U-m Elementary School Closing Is Recommended

The closing of University Elementary School "as early as practicable but not later than June 1970" has been recommended by an outside panel of educators who have completed a study of the University School of Education. The panel did not criticize the school or staff, but said the space and resources could be more profitably used in other activities. The recommendation comes almest a year after grades 10, 11 and 12 were dropped at University School. Instruction was offered to those grades for the last time last spring. The panel making the recommendation was formed by the Academy for Educational Development at the request of U-M President Robben W. Fleming and Arthur M. Ross, vice president for state relations and planning, lts report was presented to the faculty yesterday. Ross said the recommendation will be discussed by U-M officials with the Ann Arbor Board of Education before any action is taken. Most of the 320 children enrolled in grades up to the ninth grade would be absorbed in the public school system. Ann Arbor School Supt. W. Scott Westerman Jr. did not evalúate the possible impact of the closing of the school but said: "This matter, while it was pending, was communicated to us and we were assured we would have ampie opportunity to discuss it with them so we could make proper preparations for absorbing those children within our district." Some University Elementary School children live outside the Ann Arbor School District. Ross said it is "too early to express official reactions. The recommendations of the group will doubtless receive prompt and serious consideration . . . "The recommendation to phase out University School I will of course be discussed with the Ann Arbor Board of I Education and other concerned groups." In other recommendations, the panel said the School of Education urgently needs to define its goals and establish lts priorities. v And those goals should probably emphasize inquiry and experimentation covering significant educational problems, instead of dealing with simple teacher training or service to local school districts. The panel notes that hundreds of institutions are equipped to train and certify teachers, but few have the talent and resources to tackle major educational questions facing the nation. That is where the U-M School of Education should focus its attention, the five assert. The study was initiated last f all. .Since then Wilbur Cohen, former U.S. secretary of health, education, and welfare, has been named dean to succeed the retiring Willard C. Olson on July 1. "You could have made no better choice," panel chairman Alvin C. Eurich wrote to President Fleming. The panel urges explicit criteria for selection and retention of faculty, with particular emphasis on "commitment to inquiry and experimentation." Because of the diversity and range of disciplines in education, the panel suggests consultation beyond the faculty of the School of Education in reaching personnel decisions. A special point is made of the need to increase the number of social scientists in the School. The panel found staff overload "small order amidst large chaos," and decisions on large matters going by default. The panel feels that the school is under-administered. School of Education faculty and the panel- which met with faculty, students, and administrators during its review-are expected to meet shortly for discussion of the recommendations. Panel members are Chairman Eurich, president of the Academy for Educational Development; Samuel M. Brownell, professor of urban educational administration at Yale University and former Detroit school superintendent; Harold L. Enarson, president of Cleveland State University; John I. Goodlad, dean of the Gradúate School of Education at the University of California at Los Angeles, and Sidney G. Tickton, executive vice president of the Academy for Educational Development. The study director was Robert Schaefer, dean of Teachers College at Columbia University. _,- _ _