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FINAL REVIEW REPORT
on
YOUTH BUUCMT TONAL SERVICES, INC.

Submitted by
Theo. James Pinnock, Team Leader
James C Clay
Aline Rivers
K. Z. Chavis

september 17, 1967

A. INTRODUCTION

a e

On behalf of the other members of the review team, the team

leader wishes to express his gratit

q ude to the Youth Educational
Services, Inc. of North Carolina and the North Carolina Fund for
uS an opportunity to review a program with exciting

potentials. The team leader wishes to 3o expre S appreciation
to the person and/or persons havi the responsibility of selecting
the team. It would be difficult under any circumstances to put a
more dedicated group of professional men and women together in a
group who were more capable of empathizing. This report, which is
being submitted in summary form, will focus on three main topics:

1) strengths of the Youth Educational Services, Inc., 2) weaknesses

as identified k 1e team, and 3) recommendations.

Be. STRENGTHS OF THE YOUTH EDUCATIONAL SERVICES OF NORTH CAROLINA

AO FPO. seen - ae a 2. ee Se bi et ane sete er ar TLS Ewen

terms the strong points in the
clear tha

YES was in and of 2 very innovative.

The youths who gave birth to this idea of YES must first of all be
congratulated, and the adults who supported them, especially in the
initial stages of the organization, must also be congratulated. The
review team did not at anytime overlook the political atmosphere in
the State of North Carolina when YES was created. North Carolina is
a southern state and is traditionally, like all other southern states,
somewhat conservative. The philosophy behind YES leads one to accept
the fact that within the State of North Carolina there are men and

women of goodwill who are not afraid t) work with youths for the

good of all of North Carolina. There is absolutely no doubt in any-

one's mind that other states, particularly in the South, could learn
something from North Carolina and its YES Projects.

Specifically these are the strong points which were identified
in the program by all the members of the review team.

1) Tutors in almost every case have shown significant im-
- provement in their own school grades. In cases where
tutors are "A" average students, their grades do not
change as a result of their tutoring other youths. The
implications here are very fascinating. One would
normally expect that if a ninth grade "C" average stu-
dent is used to tutor a sixth grade student the tutor's
average should fall below "C". This has never been the
case. The tutors average goes up and occasionally the
tutees average goes up also. For this reason, public
schools in North Carolina should do everything in their

~
ead

ower to support YES and its philosoibhy.
Teena >: % AF me or + Bet NED acer t * at OUEP OW ete" Semone + rem a ee a weer

Negro teachers and parents ali 1: cly impressed
1

with the program and seems t hin C1337 feu ty
helping the youths.

YES has set the stage for creative and independent
thinking among its tutors. Unfortunately YES is not
exploiting this opportunity nearly as much as it
should. This will be elaborated on in Section C,

but it must be mentioned here that YES and its non-
directive tutoring approach (tutor-tutee relationship)
may have uncovered some teaching techniques that could
revolutionize formal education.

YES is likely to bridge the academic performance gap
between Caucasian youths who are being exposed to
better elementary education and Negro youths who are
the products of poor elementary education. The in-
plications here for the State of North Carolina are
great and exceedingly important. Many large cities
are today spending an enormous amount/money for com~
pensatory education, North Carolina is getting it done
at very little cost. An expanded and well-organized
YES program in North Carolina could, over a very few
short years, remove the differences and have all
normal youths performing at average or above average
in any educational setting.

In many instances, YES and its local staff are helping
indigenous persons identify community problems. They

are also, in most instances, working through established
channels to solve these problems. Their approach in
dealing with community problems may be regarded in one

or two instances as una@rthodox but then it must never

be overlooked that the entire program is being run by
-youths and they are yet to be seasoned by the experiences
which they are now getting.

Local communities in North Carolina are aware of YES's
presenfeand they are aware of their function. Their
function cannot be objectively measured by local
communities, but at least the local community is identi-
fied with YES. In instances where the local power
structures are not helping they are at least not doing
anything to prevent the operation of the program. This
attitude on the part of the different power structures
is positive not negative. The rural areas could be
hostile to YES and these areas could overtly object to
YES operating within the respective communities. The
fact that they are not or at least they are no longer

hostile to them is clear evidence that some form' of
progress have been made.

YES greatest long-term contribution to the area is

in terms of building up a cadre of local leaders that
are well trained. All the tutors are potential local
leaders, and this new breed of leadership will not be
the marching type or the riotous type. They will no
doubt be the intellectual type of which North Carolina
can be proud. The overall long term effects of YES
cannot be objectively predicted at this time, but it
is only a very dense person that could overlook the
possibility of its great contribution.

The seven points set forth are the overall strong elements in
the YES program. These strong points must be considered in relative
terms depending on the county and/or community involved. The degree

of relativity depends largely also on the local YES staff and their

ability to operate within a complex social system which to them may

appear as very simple. Youths are not always aware of the depth to
which mores and folkways are entrenched within a culture, they see
in general a society in transition just as much as they see their
own youthful lives in transition. Time and the events of time will
teach them that their effort as tutors and tutees was designed to
maintain and strengthen the good elements in our society and that
the transition which they thought they saw through their youthful
eyes was not really so.

Finally, it must be recognized that tutoring programs cannot
take over the entire educational tasks of the schools. These pro-
grams cannot truly educate in the sense of the academia and

scholastics as can the schools but they can fill a vacuum left void

cm al 2 S) 4 5 6 il 8 ) 10 IEE 12 1S) 14 ILS) 16 7) 18 19 20 Zk Ja
by the schools. Tutorial programs may serve to significantly
stimulate creativity and attitudes toward learning.' They can be

a valuable supplement that will save human time, talent, and the
energies of both the teacher and the student. It is, in the judg-=
ment of the review team, imperative that tutorial programs such as

YES orientate themselves to this kind of thinking.

C. WEAKNESSES IDENTIFIED IN THE YOUTH EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

The weaknesses identified in the program are many and varied.
These weaknesses however do not warrant the cessation of the program.
As a matter of fact, it was impled under Section B that the program
should be accelerated. The points that will be subsequently dis-
cussed should be viewed pragmatically and in the light of the
circumstances under which YES was created and the circumstances under
which it is now operating. If YES intends to be of national signi-
ficance, which it should be, then these criticisms should be con-
sidered only in their constructive context, Additionally, if

immediate action is taken in correcting them then YES would have

actually done all that is necessary to perpetuate its functions.

1) ADMINISTRATION

The central administrative structure of YES is weak. The
Durham office is administered by a group of very intelligent youths
who are too self-centered and egotistic to identify their own

shortcomings. They have no established personnel policy. One would

get the impression that the director mal 111 decisions concerning

personnel, present his decisions to a figure-head personnel policy
committee who accepts what the Director recommends. The Durham

office is an all Caucasian office and this certainly does not sp

well for a group of young people who are trying, among other things,

to develop leadership. The"great white father" philosophy is much
7

too evident--they are saying in effect and by virtue of the racial
composition of the administrative office that "we as good white
folks know what is best for you Negroes." Philosophically this
wrong; administratively it is worst; for public relations it is
worst; and it is unforgiveable in terms of its apparent intent.

Lines of communications, both formal and informal, between the
conten office in Durham and the field staff leaves much to be de-
sired. Formal reports from field directors, tutors and others are
not requested as regularly as one would expect. There is apparently
no built-in system to monitor the program. The central office in

HoT

Durham does!have at its disposal the necessary data on employees,
tutors and tutees from which to construct a meaningful profile. For
example, it is doubtful as of this time that YES could give accurate~
Ly and objectively the average age of employees, tutors and tutees,
how many tutors are A, B or C students, how many tutees are A, 3B, �
or D students, and what concrete changes have occurred in the tutees
grades. There is no formal relationship between YES central office

and the various school systems and schools from which tutors and

tutees come and YES Central Office does not even know the names of

school teachers whose students are tutors and tutees. There is a

volume of documentary evidence that could be gathered from in-

dividual teachers, principals and school superintendents. This evi-
dence would unguestionably be of great value to YES, the North Carolina
State Department of Education and the National Office of Education,

The administrative office in Durham needs a mature coordinator
who carr set up the machinery to get a tight administrative unit
going. The functions and/or job descriptions of all paid employees
must be clearly spelled out and there must be some effective in-house
means to monitor the program. There is evidence that accepted ad-=-
ministrative practices are alien to YES and there is evidence that
the administrative staff-in Durham needs training in administrative
techniques.

2) STAFF TRAINING

There is no meaningful pre~service and in-service training pro-
gram for the YES field staff. This is evidenced by the different
answers one get from staff members who are on the payroll.
also more evident from the methods in which they attempt to handle
various community problems. Most times they get away with their
unconventional approach primarily because they are looked upon as
youths who know no better. There is absolutely no reason in the
world, however, why YES field staff should disrupt the tranquility

of a community to the point where they are charged by the school

superintendent as being an immoral bunch of kids. 'True or false,
if the youths were trained and given guidance into how to make
entry into a community the probabilities that local officials could
anes them with immorality would be almost non-existent. It is
very obvious that YES staff who were brought in from the outside
had little or no respect for local mores and folkways, it is also
obvious that at least one field staff member (an outsider) was more
concerned about promoting his own creative writing career than he
was about the career of tutees and tutors. YES tutorg of all per-
sons, need training most and they were given none. YES concept

of sensitivity training is not in keeping with their basic objective.
One of the fundamental objectives! YES is to provide tutorial
assistance to students who need it most. It seems therefore that a
sensitivity training program is grossly inadequate for the persons
(tutors) who would be involved in the tutoring. Had the outside
helpers -(young men and women from outside the state) given sensi-

tivity training dealing primarily with the accepted norms of the

decent people in North Carolina there would be little conflict with

the local power structures anywhere. A comprehensive training pro-

gram involving tutors, project directors and adults in the respective
communities would apprise the tutors and staff members of their
responsibilities, and what is specifically expected of them. Many
members of the YES staff knew nothing about the historical background

of the rural communities in North Carolina before they go in to work.

They apparently assume that this is the South and the South is
backward so they are going to show them a new and progressive
style of life. By now YES has recognized the error in its judgment
and future staff members as well as those that are aboard will be
exposed, it is hoped, to at least two weeks of intensive pre~service
training program and regular in-service training program.

3) LACK OF ENCOURAGEMENT TO BE CREATIVE

Under Section B=-3, the writer implied that YES is not exploiting
the magnificient opportunity it now has to uncover new teaching
techniques that could revolutionize formal education. This is a
serigus weakness in the program. The teaching materials in most
cases are conventional printed materials prepared by other people
other than the tutors. fhe tutors should be encouraged and maybe
it should even be mandatory that each tutor develop some teaching
materials of their own and devise ways and means to present them to
the tutees. Recognizing that all the tutors are young and are at
least sufficiently motivated to tutor then there is no reason why
the administration of YES should not earnestly tickle the imagination

of these youths. YES must recognize early that the "preferred staff

members" do not hold a monopoly on knowledge, in the circumstances,

they should begin real early to exploit the imaginations of the
tutors and the tutees as well.

This could be done on a simple experimental basis.

be Sy Fs

chooses to use tutor-made teaching materials only in two counties,

conventional and tutor-made teaching materials in two counties, and

conventional materials only in two counties then there is absolutely

no doubt that after miect italy Weeping the results YES would be
able to give some very significant information to edicators. YES
could no doubt get the cooperation and assistance of the many uni-
versities and colleges in North Carolina in setting up the experiment
and in determining the results.

For all practical purposes and intent the experiment would
reveal some finding on the following design:

Counties 1 and 2 - Tutor-made teaching materials
only

Counties 3 and 4 = Tutor-made and conventional
: printed materials only

Counties 5 and 6 - Conventional printed materials
only

There could be a series of other breakdown in each county but
| | Cire
as it now stands the YES research staff is too experienced to tackle

the problem in its entirety and they may be too "sophisticated" to

honestly ask for help.

4) RECRUITMENT OF TUTORS
The recruitment of tutors needs serious tightening up and
coordination. One member of the review team pointed up very clearly

in his report that a majority of the staff responsible for recruiting

tutors have not been involved in a YES program before and in most

cases have had no tutorial involvement at all. It seems evident

that the YES administration must be held responsible for such a
loose system of recruiting tutors. It maybe, that up to this
point, they are relatively lucky in that they have not ee
tutors with serious behavioral or psychopathic problems, however,
their luck can run out and the outcome could be wien serious than
anyone imagine? The extent to which teachers and other knowledge-
able persons are involved in the recruitment process is questionable.
There are no written guidelines as of yet that can be used in re-
cruiting. At this point and time in YES's uthtut aiutory they
should be able to give some insights as to what are the characteris--
tics of good tutors and poor tutors. YES has no documentary evidence
on this very important phase of their work.

The criticism that YES is using average or below average students
as tutors is not valid. Even though this may be true, the evidence
is undeniable that tutors in general do show improvements in their
school grades. There is no evidence available that tutors who are
"C" average students have any adverse @ffects on the school grades
of tutees. The chances are that both tutor and tutee have benefited

from the interaction.

5) RECRUITMENT OF TUTEES

The. policy seems here that its whoever will may come. The evidence

is inconclusive that the youths who need help most are getting

the tutoring. No special effort is made by YES to recruit slow

learners for the tutoring programs. Many of the tutees are above

Average and some are B+ students. The above average and B+ students
may need tutoring as well, depending on the school from which they
have been recruited, but then it might be more fruitful if YES
leaves the cream of the crop to the teachers in the schools and
concentrate their effort on those that are at the bottom or near the
bottom of the grading scale.

The recruitment of tutees could be a relatively easy process
if the teachers cs all the schools involved were brought into the
RYanniue stages of the recruitment process. Teachers could supply
YES with the names and paecoma of youths who need tutoring most.
YES, of course, would have to learn how to develop rapport with not
only those people who share YES's philosophy but also with those who
don't. 'The team leader seems to have gathered the idea that the
YES staff in general is willing to work with those who agree with
their philosophy but those who don't can go to "hell". They have
yet to recognize that they can learn more from the opposition .some~-
times than they can from their supporters, they also fail to realize
that once they convert the opposition they would receive the
strongest kind of support they will need to defend their philosophy,

YES's administration and staff must learn to keep all lines of

communications open and they must learn to listen and think about

criticisms more than they do now.

The entire team recognize that not all school boards, superin-

tendents, principals and teachers are in agreement with YES's
philosophy, however, the team also recognize that no special effort

is being made by YES to convert these key persons in the state.

6) LACK OF EVALUATION TECHNIQUES
Evaluation is a continuous process an in voluntary programs it
should be even more continuous. YES has no objective method of eval-
uating the progress of tutors and tutees. It has no visible method
of evaluating the "temperature or pulse of a community" (community
spirit) and as a result has on occasions got into awkard situations
with local power structures and indigenous leaders. Fiied directors
and their staff must be taught the importance of continuous evaluation.
Let me quote from a member of the review team's report.
"Since tutors do not use a uniform method to determine what
area they will work with the tutee on, it is difficult to
understand how the central staff can be supplied records
of the activities of the tutors and how the tutor can judge
whether or not he is actually helping a tutee, for instance,
it seems a waste of time for a tutor to spend time with a
B+ student in history, helping him to become an A student
when so many kids in the area are failing."
Had there been a structured built-in method to evaluate all phases
of the program it would have been impossible for any review team to

make such strong statements criticizing the program. The YES organi-

gation is not a unit in space, it is at least responsible to society

for "all" its action and YES should have the responsibility to
furnish monthly objective and subjective reports to some one else.
There is no reason why all the organizations responsible for funding
YES iood not insist on a monthly report which reflects the total

health of the organization.

7) INEFFECTIVE USE AND DISTRIBUTION OF LABOR

The tutors are tutoring in nearly every case on a one to one

basis-~one tutor to one tutee. In view of the fact that many of the
tutees are above average it seems. clear that the above average tutees
could be grouped in numbers of 2 to 6, while the below average tutees
could continue on a one to one basis. The YES administrative staff
has strong objections to this but actually they have never tried
homogeneous grouping in Bhs of school performance before. Many
more youths would have been served and YES is also missing an oppor=
tunity here for bei tae research. The program, as it now stands, could
be eletericenkad to facilitate this type of approach.

8) LACK OF EFFECTIVE COUNSELING AND GUIDANCE

There is no effective counseling and guidance component built
into the program. In the absence of this component YES is operating
precariously dangerous. First, they are working with youths at both
end of the continuum, these youths in general are from poor families,
if not altogether culturally deprived families, the tutors themselves

are from poor families and/or culturally deprived families and there

-~15-

is a vacuum that needs to be filled and filled real early. This

vacuum can best be filled by a trained matured counselor with some

experiences. It is extremely important that much of the counseling

should be concentrated on the tutors but it is also necessary that

the parents of tutees be exposed regularly to this type of expertise.
The counselor would be the one person in each county who could
honestly deal with the family as a unit. If the time evefi comes when
the aspirations of the youthful tutee outstretches the aspirations

of mother and father before mother andfather are conditioned to accept
this change YES will be charged for creating family conflicts. Tne
mature counselors role in this entire program must never be over-
ected.

As implied earlier,.the weaknesses pointed out here should not
be considered as an indictment of YES because they are not, they
should be studied and where dean the me corrected within a reasonable
time. At no time must it be overlooked that YES is comprised of an
energetic group of youths whose energies must be continuously direct-

ed into more and more constructive endeavors.

D. RECOMMENDATIONS

Like all other programs in our society today which are caught
'up inthe business of helping to rapidly change the way of life of
minority groups, YES seems to have been caught up in the mounting

demands often made upon them by poor people, who for the first time

my te eee

are being heard. YES is a unique organization, both in structure and
objectives. Its youthful composition holds great promise and maybe
it should be kept that way; its youthful history has also taught us

many lessons. Can the youths capitalize on what they have learned?

s a s a i j � a s
This question is crucial if YES is to survive. The evidence sofar

indicate that YES cannot analyze a situation as well as a group of
adults can and until they have been taught to take time out and ana-
lyze critical situations they will get caught in minor and/or major
conflicts with themselves and society. The program can be structured
so that little or no problem can arise in its overall operations.
Recognizing that the review team and all concerned admire the
philosophy behind YES, it should be recognized also that it is with
a great sense of dedication and duty that the following recommen-
dations have been made.
1) Ail additional funds granted to YES by the North Carolina
Fund should be designated for staff training and evaluation.
Staff training here means pre-service and in-service
training. :
Staff roles and responsibilities should be clearly defined
and a greater degree of staff support should be given by
the central office. |
An organized and mutually efficient system of communi-
cation between the central YES office and the various

YES projects should be established.

Personnel procedures need to be completely revamped and
very strict guidelines established.

Counseling directed towards motivating high school students
to raise their college going aspirations should be instituted.

Counseling directed toward involving the total family
unit in the tutorial process and helping the family
take advantage of community resources should be es-
tablished.

It should be made mandatory forthe future that YES
provides the evidence that they are keeping lines of
communications open between the YES staff and all
Federal, state and county agencies that have relevance
to education in the state.

YES should begin to change its "know-it-all" attitude
and begin to work directly with key persons in the
state. YES should be taught to appreciate the bless-
ings and goodwill of those persons and organizations
that are helping them and those persons and organi-
zations that are not doing anything to hinder them.