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General Description of the Program

The program provides opportunities for qualified foreign educators, including school teachers, administrators and supervisors, teacher training specialists, and officials of Ministries of Education, to gain a knowledge of United States educational methods and systems at the elementary and secondary levels through: (1) attendance of especially arranged seminars and regular courses in their special field, as well as in teacher education in institutions of higher learning in the United States, (2) observation of selected school systems

visits to various educational institutions, (3) opportunities for other educational and cultural experiences and travel, and (4) participation in typical school and community activities.

Participating Countries and Grant Quotas

During the 1960 fiscal year, the Office of Education arranged educational activities for 529 visiting educators from 67 countries and dependencies. Of these, 312 educators from 42 countries and dependencies were awarded international travel grants supported by Public Law 584 (the Fulbright Act) and Public Law 480 (the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954). The countries represented under Public Law 584 and their respective quotas are as follows:

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II. Office of Education Staff Activities on Behalf

of Participants

The Teacher Development Section of the Office of Education planned and carried out the detailed administrative procedures necessary to make the program function smoothly. These procedures involved reviewing applications, recommending candidates, orienting grantees, planning and placing grantees, and evaluating the program.

More specifically, the Teacher Development Section on behalf of the grantees was engaged in the activities described from here on in this section of the report.

Policy Determination and Processing and

Selecting Participants

Policy determination as to operating principles and procedures, publicity, and public relations required considerable time on the part of personnel from the Office of Education's Educational Exchange and Training Branch, and of Office subjectmatter specialists. Their deliberations were assisted by the university program coordinators and representatives from State Departments of Education and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U. S. Department of State.

Office of Education staff reviewed the applications of candidates for the available grants and also the recommendations concerning these candidates. The staff likewise helped in program planning and placement.

Generally speaking, the participants proved to have been well chosen this year. This is true especially as to professional background, language proficiency, and general contribution to the program. Most of them were mature, genial, intelligent, and responsible people who entered into the spirit of the different international groups and were good representatives of their countries and their profession. Our experience in working with them only strengthened our belief that such persons must possess an adequate knowledge of the English language, reasonably good health, and personalities sufficiently flexible to permit adjustment to new situations and environments in order to participate fully and effectively in the program. For if only a few persons lack these qualifications, the time consumed by the staff in alleviating their prob

lems tends to sacrifice the needs of the group to those of one or two individuals.

The supervisor of secondary education in the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction had this to say of the selection of those visiting educators who were sent to his district: "Our thanks to you and to those all along the line in this teacher development program for the careful selection of participants so that the experiences at this end can be so fine."

Reception and Physical Arrangements

During July, August, and September, staff personnel assisted the Department of State in meeting incoming groups in New York. The grantees were assisted through immigration and customs with relative speed. Assistance with orientation, housing, and transportation was also provided by staff members as necessary. Housing in New York City and Washington, D.C. was arranged with selected hotels at reduced rates. Teachers arriving in Washington, D.C. were met and assisted by the Office staff.

The staff arranged the domestic travel of all grantees throughout the program and assisted many, as necessary, with arrangements concerning international travel and accommodations. In making academic assignments of grantees, careful attention was given to their academic needs and to geographical distribution. Also, every participant was given the opportunity for an extended stay or visit in an American home during these assignments.

The Office prepared special itineraries and arranged participation in hospitality programs for grantees during the Christmas vacation.

On behalf of grantees involved in programs requiring extensive educational travel for a period of approximately six weeks following the Christmas vacation, hundreds of letters were written resource persons in schools, colleges and universities, other educational agencies, and in industries throughout the United States.

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The staff also prepared, revised, and distributed operational guides such as Instructions to Visiting Teachers and Manual for Program Coordinators.

Supplemental funds were made available by the the Department of State to enable 35 participants from among those completing their regular sixmonth program in the United States to visit the Department of Education of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico for one week en route to their homes. As Puerto Rico may be considered something of a cultural stepping stone between the United States and Hispanic America, it was believed that, in this progressive and fast-developing Commonwealth, educators from Latin America could observe the adaptation and application of U.S. educational principles in a cultural and social setting more like that in their own countries. Arrangements were made by the Office for this group, made up of teachers of English, elementary and secondary school teachers, and school administrators from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, and Venezuela, to visit in Puerto Rico during the period February 23 to March 3.

Program Planning and Development of Training Activities

Selection of Training Centers

With the cooperation of other divisions of the Office, the Teacher Development Section selected particularly well-suited colleges and universities and queried them as to their willingness to develop special academic programs to meet the needs of the teachers. Negotiations were completed with 15 college or university training centers and later with 27 State Departments of Education for practical observation and experience. (See table 2 P. 58 Also see table 3, for the names P. 59 and size of enrollment of the colleges and universities that have participated in the program since its inception.)

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The resources of the cooperating institutions were made fully available to the program coordinators and the grantees, and the result was programs of high caliber. Careful programing and attention to individual interests made it possible for the participants to satisfy most of their professional needs. Effective services also were provided by State Departments of Education and other local community sponsors.

Hundreds of private citizens, particularly educators, assisted the Office throughout the program in providing hospitality, guidance, and countless voluntary services. Staffs and faculties of public and

private schools, institutions of higher education, trade schools, technical institutes, and educational associations all over the United States received the educators as visitors. Relations of the Office of Education's staff with these organizations were excellent at all times.

Relations With Participating Centers

Consultative services, as requested, were provided to coordinators in all participating centers. Every university center was visited at least once --most of them twice.

Administrative material on insurance coverage, travel, maintenance payments, reporting procedures, and cultural and educational background information about participants was provided for each coordi

nator.

A Manual for Program Coordinators, prepared by the Teacher Development Section staff, was distributed. According to reports received by the Office, this manual seems to have contributed much to the success of operations.

A 2-day program-planning conference with the university coordinators was held in Washington, D. C. during April 1960 and a 2-day evaluation conference during July 1961.

Orientation and Supervision of Participants

Counseling.-In an effort to confirm or modify, as necessary, the plans previously made for the visiting teachers, Program Officers discussed these plans with the teachers after their arrival in Washington. This counseling, it is believed, assisted them in making an adjustment to this country and to the program. Some of the grantees came here full of curiosity and with prejudices, positive and negative. In trying to inquire into and understand the ways of life and the attitudes of the American people and of their fellow-grantees from other countries, they appeared to adapt easily to the American culture as well as interculturally within the group. Rivalry, tension, and envy seldom arose; friendship, cooperation, and sharing were the rule.

Perhaps the most difficult adjustment which the teachers had to make concerned the constant use of the English language and a normal adjustment to different climate and food. Some teachers had to learn to adjust to the idea of group planning and group activities. A few grantees needed to adjust to a differing concept of privacy. Others required adjustment to the concept of emphasis on education

OFFICE OF EDUCATION STAFF ACTIVITIES ON BEHALF OF PARTICIPANTS

through high school for all rather than for only a few.

Other activities during orientation.-General activities during the 2-week orientation in Washingtion were arranged and conducted by Program Officers with assistance of dozens of Office of Education specialists, representatives from other Government agencies, and staff of the Washington International Center. The Talent Show, involving

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than twenty presentations from nearly as many countries, was directed by staff personnel, and the International Exhibit, involving more than sixty countries, was organized and set up under the supervision of other staff members.

Another activity requiring staff effort was the International Tea for approximately 500.

It is believed that the orientation of the grantees to the United States and to the program was successful. The rapid adjustments, comments of the grantees during conferences with Program Cfficers, and their statements in reports and letters confirm this. The dean of a university in Illinois had the following to say:

I should very much like to compliment you and your staff upon the undoubtedly fine orientation program provided for these visiting teachers. A number of our own campus people have been impressed by the manner in which these people from foreign lands adapted themselves to being here in the United States.

The Office appreciates the effective efforts of foreign service posts and educational commissions and foundations abroad in arranging orientation programs for the teachers prior to their departure. The early distribution of "Visiting Teachers," a manual prepared for the grantees by this Office, ap

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pears to have acquainted them well in advance with the nature of the program. The 2-week orientation program arranged by the Office with the cooperation of the Washington International Center was interesting and useful in preparing the grantees for their experiences in the United States.

Preliminary English training. -Thirty-seven educators from Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela, and Zanzibar arrived in July for preliminary English training at the American University Language Center before participating in the regular program, which began in September.

Other Administrative Activities

Administrative materials for Department of State.-The staff provided copies of all administrative materials related to the program of itineraries, and of memoranda relative to selection of participants; outlines of proposed programs, conference agenda, and various program reports.

Rosters recommending applicants.-The staff prepared the rosters for approval of the Board of Foreign Scholarships.

McBee selector and control cards.-The staff prepared these cards for all the grantees.

Disbursement of funds to grantees. In accordance with established procedures, the staff disbursed funds to grantees.

Services to educators under voluntary programs.— When requested, the staff rendered such services to these educators as would facilitate their programs.

Answers to U. S. and foreign inquires.-The staff answered hundreds of queries for information about opportunities for educational exchange.

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