Letter in Response to a Report on the Federally Assisted Summer School Programs for Disadvantaged Children.
[Released November 30, 1966. Dated November 28, 1966]
Dear Dr. Wilson:
Thank you very much for your report on the summer education programs for disadvantaged children.
I am directing that copies be made available to members of the Executive, the Congress, and to school authorities throughout the country. This report is a challenge to local officials and educators to plan more wisely, work harder to reach the seriously disadvantaged, and to train the best teachers to work with the children of the poor. I hope this document will be used as a blueprint for higher achievement.
Please convey my appreciation to the members of the National Advisory Council.
Sincerely,
LYNDON B. JOHNSON
[Dr. O. Meredith Wilson, Chairman, National Advisory Council on the Education of Disadvantaged Children]
Note: The President's letter to Dr. Wilson was quoted in part in a White House release announcing the report of the National Advisory Council on the Education of Disadvantaged Children. The Council, established under title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (Public Law 89-10, 79 Stat. 27) had submitted the report following a study of 86 school districts in 43 States.
The release noted the Council's finding that "dollars thoughtfully expended on summer schools may be among the most productive dollars spent by title I. Future summer programs, besides being important in themselves, can have special beneficial effects on the year-round success of title I programs which can be attained in no other way."
The release also noted a further finding by the council that the benefits of tide I projects had often been diminished by inadequate planning, insufficient training of teachers at the local level, and "overreliance on instructional 'hardware'."
The report, dated November 25, 1966, is entitled "Summer Education for Children of Poverty" (Government Printing Office, 1966, 54 PP.).
The announcement was released at Austin, Texas.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Letter in Response to a Report on the Federally Assisted Summer School Programs for Disadvantaged Children. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/238268