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State University of Iowa Human Rights Committee first annual report and correspondence, 1963

Increasing the Quantity and Quality of Negro Enrollment in College Page 7

276  Harvard Educational Review


stone, with Dr. Morris Krugman one of the two designers of the Project, has devoted his paper in this issue entirely to the Project, I will discuss it here only to the extent necessary to complete my topic.
   The Project goals, briefly, were:

   1. To identify potentially able students early enough for them to realize their full educational potential.
   2. To change their own, as well as their parents', image of themselves as permanent strugglers for survival, to one in which going to college was not only possible but likely.
   3. To teach them sufficient competence in the basic academic skills so that they might ultimately qualify for college admission as well as financial aid.

   In evaluating the results of the Project to date, it should be borne in mind that these goals were set for a school population approximately 45% Negro, 40% Puerto Rican, 15% "others", with a common denominator of extreme poverty. Of the last pre-Project class of about 200 going on from Junior High School 43 to George Washington High School, about 5 had gone on to higher education. The drop-out rate had been high; there were serious disciplinary problems.
   These are a few highlights after the first three years of the Project:

   1. The average Project student's reading was 1.4 years below grade level at the begining of the Project. In    2.6 years, his reading jumped from a level of 5.4 to 9.7. For the first time in the history of the school, Project students read well above grade level. 
   2. The first Project class, starting in the Project as late as the 9th grade, are now high school seniors. Among them, there are 40 students who are passing 5 major academic subjects. Eighteen of them are good prospects for four-year colleges; the balance, for some form of post-high school training. Without the project, it is a fair estimate that no more than nine would have even finished high school. The next two Project classes, with 1 and 2 years more of Project benefits respectively, should do even better. 
   3. The drop-out rate has been halved and serious disciplinary problems have disappeared.7

   Discussion of the Project methods, techniques, procedures, personnel, and budget have been deliberately omitted here in deference to Dr. Wrightstone's paper.
   Before the half-way mark in the six year Project, and within a few months after Dr. John J. Theobald became the new Superintendent of Schools of New York City, he launched and has since implemented plans to extend the Project 43 principle to forty-four other New York schools. This program, called "Higher Horizons", starts on the on the elementary school level and includes

7Progress Report, Demonstration Guidance Project, Junior High School 43, Manhattan, and George Washington High School (Board of Education of the City of New York, 1959).

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276 Harvard Educational Review stone, with Dr. Morris Krugman one of the two designers of the Project, has devoted his paper in this issue entirely to the Project, I will discuss it here only to the extent necessary to complete my topic. The Project goals, briefly, were: 1. To identify potentially able students early enough for them to realize their full educational potential. 2. To change their own, as well as their parents', image of themselves as permanent strugglers for survival, to one in which going to college was not only possible but likely. 3. To teach them sufficient competence in the basic academic skills so that they might ultimately qualify for college admission as well as financial aid. In evaluating the results of the Project to date, it should be borne in mind that these goals were set for a school population approximately 45% Negro, 40% Puerto Rican, 15% "others", with a common denominator of extreme poverty. Of the last pre-Project class of about 200 going on from Junior High School 43 to George Washington High School, about 5 had gone on to higher education. The drop-out rate had been high; there were serious disciplinary problems. These are a few highlights after the first three years of the Project: 1. The average Project student's reading was 1.4 years below grade level at the begining of the Project. In 2.6 years, his reading jumped from a level of 5.4 to 9.7. For the first time in the history of the school, Project students read well above grade level. 2. The first Project class, starting in the Project as late as the 9th grade, are now high school seniors. Among them, there are 40 students who are passing 5 major academic subjects. Eighteen of them are good prospects for four-year colleges; the balance, for some form of post-high school training. Without the project, it is a fair estimate that no more than nine would have even finished high school. The next two Project classes, with 1 and 2 years more of Project benefits respectively, should do even better. 3. The drop-out rate has been halved and serious disciplinary problems have disappeared.7 Discussion of the Project methods, techniques, procedures, personnel, and budget have been deliberately omitted here in deference to Dr. Wrightstone's paper. Before the half-way mark in the six year Project, and within a few months after Dr. John J. Theobald became the new Superintendent of Schools of New York City, he launched and has since implemented plans to extend the Project 43 principle to forty-four other New York schools. This program, called "Higher Horizons", starts on the on the elementary school level and includes 7Progress Report, Demonstration Guidance Project, Junior High School 43, Manhattan, and George Washington High School (Board of Education of the City of New York, 1959).