Secondary Schools In District Research Articles

Theodore Morris Sugden, 31 December 1919 - 3 January 1984

Morris Sugden was born on 31 December 1919 in the Yorkshire village of Triangle, near Sowerby Bridge. He was educated at Sowerby Bridge and District Secondary School and entered Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1938. Much of his career was spent in Cambridge where he became Reader in Physical Chemistry. In 1964 he moved to Chester to direct research at the Shell Thornton Research Centre, but in 1976 returned to Cambridge as Master of Trinity Hall. He became Physical Secretary of the Royal Society in 1978. He died on 3 January 1984 after a short illness.

The Perceived Contribution of Foreign Language to High Priority Educational Goals

Abstract A recent study involving a representative sample of New Jersey secondary school districts was designed to determine the broad educational goals which are considered to be of highest priority and the degree to which foreign language course objectives are perceived as contributing to their attainment. The perceived contribution of foreign language was compared with that of math, science, and social studies. The perceptions represented the views of language teachers and school administrators. Results indicated that although administrators viewed the overall contribution of foreign language objectives as less than that of other subject areas, the contribution to certain individual goals was, in fact, greater. Foreign language was found to be a key contributor to the attainment of a general education and to the development of pride, self‐understanding, and positive attitudes toward learning. Furthermore, foreign language was thought to be a major component in the development of cultural awareness and understanding.

Developing a renewal team in an urban school district

I ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ D uring the last several years the Buffalo Public School District has been involved in the implementation of a court-ordered desegregation program. During Phase One of the program, the district's elementary school children were reassigned. Phase Two of the plan led to the desegregation of the district's secondary schools. The problems the district encountered with unprepared and, often, fearful teachers, wary students, concerned community groups, and cumbersome transportation schemes during Phase One worried school officials as they began to chart a course of action for the implementation of Phase Two. This experience, along with observations of the problems that plagued other urban districts responding to court-ordered desegregation such as Boston and Louisville, convinced the district's leaders that they would have to make a major effort to prepare the staff and community for Phase Two. They were aware that the staff would need significant training in interpersonal skills and, more important, need to explore underlying attitudes and values that might predispose them against the forthcoming secondary school desegregation program. Given this conclusion, plans were fashioned to insure that all employees (secretaries, drivers, and custodians as well as teachers and administrators) would be briefed, receive work in needed skill areas, and explore their values orientations, to enhance the smooth implementation of the desegregation effort. Having run in-service programs for the district's secondary school principals and central office staff over the past several years, I was asked to help with this effort.