DOCUMENT RESUME BD 166 058 SB 026 707 AUTHOR Stake, Robert £.; and Others TITLE Case Studies in science Education, Voluse I: The Case Reports. INSTITUTION Illinois Univ., Urbana. Center for Instructional Research and Curriculum Evaluation. SPONS AGENCY | National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. Directorate for Science Education. REPORT NO NSF-SB- 78-74 PUB DATE Jan 78 CONTRACT NSP-C-7621134 NOTE 656p.; For related documents, see SE 026 360, SE 026—~ 708, ED 152 565 and ED 153 875-880; Contains occasional light and broken type AVAILABLE PROM Superintendent of Decuments, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 (Stock Number 038-000-00377-1; $7.25) EDRS PRICE MP-$1.16 HC-$35.49 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Case Studies (Education); Curriculum; Educational Research; Elementary Secondaty Education; Federal Legislation; Instruction; Instructional Materials *Wathematics Education; *scienge Education; *Social studies; State Pederal/Aid; *Teaching Methods IDENTIFIERS *National Science Foundation ABSTRACT A This document presents a collection of field observations, from 11 Sites, submitted as a part of the final report of a project funded by the National Science Foundation to gather data about science, mathematics and social science education in Americar schools. Schools involved a variety of settings: rural-urban, racially diverse, socioeconomically different, and located throughout the United States. Field observers spend 4-15 weeks on site, gathering data. Biographical information on each field observer accompanies his/her case study. (PEB: JHC HORI IOS OI ICA ISI III III IOI IATA IAA A IAAI * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are tie best that can.be made * * from the original document. * FECHA OEE ICE CIRCE OEIC IO OO IIIT ERIThis document is one of seven as listed below. They ane reports of three complementary studies of the status of pre-college science, mathematics, and social science education. 1. The Status of Pre-Collene Science, Mathematics, and Social Studies Educational Practices inl. S$. Schools: An Overview and Sunmaries of Three Studies SE 78-71 Stanley L. Helgeson, Robert €. Stake, Iris R. Neiss, et al. Ohio State University, University of Illinois, and Research Triangle Institute 2. Renort of the 1977: Mlational Survey of Science, Mathenatics, and Social Studies Education SE 78-72 Iris R. Heiss Research Triangle Institute 3. The Status of Pre-Collene Science, Mathematics, dnd Social Science Education: 1995 - 1975 Volume 1: Science Education SE 78-73 Vol. i Stanley L. Helqeson, Patricia £, Blosser, and Robert H. Howe Center for Science and '"athenatics Education, the Chio State University 4, The Status of Pre-Ccllene Science, Mathematics, and Social Science Education: 1985 - 1975 . VolumelI: Mathematics Education.SE 78-73 Vol. 11 Marilyn ii. Suydan and Alan Osborne Center for Science and 'athematics Education, The Ohio State University 5. The Status of Pre-Colleae Science, Hatheratics, and Social Science Education: 1955 ~ 1975 2 Volumelli Social Science Education SE 78-73 vol. 111 Karen B. 'Hley with Jeanne Rice Social Science Education: Consortium, Inc. 6. Case Studies in Science Education Yolume I: The Case Reports SE 78-74 Vol. I Robert E. Stake, Jack Easley, et al. Center for Instructional Research and Curriculum Evaluation, University of Illinois 7. Case Studies in Science Education Yolume If: Desian, Overview and General Findings SE 78-74 Vol. 11 Rober* =; Stake, Jack Easley, et al. —Center_for Instructional Research and, iculum-Evaluation, University of Illinois ewCASE STUDIES IN SCIENCE EDUCATION Volume 1 The Case Reports VAVAVATAVAVAVAVATATAVATATAVATAVAVAYAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVATAVAY, Chapters 1-11 VAVAVAVAVAVAY ‘avavavavavavaya vat ‘AVAVAVATAVATATATATAVATATATAVATAYAVAVAVAVAVAYAVAVATAVAPAVAVAVATAVA Center for Instructional Research and Curriculum Evaluation and Conmittce on Culture and Cognition 270 Education Building University of Illinois at Urba a Janusry 1978 &"the material in this report is based upon work supported by che National Science Foundation under Contract No, C 7621134, Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations express in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not rieces~ sarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. "ori bythe Spssintondent of Documents, US. Goverment Frag Sze iesington, D.C. 20402 Price $7.28, ‘Stoek Number 038-000-00977-4 orThe Project ° = Case Studies in Scionce Education is a collection of f1eld observations of science Eeaching and learning in Aworiean public schools during the school year 1976-77. The stody was undertaken to provide the National Science Foundation with portrayal of current conditions in K-12 seience classroons to he'p make the foundation's prograns of support for science education consistent vith national needs, It was organized by a team of educational researchers at the University of Illinois. Eleven high schoolshand their feeder schools were selected to provide a diverse and balanced group of sites: rural and urban; east, vest, norsh and south; racially diverse; economically well-off and impoverished; constructing gchools and closing schoola; inno- vative and traditional. They were Finally selected 90 that a researcher with anple relevant Field experience could be placed at each. To confirm findings of the ethnographic case eedies and to add special information, a national scratified-randon-sample of about 4000 teachers, principals, cureiculun supervisors, superintendents, parents,-and senior class students vere surveyed. Survey questions were based on observations at the eleven case- study sites. The field researchers were instructed to find out what was happening, what vas fele important, in science (including mathenatics and gocial science) programs, On site from 4 to 15 weeks they were not required to coordinate their work uith observers at other aites. Questions originally indicated important by the NSF or identified early dn the field vere “networked” by the Illinois tean. Efforts to trianrulate findings vere assisted by reports of site visit teams. i Each observer prepared a cage study report which was preserved intact a8 pare of the Final collection, and later augnenced with croas-site conclusions by the Illinois team. The cost of the study was just under $300,000, aking 18 months actual tine and about 6 research- person years eo complete. : In the principal Findings it vas noted that each place wat different.in important ways, chat each teacher nade unique contributions. Nationally ve found that science education vas being given lov priority, yielding to increasing emphasis on basic skills (reading and’ conpu~ tation), Still, the CSSE-high-school science faculties worked hard €0 protect courses for the college-bound, with many of these courses Kept anvil by prerequisites ané "tough" grading. Only occasional efforts were made to do more than “read about" science topics in most of the elenentiry schools. Alchough ninth-grade biology and eighth-grade general science flourished, general education ains for science instruction were not felt vital at any level. Seldon was Sedence taught as scientific inquiry--all three subjects were presented ce what experts had Found co be crue, School people and parents were supportive of what was chosen to be caught, complaining occasionally that it vas not taught woll enough. ‘The textbook usually was seen ‘a5 the authority on knowledge and the guide to learning. The teacher vas seen to be the = authority on both social and academic, decorum, le or she worked hard fo prepare youngatere for tests, subsequent instruction, and the value-orientations of adult Itfe. Though relatively free to depart from district syllabus or community expectation, the teacher seldom exerclsed either freedom. Each of the above statenents 1s only partly correct. This susnary is a drastic overe!e plification of the circumstances observed by the field people and portrayed in the case stwly Fepores. The picture at each of the sites--seen through the experienced but singular eyes of our observer--is a special picture, greatly influence s by the administrators, the parents, and che students encountered; colored with rechnical, professional, economic and social problems. Somehow the pictures do not aggregate across sites to be either the: picture of national edu= cuation represented by che popular press (though no less aggrieved) or that presented in the professional education pubiication (though no Jase complicated). It is an interesting collection. Robort B, Stake : Jack A. Easley, Jr. CodtrectorsChapter u Code Name RIVER ACRES FALL RIVER ALTE BRT URSANV TELE PINE CITY WESTERN CITY coLusus ARCHIPOLIS VORTEX GREATER BesTON LIST OF CASE sTupy SITES suburb of Houston small city in Colorado suburb of a large Midwestern city consolidated distriee in rural TLLinois metropolitan community of the Pacific Northwest rors} community in Alabama smalt city in middle California Field Observer Terry Denny Mary Lee /Smith Louis M. Smith Alan Peshkin Wayne W. Welch Rob Walker Rodolfo G. Serrano the Columbus, Ohio, school district Nee R. Sanders & an Eastern middle seabyucd city a small city in Pennsylvania an urban section in metropelitan Boston Daniel 1. Stufflebeam Jaequetta H111-Burnece Cordon Hoke Rob Walkersq lay CHETENT ar Re . Fewer School-, 6 THE CLTLES AND TU ! Teaching the Poor 1) TWE ScHUOE, as SURRUGATE 1a State-Fuderal Requleements Y Liverse heeds broad and Narrow Alms DESTINY CONTROL Power lessness (eTH AND ALTERNATIVES Hore Yorking, Fewer Jobs wlividualized Schooling, ALONAL SCIENCE COUNDAT LON Bins of the Projece L i Concuptual Framework 7 Yeo urientations 5 Constraines UF THE PROJECE to Case Studies: a Site Visits 4) MPLYLPLE E aout 1a Bata Seorage and Reteteval 30 Mrletag, Anulysds, and rieing STs apter 12 tle VARIOS AW oF seu DING u A Vignette of tuquiry Chapter 12 (continyed) 16 COLLEGE PREPARATION 16 A Preparation Ethic v The College Bound 19 ELITISM 22 VOCATIONAL PREPARATION 24 Where the Jobs Are 26 VALUES 28 Controversial Topics 30 ‘Traditional American Values 3 The Howogeneity of the Community 33 Ricual and Mathematics 35 The Teaching of Values and Social. . Sciences 41 SCIENCE FOR THE CITIZEN aL Science as General Education 43 Popular ‘Seience 45 Practical Science ("Survival SeLence") Chapter 13. THE K-12 GURRICULU 3 SCTENCE 3 Biology-Chemistry-Physics 5 Elementary Science Prograns 6 Junior liigh Progran 7 Old Science Never Dies 7 New Science Complicates 10 Science Articulation 12 Scenaria’ Z 18 MATHEMATICS 18 Elementary School 21 Junior High School 23 igh School 26 SOCIAL STUDIES 28 Elementary 29 Secondary 31 Soctal Studies as Social Science 34 THE BASICS a What Is Basic 35 Teacher Backing 37 Raising Standatds 38 Reading Skills 39 4 Vignette on Basics 43 Molecularizing and Sequencing 43 Analysis of Objectives 44 Sequencing 45 Scenario U 49 OUT-OF-SCHOOL LEARNING 51 Museuns 52 Educational Television 54 Nonschool Educational OrganizationsCASE STUDIES IN SCIENCE EDUCATION--ROSTER " Robert Stake, Jack Easley Other stare Kip Anastasiou Connie Bowen Beth Dawson Jo Ann Day Terry Denny ‘Tom Hastings Gordon Hoke Jennifer MeCreadie Charles Secolsky Doug Sjogren Peg Steffenson Tom Watkins Charles Weller Field Observers erry Denny, specialist in evaluation of teaching materials, University of Illinois Jacquetta Hill-Burnete, anthropologist, University of Illinois spetialist in innovation and school-community relations, University of Illinois ‘Alun Peshkin, comparative education specialist, University of Illinole Janes Sanders, education evaluation, Western Michigan University Rudy Serrano, anthropologist, California State College, Bakersfield lous Smith, ethnographer, specialist in case study, Washington University of St. Louis Mary Lee Smith, educational evaluator, University of Colorado Daniel Stufflebean, education evaluation, Western Michigan University Rob Walker, sociologist, field-stutly specialist, University of East Anglia Wayne Welch, science education, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Gordon tioke, Other Site Visitors Arnold Arons Mike Atkin Fred Bolin Harry Broudy ‘Moses Clark * William Dunkum Gary Eichelsdorfer Donald Grogan Arlen Guilickson Archibald Haller Robert Henderson kathleen Hotvedt Jennifer Janes 2 Bernard Johns Kenneth Landin Howard Levine- Susan Meyers Fdwina Milan Nell Murphy Jack Neal Richard Painter Fred Rodgers Andrea Rothbart Ronald Stewart Janes Wailes James Young Other Assistants Jolene Andres Linda Bohlayer Melanie Brian Norman ‘Bowman Elois Butts Stan Conrad Judy, Dawson Elizabeth Easley Dennis Fisher Colin Gould Betsy Hutchins Kathy Jaycox Enily Rice Carol Sage Valerie Soderstrom Bernadine Evans Stake“ Pat Templin Charlotte Watkins Consultants David Bohm, physicist, University of London Peter Fenshan, science educator, Monash University Lawrence Fuchs, American studies, Brandeis University David Hamilton, education research, Glasgow Tom Hastings, measurenents specialist, University of Illinois Donald Schén, urban planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Helen Simons, evaluation specialist, University of London Louis Smith, ethnographer, specialist in case study, Washington University of St. Louis Lawrence Steahouse, educational research, University of East Anglic Frances Stevens, curriculum specialist, Leeds University (retired) Clayton Thomas, “educational administration, Illinois State University Iris Weiss, survey specialist, Research Triangle Institute Hassler Whitney, mathematician, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton Advisory Group Mike Atkin Alice Baum Robert Davis Ernest House Margie Lerch J. C. Martin Jim Raths ‘Fred Rodgers Rita Sinon Blanchard Sprunger Ruth Vernon Klaus Witz NSF Project Officers: Arlen Gullickson, Linda Ingison gChapter “13 (continued) 59 INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS 59 centrality of the Textbook 60 Availability of Materials 61 In Science 64 | “In the Soctal studies 65 In Mathematica 6 In General Chapter 1 ‘PLURALISM AND UNLFORUTY 1 DIVERSITY OF WANTS AND STANDARDS 6 Heterogeneity 7 Special Education 8 Engagement in Instruction 11 EQUAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNETY 13 Maingtreaning 4 Tracking and Grouping 18 Alternatives 21 ARTLCULATION OF ‘TEACHING OBJECTIVES 22 Statement. of, Objectives 24 Uniformiey 24 Scenarfp T 28 Vertical and Horizontal Articulation 33 CONPETENCY-gasED EDUCATION 35 Hierarchies of Learning 38 Mastery Learning : LEARNING RNANCE VERSUS EXPERIENCE Learning by Experience ‘The Mystery of Learning and Forgetting. 12 TESTING TO MEASURE STUDENT. A ACHTEVEMENT 4 Yeachers Learning about Learning 18 Teachers Yelling about Learning 20 Uther Uses of Testing 23. STUDENT MOTIVATION 31 Vignette on Morivation 34 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 34 Sex Differences 39 Ethnic Differences” Shapter_16 "IN THE CLASSROOM 3 SOCIALIZATION AIMS OF TEACHERS 7 Three Reference Poles Chapter 16 (continued) 4g B Vignette of Socialization 16 Hard Work 18 Good Work 21 Preparing for the Future Courses 26.1 IN A SOCIAL SYSTEM 26:3 Working Within the System 27 Working Alone 27 A "Mr. Science" Vignette 34 Scenario V 39 TEACHER SUPPORT 40 Curriculum Coordination 48 Continuing Professional Education 54 Chapter 17 ‘THE SCHOOL_ANN THE COMMUNITY, 2 STABFING THE SCHOOLS Protecting Jobs The Urge Not To change MANAGEMENT Technical Specialists Paterns of Organization ACCOUNTABILITY AND EVALUATION aL Criteria 13 ADVOCACY, APATHY, AND CRITICISM 14 Parents 16 Estrangenent and Indignation 19 Valuing Science Education 22 SCHOOLS AND CHANGE 2 Social Change 2% Curriculum Change Chapter 18 SURVEY FINDINGS AND CORROBORATIONS (see over) Chapter 19 KNOWING AND RESPONDING TO THE NEEDS OF ‘SCLENCE EDUCATION 1 SCIENCE FINDINGS FROM CSSE 9 OTHER FINDINGS OF THE CSSE PROJECT 18 NEEDS AS A BASIS FOR POLICY SETTING 23. POSSIBLE ACTION FOR THE NSF SCIENCE DIRECTORATE 25" Research on Science Education 28, SCIENCE EDUCATION STRENGTHS, PROBLEMS, AND NON-PROBLEMS 32. SAMPLE PAGES FROM CASE STUDIES SELECTED REFERENCES INDEX OF NAMES GENERAL INDEXTable of Contents CHAPTER 18 SURVEY FINDINGS AND CORRUBORATIO: SURVEY FENDINGS AND CORRUKORAT IONS: 1B PURPOSE OF THE SURVEY MSTHOD OF THE SURVEY Instrument Development Sampling and Administration Response Race Data Analysis Interpretation of Results Comments : RESPONSES TO DEMOGRAPILIC AND EXPERIENCE-RELATED QUESTIONS Questions for Superintendents Questions for Supervisors Questions for Principals Questions for Teathers : Questions for Coufselors Questions for Students Questions for Parents General Questions of Selected Groups RESPONSES TO SCENARLOS Scenario on Budget Cuts Scenario on Uniformity Scenario on Back to the Basics Scenario on Diagnostic Teaching : Scenario on Teaching and Socialization Scenario on Teacher Support Systems Scenario on "Science in Social Studies" Scenario’ on Elitism in Science . RESPONSES TO SCIENCE EDUCATION GENERAL QUESTIONS Page Four, Format 1: Questions on Public Schools Page Four, Format 2: Concerns About Education Today Page Four, Format 3: Purposes of Education SUNMARY Description of Response Groups Summary of Scenarios Sunmary of General Questions Conclusions j: 4aChapter 1 SOME STILL DO: RIVER ACRES, TEXAS | * Terry Denny University of Illinois Urbana, Illinois March 1977River Acres is a school district serving ai- verse kinds of "suburbs" of Houston, sone of Which are old agricultural conmunities engulfed . by the rapid sprawl and others, newly created Contunities complete with country club and 1ook~ alike mail boxes. Iteelf in a stdte of tension, fue to the absence of an integrating sense of Cormuniy, this school district has grown and pow shrinks 4 little in response to the un Planned energence of new senses of comunity Hdentity. ‘Though barriers of Face, language and culture may renain firm dor many yoars to ‘cone, River Acres High School and the feeder Schools of the district do mich to overcons them. Tecry Denny pictures the large-scale dy~ namics of the River Acres Independant School Giserict with a broad brush, but he sketches in ‘also the fine detail of inter personal inter~ action and private philosophy. New open-space buildings, older classroom buildings, a drive for success for each child each dav, and a ‘Strong segregation of puplis by "level" Pro~ vide a Framework in which teachers can teach facts of watch for what's left when facts are forgotten, in which selence can be personal feed of depersonalized, in Which new courses (marine biology) can develop and in which many can declare "We never left the basics.” Through all the forest and the trees, a thone fenerges that is more Southern and Eastern than Nestern -~ the comunity cares about young people, teachers embody that caring, and they fever shrink fron expressing it in one way OF Gnother. The picture of. mathenatics, science, Gat socia! studies that emerges is nore a Ploture of teachers than of curriculum, of a Culture than of disciplines: but it iz very baa ‘* : ‘SOME STIbL DO: RIVER ACRES, TEXAS * : Terry Denny * A GENTLE CRAFT a ‘The reader should know that I have taught in the elenencary school aiid the university over a period of twenty-one years. I also have four children who have conpleted their high School education in the public gchools. I vas born and raised in Detroit and have lived. ‘nose of my adult ifs in rural/snazi town university settings in the Midwest. I an fascinated by vhat people do in schools and vhat schools do to people. My task as I sav tt vas to describe what people said and did about the teaching and learning of Science and mathenatics fron kindergarten through twelfth grade in the River Acres Indepen~ dene School District, a suburban/rural setting in the Houston area. Not to evaluate it. Not todo anything abcut it. I once agonized over writing recommendations for schools Thad evaluated of~researched. Worse, I vas nagged vith the persisting question, "Was ny- thing ever done? Tell ne 4£ anything was ever done." I now rarely write prescriptions for teachers. The taformation for this story was gathered on site fro October 17, 1976, to Decenber 18, 1976. I listened to 140 teachers and 90 students; over 20 administrators and 60 fatents., T also interviewed six counselors and spoke with cooks, janitors, bus drivers and secretaries. I went to Texas with no personal preference for self-contained classroom instruction, for open-space instruction ot for hosogeneous grouping of students. Moreover, I an uncer~ tela of the relative social importance of the school subjects as ve comonly know then. Ir pleases ae to write this story without the additional burden of formally judging the merit of the teachers ani practice I observed. The fact chat Iwas there and not you de of huge importance, of course. The study, Seeing aay be belleving, but I need more. “I never see the picture worth a thousand words. Te occurs to we that a very feu vorda can represent a thousand pictures; can repre- Sent unobservable feelings; can reveal tonorrow's hopes and yesterday's fears which shape Today's actions. “y story de largely teachers’ words. Students, parents, administrators and others with sonething to say about River Acres contribute co its telling. But fe's mostly a story of and by teachera, It wasn't supposed to turn out this vay. The deeper Tvent, the wore I needed a place to park ny wind to keep it cut of trouble. I found it in the teachers’ words. IntLe x began ay study by looking at scfence instruction ani then interviewing teachers and atudents about what they did, why they did Le. four after hour I sav teachers necking, doing vhat teachers always have done. Students fell into thet rtgnefel shacea ree Frequently after an observation and interview, a teacher would say something ty’ a fou sentences that surmed up several hours of observing, far me Teachers vould say their piece, t'd tape tt or write it down, and then I'd read it back to chen. They'd say, "Hey, chit's a good idea.” But the parents woold never as ip what sounds too radical." hen 'd say, "I an going to mention Le tn ny report," X heard, “Okay, but don't mention se." “The one T itked the best wass "Okay, yin be Gee second Joan of Are and I'11 cone behind and best che deuce." 1 satervieved ceachers in their rooms, hallways and lounges frco 7:15 a.m. through 10:00 pom. tn lobbies of restaurants, dersatologists" offices, and hatcdreasers™ selea; ga hall duty, on playground duty, on iunehroon duty ox bus duty; before school, ducing lunch, after school, on Sacurday and even on Sundays at board yeceings, aay PIO fheine. giving and Christaas concert After a while T stopped bringing students into rooms for interviews ond started taik= ine with chew after suhools at a basketball gane, for example. I put iay the prepees ie observation schedule and just “hung around" school. I ended up Listening to sot iat seustes, selence and math ceachere talk about theaselvea, about their oun childcen, thers eeulenc se {hetr'ureane, doubts and dilemas. In the course of Ave weeks I tilled twenty select Mpvpocket notebooks. Teachers fitted about fifty hours of ay cassette tare,” Shace then L have read and Listened to theft vords again and agsin. It 1s incredible shat Seer een gecond oF third time around. My observational notes pule in che strength of thee matae So, I shall go with the teachérs" words. Ree dpeit Loquiter, core ce eens” Houston Poet Linda April gaines writes about her e1ty: "In case you mlesed it, the tine to study Houston vas nov." I feel the sane way. “Houston caught se by surprise. wotaeg Thad been told or had read prepared ne for uhat T heard, sev sad rele. You will have to be there to get a larger sense of Raines! poetry, which continues: In the melodrama of those Fast’ yeare ‘As the innocents and cfty Slickers entertain each other A Wtle balancing out the responsibiliey For raising a baby nonster Mouston 1s activity, growth, optintan, in no particular order. Houston ts an inprob~ able event: fe.» @ sluggish seandering bayou vas transformed nto a channel to. che cee fhereby waktpf Houston a world-class seaport Fifty ailes fron a seashore, The clin of t= day ahouldnié have occurred. Infested with monsuivoes, heat, flocds, and Iretacc’’s mysterious Will” quite Likely made 1¢ happen and contimies ¢o aake it happens th che nineteenth chatury, as late as around 1868, the provisional governor of Teese, Ginecnt Phillip Sheridmonwrate, "IF I owned Hell and Texas, I'd rent out Texas and Live ge nan, So auch for the mid~ninéteenth ceatury. In the last seven years, 130 Lavernerionel corporations such as Exon, Texaco and Shell have noved their headquarters to Heston; our national space center.” Space: “the final frontier, as Star Trek hes tasche wee13 owiton's population has bees doubling each eventy years in this century. Grovth = toot, Many demograpliers say it will be TH city of the late twentieth century. The ito of talent, dndustey and capital co the South in general and to Houston In par~ Hac romisded me'of the "high-rolling sixties” 1 che North. tn the Hifetsie of Billy Hon, a ehlid born dn the River Acres School y.striet when this stusy was cusdusced, cay become the uotld's Tuegest city loans (9 over 80% urban -- although outsiders consider {¢ rural. The 1970 census Nor ligly three states have nore urban-centared popalst tone (I1Linoss, New York, 3}, Houston feels Jess like 2 city aul more tke . huge town to'me; auch tke Vil y the thirties, and Los Angeles does today ‘s ruoinded by the Chasber of Coumerce that the first word transmitted to earth won by Apollo IL waa "louston,"” A school beard menber shock ey hand and quickly that "We are the energy capital of the United States; the petro-chenical head- “+: of the world: the proud possessor of an internationally fanous medical complex ‘w Lose than twenty-E4ve years)" vy yoars ago Miss Ina Hoge, daughter of the first native-born governor of Texss, ied everal Kirchner water colors, Pissaro dravings, Toulouse-Lautrec dravings, vi oils and prints by Manet, Cezanne and others (while in Eurépe in the twenties). 1 century oF more, Houston has iad tts 1iteratt, ke 18 wore: from che world's frst doned stadive to a first-class symphony, opera complex. "First," “world-class,” "nationally accleiaed" -- frequently used 1 "CS houston aad. appropriate, for the ost part. ousrape age of Ate © | .eury 4s the lowest of any principal city in the United Tut Tense drawl fs apt to mask the fece of © mover atd a shaker. But the inmi- su nwt necessarily politically progressive. Very conservative young Yankees are ioe, tun. Te 48 a "buyer beware” edty. No zoning. Anything the traffic will bear. chiturslogines are having 8 fleld day with Heuston. Forecasts range from King City of the tow Club of Rome prophecy that "It has seven years uaeil 1¢ blows up." ‘one rsdn of come shine Houston basks in a healthy building elinate. While builders ‘. otlwe jor edtdes must plan housing starts so thelr crevs are, indoors by Noveaber, I “y many now starts oceur during the last week of ay visit (Decesber). Lot and labor rig vare the only problens which appear in the newspapers. The important commodity hot in short supply. There appears to be no end Co the constant tide of buyers 9,000 hones being erected in suburban Houston. Tn-migration figures show c the nation with Heuston gaining 60,000 plus per year. Harris County estisaces se of 35,000 new Jobe in 1976 with Ho sign of tapering off in 1977-78. coidents enjoy the absence of stave and local income taxes and the Texas property tax fe juss it in the bottom 10% of the nation, Add to this che datum that Housten's Sle Gneuploynent was among the nation's lowest in 1976 and continued to be during the inc ur this study. The economie future 4s bright for Houston, for Texas. Modost"$45-30,000 hoaea.and "Luxurious" §100,000-and-up devel¥pments--vay up-mare os. me suck, Pecan Grove, reaches for Jamortality with its soaring-tonic~capital roid soluane and irs decorative font. Its Texas-sized billboards with golf-course green Fcound and uhice letters simply state "Incomparable Pecan Grove." . —a On the north side of a sajor artery through River Acres graze a herd of Santa Gextrudas cattle; on the south side several hundred technicians are corealied inva modern Sogputer plant. cabbage and pineapple palma grace school patrons’ front garte clone sare several opecies of cacti. Other renindere of climate are the inboard/outeensd saree titty that dor the neighborhood and the windowless, air-conditioned achoo! buiiaiege. Proud of 18 past, optinietic about its futura, confident in its ability to get che Job done, Houston is something else. When I asked a rastaurant ower hor Hecatonee Going fo manage all this rapid growth he nonchalantly replied "Seorae never saee tthe fettAe Of Nouaton apravie to ies suburbs and ite schools vhere Frederic Reetnereare See boy Paintings and Houston Mission Control pictures share wall apace wish tenes eine Johnson. e RIVER ACRES INDEPENDENT Scoot pistRIcT have tripled in five years for sone River Acres homeowners. The school district passed 2 $25 aillion bond issue two to one in 1975 and looks forward to tee seek andere Sonfiderce, | Te 49 building an athletic conplex vhich includes @ 10,000 seat “seeding. ew aghools are being built and opened at lenat amually. ‘The etatf in'the diecast seal Teagsvely Texan. For exemple, the high echool princtpal estinates two of his faruren oe 161 are from out of Texas, The problen in River Acree ia how to manage grovth-—not decline. the reader vho ores track of this fact will find auch of thie study unintelligible. The dtattice gap 381 square miler and over 13,000 students. Te has had’ the acreage gince 1960 tegin Pesan ite first year of operation, folloving a 1959 consolidation of sealion dornniita, Piporinate enrodleenta show the saleatory leaps which have occurred: 1960, 2.3000 1965, 1398 bet /8% 983000! 1973>, 8,000; 1975, 10,000; and 1977, 13,000. Projected tigeree Toe 1978 are 15,000; for 1980, 20,000; and for 1984, make a guess! THE, Student body has shifted rapidiy, coo. A student body with'an Angio wincetty and shout 25% of {t8 graduates planning fo attend a college or university: hae fecont a Hee Aisle sajerity within a student body of hich 75%.arecollege bounds Agate cr aha (oe cigration has been ‘White flight," a part ts urban flight, and others cose fom renee Gommunities; and increasingly the'district grovth 19 due to corporation eraneiee ae fant Aes from other states—-princtpally the North. The firet cadre, of sut-eteterevon qlectfranta” to River Acres K-12 will graduate around 1980. Every ériier wack River Acres acquires what anounts to a nev classrion of utulents 4a the diseeacet he Eenerel sAcreae ip enrollent has included an average increase’ of about 300 SENGELEY seudehts annually for the past four years. Lover amudent aclitevenent, for soority Stulemter-princtpatly Nexscan-hnerican (30%) and Black (102)—-uhen cowpared vith 08 pie atutente, hag bean noted over the years at all grade levels. About t thitd of the ce eiog seeenegee grade level tn their math or reading achtevenent corse (1.2 to 5.6 youre tonne Senth grade); anf, in this low-achieving group, evo in three are minority children’ te Sinordty student achtevesent patterns are accoupanied by high dropout fates aad a Mok of notivation for traditional and remedial schoo! seogeaan," . here are a feu bilingual teachera in a fey of the elementary schools. Although 1 ghserved a firat grade teacher (Anglo) conducted school ia Spanteh, the dlsteicy aon vot have a bilingual education policy. The principal of an elesentary school can aecise wrocher OF not to offer part of the school progras in gpanieh, ~ / Joa st1s In spite of its enormous growth, the district sanages to stay within the Texas state standards for class size. District schools are categorized as elenentary (grades K-5), junior high (6-8) and high schools (9-12): A ceacher in an elenencary school ray have thirey fewer children in grades one and tvo and no more thon thirty-five in grades three theougb Five. In the secondary schools (grades 7-12) there can be no more than thirty-five stadents 40 a class and no more than 750 "pupil periods” per wack (Five periods of thirty Stident* in a clase for five days). When these state Limits are temporarily exceeded, the River Acres staff scena to roll with the punches, knowing relief 1s in sight with the dnni~ ent opening of another campus. Furtheraore, Texas accreditation standards are exceeded in athenatics, suctal studies and science course offerings grades 7-12. The standards include natructional clock hour minina fer grades 7 and 8. very urban distrtet in the state of Texas ts being redrawn. ‘The aove to consolida- ton of school districts has been arrested. In fact there 13 a countersving: secession ts the word of the day, River Acres 18 facing che possibility tesclf, as ve shall learn Guo additional onndpresent Legal ehenes are equal opportunicy and desegregation... T heard that Region IV, which serves River Acres, may be sued for lack of Black and Mextcan~ american representation on its board. It has sone seventy-odd voting menbers vith one Black representative. (The region provides conputer services, audio visual materials and Invservice training for its public school diserice constituents.) Public Library shelves roninded me of vhere T vas: Hovstoh, History of A Giants Regional’ Vocabulary of Texas; Barbs, Prongs, Point Stickers (barbed wire) The Cowboy Reader, Sea Shells of ene Texas Coase; The Alano; The Indians of Texas; Indian Fights and Fighters; Toxas, AWorld In Teself; Tealls and Trials of a Texas Ranger; 6,000. « Miles af Fence (the IT Ranch); Border Wars of Texag, Uone Sear; Texas Ghost Towns; Japerlal Tenas Texans from ny generation are proud of Texas History. Emergency textbook shipments are 2 comon occurrence in River Acres. Théy"signal the alleviation of e crisis. A persistent problen ts keeping textbooks in the hands of ica Students. Staffing and space are nore obvious problems that area part of the rush of Giaerice Life. Some may be getting Jefe behind, An older teacher cold me she felt uneasy about the changes underway: I'm proud to have lived in River Aores. It ie « Dery inportant thing to me to be from here; foon Texas, My acestors helped oettle it and my rota rw deep. My mother vag 2 teacher. I ove sonething to somebody else because of my experi~ Gices. Inve way ve have einple values. He value friendship; ve vat to be eaay- going; we Tike olosenese . .- and yes, snaitness, Before exploring the elesentary, Junior and senior high schools" science, mathenarics and social studies curricula, I choose €© present several dinensicns which characterize the entire diseriee The Adsintsteat ton Many of che district's top administrators have cone to their yusitions through coaching, Coaching fe highly respected work in River Acres. How surprised T vas to hear an elenentary School administrator greeted, "Good morning, coach!" Te occurred again at another elenencary school \ :16 Principals Joke amt are at once serious about their forser coaching work. then iy gut to where you can't coaak anymore they make jax a principal. and whi. ie wrong with that?. Coacheo have to have Teaderehip oktiie he able co rake preseure, be able to work with yowigatere; inos wet te mane fo mot at aonething worked han! for. Does it evan unheanonabte thet wise me not wweful in being a effeative principal ? nile former coacfies-turned-admin{strators may joke about their plight, former subject rontyatectalists often do not. 1 know four aduintatratore vho felt they hal nate eae wen sapg’ane fh Classroom for whatever cheir reasons. One telling coumeny free ey non? NGOS JE MLL: "E uoed co think of myself as a crackerjack teacher. Noe fon e/gnat oe wher and a bust as 2 department head.” cpnette 20SE Pare the teachers havo no Sea who che central staff are oF what they do- rercher of over five years tn the district speak: Ziglly dowle tes what they do in the diverts office and T ewpove they geile Kron shee I'm doing etthar. “That's the way se hae to be tea big thetnict, Mice util # be Tike in @ feu mote years, T wonder? (here are, the usual host of petty grievances associated with a school adninistrative “FOPEER, -cOHE records are not kept for teaching. ‘They ave for show-sant aber, teckeng?™ feu Seaistered complaints about the sign-in/sign-out, daily log sheets which reachene nent one wae suggested 1¢ vas proof positive that "‘Soatgne fron kindergartew ceschine, “igatay sade 4€ fo the top." Other eensions were manifest when a princial cbeececd eat ‘vas Communication with the (land] developers ts not perfect. We acquires sees Ye ates ‘Elon of developeent: im one spot, 4€ occurs in another." Aud a wenber of the cecray isine sation team confided that: "We do have an adsinistrative comumteation pesbien where Tot of things happen too late." tymunority but potentially important view of the central Wdmintstrattion vad voiced by | rail group of parents after an elementary schoo! parent-teacher meeting one evening Ruy EEE the dlstrice was in control of the “old Boys who ran paternal shor.” The aatd Siwy vere actively working tovacd ts demise. T failed to follolvup thett coment” \, Rach schoot I visteed had. its resident dissident(s). About ehe only thing they shared “ygnon was thetr view chat the district had am inflated reputation for the gusticy nt sducactonal services. More often than not the inforaant(s) had fasche tn eae ae cicts, viukch may lend sone credibility to their observations. ilustrative on ceed a {a pihe following one which was delivered in a junior High teachers" lounge eich Conscay colleagues Latentng. age The district" reputation to exeettent and, faloe. It may have bee good ten weave, azo, wher things were onalt, and clove Init. (One old pro-neddyl on apnee~ ‘mnt to this.) “People may have kno one another. The tino were hoteen oe cooperation nay have been high. But that war then. Nov the districe te lonin- ally muciting along with PR-consoioue], not a progran-condetous adniiietaaton | Af board of education necting T watched the superintendent show Cingertip knovledge Si oatlding construction and production schedules: facts, figures, dividine Linea heeciee bus routes required long discussion by the board. "66e/aile to operate a’buc "15S jus mileage equivalent to going around the world thtrty-two ttees,” one boaee cenbee ede SoS heurttd fey dtan"e go anywhere." quipped another. "And they're (pareneal sedi Wf as hell at us," volunteered « third. je toMr Chae and seats for the now stadium, {sed house and buildings were “tested” for ten minutes, Levity, mich discussion ensued. After the meeting one instretional staff menber said, “It's tangible, football ais important stuff, A curricular budget isave would not be tested with aa much enthusiasn ¥ No regular K-12 faculty attended the board neetings. I did. Few, 4f any, efeizens 41d. “Administration and athletic faculty were there. (On¢ thouzend citizens at an elenon- tary school PTO and none at the board necting. River Acres, on the wove, changing, but erill River Acres. Susan Bright could have been describing it for me. zi SUNCTION-STREAM at the corner of barcon creck andthe lover colorado river black geackles haggle over ginger cinders and thvermise longarned Ltveoaks arehiovn to the riverbeliy swollen from Eiashloods waver settles vaterholds che sarth cogether ‘vind here clenrs the spirie, 8 soft cloud blows over austin renoir city rain on porcelain carved a head once for the riverwalk : se's gone wins! glazed with cooking grease 4 feel engines hake the Land building building ‘arketplaces expressways ongwords 4p, autumn mallards stop here vaterholds ‘the sky together vaterholds ‘aman vogecher et a aoctal setoncise how dows 4¢ work? 4 asked ean you stop. it no he sata Susan Bright we,te geet, fe snping.”o atee's ted Foot 1 The 8 + the administration sees itself as being “caught We senses that" Mhgy Catk about Clve-year goals ville kaowrng. el uucugreent of growth In a setting where overythiog, Ustars chime the more Eh comin eke sone ey are Ute In adaintsteative persounel and virtua Nok te devising an aceoungablliey system thee # ty sreoantabll fey but ome have hele, person GHEE deing ue hotly mot hatin ke mead to be wot thessing om then. lyter tesntyentine years te nal, Wighly desonutwe, wigid people $n wtuout vehi wunstauctive avbtfotan as personal nt tioned system. Bdwsntion te generals raiemits) re thas ho mate Die TEESE hoot serecnpul rtiaent, leasher, asstotent prin In one helt of a mess, ‘he ment busting" 45 alvays present In the dtatrice admin= hat one year 42 long-ters Seem to be changing can tron tauphit- Gs over i decade ago that the. paradox oF scheol change ly barren ts cureicutum ‘ILL dnprove qualfey 1 douhes working with one to tiie; ton. Compul= fetom, Te per negative ail ghti twon, tomo! teucheras It ia a higily: strmmcsured fneo the negative. Those who get. nevanded es, That'e how ‘pal, prineipal, “tumuth seccuntabil fey bo woe a Large damue among the eeachers in River Actes (as yet), retsh cuference wale to 1 as I went from the elementary te the Jeeloe ed Ts net besee place. saint the street neath, du vols die Junior high teacher wis dure "they ace Botan to conpare us with le coesune dof lity seheme they rw cooking up." Another Juntor high eather secoinitabtlfey vould mean Conpart ing ceachers! ‘successful cractTonal levels ehey werd aeeigned to eesch, but fouek 1 teaching an hing you get it aluave my et te the ' vain murber of kids. They the ficle “aceumtabie f : weed 2h Taam there Ef gure ds noth Psy oe geasher'e weponaibiliey? Why ta 7" child mmifente in sohoot? Tan not én ebeanye wes of the rule 4s large in River Acres, in Houston % the toe, but gee tt done within the law. Riv ts uncguivoea? policies ee student behavior, studer # serv aporvesative of the poliey, as aed the parent student usz om ape or booze; nor 1s vandalism a totlets are*clean,anl hallway speech 49 remarkabl; "only paddling on the buetocks with a paddle 5.1974, a8 a part of the board's behavioral. policy thw Parents’ andhook pleases many when it says undéc “"Unve: ue a yeu distracting things ineludjng some ew not isting ary of these nor are oe ora tat may arise, When any "fad" eee ao be 9 901 be aoeowntable for it? ihwon Fan” oe Fm not teaching what-T ood beach bets Always be within the fer Acres School District nt discipline. The faculty 3 whom U'nec. The districe Problen, Windows are in y free of the Janguage of "was adopted by board of Aecan egulat ions" "fads" that how wp making a regulation Started on our came1-9 develope, we ghatl inmediatoly eliminate that nuteance 7 DETRACTS FHOM THE SPIRIT OR DIGHITY OF RIVER ACRES SCHOOLS “OWPROLESD, Planning River Acres believes tn es ability to provide good schools for most of its children te belteves {twill weather the currently deeply felt growing pains. It also believes that to achtove these and other school ends {€ sust be better organized. Its schools are large, roughly 1,000 In an elesancary buLiding, 1,300 in a junior high, 3,000 dn its high school Better organization is gosag to result in better schooling and the role of planning 1¢ central in the minds of its district officials. One effort uhich 2 necting with mixed Success 15 an attempt to get vritcen descriptions of its setence, math and social studies curricula én an orderly fashion. Curriculum guides have been developed by personnel work~ + ing after che school day and after the school year. In ite attempt to use a uniform format for spelling out objectives, activities, and evaluation in these guides, the district has °— ret with foot dragging and considerable Latent hostility by teachers who sce no use for Such efforts. An overuhelming mmber of the teachers see then as, at best, {relevant to their work. Une fifth grade teacher said, "I wrote ay way to a (master's) degree using those behavioral objectives. and T haven't had a mind to touch one since.” ‘The importance of planning is also stressed in the disteict's Faculty Handbook. Hin daye go badly, check to determine whether your plane vere adequate. Chayoes ave they were not. ‘inet item) "lave the inetructional progam a0 carefully fe not time for major probleme to develop, acount for the day ix youn plane.” For all the talk about planning at the district level, che facts are that River Acres pretty well rons {tselF educationally at a building-by-building level. Sone love 4t, sost Accept it, sone disparage this condition. One principal offered a prescription for changing the district confederacy to a nore centralized educational progras. You wane to know why T'm boas here? I'LL tetl you why T'm boss hehe. Because L have cuthority. You need coordinators lat the district level) with reat clout if you vat an integrated, fummelling program. You need people vith authority, hoz with "eupervisory” capacity. That's the way things get done in Tezas. Uncil that happens each principal vill mun their (sie) cum school the vay he wants to. When the Associate Superintendent opeaks, ue do tt. The re muldy the vatere Planning can be attractive co teachers, too. Not so mich as a district-wide strategy, pot moreso at the building level, and especdally in the individual classroom. River Acres Ceachers perceive their largest sieeds as being instructional saterials and tactics for Erabbing ‘and holding students’ interest, thereby winieizing discipline problens. Whenever Planning addresses these concerns, {t generates teacher interest. The teachers vho had Experienced SSF support were unaninovsly high in their praise of their experience and called for more The 25+ should continue to support subject matter institutes in the sumer for teachers who want t0 shange what they are teashing. There's no subsertuse for Imoving the subject atten of what you're teaching. It taok me eight clemera to loam earth acience--plus four field trips to the eane place before I really felt confortable with geology. ’aw The attendance at school meetings and scetal functfons is outstanding. Nearly 2000 Parents attended a spring physical- education open house in 1976. Dering Sy visie + seconded several parent-teacher evening presentations, each of vhich vas heavily accended by hundreds of parents. This was in sharp contrast to the two school board meetings aetended by a handful of ettizens. I must note in passing that during my study a snail city wienia fhe uistrict vas organizing to secede from the district co fore theit ome” A seeciel aioe fon vas held and the secession. was approved. The issues were not discussed in’ che parece © nor at the board of education meetings. The macter of cizizen involvement in the okieice OE the achools renains a puzzlexent to me, I overhsard a coffee break coment by 5 cencval administrator that "parent involvement makes district administrators vecy nevscse a Parent_tavolvenent- in the direct schooling of their children 1s large. ‘There te Pressure on teachers t0, succeed. The citizens expect it. They communicate 4¢ sheoseh complaines about their children's grades, in their doubts about open. space ingtvecriAl environments, Parents of junior high school students said very.little to ne shove then qupectations of the hgh school. They sensed that ita reputation was good, This La nope- Worthy An thot some spoke at length, with negative feelings based primarily om Searcay informacion, about the district's elementary schools, which thelr children algo had sot getended. The district adainistration corroborated ay 1apression that a vast sayecicy of its patrons’ school concerns dwell on the elementary and junior high schools \ t Teach and Student Evaluation ‘The district requires an administrator to evaluate each teacher. Te has a five-yage form with opportunity for the ceacher and principal to make parallel ratings of the tecevet!s competence in four areas: personal and professional qualities, clasecoom sanagenent ant instructional effectiveness. No rention 1s made of student achievement or gradee or oot of imseructional materials per se. "Keeps accurate an! meaningful records,” ta onc of Several points itemized Several teachers called for tn-service help in vorking with teams, with open space, too. Nectita this apparent need would present problema for the district, though. in chat the high school is predominantly against the concept of open space and one elesentecy achool prefers cho self-contained classroom arrangement. "These are aot buraing, leaves because ceachers are not evaluated on their ability to work in an open space seteiag, or their success as tean-teaching menbers. Neverthelass, there 1s rather sidespeosd aes satisfaction with the form and the process eaployed. "Aninistrators ace eheréed wick not having visiced the class, And the criteria are ambiguous in some teachers" eres: She om 1 being judged ageinst, God? the poorest teacher in the building? ilew about” jodging oy competency against the competency of ey adniniatratar?” As long a8 we're at It) es ebeue © parent conpetency test?” The district inservice program is a modest one, “Tt does not adress the major issues brought forward in this study. Again apd again teachers new to the professing veoeenter se thetr dismay when che "paperwork of teaching" confronted then: the forms, legal ena ite Astrative record keeping. Further, the concept of a district, how Lt operates tiamcistiny ‘aduinistratively and legally, is pretty much a mystery to the neophyte teachers in niece Acres. They are often surprised to find how fine grained the grading system fe.Lan A diserice-wide grading policy {s in effect: 100-93 A 92-85 8 %~ Cc 76-70 D 9-00 F It has ies detractors and there is 2 saall afnority of elementary teachers who vould abolish grades completely: "We have to. Te's our policy. I'm against them. Soctal pronotion means a child should be provided for. \ good society would promote good educa- tion for all children.” For che most part, though, tvachers and parents find the grading policy and practice co their Liking. Notable exceptions, when grading creates problems An the context of achievesent or ability grouping, will be discussed later on. These center on teachers feeling pressure fron administrators to award high grades, to flunk Open Space Open space ts 9 K-l2 issue in River Acres anong teachers, parents, adiainistrators, and students. Six of the scven elonentary schools are "open space” in architectural designs The seventh 19 not~-nor does its staff wont it to be. Advocates of open space schools believe iz results in improved planning and coaching Open apace gives you the option of building in space for those uho camot function in open apace. [In the aeif-contained classroom) there is no option for the kido who cannot stay tn the noon except cnother room, which ie no option at all. yhere ve woual'y find problen ohtldran in self-contained ie in the halluay on a chair if we've Iuaky. “There are far fever kids whe are sent aitside the open epace open space dn River Acres elementary schools and in both its junior high school butldings means they have large sreas in which che instructional space can be organized 45 the responsible parties see fit. Instead of eight roons each with {ts own entrance and teacher, Let's say, ve have an enoraous area without permanent walls, doors. This area aay be used for ail sections of a grade (or two) in an elementary building. in the case of the juntor high school 1€ can be used for all mathematics teaching, with che stu- dents of the three grades moving in and out ehroughout the day. Aspects of open space and self-contained settings which are seen to affect science instruction will be discussed. The discrict adeinistration 18 committed co open space at present. for K-Bth grades. Because of the recent rapid and considerable growth in River Acres, most of its school buildings are nev. Yet, although its fiew buildings are all open space, there has been 1ittle time to train teachers to work 1n euch a setting, and few teacher education institutions offer elementary teacher candidates help in readying then selves co work in math and science, mich lees jm spen space settings. Each River Acres school 1s graced with a Library and a resource center, which are An tended to support the open space concept. Mathematics teachers make Iictle use of these facilities at any grade level throughout the curriculum. Only the odd child will be doing something n then thit relates directly ¢o mathematics, For the sckence curriculum the picture changes sonevhat, but not dramatically. A child may have an occasional assignment, but the principal user in science 1s the cescher of grades four through seven. Before and after those grades, the teacher's use 1s Limited to getting a desired film strip or sound Fila from the resource center. (A milti-discrict regional center 1s che principal supplier of the non-print materials used by sckence end math teachers.) In the social studies the lise of film is considerable by both students and teachers, but T found no patterns of useaz . that could be called exceptionally heavy of inappropriate. (On rare occasion I heard some thing akin fo “I have sone India fAlma-does anybody need a file today sr tesoreneit Mike Junfor high schools’ lush resource and Library facilieies vere without erodeee soot yi che tine t visited. Librarians what resource centere littes not in use; the teachere are The day of the study hall te pasaing and we don't need cheoe ‘ities Juot to keep kide busy and quiet, or to gee the group sine Gane he need to get materiate kide can use and libraptans don't have t quand ith their Liven Open space can provide opportunities for scheduling flexibility, s-qeade Instruction ani the 1ike. Whether 1" does {or should) eo in che minds of many River Acres informants. They will speck toe eh for team teaching, for the underlying 1s: selves. shortly Preparation The spirit of the Samurat is tn River Acres schools. If you prefer Parsifal, the Boy Scouts, oF Galahad, so be tt. Teachéra see their acience teaching as getting yousgeceen realy, | freraracion for che next grade, preparation for the more difficult courses to come, preparation for college entrance. For Life. "If you're prepared, you can take anjeniog He dishes out to you. Getting right with life involves goed. preperation,” era wore Prinetpal offered ss the key to elementary school, and sexe, fone high school science tencher (who has caught math) spoke to preparation with con- stierable aninat ion. 1'LL be frank vith you. 4 majority of my students cver the past foun years are not prepared. They ccnnot atudy. They cannot read a mathematics testheok, Teein seiowe an chemistry, lab reports are generally awful. T have not deen pisaern with mysslf thio year at all throughout my ehemigéry courses, Wher. atedoree aren't’ prepared you are dead, So I fatl into doing it for them Perhave my materials to too hand? (Offered to havé me review it.) My thought ie that etudente today tack the feeling of coming to clase prepared; of boire Pesponcible for doing good work. Preparation will improve on the student's part if you let then work in paiva Fexfommace improves dramatically when my 3's (beteo average) work tope hone Givls especially "tett" you how they want it [juet by Looking at thent wath ing down the hall. ‘They won't even walk fram one cbs to another atone The basics in math prepare one for advanced aathenstics; writing and reading skills brepare. one for Literature and the social studies courses to cose. Feigonosstty ans sieatea Prepare students for their college experience and high school prepares shes far uence fellows. Nowhere in the K-12 curriculun do teachera concern theaselves with premrsten ‘ange than in the juntor high school- Tike to it boys $f they don't got it now, they never willl This is the. last chanes. Tf they blow tt here they are dead duoke. ‘They just have: to be ore pared for high achool or that's all she: wrote. There's no turning beck, or glowing dom a little, on backfilling up there. My Job te to help thece ittle dursards to realine that [the importance cf preparation) before te ie too ieee J get to sone, misa others. God knowe T try. ~ ¢Ma That mathenatics teacher spoke for many, many others in the sciences and wocial studies ss vell. She works hard at trying to prepare her atulents and by her oo aduisston As not ‘aking progress as the years go By. It {s a hit and mise proposition. But the tar~ get fs clear. In River Acres the junior high school curriculum arrow points in one direc Efon: to Central High School. What the students have been getting ready for is variously described as "the big crunch, algebra"; "where many of the Latin [Hextean-American) students Vill neet their Alamo"; "the Rites of Academic Passage [re college]"s and, "the end of prep aration and the beginning of the real thing.” Bighth-grade students often describet 1¢ in social rather than academic teres. They ee At as, "when you gotta do it, or quit and get a jab"; "Where you mect nev friends, dotes, and sports"; and the time when "I finally get wheels." A discussion of the utility of competition as a pedagogical tactic 4o presented now because it fs 4 K-12 River Acres issue, and it might as well be introluced early as Laver in the story. found increasing advocacy for the use of conpetition as I went up the grades and up che instructional levels. One administrator offered: Competition i great for kide uhen every? aly knove the rule. When competitors ean aocopt their Limitations. If I could, I'd eliminate conperivion in the early grades... . I think cometition ie the moat overemphasized thing in athletics aad I am a former coach. If (prinoipal] Adame ould tranafer hie energy and coach- ing peropective to inatruction inatead of kids and PR, he would be an outstanding ingot, »t¥onal Leader. Another administrator countered: Competition makes the world go.arcund and kide otay on the ball. It ta one of the feu things ue have left that vorka. If you took competition out of it (the curriculun] you would have downright shaoa. On aleep. We Loat our fir for healthy competition because of oone mental hygiene theoriee. 50 we took it ‘out wid put nothing in ive place. A terrible miatake, Teashore and parenis are 00 dam concerned with whether the etudente Like then. If that te uhat te realy inportant to ua, we had better get-out. Beoauae they fetudente) will uae and abuoo that. They know. Like a Little blood in the chicken yard. What ‘we need ie teachere uho Like kide, like their eubject, teaoh it Like hell's fire and don't give a hoot about whether the kide like then. Competition is good; T guarantee you that. Put that in youn notebook under "old-fashioned ‘deca. These are extreme positions to be sure. Most informants aid nothing so extrene sbout competition. But it vas mentioned often ami enployed widely, Competition represents a background dynante operating in these achools be they open. space or self-contained. A viewpoint which hvlds widespread allegiance anong River Acrea' elenentary teachers fers the increase of behavioral problens in young children. sone call them "rowly,” hyperactive.” Others use no labels, but point to a 10% Figure of early prisary children now on nedieation as cause for concern. "These newcomers are belghter, all right, en they1a are mote digtteule, coo," fay. Another sat offered an experfenced teacher after a particularly difficult Stowy kids ave getting handler to howile. Slover kids from the uealthy hones are the uorct. lot w matter of acaial etasa at ali. It goes beyond Nect Lond ctoiton tigi: and thie elementary school; beyond Houston. and a nev element has renlly taken old. Children uho are plenty bright enaugh just do not, pay atten un. F eamot recall seeing them in cuch mumbere. Finally, the munber of children on medication, the hyperactive, te considerable. fuery clave in thie utlding hae children on mediation. Thia hae been going on for seven, aight, 1 wchors' connents are not restricted to the bright or slover children: {an moutly amoemed vith the average kide who have {¢ and can't get it together. sotlee vill mike ercuwes for her ahildven not fintehing anything. ‘They are just (oft 20 guca up in Life alone, in their roomo, or with the "eube." hey don't von fuse the eerwuts on garge to tuash chem.” They juot vender. Bverything ts prepuchayed for thom, Thoy are eo bored, so young A diseriet administrator with elementary school teaching experience suggested: She evemye stuient is thw one who te getting along, not bothering we, not Fluiking, and not eveating probleme for ue on the principal. That 'e what the aoerage student ie, and that 'e the one ue quiekly forget. There are so many others ho do bother ue. Taeir elasomates, (who) are not learning, and are rin thet monnis and daddye enazy, that ve have to pay attention to. There's a new crop of parents, too, and che denands they will make on teachers 4a River Acres are nov Just being felt. One young cother, born, reared and educated in che Fast, almost got up ona chair after a PTO seeting to deliver che following lecture for ay benefit Homework that ¢2 buoy vork Yo trach. Teacher’ wonder why I don't ask my okitd inh £0? .Tdon'e think it te worth doing, that te why. T vant my kid to row up to be ¢ sociable human being. Every night of the week I have at least tuo on thnes things my child could be doing that olearly would give her ekille, nest ospevtonees, a chance to grow in ecoial ant intellectual maturity. ‘hon one of the "ehoivea™ [Long drast} in sons dumb cut-and-paste proieat or fghtwen aonathings che clearly already fowove hus to do, oF putting together onething that nobody in the world in hie right mind could came abouts sthar fuges to the mone tmportan* thing. 1 don't ont 0 minimise the problem. I just hate not oupporting homework the teacher; but Uhen ¢ cones dom to doing a ailly gaosraphy eut-and-paate- chee nivere projcet ant attending the Houston ayephonys my daughter vill go to sehoot naming hopin the axe marntng Feachers are unsure how important these matters are for the future of River Acres Some believe sost prinary-schowl medication problens naturally stop by the end of middie childhood. others feel that child’ unrest 4s national in origin and vill change “as our ation returns to peace and prosperity." few clenentary teachers and principals think 2 source of tie nev crap problem 1s bezoaing too difficult too early. As one fourth grade teacher sald, Kean pushing too meh down! Pifth-grade aloud formitions (eetence) I leamed in high ashool. A ahild te required to loam things at the inero- actor level forever tbeaause ve start too early). The teacher who follows Pho math,marieal iv inadequate in may ways. I'am otitl teaching the sane hinge tomy fourth yraderg that I did in the firet grate. :ris A principal at another building say the 1970 sixth-grade curriculum as now being the 1977 fxfth~grade because of River Acres" sixth-through-eighth-grade. Junfor high school arrange= An elenentary school staff mesber poignantly expressed her sense of the changing tines land the changing children of River Actes: We are going to have to leave tha nother hon" concept in education pretty avon. ido in the. future nats move from a resource conten to howe to gehen non-ochoot fearméng envtronnente dur 10 souree of @ wohool day. Ko wilt never 90 back to the onatt comunity with’ the ineuitated school where no one puahd toe hand We uiohue could reach back t0 when 10% of cur kide tn obonontary.sehoot werent o Ritalin end Cod Inova how nan) of theth teaohors ane on Dares. We atoh Se Sore onalien again. But you cee vhon ue wore wnailers and Tues hives we tere not better, ve wre not nore pencon to person, us hada hiakory. stick ant not ach more Pe Bight kiddos have alunya learned. We could got say with saying, "ou can't do that" and make it etek. Inia that part of it, But ce mat reach aut for something better. he are reaching back to when the purpose of ookoct ag atears when there ton tine to finish. That's what goto the tesohare the moet: iste either no tine to fintah on no help tn using the time available when nothing eons t0 work. Ista all evarting just about nov. We avo going to gee sone teachers crack around here in the years ghead because no one ie Icoking ahead on these thinge I'm talk ing about. The recent past, present and foreseeable future of River Acres schools will feature student grouping for’ instruction, the last yeneral topic to be described before turning to the elenentary schools. ‘ Instructional Levela |” Students”are grouped for instruction {n mathematics from first grade ehYSUae high school. In the elementary grades children ave grouped for reading at well, in jO\tor and sentor high school the students are grouped in science and social studies, too. S)Sghe Senior year of ‘gh school there is sn enormous difference betueen the top greup andthe second and third groups, Another sizable ability/achievenent gap occurs between the third and fourth groups. It takes an exceptionally talented and dedicated student to do top Group work in all subjects at Central High School, according to students, teachers and parénts., Level one never conprises ore than five percent of the class ani in often less than that: During the period of this study the high school sathenatics "najor works" prow gram, 95 it is called, had detweon one and two percent of the stidents in it. (There ’was hho nasor works program avaflable in social studies beyond 2 group of tuelve students ina highly specialized courses.) * Tt would be d4ffteult to overestimate che necessity for instructfonal Levels én the minds of many of the teachers, administrators and parents. I discovered early that the ost comionly used term 1s "evel'--although sone elenentary teachers will talk about tn Structional. “blocks” when discussing grouping. (Word labels are ieportant to sone. One teacher told se, "Get one ching straight, we have levels, not tracks"! Later in the study an adntnistrator said to use the vord "corrective" not “remedial.” And the self-contained” classroos teacher said not to use the word "traditional.")4 1.6 +The Blenentary Faculty Handbook spAls out district policy on grouping: Heterogeneous grouping te encouraged for all gubjeste with exception of mathe- ratica and Language anti ets ~The achievement Level groups-are based and ongarized primarily on the effective nese cf the pupita’ reading aud math ekitle, = Teachér-evaluation, the supporting cumlative reading records, and achievenont teot acorea wilt be the guidelines in aetting up classes. = Gumitative feading Record Garda of akitle and envictinent materials will enable the teacher to diagnose needs, deficiencice, on probleme and adapt tnétruction accordingly. i The lowest instructional level in elementary school often has special education stu- dents in it, too. It is not clear how well this is vorking. "Special Edubation” 42 a word ve use for kide that aré really pretty enart + quite often; in fact, alot have nomat or better intelligence if-we tested them differently. They may not hear on cee thinge the way "we normal” people do.” We aay they "perceive improperly." Sometimes it's three or four Teele ‘things ‘that we say add up to 2 achcot problem for these kide. Still othere think pery well, very well--but alovly. And everyone knowe [eandonic intona- tion] that you san'e think alovly and be bright, right? Still ochere have tines whon they simply cannot concentrate, and eo an.’ They really do differ but we eall them all special edueation--or poor atudenta [A second grade teacher sees grouping children by levels contributing positively te the slow Jearner. "Because the slow student {afc} can do the woth they ee they can be prow! of themselves, These kids are getting 80s and 90s grades] “n science clasa." other techniques are used to aid instruction by levele. The elenentary achools make Use-of short-term contracts in hich the stodent has a epecified number of pages to ready questions to. ansver and suggested activities to perfors. Also, packeta of materiale have been developed in several subject ‘areas, elesentary science being one. They are aed by teachers to alloy students to work independently while the teacher ingtructs a group. An enthusiastic user of packets described the Remediation oan be one-to-one if you have paokete. And extra work to keep Kide buey 10 aluaye there. Kido oa work in teana. cach kid tume in on activity eal to the teacher to be cheoked. (For math and reading. ! ke date ‘each tine we check. The record of daveo when work ie complete hae proved to be a boon to us. Tt Lets us see who hav been goofing off--uhon there 1¢ a Tape of time and no work hae been tumed tn. A forser teacher now an adsinistrator had reservations about contracts: Jannat cure of the auocese of them. The kida go through the motions but I «a gure: they mica a lot. Used mostly with upper level ide. Lover level (elildven] ave all teacher divected. We begin in fourth-grade science and sonovhat in math. In fifthegrade acience, aocial atudiee wid math ue use thom. ‘Te takes a lot of teacher tine to prepare contracts. Teacher-made materiale are required. A very few clenentary teachers are not convinced that River Acres’ levele, contracts, packets, and subject departnentalization 1s the way to run a school. One principal said Chat most teachers sav that departmentalization improves getting the beat subject matterwar \ : specialises teaching the ost kids. “tut [sore] see dt ag an Issue of kids versus subject matter. it 4s voth a blessing and a curse. Teachers need eo be vith thelr chicks, ana vice-versa, chicks need good feed cc grov." A teacher im another sehool sates! “h pood self esteea 1s more important than achlevenent test scores. and when you departmental ine you throw avay your chance to work closely with youngsters River Acres covid be counted on to have its articulate dixsenters 9s well as if enthusiastic supporters. A discussion of grouping aiid levels deew one ‘contesty admis st ¢&- Dunbest idea ever perpetrated on, arhcola. Fewer Lcvele amy better level. Th: idea of a level is stagnation for starters. There te no swt ching apa deol Thove ave adulte who need to figure out cor uay to mest tha ohultengs Of dep ferent kids. 50, wo invent the idea of a level. tatty soon ss aay t2 cnclarh that it becomes real. We could have invented Learner Meypes” or "behavior pattems" ov whatever and cortad kide out that way, He'd very coon believe in that, too. what ue have to got around to, here pretty soon ts hat 2ood are Ui «dace, Yene/s, and can ve show that they verve anythinj mone than teacher con “~! Ateacher with more than twenty years in ‘Texas*schools sees aducational grouptis prifietpally as 3 product of school integration effores I'm not really for growing. urouping in Texas wae done only for evgregation. That's the year it cane aud that te wiy tt peraieee. They cam talk all the fomey tatk they uant to but that's why grouping happened and that'e why it's here (in Texas). Thia district te probably one of the few exacyeione tn the state. . [Instruational levels are not intended ae a segregation tactic. 1 I've worked with our state professional organizations on thia matter and ita ‘common knowledge among then. Another adeinistrator of many years’ experience caught ee unavares vhen T asked for sone reminiscences on the good old days she had seen. We liad been calking about the {a creasing complexity of schooling: contracts, packets, levels, special education, Litiga + fon, vhacever. She had leveled harsh criticism at mich of our ‘modern adjustments” to school problens The old ways ane a bwich of baloney. 1 oan teach prepositional phrases with Gleln Campbelt's records. The tinge oblige ue to teash with an eye toward entertaining children. TV and current events make us have to change with the times. We have to use methods aud techniques that-work and not ettek to thine that once worked. Any recreational road to instruction ie woeful ae I exe ie. The wiole conoept ie malding minds. We mat approach the task vith flesibiti cy. We must work with ohéldren, not againet them. The subject of the elementary crhoo? iv children, not mach or aotense, When oubjecta are focused on, ée then bezonas which Iovel’ to teach. Nou every’ toasher koiovs from Kindengavtcn thyough high school that tho top ievel kide loare in apite of you. They teach thomaelves. So wwe all vat them. We can teach all that good stuff alnoat by throwing the boo! tn the room from the hatl. igh achievers Lear in opite of you--that's what high achiever means; he han gotten more than uhat hao been offered on the average. The easiest thing in the Uorld to teach te subject matter. That means the kid ts ready and able. The face ie that by the ond of our school moot of our Kids aren't ready o” able for most of our ingtruction; they have dropped out, drifted dom to the bottan groupe or ai doing badty in the top ones. I defy anyone to look at a thousand ehildnen tn RAISD aid prove me otherwise. Now the hotl of it te ua ane no different from soy other school dieeriet. I'm only being honeat about it.ate Pretty stro fon.vhich there we opinion there. Which brings we to the elenentary schools and a topic jore agreenent than any other in River Acres. THE ELEMENTARY sctoors Back to the Baste: 2x Consens "Good thing" vas the nestly unanizous response to my question on the topte of "back £0 the basics." One teacher captured the prevailing apirtt of River Acres when she said, ‘ack? Me never Left! ‘The meaning of "back to the basics" for science and social studies teachers ehroughout the grades is increasing reading skills of children in the elesentary grades. For math. teachers K-12 means learning the 100 basic facts dn cach of the four arithmette operations. There was one exception to this near unanimity of viewpoint. As a key admintatrator in the district, Mr. Shores surprised me with a discussion of achievenent testing, vhich ed to the purposes of schooling and what was baste to tt? The quatity of etudent that has boon entering oun diatrict of Tate makes us took very good in achievanent. If ali ve déd vas look at our achievement scores tue might as well all go fishing. “Sixty peroont of our atudente are above the national norms and hatf of then moved in since 1970. \Thie creates a very interesting problen. Even though we are onganiaed on a basic skitle type progran-Mat Least through the eighth grade--I feel moot ‘peopte would prefer that their child be a ueeful happy oitizen who knove how to get along vith other people. ie are all hung up on back to the baoies and aren't dealing with the problem of the development of the child very mash. The uitinate goal te for tha ohild to fool positive about hindelf. Jn the elementary school we have tried to inatill in our teachers that each okild experience cone a each day. So from kindergarten through five (Fifth grate] wo emphasize grovth of aelf: from wiz through eight, the under- standing of self vith othere; and from grades nine through tuelve, competition vith cthere. You don't have to emphasize the bacice in elenentary eohool. Bveny' child vante to go to echool. There are no siz year old goof-ofis--they lust to do the best job they can. In high ohool kida nearly have ¢0 be made to do everything they do. Fear, college requirenenta, puitelment, grades fare used). Then we say, "These kida don't want to learn. Look—their baste skills are just avfull “Look at that spelling! And they don't even want to “read! Let'e get back to the basies!” I feet ve naed to amphacize the child nore and the basic ekiit less. When the ohild i@ experiencing guscesa he'll get, those basic ekille ae beat he oan.9 pen space "Closest thing to a marriage," said an administrator of her open-space school. she and many others who advocate open space see a chief benefit in the opportuntey for tuo os ore teachers to act as an instructional team. The aarriage metaphor ts apt in that any of the Interpersonal joys and pains of narrlage ere easily seen in che open space schools Some open spice teans were really humming, “sone were having ehele probless-ca fev vere "on the ral Texas accreditation standards define a "self contained" class as one taught by one \eeacher: for fifty per cent oF more of the school day. Open apace 36 not defined. A diderict adainistrator pointed to staff selection as one key to success In open spaces “er abiliey Wf ccashems ts gat along with ohéldnen on adults in ary eotting s mumified hy the open space. Thie ability ie not a part of our otafh ale stion svithmia or the teachers" eduattion prograns A self-contained teacher who had mut caught in open space comented on tean teaching: nuct oour thele more easily than it does here. We do it, but ie ie inky 9 schadute, "tne minis. better ther ove mink, ‘That has tobe im attantoge for open spate ‘The rianagemont requirements of open space were enphasized by a district administrator: Sun canmitment to opin space requines more management the would self-contained. The toam leader ie crucial in open space and tean cooperation cai become an ia3ue n nelf-contained it iu the principal's word againet the teacher, In open space it 28 noaaible for a sixtble group of adults to be involved in an tosue about reopen nibility. The vole of the coucelor in open space te preventative. In eelf-con= tained tt is remedial. I'm not aure that the comaelore realise the Open space in River Acres also involves team or grade-level acheduling. In self=con- tatned classrooms a teacher can plan and adjust the schedule to her individual taste. fot so for open space. The benefits and.probleas vere candidly descrived in words that squaced lth my obseevations: iy gease meana lange bays vith 120, 150, 160 stuiento, The Firat fev weeks iPisloot are dfffiauteengetting £0 know the novo of childrens Chats personali- hon, thein nadisation ail other apestal needes " 4n ‘ssue-packed balanced statement on open space was provided by principal, shesiuling te at the heart of the matter. Grouping requires that ochedutee » followed. So while it anmpe your inatmustional time tt aemurea you OF urricular) eovenage. Self-contained allove the teacher to uce her tine sxibly, if unvisely. Open-opaze programe [aasure) wide coverage and Lost pontiiity to stretah out a tgoaon when necdet--to cut ehowe when it coome "ise to do so. aiten a leoson ta going wolt in open apace anu tik achedule “penis,” that's it--in aelfuoontained you Keep rolling [A third grade open space teacher argued. whe uchedule defeats it, The lover groups ane hurt the moat by the echedule. they are "tumed on” 20 rarely and it would be good to the able to} go Lon ytearkings whew they ano. But the bell ringe.1-20 \ Another upper grade teacher said that open apace vas "perfect for some of ay reuedial children. They need to move about. fut the achedule 1a working against us.” She coserted that ore than one period 18 needed to "really pick up the child who 18 vay behind in ceed ‘ng, or nathenatice.” \ \\Fhe district's andbook for tasente presente several reasons for ite open space building progras. Two are: \ Greater effiviency in personnel utilisation which louere etident-adult satio and allous for more realtatia individualized inetrustion - Total etaff growth +1 cbviquaty a part of team teaahing. Teachero vorking and teaahing together prot up “enioke of tha trade” from ove anothers \ At the very tine when many districts across the nation are “phasing out open ares | schools, iver Acres ts building thea as quickly ar they are sbler therbeord seve wings tn construction costs apd some. sdsinietratera see an Sppartuniey ce chews trad tional patterns of instruction. One apoke st Length on the consort: I get discouraged when profeaéionale enotionalty knoak something they have not ‘een, don't wideretand aud won't make the effore to loro. I have been in a orackerbor traditional school that we mn beautifully wider tha open concept and have oeen [arahitesturally) beautiful open-apace schodte | Pun ap though all etasses vere aelf-contained. { If I yore teaohing in the high eohool' and vere aattefied with my work, why y would’ I want to change to open apace? I would feel uneasy about other adulte t 1s obeorving me daily. ° What about those "you-let-ne-alone-and-T'U1-Lee-you-alon daya" that you oan hide tn the eelfecontained elaseroon? i . | ven the most enthusiastic supporters of the open concept agree it takes considerably subtle structure, particularly in the expectations children, parents and teschere have af it. A prinetpal ‘who clained open opace gave her a chance to move children nore easily from fone level and one clasa to another also seld: open opade take You, parenta, colleagues, whomever ea: vee all of us--no matter uho you are visiting, ‘When a peroon cones to v% one teacher att of ue are.eubject to review. Toes do get stepped om. In open | ility ta the key. A couple veane almoat deatvoyed thenaelvee. The Finet question T get from a parent, @ nev teacher, a visitor da the agktevenent question, Do their sceree stay the sana? Drop? (In veading and math, of aour Open~space teachers were remembered by @ self-contained classroom teacher who decided ao to move to an open-space school. \ They erect theiv Litele divisional barwiera, then cubiole off thetr ou ine strustional epace, shen color-code their tevela, then get thetr deak might where it used t0 be in self-contained. nee that ie done they are ready'to be open. i Another self-contained classroom enthusiast sew it this way: Thove juct are not profoundly different pedagogical approdchee going on tn o space ard eelf-oontained. What te going on fa'a alaofon ashorosce 40 the” ochedute and a failure to convider the importance of dletraction ae a problem for young + Tamers. “By déetrastion 1 do not mean solely onal datraction or che nofae! T also mea something a little more aubtle, vdeuat dieeration. ition your friend in another clase tn open apace gete up or geto yelled ae, that 'a| distractionLan And 4 prophecy was offered by 2 teacher who hdd taught in both arrangements: The bright kide will do well on even better in open space. For the average it ie a maybe oituatton. For the slow it to a disaster. A second-grade teacher missed “her Kind of sounds” when she visited an oper-space school: Zt tg reminisoent, faintly, of the one-room schoothouse with ite. grades all together... . yet separate. There's no einging in open opace. ind Laughter must be kept down, too. Think about that. When you eing in open space you have to bother the others. Wile it doesn't happen very often it ta important fo be able to go out aut read wider the pecan tree when the right moment arrives. Another teacher (£ifth grade) who was positive tovard open space reported parental resistance: "stt-doun-and-be-quiot" parents ean be courted on not to Like open concept. It ig interesting to ace how the okild who may be hare by opsn concept weually has the parent who never shove up. The parents I spoke with at several parent-teacher night aeetings were over-vhelutagly in favor of the orgatizational, arrangenent their child was in: self-contained or open space. (I did not-find parents with ehiléyen in both settings.) Someone ig teaohing my daughter @ lot of good astronomy. She eate it up. Tan anazed at what oie ia leaming in the second grade Wie ta a electrioat engineer.) (Northemer) My son was behind in kis basics in arithnétic. The teacher helped us, recomended flash earde. It wae a long last year, but he hae caught up nov. I think the math progran ie terrific. (ezan) For many who teach ini open space the appropriateness of the concept 1s a matter of the needs of the child. A winner of the district's avard for excellent teaching said: Self-contained vereue open conaept £0 a question of the child. In general ope space auite far more elementary children then it doce not. Distractable teaners need self-contained claasrooma. If the oktld ia euited for open space it maano T car do much nore with him. The big difference for me is the goldfish bert There te no place for ne to goof off--to be Laay A claimed, Long-turm benefit of open-space instruct.on ts that more scfence and svcial studies instruction takes place. The teacher cannot delete one of the ather from her Schedule because she wants Co teach nore reading (or vhatever), s8 she can in the self- contained classroom An unusually strong clain for open-space education cane from an aduinistrator of many years in the district ie really believe in the potential of open education. By stressing individualized inetruction you get vhat ue all wat: the basice taught, each child gete kis individual liberty guaranteed and the elovest and beot child get their chanoce to nove forvand. Individualized inetruetion oan really be what Ameria needs in these troubled tines. Good programe and good materials con meet individual needs beyond the most fantastic dreams of any educator. -122 Those who regarded open space as success could see historical relationships between tt and their teaching specialty. The physical education teacher suggested If you think about it, PE teachers have aluaye had it. They have combined etasoes, broken otasces down for akiit training, ability prowed vhere neseaaary. PE teachere get such a bad rap from the azademic teachere that they probably couldn't admit it. And a Kkindergerten teacher reminded ne that pre-school and kindergarten teachers have Long enbraced the open syace concept Other reasons whichwnde-4y support inéluded the teacher's need for activity and working "vith others: I love it. I ian an aative person. I love to work with others. I'2L say for aertain I'll never go back to teaching selfrcontained. The ideas of” three others (teachers) are.aimost aluaya an improvement on mine alone when te comes to teaching. Sut Iwill say thivey-minute blooks are no! enough. T met with a group of four elenentary teachers vho provided this suamary statenent Me have so many things going on here. Me oan see more progress here fopen space) ae teachers. [411 could compare with aelf-contatned, direct. experience. ) Problem ts individualtsation ie restricted in self-contained room, If you think noise te a problem or distraction 12 a problan out here, try to do mone than one thing that te noisy in a self-contained room, Here ye can Learn from another teacher; the child can and does, too. (He) ean ace Uhat othere are doing. "an I getting tt acrose ae well as the?” It'a a lot more helpful than herting. Sharing ideas. We have veekly team meetings aoa primary team. And it ie no big deat to uatk in. Others can ‘help you when you need to go off for a bries period. The people who invented eelf-aontainad classrooms think teashers have ‘tuenty gallon reserve bladders, A primary tean leader has watched her second graders becone fifth graders in her school's open space setting and 1s extrenely pleased with then and the arrangenent. "T go ‘over to then and tell then how proud I am of then. Don't let me down," she seid, Two osher teachers in that school come over to the lover gredes and tell then they "ean hardly wale fo be with them next year.” Another class of second graders has been over to "aset the third grade section” and to calk about vhat it 1s like Two teachers new to open space are not convinced: If you'll Look carefully at our open space elementary schools you vill find close, self-contained classes set in a large, open area. Parente, tod, iiort clone, per Sonal contaata betueen teacher and oktld, especially at the early yeare in elemen= tary sahool. "Lttele people need a central person to call their’ om.” Teachers in both settings in the elementary. échoola say, "We are teaohing baaie facts in arithmetic, doing experinente in gotence." Both use aativity packets, sontracte which cal?’ for a certain anount of uork on the child's part. Both emphasise ing, grouping by level for arithmetic, very sporadically in acience and never tn the’ sootal etudies. so aFor what they are orth I noted 5 1, opencspace coachers appear to he on thelr feet more than are self-contained classenom teachers: 2. Teathers in self-contained sppear to miki nore use of chalkboatdey 3. There ts mBEe notse in open space chan’ én self-contained rons; 4, There ts nore student movement in open space 1 asked teachers about student freedom to move within their area. ‘In one schnol’a teacher said open space has long been a traditional idea in kindergarten How ft eunefnwa $1 the Firat courte graden. children are free to walk ara £f tho don's bother their neighbor. fang, somes the hind grade? Hind loa of that freedom. 1 Ie ig dteficult to avert certatn distractions in open space settings. For example, oon a First grade class filer by silently (From lunch, let's say), the class in sesston can largely be involved {a smiling and waving ce friends. by the fifth grade the children are used £0 op ‘school holds Fifth grade town mectings on Friday. "Onions and roses" are handed out to kids and staff. New students are introduced--a less than obvious bat very Important function ina quickly groving district. Problems are alred. No complaints are registered. from other grades about the noise or Laughter emanating fro= these meetings \-space butldings. One elenéntary The El of "DON'TS. wentary Faculty Handbook addresses the problem directly as one point ina List Fo mot alk through nofse. One of the most common mistakes made by teachers is Phat of someting with 2 "vom full" of noisy students. At the very cutee? the teacher should make it clean that he wll give everyone uko has anything to cay a opporcimity, but thet he expecta the sane considenation. Then, if he refuaes to ompote, sf he uitl stop and wait for the offendere to give chein attention, the habit. Of giving reenact to the porson speaking ta oon established. If the teacher dove Somete, hovever, mother kind of habit te formed; more people get inca the nomretevon, the volume of nokee tnoreases, and the control problem The matter of noise in an open-space school is a lively copie in the district. The chief, complainants about the noise in elenentary school are those who have not experienced it directly as a teacher. Tho adverse coments were quite rare from those who caught. in open space. Later in this story we will note a uhife in. these attitudes in che junior high schools. 5 All In all, chose in ope space advocate 1. (This {s less true for Junior high teachers). Self-coneatned classroom teachers advocate that arrangenent. Neither marshal convincing argumencs that ir makes any discernible difference in what children learn about : sefence, mathematics or social: studies.12a Elementary Setence Elewentary teachers in Kiver Acres believe formal sctence Instruction is necessary 18 the early grades. I ssked many what difference ir vould make 4f they delayed the fornal teaching of science until junior high achool. Nearly all felt that vould be unwise. That children would not be prepared for junor high ‘science was a commonly ancieipated consequence of such a curricular exclusion. This is particularly noteworthy when one considers chee alnost none knew what was being taught in junior Nigh school. Later @ siailar point will be made for the junior high ceachers. he Big tdent As was my wont in muchematics, I also asked teachers what science was or “what {s the big fdes?” Most of che elementary ceachers’ responses were brtef and to one polne: science {5 Cinding out about Life through careful observation. "A most holistic response was made by a district adninistrator: Gbgervation ant relating thet experienée to what you ave. That te ukat the lelenentary) teacher hat to find out: What the ektld hag in hio mind. In the elesentary school with the "science shack” (to be described 1eter), @ primary veacher aaid: Scionoe is the Little science building where more science got taught than in this whole huge building put together. Our gahoole are being built too Lame. Science is not a large group activity. Tt ig anall, for one person or a small grow: The Litele building had moro ther the fine otanae aide; it had the Pight size for emall chtidren to do soience ‘The only mention of difference in science achlevenent or interest for boys versus girls case from science team leaders who felt girls may use science af "cop out to be cute sith asle teachers like they do with thetr daddies." Allow me to Juap ahead n the story eo observe here that there is Iictle support for che notion that real differences exist for male versus female students in any grade in River Acres insofar as interest or ability in nathensties ‘and sclence ability or learning are concerned. Inportant exceptions in high school advanced science courses vill be noted. Science and social studies serve many masters in these ele~ Rentary schools. for sone they "humanize" the academic carriculum. for others Large sclence classes permit teachers to slough off students for renediation in reading and arichmetie For a very feu, science {8 crucial in its ovn right Success Two outstanding exanples of wlenentary ‘science teaching started vorking five years ago a8 science teacher aides n a temporary building ("shack"). Shacks ars portable "tenporary” units destined to permanently grade chis district in the years ahead. One person is now @ certified teacher in the district, che other now works principally in a nen-science role ‘As a result, the instructional flow of the shack 1s currently at lov cide. Veseiges of an earlier era’are revealed in the shack: hognose snakes, a Japanese rating rat, beaver loge from New Mexico, plants in demtjacs, sharksteeth, morning doves, pigeons, rattlesnake aking, hutches, fossiis, tanned hides and terraria. Tho aide, nov working in reading instruction, spoke to me of interdependence, balance of nature, endangered species, food chains, ecology, pollution and ithe scieneifiec method. she created "lend 4 pet" (taking animals hone on Ertal basis); "the great cree plancing project” (1,500!); 4 "save the eagles" campaign: and told how they even managed to Lose an armadillo. She still hae a’cat with two kittens, an a “sfLas alligator odt on loan, cacti and a fossil-plaster mold project undervay in her tine: ‘The only difference between boys and girte in science to onakeo and worms and that docon't tase tong. . - Resource conservation begina uith your om mind. For example, I believe it te important for them to learn firot hand that tenee children produce tense Grinats, The oat ie disturbed, the guinea pizs, the doves. More equeating, defecating, biting. Kide eee that, we talt about it. Environmental balance, interdependence, chitd rearing, cormatioation of emoctons, anstety teaching Lots to be leamed there. The rabbits who eat their young uhen they have been held. Our work in the shack makes: the {sctence) book worth reading for the kids. When a child asks hov a bird atands on a wire, a more reasonable ansuer can be found from holding a bind end observing, thn fron any amount of verbal explana- tion by @ teacher, I try wot to give a child a aneusr. Tho queveton noone curiosity and that means opportinity for Leaming--nat for getting uhat'e tn me into him. i The second aide who started the shack has become a science teacher at another elenen- taty school. Her present science area has features that include @ scorpion, tarantula, parakeet, spider, and an octopus on order. Eastern and Western hogaose snakes are in place. The day I interviewed her she vas running her two-tines-aveek science cetivity afterschool group. The principal supports her in every vay possible, (He was an art major.) Two boys were busily looking for the "lost" iguana,in the 21'x#! science anteroon. These "Thursday kids" are a bit squeasish about reptiles, or unclesi situations (aninal pens), Ms. Rudolph is low key, patient. She feels redundancy 4: Very necessary. Thay'IL forgot mich but ve-lear tt 90 mich easier later. They might not fully apprectate Nevton'e Law now tut T don't force it. tater they'd recognize having heard of it 00 it won't be a total ohock. They may oniy recall that objects behave differently in outer spage and on earth. She is starting to work out her om version of an integrated mathematics, science and « writing approach to the curriculum. The principal {# supportive of this, (He is the one who thought open space was "nuts" before he sav it.) The curriculum under design will inte grate SAPA and STEN into the curriculum. There will be no science class per se. (She would have a science area.) "The way wo teach ch{ldren forces then to see all things as separate institutes; you spell in spelling, use taxonomies in science, measure in arithmetic, think about people in social studies. Where in school do ve teach kids to get it all together?” ceneral Practice i | ‘he curriculum guide says "The goal of our [science] progtan {8 Lavestigation and this requires activity on the|pare of the chile.” There are no Texas regulations on eleneneary school science content a4 there ate for high school. There hae been a state coomecec at Work for several years. Wow “activity” anf “investigation” get lnplenentel range wisely from teacher €0 teecher. and school to schocl. For mmny. of the elenentary teachers one grade evel team leader seid it all Blenentary acience io ax wmecessarily scary thing for teachere, The tealnical complexity is not that great. Teaohere really do not need to know that mich. Je ts juot that we axe not prepared to teash it, have bad menoriea of freshman Botogy tn college, and get no in-service help to epeak of.1-26 Another gave me a cryptic message: @ ett me about your actence curmicutum tn the prinary gradeo. AL. Well, our noone have uater. Seience and social studied ae a humantzing influence are seen in the coment of one second grade teacher: “ Science te a child-centered activity in our school. Tt should be a place where the child finds out hob thinge work for himeelf. Tt ohould-be fier doking."ahy" ia important and seeing “hos” ia essential. Letter grades really ohould not be given. I give a 5 if the child participates at all.” In adienco ue try to expose thon all to the aie concepts and don't ability group. It land soctal otuiiea) 18 the one academic plase whore we are all together. ‘A fourth-grade teacher described science teaching this wey: The ochedule ia arranged for targe classes in science and acctal atudies instruc tion. “That freée up other teachers. to work on math and reading. It makee sence because. the reading problem te the biggest one we face in (teaching) science. 0 ve have over eighty students in there. How you really can't hold eighty at a time and we don't try to greup then for inetruotion. Children have a chance to be vith their agenates who they normally don't eee in olaee in school. Ie'e random aaaign= ment to stations and activities all the way. I think it te a good way to do te. The role of the textbook 4s less clear in sctence than in athenatics. The curriculum guide vas written with the text central to tts organization. Our curricutim in sotence ta coontinated by the textbook. rt io all there end ve follov it. I asaune it te coordinated: it better be! (Pifth grade teccher) And a fourth grade teacher fele17 ‘The texte and concepts in sotenoe kite don't fit. Too mich teacherdo and ohitdren-wateh! Open space aide thie because we have huge groupe in eoccal ‘atudies and ecience. Too large, for mich bevides dammatration. And a third grade teacher: The chapters in the cotence text ar far too Long. Children would Love to have ecience carly in the morning. Several experinente at once juat cannot be done vith elenentary school childven. Several thinge oan be done, aid moot of tt would be buoy work Like akilt aleete, individual projects going to the library, reading from the text while one group doea an experiment. fit only one experiment. For those who disvalue elesentary school science teaching, one kindergarten teacher opeakn: We have two houre and forty-five minutes in our inetructional day. Science : takes tine. (She teaches) a Little ecience before the echool'e eaience fair each year. I'LL Let firet grade do ectence. Generally I don't foltéw the book. It ie okay for the top group but tt to dry. The concepts are’ there but tt takes Ginny (the "ohaok" science aide) to bring it to real life. Reading about yeast doce not equal making bread,a7 ue actence teacher observed that one conceptn are too ditftevlt-f5f eleseatary schoo! chitdeens We cam get them to use words Tike "wolecute structure, models and chemtea? aubstance" and all those good things but they Just can't handle it. And our nev science peogram emphasizes that in the second grade. “I'd say 75% of thom on'e get the fafen grade universe sedénce materials "wave and particle theory; anil speatroscopie analysts of compounds; and conténuat motion of bodies in evace!® 3 @ chance. The elenentary school sctence teaching I observed was restricted to gYade four and five pupils. They moved from one activity table to another following assignments posted at the station, in one room {t vas six stations with about ninety children and two teachers. One group worked in the resource center. In a second it was three groups. with two teachers. Diteo pages from textbooks, commercial and teacher-nede packets tell etudente what C0 doy how todo it. "Place the iitmus paper in the Jar filled with vinegar. Note any change in color.” After students complete an activity they takes check-up exercise. A general abservation of the use of packets in science teaching as vell as mathematics and social studies in River Acres K-8 should be madothere. Dismay and frustration were expressed by several teachers over the avalanche of paperwork associated with the vse of these packets. Several teachers could not tell me who created them; "they vere here when I got kere.” The poor quality of the mineographing of the packets vas mentioned by parentis at sore than one elenentary achool. "My children are doing well, so that is not the nature of ay complaint; but they are blurred, often grammatically improper, and just Lists of things to do." “Another parent sau the purpose of packets as being the “opportunity to do more packets: She finishes one, regurgitates it on a so-called test for the privilege of-going on to the next packet. My’ Land!” EB At the Juntor high level parents vere eritical of several of the packets vhich they say as "so much busywork.” A particularly irate junior high teacher described her con siderable efforte to revise the packets in social studies which resulted in their not be'ag used by the department, S Several clenentary teachers told se they were glad they did aot have to teach sefence, because of the open-space arrangement. (Specialists do.) In two schools the science Reachers volunteered to do the task. I recall one mistaking ne for a college actence Reacher and asking, "Nothing personal, but vhy are ell science and mathenatics professors 0 blasé?" The elementary sckence teachers I saw avoided ansvering children's questions. One confided after clags, "I'm not going to ansver the argument about hot-core or cold-core earth's center]. The kide are going to dig out the facts. That's what science 1s, find~ Ang out the facts.” A particularly troubledone aspect of the science curriculuin 49 what to do With the poor reader? One teacher observed that manipulanda are out of the questiog for a room full Of edghty children (science 4s alvays large group instruction in the open-space school): So we put these kiddos in Large groups go ve oan have onatl groups in miatheniiticn and reading and there ie absolutely nothing at hand for the clover thon average Child in eetence. We need materiale, The teashere are trying. The kide are trying. So it must be the material. 1-28 A notable curricular difference in the self-contained schools is their practice of having large Lenguage’arts groups to enable then to have saaller groups in ccience and social studies. A fifth-grade teacher of the bottos level citléren said: frankly we don't teach mak aotenee. Ueually sotence ie taught along with social studies and it to in a uit Like "Dinoeaure” or "Tranaportation, ” Elementary Sesence Interest Several inforaants noted a general lessening of interest in science as childven moved ehrough the elementary grades Firat gradere love soience. It ia azoiting aid different. By the tine they get to juntor high sone are saying, "Oh nc, not aotence!” When first and second graders get excited about science--nagnets are fun you kov--they equedl vith delight. “we somehow manage to take out that fun ae ve go along. I'don't know how ve do it. Setence in general has lost its appeal. The science faire, 20 "big" in the sixties, have been reduced to a sonetine thing for sost achools. Several observed the "parenta’” science fetrs of the sixties were a ained blessing. The fairs st once created parental daterest in the science education and “terrific competition anong the parents for recognition aed peices avarded to (their and) their children's entries.” Teachers gave broad hints at what "works" in teaching setence to elenentary age children. . The things that turn on third graders are thinge which they have econ or heard about but never really underetood. If something does not appear to the child to be related directly to his life thon i¢ better be anaztng or fasoinating. Teacher! education ia really shore of giving ue idea that ork, Nore thax atything else, children love experinente. Even vatehing me do one te better than readings Doing then ie best of couree, but there te very Tittle they can really do.| Right now ve are creating ruet. When *hey read ferrous oxide it meas little. But when they see tt form, it atioke. Tho ie where the equipment and spade: becone crucial. Faces Light up for activities, go blank for reading about science. The things that work are not surprising. When children are interested, are active apd involved, classes pass nicely. One of the things that "vorks" is to avoid assigning reading in sctence. A similar observation was made by teachers in artthnetie and social studies {n all eleseneary school grades. Reading, mathesatics (and spelling) come first. Science and social studies cone second in both teacher preparation tise and actual teaching tine. ‘The principal, teases for: avoiding assignaents in science 1s two-sided: the texts are too difficult in reading = aetence naterials. es ka1-29 I spoke with teachers who work yith the lover-level science groups about "hands on" instruction to Interest=auch scadents. Une ceacher not without wit replied: "Yea, hut first ve have to (entity our hands." Later this teacher suggested that "hands en” setence experiences were needed far more by the upper-level students than by the lower-Tevel. stu Genes, She wis of the opinion that cop-flighe students could get verbal abscractions quickiy without really "onderstanding it in thelr bones,” which could come through laboratory work, (Presumably the loder-Level students would not ge the abstractions before, or after, the laboratory experiences.) . Elenentary Mathenaeies Mathematics teacling and Learning can be said to be much“like the children's chyne, linen 1£ ts good it 13 very, very good and when te 15 bad it 18 horrid.” When mathematics goes poorly in the later grades, especially with che lower levels, the question often falsed Ls, "shat are they doing dow there?” what they are doing "down there," as sau ie, was vhat they were suppased co be doing according to the district curricvius guide, the teachers’ objectives and uhat the teachers aaid they were doing. There are ehirty instructional levels spread over the five elenenvary grades. Each level has sk{11s and subskills spelled out in the curriculun guide that generally parallel the textbooks found nthe classrooms. for example, in grade four, three of the sub-skills eaphasized are: “Wusber Thory: Finds common sultiples, uses exponents Fractions! Adds fractions; subcraces fractions Operations: 100 addition, subtraction and multiplication facts and 90'division Faces by menory The textbooks in use often present more than one vay to approach the solution of problema Hore particularly this 1s offered as help in teachtug a skill. Teachers see this as SoQfusing fo the child. Children say Ae 1 confusing to then. "I don't get it mich way {5 right? Do ve have to do it both vays?” So tha ceachers select one way and teach it. “Then the kids end up weak {n machematies skills according co the juntor and senior high ceachers: achieve individualtzatton of work for low and high achlevers in mathenatics, ceach= fers use lots of duplicating masters. On any given day one can observe most children tn srades four and five working on “individual contracts” uhich ace packets of prepared aster: Elttoed sheets stressing specific arithmetic skills. Teachers recognize that children may do the contracts to finish thes rather chan co understand whac ts in ic. "But what is che alternative?” they ask. "Mass group instruction,” they answer: My observations and conversations Lead me to say they were teaching that they are supposed to. Not aerely at the fourth grade, or at the elementary school; rather, the Curriculum vas what ie 12 “advertised to be" fron K-12. One teacher in her early cventies Sada Loe for che spirit and practice of mathenatics teaching in River Acres when she said: : : ite ane cerpitty old Fashioned amd Ton proud of it. It te old fashioned od burer to exzest avers iret grader to have "rapid memory" of basic facte to Sens ie aleo expect fae? fret graders to have rapid merory t2 twenty. You Get wae you expect tn teceving and in life. When 2 gets dam to it every Gszwhing technique that yorke #3 an old fasizioned one the: involves. underszanding Fasze and renerbering then Quizkly. Tic really able children and people are the Gree ubs have the conseste under the nazid mavary.1-30 1s speed tn elenentary mathematics inportant? Most feel it 9 and chat flasheards and board work can help n this matter. A feu question the importance of an enehests on speed: "it {5 not how fast 7+8e15 can be given that the mathenatice eeacher shevia watch; AE 18 how much 748815 means There 19 no evidence or feeling chat boys are more apt or {nterested in aathenatics than are the girls in River Acres. There 19 some concern that grouping (levels) ees ies in Black of Nexican-Anerican children rarely being in the top grsups, tn general the achievement scores in mathematics have risen steadily for ali elenencary grades since 1970 and are at or above national grade level standarda. Some attribute this fo better ceachors ost to better learners (due to in-nigration) : A dtotrict administrator cold me chat mathenatics teaching is in the planners’ minds when their elenentery schools are built: "We design elementary schools to’ deal with sixey Kida in art, sctence, social studies and susic go that reading and nathenstics cen have ten." But primary teachers feel che pressure coming from “above” Gur team feels in general that the buck gete passed back to us ard the buck io cone denomination: “reading. We have to get the reading job done. Setence, math and social studies can wait. aut mathenaticn and nealing go together prety much. Twenty of twenty-five ohildven are in the same block in reading ond nathonatios. And a fev later elementary teachers have their doubes about vhat's going on "below." 1 have Just spent four vecks on one digit addition and I really represent thie. (Block 4 lover level; there are four blocks and each has an upper ond lower level.) What have they been doing for three yeare is what T tant to kro (She had not taught primary.) Only block 1 ie on grade level in mathenaeic: One teacher felt ts parents expected: any levels may confuse parents and perhaps go against what the The tevete 1-18 that ue developed in the past don't match what ve are using now. The parents have to be confused by this. We'll get it uorked out. For example, levels 1-6 mean completing the firet grade. The parente uho underatand shat don't tke ie. They don't renenber eahool boing like that. What they do want te nore and more, earlier and earlier for their child. Not all are pleased with the recent divtrict efforts to monitor instruction and’ achteve- «Bent by having elenentary tecchers complete checkliats on student nathenstics skill learnive ‘One open-space teacher exclai ied: ‘i Filling out record sheets on each child is silty; I have to record that on March 30 Billy knows hie facte fron one to ten. So what! I'm going to check to ee Ef he Rnowe them anyway. " If he doeon't, then what? Do Igo to Mrs. Athens and ask (what happened Last year]? If ahe eays che vitl do her best to teach then that's goed enough for me. A ehntra grade teacher in self-contsined classrous pointed and erteds That oheet! [in math] No teacher needs a sheet to know whether a child can add 44. And ue don't make any wee-of the date the child waa checked ae Fonowing’ 444.matte che Bip ta Mhat {3 math? “I asked scores of teachers this question and the answers generally vere "logic" and “computation.” In the course of their telling me about nathy the topics of modern mathematics and back to the bastes recurred. They said: I never aay it [moder math) work, [At third grade.) Ie pute kids into junior high school math with expaded sentences and all without having the baste ‘addition and subtraction faate dow. He do talk with the firet and seaond grade teachers about our children's veainesses in basics. But we are all using the sane text and following the acme currioulien. lext year Te wll be bettar ith che new books. Siz yeare agd we made a mistake and went too far in teaching abstractions. He had to; we had no choice. ALL tho texte were modem in Texas. Wore, bbe, had a 1-3 grade sevice and 2 different one for grades 4-5. Iwas told that the reason the naw math was brought into being uae to satisfy child's "natural curiosity." And I thought that was a ridteutous statement; because who's curious as to why 5t2=7. Tom tell im a second if a cahool has gone back to basies in the second grade: look for the flaekoands. Modern matnratice? I dislike it: Too may ways befudile youg child. I skip what T think ie useless ad uae what I think ie pertinent. I really think Addivon Westey shass three ays when one will do. The brags tacks are leaning addition wd subtraction. That's ie, I dislike our book, not enough dritt, it's modem math. tc adopted a new book. I don't mos tee eiete but tt’ has more drill, more basiee and I'LL Tike te Sone work hag begun on netrics but the progress {¢ not clear It Ithe*new text] has metwiee. But confusing. Could be ant ‘opportunity for teashere on this, (A second grade teacher) ‘Teachers feel some expectations for elementary school mathenattes may be too high: Uideretand place value to millions for a third grader?! (Consinues’ reading fron the district Mathematics Guide) "develop skit? in oubtraction with and with- out regrowing through hundreds place. Understand inverse relation between addi- fon and subtraction." Half the ~srent-teacher eounatl couldn't do yhat we are expected to have our Little thind ceudere doing by April. A secratary in the board office showed considerable interest in the questions I vas “asking teachers and students. I asked her what she thought mathenatice vas. Her reply stuck with me through and long after the study's completion: I don't snow how to eay what mathenatios is but I can tell yow-tteamed te hate tt in lies Adane' second grade.Mathenacics Texts and Expectations Reading 1s king of the elenentary (different) math text: The textbook says t0 ahow method A for regrouping in addition. and then to ‘auitoh to method 8. Every teacher in the aohool knove thie confuses Kide. 50 ve don't show kide method A. Fourth-and f4feh-grade teachers describe yet another publisher's series: The text doesn't flov-fror one page to the next. The principles of miltiplioa- ton, addition, divieion and eubtraction are winelated. For example: Se3=(225) 46 ise 6 + 9 A Wty ohould the kide lear thie? -ALL the teachers here would agree vith ne. [tte really a stinker. The text agqumes that if a kid eam reason through one problen the kid oan do them all. Thie ie true only for the above average Kid. Almost to the ceacher there is 4 sigh of relief that the “nodefn“bath god" is dead We are fortunate not to have gone uay out for the neu math. We have stuck to the basica throughout it all and the resulte that are coming in shox ue kere right Boredom Student attitude touard mathenatics 4s a nbst frequently heard topic (after learning the baste operations) in the dialogue on elenentary achool math instruction. To counter~ fact student. and personal boredox, teachera create avariety of ganes, ditto masters, puzzles, ‘approaches. Doean't have to be dull. Everybody tikes to tatk about thenselves; to work on a problen that te their gum problem. So I atuaye use my kide” nawes in the Problens' ani make the problens something that relates to their Lives in echoot or out. (Grade 2) There is no way on God's green earth to teach mathematics without a lat of dnitl, It could, can, phould be fin. (Grade 3) ‘/ We adopted the (new) series a year and a half ago. Where io it? It has gameo, hints, ideas, activities that ve need to epice it up. (Grade 1)134 Fifth graders are harder to motivate thon are firet graders. By tae tine they are in the fifth grade they have had the whole bit. ‘They got the came ehinge \ they didn't understand the firet tinéo back again aud for the firet time honeat t0 goodness boredom is felt about mathematioa-even about octenee. (She wae a tem leader at Meadous fifth grade.) Then there to the untvercal of fifth grade spring for sone of the girls, thooop! Pears, friende, menatniat cyclen, ‘Another ceacher (in her ninth year of teaching) spoke for several when she sharply Aiseinguished high-achieving sath students from the boredom of others? You might ax yell forget about teaching conceptual mathematies to 75% of the ektidren in elementary school. The upper level chitdven Tike tt. The rect ane not only bored--they hate tt! Another {4feh-grade math teacher linked the elementary school éxperience to what she thought was coming in Junior high! hen (Loser level) ide-th the fifth grade get.to' junior high school they had better be ready fox boredom. Te haan’ changed much fron vhen Tans shoves At the ond of the Fifth ve identify guilta and dofiotenctes fn sldior pon crably-shat ve hear from the too junior high gohooto lona-fourth go to Sf tad thtee-fourths to Hc) te, "Me don't haye tine for all that, just give ue the level.” Khon in the otzeh grade that mecno the Igscet Tove! gets the iowat level Book and no deftotency skill program ie fotlaed to help then Tee amack into the book Whar 4s coming in the Junior high for eight students in ten’is @ let more of the ene. For the very able it will be pre-clgebra; but that 4s getting ahead of ay story. Elementary Social studtes T paid far less attention to elenentary social studies than T did to sckence and mathematics. I believe the teachers do, too. My question as to what the "big Jes" was in social studies brought Little beyond "history" and "geography." A fourch-ecade concher offered @ coment on the lover priority assigned social studies! "In the self-contained classroom teachers set theit personal priorities and science and social studies turn out te be step-childran, nile some teachers find social studies teaching most revarding with the most’ able ehildren, 1 found none who enjoyed social studies teaching with the least able. Block one kids are really intereoted in concepts Like continental drift. That concept ts too far above the average blogk to's head. So the difference te vealiy a big one. If te not juat a matter of a Little difference, The book io filled with imélevanctes: I have to dig to relate it to my child- ren‘ lives. The setence book, onthe other hand, is easily related to their Lives. ‘They need a lot of help with observation. He are creating 2 soctety of non-obtervant. children. oNass In the open-space Setting ‘social studies seems to moderate the effects of grouping An other subjects. 1 feel science ant coctal studies gives ua the one place in acadenie schooling hon the Loveat KL! can really participate in elasc. There are so many things that can te done that are fin for children of all ages, abilities. Te ie vital that ve kedp uaiense amd vocied vtulies informal ina school that Aonogeneously guouva in reading and mathenatice. A social studies teacher pointed to the state accreditation principles and standards and commented that, "Lf the geography dovsn't get better soon around here somebody sight ake an issue out of this." She pointed co gtandard 4 under principle Xi which ereats the patter of total school oF departmental quality: "No segnent of the school 1s overcrowded Or underequipped in order to maintain the progran of anether segnent.” she warne Me have large social studies claoses to let them have small classes in reading and mach, we aren't getting them taught any geography thie way. It'S auful what they say tn high school about tt and they ane right. \ ut she was a rare bird in the elementary social studies aviary. The curriculus could Aisappear tosorrow and no Juntor high school effects would be noted. fn asetstant principal nas his persona ait of indicators about che status of the elementary sockal studies and science curricula A "Mead give away” to our weure attitude tovand scotat studies and often science--thie te ‘ude, not necessarily iether ye ane competent of not=~ te the number of Jitne dr [tin stripe ve use and show in science and eocial Studice, Too maly teacher shoy fine and call it eotence. Take the heart of the elementary curriculun: reading, spelling, writing and ardthmetie. “Row mary filve do ve show there. Very few indeed. We’ knoy what we are doing there. Te ts not that we don't use then. . . but judiciously. In actence, we are tn de porate need of help so we turn to film.” The printed materdalo vill only get uo > tn deeper erouble with the woat-alitled oktld i reading. So ve tum to the non prine. Tf oe had tnserustional telavéaton tn the building you would have prook sitive, T believe. The tir. Rodgere, am National Geographic spectatel would be ‘ou all tho tine, But we can do ao veil o” better than leatrio Company| in teach- ing reading. "A lot of teachers in the elonentary sahool are just plain\afraid of vetenee, “nd a tot of Seashere tn the junior hgh aohact that aren't ahguld be Social studies 1s felt to be a filer in the curriculum by onp priniry teacher: 10-1 wie to foltow the curvicutum guide for the prinany I voild. teach Wine Bolte’ on Relday end saan on Therddaye “Pha tide heel pangs dup fron Mime cbolis £0 oteqe Xt haven yoars Of age and wake sonar out of tt. Tehapeo? aoe / recent grade gootal studios ourstoutia weet Mtmecpotte to iLlustrate the Growth of Sommntttee.) ; A second grade teacher is trying to emphasize personal khovledge in her social studies teaching, to get 4¢ "out of the doldrums.” | She has tried "My Name" firet unit. Fun. When someone ubed your name and you did not know he knew tt, how did you foot? \ Draw a picture of yourself today. When you grow up. Guest who this pteture (teacher shove elase self portraite). Teacher said che never did ary real sooval studies before this. ay 40: 1-36 Ié'a.caater to'plan a sootal studies unit than to plan a acience unit. Child- ren are really interested in ectence, but what they can do and learn someching from ie hard to plan, For the sost part elementary social studies 1a taught without regard for uhat ts coming in the year(s) ahead or what has gone on before, It 1s not seen to be “essulative” as sathenatics {8 seen to be. The senior high social studies teachers will coment on this. In general, elenentary school social studies is a lovepreblem-aoctrouble aegece of the curriculus. curriculus Problems There 49 apparently no one in the district with the job or ample time to explore curricular problens at the depth and for the duration required to understand whae say oF ‘pay not be happening in the science, math or aocial science curriculus. froe tise to tise ix ay study I found nost perplexing information. For exanple one day I pursued with eke counselor an observation nade earlier by a math teacher. The observation was thee over several years a sizable group of children had first, a markedly different achievesent. tn math and readings and second, that the more able students were better in cath than tn read ing and less able students were better in reading than in sath. le took an hour to pull reading scores of tuo arbitrary levels of students at one arbitrary grade just to see vhat the achievement test scores vere. If the atasent hal scores greater than one year apart we called it a difference. If {t waa year oF Leas we called it no difference. Here 13 vhat ve found: Math —— Read-Ht Read-lo —Math-Lo Sane level 2 as 2 r Level 6 2 10 8 Now what can that ean? And {3 it crue for other grades. For other levels. Ts 1¢ Just the test being used to measure math? Does it have something to do with teaching cath? Is it true only at that school? Probably no one knows. Even if one wished to explose such laters, the tine required and personnel needed to explore curticulus isaves are not ia 1 River Acres. . The Great Mystery ‘There {9 a specter residing in the minds of River Acres’ teachers which I calied the Great Mystery. Although I love a aystery, I never initiated the topic. In its alliest fora tt merely can be called “forgetting.” 1 think Jt 4s 4 crucial {ssue in teaching, Let's begin vith elenentary science. voday we did Tease Newton and gravity. It was fun and the children loved it. by the end of the day I felt that the Losest greup--nost of them had a grasp of gravity. They might forget tt by tonornov. But we'll review tt for a couple = days and at least they knew there ie eonetiing holding you to the end of the Tt earth.How i maths teacher speaks: for the "blak 1a! (86 of 140 tind ymaicen) abt thind grakcoe know one snpect in mith ome say otal the wert it te yume. 1 T mean GONE. (She UE th btook Zeowavenaie ids), Te ta a woek bo wnek, year to your exper Pihane Wad ski Tbwn Jor three yeaa ina rus, Brae hte faeen up. to 29 valliciom ive ifuliy in Say, comes hawk in deptumbr wal hee foryoceen then. Finnnm gers metention.§ Moo what [anit ‘you to Raw dn that Abh the bide exaepe Lic Ly ial sera: af. them too, eve this myeteriione "Forpreeing diseagr.” tae aoe fhe the Me" horroving ant carrying anal 1 wae so happy ad we vere all Taneing. sigten Thonkoy ving Chay can back wut anced Like they hal never heard ‘tig ont Morven,” forvow!? Tensions Live ween vin. They eee ct every day and unt saad £0 88, 80 ae donte (alk about tt. But ie thers: teaching mach; day A fourth-grade teachor discussed the aystery tn the context of her concern for the amount and vonplexity of mathematical informtion and skill being "pushed domward in the curriculum 1 tewsht. the baie addition fucte in the firet grade to these very aqne children. 1 ave compivte sonfidunoo tn the Inathenatias) teaching of my frienda here in tie gudond aid thivd grades. I kyon they did it. and we yee all available manip- ilaeive materdale, counters, popeiole atioks, filmetrips, flasheards, you now. ow { futve the game Teele people T hat three years ago.” The nathenatical under Stavling fo still thore, but the proficiency 1a not. Swan [vacation] forge sting hito-them every year. T can tell you they had it t0 18 [the basta addition, eub~ travtign facta, no earrying, borroving]. They Love it, find it, Lcce it. haybe none of the 18° te really a part of your eysten, a part of you. "It's too-mich= teowearly maybe. Shumber readinge ¢ greatiy overemphaatzed in kindergarten. We take pride in teaching more, faster, earlier. Teaskera firet grade) will cay, . NU had my top group im second grade math in February.” We really don't know what difference that makes. Another mystery story had several tellers, This one ts analagous to the good and bad years for vine with the school reasons not being so obvious. An administrator tells us the iret story: The fifth graie class at X hac a history of a total clave of children. Laat yeas ue hail a responsible group but far Lees reeponsive than thie yeu Tam thinking about both groupo during Novonber and Decenber.. A feu years ages had the moct immature and eusctess group 1 can ever recall. that makeo thae? The kindergarten toachere.eay we have a burch of ely terrane coming. T didn't believe 2 uneét 1 eau tt The River Actes teachers and staff would ivelcone assistance in analyzing and combating these problems {n'the teaching and learning of mathematics. it ts a groving problem in the minds of sone. In €act, the overall al€fieulties in teaching mathematics to the SOX ‘of the studencs below average may be increasing. Phe more able atudente are getting more able ad the leee able, Less able. it ig clear thgt in mathenatioe that those who are "getting it™ are getting nore. of it, and faster. 8138 Help Wanted by Elenentary Teachers Several suggestions for welcomed help were offered by elementary teachers. The most prevalent, noted earlier, was a plea for help with teaching mathenatica to children wo have difficulty in Ioarning the basic facts. Others call for help ia teaching the meric aysten. Dozens of cleuentary"teachers, particularly in the fourth and fifth grades, vant to feet with their high school counterparts in social studies, science and sathenatice to show thes what they are doing and to find out what their children are heading for. For exaneie, they wane t0 find out why children who are "sailing past fifth grade cetonce and sack should not be given sixth grade aateriels. They are puzzled by reports that the bors are ore outgoing in Junior high and the girls chy. Te 1 because there are more male ceache ers? Because che organization suits one sex verter? They feel chat cross~grade meetings would help Junfor high school reachera see what Ehey ave up againot, An experienced third-grade teacher nov teaching iret grade for the firoe eine vas: + amaned at how anall these children are.° You need patience beyond belief. F taught third grade I really could not underetand why more.than one ohtld in ten wae not reading at grade level whon they cane to me. Nou T axpect SOX #0 reach graie level tf I am luoky. I think $0% 10 1 reasonable expectation im mathematica, however. "xtde don't cone to achool kncwing how to work in a growp for inatruction. It'a a0 obvious, but T thought they did eomohow. They have ‘0 tearm t0 etay in Line, atay in’ theér seat, tate tuna, not talk when others are. There io very little a firet-grader can do by himoelf (that helpo in grow tnatruotion) Another £4: teachers know that! erade ceacher 4¢ 1 all when she gaid she doubted that junior high When I oay "Put your heads dom on your deak," it Literally meons absolutely nothing to alnoat alt my ctase when we begin the year. That'a how fan they have to coma ‘The staff ‘of the elenentary school chat exchanges grades one day a year vere most positive about that experience. Indeed, it has changed careers, initiated diacussion and ‘sade everyone closer in their feelings toward one ensther. A principal called for in-service workshops on the differences between elenentary and Juntor high achools, eo "we can really ealk with one another for a change.” Ke treat than 1ike children in the fiyth and then after three aumer month they Begone Yetuiente.” Moet elementary achool teaahore think thoy are there £0 help children with their leaming mathenatics and moat jwiior high cahool teashere think they are there to impart mathematics to atudante who vant it, Elementary gohoot level three kide got taught where thay are, wheveae junior high eghoo? level throe kide get taught the vane a tuo, only slover.. What thie endo up aa ta moving fron alow ashievendnt in the fifeh grade to total failure in the sixth, The juitor high school vill eay it 10 beoavee they are having a tough tine 9 adjuot to Junior high aohool. I eay they aren't taught anymore. Tt'o etthar them or us--one of us hae to change, on esi 139 Not one menber of the entire elenentary Lincoln faculty knew what the Jundor high actence curriculue of instruction est* sine) Gs emphasized. Sane thing for social studies. Sane for math except chat flfth-grise Ceachers knew about sixth grade pre~algebra classes This meant they identified their "pes" sath students for that class; that's el. They all said they would Like tq visit to learn nore about juntor high sehoel. A former high school sctence teacher who nov serves as a district adniniatrator be- Lleves part of the cross-grade comunicacion difficulties vould be eliminated by viewing the junior high school as its nane implies; 1.e., a junior version of high school. These grades ould bo better served by an intendieeiplinary approach. It te a junian high school. We do not have the middle eghool concept in this district. State regulations ody ve oan do junior high school ey vay we want. we could fuse Bugiish and reading/ariting/opetting, uhich nov are sepanate with unnee= Becary duplication. Social studies could be fused wth nglich, too. This ould be an casing of the X-5 to (grades) 6-8 traneision for atudente who are neither fick nor foul the way it. is now. A conment on the real world of elenentary classroom teaching seens in order here. shen, I interviewed this teacher in the course of a part of that interview I noted the dectaions she nade chat I could observe. Thirteen decisions in ten minutes; she reacted co the following: Se = What colon t-chivt chould I wear?" "I don't widenetand this part." "What page ar ve on?” "can I use the flaghoande?” "I ean't do 16 take aay 8." "My eye hunvo!” "Billy te cheating." "What dose this ord eay?" "What dove thie mean "Billy te stil2 cheating!” "Do ve need our bozea?" "Sone people didn't puck in their ohatre.” "Fe this good work?" For those who regard the task of the elesentary school teacher.as less difficult than that of the secondary teacher, I offer the following fron a secondaty science teacher? When I wae vingle I could teack elenantary e2hool, I could devote my total aetf to it. And I dvd. I plarmed nighte-for-indivédual children. Honootly, now that Tehave a family I oan't. and it’s impossible to do te for 175 any~ ay. So to make ¢ long story hort, I'm not in elenentary anymore. Moet alenentary teachers can't do that because they don't have enough houra in eotence for certification. i The elementary schools of River Acres are pleased with’ that they axe achieving with their children, Texas poet uth Roberts did not intend her foes €0 speak directly to that sense of pride, but I found tt apt. t aNsIDe ovT I watched her safely to the dooe, Then, Job over, I relexed and soiled Bue what, ay (classic) still, small votce of (historic) conscience/euilt asked, 4 there are devils within? Those? My.anewer, 4a a newfound! ‘tone of reason, strong and clear: She'll have co deal with those hééself- fuuth Roberts1-40 THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS: GRADES SIX, SEVEN, EIGHT The Feport is now divided co present views of Westland and Eastland Juntor High Schools. Both are open space end both were opened in the past tuo years. If the reader has réad the descriptions of the use of open space for team teaching in he elementary schools of River Acres, a word 4s in order about open space in theet justor high schools. Labels are conventent and tricky. The twenty-mile Borax coam had elshtece mules and two lead horses. open space in the junior high and elesentacy achools ace ene ane in nase only. A Both junior high schools have nearly identical instructional curricula, the sane pro- cedure for assigning students to chree instructional levels, with minor variations, stellar “materials and building architecture in the science, satheaatics and social weadien, “fu teaching 1s infrequent in both and neither individualizes instruction in the three currievia Bot, I fele the nevness of Eastland Juntor High (opened three sonthe), sts ete (500 sale tfonal students in approximately che sqae basic plant), and unique theaee which appeared in one and not che other suggested the advisability of « separace presentation ~ 4 ,Hestland (WJHS) and Eascland (EJHS) offer the sane curricula in science, methenatice and octal studies insofar as courses are concerned. Neither does anything special. tor Ats Mexican-American or Black students insofar ae staff recruteaent 16 concerned. They do provide @ federally funded renedial reading program. As one faculty put ies ‘The prebleme the Latine have are in English, not Spanioh, Avithnetic te the eave in bork Languages ond they mist learn Englieh oF they'll never out tf an Central High, ftftean percent reduction in chp Loans ehey took cut while in college. Westland Junior High School is not so classifi What 19 a Junfor high school? Some say {¢ Lo @ holding area until puberty to dn full owing. “Others regard it as a-prep school for Central High School. I teard sensor hah Seachers say chat WJHS and EJHS ceachers do not challenge/ students enough tn sath and uck= ence--especially math. Tt is not a natter of misinforsation or @ lack of communication a sone would assert. The senior high school science faculty use a different stick to aeasure educational progress. They judge a Junior high program that has been called "excellest™ 18 being "chin im content" or "lov in expectations,” They have different standards. They will epeak for chenselves presently. Both Eaetland and Westland faculties have teachers sho, Like their elesentary col~ Leagues, ore concerned about the increaving difficulty of the. total curriculum in River sores Earlier and earlier we expect nove and more. Where will it end? We pay for it eartier and earlier, too. Soandinaviane do not etart their ohttdven weil age eight. Their Literacy nate ie better than oure. In to yearo thelr ohild~ Pen are caught up with thei European counterparce. In both schools the chroe curricular areas treated in this study are presented wep= arately and eaphasized equally. With only the rarest exception 1a an ettenpt made to fuse, Antegrate or in any way relate the mathenatics content with science or the social studiesean For example, @ departsent head in one of these schools will not tolerate any discussion of coursework other than that taught in his subject. It te not so auch preventing the crossing of subject lines that characterizes Eastland and Westland as 1t 1a expect ing that the courses ought to be kept separate as they are in high school. Westland Junior. High School.” - Clear, carpeted, orderty, open epace, good Lighting, friendly-but-tough principal. sete the tone. So ran my notes from the fire, quick vistt to the school. They represent fragnented impressions that-ttl1 seened about. Fight three months later. Before long I started to see the mathenatics teachers working with their calculators in their areaa, grading, proc- toring examinations; the science teachers going to the electronic test scoring sachine. I started ‘to hear the notse of instruction coming through the noise of sy initial confusion, The noise level (quite reasonable for 175 kide and 7 adults in a sathenatice area) 18, nonetheless, terrific. ° Teachers are Literally shouting ‘their lectures, direction questions at kide. (Wot on disctplinary--but on dnatructional matters.) Kide An all levels of science and social studies ere “dressed vp. a class of 30 (botton) in science the last period of the day, I aaw ten girla with hose fand fx with pant suite,” Leos obviously “dressed,” nonetheless had on expensive boots, Adidas track shot Jewelry and other accouternente that conplinented the girle’ attire. Teachérs. cay the richer kids fron tzo of the gore affluent feeder elenentary achools get along better with studente fed to the junter high schools from poorer neighborhoods than they do with other affluent kids. I observed no social-clase tensions in these schools during my work in then. For example, in Weatland had about 1,000 students at the tine of uy viatt and had been open for « Little over # year. Ite principal, an enoraously successful football coach in years gone bys. waa enthuatastic about the study. He runs a tight ship with a heavy enphasia on humor, clear expectations for student conduct, and complete delegation of inatruct ional authority to the three departnent heada in science, mathenatics, and social studies. Simply put, he views the world ag imperfect but reninds his faculty and étudente that ve are all lifetine members. "So let's quit complaining and go do all those good thinge.” he Juntor High School Setence The Juntor high ectence curriculus, sixth-grade general science, seventh-grade 1168 and eighth-grade earth, does not butld on the eleaentary science curriculus in either junior high achool. Teachere do not aagune that atudents have certain acientific under~ atandings, or have laboratory skills, or come with @ common curricular experience fron the River Aeres elenentary schools. Nor do they fault the elezentary schools. Rather, it ia not expected to be otherwise. In fact, the Junior high acience teachers know little about the elementary ectence curriculua. state azoreditation atandande asoount for several of the ways ve do things here. While elementary sohool ta not detatted by the atate, jurtor high eokool sotenoe must offer three quartare of science which mist inolude earth and Life. (Not specified which one i tuo quarters.)a2 i i 150 ezseolo thoes stoxdarde by offering one year of physteat SStence in Bie aizthy one gear of Tile ectonse in the seventh, oki ons pean cert Solens" tn the eighth, (Gvidence that they tte estence beabeent ton cot rouaty.) The feeling that sctence 4s aa tnporcant as any other subject 1s widespread in both + _ Junior highs, “This was not so in the elementary school shere reading and nathenatios kre “ie.” The difficulty many ouudents have with realing and satheeatice nade setence ‘Less basic" in the eyes of one science teacher--bit she was the one exception, 2 ostonce, but tne rintmen (barie) thould tnetude aooeptiy y for chenselves in and cut of echool. That could sere a the een echool content and the neal vordout there. He all vane gcience Sotence witl be nove Ukely to accepted, open space ' Open space is regarded as a nixed blessing at best by the Junicr high school science faculty atWestland. They regard-de ag a alight advantage for one suall clase (fifteen) of below average students, but ag “inposeible” for ancther ("the 200"). Move teachers feel open space soderately distracts thesr average atudents and 1 of no iaportance in80- far as teaching science to the top group. One veteran teacher saw the openeapace nolee problen aa, "A teacher, not a student, problen. The kide don't care one way or the other." T observéd one teacher on two separate days managing to achieve a sense of intinary eich hher group by bringing then close together. She was exceptional; I never gav atudente seated on the, carpeted, floor: : A veteran teacher detailed gone of the shortconings of open space then. he had experienced We are bisvacd. Baqutéful etruatures, Wow I'm going to tetl you senething that acunde:foolteh: tn alt yn space we have no svase: We have no quiet space; no onal epace, no diverei fied inetruattonal epaoe. Whee" the Big 14 There {8 no Joque aa to what constitutes science’ at WHS. Factlty potnt to the cope teal headings of the Guide or the chapter titles of che text. ‘There is ‘Little faculty enthusisen for teaching “scientific inquity" or for "eeach= Ang ingutry by the sctentific method." Further, there 4a the prevailing view that, “Those who pronote inquiry over facts and concepte are hurting most studence, Only the ‘advanced students can benefit from that.” A decade ago in River Acres the Juntor high actence curriculus was in the handa of fone nan, He ueed early vereions of NSF earch acience isboratory cateriale, He had t©43 revurite his ova version because mathenatice vas way beyond nest of his students; too hard for the students and the teachers. This vas especially true of meteorology Sizable portions of teashare in NSF institutes in neteorology vere hopelevely loet in the mathenatice of meteorology... Inagine what the teachera felt cho tried to uae the materiale yho never attended NSF upgrading inetitutes!? It's enbarraaving for a teacher t0 be in that position. But that was 2 decade ago.’ He has since retired and so has much of the curriculus be tavented. Current curriculum development is of less certain origin. I don't know who tt to but soneme in thie dietriet wate everyone to be at the sane place at the same tine. ‘The actence curricvlus, “including @ new Guide, 4a not seen as troublesome or in need of change by most of the ataff. The exception (of course) existed. A hodge-padge. The oaquence i without juatification. It doee not proceed on a imovledgs development bao: ‘hae queotionable redodance: biomes, Bionee, biones. Life actence te too varied and complex to be vaeting ido’ The place, tine and difficulty of teaching physical actence in the secondary school 4o an disque in River Acres. The aforenentioned experizent involved these questio He year ie is in the aixth and ninth grades. The difficulty lies in part with ataff training. It takes considerable preparation tine and "'there are no good physical science fr grades ix, seven, and eight," according to many of the teachers. Teachere they do not have the tine and in gone cages the talent to do all the things the curtieulus (text) geens to call for. The Library and resource center are used occasion lly by the stafe-valmost never by the students in science. Studenta are often usenthustastie about the earth acience curriculus (Studente confirmed that in an interview.) y teachers. Sone children feet that thie te not ocience. They avaociate aotence with latte and aninale in the elonentary echool. It to no fim; it to boring, they, will say. Nootly book work and facte and menoriaing thingo. They are ueleon to the dessert, but they've got to eat thein oatmeal firat. Tuo itens that did not prove to be of importance were teas teaching ant standardized testa. In actence class on accasion a teacher replaces ancther as a lecturer to relieve student (and perhaps faculty) boredom. Cooperative tean teaching ts not used. The di trlet's teats are not used by any of the faculty to plan or conduct instruction in ect- ence. The purpose they serve 49 to enable « counselor to place students in science instructional levels. Avyear ago an experiment vas tried--earth, 1ife and physical sciences vere taught by each faculty member at each of the three grades at all the levels (there were four then). It waa discarded thie year, being viewed as a chaotic fatlure by nearly all thé faculty. Itw intent vas to add coherence to the faculty's understanding and taplonent tion of the curriculum, Ita effect wae to expose their shortconinge and limit their strengths. (So much for innovation.) The faculty voted overvhelningly to discontinue tt. Two teachers told me that the experience of their childven influenced that decision sad many of the others they make in education. During the course of this study I must have hheuré @ dozen teachers cite their on children's experience as the justification for the actions they took or the views they held as educators.44 Instructional Levels Although teachers claim che average student {s at grade level (as do thetr counter- pacts at Eastland) chey feel deeply about their instructional ineffecciveness fo" poo and miny average students. It lias nothing to do with science per se. t thon in che Fall (sizth is placenent. When we plage ‘en in the right Level F hase no eamcih. des wine ‘thay have had vt nude). The Hoy to de Brings go pretty uell. ‘1The sowreciorn du nose of the plastag of the erudanes ixitlath,.) Level one neatly tar, ievel three ts good for indtotdealtaaton lee tio te 4 wide mixture.” Thao’ are so diverge, ‘They gould be Ie or they oabd be smother aco The "zoo" reference 1s co a particular group of level three students chat exaspéraces gach eeacher that works vith thes. The sanner in which students’ achievecent is mesgured by teacher-aade tests varies aystenatically from level to level, Level one can sean short written ansvera, can also be longer, more conplex; for level tv tr is avleinie chotee or f411 in the blank; and for level three ic {8 always multiple cholee with a narrow range of facts being tested, or select the angwer with che eid of their "note fact-sheet" provided by the teacher for the text, Besides "the 200,” he Level three students are described variously as "sullen and partially coved"; ab having "language problens"; as students who "can't read, write"; or who "don't give-ahoot," Consensus hhas {¢ ehat open space and level three don't six N 7 One teacher sav come level three students as being". . . somevhat ripped off by the systes.. River Acres fails a feu uho are very aloy, but who are okay really,” she felt these students could and did understand physical science concepea but read and wrote 0 slovly that they could noe keop up and alvaye did. poorly on tests The core content of science instruction {4 sintler across the three levels. The “ones” get it all, and nore. They can volunteer to be essiacancs to wash equipmene, set up denonscrations and are alloved co use non-chentcel, non-flammable eqeipgent "Top group competition is fierce,” satd one teacher in ay exit interview. Me need a tov reading curriculum for the low 3a in aotence. I cake level to neterial and condense it for the Se. They Juat don't care or they are LD kid Sore Juat can't ork ind large olaearcor. So I cut out the detatle and juae hen bavie underetanding, orally. tothing in depth te posaible, You oan't @ level chree clase in gotence. (Competition dove not work) duet atking and then move on hon scfence teachers work with che top-level seudente they are prepared and so are the students. hat netther are prepared for are the questions spontaneausly generated during such lessons, one of uhich fallovs in excerpeed form. Light refraction. tr. Parker 19 ready shortly after che pertod begins. Heh projection of Light refracted chrough prism. The colors on the projeceion screen have been labeled and he begins: "ox mow, when ve talk about refraction yhat do we mean? I mean vhat ie the difference betsieen reraction and refleotion, Nan?” "Reflection te tight bounced off and refraction te Light redirected though sores) Like that thing [aomeone saya 'peiem') there,"as, "Ok good, no2 when we see Light vefngeted aa ue cc nou we know that it te uhat'. .. ta aluaye there and the colore we see are aluaye there-“even when tbe cannot eee then as we can with the aid of the prian. any qucetione about that before we go on? This is very important that we have that in mend.” Gio questions; class to attentive.) iden ligt te refracted ax Han vaid, it gete broken up revealing its eotora. After a rain storm you sometines oan Look up and see what? "4 rainbow.” “Right, a rainbow. and uhat io a roinbou? Aight, refracted Light. "re it refiected t00?" (aake 2 boy) "hy ave there only three colors in a rainbou?" (aake @ girl). "Ok, Let's look at the chart. (A long explanation enaues about the spectrum, what lengths of raya are perceptible, how theae are the only one that could appear to be there.) I tos that io’ hard to underetand, but f hope it helped you. Did #22" (Givt emétes and nods.) ‘ip. Parker, why dove it hang together?" "ny does what hang together?" "A rainbow. I mean why don't ve ace a ukole bunch of three-color spots in the eky inatead of a band?” "That's hard to explain. You just don't know enough yet to explain that. But keep thinking. That i@ a good question.” ‘Sane boy continues) "the one that reatly gets me fo why doce it (rainbow) +." tHe then moves hie hand in an are simlating the shape of a reine bas on the horizon.) "re forms cn are because that's the only shape it could take optically I think ye had better get, back to the prianatic refraction.” Me. Parker told ne he "Just hates ie" uhen he cannot anaver the students’ questions. He feels that no matter how much he prepares, their questions vill reveal his inadequacy. "So I just keep up with yesterday and let eonorrow take care of itself. I wasn't trained im physical science but I believe it ts better to let students ask questions than to try to bull it through.” The thing T shall remesber longest about the sc{ence curriculum at WHS 1a teachers rushing to and from cheir instructional area to make phone calls to parents. Every sorn- Ang, afternoon, lunch period, preparation period and between periods. Calls, calle, calle If activity reflects purpose end the most activity represents the highest purpose, T know vist te forenost in the winds of the actence teachers: inforsing parente about their children's progress--or more likely, the lack of it\ Westland Juntor High School Mathenacies Westland sathenatics instruction 1g organized around to textbooks and three inetrue~ tonal levels. Tyo of the teachers made minor criticisn of aspects of a text. There 1s no team teaching and the open space 1s divided into separate classroom areas ‘The counselor pointed wich pride to 2 group of about ELfty students vhose scores vere at or exceeded the 90th centile on a national achlevenent test. The distribution in a grade is roughly 65 in the top "accelerated" group, 240 in the “average” group afd 65 in! the lover "basic skills” group, 7 The big story here and elseuhere in River Acres Ls the low achlever in mathematics. A seventh-gfide Coacher has Little hope for a “breakthrough” in helping teachers work with the slow math scudents Largest probtem a teacher has with Level 30 te shinking they can team the fine Ohne oa level’ for Their conceptual cbtitetes are tontted. They Gave get deep understanding no mateer hou rary tines they dorsonebning, hoo Gloveriy we prevent the naterial. They are going to haue' to be abte to mateiply Gad divide vhen they get xt chore. Whee t on poreoncily concerned with te thet Sarg have’ the akitte Chey need for woes 7 wilt! presore hoes conaeptial grown, dork. “in Plaze value ve vill go through anes, tena, huntvedey I don't fuse Eorore {2.11 tmpiy vont aperd ali oeet getting Toady #0 teach the vkiiley because T have found this: you oan go through tt one day and they can fork cut hie tong kepanded novation tnd the fext Gag you cor cons, Yoxk tw and ripmecent ~ Bo"sdevk ical cone pope ond they attit seald tot be abla’ ce gipate me Rett paronthones and Pluses aaroso the page mean. There Je not mack differphne tr our / jore often than not the child in level three {8 Mexican-American /or Black. The kids vino can't or don'e get 1¢ are the-bene of the mathenatice teachers’ éxistence. Mes. Herding said: Slow it’s are wneceosarity penalized in math. Slay in thei# actione but solid in their math te bad neue. They get hurt. He can't increase their epeed by ‘snapping our fingers. The mountain no one, T meat vo one ean climb te hay do bbe get the needed dritl without boredom? That ia the question in jurior high gohool mathenatics. We need an activity workbook filled with practice ideas for each grade Her view 1s not with che majority, which Le more one of seeing the kids as not trying. Jf I had to put it into a nutshell I'd eay these kide ave laay. They have the ability, many of then. I don't know whan t¢ begine (Lasineas) or how 12 develope. (ALL three agree.) In an unusually redundant velly T offer an extract from an interview with three other math teachers: We shouldn't ealt it abitiey, grouping. Tt ie performance grouping. The Feason most of the kide are in three ie because they are Laay. We all know 2 but a fraation of our ability, you loro. ‘An algebra teacher sau {t as on interaction of disinterest and unnecessary confusion. Here's the problem in a nutshell: ve are teaching then why we do what ve are doing and fundarentalty most of them are interested. The thing they never get i the firee five grades te one method that yorke. 0, I teaoh old division, not Bhat the Look. eaye about the nev mathenati a| 1-47 I Others echoed che complaint pointing fo the textbook as a prisary source of their problens. One sixth-grade teacher has simply quit using the textbook because: It confuses, the kids. Long addition problems involving expanded notation which confuses the kids more in the explanation—the kids epend conetderable time and em't figure out what they want and never do get to the okille, ilas I have an individual cand on each kid. Diagnostic teete to eee vhere each ona te and practice on the four baeic okitle. I am uoing the rote method pretty mich be- eaves they have Found out that with a three level you oa epend all hour trying to get them co underetand [and they can't) The district has sought to regularize ite instruction in sathenatics through the development of a curriculum Guide, It has had department heads and select teachers work= ing on behavioral objectives which correspond with the content of the texts. To these are added resource materials omed by the district of available through an incer-ciatrlee cooperative. One teacher more strident in tone than most aaid it for the faculty vhen she discussed behavioral objectives as "ainos perturbations” in che big picture, Standard practice that is widely averved by Juntor high sath teachers a6 successful 5 repetition. saw it in use daily over all grades--bit less go at the upper (sero and one) levels. One articulate teacher who was avclained a6 ery aucessaful says {t chia way: The key to mathematics teashing and Learning. In fast it'e cheough repetition that concepte cone ‘tinaugh to mary of our kide. It te not a mater of consepe twashing ve. drill teaching Iike the colteges would have you belive. Some Kido comet get the concept ary other vay excep? through drill, That i@ the wealneae of 2on- tracte. Kido rush through their uurk uithout che necesaary elox devil they need to have it sink ir. Their concom 17, "How faot can I do it?" ‘The Big Idea? I asked a dozen auth teachers co give me the big picture of mathematic: Ae vas. “These teachers represent nine or ten of the group: to tel! ae Fverything you do in Life, everwhere ou go in Life you will have probleme ad be teach problem aolving. And you wed a procedure t? eolve problene. Preparing then jor basic ulyetma in high eahool {by te: bere, baste zecnetiy aud expomire to rigoonetry. “Learning to chink" ic vhat mathenat ics teachers belicve childven get from math when they are successful. Whatever their pet ogog‘val anphasis, a vast majority have their eye on cosson outceme: “elear thinking” as denonstraced by solving problens. Three math teachers each with fave or sore years of teaching sathematics chatted vith ne 1h the lounge one mora ng ard here is what they ¢ ld: J give hatf svedit to studente whose work i¢ conrect it sho do not wee the right nethod. [Another teacher eaye) The method te important. A lot of times they may be able to figure out the aimrr; but if they aon't ioow the method, they may be able te Sire out the amawer but. they haven't really leamed anything. (The third affere) They haven't learned hos to vet it up because moat of the problere they LEI have im re future thoy mas be able co vet it up-aut vork te through a cer tain method. Being able to think io developed by buixz able to get 12 up, t0 vork tf cus. Thre are core timae when more than one methad £0 possible, but that io Ly 1a8. ‘The weak etudente vill opend more time trying to get the right aneier from cone= ‘one else, or from sone other vay than working the one problem thenaelvee. 7 stress that you work on ap mary probleme aa you can aid I'll grade you on the murder you get correct. If they oan work five of them elavly comestly, great. During that conversation one of chem described a phenomenon that should interest those who puzzle about how children think: He have a few children in math--I have every year--that ean take a problem od Figure out! the axever and never know how to put it dow. I think there are ‘children who really and truly can eit there and think and can figure out the right anover and that'e the group of kiddoe.that bother me, shat do T do vith that group of kiddoo? Do either of you know what I am talking about? T had @ chitd who could get that alose on any percent problem; but T never could get him to urite it, I never could teaah that child. I didn't know how to unlock hat he naturally had up there. He wae 00 far ahead of me on that and yet he could not work ary problem completely and yet he could give you fenape her fingere) that quick T asked what the big ideas vere for students in eighth-grade mathenatics assigned to level three. A teacher of many years sai Mastery of one basic operation that ve uauatly get in the second through fourth grade. Thi year I have more Hexiean-Anaricana than I have hat before. Bavte- Gliy Je are Black and Mexiows-Anericane, But it makeo no difference to them that Tam White. Teacher race te not ax tegue. I¢ makeo no difference, ‘The simplest response T received uae from an “old pro" who confided I've been there for over tuenty years. what I have helpe but it ien't good enough. Almoet averything ie vay over their heade. T asked sbout] the adcter of what che parents expected of chiléren in level three Black parents’ expectations of thétr children? "Sit dom and let welt enough do." Those who don't need to come to open house,-cone. Thove who eend back their eignature really need to, but don't. The homework ie not only difficult for their chiidren--but for them, too. They juat aven't vith it. The school nove chat. It ie an extremely difficult’ problem ad the interest ie not there to study 2. A teacher who is highly regarded by her colleagues {0 anazed how children learn aathe- natical abstractions at all. She says we concentrate on the child who faile when it aight be better to find out how one aucceeds. The quiet child, doing 20 well, probably uondere if that to all there to to learing mathematice. He uondere. Mia teacher alao vondere and worke with the poorest atudento. ” But no vondera are worked. Competition and Mathesattc Coupetitton te widespread in River Acres in junior high mathematics, It £0 one of the things "that works." I asked a group of teachers what worked with any regularity in teach= Ang average or below average students ‘in sathenat ci149 Sending kido to the board. It's fast, diagnostic, I ean screen and check on nany kide ina short period of tim. I believe teachers’ colleges underestimate the value of skillful board work. In ten minutes T can get hat it takes three hours of teoting and grading of papere to uncover. Another articulate teacher vho uses competition in her group math ganes saw 1t as having: Que serious wifortunate consequence: the etudert Looks to others to eee who he fe. He should Look to himelf. Tecting hae che sane outcome. Grades run a close second in the “what works" category--even for the lovest level. For many of the kids the grade ie the only thing that challenges then--partiou= arly che upper levels. Thave half my lavel three elace that te noe turning in their ork and the other half tum it tm only for the grade. No grate, no werk Grades and competition are combined by some math teachers of level three students. There ts conpeticion. an individual's grade--not te compare with other kide. That te ant upper- lovel kid that wante to compare. Sonetines a level three Kid will work £0 get gut of level. thres. The grade is the one thing that really vorke. The only Other really good motivator ie to get the kid up at the front of she room th front of their friende; they will penform. If you ean get thom up at that board... any kid at'any Level .. . you have got half the probiem Licked. They wilt be motivated to perform. Ganwe-and pussies vill work, tod, Dut wo do not have enough auch materiale! Fin thinge to do. One department head said chat competition was one useful approach with sixed blessings. I Like the idea personally and'I like tt in the elase setting. Lord knove there are many farete of motivation und this te but one. But it te one that on balance gives positive direction, then T av it ie worthwhile. To the extent that tt tums sone kide off ao they can't ever compete, then it ta horible for cure. A serious problem in the eyes of counselors and teachers occurred a few yeare back when counselors noted students commonly were observed to have standardized achievenent ‘math concept sub-scores in the nineties and computational aub-scores in the forties, This As charged to the bill of modern math. For the past three years, teachers have been con actously vorking on computational practice. The school's criteria for placesent in dneeruc~ tional levels are not writcen dom, but they are know. Fret: ataidaniized test scores. Make no mistake about it, when things get hot and heavy the teote cout nore then everything elee put together. You oat shut aiyone up vith a teot core: a parent, a auperintendent, another teacher, If there ie no standard test score then tt'@ the seaaher'e vord. Anything eles cone Iqet. The big "except" io a pavenful parent: that's five ace. Every opportunity for a fase atudent to go as far and a0 foot as they wait to in thie system. The problen fo not uisk opportinéty but vith our viadan tn using it. He have tgo many kide not neady uko are in pre-algebra.” Not ready enotionaity, not ready ineetlactuaity. Toormoh t00 young. So we okip the sith grade. "There wilt not be thas mony neaty co vake cigebra in the eighth grade./ In math ue lat kids cover the atzth-grate book on @ contract bowie that 1 find to the kide' main purpose uae ¢o Finiah ¢t fast. muohing throwh tune the main purpose. Sol eulvehad over to one teazbook and atarted taking itlap« ciao nether she ov infatcct contaotenoving Saigh book at tm 13]. The fifehegrade elenencary teachere oversetinate the abivity of the tide! Feadtheee for precaigebra. thant ohack then aphieverent sores, dure encughe they are tetas nineties (percentile on SRA Math Veet) and eighties camot do pre~ algebra work.150 Counselors say the honor of being in zero pre-algebra is considerable: "Kids can struggle beyond thetr competence to get in, and stay in, this group. Prestige is high.” Bot noe every teacher can be so honored. A long-time math teacher who ie ~rzarded sa a success teacher of the Js confided that she longed for a chance to work uit ‘op-level students: have never been given children I can show anything mich with by w. of achievement. ol T spoke wich several junior high nath teachers who prefer to teach the pre-algebra sections. One aid she prafers to teach seventh-grade pre-algebra math sections because they are nore math-concept oriented than are the sixth-grade sections vhich are more aki oriented. Only a few can really understand the use of rational nusbers. she does think tha mndern sath"s enphasis on the use of correct terninology de a big plus. (this con stituted a rare Instance of @ teacher of administrator saying gn encouraging Word about modern math.) . would be safe to say that the "zero" sections or the pre-algebra classes tn the stxth and seventh grades are the “darlings” of the Junior high mathenatice eurriculun. One teacher uho has caught che zero group is not sold on the idea at all. She ralees pro vocarive issues. she would Like to teach pro-algebra co a randoaly selected group of stu dents to see what vould happen. Rapes here you wilt find that thove who sake the utting it in high eohoot. So what would chs great loan then? ig are doing without eighth-grade math can't aut tt tn algebra without ie, Thay take eietheto eighth-grade in tvo yeara und sre-aigedra in the eighth. ALL but a handful of without our help, use car't out it in high sciost. They gecreszy and om't take Algebra TI. The eighth-prede math ‘ractions and the Tike to hat doce it to thom, They mie then, and required (2 be successful) in Algebra, Another ‘thing, tt te foroing eit reasoning toc early on the kide. They juet don't for the moet part have logical rezsoning capability at eleven or thintoon to handle that pre-algebra. Another teacher touched all the toques related to inetructionsl grouping in his re sponge To my question about hie feelings regarding Level Ie i quite effective as it etande, I cculd argue the other way chat the good help the poorer scudente if wo did not group. Wve are just weed Id be done aiother vay. Any uay has inherent problene, low, a #4 2 ie? socio-econonic Level that gece throw into 7 class, there te often preseure to ruil chat Wd out, not beoauee of the sonsent of the material, at2., but because of the acoial olase distinotion, or d that’s a’ tcugh protien. Tough. Cun grouping te far from 2 te convenient for she teashan and for the kid. At going to conzete with kize in the eane ballpark, eo I favor it a> Tease. Grouping 18 imperfeot. Me don't have our ovéteria ay #2 worki™e when 2 kid gete plasad a> a piven level, the ad parental presaure aoz againat hie being moved downsand. ice For facilitating movenent betuean groupe. 1,1 ould a very rarely @ period in uhioh atl ehnae levéle are aoheduled. Thte ing @ etudent fron ona Level to motrer, ainse hie whole schedule itd have t0 be rearranged. Yery often ie aimly oamot be dona, oven if ue ore witling to try to do it ju Teva’ book with the o2 thook sort of h one kid to move fron a loo Tevel to the mid-Level 1 tough the middte of the year. “Different151 teztbooke and diffarent pace through the books by different teackere--a con- ious decision we have made to not force page-by-page wiiformity, skill -byo ‘akilt progression--makee us give up the fleztbility to nove kide up ard down The picture ts sore clear and the results understandably more rstisfying at the other fend of the grouping spectrus. There iy a "zero" group in aachenatics which has been ol Feady identified es @ source of teacher, parent and student pride. Uppersmidéic-clase parents virtually demand che placonent of their children in "zero" according to several feachers. te is a “pre-algebra" group. These students are identified by standardiced achievenent teat scores and by fifth-grade teachers’ reconsendat tons. The junior high Sounselor then places a promising student in the zero group. There ace "mlaplaccsenes."” The counselors report that about five students a veek stop by to say "math le too hard.” Mathematica classes are the chief complaint of the students. It is not seen as 2 -erlous problem. "sixth-grade teachers come by and check a student's math [achlevesent test] scores “never their elenentary school grades Hy favorite aystery story 1n River Acres cane up again in the Junto: high schools a couple tines. (It yas not mentioned in the high school.) ‘This tive it appeared in, the context of a discussion of a prevalgebra class I had observed. In a pre-aigebra class alt you liave to do te mn through a diagnostic text with them to make eure they hadwi't micsed a skill, Like divieion--if they had slipped in that, had not gotten it etear, they've got to have thoee akilie.’ Then yore oan ove on. The need for continued repetition with then ia not there. But te 0 vith a tuo and one tevel student. They underatand t¢ when you go through it; they understand is that year, that month, and the nezt month it elipe out. The face that they work through ie guccessfully one time and work all. the way through 12 again greater ineurea it it's @ matter of having conceptual maturity o comitive akitt. when yu have it, repetition ta not neceseary; vhen you don't, it to, In faot, when ue wis-test these pre-Algobra I kide and puoh then before they ave ready, ue could be stopping them fron leaming what they would have tf ve had started'a year or tuo Later. They are in aero and Learning to dietike nath and could be loving a good Level one math couree. There were no aysteries to behold tn Westland social studies! tesues, pathos, and humor, yes. Westland Junfor High School Social studl The social studies in Juntor high school are the gumation of three courses: world studies in the sixth grade, geography and history of Texas in the seventh, and the Lest year of a-two-year required program in U, S, history in the eighth grade. In Westland the students do "packets" or short instructional modules created at the local level. Litcle use 1s nade of textbooks in sany of the social studles cla Te is 2 "ay around the reading problen” for sone} and an indictment of the text for others. The eighth-grade text dose not meet the neede of anybody. It ie about collage level.” the society in uhich ve teach dictates the uae of a textbook, hovevens 40, even though T don't use it in clase, I send i2 hone every nov and then to Keep my parente at bay.152 ‘There are other problers associated with tle uae of instructional materia! uling sakes 4t difficule co catch up if the child misses hearing a ci Sched~ ete, for exanple. If my otulent to absent when the firet cassette in a geriee ie in the room, Ue fo quite Likely he will never hear the cassette. If the gecond cassettes builde upon the Fret, too bad. Depending on the informant, packets represent either “stufi we have been using for years, but now redesigned into packets,” or "a new approach to the teaching of social studice.” Regardless of the inforaant, the packets apparently were created at greet p scnal time-cost to the teachers. The packet are not the outcone of the aforeneationed Gistrice curriculus guide project, whith was roundly panned by @ tajority of the teachers ‘2 “waste of sy tim should be spending tine preparing to tesch rather than writing those curriculus bulletine." Each. packet completion signals e packet test. Packets uaually take two to two and & half woeks to complete. Studenta told ne the test,questions vere all easy: "Except for 4 few (questions), they are otraight out of the material," ‘Teste are interapersed once @ Week for the level one and to groupe--not for the Je. We teat them leo. We give tham credit for just having done aomething. By nov tue have aeven gradea for level Se and about thirteen for level 10. The tportant thing to wnderetand ta ue have to give then something .. . Like to color a Indien or vegetables that the Indiane gave the White settlers who oano to Tesao. ‘And if they do a half way deoont job we give then an A, uhioh te hard to get. Ido not believe this teacher spoke facetiously. she opoke nostelgicelly of last year vhen they had four levels and the year before when the ddatrict had five. Again, the Counselors examine teate and grades to determine the placenent of the students in social studie: A kindly word for behavioral objectives vas heard in this setting havioral objectives) let the students know what 19 expected, they ave goo cabinet with ay undt-by-unie objectives can be easily noved, reorganized." “nen they. (be- My Elling This teacher continued to say that the sane could'not be said for the 6. which he worked on, "Once 4¢ gets set, it 4a not ao flexible. Printed nes! yen Space Open space {8 2 tolerated rather than an enjoyed feature of social studies instruction. ‘The prevailing view 40 that the district administration decided on the open-space archi= tecture and they hed to plan within that concept. Sut tvo young teachers said that open space means no discusaion in class. When class diecusaion 40 tried, che arm-waving, Laugh fer, and oral disagreenents have the potential to distract over 200 other students not {n~ volved. ‘The good neva about open space ie that the students can aea that all the other Eeachers cover the sane content that theirs does. "It shova then ve are not boing unfair."153 Whae's The Big Idea? There ts quiet disagreénent among the staff aver how much of the social studies should bbe geography, factual history, and how much should be the study of nan ad hls evicowene. ‘The only funfor high school social studies teacher in the district that I paw approach- ing what could be called a controversial topte had this to say after clasa: The teaching of man's relation to himself and others necessarily brings up religious, political, sezual, ethnic, acetal, racial probleme and deate with very touchy aubjects’ because of what’ shall ue say, the Bible belt? The Bible aud the religione of certain grows in certain teins vho will forbid--uho ‘think these should not be spokan of in public, if you mention certain things to certain atudents. it gove hone and the aohool boar! goto calle about it "Why are you teaching my child about sez?” on, "why eve you telling wy shild + abeut this particular cherch?" You learn to deal with thie by Learning chat thie te not what the comunity waite 80 we don't do it. You have to eurvive in the comunity in whioh you teach. They are paying you youn salary oieh heim money, 80 basically they have the right toa degree to keep cortain thinge out Of the school that they strongly. agree should not be there the latter represents the ainority view of this faculty. For that teacher vho aloo said, “The social studies we teach 1s the dead corpse of past Knowledge, not the life of man thoughts," there was a quick-drav reply: "Yea, Hal, you would trade off the history of ‘Texas for a classroom bull session on aibling rivalry." Instructtonal_ Level: A problem shared bynost on the social studies faculty 1g a now fantliar one to the Feader: what to do with the level chree students? "A lot of the sixth grade students. 4 level three vere passed on last year with F averages. I have then again this year. Thic ts not a boy-girl thing. ‘The sane rotten attitude 1s shared by all of then.” An adaine istrator said they were, "Willing to turn their. level three studente over to elenentary teachers of reading and’arithaetic aid [let then} give then a grade in social studies, It's hopeless the way it 4e-now."" He continues: fe otrive to provide something stulenta oan eink their teeth in--at least the auerage and above average etudent. We are atill far asay from helping out lov leamere. They are never going to wee-a good portion of what we give thom w here. The whole progran has to be geared away fron history and more to learning about aetf. Hou can I get along in the vorld, vith the fellov dou the screet, ith my fellos atudents. “There ie an overenphasie in the entire curriculum regardiees of evel on frctuai history and factual geography. Tha basic facte ve try to pump into kide--they could care lees, "I've got a iot of history in my cum avete, Kids are delighted to learn that they have at home the otuff of which hietory te nade. I have a deep, closer relationship vith may Se than vith 20 and Ie, even though T supposedly do a better job with them. . -- We should take vheve poor students aay from eoctal otudies and teaok them to read. It te better to help then to read firet than to ait up here and be boned silly Teachers tean teach infrequently in thte open epace setting. One informant, @ teach fer of several years, said they did teaming last year, and?