMER PROGRAMS, *DISADVANTAGEDYOUTH, *ABLE STUDENTS, *COLLEGE PREPARATION, FEMALES,DATA, FAMILY BACKGROUND, PROGRAM COSTS, HIGH SCHOOLSTUDENTS, PROGRAM EVALUATION, PROGRAM CONTENT, ENRICHMENTPROGRAMS, RESIDENTIAL PROGRAMS, STUDENT ATTITUDES, PARENT ATTITUDES,COLLEGE ENVIRONMENT, MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE, INDEPENDENTSCHOOLS TALENT SEARCH PROGRAM, ABC PROGRAM, ABETTER CHANCE, THE THIRD SUMMER (1967)'OF THE MT. HOLYOKECOLLEGE RESIDENTIAL SUMMER PROGRAM FOR ABLE, DISADVANTAGEDHIGH SCHOOL GIRLS IS DESCRIBED. BECAUSE OF ADRASTIC CUT IN SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS, THE PROGRAM WAS FORCEDTO CHANGE FROM ITS ORIGINAL PLAN TO PREPARE THESE GIRLS FORADMISSION TO PRIVATE SCHOOLS. INSTEAD, THE PROGRAM. OFFEREDCOLLEGE PREPARATION AND COUNSELING AND A VARIETY OF RECREATIONAL,CULTURAL, AND CREATIVE ACTIVITIES TO GIRLS WHO WOULDRETURN TO THEIR OWN HIGH.SCHOOLS. DISCUSSED ARE THE SELECTIONOF STUDENTS, FACULTY, AND RESIDENT TUTORS, AND VARIOUSPROGRAM CURRICULUMS. MEDICAL AND FINANCIAL REPORTSARE PRESENTED,ANC A SUMMARY OF RESEARCH ON THE SUMMERPROGRAM COMPARES SOME DATA ON THE 1965, 1966, AND 1967 GROUPSOF GIRLS PARTICIPATING IN THIS PROGRAM. PRE- ANDPOST-1967 SESSION QUESTIONNAIRES INDICATED A POSITIVEATTITUDE TOWARD THE PROGRAM, ALTHOUGH AT THE END OF THE SUMMERTHE NUMBER OF AFFIRMATIVE RESPONSES HAD DROPPED SOMEWHAT.APPENDIXES INCLUDE A SAMPLE DAILY SCHEDULE,INFORMATION ON THE GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF THE STUDENTS, ANDA FAMILY AND STUDENT ACADEMIC PROFILE. (NH) al REPORT ABC SUMMER PROGRA MO T HOLYOKE COLLEGE, SOUTH HADLEY, MASSACHUSETTS U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION& WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLYAS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT.POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIALOFFICE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY. 1967 ABC SUMMER PROGRAM Sponsored by MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE Assisted by the Rockefeller Foundation for students recruited by A BETTER CHANCE Independent Schools Talent Search Report by Frances M. Kerr, Director Valerie E. Russell, Assistant Director - TABLE OF CONTENTS Staff Background 11 Selection of Students 14 Faculty and Resident Tutors 16 Program 17 Academic English Coordinator's Report 18 Evaluation of the Advanced English Class 30 Reading Instructor's Report 32 Mathematics Coordinator's Report 34 Physical Education 37 Music 40 Assemblies 42 The ABC Seminar 43 The Worship Service 47 Weekends 49 Medical Report 56 Financial Report 57 Summary of Research 58 Conclusion 62 Appendices 67 A. Daily Schedule 69 B. Geographic Distribution of Students 71 C. Family and Student Academic Profile 72 D. Resource Persons 80 E. List of Events 82 - 7- STAFF Previous Academic Year ABC Responsibility Name Director, ABC Program Director Mrs. Oliver W. Kerr Mount Holyoke College Class of 1967 Assistant Director Miss Valerie Russell Suffolk University Boston, Massachusetts Secretary, ABC Program Secretary Mrs. Roland L. Roberts Mount Holyoke College Class of 1969 Staff Assistant Miss Virginia M. Dudeck Mount Holyoke College College Physician Medical Director Geraldine W. S. Shirley, M.D. Mount Holyoke College Graduate Student Research Technician Miss Laraine Masters University of Illinois Urbana, Illinois English Teacher English Coordinator Miss Elizabeth M. Eidlitz Masters School Dobbs Ferry, New York Head of Department ofEnglish English Instructors Miss Mary Nash Cox The Baldwin School Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Mrs. Emily Deans Erickson Head of English Department for the Upper School Pine Cobble School Williamstown, Massachusetts Mr. Ezra A. Naughton Teaching Fellow Howard University Washington, D. C. Miss Shirley F. Wilson English Teacher South Mecklenburg High School Charlotte, North Carolina Candidate for Ed.D. Reading Instructor Mr. Marvin M. Bryan University of Massachusetts Amherst, Massachusetts Head of Department of Mathematics Coordinator Mrs. Dis Maly Mathematics Emma Willard School Troy, New York Head of Mathematics Mathematics InstructorsMiss Sarah M. Curtis Department Northfield School East Northfield, Massachusetts: -9- ABC Responsibility Name Previous Academic Year Mr. Frederick P. Haller Mathematics Teacher Emma Willard School Troy, New York Mr. Irwin N. Sokol Principal Charles W. Eliot Junior High School Cleveland, Ohio Physical Education Miss Carol L. Durentini Graduate Assistant in the Instructors Department of Women's Physical Education University of Massachusetts Amherst, Massachusetts Miss Joanna J. MacWilliams Class of 1967 Mount Holyoke College Volunteer for Art Mrs. Richard Provost Graduate Student in Art Mount Holyoke College Resident Tutors Class Major Kate L. Foster 1967 English Linda C. Graham 1968 Chemistry Karla E. M. Haartz 1967 Sociology Susan A. Inui 1968 Sociology Karen J. Kunkel 1968 Psychology Marie T. Oliver 1969 Political Science Susan D. Rieger 1968 English Barbara Smith 1969 Sociology Susan C. Taff 1968 German Carol B. Wenk 1968 Mathematics -10- BACKGROUND Problems of urban schools and particularly those of the large number of socially and economically disadvantaged children and youth attending them are being discussed and examined everywhere by educators and concerned individuals. Many universities, colleges, and independent secondary schools are providing supplementary educational experiences to groups of these young people who without substantial and direct assistance would not realize their full poten- tial as human beings or effectively functioning members of society. While the broad objective of the supplemental program is to increase the potential of the individual for college attendance, the immediate result is almost without exception the strengthening of academic performance and a concomitant rise in the level of aspiration of youths involved. In 1965 and 1966 Mount Holyoke College, in association with .A Better Chance/Independent Schools Talent Search (ABC/ISTS) and with financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation, Office of Economic Opportunity, and an anonymous donor, sponsored summer programs for groups of intellectuallyable high school girls from disadvantaged circumstances. The programs enrolled students entering 9th, 10th, and 11th grades, were designed to acquaint them with the more rigorous academic demands of most independent schools, and served as a means of preparing them psychologically and socially for life at an independent school. The 1967 Mount Holyoke College ABC Summer Program, the third in the series of eight-week summer programs, was quite different. Unlike the 1965 and 1966 groups, the participants did not come to Mount Holyoke for a program offered to help them make a successful transition from public to independent schools. This group of girls did not have scholarships to independent schools. At the conclusion of the ABC Summer Program, they returned to their own homes and the large group of talented students community schools. All were chosen from All might have been successful who had applied toABC/ISTS for scholarships. had not been greatly reduced. if the number ofscholarships available Developments leading tothe change in the nature ofthe Mount Holyoke of Economic Opportunity in program began.with anannouncement by the Office serious reductions in its the fall of 1966 to theeffect that, because of Implica- budget, it could fund no newscholarships forABC/ISTS applicants. boys and girls seeking throughABC/ tions for the manyaspiring and deserving education were clear, and amongthe ISTS a means ofachieving a first-rate swift and forceful. many supportersof the talentsearch the response was assistance for new ABCstudents Many communicationsurging continued OEO Congress, and to were sent tothe President of theUnited States, members of Responses to the appeal the Director of the Officeof Economic Opportunity. shift in the were sympathetic,but the lack of fundsthat precipitated the priorities of OEO remained abarrier to a reversal ofthe previously announced to ABC students already decision. OEO would continueto honor its commitment ABC students. attending independentschools but would sponsor no new unfortunate reversal The loss of OEO supportfor new scholarships was an the for ABC/ISTS, but forthe participating girlsand coeducational schools funds of many effect was crucial, asit occured at a timewhen the scholarship Consequently, were alreadyheavily obligated in theinte.cest of ABC students. in 1967 as comparedto 100 only 20 scholarships weremade available to girls to 130 as compared in 1966. The number of scholarshipsfor boys was reduced to 325 in 1966. needed to provide the In a review of the numberand nature of programs recipients of scholarships,the customary transitional summerfor the 1967 asked Carleton Collegeto Directors ofABC/ISTS and its Board of Trustees The remainder of the conduct a coeducational programto include the20 girls. -12- boys would attend programs at Dartmouth andWilliams Colleges. Mount Holyoke, unwilling to abandonits commitment to contribute in a meaningful way to the effort to assistdisadvantaged girls who wish to qualify for admission to competitive colleges,considered the advantages of an ABC Program for the student continuing hereducation in her own community andcoping with the conditions attendant upon lifein the central city. Such a program would combine strong academic featureswith opportunities for participationin a variety ofrecreational, cultural,