Initial Broadcast Date: March 7, 1972 and March 14, 1972
30 minutes – Color
Black Journal goes to Gary, Indiana, to examine “performance contracting,” as innovational educational system whereby corporations run schools on a money-back guarantee – a system which the Office of Economic Opportunity has recently pronounced a failure. Their findings will be revealed in a two-part program, “Readin’, Ritin’, and Rithmetic, Inc.”
Black Journal visits the city’s Banneker Elementary School, currently run by the Behavioral Research Laboratories. The school has an all-black enrollment of 698 students. Teachers, parents, BRL officials and administrators offer their opinions and criticisms of the controversial new project on the program.
According to Gary’s superintendent of schools, Dr. Gordon L. McAndrew, the project is a success. Dr. McAndrew bases this evaluation in part on a report by the Center for Urban Redevelopment in Education (CURE) and the statistical analysis of the accounting firm Price Waterhouse & Co. His reading of their survey indicates that 72.5% of the Banneker students achieved month-for-month gains in reading, math or both. Based on this figure, which was quoted in a press release issued by Dr. McAndrew, the national press has also reported the BRL system a success.
However, Black Journal finds that the CURE reports actually listed the gains as 35% in reading and math and speaks to Gary teacher’s union leader Sandra Irons who accuses Dr. McAndrew of distorting the facts. She also questions the system’s emphasis on math and reading – an emphasis which, according to her, may short change the ghetto child’s ability to handle social problems.
Black Journal also reports that BRL has declared several Banneker teachers “surplus,” leading to their transfer or dismissal. This has been a source of considering friction between the teacher’s union and the administration. In addition, there are philosophical differences such as one teacher’s objection to the system’s lack of human interaction.
Other critics voice their fear of the profit motive in education and the participation of black children in such experimental projects.
The school’s principal, Sherman Newell, points out the advantages of the new system, such as individualized programming which enables a student to progress at his own pace. According to Newell, individualized programming is particularly beneficial to the black child because it leads to success which “creates motivation.”
“Black Journal” is a production of NET Division, Educational Broadcasting Corporation
Executive producer: Tony Brown
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