U. S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION TO THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR FOR FISCAL YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1927 AmericanFoundation PorTHEBLINDinc. REPORT OF THE Commissioner of Education FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1927 UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON 1927 THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION Created as a department March 2, 1867 Made an office of the Interior Department July 1, 1869 COMMISSIONERS Heney Barnard, LL. D. March U, 1867, to March 15, 1870 John Eaton, Ph. D., LL. D. March 16, 1870, to August 5, 1886 Nathaniel H. R. Dawson, L. H. D. August 6, 1886, to September 3, 188B William T. Harris, Ph. D., LL. D. September 12, 1889, to June 30, 1906 Elmer Ellsworth Brown, Ph. D., LL. D. July 1, 1906, to June 30, 1911 Philander Priestley Claxton, Litt. D., LL. D. July 8, 1911, to June 1, 1921 John James Tigert, M. A. (Oxon), Ed. D., LL, D, June 2, 1921, to date L 1/ f\3 CONTENTS Page Preliminary statement 1 I. Review of recent events in public education : Statistics of education 2 Higher education . 3 Rural education . 4 City school systems 8 Physical education and school hygiene 10 Adult education 11 Industrial education 13 Home economics education 14 Commercial education 14 Library activities „ . 15 II. Work of the Bureau of Education: A. General — 1. Research 16 2. Surveys 20 3. Conferences 21 4. Cooperative undertakings other than conferences 22 5. Miscellaneous 24 B. Home education-- 24 C. Alaska 25 D. Library 28 E. Publications 29 F. Activities of the commissioner 30 G. Recommendations ; 30 m Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/annualreportofcoOObure REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education, Washington, D. (7., /September 1, 1927, Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report of recent events in public education of the United States, and summary of the operations of the Bureau of Education for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1927, together with recommendations for the extension and improvement of its work, as required by act of Congress approved March 2, 1867. Preliminary Statement A review of important movements in the field of public educa- tion from year to year has become valuable to those interested in the promotion of education in the several States and communities. The Bureau of Education, with the data and information which it gathers in all fields of education, is the only agency which is able to make such a statement. The interpretation of statistics and other types of information collected on a national scale for the use of school authorities is one of the most important services which this office renders. Fortunately we are able each year to make this information more complete, accurate, and recent, and therefore more helpful to those administering schools and to students of educational progress. We have arrived at the point where it appears probable that we can make data collected in one year available in the following year. Unless all signs fail, this will be accomplished in the next fiscal year. It was true, in a large measure, of the fiscal year just closed. The functions and organization of the Bureau of Education have been discussed in past annual reports. As these have continued without change during the year no statement with reference to them need be repeated in this report. In this report, the policy adopted in my last report of presenting the work of the bureau in topical outline rather than in details of divisional activities will be followed. Summarizing all types of field service during the fiscal year, 21 members of the technical staff of the bureau, exclusive of the com- 1 2 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION missioner, rendered an aggregate of 670 days in the field outside of the District of Columbia in 41 different States and the Territory of Hawaii. Sixteen members of the staff, exclusive of the com- missioner, delivered 169 addresses in 30 different States, the Dis- trict of Columbia, and Hawaii, to audiences aggregating 46,356 persons. I. Review of Recent Events in Public Education STATISTICS OF EDUCATION During the fiscal year data were collected from the States and from the outlying parts of the United States concerning public and private elementary and secondary schools. The principal items included are the number of teachers, enrollments, average daily attendance, length of school year, receipts, expenditures, and value of school property. Similar data were collected from 2,900 city school systems, from 18,703 out of approximately 22,500 public high schools, from 2,350 out of 2,500 private high schools, from 402 teachers' colleges and normal schools, and from 974 colleges and universities. Compilation of the statistics for all classes of institutions has not been completed at this date. Reports from State departments of education show that for 1925 the enrollments in public elementary and secondary schools of the various States include 24,650,291 pupils, of which number 3,650,903 were in public high schools above the regular elementary grades. The average daily attendance in these schools for the year was 19,838,384; toted receipts amounted to $2,024,757,377, expenditures to $1,946,096,912, and the total value of all property used for public-school purposes to $4,252,328,900. The expenditure per pupil in average daily attendance was $98.10 for the year. While expenditures for public schools are still on the increase, the rate of increase is gradually falling off. Growth in high-school enrollment continues at a high rate and junior high schools are being organized rapidly. Salaries of public-school teachers are still on the increase. The average annual salary for teachers, principals, and supervisors in 1910 was $485; in 1915 it was $543; in 1920, $871; in 1922, $1,166; in 1924, $1,227; and in 1925 it was $1,252. The increase from 1915 to 1920 amounts to 60 per cent, and from 1920 to 1925 to 44 per cent. The increase from 1920 to 1922 is about $148 annually, from 1922 to 1924 about $30 annually, and from 1924 to 1925 it is $25 for the year. This slowing up in the rate of increase would indicate that the peak in teachers' salaries is not far distant. The total amount expended for public elementary and secondary schools in 1924 is 37.8 per cent of the volume of State and local tax- RECENT EVENTS m fTIBLIC EDUCATION 3 ation, 22.6 per ce'nt of the whole tax burden, and 2.87 per cent of the total income of the people of the United States for that year. There is a tendency in many places to reduce school taxes, and consequently school support. The total enrollment in 402 teachers' colleges and normal schools in 1926 was 294,064, of which number 270,206, or 92 per cent, were en- rolled in teacher-training courses. In all types of institutions having teacher-training work, 304,412 were enrolled in such courses in regu- lar sessions, and 494,943 is the total if summer-school students are included and duplicates excluded. If the regular students enrolled in teacher training complete the work in the usual time required in the schools in which they are enrolled, they can replace one-seventh of the present teaching force in all schools in the United States annually. One hundred and one teachers' colleges have now been organized. In 1926 about 62 per cent of the teacher-training students in teachers' colleges and normal schools were enrolled in teachers' colleges. Teacher-training work is being taken over rather steadily by public institutions, and, with the exception of the past six years, a gradually decreasing proportion of men have been preparing for the teaching profession. Eeports were received from 739 private commercial and business schools showing an enrollment in 1925 of 188,363 students, who were being instructed by 4,105 teachers. This enrollment is a decrease from that reported for 1920, when 902 schools had an enrollment of 336,032 students. In 1924 the public high schools had 430,975 en- rolled in commercial courses, which number is about twice the enroll- ment in similar courses in public high schools in 1916. The large enrollment in commercial work in high schools partly accounts for the reduction in the number of students in private commercial and business schools. HIGHER EDUCATION Three matters are of outstanding importance for higher education in the United States during the current year. The survey of engi- neering education, under the auspices of the Society for the Promo- tion of Engineering Education, has virtually been completed. The findings of the survey have been made available, and the engineering colleges of the country are applying the principles developed in the course of the study to their local problems, in so far as conditions permit. A resurvey of the negro colleges and universities of the United States has been arranged and is in progress. This survey will give a picture of the progress of these institutions since the period covered by the report made in 1916. Upon the initiative of the Association of Land-Grant Colleges and Universities a survey of the land-grant colleges has been undertaken by the Bureau of 4 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION Education. Congress has appropriated the money for this national study, which affects so generally the State and federally supported institutions. Surveys of individual institutions and of State higher educational systems will doubtless continue, but the fact of three nation-wide surveys indicates the tendency to consider higher educa- tion from a national viewpoint. RURAL EDUCATION Progress in rural education has been concerned largely with the following activities: Securing more generous appropriations for schools, particularly from State sources, and establishing better methods of school support ; raising qualifications of teachers through laws and regulations governing certificates; improving facilities for pre-service and in-service training of teachers; curriculum revision; improving organization and facilities in State and county education departments and in rural schools. Changes affecting the sources and methods of school support have been influenced by the economic depression affecting farmers. Ke- trenchments in important school programs due to this situation have served to bring nearer to a culmination a growing realization of the necessity of placing rural school systems on a sounder economic basis if educational results achieved are to be comparable to those in urban communities. In approximately 15 States careful research studies of the methods of support in practice have been made. These have set forth recommendations for improvement, and much of the legis- lation advocated and enacted during the 1927 sessions of the legis- latures either resulted from or was influenced by these studies. Practically all of the reports have emphasized the necessity of a nearer approach to equalizing educational opportunity and tax bur- dens within the State studied, and because of the wide circulation given them, the school finance problems discussed have received unusual attention. Among the States which have reported definite revisions of the laws governing State school funds or secured appro- priations providing for more generous support from State sources during 1926-27 are Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Tennessee. The movement for improving schools by raising standards of qualifications on which teaching certificates are based has long been in progress. By the end of the year 1927 four States — Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Washington — will have reached the mini- mum scholarship prerequisite previously set up of graduation from a standard normal school for the lowest grade of certificate issued to inexperienced teachers. In addition to setting up higher minimum RECENT EVENTS IN PUBLIC EDUCATION 5 prerequisites for the lowest-grade certificate, a number of States have raised standards of scholarship requirements for all or other grades of certificates. More professional training and more specialization are required and a greater number of special types of certificates are issued than ever before. Special certificates for elementary prin- cipals, for high-school principals, for teachers of special classes, for teaching adults, and for carrying on research work are issued under provisions of the more recent laws or regulations. The nation-wide interest in the improvement of school curricula has extended to the field of rural education. A number of States and counties are revising their curricula with the idea of better adapting them to needs of rural schools. State departments of education re- sponsible for making new courses of study are following modern practices in curriculum making as never before. In general, States are depending on the State course of study with local adaptations and made with particular reference to the needs of rural schools as a guide for school officers. However, in at least one State, Maryland, sepa- rate courses, one for each county, are in continuous process of forma- tion by teachers and supervisors, with general direction from the State education department. Mimeographed sheets are prepared, used by teachers, and changed as experimentation suggests to be desired. Curriculum adjustments to meet the needs of those rural com- munities in which school terms are short and for more effective use in one and two teacher schools are being made in a number of States. The trend is toward a curriculum revision designed to provide an intelligent distribution of the teacher's time among groups of children and among subjects; toward finding an effec- tive balance between the desirability of providing for individual instruction and of retaining the socializing values of group instruction; and giving through the courses of study specific help to teachers in those problems peculiar to rural communities, particularly those served by small schools. In the field of teacher training, progress has been through rais- ing standards of entrance requirements of students enrolling for courses in rural education; lengthening curricula offered; differ- entiating curricula to afford more specific preparation for service in rural communities; extending the practice of basing courses on professionalization of subject matter; and increasing the amount of observation and practice teaching by students in training. Curricula designed especially for the preparation of teachers for rural schools are given in more normal schools and teachers colleges than at any previous time. Since 1923-24 the number of higher institutions offering such specialized courses has increased from 122 to 152. 68109—27—^-2 O REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION Normal school curriculum revision committees have been at work and have completed or have in progress new curricula for the institutions concerned in Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Vir- ginia, Oklahoma, Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut. There is also wider recognition of the value of supervision of gradu- ates during their first year of teaching experience by members of the faculty of the training institution. Despite the fact that there has been a slight falling off in the num- ber of county rural-school supervisors employed, rural-school super- vision has made noteworthy progress in improvement of techniques followed, in effective organization of supervisory staffs, in ability to work with and through principals of consolidated and other large rural schools in extending the scope of the supervisor's influence and improving the quality of instruction. The falling off in numbers has been due in large part to the economic depression, aggravated by dependence on local taxation as the chief means of school support, and consequent inability to raise the money necessary to secure and retain adequately prepared supervisors. The number of State conferences for county superintendents who have no supervisory assistants has increased, and the quality of the conferences has improved. Higher institutions in several States, notably Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, and State departments of educa- tion in others — New York, Connecticut, Montana, for example — are providing "short courses" for superintendents in which intensive work in instructional supervision is emphasized. A few States have enlarged their staffs of State supervisors in order that more and more practical assistance can be given county superintendents in improving their teaching staffs. In Connecticut a reorganization of the super- visory force in small towns (under State direction) is taking place. Territories of the more successful supervisors are being enlarged and with them women primary supervisors are being associated. The second conference for supervisors in the Southeastern States called by the Commissioner of Education, held in Ealeigh, N. C, December, 1926, revealed the fact that supervisors in these States had made considerable progress since the preceding conference, par- ticularly in adapting supervision to the varying abilities of teachers classified in homogeneous groups; participating in and using the results of recent research studies for the improvement of supervisory technique; improving cooperation between supervisors and princi- pals. The conference resulted also in the initiation of two important research studies to be carried on during the coming year. In secondary schools located in rural communities grade reorgani- zation (including some form of junior high school plan) and corre- sponding curriculum revision in the direction of broadening and enriching school offerings have continued during the year. A num- RECENT EVENTS IN PUBLIC EDUCATION 7 ber of studies of the small high school have been initiated. One now in progress, in which a subcommittee of the National Committee on Research in Secondary Education is cooperating with the Bureau of Education, is of special importance. The junior college extension of the secondary school has so far reached few rural communities. Consolidation of school units in the country as a whole has pro- gressed during the year at about the same rate which has prevailed for the past seven years. Mississippi reports unusual progress, with 78 per cent of the rural children enrolled in consolidated graded schools, which have a minimum term of eight months. North Caro- lina reports about one-third of the rural children enrolled in con- solidated schools of seven or more teachers. It is estimated that there are approximately 16,000 consolidated schools in the United States at the present time. Forty-two States reported nearly $31,000,000 spent for pupil transportation during 1925,, the last year for which full data are available. Of the 32 States which have so far reported transportation costs for the year ended 1926, all but 4 show larger amounts than for the previous year. New York and Pennsylvania are among the States which passed important legislation during the year affecting school consolidation. In both, State aid to transportation was materially increased. From several other States minor changes in the laws which facilitate either consolidation or transportation have been reported. There has been considerable progress in improving the organiza- tion of consolidated schools and the quality of classroom instruction. This is indicated by replies received in. the Bureau of Education to an inquiry sent in connection with a study in progress concerning organization and quality of instruction in consolidated schools. Of the principals from whom reports have so far been received, 50 per cent or more report classification of pupils in ability groups; par- ticipation in educational research; better trained teachers, the major- ity of whom are now college graduates ; and free time for supervision provided for principals. There has been an unusual output of professional literature of high quality in the field of rural education during the year. A num- ber of theses and dissertations prepared or under way by graduate students in higher institutions of learning concerned with rural edu- cation have been reported to the bureau and many articles of high professional quality have found their way into various educational magazines during the year. A recent bibliography of rural education published by the Bureau of Education (Bulletin, 1927, No. 4), com- piled by a joint committee of the department of rural education of the National Education Association and the division of rural edu- cation of the Bureau of Education, includes approximately 500 titles of important contributions in this field during a five-year period, 8 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION CITY SCHOOL SYSTEMS Curriculum revision is one of the movements that have without doubt occupied the attention of superintendents, supervisors, and teachers more than any other movement. For some time professional school people and laymen as well have been of the opinion that the multiplicity of studies and topics crowded into the elementary school curriculum has impoverished rather than enriched it. Curriculum makers are accordingly "making careful studies to see what topics may be omitted and what ones may be organized in larger units so that the pupils may have a better knowledge of those things most worth while. The revised arithmetic courses of the past year illustrate the tend- ency to eliminate obsolete topics. The old-time arithmetician would scarcely recognize a textbook made to conform with an arithmetic course prepared in 1927. He would find that most of the obsolete problems and most of those used only by specialists have been omitted and that the course is confined largely to the fundamentals and their practical application. Although progress has been made in curriculum revision, much more remains and always will remain to be done. The new point of view is that the curriculum should be in process of revision all the time, since conditions are continually changing and since our knowl- edge of child life is being continually modified by new discoveries regarding the child's nature and his individual and social needs. Questions have been raised not only regarding the elementary- school curriculum but regarding the secondary-school program of studies as well. It is generally agreed that elementary-school work can be completed in six years, but the question is what can be done within the next six years. As the secondary schools are now being organized three years are devoted to junior high school and three to senior high school work. It thus still requires 12 years (13 years, in- cluding kindergarten) to complete the elementary and secondary school courses. The two " lost " years in the American school system have not been found, especially for those students preparing for college. Time, however, is being economized in the sense that the courses of study in the real junior high schools provide for a better use of the pupil's time than did the courses of the seventh and eighth grades under the 8-4 plan. In some cities of the country the schools are organized with seven years in the elementary grades and four in high school, making the public-school course but 11 years in length, exclusive of the kinder- garten course. In these cities one of the " lost " years has been found. Possibly the other one could be found? too, if careful and comprehen- RECENT EVENTS IN PUBLIC EDUCATION 9 sive studies were made of the secondary-school program. Possibly those cities now organizing junior colleges could find a way of includ- ing the junior college in the six-year secondary-school program. Interest has been shown not only in the education of children of school age but also of preschool age. One city has added a nursery school for these children as a laboratory for its department of re- search in which the school workers in psychology, educational theo- ries, and in home economics cooperate. Another has two nursery schools as laboratories for its high-school students registered in home-economics courses, and still another has made the nursery school a part of its department of kindergarten-primary education. In three cities nursery schools are housed and equipped by the public- school system, while the teachers' salaries and other current expenses are met by cooperating universities or other educational organizations. Evidence of the tendency to consider the kindergarten an inte- gral part of the school system is shown in the preparation of teachers and in the supervision of teachers in service. Approximately 200 teacher-training institutions make a special point of providing train- ing for kindergarten or kindergarten-primary teachers. Of this number more than 80 per cent combine the kindergarten and primary work in one department, eliminating former tendencies to segregate the kindergarten courses. Approximately half of this work is now given on the collegiate level. Eighty per cent of the school systems which provide supervision for their kindergartens combine it with that for the primary grades. This helps to unify curricula, methods of teaching, and types of equipment and supplies provided for all grades of the kindergarten- primary unit. This insures greater continuity for the children's educational experiences. Interest in evening as well as in day schools is growing. In the cities of the country there are thousands of young men and women employed during the day who are attending evening schools, and thousands of others would attend if given the opportunity. Lack of funds is often given as one of the reasons why evening schools are not organized or why those already organized have not been expanded, but no better investment of public funds could be made. Although millions of dollars are being expended each year on school buildings there are still many children on part time. Many are attending school in basement rooms and portables, and others are required to sit in badly lighted and badly ventilated classrooms in buildings erected years ago when but little thought was given to lighting and ventilation and when the program of studies was limited to the three K's. The demand for more school buildings has arisen not only because of the-natural growth in population but because a larger proportion 10 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION of children remain in school longer. The high-school enrollment has gone forward at such an astonishing pace that few cities have been able to provide adequate accommodations for their secondary school enrollment. Cities that have adopted . the junior high school plan are erecting junior high school buildings, which help relieve congestion both in the elementary and high-school grades. It is gratifying to report that in many cities the new elementary- school plants include gymnasiums, auditoriums, playgrounds, shops, nature-study rooms, libraries, and the like to meet the needs of the city child of to-day. But in spite of the need for all these facilities some boards of education are not including them in the plans of the new elementary-school buildings on the ground that they add too much to the cost of the buildings. A plan of school organization known as the platoon plan has, however, been devised whereby auditoriums, gymnasiums, etc., may be included in elementary-school buildings without adding to the cost, since fewer classrooms are needed when a school is organized on the platoon plan. At first the platoon school was looked upon as a radical departure, and predictions were freely made that it would not be adopted by many school systems. To-day, however, 121 cities have one or more of their schools organized on the plan, and others are contemplating organizing platoon schools as soon as possible. During the year there was no great increase in teachers' salaries, but some salary schedules were revised so as to provide equal pay for teachers with equal training and experience, whether they teach in the elementary school or in the high school. No doubt such schedules will help to place elementary-school teaching on a higher plane if teachers with four years' normal school or college work are employed to teach in the elementary grades. Such schedules should at least offer an incentive to those who are not college graduates to add to their present educational and professional equipment. PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SCHOOL HYGIENE The most important event in the realm of school hygiene has been the public announcement of the methods for combating dental decay evolved in the Forsyth Dental Dispensary, Boston. The dental prob- lem in school children has been so overwhelming that nowhere in this country has it been adequately dealt with. The source of rotting teeth, which 90 per cent of school children exhibit, lies in faulty feeding before and after birth, and while this condition in the de- veloping child will be corrected in time, the next best thing is to find the faults of construction in the teeth (the pits and fissures of the enamel in which decay begins) and remove these at the earliest mo- RECENT EVENTS IN PUBLIC EDUCATION 11 ment. Details regarding this work are furnished in the bulletin entitled "Better Teeth," which was issued by the bureau in June. The Commission of the Organization for the Hard of Hearing has completed its study of the best methods of finding those children whose hearing is defective and of giving special aid to those who need it, in order that they may secure the most benefit from their school work. This report will soon be issued by this bureau. There has been a marked increase in the sight-saving classes in this country in the past year and these now number 265. The State of Florida has passed a law requiring the teaching of physical education and hygiene. The State director of this work, who has been paid by voluntary agencies, will now become a mem- ber of the staff of the department of education. The State of Ohio is also to have a State director of hygiene and physical education. The problems of ventilation are far from solved either in theory or -practice, and the New York commission, which has done so much along this line, has resumed its studies. Three studies of health work in colleges were published the past year_that by W. E. Forsythe, by the University of Michigan; that by Dr. Thomas W. Storey, by Stanford University; and that by Dr. Marie M. Eeady, of this bureau. A study of athletics in colleges is being made by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The result of its pre- liminary investigation of college sports abroad was published re- cently under the title " Games and Sports in British Schools and Universities." Investigations of the status of teaching of hygiene in secondary schools have been carried on the past year, notably by Miss Laura Cairnes, of the University of California; by F. L. Stetson, of the University of Oregon ; and F. W. Cozens, of the University of Cali- fornia, at Los Angeles. The results of the study by the last two persons have been published by the University of Oregon. Statistics recently gathered by this bureau show that in not more than 25 per cent of our high schools is physiology and hygiene a required sub- ject ; when offered, it is taught by a variety of specialists and most often by the teacher of physical education. There has been an in- creasing demand by secondary schools that physical-education teach- ers be fully prepared to handle this kind of work, though at present this is not always considered in their preparation. ADULT EDUCATION The one word that characterizes the field of adult education in the year just past is " growth." The number of people who have used the term with some personal application has greatly increased. There has also been an increase in the number of those who have taken the 12 REPORT Of THE COMMISSIONER OE EDUCATION words " adult education "" as a challenge to endeavor to understand their relationship to the world in which they live. This means that a sympathetic effort will be made to secure mental development to the end of life, which will bring a broader mental horizon and enlarged sympathies that result from better understanding. In the elementary application of the term " adult education " there has been progress in the development of the program that has as its objective the bringing of opportunity to the millions whose early education was neglected. To realize the activity in this field one has but to observe the amount of comment that has appeared in the public press and to note the relatively large number of books that have been published on the subject during the year. Some public libraries have added specialists in adult reading to serve their adult patrons who desire help in outlining courses of special study. The American Library Association has issued excel- lent bulletins on adult education for the use of their librarians and for the public in general. In addition to the 31 reading courses published by this bureau, many lists and suggestions for systematic reading have been issued by various National and State organizations in an endeavor to meet the growing demand for such aids. During the past year several State departments of education have added to their staffs special officials whose duty it is to organize and supervise educational work for adults. On account of the fact that children of parents who have had little or no schooling are so difficult to interest in their school work, educators appear to see more clearly than ever before the importance of the education of parents for the sake of their children, if for no other reason. In cases where parents can be induced to attend eve- ning school there is usually an improved attitude on the part of their children toward school. Parental education is receiving much atten- tion by parents and educators as is evidenced by the increased number of articles on this subject which appear in newspapers and magazines. The education of the foreign born has been undertaken more seri- ously by a number of States than in previous years. In those States where State aid is given to school districts which provide evening schools for adults much progress has been made. In some cities, even where no State aid is given, much has been accomplished through evening schools. Non-English-speaking mothers are now being given more attention by school departments than ever before. It has been found that the best way to start this work is by holding classes for these women in their own homes or in the homes of their neighbors in the afternoons. Colleges and universities, by extension methods, are reaching larger numbers of those who wish advanced work. More than 300 colleges KECENT EVENTS IN PUBLIC EDUCATION 13 and universities during the past two years gave extension work. There has been a very rapid increase in the number of adults who attend summer sessions of higher educational institutions. INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION The past. year has witnessed some interesting attempts to provide industrial courses for pupils in small communities. On account of the cost of shop equipment and the added expense of a special teacher, the small schools have been slow in providing shop courses. Where schools have been centralized these difficulties have been largely over- come. The growth of consolidated schools is closely paralleled by a corresponding increase in shop courses. A new scheme for providing shop work through the employment of an itinerant shop teacher has been undertaken by a small number of schools. The itinerant teacher works on a definite schedule, dividing his time among a sufficient number o£ adjacent schools to give him full-time employment. Usually the teacher travels by automobile from one school to another, carrying with him much of the needed hand-tool equipment. Each school bears its proportionate part of the salary of the teacher and the cost of the portable equipment. In some cases a part of the -expense is borne by the county. The need for specially trained teachers for manual-arts work has recently led a few large cities to develop cooperative arrangements with teacher-training institutions for the purpose of providing courses for their teachers in service. The city supervisor outlines the courses desired and furnishes a sufficient number of students from his list of teachers to warrant the teacher-training institution offering the course. There are various practices for carrying out such a program. Sometimes the instruction is given as extension courses, the classes being held in the city desiring the work. Sometimes a program is developed in connection with a local teacher-training school. In such a case the theoretical courses are frequently offered at the institution and the shop courses in the city schools. It is not unusual for the city school to furnish the shop instructor in such instances. Again the program may be developed as a summer course conducted at the teacher-training institution. During the past year there has been a rapid increase in the number of schools offering courses in occupational information. With the general acceptance of the need for such work scientific studies relative to content material and instructional organization have been under- taken. There also has been an increasing number of schools intro- ducing the general shop as an organization for teaching manual- arts work in the junior high school. This is especially noticeable in the smaller school systems. The opportunities for industrial training 68109—27- 14 EEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION on the part-time and evening-school basis have been greatly extended, with a consequent increase in enrollment. HOME-ECONOMICS EDUCATION The year has been characterized by marked research activities in various phases of home-economics education. Significant among these have been those concerned with curriculum building. Home economics, whether city or State supervisors, teacher train- ers, or classroom teachers, have applied the principles of modern psychology, sociology, economics, and the natural and biological sciences to the building of home-economics curricula designed to meet the physical, economic, social, and prevocational needs and interests of school girls of varying ages. Such research activities have been especially pronounced in the States of California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Xew York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Maryland. Among other significant achievements have been (1) an increas- ing number of nursery schools established in home-economics depart- ments of higher educational institutions; (2) inclusion of child devel- opment and parental education work in a large number of elementary and high school home-economics courses; (3) procurement of funds by the American Home Economics Association for the development of a child- welfare center in Washington, D. C. ; (4) general attitude on the part of high-school administrators to assign as much time and credit to home economics as are allotted to any other high-school subject; (5) increasing recognition by women's colleges of high- school home economics for partial fulfillment of college entrance credit in these institutions; (6) growing attitude on the part of parents and public-school administrators for the' need of some home- economics instruction for boys as well as for girls; (7) increasing number of cities offering prevocational home-making opportunities to the over aged girl; and (8) development in one State of home- economics courses designed to meet high-school graduation require- ments of two units in general science and one in social science. COMMERCIAL EDUCATION The outstanding events in secondary commercial education during the past year center around curriculum revision. The objectives have been to refine earlier analyses of the needs and to seek improved instructional methods in order to increase the efficiency of prepara- tion for business occupations. The chief contributions have been studies of commercial-teacher training, commercial occupations, office equipment, clerical salaries and related topics, job analyses, and researches in methods of instruction. In this movement a renewed RECENT EVENTS IN" PUBLIC EDUCATION 15 emphasis has been placed on the necessity of a complementary rela- tionship of the seven cardinal objectives in the commercial curriculum and the necessity of appropriate and adequate vocational prepara- tion of each pupil who contemplates earning a livelihood in a business occupation. The outstanding contributions pertaining to the junior high schools were (1) the report "Junior Commerce Curriculum," by the depart- ment of superintendence, National Education Association, and (2) " The Course of Study for Junior Business Training," published by the board of education, Philadelphia, Pa. The tendency is definitely toward introducing general business information, elementary clerical content, and typewriting in these schools. The commercial-occupation study conducted in Pasadena, Calif., which was published by the local board of education, and the study of clerical occupations conducted by Harvard University in coopera- tion with the National Association of Office Managers are outstand- ing contributions. These and earlier occupational studies resulted in greater emphasis on the needs for retail selling, diversified clerical, and machine-operating courses. They have been the bases for some important conferences on these subjects. A larger number of worthy commercial teacher-training studies were completed than in any previous year. The outstanding contri- butions were reported from New York University, Columbia Uni- versity, State University of Iowa, Northeast Missouri State Teachers College, Grove City College, Pa. The National Commercial Teacher- Training Association was formed in February, 1927. The first general meeting of the International Association for Com- mercial Education was held in Zurich, Switzerland, on September 25, 1926. LIBRARY ACTIVITIES The growth of library cooperation, both intranational and inter- national, and the promotion of adult education were two very con- spicuous aspects of the activities of American libraries during the past year. Much attention has recently been devoted to devising means by which the book resources of libraries over considerable areas of ter- ritory, even of the entire United States, may be so organized that a reader or investigator in any part of the country served may have at his disposal the contents of a large group of libraries, and may be supplied with the needed book from the library having it, under a system of interlibrary loans. The county library undertakes to render this service for an entire county as a unit. California and New York are examples of practical unification of the library re- sources of entire States under the leadership of their respective State libraries. Progress toward a central record of the contents of lead- 16 EEPOET OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION ing American libraries is being made by the formation of a union card catalogue at the Library of Congress, and by the compilation in book form, by a committee of the American Library Association, of a union list of serials. Plans are under way for preparing other similar general guides to American library resources. The impulse toward library cooperation transcends international boundaries and pervades all civilized lands. The fiftieth anniversary conference of the American Library Association in 1926 was attended by a large number of official delegates from foreign countries, who addressed the meeting and afterwards visited many leading American libraries. American delegates attended the International Congress of Librarians at Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1926, and a large group of librarians from the United States is expected to attend the fiftieth anniversary meeting of the British Library Association, to be held in England in 1927. The American Library Association is itself an international organization, drawing its membership from both the United States and Canada. Its annual meeting was held June 21-26, 1927, in Toronto, Canada, with the public librarian of that city pre- siding, and with delegates from Great Britain participating. Ex- change of library assistants has been found of advantage in various parts of the United States, and an international exchange of this sort seems possible within the near future. Librarians are prominently participating in the adult education movement in the United States. The commission on the library and adult education, appointed by the American Library Association in July, 1924, to study the problem of adult education in its relation to libraries, has been succeeded by a permanent board on the library and adult education, created by the association in October, 1926, to con- tinue work along this line. In 1926 the commission on the library and adult education published an extensive report of its studies. The sessions of an adult education round table at the Toronto meeting of the American Library Association were largely attended. With a view to improving library methods in adult education, a special com- mittee of the American Library Association is making a study of the development of reading habits. The year was also marked by the erection of various noteworthy buildings, both for public libraries and for those of colleges and universities. II. Work of the Bureau of Education A. GENERAL 1. Reseakch (a) studies completed During the year the following studies by members of the staff of the Bureau of Education were brought to completion : WORK OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION 17 Higher education. — (1) Expenditures of State universities and col- leges, 1924-25; (2) graduation requirements in electrical engineering; (3) graduation requirements in chemical engineering; (4) graduation requirements in mining engineering; (5) effect of the junior high school upon college entrance requirements; (6) current statistics re- lating to enrollment, salaries, budgets, etc., of State universities and colleges; (7) current statistics relating to enrollment, salaries, budg- ets, etc., of State teachers colleges and normal schools; (8) study of engineering curricula. Rural education. — (1) Biennial surveys of rural education, second- ary education, and rural educational surveys, 1924-1926; (2) "A Manual of Educational Legislation"; (3) study of State laws and regulations governing teachers' certificates in force 1926; (4) bibli- ography of certain aspects of rural education; (5) bibliography of secondary education research for 1925-26; (6) administration of junior high schools in rural and small-school communities; (7) achievement of pupils in one-room and larger rural schools: (8) school consolidation and pupil transportation at public expense; (9) time distribution of supervisors in the Southeastern States during the school year 1925-26; (10) plans used by supervisors during the school year 1925-26 to discover and develop potentialities of superior teachers; (11) titles of articles in books and current magazines of special interest to rural-school supervisors and those engaged in preparation of rural teachers; (12) circulars prepared for use at the American Country Life Association Conference on Education and Farm Youth, United States Rural Population for Age Groups 10-20, 1920, The Status of Farm Youth; (13) ten circulars of information on courses offered in teacher-preparing institutions ; schools and offi- cials responsible for and other information relative to the prepara- tion of rural-school teachers. City schools.— {1) Administrative phases of nursery-school educa- tion; (2) growth of enrollment in kindergartens of 194 cities; (3) extent to which the kindergartens and primary grades have been placed under the supervision of the same person; (4) regulations in the several States regarding the certification of kindergarten and primary grade teachers; (5) extent to which teacher-training institu- tions preparing kindergarten teachers combine this training with that for the primary grades ; (6) use of State parks and forests for rest and recreation and for wild-life sanctuaries; (7) music in pla- toon schools; (8) auditorium activities in platoon schools ; (9) train- ing teachers in service for platoon schools; (10) the organization and supervision of platoon schools; (11) general survey of the work- study-play or platoon plan; (12) the philosophy and administration of the work-study-play plan; (13) training prospective teachers for platoon schools; (14) method of grouping elementary, junior-high, 18 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OP EDUCATION and senior-high school pupils into homogeneous groups, including features of the Winnetka technique and of the Dalton plan used in cities of 10,000 population and over; (15) length of school day in cities of 30,000 population and over; (16) recent movements in city school systems; status of kindergarten education, 1924-1926. Physical education and school hygiene.— (I) Requirements of State departments of education for directors and supervisors of physical education; (2) economic equipment for school playgrounds and management of play activities; (3) dental hygiene for schools; (4) physical education in foreign countries. Adult education.— (1) Activities of State departments of educa- tion in the field of adult education; (2) investigation of the organi- zation and administration of public evening schools; (3) progress of extension education in universities and colleges; (4) administra- tion of schools for adult native illiterates in Buncombe County, N. C. Industrial education.— (1) Private and endowed schools offering trade and industrial courses; (2) objectives for the manual arts; (3) development of occupational information courses; (4) growth of the general shop. Home-economics education.— (I) Statistical study of home eco- nomics in the high schools of the United States; (2) achievements in home economics during 1924-1926; (3) child development and parental education as taught in public and private schools. Commercial education.— (1) Commercial education surveys; (2) bibliography of research studies in commercial education; (3) need of research in commercial education; (4) total number of persons in the United States pursuing commercial subjects. School legislation.— (1) Legal status of the municipal university; (2) State laws relating to the teaching of the effect of alcohol and narcotics; (3) State laws relating to part-time, continuation, and evening schools; (4) State laws restricting foreigners from teaching in the public schools; (5) education required in the various States for labor permits; (6) proposed school legislation in different States. Foreign education.— {!) Public education in Estonia; (2) educa- tional progress in the Free City of Danzig; (3) certificates issued by the Scottish education department. (B) STUDIES IN PROGRESS Higher education.— {1) Statistics of land-grant colleges for the year ending June 30, 1926; (2) fiscal relations of State universities; (3) administrative organization of higher educational institutions in the United States. Rural education.— (I) Biennial survey of progress in teacher train- ing, 1924-1926; (2) facilities for and administration of courses in WOBK OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION" 19 observation and practice teaching provided by State teacher-preparing institutions in the two-year curricula for elementary rural school teachers; (3) progress in school consolidation in the United States; (4) administration, organization, and transportation in selected con- solidated schools in each State; (5) possibilities and methods of developing principals of rural elementary schools as supervisory officers through whose assistance rural supervisors will be able to reach a larger number of teachers; (6) teachers' meetings in several Southeastern States; (7) distribution, qualifications, and duties of rural-school supervisors; (8) State direction of library service for rural schools; (9) a decade of progress in rural education. City schools. — (1) Educative value of building blocks for children in nursery school, kindergarten, and primary grades; (2) city-school supervision provided for kindergarten-primary grades and the ad- ministrative phases of the organization of supervisory units; (3) type of training offered for kindergarten-primary teachers in public and private normal schools and in educational departments of col- leges and universities; (4) the auditorium in platoon schools; (5) the organization of platoon schools; (6) buildings for platoon schools; (7) special activities in platoon schools; (8). bibliography of platoon schools; (9) costs of school buildings; (10) safety educa- tion; (11) current practices and changes in administration of schools in cities of 30,000 population; (12) supervision in the larger urban high schools; (13) city school survey reports for the period 1922-1926. Physical education and school hygiene. — (1) Status of physical education in the public schools of the United States in cities over 10,000 population; (2) posture of school children; (3) status of school hygiene in the United States ; (4) status of hygiene and physi- cal education as required subjects in teacher-training courses. Adult education. — (1) Educational opportunities offered to in- mates of prisons in the United States; (2) contributions of various national organizations toward the reduction of illiteracy in the United States; (3) various types of part-time education in the United States; (4) opportunities offered for adults to further their educa- tion through college and university extension; (5) best methods of reducing illiteracy in the United States. Industrial education. — (1) Types of part-time industrial educa- tion; (2) methods of grading the work of students in industrial classes; (3) results of mechanical performance tests; (4) local sur- veys of industrial opportunities for negroes; (5) curriculum study in life activities for industrial education. Home economics education. — (1) Home economics in one-room rural schools and consolidated rural school districts; (2) home eco- nomics for boys in high schools; (3) nutrition as taught in the public schools of the United States; (4) developments in home-economics 20 REPORT OP THE COMMISSIONER OP EDUCATION education in the United States since 1922; (5) home-economics edu- cational methods used in rural and urban high schools of the United States, Commercial education. — (1) Eesearch in commercial education; (2) commercial education in junior high schools; (3) part-time com- mercial education ; (4) collegiate education for business. School legislation. — (1) State laws relating to compulsory educa- tion; (2) State laws relating to educational relief of dependent and neglected children. Foreign education. — (1) Ministries of education in foreign coun- tries; (2) illiteracy in various countries of the world; (3) the minor- ity language situation and its relation to education; (4) education in Mexico. 2. Educational Surveys Educational surveys constitute a most important phase of the serv- ice of the Bureau of Education. This service has been increasing in quantity in recent years. From the establishment of the bureau in 1867 a total of 203 educational surveys has been made under its auspices, of which number 88 have been made since 1921. These sur- veys covered the whole of continental United States, as well as Hawaii and Porto Eico. They may be classified as follows : National (study of negro education) 1 State systems of education 11 State systems of higher education ! 10 County systems 22 City systems 26 Building programs in city systems 15 Higher educational institutions 98 Miscellaneous 20 Total 203 During the fiscal year just closed the Bureau of Education has com- pleted several important surveys. A survey of the State system of education in Utah was begun in April, 1926, and completed in Octo- ber. This study is probably the most exhaustive work of its kind which the bureau has yet performed. A complete array of facts re- garding education in the State of Utah was assembled as well as a prodigious amount of data for purposes of comparison. With these as a basis, constructive .recommendations were made to the State authorities looking toward the improvement of the system. Many of the recommendations made have already been adopted in the State and the report is generally regarded as a guide for future development. A survey of the normal schools of the District of Columbia was begun in January, 1926, and a report published in mimeographed form in October of the same year. Sixteen recommendations were made. Of these, 15 have been adopted in principle by the District WORK OF THE BUREAU OP EDUCATION 21 board of education. Of those adopted and now in operation the most important is that of lengthening the course of study from two to three years. A survey of Rutgers University, the State university of New Jer- sey, at New Brunswick, was begun November, 1926. The report was completed in May and has now been published. A number of im- portant recommendations made by the survey staff have been adopted, including changes in the membership of the board of trustees, em- ployment of a competent comptroller to reorganize the financial methods of the institution, and definite steps toward the improvement of the physical plant. In addition to these studies, a survey was made of the organization of the board of education of New Castle, Pa., and its operations. The report submitted by the bureau was adopted practically in its entirety. A survey was made and plans prepared for the athletic grounds of Roland Park School, Baltimore, Md. During this year arrangements were perfected for the beginning of two national surveys by the Bureau of Education, one of which is to be on an unprecedented scale. These are respectively a study of the negro colleges and universities of the United States and a study of the land-grant colleges of the United States and its Terri- tories. The negro-college study is well under way. The field work, consisting of 67 institutions, has been completed and a report is in process of preparation. The study of the land-grant colleges was authorized by the Congress during the last session. It is estimated that the work will require two years and involve a cost of $117,000. Congress appropriated the sum of $61,000 to cover the expenses of the first year's work. This study has been launched and a number of specialists have been added to the staff of the Bureau of Education for purposes of this study. 3. Conferences The following conferences were called by the commissioner of education : (1) Conference of State and local supervisors of .rural schools in the Southeastern States held at Raleigh, N. C, December 6-7, 1926. (2) Conference for those engaged in the preparation of rural teachers held at Dallas, Tex., February, 1927, during meetings of the department of superintendence. (3) Conference of institutions giving professional training in physical education, which was largely attended. The following sub- jects were discussed: Objectives in physical education, entrance requirements, curriculum, preparation of teachers for the field of 22 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION health education, specialization for physical education, and the loca- tion of the physical-education training course in a university. A committee was appointed to work out a standard nomenclature for curricular subjects, and the Council of the American Physical Edu- cation Association was asked to continue its efforts to secure a survey and classification of schools. This conference was held in Washing- ton, D. C, March 30, 1927. (4) Industrial education dinner conference, conducted as part of the program of the American Vocational Association, Louisville, Ky., in December, 1926. The general topic for the conference was " Nec- essary preparation of individuals for vocational training." Well- known leaders in vocational education spoke on various phases of the subject, including guidance, occupational levels, and try-out courses. Two hundred and fifty people were present. Report of the proceedings has been issued by the bureau as Industrial Education Circular No. 27, 1927, " Values of the Manual Arts." (5) The second national conference of home- economics supervi- sors, held in connection with the twentieth annual meeting of the American Home Economics Association, in Asheville, N. C, June 20, 1927. The program of this conference, which was attended by about 300 workers in the field of home economics, included discussions of the following subjects: (1) Home-economics objectives; (2) bases for home-economics curriculum building; (3) scope of child development and parental education in the home-economics curriculum ; (4) house- hold budgeting course as a means for social orientation of high-school boys and girls. Out of this conference there developed the Organi- zation of City Supervisors and Teachers of Home Economics of the United States, more than 30,000 in number. (6) In addition to the conferences called by the Commissioner of Education, the Bureau of Education participated in the Pan-Pacific Conference on Education, Rehabilitation, Reclamation, and Recrea- tion, called by the President of the United States in conformity with a joint resolution of Congress and held at Honolulu, Hawaii, in April, 1927. The Commissioner of Education organized and con- ducted the educational section for this conference. An educational exhibit was prepared and displayed during the sessions. Twelve countries bordering on the Pacific were officially represented in the conference in addition to several other countries which were unoffi- cially represented. The report of the proceedings of the conference has been printed by the Department of the Interior, as authorized by Congress. 4. Cooperative Undertakings Other Than Conferences (1) Cooperation with the department of rural education of the National Education Association in directing research in the field of WOKK OP THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION" 23 rural education. Bulletin, 1927, No. 4, "A . bibliography of certain aspects of rural education," was prepared. (2) Assisted committee of Country Life Association in planning for the annual conference of that association; prepared circulars of information for use at the conference. A report on a decade of prog- ress in rural education is now in preparation in cooperation with a committee of this association. (3) Cooperation was continued with the National Committee on Kesearch in Secondary Education. Routine work connected with the office of the secretary of this organization; preparation for con- ferences, etc. ; preparation of mailing list of professors and research workers in secondary education ; cooperation in preparation of bibli- ography of current research undertakings, March, 1927 (mimeo- graphed) ; bibliography of completed research studies 1925-26; study of junior high schools in rural and small school communities. (4) Advisory service for Southern Woman's Educational Alliance, Woman's Universal Alliance, education committee of the National League of Women Voters, education committee of the American Association of University Women. (5) Cooperation with the Washington Institute for Research in Child Development in the organization of a research center in child development. (6) Cooperation with a nursery school committee of 19 to assemble and distribute information of vital interest to nursery-school workers. (7) Cooperation with eight committees making studies of different phases of the work-study-play plan. (8) Cooperation with a committee of the department of adult edu- cation of the National Education Association in making a study of the field of adult education in order that a plan for better coordina- tion of such work might be suggested. This involved attendance at several conferences held in Washington, D. C, New York City, Cleve- land, Ohio, and assistance in the preparation of an 11-page mimeo- graphed report which was presented at the meeting of the National Education Association in Seattle, Wash., in July, 1927. (9) Cooperation with several national organizations interested in reducing illiteracy in the United States. This included suggestions as to methods of procedure which might be effective in campaigns to reduce illiteracy and attendance at both formal and informal con- ferences of such organizations as Chamber of Commerce of the United States, American Federation of Labor, General Federation of Women's Clubs, Colonial Dames of America, Daughters of the American Revolution, American Legion, and National Congress of Parents and Teachers. (10) Cooperative undertakings with various schools for (1) giv- ing a mechanical performance test developed by the Bureau of 24 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION" Education; (2) local surveys to determine the industrial opportunities for negroes. (11) In cooperation with a committee appointed by the Com- missioner of Education prepared an exploratory and informational reading course for guidance of boys and girls contemplating prepa- ration for business occupations. 5. Miscellaneous (1) The credentials of foreign students from 50 different coun- tries were evaluated. This represented an increase of full 50 per cent over the number of cases handled during the previous year. (2) Translations were made of a large number of letters, docu- ments, and other educational material from 23 different languages. This service included translations for outside agencies as well as for the Bureau of Education. (3) Numerous articles on educational subjects were prepared by members of the staff for educational journals and other magazines. (4) A rural school news letter was prepared and issued, each month during the year. (5) Display of educational charts, models, and pictures at the departmental exhibit held during the meeting in Washington of the American Medical Association. (6) Assistance in planning school buildings was extended to local- ities in the States of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee, and plans were made for the construction or reconstruction of school buildings in China, Japan, India, and Liberia. B. HOME EDUCATION The work in home education has been characterized during the past year by an increase in the demand for advice and consultation on parents' problems from individual parents, leaders of groups of parents, and others interested in parental education. Fully 57 per cent of those seeking advice through conferences on home education problems were National, State, or local leaders engaged in active work on problems of parental education. Assistance has been given through conferences, correspondence, material, and by participating in discussions and in the organization of groups for reading and study. In 1926-27 the bureau again cooperated in the campaign to pre- pare children for their first entrance into school, conducted by the National Congress of Parents and Teachers, which made considerable gain over the previous year. It is reported that approximately 50,000 children were examined by physicians under the supervision of their parents and that nearly one-half of the defects discovered WOUK OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION 25 were corrected. There was a 100 per cent increase in the number of States participating in this " round-up of children." To further this movement the bureau urged upward of 19,000 educators to co- operate actively, which resulted in prompt and favorable response from a large number of school superintendents and principals. A study of the campaigns of 1925 and 1926 is in progress. The national committee on home education held its second meet- ing at the bureau in the fall of 1926. It was attended by representa- tives of the National University Extension Association, the National Congress of Parents and Teachers, the American Library Association, and the Bureau of Education. Two subcommittees were appointed, one to work out a plan of cooperation between extension divisions of universities and the Bureau of Education and the other to recom- mend ways and means of extending library service throughout the United States. A plan has been prepared by the first subcommittee named above. During the past year considerable progress has been made in the project of home reading. A new method of procedure was instituted in handling the home reading of boys and girls through the coopera- tion of librarians and teachers. In North Carolina there were more than TOO readers enrolled who completed courses. There was an in- crease in the number of enrollments of readers of 67 per cent over those enrolled last year; the number of certificates issued for com- pletion of courses during the year exceeded the total number issued from the inception of the courses to the close of the year 1926. Upward of 22,000 readers have been enrolled for the work. There were 2,380 enrollments during the past year. Of the more than 2,000 certificates that have been issued, 1,027 were issued during 1926-27. Six reading courses have been revised during the year, a course on the appreciation of music added to the list, and several new courses are under preparation. A section of the Biennial Survey of Education showing the progress of parent-teacher associations in States during 1924-1926 has been prepared. C. ALASKA During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1927, the field force of the Bureau of Education in Alaska consisted of 6 superintendents, 167 teachers, 8 physicians, 26 nurses, and 4 employees in connection with the reindeer service. Eighty-six schools were maintained, with an enrollment of 3,616. In addition to maintaining schools for the native children, the bureau has continued its endeavors in behalf of entire communities by extending medical aid, by relieving destitution, by fostering the 26 KEPOBf OF THE CoMMISSIOBffifc OF EDtTCAf I6ff commercial enterprises of the natives, and by supervising the reindeer industry. Emphasis is being laid upon the expansion of the work of the industrial schools at Eklutna, Kanakanak, and White Mountain in southern, western, and northwestern Alaska, respectively. The work of the day schools, which is of undoubted benefit, requires to be sup- plemented by instruction in such useful trades as will enable the natives to meet the new conditions resulting from the advance of civilization. Centuries of experience in the use of such tools as they have possessed have developed among the native races mechanical skill of a high order. Many natives show talent along mechanical lines, and there is no doubt that the systematic vocational training received in the industrial schools will enable the natives successfully to compete with their white neighbors. Educational statistics for the school year ending June SO, 1921 Total number of days in actual attendance 372, 702 Total number of pupils enrolled during the year 3, 616 Average daily attendance throughout the year 2, 450. 99 Percentage of attendance 89. 10 Average number in schoolroom each day 29. 16 Total number of schools open 86 Total number of schoolrooms open _ 137 Average number of days in school year 147. 5 During the year there was spent for repairs on the school buildings and not counted as a part of the operation of the school : $12, 231. 01 Spent for new buildings $40, 599. 29 The scope of the community service rendered by the teachers is indicated by the following table : District Visits made to homes Medical assistance rendered Births reported Deaths reported Native population Teachers reporting 2,993 581 1,303 3,075 1,365 4,097 5,780 2,000 3,966 12, 102 2,348 7,515 41 15 43 110 48 55 41 9 18 93 41 50 1,424 2,136 2,108 4,062 935 1,740 22 22 26 39 24 30 Total 13, 414 33, 711 312 252 12, 405 163 The bureau's vessel, the Boxer, continues to render valuable service in transporting appointees, equipment, and supplies from Seattle to their remote destinations on the coast, on the outlying islands, or on the great rivers of Alaska. Leaving Seattle in the spring, the vessel makes its first voyage of the season through the waters of south- eastern Alaska and along the southern coast as far as Kodiak Island ; on its second voyage it visits the settlements on the shores of the Alaska Peninsula and of Bering Sea; its third voyage is the long Work of the bureau of education 27 cruise to the Eskimo villages beside the ice-bound waters of the Arctic Ocean as far north as Point Barrow. To many settlements the annual visit of the Boxer furnishes their only means of communi- cation with the rest of the world. Its passengers are the teachers, doctors, and nurses going to or returning from their voluntary exile. Its cargo includes the lumber and hardware for use in constructing school buildings at places hitherto unreached by the bureau, the coal and food supplies required for a year, and a year's supply of the books, furniture, and equipment needed by the schools* The most notable extension of the medical service during the year was the opening of a hospital in one of the buildings in the Fort Gibbon Military Keservation at Tanana, now abandoned, which have been transferred to the bureau. The village of Tanana, on the Yukon River where the Tanana empties into it, is advantageously located as a center for work among the natives of that entire region. The Yukon Eiver medical boat, having on board a physician and two nurses, in addition to the crew, was put in operation during the summer of 1926, and during its cruise covered approximately 2,200 miles. More than 3,000 of the natives scattered throughout the Yukon Valley were examined and about 500 treatments were given. The opportunity for securing medical aid afforded by the cruise of the boat was greatly appreciated by the white men in the isolated settlements along the river. A similar cruise is being made during the present summer. However, the regrettable information has been received of the death by drowning, on July 16, of the physician in charge of the boat. The hospitals at Juneau, Akiak, Kanakanak, and Noorvik con- tinued to render valuable service; and contracts were entered into with other hospitals in Alaska, as well as in the States of Washing- ton and Oregon, for the treatment of Alaskan natives. Many native children were brought to Seattle for special treatment and delicate operations. Statistics of medical service by physicians and nurses Nurses Doctors Total Number of visits to homes... Number of patients treated. _ Number of treatments given. Number of births reported... Number of deaths reported. . Total days of hospital care.. . Out and clinic patients Out and clinic calls 13, 816 10, 734 37, 259 101 71 75 805 3,270 19, 262 65 33 10,438 4, 035 4,442 Total cost of medical service. $147, 710. 58 14, 621 14,004 56, 521 166 104 10, 438 4,110 4,442 The reindeer industry, originating in 1891 to protect the Eskimos of the Bering Strait region against starvation, has assumed great 28 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION proportions and now presents problems which require serious atten- tion. In the 10 years prior to 1902, 1,280 reindeer were imported into Alaska from Siberia. More than half a million reindeer now graze upon the vast, untimbered spaces of Alaska. The great increase in the number of herds, especially in the Seward Peninsula, rendered it urgent that provision be made for the allotment of grazing lands, in order that the occupancy of such lands might be regulated and strife among the owners of reindeer avoided. Authority for the establishment of grazing districts in Alaska by the Secretary of the Interior is contained in an act recently passed by Congress, and regulations to carry out its provisions are now under consideration. Another problem in connection with the reindeer industry is the providing of a market for the surplus meat, which is now far in excess of local demands. Each year on its return from its Arctic cruise, the Boxer brings to Seattle a number of carcasses of reindeer belonging to the Eskimos, which have hitherto been sold for them in small quantities through the Seattle office of the Alaska division. With a view to accomplishing the wholesale disposal of this meat, the attention of the Navy Department was called to the possibility of including reindeer meat in its ration lists, with the result that instructions have been issued for the delivery to the Puget Sound Navy Yard of a considerable number of the carcasses which the Boxer will bring from northwestern Alaska at the close of its 1927 cruise, D. LIBRARY In its new quarters on the sixth floor of the Interior Building, adjacent to the other divisions of the bureau, the library, with all its collections now unified, has come into an improved position for functioning. During the past year, the library continued to add new material to its shelves, and its various services were rendered to an increased extent. Besides many typewritten and mimeographed bibli- ographies compiled by the division, three library leaflets — lists of references — were prepared for printing, as follows: No. 33, Voca- tional Guidance; No. 34, Secondary Education; No. 35, Higher Education. Four issues of the Kecord of Current Educational Publi- cations were prepared for printing as bulletins during the year. Bulletin, 1926, No. 9, "Statistics of public, society, and school libraries, 1923," was published in December, 1926. Considerable time during the year was necessarily spent in arrang- ing the library books in their new location. The service of supplying copy for printed catalogue cards for educational books, in the Library of Congress series, was continued, and numerous volumes were lent to borrowers both within and outside Washington. An ex- WORK OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION 29 tensive correspondence was also handled, and an unusually large number of volumes were sent to the bindery. E. PUBLICATIONS Publications of the Bureau of Education between July 1, 1926, and June 30, 1927, included 33 bulletins; 3 city-school leaflets; 4 health-education publications ; 2 higher-education circulars ; 1 home- education circular ; 3 industrial-education circulars ; 1 reading course and 9 Reprints of reading courses previously printed; 3 rural-school leaflets; the report of the Commissioner of Education for 1926; 3 statistical circulars ; 12 numbers of the clip sheet ; 10 issues of School Life; 3 miscellaneous publications; and 4 lists of the bureau's publi- cations, general or special. Documents ordered but not yet delivered by the printer comprise 9 bulletins, 2 city school leaflets, 1 health- education publication, 2 library leaflets, and 1 list of publications. The total number of documents printed is less by five than in the previous year and the average number of pages per document was reduced. As an outstanding example of the policy of reduction, the Biennial Survey of Education, which it has been customary to print in two volumes, was reduced in extent for the issue for 1922-1924 and was published in a single volume. The number of copies ordered of each document has also been materially lessened. Notwithstanding its smaller size, the Biennial Survey of Educa- tion continues to be the most extensive and comprehensive publication of the bureau. Next to it in importance during the past year must be rated the report of the survey of education in Utah. Statistical publications constitute the distinctive productions of the Bureau of Education. No other agency is able to produce educational statistics of nation-wide scope so successfully. Two documents issued in the fiscal year 1926 conspicuously exemplify this statement, namely, Bulletin, 1926, No. 9, Statistics of Public, Society, and School Libraries, and Bulletin, 1926, No. 11, Kesidence and Migration of University and College Students. Bulletin, 1926, No. 23, Biennial Survey of Education, contains the customary statistics of educational institutions, and other documents present statistics of institutions of different types. The series of bulletins prepared especially for classroom teachers was continued in 1926 by the publication of "How the world rides." Another document of similar character, " Playgrounds of the Nation," is now in the hands of the printer. Publication has been continued in accordance with established plans of the four publications that have appeared with some regu- larity for several years, namely, School Life, Eecord of Current Educational Publications, the Educational Directory, and the Clip 30 KEPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION Sheet. All these appear at varying intervals except School Life, which is rated as a monthly periodical. F. ACTIVITIES OF- THE COMMISSIONER During the year the usual heavy pressure upon the commissioner for field service has continued. The most important event in which the commissioner participated was the Pan-Pacific Conference on Education, Rehabilitation, Reclamation, and Recreation, held in Hawaii in April. Summarizing the year's work, a total % of 83 addresses before various national, State, and other organizations chiefly of an educational character, was made and a distance of approximately 38,000 miles was traveled. The commissioner attended during the year the regular meetings of the Federal Board for Vocational Education and the Federal Board for Maternity and Infant Hygiene, acting as vice chairman of the former. During the year he presided at the meetings of the National Committee on Home Reading Courses and the Committee on Reorganization of Materials for the Curriculum, both of which were created by him. The com- missioner published 28 articles bearing chiefly upon educational mat- ters, and held approximately 400 conferences in his office in Washing- ton with those seeking advice and assistance in educational matters. G. RECOMMENDATIONS The recommendations for the improvement of the service which were made in the last report are still applicable. Briefly these include : (1) An enlargement of the activities of the Bureau of Education so as to make it more adequate for research in certain fields of educa- tion. During the year one or two additional specialists were added to the staff but a number of others are needed, particularly in fields relating to the curriculum, school financing, and school buildings. (2) Expansion of the work in Alaska. The educational program in Alaska is more adequate than the medical service, while there is need of vigorous handling of the reindeer industry in the immediate future. Medical relief is extended to less than half of the natives, and some diseases which are ravaging the aboriginal people remain practically unchecked, the principal one of these being tuberculosis. The point has been reached in the reindeer industry where the en- largement of the herds is very rapid. In the early years increments came by the hundreds, now they come by the hundreds of thou- sands. At the present time there are no less than 500,000 deer in the Territory and they are increasing approximately 30 per cent an- nually. At certain places deer have become so numerous as to be almost valueless and are beginning to suffer from neglect. WORK OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION 31 It is recommended that it might be wise at this time to establish the schools, the medical service, and the reindeer industry under separate supervision. Hitherto for administrative purposes all the services have been merged under the educational work. If the entire rein- deer industry could be placed under expert direction, with an able physician at the head of the medical service and the schools under the administration of the superintendent for education, better results would probably be secured in all three branches of the bureau's activ- ities. The three branches of the work would still function as a Bu- reau of Education activity unless it might prove feasible to transfer the medical work to the United States Public Health Service. I recommend that consideration be given to such a transfer. (3) The Washington office of the Bureau of Education is direly in need of more adequate funds for printing purposes. Under the act of its creation the Bureau of Education is primarily an agency of investigation and dissemination of educational information. The usefulness of the bureau .therefore depends in a large measure on the possibility of making its studies available through printing. Print- ing is essentially the principal avenue through which the bureau must diffuse information. Without distribution of printed documents, the influence of the specialists employed by the Bureau of Education is confined to personal conferences and correspondence, which are necessarily limited as compared with the contacts made through publication. Inadequate appropriations for printing mean an indi- rect abolition of the purpose for which the bureau was created. In recent years the cost of printing has doubled. The average cost per page per thousand copies of bulletins printed for this bureau in 1918 was 90 cents; like cost in 1920 was $1.23; and in 1926 it was $1.84, slightly more than double the cost of 1918. Consequently the allotment of $42,500 for printing during the coming fiscal year means little more than $20,000 some eight or nine years ago. In this con- nection it should be remembered that the staff of the Bureau of Education is being gradually increased and the output of the specialists is considerably larger than was the case previously. It is worth while to note that in 1925, the last year for which figures are available, the sales of publications of the Bureau of Edu- cation through the Superintendent of Documents amounted to $26,726.87, as against a total amount of $20,781 in 1924. The total sales by the Superintendent of Documents of all publications of the Department of the Interior in 1925 amounted to $40,441.94. The sales of this bureau's publications amounted to $26,726.87, or nearly 66 per cent of the total sales of the publications of the Department of the Interior through the Superintendent of Documents. The increase of receipts from the sale of publications and maps for the various bureaus of the Department of the Interior for 1925 over 32 EEPOET OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION" the preceding year amounted to $7,210. The increase in sales for the Bureau of Education alone amounted to approximately $6,000, which is abount 83 per cent of the total increase. May I take this opportunity to again express my sincere appre- ciation of the continued confidence and steadfast support of the Secretary of the Interior in the work of the bureau. Respectfully submitted. J no. J. Tigert, Commissioner. The Secretary of the Interior. ADDITIONAL COPIES OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D. C. AT 10 CENTS PER COPY :.^.'J:v:i'.;., *■■;■:<. {«■*.- .■■:.■•'- ■;■/■. , -/a ■■:■■■;■:■; ■ : :■■■:■ ■'■:. . ,'■■'-. "v^: