The Washington County Closed-Circuit Educational Television Project

In 1956, the Hagerstown, Maryland, schools (Washington County School District) received a Ford Foundation grant to conduct a 5-year experiment with closed-circuit television.  From Hagerstown's point of view, the impetus for this undertaking came from the district's severe teacher shortage and problems with classroom overcrowding.  The Ford Foundation selected the Hagerstown Project over several competing projects because it emphasized television as a source of primary instruction, rather than as a mere supplement. The Electronics Industries Association also helped subsidize the project.

Teachers and administrators began to plan the lessons in the summer of 1956, and the first instructional telecasts took place that fall.

The success of the Hagerstown project inspired a similar, nationwide project in 1957.
[READ ABOUT THIS PROJECT]

As of 1961, every public school in Washington County was linked to the circuit. The District's instructional television production staff numbered over 75, including 25 studio teachers. They prepared lessons in 8 subjects for elementary grades and in 15 subjects for secondary schools. The project was notable because classroom and studio teachers worked as a team, with classroom rather than studio teachers viewed as team leaders; this aspect was generally regarded as being instrumental in the program's success, as measured by surveys and test scores. In 1956, the county's test scores lagged behind national averages in several areas, including math. By 1961, 42% of Washington County sixth-graders tested two years above grade level in math.

ITV also enabled Hagerstown to add courses to school curricula. For example, science education was broadened from one-year high school classes to a program extending from first grade through high school, where two-year subject sequences were taught. Art, music, and foreign language classes were also added.

Despite the program's demonstrable success, Ford Foundation funding ended with the conclusion of the 5-year experiment period in 1961.

In 1963, a group of Washington County educators involved in the Hagerstown ETV project traveled to Nigeria to present a seminar on the project to Nigerian educators hoping to follow the Hagerstown model.

In 1966, the system linked forty-five schools and was able to simultaneously broadcast six separate lessons.

As of 1981, 90-100% of teachers in the Washington County School District reported using television to teach music and art programs for lower grades.

By 1983, the Hagerstown ETV program had evolved into a Division of Instructional Television within the school system. Their ITV division used taped broadcasts, videos, national PBS and Maryland ITV broadcasts.

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Last update: August 26, 2005 Comments to: Mary Miller mlmiller@uga.edu Created by Mary Miller and Teresa Cruce for Dr. Thomas Reeves' UGA class EDIT 6100, spring 2002 URL=//http://www.arches.uga.edu/~mlmiller/timeline/hagerstown.html