EPDA, B-2: education professions development act 1971-1972 [1973]

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EDUCATION PROFESSIONS DEVELOPMENT ACT
1971-1972
This Publication has been printed with funds received under Title V, Part B, Sub part 2, Public Law 90-35 of the Education Professions Development Act of 1967.

Division of Program and Staff Development Office of Instructional Services Georgia Department of Education Atlanta, Georgia 30334

Jack P. Nix, State Superintendent of Schools

1973

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INTRODUCTION
The United States Congress in 1967 amended the Higher Education Act of 1965 to include the Education Professions Development Act. This Act is divided into six sections. Part A, Section 504 provides for a national recru itment effort to attract qualified persons to the education profession. Part B-1 is designed through Teacher Corps to attract able and high Iy motivated persons to teach children from low-income families. Part B-2 is for recruitment and training of individuals to meet critical shortages of classroom personnel in local school districts. There are nine priority programs under parts C, D, and F of the EPDA. Part E is a program to support the development of college staff members.
The Education Professions Development Act, Part B-2, P. L. 90-35 was designed for the state departments of education to prepare a state p Ian for the d isbu rsement of fu nds accord ing to guidelines for the recruitment and training of teachers or teacher aides. The Georgia state plan provides administrative procedures to allot funds to a local school system or consortium in accordance with its proposal to meet needs in critical areas as determined by the State Board of Education.
From January 1968 to Ju Iy 1, 1972, the program has provided for 306 teachers in the areas of special education, elementary education, mathematics, science and other areas of the curriculum. In the area of auxiliary training, the program has provided training for 461 aides in Georgia.
The program is designed to provide pre-service and in-service training at the undergraduate or graduate level for new individuals to enter the field of education. The pre-service training is one quarter or semester in length prior to teaching. This training may be provided in the local school system or at a college. A practicum is required after the first year. This practicum includes child growth and development, classroom management, lesson planning and experiences with students under controlled situations.
After the pre-service training, the participants are assigned to a school to work. The in-service training starts the first week of school as this is the time most problems for participants develop. The practicum aspect of the training continues with an educational experience which includes five quarter hours of

college credit. These courses are offered each quarter in the local school system. Another fifteen quarter hours of college credit is offered the second summer. A participant could receive forty-five quarter hours credit at the undergraduate or graduate level.
The teacher trainee participant is required to be eligible for at least provisional certification at the end of the pre-service training period. Therefore, the interview with each applicant is used to determine eligibility for the teaching position as well as meeting certification requirements. An evaluation from Teacher Certification Services, Georgia Department of Education, of an applicant's transcripts is required to determine each participant's needs. Other participants who have professional certification are required to be enrolled in a graduate program at a college.
The teacher aide participant is requ ired to have at least a ninth grade education as the training could be for non-credit. The college credit programs require the participants to have a high school diploma or the G.E.D. diploma. The teacher aide program sets the first minimum requirements for the training of auxiliary approved by the State Board of Education in Georgia. These requ irements are:
Pre-service Training -Minimum of 70 clock hours of training -Maximum of 25 participants per instructor -Instructor must have master's degree - Practicum experience with children
I n-service Training - Minimum of 45 clock hours of training elnstructor must have master's degree - Practicum
The EPDA, B-2 training programs have tried to involve the local school system, Georgia Department of Education and the institutions of higher education in a cooperative endeavor to train individuals to acquire the skills, attitudes and knowledge necessary to perform the task of teach ing in the classrooms of Georgia.

BACON BRANTLEY CAMDEN CHARLTON GLYNN MciNTOSH PIERCE WARE WAYCROSS CITY

The Program for Exceptional Children in the Waycross area sought to meet its needs through the EPDA program by recru iting and educating teachers and training teacher aides.
Through the program it was hoped that services to exceptional children would be improved, by acquainting teachers with diagnostic and programming materials needed for these children and by providing educational experiences in methods and skills needed for exceptional children. The project was also designed to improve the self-concept of teachers and pupils, to demonstrate cooperative working relations across system lines and to work with institutions of higher learning to develop appropriate educational programs. Objectives for teacher aides involved providing training appropriate) for aides to perform tasks in relation to skills, training, interests and experiences; to encourage aides to continue education and training; to free teachers from certain tasks, thereby providing more time for performing professional duties.
Teacher training included teaching the retarded and the elementary child, as well as general studies in understanding children. Aides were trained in child growth and development, orientation on policies and procedures that apply to aides, curriculum studies and teaching the retarded child, as well as studies in general education. Both teachers and aides could receive graduate or undergraduate credit or could register for non-credit.
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Unusual aspects of the project included visits to Central State Hospital, DeKalb's program for the retarded and Aidmore Hospital. Teachers worked locally with children in the area of the gifted in Waycross, with TMR children at Ware Training Center and the summer reading program at Ware and Pierce Counties. Teacher aides also had practical experience with children who were gifted, culturally deprived retarded and disturbed. The project worked cooperatively with Project PR IDE to provide in-service activity through television. During the summer of 1972 participants completed certification for teaching the retarded by participating in a team-teaching/ student-teaching program.
Evaluation involves the use of check lists and opinionnaires given to participants immediately after each activity. Subjective evaluation includes statements about the project from participants, administrators, instructors and state department personnel.
Systems included in the project are Bacon, Brantley, Charlton, Pierce, Ware, Mcintosh, Camden and Glynn Counties and Waycross City.
Project evaluation will be based on the measurable objectives as stated in the project design. In addition, each participant will be asked to conduct a self-evaluation in terms of personal goals and progress toward professional certification.

LOWNDES VALDOSTA CITY

The major objective of the Lowndes County-Valdosta City EPDA project was to attract, recruit and qualify twenty teacher trainees in critical or priority fields as indicated by each of the participating school systems. The purpose is to produce a teacher who is significantly better informed in teaching and learning activities, thus producing a better performing new teacher than would be available otherwise.
The teacher trainee participants form two catagories - those who have a degree other than in education and are working toward professional certification and those who are returning to teaching with a degree in education, and are working toward an advanced degree. Exception to the above are those participants who are returning to teaching with professional certification but are working to establish a second teaching field.
The type of training each participant receives IS based on an
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individually planned program. The training is received in open college classes, and each participant registers for those courses called for in his planned program.
Those participants working toward professional certification at the T-4 level are more closely monitored than a participant working toward an advanced degree. Participants are directed by a team including a school principal, a supervising teacher or department chairman, and a college representative from the division of education.
The major strength of this project is the design, which allows for maximum flexibility in planning a program to meet the needs of individual professional goals. The project also allows, through the recru itment procedures, for the school system involved to be selective in choosing participants.

BREMEN CITY CARROLL CARROLLTON CITY COWETA HARALSON HEARD PAULDING

The Carrollton City School System, faced with a critical shortage in the area of special education, designed an EPDA project to alleviate the shortage and to help professional people in education who have no training in the area of special education yet deal with these types of children frequently. Training was geared to helping individuals understand the problems, techniques and identification processes in the education and preparation of handicapped individuals.
A contract drawn up between a local college and the West Georgia Educational Services Center provided for students taking course work to receive college credit, either graduate or undergraduate.
The short, intensive pre-service program was designed to make prospective special education teachers aware of materials available in the field and expose them to children, techniques and a variety of educational philosophies and competencies. All participants were required to meet certain qualifications and were interviewed and evaluated by the project director. They were employed in local school systems and stipends were paid to the participants throughout the pre-service training period.
Participants in the program were identified and encouraged through special education contact with persons in related areas desiring to go into the teaching profession. In addition, superintendents and the local Shared Services Project staff were instrumental in initiating contacts which led to project partici-
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pation. Provision was also made for newspaper and radio ads.
The main objective of the project was to take approximately fifteen participants through the entire program with course work in special education. This would give them a teaching field, provide certification, improve the over-all quality of work, enlarge areas of competencies in dealing with exceptional children and alleviate shortages in that area.
It was felt by regular classroom teachers included in the program that understanding and capabilities in dealing with exceptional children and borderline children in the regular classroom was gfeatly enhanced by project participation.
A list of reference materials has been submitted to the local college and work is proceeding on procuring the professional library contracted through the project. This would give students a variety of materials and texts from which to draw and would be meaningful to teachers and professional persons dealing in special education in this area.
The program has proved a valuable link in the total special education program for the West Georgia Educational Services Center and has provided 19 persons who normally would not have been employed in the systems involved. These include Paulding, Haralson, Carroll, Heard and Coweta County systems and Bremen and Carrollton City systems.

DUBLIN CITY TATTNALL

PICKENS

Forty participants were approved for the EPDA project at the First District Educational Services Center in Statesboro. It was agreed that these participants would be provided with preservice training, for which they would receive a stipend, and in-service training, for which they would receive matriculation fees for college courses and textbooks. They would be trained as teacher aides and paraprofessionals. Dublin City and Tattnall County were selected as training centers on the basis of a concentration of potential participants. Both systems agreed to furnish adequate physical facilities, and the two sites were accessible to participants in nearby systems.
Objectives of the project were: to identify and recruit potential teacher aides; to provide opportunities for them to develop skills and competencies required of them; to enable them to understand public school organization; to identify potential teachers from among the participants and to help them get started in a planned program of study; to serve more exceptional children more effectively; to increase the instructional capabilities of those teachers directly involved in the teacher aide program.
The majority of participants would function as aides in kindergarten and reading and a few would work as audio-visual, library, math and EMR aides. It was decided to offer all aides experience in all areas during formal training and to provide in-depth training according to assignment while on the job. Furthermore, it was recognized that the areas are not mutually exclusive and that job assignments for teacher aides sometimes change during a schoof term. In addition to area training, there was also time allotted for ethical consideration and mature insights so that aides might understand the dimensions of professional eth ics.
Evaluation has for the large part been verbal feedback from teacher aides and supervising teachers. A more formal evaluation will be conducted along State Department guidelines.
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The Pickens County EPDA project got off to a slow start but has been moving at a rapid rate since final approval came through. The objectives of the project are to recruit and train twenty teachers, to provide a minimum of 40 quarter hours of college credit, to assist participants in working toward professional certification and competency and to provide a practicum that will include working with children in a classroom, a study of local school policies, school law and discipline.
The 17 people approved are employed in seven school systems and activities range from kindergarten to high school. Areas of their training will include elementary, secondary and special education with some of the participants working in conjunction with Head Start and Follow Through. North Georgia College is the training institution.
Evaluation will include teacher evaluation, self-evaluation, statistical data, and statements from participants, administrators, instructors and state department personnel.
A positive resu It of the project is that North Georgia College is now moving toward approval of training in special education, training teacher aides and early childhood education.

BUTTS FAYETTE
GRIFFIN-SPALDING
HENRY
LAMAR

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The objective of the EPDA program at the Educational Services Center in Griffin is to provide pre-service and in-service training for 23 teacher aides and paraprofessionals so they can adequately assist classroom teachers in improving the learning opportunities of students.
The curriculum is designed to give teacher aides training in the basic understanding of how to relate to children, teachers and adults. This will include a general understanding of the education processes, operational policies and procedures, teacher's professional organizations and familiarity with local and state agencies to develop a better understanding of their role and relationship to school and community.
Specific areas in which they are being trained include obtaining the functional skills to assist teachers in the classroom, orientation to education, a workshop in elementary education, methodology of teaching reading, principles of elementary curriculum, methodology of teaching language arts, science and mathematics and principles of elementary art.
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By the end of the summer quarter 1972, each participant should have earned 45 quarter hours. The training is provided on a cooperative basis for Fayette, Henry, Butts, Lamar and Griffin-Spalding County school systems. Resources used in the program include other shared services, school teachers and administrators, personnel from the University of Georgia and Georgia State University, local curriculum directors and the Georgia Department of Education personnel.
Evaluation includes teacher-made tests prepared by instructors from the University of Georgia, teacher conferences and individual observations, classroom visitations and follow-up, conferences with supervising teachers and principals, college instructor's evaluation and monitoring by the Georgia Department of Education.
The program has been such a success that school administrators have requested that the Educational Services Center provide a training program for other auxiliary personnel, and the program of training and materials produced under the sponsorship of EPDA-B2 are being used to train 99 additional aides and paraprofessionals.

SAVANNAH-CHATHAM

HOUSTON

The staff of the Exceptional Child Division of the SavannahChatham County Public School System considers as its major priority the training of teacher personnel. Therefore, the Board of Education decided to use money from the EPDA program to provide special teacher training in the area of specific learning disabilities for 1971-72.
The intent is to retrain teachers who are in other areas of education as well as to train people with non-educational backgrounds to teach children with specific learning disabilities. The program involving some 30 teachers began in the summer of 1971 with three courses offered through Cates on the Armstrong State College campus. The courses provided an opportunity for practicum experiences in which trainees were exposed to various local school and community programs that deal with learning disabled youngsters.
Each of the trainees was employed by the local Board of Education for the academic school year 1971-72 to serve as teachers of children with learning disabilities, as teachers of regular classes and as teachers in other areas of exceptionality. During the year the trainees are involved in one additional course each quarter. and in in-service training programs in their respective schools. Those trainees assigned to teach learning disabled students also receive intensive in-service training in methods of dealing with children with specific learning disabilities.
Three additional courses, including a special practicum, will be offered during the final summer quarter of 1972. The local school system will provide students and facilities so that the trainees may be able to actually evaluate pupils and provide appropriate instructional programs based on the evaluations. Specialized instructional materials will be available for use and plans are underway to coordinate the practicum with special physical activities programs at the local YMCA. The design for the YMCA practicum course would aim toward reinforcing academ ic tasks of the you ngsters.
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Teacher aides were needed in Houston County to aid in specific instructional tasks in the reading program in Title I schools. The Board of Education used EPDA money to train personnel to assist teachers in reaching more children in special areas of need. Other objectives were to assist professional and nonprofessional personnel in developing a more positive attitude toward each others' role and to provide for more frequent use of equipment and materials in the instructional program.
Training included instruction on the organizational structure and policies of the county board of education, special training in child development, record keeping, the library, speech and language, teaching material, reading and field trips. This was accomplished by the use of daily workshops, a pre-school practice experience and in-service during the school year.
Evaluation included the rating of learning experiences, response to instructional situations, periodic subjective ratings, check lists on the range of experiences and self-evaluation.

CLARKE

VOLUNTEERS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Volunteers in Public Schools (VIPS), the only volunteer program funded by EPDA in Georgia for 1971-1972, is a pilot project for the Clarke County Schools. The project has been implemented in Barnett Shoals Elementary School.

Volunteers were recruited as a result of thirteen neighborhood coffees sponsored by the Barnett Shoals PTA, which has taken VIPS as it's major project. Volunteers are mothers, fathers, University of Georgia students and interested citizens.

The educational levels of the twenty-two volunteers, who receive a small stipend for attending pre-service workshops and helping evaluate the total program, range from high school to graduate school. Fifty-one hours of training and 20 hours in a practicum setting were included in the pre-service training. A "working creatively with children workshop" was also offered in the evenings to enable fathers to participate.

All volunteers were assigned to a volunteer role in the school in the following areas:
Number of Volunteers

-Classroom -Exceptional education - Extracu rricu lar activities -General tutorial -Health clinic -I nstructional materials
- Library -Math
- Reading -Clerical - Physical education

13 8 6
22 8 8
13 5
13 8 4
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Volunteers obligate themselves for one to eight hours a week to assist in the school. However, the average is about three hours a week. In-service workshops will continue to assist the volunteers in becoming more proficient in their chosen areas or to add a new area of competence.
An evaluator is assisting in developing instruments to evaluate all facets of the program. He is also concerned with assisting in the placement of volunteers with teachers for future programs.
The VIPS staff also has as a goal the recruiting of Community Resource Volunteers who will be willing to share their talents, hobbies, vocations or avocations with schools or classes as requested once or several times a year. This portion of the project is being accomplished in cooperation with the Clarke County Media Center, which began such a file during the 1970-1971 year. A primary goal in this effort will be to provide a catalog of Community Resource Volunteers which will be available to each school in the county.
Community response has been exceptional. One radio station featured the VIPS project on its community show in November. The local newspapers have published approximately one article each week since the beginning of the project, which aided in spre'ading the concept of volunteering in schools throughout the county. Plans are being made for a thirty-minute program on ETV in early 1972 depicting what is happening at Barnett Shoals Community School and the possibility for implementation in other schools.