USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Arlington > Town of Arlington annual report 1957 > Part 21
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Although, as noted earlier, the Committee has not been panicked by "Sputnik fever", it has, nevertheless, tried to keep its curriculum policies abreast of the times. Among other things, Arlington is par- ticipating in the Educational T.V. program being initiated by the Eastern Massachusettts Council for School Television and is consid- ering the adoption of a new secondary mathematics curriculum which has been prepared by the University of Illinois and the Ford Founda- tion.
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REPORT OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE
Teachers in general regard the Arlington School System very highly, a fact that is reflected by the lowest rate of personnel turn- over for the entire State and by continued applications from more qualified teachers than we can employ. Although our salary range is not the highest, Arlington's school children have suffered very, little from the teacher shortage, except in some specialized areas, which speaks well for the Administration of the system.
The highest professional standards and an abhorence of politics. two of the marks of the top-notch school administration, have always characterized the efforts of our Superintendent, Mr. Clifford R. Hall, and our Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Bert A Roens. Arlington is most fortunate to have the services of these dedicated men.
1957 saw the retirement of Mrs. Elsie Meserve, Prinicpal of the Junior High Industrial Arts School, and of Mrs. Marion Ford, Super- visor of Art, both of whom had given many years of devoted service to Arlington's schools. Mrs. Meserve's work in the field of Special Class Instruction had brought national recognition both to herself and to Arlington. Other noteworthy retirements included Miss Arline Avery, who taught for 38 years at the Cutter School; Mrs. Frances M. McCarthy, a teacher at the Jr. High Industrial Arts School, and Mrs. Ruth Branscombe, of the Nursing Staff, both of whom first came to Arlington in 1937.
As for the Committee membership, 1957 saw the election of one new member Professor Bernard A. Forest.
The Committee wishes to note the excellent and conscientious service of its recently-retired Chairman, Mrs. Eleanor J. Strong. Mrs. Strong served from 1949-1957 and was the first woman to be elected Chairman.
The Committee wishes to thank the entire staff for its continued devotion to duty and all the Town Boards and Officials for their cooperation with the Public Schools.
Respectfully submitted,
(Signed) DAVID J. ASHTON Chairman
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ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS FOR THE YEAR 1957
To the School Committee of Arlington:
Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is my privilege to submit for your consideration the following report of the schools for the year 1957. In this report I have taken the liberty of high-lighting only those areas of our school program which have been given special attention or in which new procedures have been developed during this year. The Orientation Program, In- Service Training Program, Special Education, Art, Physical Education, Summer Institute, and Adult Education have been omitted from this report because there has been little change in these areas from what I had submitted in my report of 1955 and 1956.
"Gifted" Children
The problem of providing as adequate a program as possible for the "gifted" pupils throughout our system, which has been under study for some time by the School Committee, administration and teachers, has now culminated in a definite procedure to become effective September, 1958.
In the elementary schools it has been proposed that one special class for very high achievers ("gifted"), at the fifth grade level, be established at one of the elementary schools and pupils be selected on a town-wide basis. Members of this class would be screened by means of objective tests, school records, teachers' opinions and parental consent. Such a class can operate effectively only with an exceptional teacher and negotiations are now underway to secure the services of such a person. It is anticipated that this group would continue together through junior and senior high school.
In addition to this special class for high achievers, the feasibility of establishing voluntary afternoon-classes in science and French for fifth and sixth graders in each of the elementary schools is being investigated.
A special division of seventh grade pupils who are high achievers is planned for each of the junior high schools in September, 1958 with a view of keeping this group together through junior and senior high school and providing them with a more intensive program than now exists.
At the high school level, for those students who indicate very high aptitude in mathematics and science, there will be a special course in chemistry and physics. These pupils will begin chemistry in grade 10 and continue through the first semester of grade 11. The physics course would begin at the second semester of grade 11 and continue through grade 12. The mathematics courses for these pupils would become more intensive, and by the end of grade 12 would include the equivalent of a year of college mathematics. Colleges are now recognizing such advanced work for selected students as has been proposed above, and are admitting these students to sopho- more courses in those subjects in which their academic background is adequate.
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Besides this special program for the "gifted" which is being superimposed upon our present educational structure, every effort is going to be made to motivate all pupils in all of our classrooms to work up to the limit of their ability. At the elementary level this problem is currently being worked on at some of our Wednesday afternoon workshops, and at the secondary level at departmental, as well as teachers' meetings.
Our Elementary Schools
The problem of increased school population within certain school districts is ever present. Enrollment at the Bishop School continues to rise so that it will be necessary to use the library and the playroom or auditorium as classrooms in September, 1958. At the Peirce School, increased enrollment is forcing a second kindergarten into a basement room. A possible solution to the housing situation in these two schools might be resolved by building a school on Town-owned land on Pheasant Avenue, between the Bishop and Peirce Schools. This has been mentioned in previous reports and by the School Committee in its long-range report to the Committee on Advanced Programming and Budgeting. However, it is not recommended that any action be taken until a decision is made regarding Route 3 and the land-taking that would be involved if this road is to be constructed through Arlington.
School library programs have been instituted at the Bishop, Dal- lin, Hardy and Thompson Schools, in accordance with the joint pro- gram established a year ago by the School Committee and the Board of Library Trustees. Pupils in grades one through six are being taught the care and proper handling of books, how to locate books in the library by using alphabetical arrangements, the Dewey Decimal Sys- tem and the card catalogue. They are also taught the use of ency- clopedias, dictionaries, techniques of notetaking and outlining for the purpose of doing research on various topics. The school librarian has stimulated a greater enthusiasm and love for reading than had ever existed before in these schools by story-telling, giving book talks, reading stories aloud, allowing the pupils to report orally on their reading, helping them select suitable books at their own reading level, and displaying interesting books on various subjects.
This year, the individual elementary schools have experimented with areas of particular interest to them which were then reported to other schools for criticism or adoption, during the Wednesday afternoon meetings. For example, the Brackett and Crosby Schools have given particular attention toward strengthening the audio-visual programs. The Crosby School has also experimented with a creative writing program at the fifth grade level which can be adapted to other grades. The Cutter School has done some preliminary work with educational television in science and social studies, indicating the need for intensive preparatory work prior to viewing a program and follow-up after the program has been seen. The Science Club at the Parmenter School has been described in the previous Town Report and continues to function with considerable enthusiasm on the part of pupils, teachers and parents. Some experimenting with new pro- cedures in the teaching of science have been carried on at the Peirce School. An art workshop is being conducted by the teachers of the Thompson School within their own building, whereby methods and procedures are exchanged on chalk painting, three-dimensional draw- ing, puppet construction and mural painting.
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The experiment of placing special class children at the Crosby School into regular classroom situations in the afternoon seems to be very successful. However, no pressure is placed upon these children to accomplish the work of the grade in areas in which they lack the capacity. The major purpose is to give these children an opportunity to socialize with children of their own age level and to obtain as much as possible from the teaching of cultural subjects. It has been noted that, this procedure is beneficial not only to the special class children, but also to the regular class children who learn to accept the others as equals.
Through our Reading Consultant, services are still available for individual diagnostic testing for pupils with reading difficulties. Ap- propriate remedial suggestions are then set up for the classroom teacher to follow. This procedure aids considerably in alleviating a number of the reading problems we are meeting in our schools.
An important emphasis in the reading program has been on the development of a firm foundation in phonics so that each child will be provided with a tool for independent attack. Two years ago, a testing program was established whereby all children from grade two through grade six took a diagnostic inventory test in phonics during the first month of school. The results of the test made it possible for each class- room teacher to set up a remedial program in phonics in order to allay general classroom weaknesses and problems encountered by individual pupils.
This diagnostic phonetic test was administered again this fall. It was most encouraging to see that after the conscientious efforts made by the classroom teachers with remedial programs that there was a decided improvement in the results. This testing also indicated what phases our remedial programs must stress this year.
The enrichment of pupil experiences and the cultivation of per- manent interests in reading constitutes one of the main objectives of our reading program. This year, as in past years, the classroom teachers will continue to develop recreational reading with their pupils. Research has shown that children will rarely acquire and maintain facile reading skills unless they read voluntarily outside of school. Our reading program is constantly giving attention to the formation of independent "outside-of-school" reading habits. The elementary schools are in the most favorable position for giving children a broad acquaintance with literature and present another reason why our elementary school library program is so important. The peak of voluntary reading, we have discovered, is at about age thirteen. The amount of voluntary reading then decreases sharply from the seventh to the twelfth grade because of increased homework, extra-class activities and part-time work.
Throughout the years we have consistently given much time and effort to the slow reader and the average readers. However, not through desire, but mainly through lack of time and material, the fast moving child, or what today we term the "gifted" child, has been neglected. These children have high mental capacities, but, in our opinion, are not being challenged enough to put this high capacity to work. Hence, along with the program described at the beginning of this report, and with the development of our school libraries, we should be able to overcome this deficiency.
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REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS
The Secondary School
A better understanding and coordination of the course content in each of the subjects is being achieved by having the teachers, from time to time, in junior and senior high school, meet together by departments. For the first time in a planned and organized program, teachers in the junior and senior high schools are becoming aware of how and what is being taught in their particular subject, in grades other than their own. It is our intention to improve in the same way, the coordination of the work from grade six to grade seven,
For some time, we have been concerned with the difficulty some pupils have in making the transition from elementary school to junior high school, and from junior high school to senior high school. In attempting to correct this situation, the major emphasis in the past has been in working with these individual pupils. It is hoped that with the program described above, there will be reflected in these same pupils, some further alleviation of the transition problem.
The housing problem at the high school since the opening of school in September has been acute. It was necessary to use mechan- ical drawing rooms, home management rooms, and the Old Hall as homeroom areas for pupils. This situation is expected to be relieved in 1958 as a result of the renovation of the Lowe Auditorium which, when completed, will afford two levels of classrooms, 13 in number. The renovation of the Lowe Auditorium eliminated the boys' physical education unit. Consequently, the winter months for physical educa- tion are spent in the locker room with a program of first aid and visual aids pertaining to physical health. This condition will exist until a new gymnasium unit is built.
The present tight admissions situation at many of the nation's colleges has not yet affected our high school This year 54.7% of the graduating class are engaged in further education. This is the third highest proportion going to college in the past fourteen years from any single graduating class. Northeastern University took the largest group, 27, followed by Boston University, 16, and Tufts, 11. Massachusetts Institute of Technology enrolled 4, Simmons 4, Boston College 3, Harvard 2, Wellesley 2, and Jackson 2. Outside of Greater Boston, the University of Massachusetts accepted 4, Bowdoin 2, and Norwich 2. The State Teachers' Colleges admitted the following num- ber: Boston 6, Framingham 6, Fitchburg 3, Massachusetts School of Art 3, and Bridgewater 2. Other prominent colleges which took mem- bers of the class of 1957 are Amherst, Colby, Cornell, Middlebury, Mount Holyoke, Notre Dame, Springfield, U. S. Naval Academy, Hawaii, Miami, Michigan, New Hampshire, Wyoming, Williams, and William and Mary. Eleven members of the class are in junior colleges, with Lasell leading the list with 6. Twenty-six are in busi- ness schools, led by Katherine Gibbs, Chandler and Burdett. Eight girls are in the process of becoming nurses, four of them at Mount Auburn, and others at Massachusetts Memorial, Deaconess and Peter Bent Brigham Hospitals.
An indication of the effectiveness of the guidance work in the High School is the fact that 89.3% of those who took the college course actually have gone on to further education. From the business curriculum 69.1% are employed in office work, with another 25 % attending business school or taking business courses in college. It may be of interest to note that from the college and business curricula 6.4% entered the armed forces.
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Scholarships to the amount of $22,375., exclusive of our own Thompson Fund were awarded to members of the June graduating class. The scholarships received were from many of the leading col- leges - Northeastern, Simmons, Boston University, University of Michigan, Harvard and others. In addition three seniors, Stanley' Masters, Arnold Bradford and John Ottoson qualified for the National Merit Scholarships. Five additional students were given honorable mention for the very high scores they received and were giveni letters of commendation by the Merit Committee.
Again this year, the High School Guidance Department has been most active in job placement. During 1956, 682 pupils and graduates were placed on full-time and part-time jobs. Because of the shortage of beginning clerical workers, several large companies in Boston have sponsored a program of part-time work beginning in the summer of the junior year and continuing through the senior year, with full-time employment assured after graduation. A large number of our seniors has been encouraged to engage in this program and is now employed by these companies. The program provides an opportunity to apply skills that the students are learning in school to an actual work situation. These students have maintained satisfactory academic records and in many cases have improved their skills in business subjects because of the additional practice and because of a realistic understanding of the need for improvement in order to meet business standards.
This year, 439 students, or 31% of the High School student body, are working part-time with total weekly earnings of $7,168.42. These students are working on an average of 11.8 hours each week.
For many years we have attempted to make our pupils in high school conscious of social responsibilities and, as a result, they have given hundreds of hours of effort to community projects on a volun- teer basis. This year, in cooperation with the Bureau of School Pro- jects of the United Community Services, in which our School Admin- istration is active, we are developing a formal program of volunteer services to the hospitals and youth agencies of the area. We feel that this working partnership between the Arlington Public Schools and the agencies of the United Community Services will be most valuable to all participants. This cooperative venture supplements in a most pro- ductive manner, the continuing efforts of our schools to inculcate the ideals of service and brotherhood.
Student activity programs at Arlington High School are, we be- lieve, in good balance in relation to academic requirements. The Student Council raised sufficient funds to invite another representative of the American Field Service to spend a year at Arlington High School. The Allied Youth Post, which was established in 1956, sent 39 students to Buck Hill Falls, Pennsylvania, where a national conven- tion was held with students from all over the country. The purpose of this organization is to discourage the use of alcoholic beverages among high school students. The Gilbert and Sullivan Club and Dramatic Club presented excellent entertainment under most com- petent faculty leadership. At this point, it is also important to draw attention to the excellent scenery painting project under the direction of the Art Department. This is the first time that the scenery had not been hired for dramatic club plays, and opens up a new interest for high school art students. The high school orchestra and band, as well as the girls' and boys' glee clubs and Harmonettes, have
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afforded the students an excellent music program and stimulated the appreciation of good music. The 1957 Senior Year Book received a first prize from the Columbia University Press Association in a na- tional competition with high school yearbooks. The high school news- paper, the Book Review Club, the Library Corps, the Fine Arts Club, the Debating Club, the Stamp Club, and the Chess Club have all contributed significantly to the growth and development of our stu- dents. The athletic program has maintained a good standard. An. excellent student interest and large enrollment in football was realized this fall along with girls' field hockey, ice hockey, girls' and boy's basketball, cross country, winter and spring track, girls' and boys' baseball, girls' and boys' tennis and golf.
Problems now under study in the high school are the possibility of an increase in the length of the school day; one hour periods in- , stead of forty minute periods; and adoption of the Kenyon Plan, involving the preparation of students for college at an earlier age than they would normally be admitted.
In the Vocational School, the screening process being developed of admitting only students who have demonstrated ability and serious- ness of purpose to profit from trade training, has resulted in a significant rise in the level of performance of these pupils. Our goal is to admit, eventually, only students of good academic ability who have high mechanical aptitudes, and to eliminate the pupils who re- gard vocational school as an easier way to obtain a high school diploma.
Pupil Personnel Services
The main types of problems which have been referred by teachers and parents to the Department of Pupil Personnel Services for further study and action were in the following areas:
1. Learning inhibition in spite of good intelligence.
2. Behavior problems of various degrees of seriousness, from disobedience to stealing and truancy.
3. Problems of distractibility, restlessness, and inability to con- centrate.
4. Anxiousness and withdrawn behavior, i. e., the fearful child who is more a problem to himself than to the teacher.
5. School phobias.
In all of these types of difficulties, it is necessary for the coun- selor to make, with the cooperation of parents, a thorough diagnostic study of the child and his environment in order to find the under- lying causes. Only with this knowledge can the counselor decide what is the best means of helping the child. If the services of an outside agency or clinic are needed, a counselor must be able to give full information about the child, for the chances of help from the agencies are very poor in these times of overcrowded facilities. In addition, many parents are not aware of the resources available in Greater Boston, and it is one of the tasks of the counselor to make initial; contacts for parents to use such facilities as a child guidance clinic, a hospital, or the Family Service Association.
When the counselor feels that the child's difficulty is of a less serious nature or is part of the process of growing up, he or she tries to help the child immediately which requires, of course, a close con- tact with the teacher as well as the parent. Closer contacts with
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parents and teachers have received more attention this year because an additional adjustment counselor has been added to the staff. She has specialized in working with mothers by helping them to find more satisfactory methods of handling their child's difficulties.
Compared to last year, we feel that some of the children referred this year have somewhat more serious difficulties. It is our general impression that teachers and principals in our schools are not only more alert in spotting difficulties at an early age, but are less fearful that such a referral may throw a poor light on their own ability to handle the situation. Both parents and teachers no longer regard the counselors as meddlesome intruders who might tell them what to do without consulting their own ideas about a particular problem. The emotional climate in our schools has been, in general, most favorable, and psychological evaluations have been sought by teachers and many recommendations have been intelligently and cooperatively carried . out by them. Those teachers who still think that a mental hygiene approach to difficult children represents "coddling", and that punitive methods with rigid firmness are the only means of handling laziness and lack of discipline, are in a small minority.
Experience over the years has shown clearly that the work of the counselors cannot be successful unless the child's parents, as well as teachers and principals, are cooperative. This awareness has led to the conclusion that the counselors should not try to work with a child individually, unless the parents are in full agreement and unless they are willing to realize that they may have to make certain efforts on behalf of helping the child to make a proper adjustment.
It is a recognized fact that a considerable amount of time and energy must be invested in each maladjusted child and the people surrounding him, if any lasting change in behavior and learning motivation is to be expected. For this reason, it appears unavoidable that it is more satisfactory to help fewer children during a given: time than to attempt to serve a great number on a superficial level. As the waiting list indicates, we may not be able to help all children in need immediately. As long as the means of changing behavior is dependent upon the child's and his parent's ability to understand themselves better, the process of helping will be a time-consuming one. Only when the emotional health of a child has been restored to a reasonably satisfactory level can his intellectual powers be free for the process of learning which is, after all, the main objective of the school.
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