"PART B-LIBRARY TRAINING INSTITUTES

"APPROPRIATIONS AUTHORIZED

"SEC. 1205. There are hereby authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1962, and $10,000,000 for each of the three succeeding fiscal years, to enable the Commissioner to arrange, by contracts with institutions of higher education, for the operation by them of short-term or regular session institutes for the provision of training to improve the qualifications of school librarians, or individuals preparing to engage in school library work. Each individual, engaged, or preparing to engage in library work in a public elementary or secondary school, who attends an institute operated under the provisions of this part shall be eligible (after application therefor) to receive a stipend at the rate of $75 per week for the period of his attendance at such institute, and each such individual with one or more dependents shall receive an additional stipend at the rate of $15 per week for each such dependent for the period of such attendance."

(NOTE. This would require some technical changes in the general provisions of the National Defense Education Act, such as secs. 1004, 1008, etc.)

STATEMENT OF DON WHITE, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, NATIONAL AUDIOVISUAL ASSOCIATION, INC.

Senator MORSE. Our next witness will be Mr. Don White, executive vice president of the National Audiovisual Association, Inc.

You may proceed in your own way within the time limitation. Mr. WHITE. Mr. Chairman, I have a detailed statement here to present for the record, but in the interest of serving the subcommittee's time, if it is agreeable to you, I will simply deal as briefly as possible with the principal recommendations we have to make.

Senator MORSE. Your full statement will be included at this point in the record.

Mr. WHITE. Thank you, sir.

(The prepared statement of Mr. Don White follows:)

PREPARED STATEMENT BY DON WHITE, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, NATIONAL AUDIOVISUAL ASSOCIATION, INC.

The National Audiovisual Association is the national organization of companies who distribute and produce audiovisual materials, such as educational films and filmstrips, and audiovisual equipment such as projectors, tape recorders and language laboratories. Our membership comprises some 615 companies, including 418 audiovisual dealers who distribute our specialized types of products, plus 197 film producers, manufacturers, and other suppliers.

Our association and our members have probably been as closely involved in the implementation of the National Defense Education Act as any other group of businessmen in the country. We are glad to be able to report to you that it is excellent legislation. It is serving a great need in making funds, leadership, training, and services available for the improvement of education. And the administration of the act has been carried out in such a way as to reflect the highest credit upon the U.S. Office of Education.

The massive movement toward better instruction which is resulting from this act is far out of proportion to the amount of money which is being spent under provisions of the act. The National Defense Education Act has sparked a revolution in instructional methods, a reexamination of educational programs, and a determination to apply everyday instruction in our schools the full benefits of modern technology.

In the interest of conserving the time of your committee, I am going to limit my testimony to a few specific suggestions for changes and improvements in the act. We are primarily concerned about titles III and VII.

TITLE III

Within the somewhat less than 3 years title III has been in effect, a total of about $100 million has been disbursed to the States for the acquisition of equipment suitable for use in providing education in science, mathematics, or modern foreign languages. When you divide this figure out among America's 120,000 public elementary and secondary school buildings, this means that an average of only about $833 per building has been spent to bring to science, mathematics, or foreign language classrooms the educational equipment and materials which are so important to the improvement of education. I believe this figure speaks for itself in establishing the need for a continuation and expansion of title III. There is one minor amendment in title III which we consider essential. This has to do with making title III matching funds available for the purchase of teaching machines, audiovisual production equipment and materials, and film library equipment.

First, as regards teaching machines. When the National Defense Education Act was drafted, the idea of programed instruction had not begun to take hold in our schools. Now there is substantial evidence to indicate that teaching machines can serve a real function in relieving the teacher of some of her burdens and speeding up the instructional process. Because of the wording of the law, teaching machines and their accompanying materials are not now generally approved for purchase with matching funds available under title III.

Test grading machines, too, are an important part of the instructional process. We feel they should be approved under title III.

Secondly, the Office of Education has held that equipment and materials needed for the local production of audiovisual materials may not be purchased under title III. One of the most important and effective new advancements in the audiovisual field is the development of devices, materials, and programs which make it possible for individual teachers to produce their own transparencies, slides, tape recordings, and other audiovisual materials. One of these devices, for example, makes it possible to copy any drawing, picture or printed material, using a simple and inexpensive office copying device, into transparency form so that the material can be projected for plain viewing by a whole class within minutes. The teacher can then keep this transparency, and others she may prepare, until she returns to this unit of instruction again; then all she has to do is pull the transparency from her file and place it on the projector. Through administrative ruling, schools are presently denied the right to purchase these new and highly valuable types of equipment and materials under title III.

I am glad to report to you that a large number of educational films have been purchased with matching funds made available under title III, and these films are today in wide use in classrooms throughout the country. A certain amount of technical equipment is necessary for the proper storage, repair, and distribution of films, so they will remain in usable condition over a long period of time. Within the provisions of the present law, the Office of Education has been unable to find adequate justification to permit the purchase of necessary film library equipment with title III matching funds. This equipment, including such items as film splicers, rewinds, inspection machines, and storage cabinets, is urgently needed for the proper maintenance and distribution of the films which have been acquired.

We have discussed with the staff of the Office of Education the possibility of correcting these three minor problems by means of changes in the administrative regulations. We felt this might be possible if your committee should elect to favor such changes in its report on this legislation. However, the Office of Education has advised us informally that such a change in the regulations would not necessarily take place if it were proposed in your committee report, and we therefore have no alternative but to request and urge the inclusion in S. 1726 of the amendment to title III which I am appending as attachment A to this statement.

We have noted with some concern the portions of S. 1726 which would extend title III to include the purchase of equipment for physical fitness. While we certainly concur with the broad objectives of the administration in advocating better physical fitness for Americans generally, we seriously question the inclusion of physical fitness equipment and materials in a title of the act which otherwise is devoted entirely to equipment and materials for classroom and laboratory instruction.

One prime problem, as we see it, is that once title III funds have been allocated to an individual State, there is, and should be, no Federal control as to which of the subject areas the State shall emphasize in disbursing the funds. Even if a substantial additional appropriation is added to title III in order to provide for the physical fitness program, it would be possible for any State to spend its entire allotment for the purchase of athletic equipment, the remodeling of rooms to serve as gymnasiums or swimming pools, and for similar purposes.

The present State plans under title III, which have been worked out through a great deal of effort and expense on the part of both the States and the U.S. Office of Education, would not in our opinion, adequately accommodate the physical fitness addition. It would probably be necessary for all these plans, which are primarily concerned with better instruction in the classrooms and laboratories, to be amended and reworked, which we believe would cause many more practical and legal difficulties than the simple beginning of a new program by means of a new law.

We believe that the need for this type of expenditure is separate and distinct and that it has little to do with our pressing requirements for classroom and laboratory instructional materials and equipment. We would therefore like respectfully to recommend to your subcommittee that the "physical fitness" equipment provisions be deleted from the title III proposals which are included in section 4 of S. 1726. If provisions for this type of equipment are deemed important by your subcommittee, we recommend their inclusion in a separate bill, thus permitting the National Defense Education Act to continue without interruption its present essential programs for the improvement of instruction. We feel that one, and possibly two, extensions of title III should be urgently considered. The consultants to the previous Commissioner of Education who studied the National Defense Education Act recommended on January 4, 1961, that the provisions of title III be expanded to include English. We would like to urge that this recommendation, made by a well qualified and thoroughly experienced group of educators, businessmen, and labor leaders, be seriously considered by your subcommittee. We believe that extension of title III to English would be directly in line with the original objectives of this title.

If it can be done without weakening the constitutionality of the act, we would further like to recommend the extension of title III to include the social studies area. However, since this would mean that the provisions of title III would then apply to a substantial majority of the subjects being taught in elementary and secondary schools, we recognize that a question might arise as to whether the National Defense Education Act is in fact providing selective assistance to meet national defense needs, or a general reinforcement of education. We understand that loans to private schools for the latter purpose might be objected to on constitutional grounds. Our recommendation as to extension to social studies, therefore, is made with the reservation that such extension be made only if your subcommittee is reasonably assured that the constitutional issue would not thereby be made a serious factor.

EXTENSION OF TITLE VII

One of the unique benefits of the National Defense Education Act has been the fact that the benefits achieved under the various programs have frequently been completely out of proportion to the amount of funds invested. This is true of title VII, which provides for research and dissemination of information on new educational media. The impetus which the title VII program has given to programs of new educational media research, and to the dissemination of information about new educational media, has far more than justified the foresight of your subcommittee in proposing this program as a part of the National Defense Education Act.

There is, however, an urgent need for the extension of the title VII program to the local school level. There is an urgent need to pass on to teachers throughout the country the improvements in instructional techniques which have resulted from title VII research and from other experimentation in the use of new educational media.

We estimate that an immediate improvement in the instructional processes of schools throughout the country can be achieved by means of an amendment to part B of title VII which is being proposed in written testimony submitted to you by the Department of Audiovisual Instruction of the National Education Association, and which I append here as attachment B. This program would

provide grants to State departments of education for programs at the State level to disseminate information about new educational media-including such activities as workshops, demonstrations, sending out teams of consultants, the publication of bulletins and periodicals, and similar activities designed to pass on to teachers the great and immediate improvements in instruction which are now possible through the use of films, television, language laboratories, teaching machines and similar devices and materials.

A second part of this amendment would provide for institutes in new educational media, to be conducted by institutions of higher education, for the training of teachers, educational media specialists, school administrators, librarians, and others.

We would recommend that an appropriation of at least $5 mililon per year be made for the State dissemination programs, and at leats $4 million per year for the institutes program.

We believe this proposed amendment will make a great contribution to American education, and that it is directly in line with the general purposes of title VII. We most sincerely urge its consideration by your subcommittee.

LIBRARY TITLE

We understand that the American Library Association will propose to your subcommittee a new title which would provide funds for school libraries. This amendment would provide badly needed funds for the purchase of instructional materials, including audiovisual materials, and we most sincerely favor its adoption by your committee.

The several recommendations I have made here, Mr. Chairman, have been prepared in an effort to assist your subcommittee in its consideration of this important and far-reaching legislation. Our recommendations are based on what we believe is a fairly intimate and thorough knowledge of the functioning of titles III and VII, and they have been made after a careful study by the educational committee of our association. The opinions of more than 70 persons have been considered in arriving at these recommendations. We most sincerely hope they will be of help to you in your deliberations, and that you will be able to consider the proposals we have presented.

I hope that the members of your subcommittee, in further study of these suggestions and those of others who have appeared before you, will find ways to continue and increase this important program of providing for the teachers and students of America the essential educational tools without which they will be handicapped in the tremendous task they face.

Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, I wish to thank you for the privilege of appearing before you today. If you have any questions about the matters I have mentioned, I shall be very glad to attempt to answer them.

ATTACHMENT A

PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO S. 1726, a BILL TO EXTEND AND IMPROVE THE NATIONAL DEFENSE EDUCATION ACT, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Page 6, line 3, insert at the end of section 302 (a) (3) the following:

"(D) The term 'equipment' shall include equipment for the production and distribution of audiovisual materials, test grading machines, and programed learning materials and equipment."

Page 6, redesignate paragraph (3) as paragraph (4).

ATTACHMENT B

PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO S. 1726, A BILL TO EXTEND AND IMPROVE THE NATIONAL DEFENSE EDUCATION ACT, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Page 19, beginning with line 19, section 8, redesignate subsections (a) and (b) as subsections (b) and (c), respectively, and insert a new subsection (a) as follows:

"SEC. 8. (a) Part B of title VII of such Act is amended by adding after section 731 the following new sections:

"'ALLOTMENTS TO STATES

"SEC. 732. (a) From the sums appropriated for this section and sections 733 and 734 pursuant to section 763 for any fiscal year the Commissioner shall reserve such amount, but not in excess of 2 per centum thereof, as he may determine for allotment as provided in section 1008. From the remainder of such sums appropriated for this section the Commissioner shall allot to each State an amount which bears the same ratio to the amount of such remainder as the number of public school pupils in such State bears to the total number of public school pupils in all the States. The amount allotted to any State under the preceding sentence for any fiscal year which is less than six-tenths of 1 per centum (0.006) of the total appropriation shall be increased to six-tenths of 1 per centum (0.006) of the total appropriation, the total of increases thereby required being derived by proportionately reducing the amount allotted to each of the remaining States under the preceding sentence, but with such adjustments as may be necessary to prevent the allotment of any such remaining States from being thereby reduced to less than six-tenths of 1 per centum (0.006) of the total appropriation.

(b) The amount of any State's allotment under this subsection for any fiscal year which the Commissioner determines will not be required for such fiscal year for carrying out the part of the State plan (if any) approved under this title for which such allotment is available shall be available for reallotment from time to time, on such dates during such year as the Commissioner may fix, to other States in proportion to the original allotments to such States under this subsection, but with such adjustmens as may be necessary to prevent reallotment to any State of any sum in excess of the amount which the Commissioner estimates it needs and will be able to use for such year for carrying out the part of the State plan for which the amount reallotted would be available. Any amount reallotted to a State under this paragraph during a year from funds appropriated pursuant to section 763 shall be deemed part of its allotment for such year.

66 'PAYMENTS TO STATES

**SEc. 733. From a State's allotment for a fiscal year under section 732, the Commissioner shall from time to time pay to such State an amount equal to to the actual or anticipated expenditures in carrying out its State plan.

"'STATE PLANS

"'SEC. 734. (a) Any State which desires to receive payments under this part shall submit to the Commissioner, through its State educational agency, a State plan which meets the requirements of section 1004 (a) and sets forth a program for the improvement of instruction through the increased or improved utilization of a wide range of the new educational media. This plan shall provide that all Federal funds expended shall be used to increase or expand such State activities above their present levels. The plan shall provide for the administration of the State program, and it may include such activities as

(1) advice, counsel, demonstrations, and technical assistance to local schools, school systems, and institutions of higher education;

***(2) experimentation in the improvement of instruction through the utilization of new educational media ;

(3) the acquisition and distribution of audiovisual materials;

"(4) the preparation and publication of bulletins, manuals, periodicals, and such other materials as are generally useful in the encouragement of the wider and more effective use of new educational media in local schools and institutions of higher education; and