1961 US Commission on Civil Rights Report Book 2 - University of ...

1. The gains in reading comprehension made by third-grade
pupils in Higher Horizons schools in 6 months exceeded the normal
growth for this period by 2.3 months.
2. The reading grade score of pupils in six Higher Horizons
schools was 3.0 months above that of third-grade pupils in six comparable
non-Higher Horizons schools based on a citywide reading
survey of April 1960.
3. The mean reading grade score of all third-grade pupils in
Higher Horizons schools was 4 months higher in April 1960, the
first year of the program, compared to reading scores of similar
groups in the same schools in April 1958 and 1959, the 2 years
before the introduction of the program.
After reviewing the progress of the first third-grade class in the Higher
Horizons Program as compared with that of classes in the matched
non-Higher Horizons school, the coordinator reported to the <strong>Commission</strong>:
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If this type of growth continues, I feel free to predict that by the
time our children reach grade 6, the median Negro child will have
the same score as the citywide child and the distribution of scores
will be a normal distribution. This is the best we can hope for and
the best we can expect.
An equally definitive report on the seventh-grade students is not possible
since the standardized tests in reading and arithmetic given when
the program started were not scheduled to be given again until the
spring of <strong>1961</strong>. Preliminary reports are encouraging. Increased interest
in reading and in general scholastic achievement was reported by the
principals of all schools at the end of the first year. 68 Specific evidence
cited by individual principals in support of this opinion included: more
self-imposed reading and pride in informing counselors and teachers of
it; increased library membership; more requests for homework; eagerness
in special projects; an easier flow of expression; more requests to
join preschool coaching classes; more honor roll students; fewer failures
in major subject areas; thriving extra and cocurricular activities; more
poetry and essay awards. 69
Eight of the 13 schools reported an improvement in attendance. Improvement
in student behavior was also a happy byproduct of the program's
first year. As to this, the coordinator said: 70
This is one of the things we did not press, but it came through:
In New York City a principal has the right to suspend a child for
extreme misbehavior. In one of our schools where this misbehavior
was rather high—and I'll quote:
In 1958-59 we had 30 suspensions. In 1959-60 we had n.
For the first term of this year we have had only one. Our attitude
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