Publication Date

1966

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

McDowell, Dale||Dewar, John A.

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

School of Education

LCSH

Educational counseling

Abstract

In the summer of 1961, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction in Illinois originated a Pilot Project in Guidance for certain volunteer counties. Will and Madison Counties were the only two counties to volunteer for the project. The aim of the project was to coordinate and correlate the services of local school units to promote a more effective and cooperative guidance program for the public schools. Will County, with Its large population and multiplicity of school districts made the program a valuable addition to the County Office. Of the thirty-four school districts in Will County, twenty-five or 76% mitered the program. These districts ranged in else from 191 to 9,500 pupils and accounted for 80% of the public school students in the county. Superintendents encountered a number of problems in initiating and continuing the program within their own districts. Some also had doubts as to the worth of the entire program. The primary purpose of the study was to determine if the initial project purpose was attained In the minds of the Will County Superintendents. The secondary purpose of the study was to gain an insight into the factors involved in initiating and continuing the Pilot Project. Two Instruments were used to study the project. These were: (l) a questionnaire, and (2) an evaluation of the Pilot Project by a team of experts chosen by the State Department of Education in 1962 and 1963. Personal involvement in the project as an administrator of one of the cooperating schools ad so provided additional information and insight. The data gathered indicated that the Pilot Project was well received in Mill County, as 76% of the school districts joined the project. It appeared that the county elementary schools benefited more from the project than did the secondary schools. Each administrator answering the questionnaire agreed that the greatest value of the program had been the effect of the attention and publicity given guidance services In the county. Coordination efforts had been productive in the areas of: (1) testing, (2) records, (3) arranging meetings and workshops, (4) provision of information, and (5) in-service training. Only three inadequacies were noted from the data gathered. These were: (1) the failure to establish county norms, (2) secondary school benefits were less pronounced, and (3) no attempt was made to coordinate the great variety of pupil-personnel activities conducted in the county. After the data was collected and analyzed it appeared that the main function of the Pilot Guidance Project was the development and the coordination of a testing program and the development of cumulative folders for students in the public schools. Some coordination of guidance was done, but just enough to make it obvious that there was a need for a full time counselor to handle the guidance needs in general for the entire county. Since the termination of the project, the coordinator was taken from the County Office. Because of this there was a noticeable breakdown in coordination among the school districts, the business community, and very little coordination between the existing social agendas. It was therefore recommended that the State Superintendent of Public Instruction will need to offer support and assistance until such time as the Will County Schools Office can provide the necessary coordinator.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.

Extent

iii, 69 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

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