REPORT OF THE GOVERNOR OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS + 37

 (a) Drafting Philosophy of Education.-For the first time, the
 staff of the high schools worked together on determining a philosophy
 of secondary education.
 (b) Curriculum Study.-Several faculty committees were formed
 and every phase of the curriculum was seriously examined. The re-
 sult of the study was a comprehensive curriculum which allows for a
 great many more choices among elective courses than were possible
 under the old pattern. Music, art and physical education were ex-
 panded and Conversational Spanish was made available to all seventh
 graders for the first time. A training program for students interested
 in hotel and restaurant service occupations would be available by
 September 1963. The two larger high schools, Charlotte Amalie High
 School in St. Thomas, and Christiansted High School in St. Croix,
 were greatly improved as comprehensive high schools. Because of
 small enrollment, Claude O. Markoe High School was restricted to
 the academic program and prevocational education courses.
 An important result of the revamping of the curriculum was the
 adoption of uniform requirements for graduation and the standard-
 ization of textbooks. This would enable'students from one high school
 to transfer to another without undue hardship.
 (c) Improvement in Instruction.-As part of the program to im-
prove instruction, the procurement and distribution of instructional
supplies, materials and equipment were greatly improved during the
year. Acquisition of new modern equipment were in evidence every-
where, such as science equipment, electric typewriters, band instru-
ments, library books, and art supplies. The in-service training of
teachers also was increasingly activated through conferences, insti-
tutes, workshops, committees and the like. The high school teachers
participated in a one-day workshop on the teaching of language arts.
Science lectures and workshops under National Defense Education
Act financing were of great value to science and mathematics teachers.
A Foreign Language Consultant from the University of Miami was
brought to the islands to evaluate the foreign language program
(Spanish) and to assist teachers in improving their work. Three
Spanish teachers were sent at government expense to summer insti-
tutes at .colleges in Puerto Rico and the mainland. To render greater
assistance to teachers in the classrooms on a regular basis, department
heads in the larger high schools, especially, were given time off from
teaching to devote some time to planning with teachers and super-
vising their work in the classrooms.
 (d) Guidance.-The guidance program at the high school was
strengthened by the addition of one guidance counselor at Claude O.
Markoe High and a second one at Christiansted High. By the end of
the period of this report, the Charlotte Amalie High School guidance