Black Journal; 53; Reading', Riting', and Rithmetic, Inc. Part 1

The following program is from NET. But the last surprise has come! NETFRIEL, whether you need to know NET? Good! Fier! NETFRIEL AT YOUR KAPITURE. Girl you're the best. Her name is Fier! How about Ogh convoy? Top of the tree. What about Tiele?

Top of the tree. Very good. Very good. We thought that this was a good idea and a good project which might help the achievement of their children and elementary grades. There I am at the top of the paper. That's my name over there in the top left corner. First, see the pictures of things, many things there placed in spaces that I will call frames. Forging the button. Yes, I want to talk to the teacher about it. And I explained to her that me a disposition about school had changed. That she hated school and she never wanted to go on. This is the Bannaker Elementary School in Gary, Indiana. A very important educational experiment is underway in this all black school of 698 students. The traditional system of education was failing so badly here that the black control Gary school board made a drastic decision.

They hired an outside private corporation to run the school on a money back guarantee basis. Either the company does better within three years than the school had done previously or it won't get paid. The unique and controversial project is operated by behavioral research laboratory or BRL. The project has aroused a heated debate among Gary parents and created considerable friction between the teachers union, concerned about the role in security for its members and the school administration. 75% of the sixth graders leaving Bannaker and going to junior high school were performing substantially below national averages in reading and mathematics. And I think more particularly in a ghetto school, that there are things that are much more important than being sure that a child is able to read and do mathematics when he finishes school. There are social problems that you have to deal with. If there is an area where they are, you know, where they're weak, then this program works with that child that we carry until they become

proficient in that area and then they move on and I like that. You know, they said that it would improve the child after so long, you know, and they were guaranteed that it would improve the child where I can see that it really didn't help. Well, it's a new system this year and I would really rather wait and say, you know, after seeing actually how the results come out with the test and with really the years progress rather than making an early statement. I think the impression has been false. Number one, the use of the data that they released to the news media. I don't know whether it's a feeling of something to hide or what, but I do feel there's something here that they do not want released or there's something here that should not be released. If BRL is to make money, then the program has to succeed and if the program succeeds, then children learn.

The teachers here are all city employees, but the program is run by BRL's Dr. Brian Fitch, Center Manager at Bannaker. We are given each year all of the money that school city would spend on educating a child at Bannaker. So let's say that the average expenditure in Gary is $800 and we have 800 children in the school, then at the beginning of the year, BRL would be given $640,000 out of which it would take all its development costs and that sort of thing as well as paying for light bulbs, paying for custodial help, instructional materials, teachers salaries, salaries of teachers as everything. At the end of the year, the people who administer the standardized test come in and we, given the results of the test, we have to return the $800 shock or whatever it is for each child who has not lived up to the terms or is not performed up to the terms of the guarantee.

In the traditional classroom, materials are designed for the average white middle class child. This is a deadly form of institutional racism which ignores the special needs and problems of black children. If the black child fails to master the basic skills of reading and math on the elementary school level, he will probably never catch up. By junior high school, he may still be unable to even read properly. Bannocker's program is designed to reverse this pattern of failure by gearing the work to the capacity of each individual child. Children, when they come to Bannocker are given placement tests and these placement tests determine which of eight learning levels in language arts and which of nine learning levels in math a child should begin as working. And then we have structured learning areas within the school to which children will be assigned where individualized work will be presented to them. When you've got individualized instruction, a child is acquiring, I would say, between 70 and 80 percent, of his new information from materials rather than from the teacher by word of mouth.

And this means that the certified people involved really become managers. They manage the curriculum. They must be able to diagnose individual needs and to prescribe the kind of work that the child should do to meet those learning needs. The individualized system as a whole serves as a buffer between adults and children when necessary because, again, the child is able to move through the system at his own pace. If the child isn't up for any particular kind of instruction, for example, when he comes to school, why he is able to deal with that problem by himself as an individual rather than affecting large numbers of children. Think about this one as you go. Do one place at a time. Sherman Noel shares with Dr. Fitz the responsibility for administering the program at Bannocker. In a conventional school, he would be called Principal. In Bannocker jargon, he's called Learning Director. The individualized system at Bannocker works in a very special way.

In any given manager's room, you will find a large file box or perhaps one or two file boxes. In these file boxes, you will find specific learning activity sheets that have been written by the managers or teachers who work at the center. These learning activity sheets correspond with the instructional objectives that a child needs to work on. So, in essence, we are saying that if a specific instructional objective has been written, we have some specific learning activity sheets that will enhance or will help the teaching of that instructional objective. Now we are going to play some sound games together. Set the function switch in the S position. You will need a game frame paper with my picture at the top. Even in an individualized program, you're going to have children who can't seem to function even on a one-to-one basis in a classroom situation. And that child would have to be recommended to our learning lab.

When you push the restart button, you will see game frame 1 on the screen, push the button, and look on the screen. There you go! Now the learning lab has a lab manager who gears her work to what's going on in the classroom. So, when that child has been referred to the lab, the child's PPF will go with the child. And the learning lab will take it and find out the exact instructional objective on which the child has been working and experiencing difficulty. You listen very carefully. You will win this game. Listen. Boat. Flowers. She will also examine the learning activities that have been prescribed for that child. And then she will prescribe some learning activities of her own.

Do the backs. When you are finished, push the restart button. You see some of the answers that you've written. And you're having difficulties with. BRL guarantees results in reading and math only, but must provide a total curriculum. Mrs. Kobe, who teaches a level 5 social studies class, disagrees with the BRL approach. She combines individualized learning techniques with group activities. She feels this allows the children to learn from each other and encourage you spontaneity and creativity. Let's read this paragraph here and find out some more uses. Other things made from wheat or alcohol, flour paste, whisky and beer. Some wheat must be saved for seeds. You wouldn't be familiar with two of those uses. Whiskey and beer, but you would be familiar with flour, paste and alcohol. Right?

Yes. Okay, there are six examples there and here. I'm learning that where we originated from and the history of it and how important it is. Is it harder for you to learn it from this system or would you rather just have a teacher like lecture standing in front of the class? I would have it this way. Why? I would rather read it for myself than have a teacher to sit up and explain it and I can understand it better. I think it's better this way. They're drawing an outline map of the United States. They're going to show how each region in the United States is used for products. What products we get from the different regions. They're working on projects rather than going through their textbook at their own independent level of achievement. We find that interaction in social studies is far more beneficial as far as student achievement is concerning understanding the concepts of the world in which they must adapt themselves.

There's a lot of interaction in the social studies program. It is the only program where the students have an opportunity to interact and express the ideas and concepts. America's educational system is failing to reach our black children. Schools and the central cities are bankrupt torn apart by labor disputes and run by often inefficient and rigid bureaucracies. Black parents can be one constructive force in seeing that education is relevant to their children's needs. Our survey indicated that many, but not all, Bannock parents favored the program. But even if they do not all agree, they are involved. Mrs. Alberta Hampton was dissatisfied with the program and transferred her daughter to another Gary school. Well, I was interested in her learning. This is the only reason I took her over there because I thought the program offered more than the other schools in Gary reading in the paper what it said. So I enrolled her over there and I would go every once a week to see just exactly how she was doing.

Well, she did fine in kindergarten. But in the first grade, it seemed like the work got too hard for her and it depressed her and she would go to school crying and come home crying. I would go to school at noon. I could tell that she had been crying then too. So I would ask her why was she crying and what was the matter? And she seemed to complain about the work being too hard. And for her just to be in the first grade, I didn't think the work should be that hard on her. So this is my reason for taking her out because evidently, you know, it was just herding her. I really wanted to expose her to all phases of education and the program here in Bannocker is what I was seeking. I'm quite pleased with her progress and the teachers, I think, are doing a wonderful job. And I wanted to continue until she can please here. Teachers should take time out with their students.

I mean, you shouldn't go there where they're telling the child to go and sit out where, you know, if I go up to you and ask a question, I want you to tell me. I mean, they're just too, there's too much teaching there. They just nervous something's wrong like they have pressure on them. The same way I could tell with my daughter that she had pressure on her. Yes, I had one here last year and I have a son here now into the second grade. We asked her how her children were progressing. I think they've improved tremendously since we've had the BRL program here at Bannocker School. In what way are they improving, specifically? Well, with my oldest boy, I think he's learned how to sound out words, you know, before he didn't know anything about phonics. Since we've had this program here, he's sounding out everything, and my little boy, he said seven. He can sound out any three-letter words. What would have happened if your son hadn't attended Bannocker? He would just have been lost, I think, because he didn't know how to read. The Teachers Union charged the Bannocker program was costing too much. That it had overemphasized math and reading, and that Superintendent McAndrew had distorted test data, thereby overstating student achievement.

In Gary, a parent support group was formed to counter what they regarded as damaging criticism. As a first step, they invited the teachers to an informal meeting at the school. In order to encourage a free and open discussion, the principal was not included. Participate in any forum about which to help our teachers to be happier and feel safer in their careers of teaching our children. This is our purpose. We want you to know that we support you. We know that a meeting search is this should have gone into effect. Oh, I would say last year sometime, but we didn't do that. So since this did not happen, we want you to know we are concerned about our program here. And we want you to know we think you've done one heck of a good job. And the parents that you have here today, our parents that are willing to really get in and work to help make this Bannocker BRL program successful. So feel free to say anything that you'd like.

If there are any questions you'd like to answer about the group, feel free to ask. All right? Well, first of all, I would like to have the teachers have what we are about to hear to meet in the night. But I would like to know how they feel about your effort. I mean, as far as, because it is a little blacker sub. Well, this meeting, we just get to know our teachers. We weren't going to discuss anything in particular, this particular meeting, but just meeting and getting to know them. You know, so that nobody will feel tense. And maybe the next meeting will really get out and discuss things that are pertinent. But if any of you have something to say, we'd be happy to hear from you. The chairman seemed reluctant to deal with some internal problems, possibly because of the presence of our black journal crew. And we don't want to hold it because we know you want to go home. And then we'll have our tickets.

I am Jacob Morris. I have been at Bannocker since 1957. I think this is an interesting meeting, as you say, perhaps. So maybe a little late, but better late than never, because I feel that we have to work together for the common goals. And with the common goal, being what you are most interested in and what the teachers are most interested in, the child. The next point on Mrs. Colby, and most of you I know in one way or another. Last year, Mrs. Franklin and I stood up together, and we stood up for a cause that we believed at that time was right. And we are almost on the same cause again this year. Mrs. Colby disagrees in part with the BRL approach

and is in disfavor with the school administration. She has requested that she transfer. She has refused. Since Bannocker's present policy, set by Sherman Newell, calls for transfer of teachers only on a voluntary basis, she was still on staff at the time this film was made. We must constantly be evaluating and re-evaluating and making changes. I still say BRL is an experiment. I still say I will continue to work with this experiment for not the benefit of seeing BRL work or Dr. Fitch successful or any other administrator. I am working in this program for not your children, but our children. And what this is mine, you have my full support. I have been here 15 years. I teach all subjects. And as Mrs. Colby stated in our refresher memory, I am here for my children. When I say my children,

I just don't mean the ones that I teach. I mean, from first grade through sixth, not for BRL, but for my children. You have my support in time. Could you explain what the problem really is? This is what we were talking about. I think they would like to know, and I think I have an idea. Again, the chairman avoids the questions. Maybe you can explain. I don't think it's feasible. We really get into real problems, because we might just have quite a few. There was one thing that I wanted you to, please go out and talk to me. Mrs. Bowers, you made the statement that you wanted to make it safer for the teachers' lives. Ms. Butcher raises one crucial issue. Teacher's fear of being transferred. We are not for the program in any form to jeopardize any teachers' career or their status in the school system.

It seems as if you all don't know what's about, as far as I would like to know. One parent was not satisfied with that explanation. I think at this time, I would appreciate the teachers coming. We want you to feel free to share with us, whatever you have in your mind, as it takes the next meeting to do so, and you won't have something written specifically. And if there isn't any problem, it's beautiful. If there are some, and you think that we can be of any service. Another parent still has some unanswered questions. Mrs. Dudley, and then we're going to be excused to have our cookies. And if someone is implored, they want to know what it's not. It's going to be permanent, or is it on a part-time basis? Well, it seems to be some doubt about the program, or about the teachers, and it looks like everybody doesn't want to answer any questions. Well, Mrs. Dudley can give you a good answer on that, because she's acting in the librarians' place that was declared a served class. Oh, of course. You came in as an agent, right?

Of course. Mrs. Dudley is acting. Mrs. Colby explains that being declared surplus means transfer out of the Bannocker School, and a job as a substitute teacher. Well, we want a certified library. I really don't feel that you should be declared surplus. If it was necessary for you last year, it should be necessary for you this year. Mrs. Powers, Mrs. Franklin, and several other members of the parents group live outside of Bannocker School District. A new policy of open enrollment at Bannocker has permitted 180 children to transfer in, to take advantage of the experimental program. Many of the children of these highly motivated parents are likely to be more promising students, with a better chance to succeed at Bannocker. So we have nothing to hide. And if you have anything to discuss that our next meeting, let's discuss it. All right. Well, first of all, you would have to watch Mrs. Butcher. Mrs. Butcher has been one of Bannocker's outstanding teachers for 15 years. She has adjusted to the new teaching approach

although she doesn't see BRL as a magical cure. She feels to really solve the problems of educating the children. It is necessary to reform the system itself. What kind of language it is? Is that clear? Sometimes I get really discussed with some of the progress. And sometimes I feel that they're not progress in as I would like for them to. And I keep speaking of the children because we've had parents who say that they see just a remarkable change in the children's behavior as far as learning. It's concerned. And I've seen it with some of the children. With some of the children now, it leaves me a kind of doubtful. With some of the few. What is that? What is that, Orlando? That's the letter B. Now we are looking for A. What comes before B? Good. That's a find it. It's up here. It's not on the floor. This is the letter B. And if A comes before B,

this letter must be right. No, this letter is right. What letter is this? Look at it now. Who? If this letter is B, this letter must be right. All right. You can just see by listening today some of them are struggling. It's like the boy that couldn't find A, you know? He couldn't find A because he can't recognize A. He's not the only one in here. They can go A, B, C, D, E, F, G. If I say come up and point B, they may go down and point Z. We've lost many of them in our district. For various reasons, some moved and some feel that the children in progress is they should have. Because when I say children, I'm talking about my children. When I speak of this class, I'm saying my children, children, I've talked 15 years ago, these are still my children. I'm not here because of BRRF. I'm here because of the children. We are here to pack up and leave.

11th and I will still be here. If I see that a problem should be corrected. I'm going to speak out. You know, whether you declare me to serve for us tomorrow or on next week, I'm just going to speak out. I think this is the purpose because it's been felt in children period. First of all, we'll have to start with the teacher. We'll have to have competent teachers. The teacher is the only one that's going to stop. You can put BRRF material in here all day. But if you don't have a competent teacher, then what about BRRF? You just may as well throw that out the window. I can read, and I didn't have BRRF. You know, you can read, and you can read. That was your old black school. From K through college. Oh, BRRF say you don't need any teachers. As far as BRRF is concerned, Miss Kennedy could come in and just let me go home. Miss Kennedy is my aide. We have some incompetent teachers too. These are ones that would have to be weeded out. When I say that people think that's ridiculous. This is the only way.

I mean, you can have genuine teachers for 25 years, and still not teachers. I mean, but who's to say who's good, though? You've got a little politics running here, and somebody's mother worked with somebody he is. Somebody's dad is in the choir with somebody, and this is the way it's been for years. Oh, Miss Soren's daughter's dad is here. She has his PhDs, so we are her. And her head may be as hard as a floor. And she's there for the money, and she will let you know she's there for the money. I've had teachers to tell me, you know, they've told me that they're just here for the payday. You know, payday to payday. This I can't stand. I'm not over to this school. I will go through all the 42. This is everywhere. This is just it. I just like my old, down home teacher. I guess maybe I'm just from the old school, but I don't know. I think the teachers feel that they are in a bind, that they must either produce or get out,

or they are put out. And you tell me what you want to be when you grow up. A gentleman? A gentleman? Oh, fine. I like that. You see, you know any gentleman around about it? You? Well, Miss, you say I'm a gentleman. You don't want nobody? I didn't hear that. You don't want nobody when they do something wrong? How do you know I don't spank anyone when they do something wrong? They tell. Oh, they told you. What do I do? With every one I see, Teareth my hair blue. Breathe with the heart, Oh, me, Oh, me, Oh, me, Oh, me,

You show your beautiful, She's much women, Oh, let's see, let's see, Stony the road, it's far. Hey, I don't have a checker, It's me, the road, Tell him our days will end. On, on, and on, and on, Can we live a steady life? Oh, let's see, let's see, Stony the road, it's far. Yeah, let's see, let's see,

Stony the road, Oh, let's see, let's see,