Problems and Programs

.. . we have to do a lot more for some children just to give themthe same chance to learn.'

CALVIN F. GROSS, Superintendent of Schools, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Desegregation focuses attention on the gap between the scholasticachievement of the average white and the average Negro student.Educators and lay citizens alike have expressed fear that educationalstandards in the schools may suffer in the process.

At the Commission's Nashville conference in March 1959, superintendents of large school systems in the border States that had desegregated completely in 1954 and 1955 testified that these fears were notjustified. 1 Standards, they said, need not be lowered as a result ofdesegregation, but it may be necessary to find some way of coping withthe wider spread between individual achievement when white andNegro children are brought together. Experience has shown not onlya gap in scholastic achievement between the average white and theaverage Negro pupil, but that the gap widens as pupils progress in school.Educators have observed that it may represent as much as i l /z to 2 school

years by the time children reach the high school grades. 2

Believing that our most urgent domestic issue is how to improve public

schools while adjusting them to constitutional demands, the Commission has devoted special attention to needs of all children, but particularly of those from families that have suffered educational handicapsbecause of their minority-group status. Whether these handicaps arethe result of segregation in the schools, economic and cultural deprivation, or some other cause, is immaterial. They exist.

The Commission's mandate from Congress is not only to study andcollect information with regard to denials of equal protection but tomake recommendations to the President and Congress. 8 No other agencyof the Federal Government has concerned itself with the educationalproblems inherent in the transition from a segregated to a nondiscriminatory school system; it therefore seemed desirable for the Commission todo so. Programs and ideas from different parts of the Nation have beenassembled and are presented here without any attempt at evaluation.Some are elaborate and costly; others are not. Some are officially

sponsored; others are private, volunteer efforts. They may be classifiedinto two groups. The first is concerned with differences in individualpupil achievement present in schools that include both educationallyhandicapped and high achieving children. The second, with programsaimed at improving the training of all children in a school.

CLOSING THE GAP

Ability grouping

As indicated above, when white and Negro children are first broughttogether in school, an unusually wide spread in scholastic performanceis to be expected. Many educators believe that the performance ofall is better when children are grouped so that slow achievers do nothold others back and high achievers do not discourage those whocannot keep up2014while the average child proceeds at his own pace unhampered by either. Basically there are four types of ability groupingswithin a school system: (i ) by schools; (2) by special programs withinindividual schools; (3) by classes within individual schools; and (4) bygroups within classes. Each will be discussed briefly.

By schools. 2014Special schools for academically talented students arenot new, particularly at the high school level. Good examples areBaltimore's Polytechnic Institute, a special school for boys preparing forengineering colleges; and Western High School, for girls preparing forcollege2014admission to both is based on high scholarship. They wereestablished long ago for whites only, but qualified Negroes are nowadmitted to both.4

The criteria set forth in the pupil placement laws of many Southern

States G would certainly permit separate schools for pupils of differentscholastic aptitude and achievement. In the absence of racial discrimination, this would seem to be constitutionally unobjectionable. Apparently no southern school system has used a pupil placement law in thismanner. Many educators have testified that Negro pupils fall withinall ability groups, although they are found in preponderant numbersamong the low achievers.6

By programs. 2014Track systems, particularly at the high school level,

are a familiar method of ability grouping by scholastic program. Introduced into the Washington, D.G., schools after complete desegregationby rezoning,7 this approach was said to offer reassurance to school patronsthat mixing white and Negro pupils would not impair the educationalopportunity of anyone.8 Other cities that have tried it, before or after

desegregation, have found it an excellent instrument to provide for theslow, low-achieving students without hurting others.

By classes. 2014Some educators strongly condemn the track system because it virtually freezes each student in a track in accordance with admittedly fallible testing methods. Intraschool ability grouping by classesfor able, average, and slow learners meets this objection. Proven performance in each subject is the basis of classification. A child in anadvanced class in science or mathematics may be in a slow class inEnglish. Thus, an overall classification of bright, average, or dull isavoided. This kind of grouping has been useful in connection withdesegregation. 9 Of course, it can be used only in schools having two ormore classes in the same subject.

Special classes in English, 10 nongraded classes for overage students, 11

and other remedial classes 12 seem to fall in this category, although only

the lower level of the achievement range is singled out for attention.Sometimes such classes in desegregated schools in fact serve Negro students almost exclusively. 13

Ability groups within a class can be used in schools having only one

class of a particular grade, or subject. None of the educators attendingthe Commission's three education conferences discussed this method.However split classes are a variant of the ability-group-within-the-classtechnique. The superintendent of schools of Montgomery County, Md.,testified at the Commission's Gatlinburg conference that he had used thismethod in an elementary school where most students were average orbelow, while a few were highly talented. Under this plan 14 2014

. . . the bulk of the students are in regular class by grade and thetop of each class has been put into a split class, so that we have agroup of first and second graders with one teacher, third and fourthwith one, fifth and sixth with one. These are the academically talented students, both Negro and whites, who are in that school, andthey move along on this level and the others at the different ratemove along in the regular classes.

Supervised home study

Tutoring of the handicapped Negro pupil newly enrolled in a formerlyall-white school has been provided both officially and privately. Thesuperintendent of schools of San Angelo, Texas, told the Commissionthat Negro students in his city performed so poorly when transferred toa white high school that they requested segregation. 15

We believe this was brought on by their first report cards. At the

end of the first 6 weeks, all grades given to Negro students represented 8 A's, 13 B's, 37 C's, 13 D's, 20 F's, and 9 incomplete. Thisaverage was approximately 15 points lower than the grades the

"9

same students had made the previous year in the all-Negro highschool. Actually, about 44 percent was below what we consideredstandard grades for their ability.

When this report was made to the board of education, the boardfelt that we should provide tutors for the Negro students. To dothis would have been giving special privileges to one group. Itwas recommended by the administration that we offer free tutoringat nights on a permissive basis for all high school students. As aresult, more white students reported for extra help than did Negrostudents, on a percentage basis; however, we do feel that this stepaided the transition because the grades started pulling upimmediately.

At the Commission's California hearings, the executive director ofthe Community Relations Conference of Southern California reportedthat 16 2014

The conference is presently offering a tutoring service through theschools and with the approval of the Los Angeles School Board tostudents who are having difficulty adjusting to the standards ofthe local system (because of the inadequacy of the instruction intheir former residence). The board of education has designatedfour schools as pilot projects. The tutors are retired teachers whoare giving their time without charge.

A later witness for the same organization said, however, that the tutoring"is on a very limited scale because we find it very difficult to get teacherswho are willing to volunteer their time. . . ." 1T

The superintendent of schools of Arlington, Va., testifying at Gatlinburg on the scholastic difficulties of Negro students admitted to formerlywhite junior and senior high schools, said: 18

It is my understanding that the first Negro children who were admitted to Stratford Junior High School had received some tutoringhelp from persons not connected with the school system. It has alsobeen reported that Negro students in our senior high school havereceived the same type of tutoring assistance. In spite of all this,however, I am not able to report these students are doing wellwithin their classes. All senior high school students are workingconsiderably below the average of other students in that school.

Perhaps the most extensive and well-organized private effort to raisethe achievement levels of Negro pupils enrolled in a formerly whiteschool was discussed at the Williamsburg conference. This project,sponsored by the nonprofit Home Study Program, Inc., serves about 100

children of working-class Negroes living in a pocket community calledKen Gar which lies between the towns of Kensington and Garrett Park,Maryland, which are inhabited largely by upper...