xt7m3775xk8b https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7m3775xk8b/data/mets.xml Kentucky. Department of Education. Kentucky Kentucky. Department of Education. 1959-01 bulletins English Frankford, Ky. : Dept. of Education This digital resource may be freely searched and displayed in accordance with U. S. copyright laws. Educational Bulletin (Frankfort, Ky.) Education -- Kentucky Educational Bulletin (Frankfort, Ky.), "A Report of the Third Annual Advancing Education in Kentucky Conference", vol. XXVII, no. 1, January 1959 text volumes: illustrations 23-28 cm. call numbers 17-ED83 2 and L152 .B35. Educational Bulletin (Frankfort, Ky.), "A Report of the Third Annual Advancing Education in Kentucky Conference", vol. XXVII, no. 1, January 1959 1959 1959-01 2022 true xt7m3775xk8b section xt7m3775xk8b 0 Commonwealth of Kentucky 0 ‘ EDUCATIONAL BULLETIN. A REPORT OF THE THIRD ANNUAL ADVANCING EDUCATION IN KENTUCKY CONFERENCE 3 Published by 7:55 I DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, ROBERT R. MARTIN Superintendent of Public Instruction Frankfort, Kentucky — ISSUED MONTHLY Entered as second-class matter March 21, 1933, at the post office at Frankfort, Kentucky, under the Act of August 24, 1912. PO STMASTER: SEND NOTICES OF CHANGES OF ADDRESS ON FORM 3579 VOL. XXVII JANUARY,’ I959 NO. I LIBRM“ IIIIVFRSIT‘I of KENTIICKV L5? m" UNWERsm 0 KENTUCKY ‘n YIDS’HF" FOREWORD In August 1958 the State Department of Education, in coopera- tion with the University of Kentucky, the five State Colleges, the Kentucky Education Association, the Kentucky Congress of Parents and Teachers, and the Kentucky School Boards Association, spon- sored the third conference on Advancing Education in Kentucky. Since new and increasing emphasis has been placed upon the importance of the curriculum, this conference was devoted to “New Horizons for Today’s Curriculum.” It is quite significant that all the addresses and group discus— sions were centered around the need for scientists and mathemati- cians but at the same time stressed the importance of developing leadership in all fields. This worthy objective will demand a bal- anced curriculum designed to meet the needs of all the pupils in the schools of our State. This publication is a compilation of the addresses, and panel and group discussions presented at the conference. It is hoped that the material herein will be useful to the members of the profession as they strive to improve educational opportunities for the youth of the Commonwealth. Robert R. Martin Superintendent of Public Instruction TABLE OF CONTENTS Remarks of Presiding Officer and Introduction of Keynote Speaker Don C. Bale, Head, Bureau of Instruction ................................ 1 Keynote Address of the Advancing Education in Kentucky Conference Robert R. Martin, Superintendent of Public Instruction SYMPOSIUM Today’s Problems and Issues in Curriculum Planning Omer Carmichael, Superintendent, Louisville 2 City Schools, Moderator .................................................................... 10 ADDRESS The Russian Scene and Educational Issues Lawrence G. Derthick, Commissioner Office of Education, United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare ........................................................ BANQUET ADDRESS The Door Knob Curriculum Harry Sparks, Department of Education, Murray State College ........... SYMPOSIUM , Action for Curriculum Development—Progress Reports Research Report—Curtis Phipps, Director Division of Guidance Services ...................... State Committee on Accrediting Standards For the Total School Program—Donald E. Elswick, Director Division of Instructional Services... State Advisory Committee on Program of Studies For Kentucky Schools—Claude A. Taylor, Assistant Director Division of Instructional Services ............ ADDRESS Promising and Forward Looking Curriculum Practices Rodney Tillman, Executive Secretary Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development ............................ SUMMARY OF THE DISCUSSION Group Reports APPENDIX Copy of Program, Advancing Education in Kentucky Conference 17 20 23 26 27 30 36 30 36 40 REMARKS OF THE PRESIDING OFFICER AND INTRODUCTION OF THE KEYNOTE SPEAKER by Don C. Bale, Head, Bureau of Instruction Ladies and Gentlemen, the Third Annual Advancing Education in Kentucky Conference is now in session. We in Kentucky have every reason to be proud of the fact that the importance of high quality instruction has been one of the most outstand— ing considerations in our program of public education during the last two and one-half years. Moreover, as a result of this emphasis, we are taking a close look at our instructional quality long before the events of the last nine months created wide public interest in the quality of schools in this nation. The Foundation Program -— fully financed, came as a result of an immense impulse in behalf of better education in Kentucky and that popular mandate gave to the profession a wonderful instrument. But as all of you know, it was only an instrument and it remained for the leadership to use it wisely. You are a part of that leadership, and you know that the instrument has been used to create something better for the youth of this state. You also know that administering the Foundation Program was merely a means to an end. The chief end for which this new system was inaugurated was to facilitate learning. Since the Foundation Program is a financing instrument; as such, its force as an instructional implement could easily have been neglected and its fruits unsustained. This has not been the case because we have had a Superintendent of Public In— struction with a broad understanding of the over-all problem, and a keen insight into the final objective —— better education. His design for better education in Kentucky is well known to you. On many occasions he has pointed out that good classrooms, good teachers, and adequate instructional supplies are the essence of our goal. His record has upheld his convictions. In the area of instruction, under his leadership, we have initiated the total system evaluation, the committee system for studying accreditation standards and program of studies; have placed emphasis through other committees, on moral and spiritual values, citizenship, civil defense, and have seen our guidance, physical education, in-service, art, and music programs expand and improve. The Advancing Education in Kentucky program is another example of our superintendent’s desire for better instruction and he has not only interpreted this program well to the profession itself, but through a public relations program, has also interpreted it to the people as well. Kentuckians are better informed about education; they are more sym- pathetic to its problems, and they are more concerned with its future. There are many things that this man has done for education in Kentucky. I count it a special distinction to introduce to you now, Dr. Robert R. Martin, Superintendent of Public Instruction. 1 Keynote Address Advancing Education in Kentucky NEW HORIZONS IN CURRICULUM CONCEPTS by Robert R. Martin Superintendent of Public Instruction In a book written by George S. Counts and J. Crosby Chapman and concerned with some principles of education, a schoolmaster is depicted as greeting his pupils with this question: “What would you learn of me? And the reply came: How shall we care for our bodies? How shall we rear our children? How shall we work together? How shall we live with our fellowmen? How shall we play? For what ends shall we live? . . . . And the teacher pondered these questions, and sorrow was in his heart for his own learning touched not these things.” This same idea is the purpose of the conference this year — to spend some time in discussing and planning together for New Horizons in Curriculum Development. We have seen during the last twenty-five years, new and increasing emphasis placed on the importance of the curriculum. For some of those years the curriculum and its place in the school was primarily the province of educators; theirs were the voices heard, albeit not always listened to. In more recent times, curriculum has become the avocation of everybody from the man in the street to the presidents of our great corporations. Thus where once upon a time, the objectives of education were relatively static and moderately unchanging, the curriculum needed little revision in order to achieve a satisfactory measure of success in meeting those static objectives. There was no argument with the status of either the curriculum or educational objectives because there was neither social nor cultural motivation for changing them. No longer is this true, and many schools are faced with varying degrees of the same frustrations as faced the schoolmaster —- their pro- grams and their philosophy have not properly equipped them for meeting the requirements of youth today. Now why should this be so? There are a multiplicity of reasons, of course. Some of them lie in the area of administration and finance and include basic problems that cannot be solved within the framework of the educational structure alone. Such problems are primarily the result of constantly increasing school enrollments. These are quantitative matters that must be met by a 2 and :ted his »end a in sing nose the lays n of reat vere ittle ting ther )cial ying pro— sting e in that lone. hool )y a combined effort of educators and public alike. Efforts to solve these quantitative problems must be coordinated with efforts to solve quali- tative problems, otherwise no educative program regardless of its design for instructional effectiveness and social value can achieve either of those general goals. While the problems of providing facilities for meeting quantitative needs are fairly well defined and understood, those relating to educational quality are more complex, and in any discussion of quality, curriculum emerges as a dominant issue. Someone has said that all problems relating to curriculum can be listed under three general questions: First, What shall we teach? Second, How shall we teach it? And third, How well are we teaching it? Perhaps this is an oversimplification. It leaves out the all-important question — Why should we teach it? Stated another way, we must first decide what are our objectives —— that is the ‘Why’; following that we can and must be concerned with content, methods, and evaluation. WHY SHOULD WE TEACH IT When we arrive at a decision regarding our reasons for teaching a specific course‘of study, we will have accomplished a large portion of our task as developers of a curriculum because methods and content must follow the pattern set by those reasons. Evaluation will determine how well the reasons are being met and revisions can then be made as the cycle begins again. Our reasons for teaching a specific course of study are obviously the objectives of our curriculum. As all of you are well aware, the objectives of education today are an endless subject of debate and discourse. “What should our schools accomplish?”, was one of the basic questions in the White House Conference agenda; it is the first question of importance in curriculum planning. Consider with me briefly this matter of educational objectives as it relates to the task of developing curriculum. I said previously that there was a time — not too long ago —- when the objectives of education were relatively static. In that era, and for half a century prior to it, the school’s basic purpose was to prepare persons for college. Its philosophy held that persons who did not plan to go further in education would be better for having been exposed to the rigors of rigid disciplines with classic contents. American educa- tion was thus merely reflecting the idea that fathered it. Although Thomas Jefferson believed in a democratic ideal for education and this ideal became fused in the American mind, it did little to. revise the classic philosophy. In fact, when American political, economic, and social thinking began to venerate the theory of “rugged 1nd1v1dualism,” democratic concepts of an education—for-all as defined by Jefferson, lent itself well to the tenor of the times. Education was an individual function and the emergence of the high school only enhanced the predominant idea that persons of ambition and intellect could be prepared for higher learning. The elementary school was thereby thought to serve the needs of the many — the high school, the needs of the few. 3 This pattern of divisionary and selective education became well estab- lished in the cultural soil of America because the culture itself was not so complex and diversified. We still find much evidence of it in the present- day curriculum. One example, as defined by an Illinois University profes- sor, concerns the practice of debate in our high schools. Where there was once a time when debate was a useful social tool—a time when there was limited means of communication, there is today no similar social logic. There is rather a need for understanding the principles of panel dis- cussions, symposiums, and forums. In an age of television, the process of ‘opening statements’ and ‘rebuttals’ is as outmoded as the Chautauqua tent. Why do we continue to teach it? Because many of our objectives still do not satisfy the criterion of social adequacy but are carry—overs from a former age. The objectives of education today are no longer the province of educators. Indeed most educational objectives are not defined by educators, but by social groups, pressure groups, organizations, corpora- tions, individuals, and individuals in groups. Following the standard salutation regarding the weather, the next topic of conversation on many of this nation’s street corners today is —— quote, What’s wrong with education anyway? Unquote. There usually follows, if time permits, an individual philosophy of education full to the brim with what’s wrong and what needs to be done and often the opinions expressed merely reflect the point of View of the individual’s group. It may be labor, management, or the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. One disturbing element in this picture is a growing and irrational attitude to return to the methods and content of a former age. It is irrational because it is like expecting to make a fortune from the manu- facture of buggy whips. In the area of curriculum, the term “Social Perspective” has much significance for educators. B. Othaniel Smith has defined this term as “ . . . the basic orientation of the curriculum.”1 He discusses it in terms of being able to discern the signs of transition that indicate cultural transformation. These are the things that shape our future or at least influence the patterns of human relationships in times as dynamic as these. Some of these developing patterns of transition are: 1. A growing dependence on each other with its counterpart of specialization in labor, commerce, industry and responsibility. No longer does the individual control the economic climate of his own productiveness; nor does he maintain independence in social and cultural matters. He lives in an ever-growing society of interde- pendence and if public education is to serve his needs, it must do so in terms of this condition — not in terms of a by-gone era when the opposite condition was a reality. 2. There is — along with this interdependence —— an increasing desire for economic conformity at least with respect to material well-being. In a society wherein each of us is equally dependent on others of us, it stands to reason that if the prosperity of some of us 1. Smith, Stanley & Shore, Fundamentals of Curriculum Development, World Book Company, Yonkers on Hudson, New York, 1957. 4 t so ant- fes- was was gic. dis- 5 of ent. . do n a of by >ra- ard any rith an ong 'ely )or, inal t is uch as lral east as of wn and de- » so the ing rial us 001: breaks down, the prosperity of all of us is threatened. Under specialization even with automation, there are a great many more producers than ever before. This is the result of (the mass productive system with its assembly lines and new technology; but more important, it is made possible by the fact that there are more consumers who use the products that they make. Credit policies have encouraged this process and the interpedendence is increased and multiplied. It has spread to practically every aspect of society and has helped to create new complexities. 3. Another sign of transition is a definite emergence of public impatience with discrimination against race, creed, and color and these minority groups are asserting their rights to the things ap- parent in democratic ideals. The old mores and social customs cannot withstand the onslaught of an enlightened public opinion which is the target of that little electric window known as tele- vision. _ 4. The advent of rapid transportation and communication permits the youth of today to get a better understanding of persons and events around the world. The effects of this have lead to ‘world- mindedness’ on a grand scale and have resulted in new and vigorous demands for the settlement of international controversy by some form of adjudication. This kind of progress will of course, be tedious and tense, but the shape of the pattern is unmistakable. The handling of the current crisis in the Middle-East is a manfesta— tion of this pattern and the effectiveness of the United Nations over the last dozen years is a further indication that world order may be a reality in our time. 5. There are new values emerging out of the changing cultural scene and resulting from phenominal advances in science and technology.1 These are the signs of transition and dictate the conditions of the future. Any discussion of redeveloping a curriculum that does not take them into consideration is meaningless and useless. THE TASK OF EDUCATION IN THIS TRANSFORMATION The task of education in this cultural transformation is not an easy one. It is true that there have been upheavals before. History is full of them from the passing of Greaco—Roman civilization through the Renais- sance, the Reformation, and to the industrial revolution and the rise of nationalism in our own time. If the present period of change was like others in kind it is vastly different in degree. As in other periods of change, men today find themselves in a new economic and social status and they have managed to adjust to this new status with some degree of success. There is a new adjustment demanded by the present cultural metamorphosis that is more profound and more subtle than in any previous period. One might call this new demand ‘psychological accommodation’. It could be defined as the ability of man not to lose his sense of personal importance. 1. Ibid. The United States has found itself geographically well suited to the demands of the new technology which is the motive power for the cultural alterations now in process. With a wealth of natural resources and productive know—how, the United States possesses unlimited power and as a result, the exemplification of changing social and economic patterns is nowhere more apparent than in our own nation. In the midst of this wealth, the individual should feel a new sense of importance and stability but this has not been the case. Instead, there is ample evidence that individuals have never felt more insecure or less confident. Our task as educators is to make available to our students the means by which man can recapture his own sense of importance and significance in a rapidly evolving environment. THE CURRICULUM MUST BE DYNAMIC If this is our task —— to help man make the psychological accommoda- tion that is necessary to his own sense of common purpose in life, what kind of curriculum must we develop? First of all, it must be dynamic; it must be adaptable to the constant changes that are occurring; it must satisfy the criterion of social adequacy. That is, it must meet conditions as they are — not as they were. It must meet the needs of all — the academically talented as well as the vocation- ally minded; the exception, the average, the dull, the poor, the rich, the white and the colored. The kind of curriculum that will accomplish this is certainly not the only important consideration. The curriculum itself can only help in meeting the task. Other elements must share the burden of the job. What kind of high school organization? What kind of teacher and what services will be required other than instruction? The answers to these questions seem obvious. The high school must be comprehensive. The extremely small high school cannot do the job. The teacher must be competent and well-trained for his role in the dynamic program. There must be a realistic and functional program of counseling services available and this guidance must be integrated in the over—all program. The curriculum must be thorough and broad enough to accommodate the variety of interests and abilities that will be ex- hibited by the enrollment. Such a curriculum must be several—sided, but throughout, it must provide the student with knowledge that is useful, practical, and disciplined; with experiences that are wholesome, and with concepts that point toward the formulation of good judgment. This is the kind of curriculum we want — one that provides knowledge, experience, and judgment. THE CYCLE 0F CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT To insure that the curriculum will be dynamic, we cannot initiate a particular program of studies and then forget it for twenty years, making changes 1n it only when we are forced to do so. If the curriculum is to be truly adaptable to the times, we must follow a definite cyclical procedure in its development. There are four basic steps in this cycle. First, we must define our objectives, second, we plan around these objectives; third, we develop programming, and fourth, we evaluate our over- all effort. In the light of 6 the the rces wer mic idst and :nce am ane )da- rhat tant acy. iust ion- the is is can a of :her iust job. the 1 of the ugh ex- ied, t is ‘me, ent. ige, iate ars, lum ical our 310p t of the fourth step, evaluation, we should then be in a position to reappraise our objectives and revise them in the light of what we have learned. This is a continuing process and it must be a continuing process if we are to have the kind of curriculum that does the job we believe it should do. THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND CURRICULUM I have tried briefly here to discuss something of the philosophy of the Department of Education in the area of curriculum. Such a philosophy is consistent with the thinking of a great many of our educators today; our problem is well—stated in Chapter 6 of the 1958 Yearbook of the American Association of School Administrators, The High School in a Changing World, by this question: “Shall the educator stand on the safe ground of the past, transmit its values. state its problems, and rationalize its solutions; or shall he brave the future and accept the risk of failure in the establishment of any values, or the definition of any problems, or the presentation of any method of reaching solutions?” The answer is obvious to us. The “safe ground of the past” is safe only because it is past. You cannot transmit the values of the past and also expect them in every case, to be the same values that are needed in the present any more than you can expect the values of the present to also be the values that will be required in the future. Does that mean then that there are no lasting values? Certainly not — but neither does it mean that all values are lasting. THE COMPREHENSIVE HIGH SCHOOL In the Department of Education we believe that a high school, if it is to serve the needs of all, must be a comprehensive high school. The comprehensive high school, however, does not refer to mere size alone but to shaping the program, services, and effectiveness of large schools so that there is balance between size and scope. During the past ten years, we have seen more than a 100 per cent increase in the number of schools with enrollments over 300. In 1946-47 there were only 75 high schools in Kentucky with such enrollments. In 1956-57, there were 168. There is every indication that not only will this trend continue but enrollments in such schools will also grow so that many schools will find their enrollments reaching 500—800 within the next few years. Some of these schools are in fringe areas, or in suburban residential sections adjacent to urban industrial areas. These schools face many problems that are totally different from those faced by growing schools in rural or static communities. Nevertheless, there are many services they must provide and many needs they must meet that are common to both. The needs that the high school of today must meet are, of course, varied but if we are to adhere to the generally accepted idea that society requires of its members, the development of their maximum potential in certain skills, we must be able to define such skills for curriculum purposes. ' .Again, the 1958 yearbook of the American Association of School Ad- ministrators gives us a rather good list of such skills; they are: 7 1. Technological skills —- Relating to a better understanding of the world of work. 2. Adaptability to mobility — We are a nation of ‘movers’; students should have help in planning for resettlement. 3. World responsibilities —- Traditional methods of teaching civics and history apparently have not had enough effect in developing better understandings of our nation’s role in world affairs. 4. The Armed Services — We know that compulsory military train- ing offers much concern to our youth and we should give this concern more significance. 5. Family Living -—— When given the opportunity, youth shows a keen interest in matters relating to family life and the role of the family in our society. 6. Group—working skills — It is axiomatic that as citizens, our students will become members of a number of organizations and groups; understanding of the individual’s role in groups is a definite need. 7. Emotional Maturity — Our schools can contribute to emotional maturity by providing students with opportunities to come to terms with themselves and act on the basis of intelligent thinking. 8. Creative thinking — Too often we unconsciously stifle creative thinking in our students by limiting their discussion of challenging issues and opinions and by discouraging them from examining controversies. 9. Making decisions — This is closely associated with “emotional maturity”; but it deserves attention as a specific skill since today’s citizen must make a great many personal, political, and social decisions and make them more often and more rapidly than in any previous generation. 10. Using money wisely — Today’s high school student, as all of you are aware, has more money to spend than his parents had (and I some- times think they have more now than their parents have). Also, when they enter the world of work, they will probably get beginning salaries higher than their fathers and mothers received after many years on the job. This is a definite area of instruction. These are some of the skills that the comprehensive high school can successfully provide, but they are skills that all schools should provide. The program in a comprehensive high school should offer forty or fifty units of credit covering a variety of subject matter; it must have a high quality, effective guidance and testing program to determine who will take what, and why, and such services should enable the administrative staff to change a student’s program if it is not satisfactory. NEW HORIZONS IN CURRICULUM I believe that our philosophy regarding curriculum is fairly well defined. Moreover, policies of the Department of Education, regulations of the State Board, and the same in local school districts are sound as. they relate to curriculum development. These things have been pointed out before. In the first Advancing Education in Kentucky conference held in August, 1956, when many 8 Hfl'. t'hr’t'tirDO OOdOOt—l‘mh‘ D, U} fll—‘fimfiéfi Mfiflfldwwfi n. H- numb—4 If the dents :ivics >etter ,rain- icern ws a 1min , our oups; ,ional with iative ssues ies. ,ional day’s .sions Vious f you :ome- when laries n the ‘1 can )vide. fifty high t will 'ative well lthl’lS 1d as ncing many considerations were given to ways and means of improving the status of education in Kentucky, discussions of curriculum occupied a significant place. Again last year when at this conference emphasis was placed on the improvement of instruction, curriculum concepts were a major force in your deliberations. Now in examining in more detail, the importance and substance of the curriculum, I want to bring to your attention a few of the things that I consider to be NEW HORIZONS IN TODAY’S CURRICULUM. First, I believe COOPERATION is essential. If this is not a ‘new horizon’ in the usual sense, let us make it one. Last August at the second annual meeting of this conference, I said something about cooperation that I believe bears repeating now. I said. “In addition to a clear vision of our task, the courage to face facts and to act in light of them, we need cooperation in solving this problem of quality instruction.” I repeat, without the cooperation of educators throughout the length and breadth of this Commonwealth as our number one HORIZON, we can forget all others as a waste of effort. Second, a COMPREHENSIVE HIGH SCHOOL. I have talked in some detail of the importance of a school offering a program comprehensive enough to meet the needs of the individuals in terms of their future social well being. Third, WORLD MINDEDNESS. Though I have also touched briefly on this ‘horizon’, there is one disturbing factor relating to it that I also want to mention. In an age when the United States finds herself in the position of a ‘super-power’ among nations of the world and the acknowl- edged leader of free world opinion, there is a glaring paradox in the programs of our high schools. I refer to a lack of emphasis on foreign languages. It is vital that we make languages available to our youth for they are growing up in the world — not just in the United States. The fourth and last HORIZON, I will call QUALITATIVE BALANCE. Certainly we must give more attention to science and mathematics in our high schools because it is our responsibility to identify through these programs our future doctors, engineers, scientists, and technicians; but we must also remember to identify along with these people, our poets, our teachers, our laborers, our plumbers, our truckdrivers, and our service occupations. We must never lose sight of the basic tenet of democracy — that all of our citizens are contributors and creators in our way of life. As such, each is responsible for a portion of the function of our future. In closing may I leave you with this thought which, in its simple way, defines that which we want the youth of this state to understand. As expressed by Paul Harvey, it goes this way: “Some day, I hope to enjoy enough of what this world calls success so that somebody will ask me= ‘What is the secret of it?’ I shall say simply this: ‘I get up when I fall down.’ ” As always it has been a happy privilege for me to address you. I am sure that as you meet together here in the two days of this confer- ence, you will again make a lasting contribution to the noble effort of advancing education in Kentucky. SYMPOSIUM Today’s Problems and Issues in Curriculum Planning Moderated by —— Dr. Omer Carmichael, Superintendent, Louisville City Schools Members of the Panel: Dr. M. M. White, Dean, College of Arts am Sciences, University of Kentucky — Highs Education Mr. Marvin Dodson, Executive Secretary Kentucky Education Association Mrs. Raymond Bolton, President, Kentuck Congress of Parents and Teachers Dr. Charles Youmans, International Busines Machines —— Industry Mr. Turner Hatcher, President, Kentuck; School Boards Association Dr. White: In terms of the over-all objective of the secondary schools, you,l or anyone else can find plenty of shortcomings. Of course the school have failed to attain their objective in many, many cases just as th liberal arts college, be it state or private, has