Cronin to Report On City Schools

Joseph M. Cromn, associate professor in the Graduate School of Education, is directing a major review of the administration and organization of the Boston school system.

The Massachusetts Advisory Council on Education (MACE) together with the Boston School Committee and the Danforth Foundation, is sponsoring the study, which is the first of its kind in nearly 25 years.

The $91,000 study will examine school-community relations, evaluate curriculum programs, suggest monciaty allotments, and discuss the make-up of the School Committee. The group will also discuss such general topics as the utilization of resources outside the school system and the role of the school staff in implementing changes.

The need to provide bilingual education for Pucrto Rican students. Cronin said, is perhaps the most urgent subject the group will consider.

"Ours is no more than the power to recommend, suggest, and point out ways to change the system to make it perform." Cronin said Most reforms could be initiated by the School Committee, but others, especially those involving the budget, would require action by the governor, legislature, or mayor.

Another member of the study team is Herold C. Hunt, Charles W. Eliot Professor of Education at the Graduate Schoolof Education. Hunt will enair a board of consultants which includes sociologists and behavioral scientists.

Other members of the study team specialize in systems analysis, organizational design, educational planning, collective bargaining, and community participation.

After issuing four or five periodical progress reports, the study team will present its final conclusions in June.

Aithough the group's recommendations will apply specifically to Boston, many will have relevance for other cities, Cronin said.

First proposed in January, 1969. the study was approved and partially funded in August by the Boston School Committee. In October, MACE formally authorized the study and allocated $47,000 for the task.

MACE. which was founded in 1967. is an agency empowered to study state educational systems and recommend reforms.

Cronin. who specializes in educational administration, organization, and finance, has in the past participated in critiques of the public school systems of Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Watertown, Mass.