STATEMENT OF EDWIN G. COHEN

TO THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMUNICATIONS

ON

H.R. 3333, THE COMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1979

I am Edwin G. Cohen, Executive Director of the Agency for Instructional Television. AIT is the chief source of television series used in elementary and secondary school classrooms in the United States. The most widely used series are those developed by AIT in partnership with an average of thirty state and provincial education agencies.

AIT is a nonprofit, self-supporting, American-Canadian organization that serves as the instrument of state and provincial education agencies. It is governed by chief school officers, and other educators and technologists, appointed by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada. Additional information about AIT is appended.

As requested by Chairman Van Deerlin, the remainder of this statement addresses three questions.

I. WHAT ROLE DO FORMAL EDUCATION AND INSTRUCTION PLAY IN THE EXISTING STRUCTURE

OF PUBLIC BROADCASTING?

A. School programming is provided by nearly all public television stations. This broadcast programming dominates the daytime schedule when schools are in session and is the typical source of programs for schools, especially at the elementary level.

B.

C.

D.

E.

The regular audience for these programs is about one-third of the more

than forty million elementary and secondary students and nearly one

million teachers.

Funds for school broadcasts are a substantial part of the income of public

television stations.

Educators generally exercise little control over public broadcasting although a majority of television stations are licensed to agencies that are deeply involved with education.

Educational service is public broadcasting's only unique purpose, it

distinguishes it from commercial broadcasting, it is the essential
reason for its existence.

11. HOW WELL DOES H.R. 3333 REFLECT THE NEEDS OF THE EDUCATIONAL COMMUNITY?

III.

WHAT CHANGES, IF ANY, WOULD YOU SUGGEST IN THE APPROACH TAKEN IN H.R. 3333?

A.

B.

A Section 643 (c) should be added in which one-third of the funds appropri-
ated under Section 614(b) for any fiscal year would be available for
distribution by the Endowment to entities other than public broadcast
stations to support the development of instructional television and radio
programs and services designed for use by pre-elementary schools, elemen-
tary and secondary schools, institutions of higher education, or institu-
tions providing continuing education, in connection with regular courses
of study. (This provision would guarantee a level of support for instruc-
tional programming commensurate with public needs and its importance in
public telecommunications. It would assure an adequate supply of

instructional programming.)

(Under this

The proposed section should specify further that recipients of instruc-
tional programming grants from the Endowment provide a majority of the
funds for the development of the programming, and that all costs related
to curriculum matters be met by funds provided by recipients.
provision the major funders would be those responsible for education.
In effect they would determine what programming is undertaken and control
all associated curriculum matters. Their involvement as funders would
justify the need for particular programs, and should assist the widest
and best use of completed programs. A matching funding arrangement would
stimulate increased expenditures by education agencies and institutions
for the development of instructional programming.)

Section 644 does not fully meet the rights requirements of instructional
programming. I would welcome an opportunity to discuss this matter with

the staff of the Subcommittee and to propose specific language.

agency for instructional television

The Agency for Instructional Television is a nonprofit AmericanCanadian organization established in 1973 to strengthen education through television and other technologies. AIT develops joint program projects involving state and provincial agencies, and acquires and distributes a wide variety of television and related printed materials for use as major learning resources. It makes many of the television materials available in audiovisual formats. AIT'S

predecessor organization, National Instructional Television, was founded in 1962. The AIT main offices and Midwestern office are in Bloomington, Indiana; there also are regional offices in the Washington, D.C., Atlanta, and San Francisco areas.