Patsy P. Layne papers
Collection
0163-MMC-NPBA
Patsy P. Layne (1938- ) began her professional career as an elementary classroom teacher in Kentucky. In 1958, her school district began using educational television to meet the teacher shortage needs in large classroom situations. In 1960, Layne was chosen to be an on-camera teacher and, in this position, wrote and produced 300 televised lessons for grades three and four and trained 200 classroom teachers.
In 1964, Layne went to American Samoa as part of the first television teacher team for a U.S. Congress-National Association of Educational Broadcasters project to revise and modernize the American Samoa educational system with a television-based curriculum. The collection documents Layne's career first as a television teacher and then as Curriculum Director for the Department of Education in American Samoa. Types of materials include correspondence, government documents, annual reports, brochures, curriculum manuals and materials, programs, article clippings, and student coursework.
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3.50 Linear Feet
English
The Patsy P. Layne papers cover the years 1961 to 1976 and contain some undated material. The bulk of the material dates from 1964 to 1972. The collection documents Layne's career first as a television teacher and then as Curriculum Director for the Department of Education in American Samoa. Types of materials include correspondence, government documents, annual reports, brochures, curriculum manuals and materials, programs, article clippings and student coursework.
Patsy Layne was born in 1928 in Jefferson County, Kentucky. She earned her AB degree in Elementary Education at the University of Louisville in 1960.
Layne began her professional career as an elementary classroom teacher in Kentucky. In 1958, her school district embarked on the Stoddard Plan experiment, using educational television in large classroom situations to meet the teacher shortage needs. In 1960, Layne was chosen to be an on-camera teacher with the Kentuckiana Educational Television network. In this position, she wrote and produced 300 televised lessons for grades three and four and trained 200 classroom teachers as part of a Ford Foundation experiment in educational television.
U.S. Congress and the National Association of Educational Broadcasters (NAEB) funded an effort to completely revise and modernize the American Samoa educational system, with a television-based curriculum. The new system went on the air in October 1964; Layne went to American Samoa as part of the first television teacher team. As a TV teacher, she wrote her own scripts and was responsible, with an assistant, for developing lesson plans and ancillary classroom materials. She taught Beginning English as a Second Language to primary grades and Social Studies for middle grades. After two years in Samoa, Layne received a USDEA scholarship and attended the University of Pittsburgh, receiving her PhD in International Development Education in 1970. She returned to American Samoa in 1970 and served as Curriculum Director until 1972.
From 1972 to 1978, Layne worked extensively throughout the Micronesian Islands as a staff member at the University of Hawaii. She first served as a curriculum writer/teacher trainer with the Hawaii English Project, then as director of the Pacific Area Languages Materials Center, developing textbooks in native languages.
In 1979, Layne joined the United States Foreign Service as an Education Officer with the United States Agency for International Development. During her service, she helped to develop educational radio projects in Liberia, Kenya, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Lesotho.
Layne retired in 1992 and has served as an independent elementary education consultant, carrying out teacher training and materials development in Egypt, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Pakistan, and Uganda.
Organized as four series.
The Patsy P. Layne papers were donated to the National Public Broadcasting Archives, University of Maryland Libraries by Patsy P. Layne in November of 2001.
Part of the Special Collections and University Archives