Education Legislation, 1973

ESEA Title II Annual Report, page 3

Section 2

Report of the State School Media Supervisor, continued

per student at the elementary, Junior and senior high school level across
the State in schools reporting centralized facilities. There is still a
desperate shortage of audiovisual materials and this is being clearly
shown by the fact that approximately 80% of ESEA Title II money during the
past school year was spent for audiovisual material and about 20% for
print material. Title II funds are being used by many junior and senior
high schools to purchase microform material, particularly magazines, and
in some cases, back issues of newspapers. Paperback books are becoming an
increasingly common part of the collection of materials in IMC's at all
levels. This is particularly true as good, new material becomes more
widely available in paperback at the elementary level. Multi-media kits
of all kinds are becoming far more prevalent as well as increased use of
games of various kinds to help teach concepts in the area of language arts
and mathematics.

3. There is ample evidence that instructional materials purchased with Title Ii funds had a very substantial impact on programs which stress individualization, inquiry and independent learning, particularly in the elementary schools across the State. Wisconsin has been a national leader in developing and disseminating the concept of the Individually Guided Education/Multiunit SchoolsElementary (IGE/MUS-E) of which there are something over 200 in the State at this time. As the Department personnel who work with the Research and Development Center at the University promote the development of IGE programs, they emphasize the essential nature of excellent instructional materials services as part of developing a student-centered, inquiry-oriented IGE program. At the secondary school level many of the programs across the State are moving toward modular scheduling and increased emphasis on independent study by young people. Clearly, the realization comes through that, if you de-emphasize classroom-centered and textbook-dominated instruction, the program of independent study must be heavily based upon excellent instructional materials support for the learning activities in which the young people are engaged.

Through the provision of funds to purchase materials Title II has made a definite contribution to innovative curriculum and instructional techniques. Two programs of particular interest in this area are the Lincoln Elementary School project, Stevens Point, where Title II provided a special project to purchase library materials on which the classroom reading program was based. Using consultant's help from the University at Stevens Point, the faculty was given inservice in moving away from reading texts and into the practice of using library materials of all kinds as a basis of the reading program. Very exciting and successful results have come out of this program and generated great enthusiasm for this approach in Stevens Point schools. Another significant program was a Right to Read special project at Sherman Junior High School in Madison. Parent tutors were tied into this project which involved the purchase of a great deal of high interest, low vocabulary reading materials and audiovisual materials to stimulate the young people to greater interest, appreciation and skill in reading at the Junior high school level. 5. Title II has continually supported special education programs for students in correctional institutions and schools for the mentally and physically handicapped across the State. The school programs which encompassed people in institutions in the K-12 area have always received basic allocations from ESEA Title II and they did again during the past year. Three special projects

ESEA Title II Annual Report, page 4

Section 2 - Report of the State School Media Supervisor, continued

were granted this year to schools in this category. Two schools for the
mentally handicapped, the Syble Hopp School at De Pere and Northern Colony,
both having young people in the K-12 range with a variety of mental handi-
caps, were given sizable special projects to develop instructional mate-
rials support for their programs. In addition, a third State institution,
the School for the Deaf at Delavan, was given a large special project grant
to purchase a collection of print and audiovisual materials to support the
program for the young people who are deaf or have partial impairment.
This is a State-funded residential school which operates a school year
program for students needing such schooling. The Department and Title II
worked closely with the School for the Deaf in developing and planning for
a new building addition which included a very large, well-equipped instruc-
tional materials center which the project was tied into.

6. We have a good deal of evidence from the Title II survey which indicates that Title II is impacting its funds where students who are educationally and economically deprived are attending school. The needs formula developed and computerized by Title II for allocation of funds has confirmed that the greatest need for materials tends to be in the schools with a lack of resources to purchase the print and audiovisual materials needed for the instructional program. These schools have been the ones which consistently receive the higher amount of basic allocations from Title II. Special effort has been made during the past year in awarding special projects to identify those schools with particular needs for material because of inability to provide local resources and this was a very strong consideration in the allocation of over 80 special projects which were granted. Title II has always been a Right to Read program. Every conceivable kind of print and audiovisual material which could be used to remedy major reading deficiencies has been purchased by schools across the State of Wisconsin.

7. During the past year a major revision was made in the State standards for instructional materials centers which are now STANDARDS FOR SCHOOL LIBRARY/ MEDIA PROGRAMS, 1972-75, (copy attached). These standards represent a major cooperative effort by the Wisconsin Association of School Librarians, the Wisconsin Audio Visual Association and the library and audiovisual supervisors in the DPI to work to develop standards which would spell out the elements of a high quality instructional materials program for all young people in the State of Wisconsin. Standards were finished and mailed to school districts this spring with over 4,000 copies being distributed to school buildings, school administrators, library and audiovisual staff members across the State of Wisconsin. As part of this, the ESEA Title II has endorsed these standards as appropriate guides to developing programs in the future. The Department of Public Instruction in this publication has clearly endorsed the instructional materials center as the appropriate way to organize all materials in schools. Evidence in the field, in the form of observed collections which are increasing in size and continued program development which is taking place offers very encouraging support for the role that Title II has played in establishing new instructional materials centers and in greatly improving the variety and quality of the collections of materials available to young people in the public and private schools across the State. Many comments, particularly from the principals, are significant in that they reinforce the great importance of

ESEA Title II Annual Report, page 5

Section 2 ·

Report of the State School Media Supervisor, continued

Title II to them in bringing in fresh new materials and indicating
to them the potential for new materials in supporting the instructional
program of their school. This is particularly true in the area of audio-
visual materials where the great bulk of Title II is now being spent and
where we are really showing the potential of the instructional materials
center as a vital force in the education of young people.

1. As one of the Department of Public Instruction's supervisors of

Instruction and responsible for the IGE program I participated in the formulation of the ESEA Title II program objectives by direct consultation with the Division for Library Services and the program administrator MBO meetings.

In the elementary schools of Wisconsin who were involved in the IGE program Title II had a considerable impact on increasing and improving the instructional resources in these buildings. Several model elementary school library facilities were developed and these buildings have had hundreds of visitors who were there to observe both the educational program and the materials which have been developed in the central IMC. Without Title II, it would have been very difficult and in some cases impossible for the local districts to provide comparable materials.

One of the programs in the IGE schools involves the teaching of reading skills and considerable assistance has been provided through the development of teacher resource files which identified materials which could be used to teach the necessary skills. Many of the IGE schools used the resource file to identify their deficiencies in materials to teach their reading skills and purchased the suggested printed and audio-visual materials from Title II funds.

Many of the IGE schools purchased large quantities of materials for use by individual students. One of the leading activities of an IGE school is to develop students who can work individually, who are self-evaluative and self-directed. Title II funds were exceedingly helpful in providing materials used in individualization of instruction. A number of our IGE schools also use their NDEA Title III funds to provide the necessary hardware to make better utilization of the software.