y.° °°" fbrary 
@PR1 81923 

















VOL. Il, NO. 2 JANUARY, 1923 


my 


| BULLETIN 





OF THE 











Department of Elementary 


ee 


School Principals 


mee Betond Tearboee Bama... wos ctesscewsivceces 43 
The Elementary School Principal and his School............ 44 
The Elementary School Principal as a Supervisor........... 47 
An Experiment at Grand Rapids........................... 53 
ee ee Be I 5h 504 056s on charandteadecapenee 55 
Suggested Procedure for Class Work in Problems Conducted 

on a Compromise Project Basis.....................0000: 57 
Developing a Course of Study.................. cece eeeeces 58 
Job Analysis and the Elementary School Curriculum........ 60 
The Major Factors Which Determine the Efficiency of an Ele- 

II, 6:5 469.555; 0 ee b>-Oe 09 ORw nn eer ar desis aeeee 62 
ee I Foo one Sos ssctee neta nde aedeagus 66 
The Elementary School Principal as a Community Leader.... 70 
The Principal and the Supervisor........................5. 73 
The School Principal and the Future....................... 75 
Program for Cleveland Meeting........................... 77 








PUBLISHED QUARTERLY BY THE 
DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 
of the National Education Association of the United States 
1201 SIXTEENTH STREET NORTHWEST, WASHINGTON, D. C. 

Entered as second-class matter November 20, 1922 at the postoffice at Wash- 
ington, D. C., under act of August 24,1912. Acceptance for mailing at special 


rate of postage provided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized 
December 18, 1922. 
































BULLETIN 
of the 


DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


Published quarterly in October, January, April, and July by the Department 
of Elementary School Principals of the National Education Association of the 
United States. 





The payment of $2.00 active membership dues entitles a member to attend 
all meetings of the Department, to hold office, and to receive the Bulletin 
quarterly. 

One dollar of each membership fee is for a year’s subscription to the Bulletin. 

Subscription to non-members is $2.00 per year; single copies, excepting 
Yearbook, 50 cents. 

Members are requested to report at once any change of address, giving old 
as well as new address. 





Entered as second-class matter November 20, 1922, at the postoffice at 
Washington, D. C., under act of August 24, 1912. Acceptance for mailing at 
special rate of postage provided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, 
authorized December 18, 1922. 





Executive and Editorial Offices, 1201 Sixteenth Street Northwest, Wash- 
ington, D 














OFFICERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 
PRINCIPALS OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 
1922-1923 


President, Worta McC.ure 
Gatewood School, Seattle, Washington 


First Vice-President, ANNA Laura Force 
Lincoln School, Denver, Colorado 


Second Vice-President, Tuomas AGNEW 
Horace Mann School, Bayonne, New Jersey 


Third Vice-President, ELt1zABETH ARLETT 
Alexander Hamilton Junior High School, Oakland, California 


Secretary, W. T. LONGSHORE ; 
Greenwood School, Kansas City, Missouri 


Recording Secretary, Jessie M. Fink 
Palmer School, Grand Rapids, Michigan 


Treasurer, CouRTLAND V. Davis 
J. E. B. Stuart School, Norfolk, Virginia 


Executive Committee 
Ouive M. Jones 
P. S. 120, New York, New York—term expires in 1923 


J. W. AntHony ; 
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—term expires in 1924 


; Mary McSkimmon 
Pierce School, Brookline, Massachusetts—term expires in 1925 


; LEONARD PowER 
Franklin School, Port Arthur, Texas—term expires in 1926 





[42] 











ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 





THE SECOND YEARBOOK AGAIN 


JoHN L. Bracken, Editor 
Principal, U. 8. Grant School, Duluth, Minnesota 


HE SECOND YEARBOOK is rapidly assuming shape according 
TT to the outline which was presented in the October issue of this Bulle- 

tin. At the time this is written (January 2) thirteen articles have 
been arranged for and are in active preparation. ‘These articles should 
reach the editor’s table by about February 15. This means that the greater 
part of our Yearbook is already provided for. From the work which con- 
tributors have done in their various fields and from the preliminary state- 
ments which have been submitted the editor is able to see the working out of 
a volume which will make a definitely valuable contribution to the field of 
elementary school supervision. 

The editor has kept in touch throughout with the president of the De- 
partment and has profited greatly from his seasoned advice. The thought 
which underlies our work has been to make this volume valuable to ele- 
mentary school principals, and also to make it from the best thought of our 
fellow principals along the line which the Yearbook is taking. ‘To these 
ends we. have tried quite industriously to secure articles from elementary 
school principals. In some cases it has proved extremely difficult to get in 
touch with those principals who are so situated as to be able to handle par- 
ticular problems. Because of this and in order to guarantee the inclusion 
of the type of material which it is felt that the principals desire, recourse has 
been taken to people who are connected with elementary schools and can 
speak authoritatively concerning them but who are not classed as actual 
principals of elementary schools. Eight of the thirteen contributors listed 
to date are in actual charge of elementary schools. 

The only important change which has been made in the outline of the 
Yearbook as previously published in the Bulletin is the omission of Sec- 
tion 8. It is felt that material intended for this section may properly ap- 
pear under Section 1. If possible this space will be used to place in more 
permanent form the list of principals’ organizations which a committee of 
the Department is now compiling for the Bulletin. 

The Yearbook has space for further contributions from elementary school 
principals. Principals who care to make such contributions are urged to 
get in touch with the editor as early as possible. If principals feel that some 
particular point in their work is worthy of emphasis, space will gladly be 
devoted to tabloid reviews. It will be of great assistance if principals will 
supply the editor with the names of colleagues who may be in a position to 
prepare a paper in accordance with some part of the outline. 

It is hoped that early publication of the Second Yearbook will be possible 
in order to insure each member’s receiving the volume at his school address. 
This volume will serve as the basis for discussion at the Oakland meeting 
in July and arrangements are already being made for addresses at that time. 








4H NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL AND HIS SCHOOL 


M. B. HiLvecas 
Professor of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University 


New York City 


N the entire educational system no more illogical relationship existed 
than that between the principal and his school. ‘The principal has, in 
theory, been held responsible for the administration and supervision of 

his school. There has, however, come between him and his teachers a 
whole group of officers each charged with some of those responsibilities that 
by right belong to the principal. There are general and special supervisors 
who visit his school and direct his teachers, often without his knowledge or 
approval. His is only one of several schools that are controlled by those 
who are connected with the general or central office and who report not to 
the principal but to their superiors at the main office. 

Whatever may have been the cause of these conditions, the results have 
been most unsatisfactory. The principalship of an elementary school is 
often little more than a clerical position. Excuses, cases of discipline, and 
similar matters lay claim to the time of the principal and are successful in 
holding him. With this submission to clerical matters, important as they 
may be, there has followed a dwarfing of the principal’s professional inter- 
ests and ambitions. 

These unsatisfactory conditions which have generally surrounded the 
principalships of our elementary schools have had far-reaching results within 
the school. Each person in the school system is responsible for the training 
of the children. The only one who can come into direct touch with the 
children is the teacher. Whatever any other officer desires to accomplish in 
respect to instruction must be accomplished through the teacher. With the 
advent of supervisors, directors, heads of departments, and other supervisory 
officers, there has been brought to bear upon the teacher so many and such 
varied suggestions, if not prescriptions, that confusion has resulted. ‘The 
dissatisfaction that teachers have felt regarding existing conditions has been 
manifest in various ways. It has not been uncommon for groups of capable 
teachers to give outspoken condemnation of the system. 

It must not be assumed that conditions have been pleasant for many in the 
supervisory staff. They have had to work against obstacles that were 
extremely discouraging. ‘There has been the greatest need for tact to pre- 
vent open ruptures. Valuable as the services of these persons have been, they 
have not approached the results that might have been achieved under better 
conditions. 

The real professional head and leader in an elementary school should be 
the principal of that school. It is possible to find in almost any city prin- 
cipals of elementary schools who are the real leaders of their teachers. The 
results that follow such leadership are outstanding. Teachers are working 
with a common aim and with an assurance that is in sharp contrast with 
schools where such leadership is lacking. 





ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS . 45 





Principals have themselves been responsible for some of the undesirable 
conditions that have surrounded their positions. State laws and municipal 
regulations have been forcing a better training on the part of teachers. 
Each year has found a greatly increased number of elementary-school 
teachers registered in summer schools. A glance at the courses that are 
offered for teachers is sufficient to show their varied interests. ‘The relative 
absence of courses designed specifically for principals of elementary schools 
is significant of the lack of demand for such courses. ‘Too often the pro- 
fessional outlook of the principal has not kept pace with that of the teachers 
under his control. 

No one has been anxious to displace the principal. It has, however, been 
necessary to try to provide professional leadership for the teachers. ‘The 
difficulties that have been encountered in the attempt to substitute leader- 
ship for that of the principal, combined with a changing attitude on the part 
of some principals, is leading to change in the position of the principal. ‘This 
represents one of the most hopeful features in the field of elementary educa- 
tion, because it indicates a tendency to make the individual school an essen- 
tial unit in the school system. 

There should be no necessity to interpose supervisory officers between the 
principal and the teachers in his school. Good policy requires that the 
principal be held responsible for the achievement of his school. If the 
school is a success it should be an evidence of his success; if it is a failure it 
should likewise indicate his failure. 

This is not to be understood as an attempt to belittle the supervisor’s posi- 
tion. On the contrary the proper placing of responsibility will dignify both 
the position of the principal and that of the supervisor. Under proper con- 
ditions supervisors ought not to be expected to make a tour of the rooms in 
a school building in order to locate trouble or possibly to find work of 
pronounced merit. Neither should the supervisor be required to prescribe 
remedies and see that the proper treatment is followed. When all of our 
elementary-school principals accept the responsibilities that now are taken 
by some of the more progressive individuals, it will happen that principals 
will be aware of difficulties relating to instruction in their schools and at the 
same time they will hold themselves to the task of improving conditions. 

Education even in the elementary field has progressed to such a point that 
the principal will often need the advice and suggestions of one who has 
special knowledge. Such persons are gaining preparation in increasing 
numbers. They are also being employed in school systems, and if they 
could be freed from the tasks that rightfully belong to the principals they 
could bring about great improvement in educational procedure. ‘They are 
receiving the technical training that should enable them to bring into the 
school the results of investigations that would lighten the teachers’ work 
and make for real progress, 

Principals must assume the responsibilities of their position. ‘The past 
has shown that no one will force supervision on the principal. If he is 
satisfied with clerical duties he will find little difficulty in having such tasks 








46 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





™ 
absorb all his time, and apparently he will be allowed to devote his time to 
this work while others will be given the responsibilities for real leadership. 

There is a somewhat general distrust of the ability of elementary-school 
principals to supervise the work of the teachers. When superintendents 
discuss this matter the notion is often expressed that until death removes 
some of the principals who now have permanent tenure of office there is 
little hope. It must be acknowledged that superintendents have acquired 
a right to criticize the ability of their principals. Not many years ago the 
superintendents as a class were without training for their work. ‘They 
have changed this condition. A recent investigation reveals that there are 
few chances for any one to secure an important superintendency unless he 
has had special professional training. Even now there is an agitation 
within the group of superintendents for more rigid requirements as prere- 
quisite for entering the office of superintendent. 

Principals, as a class, must improve themselves in at least three different 
professional fields. The first of these relates to the subject matter of the 
elementary school. . The fact that a person has been graduated from a col- 
lege or university does not in itself indicate that he has the knowledge that 
will help him in dealing with children in the elementary school. It is prob- 
able that in most schools there are topics, in arithmetic, in history, in science, 
and in literature concerning which the principal would find himself in 
ignorance. Knowledge of subject matter is far from being all that is re- 
quired of one who expects to be a professional leader of teachers, but it is 
certainly one of the essentials and must not be neglected. 

The second field for improvement is connected with the philosophy of 
education. ‘There is a constant tendency to bring new subjects and new 
methods into the school. ‘Those who expect to assume professional leader- 
ship in the school must have a foundation in principles that will guide them. 

The third field includes training for the specific duties of the principal. 
It must be admitted that that field has not been well organized. It will be 
when there is a definite demand on the part of principals for such knowl- 
ege, but it is doubtful whether it will be done unless such demand does arise. 

There is a great need for a professional consciousness on the part of prin- 
cipals. A few persons can do a great deal, but they will never be able alone 
to accomplish all that should be done. It is essential that principals organize 
themselves for professional betterment. ‘That this is coming to pass no one 
who is conscious of existing conditions can doubt. It remains for each per- 
son to speed the time when the relationship between the principal and his 
school shall be one of real professional leadership. 


> 


oS ae 


a i aoe a cee 


rary . 


SSPE LE 











ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 





THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL AS A 
SUPERVISOR’ 


CANONS OF DEMOCRATIC SUPERVISION 


F. M. UNDERWoopD 
Principal, Rose Fanning School, St. Louis, Missouri 


of educational service, for which special qualifications are essential. 


3 near future it will not be possible for a teacher, however excellent, to step 
5. from a position as classroom teacher to a position as principal or super- 
iY visor, with no further qualification than that she is a good teacher. 
b be recognized that there are personal and professional qualifications which 
‘ need to be met, and among these will be a more and more extended training 

in the theory-and practice of supervision. ‘There is now in the making a 

science and _an art of supervision. It has already reached a fairly respect- 


able stage of advancement. 


Ten years ago there was scarcely a course to be found in any school of 
education in the land in supervision as such. This topic was merely 
touched upon in other courses. Dr. Hillegas, of Columbia University, is 
authority for the statement that only a few years ago considerable padding 
was necessary to fill out a one-year course in administration and supervision 
combined. At the present time, in the field of administration, a very con- 
siderable body of scientific knowledge has been worked out. This field is 
advanced considerably further than the field of supervision. However, 
remarkable strides have been taken in this field in recent years. At the 
present time, our best schools of education are offering two or more full 
years’ work in supervision as such. Much space in survey reports and edu- 
cational magazines is being devoted to supervision, and during the last five 
years at least five excellent books have been published which are devoted 


exclusively to this subject. 


Two factors have been working against the realization of the full possi- 
bilities of the influence of the elementary school principal as a supervisor. 
In the smaller schools he (or she) has had to do much teaching, and in the 
large city schools managerial and administrative duties have been so pressing 


that they have tended to require an overwhelming amount of his time. 


McMurry found, in his survey of the supervision by elementary school 
principals in New York City, about ten years ago, that, on an average, two 
thirds of their time was consumed by such duties. In many cases he found 
that the supervisory function was limited to merely cursory inspection and 
the rating of teachers. McMurry’s study, in a large measure, brought about 
a new conception of the job of principal. While it was recognized that he 
has several important functions, it became clear that he is primarily an 





*Given before the Department of Elementary School Principals, Missouri State 


Teachers’ Association, November 16, 1922. 


UPERVISION is rapidly coming into its own as a special field in 
education, with aims, methods, principles, plans, procedures, and 
technique distinctly its own. It is being recognized as a distinct field 








48 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 








educational expert whose chief responsibility has to do with the improve- 
ment of instruction—the field of supervision. To quote McMurry, “If 
the principal is primarily a business manager, he should be judged as such. 
If he is primarily a professional leader he should be judged very differently. 
The purpose of the school leaves no doubt about the proper decision of this 
question, for it makes the business management of a school only a pre- 
requisite to its other more important work of education. Proper attention 
to physical conditions, and to numerous other details of general management, 
secures only the conditions on which effective instruction and government 
depend, and it is, therefore, merely a means, while the latter are the ends. 
A principal of a school must be closely identified with instruction; and he 
must be judged primarily as a leader in this field, i. e., as a supervisor of 
instruction.” 

The elementary school principal is thus coming into his own as a super- 
visor. Such more recent studies as those of Courtis and Pittman, on the 
value of the supervision by principals, as well as many of the survey findings, 
clearly show that the quality of the supervision by principals is one of the 
most vital factors in the quality of the work done in the schools. 

There is a growing tendency to regard it as poor economy to permit the 
principal’s time to be taken up with clerical and routine duties. “These mat- 
ters are quite generally given over to clerks or office assistants, thus liberat- 
ing the principal for effective service as a supervisor. Principals should 
continue to urge upon their superintendents and boards of education the 
advisability of furnishing clerks for this work. ‘This provision will afford 
time for supervision and will provide assistance of a character much needed 
to make the supervision economical and effective. 

The first appearances of the word “supervision,” in the early educational 
literature, indicated a diversity and confusion of meanings in the minds of 
the writers. “Grimly humorous” is the estimate Dr. Coffman gives to 
these early attempts to define the term. In recent years, however, there 
has come about a quite general agreement on the part of those most closely 
identified with this field, that the function of supervision is the improve- 
ment of teaching. Whatever has a direct bearing on this purpose, is a 
concern of those in this field of service. 

The first great underlying principle of effective supervision is found in 
the concept that the supervisor and the teacher are engaged in a codperative 
undertaking—both are working together for the benefit of the pupils. 
Theirs is a joint undertaking and they have joint responsibility in the out- 
come. It follows that there must be a common point of view between them 
as to aims, subject matter, method, technique, standards for evaluating in- 
struction, the responsibilities of each, and the purpose of supervision. Only 
on such a basis can the work proceed with satisfaction to all concerned. 

Let us proceed to a more concrete phase of the situation. We hold that 
a teacher should have definite aims and plans if her work is to prove effective. 
What about the supervisor? Does effective supervision require definite 
aims and plans on his part? How does he generally work? Dr. Coffman, 
president of the University of Minnesota, in an address before the National 


it a 





























ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 49 





Education Association, just five years ago, characterized the condition in the 
field of supervision, then, as follows: “In few fields is knowledge more 
fragmentary, are ideals more distorted, and methods more fluctuating than 
in the field of supervision. We are still encouraging uncritical drifting in 
this field. Confusion and ferment must give way to greater stability and 
security.” ‘‘Uncritical drifting’”—what is the remedy? Clearly the first 
essential is to raise the principles of supervision to the scientific level, and 
the second essential is the working out of systematic supervision plans by the 
supervisor. How shall this be done? 

First, it would seem, there should be a careful survey of the situation in 
the particular school, and then a plan should be decided upon for the year. 
Within reasonable limits, definite goals should be set up for the year, the 
term, the month. A most excellent device, as an aid in securing effective 
codrdination of efforts on the part of all concerned, in putting the plan into 
operation, is to reduce it to writing—some such form as a mimeographed 
outline, providing a copy for each teacher and the principal. Such an out- 
line sets up a job for the principal to which he is definitely committed. 
With equal effectiveness the teachers are committed to it. It is better if 
they have had a voice in working it out. In any case their approval should 
be secured. It should be put preferably in a final form which is subscribed 
to by all. This will go a long way in removing the personal element from 
the discussions later held with teachers. The discussions will be rather on 
an objective basis, guided by the goals mutually agreed upon as the aim for 
the year. 

This brings us to the direct application or operation of supervision as it 
goes on in the visitation of the teacher at work. ‘Three important phases 
of this situation should be noted. First, the observation of what is going 
on, second, the diagnosis of the situation, or the evaluation of the results, and 
third, the measures for improvement which are decided upon, and the man- 
ner of their being put into operation.. Let us consider these three points in 
order. 

As to “observation,” in the first place, the principal will frequently enter 
a classroom during the progress of a recitation. A proper consideration 
for the rights of pupils and teachers, as well as a proper regard for his func- 
tion as a supervisor, would indicate that he should enter the room in as 
inconspicuous a manner as possible, preferably making no interruption what- 
ever in the progress of the work. He should then take an inconspicuous 
place in the room, preferably at the side or rear of the room. If he takes 
any part in the recitation, it should be at the end of the period, and then only 
after asking the permission of the teacher. For the same reasons he should 
leave the room in an inconspicuous manner. ‘There are three types of 
observation that should be mentioned. “Scouting” observation would refer 
to brief miscellaneous visits to the various rooms. ‘The purpose of this could 
be little more than inspection. I am inclined to doubt the value of this 
type of visit, as I believe its purpose can be served sufficiently through the 
other types of observation. “Subject” observation would refer to the visits 
of the principal when he is following up a certain subject, as arithmetic or 












50 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





language, throughout the grades. In this way the matter of a proper con- 
tinuity and development of the work through the school will receive atten- 
tion, as well as the individual situations. A third type of observation is by 
“aspects.” The principal in this case would be observing the “social” 
aspect of the various studies, for instance, or the “ethical” aspect of all 
studies—the “esthetic” aspect, the “hygienic” aspect, the “technical” aspect, 
drill—habituation, etc. In these types of observation, the visits will need 
to extend over the recitation period, in order that an adequate judgment 
may be obtained. So far, we have considered observation. ‘The teacher 
has not been reached. Our aim is the improvement of teaching. It is 
important that the principal shall not stop here. Let us consider the next 
factor, diagnosis, or the evaluation of the results. 

It is here that the whole professional knowledge and scholarship of the 
principal will be tested. Here he brings his whole fund of philosophy of 
education, principles of teaching, and scholarship to bear on the situation, 
to determine the strong and weak points in the lessons. ‘The success of this 
phase of the process clearly will depend upon the reliability of the standards 
used by the principal in judging the work. It is also apparent that this 
matter is one requiring time and careful thought. ‘This is a very important 
phase of the process, but it is also important that the principal shall not stop 
here. There is still left the decision as to the most effective way of bringing 
about the desired improvement, the matter of dealing with the teacher. 
The crux of the whole issue may rest on the right decision at this point. 
This is the point at which the highest quality of skill will be called for. 
There are many factors involved in the matter of dealing with the teacher. 

The first factor I shall mention is the attitude of the principal toward 
the teacher, particularly to what extent it leans toward the autocratic or 
democratic. Let uS suppose a case. A principal is discussing an educa- 
tional issue with a teacher, finds difficulty in sustaining his point—perhaps 
the teacher has offered some effective. opposing arguments. The principal 
settles it after this fashion: ‘Oh no! you are wrong there, Miss X, this is 
the way that should be, thus and so.””’ His method is to appeal to authority 
rather than to reason. ‘There is no place in democratic supervision for this 
attitude. ‘There may be a few extreme cases where the exercise of authority 
is necessary, but as a rule, a measure that is worthy will win its way en its 
merits, and should be permitted to do so. One of the fundamental prin- 
ciples of democratic supervision is respect for the personality of the teacher ; 
the same respect should be shown for her thinking and her sincere opinions as 
the supervisor expects to be shown to his. One of the greatest qualifications 
of a supervisor is that he (or she) shall make himself acceptable to his 
teachers, so that they will be glad to have him visit them and discuss their 
problems with them. ‘This can only be brought about by a democratic atti- 
tude, based upon the concept of a codperative undertaking. 

The same point is illustrated by the case of a principal, who, let us say, is 
discussing some measure with a patron. Perhaps the patron is inclined to 
question the value of the measure, and the principal, when he finds himself 
at a loss for a satisfactory explanation, gives voice to some such “weighty” 


ALLS A TR RE A 


OM RRSaRRS Soe 





= (9 


. WReVeemnnamn ~w 


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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 51 





and “convincing” argument as this: “Madam, I am an educational expert. 
This matter will have to be left in my hands.”” The people distrust expert 
knowledge. Such an attitude justifies this feeling. We must, in a democ- 
racy, rely in large measure upon the service of the qualified, imapartial expert. 
We must build up a public confidence in genuine expert service, an apprecia- 
tion of the value of expert knowledge. But the expert must recognize that 
it is not sufficient that he be merely expert. The people will never abdicate 
in favor of the expert. He must also accept the responsibility of demon- 
strating his expertness to the average man. He must be able, willing—he 
must desire to sell his ideas to the people. He must be able to put his case 
in convincing language, and feel that he has failed until he has gotten his 
idea over on its merits. In this connection, it might be mentioned, that one 
of the great responsibilities of principals and other supervisors is that of 
selling modern education to the people. ‘This is the attitude the principal 
must take toward his teachers and the public. As Dr. Dewey says: “The 
trouble with supervision is that there has been too much “super” and too 
little “‘vision”—too much of the “over” and “above,” much looking over 
the heads of the teachers, and much overlooking of most they were doing.” 

A most excellent cue to the attitude desired on the part of the principal 
may be obtained by analogy to the attitude which the best teachers take 
toward their pupils. The principal is controlled by the same principles as 
the teacher, and he should be guided in much the same way in dealing with 
teachers, as are the best teachers in dealing with their pupils. ‘There are 
individual differences recognized among the pupils, so are there individual 
differences among the teachers. You cannot treat all teachers in the same 
way, and you cannot treat the same teachers always in the same way. As 
we desire a social situation in the classroom, a democratic situation of co- 
éperation, so should the principal work with his teachers. Under the con- 
ception of the project method, the teacher assumes the responsibility of pro- 
viding stimulation and opportunity for the exercise of initiative, codperation, 
self reliance, and purposing on the part of her pupils; so is the principal 
under the same obligation to provide stimulation and opportunity for initia- 
tive, self reliance, and purposing on the part of the teacher. If it is desir- 
able that the teacher strive to render herself unnecessary to the pupil, so 
should the principal strive to render himself unnecessary to his teachers, to 
make them self reliant and independent. As the teacher is charged with 
the morale of her pupils, so is the principal entrusted with the morale of his 
corps of teachers. His highest power and skill must be used in keeping it 
at a high standard. ; 

Let us now consider the various types of appeal that may be utilized in 
dealing with the teacher. First, the appeal to her own experience. She 
used certain procedures and secured certain results with a former class, or 
in another subject—these would be appropriate in the present situation. 
This is an effective appeal, but is limited to the teacher’s own experience. 
A second appeal is to the experience of another teacher whose work is 
known to the teacher and the principal. This may serve excellently in 
some cases. ‘There is a personal element involved that renders its use 











52 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





dangerous. It should be used sparingly. A third appeal is to profes- 
sional experience—all we know of the theory and practice of teaching. 
This appeal, of course, offers the greatest possibilities. In fact the only 
limitations are the ability of the teacher to comprehend, and the scholarship 
and professional knowledge of the principal. A fourth appeal is through 
demonstration lessons. Sometimes this is the most effective way to convey 
an idea. A fifth appeal is by having the teacher visit other teachers. Such 
visiting however, should be with a definite purpose in mind. A sixth appeal 
is through teachers’ meetings or group conferences. Frequently certain 
teachers may be effectively reached through such a means. ‘This offers an 
opportunity to the teacher to discover her faults and weaknesses for herself, 
and to correct them, rather than to have them pointed out to her directly. 
This impersonal and indirect appeal is often the wisest and most effective 
one. 

There are also certain principles, which it is helpful to keep in mind in 
dealing with the teacher. In the first place, it is important that the principal 
have the confidence and good will of the teacher. In the beginning he 
should not criticize much if at all. There may be matters needing correc- 
tion, but the principal should go slowly in forming his judgments. ‘The 
matter may clear itself up if he gives it time. He had better find some- 
thing to commend. He must have the confidence of the teacher in his 
sympathy and fairness. When he has seen enough to justify calling atten- 
tion to certain matters, he should even then also find something to commend. 
This is not only wise, but is only fair to the teacher. A second principle is 
that it is frequently more advantageous to offer a substitute procedure for 
consideration, rather than to indulge in a criticism of the procedure used. 
It is well to avoid the use of the pronouns “I” and “‘you”’ in the discussions, 
and talk mostly of what the children were doing. What the teacher does 
is significant only to the extent that it affects what the children do. So you 
are keeping the discussion on the most significant thing in education when 
you confine it largely to what the children do. You are also thus keeping 
the discussion on an objective basis. For the same reason the discussions 
should be largely in terms of the principles and goals agreed upon for the 
term or year. Another important principle here is that it will usually 
prove most effective to attempt but one thing at a time in supervision. ‘There 
may be several things concerned with the recitation that seemingly need 
attention. ‘The principal should, however, select the one or two items most 
needing attention and center upon them, discarding, for the time being, 
other matters. It is too difficult and too confusing to the teacher to carry 
several things in mind at the same time. ‘Too much breadth gives shal- 
lowness.” It will prove more effective to concentrate on one thing at a 
time. ‘The last principle I desire to mention has to do with a plan for the 
interview with the teacher. Just as the teacher in general is striving to 
raise a problem in the mind of the pupil, and to suggest material and method 
to aid in its solution, so should it be the general plan of the principal to 
raise a problem in the mind of the teacher with respect to the work observed. 
He should not be concerned with “winning out,” “putting over something 


4 





ere 











ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 53 





on the teacher,” or directing or dictating every move she is to take. It 
should be his desire to free her, to stimulate her thinking, her best service— 
to raise the issues, and suggest the means of their working out the solution 
together. 

May I close by expressing the conviction that there is one way to improve- 
ment in supervision, and that is through the scientific study of its problems. 
Eventually supervision will rest upon a set of principles, standards, and 
procedures, which have been scientifically worked out and established. May 
I express the hope that this Department of Elementary School Principals 
will utilize to its best advantage the opportunity afforded to contribute 
effectively toward the meeting of this most pressing need. 


AN EXPERIMENT AT GRAND RAPIDS 


Jesste M. Fink 
Principal, Palmer School, Grand Rapids, Michigan 


HE GRAND RAPIDS SCHOOLS are endeavoring to formulate a 
new curriculum looking to a satisfaction of the demands of society 
from the new viewpoint of today, a viewpoint radically different 

from pre-war requirements. ‘Their aim is to teach pupils about the 
community in which they live; to correlate the activities of the school 
with the needs of the community; to give such correlation a definite place 
in our elementary curriculum, with a view to bringing the schools a 
richer program better suited to modern conditions and demands; to 
give to conduct its share of consideration as a distinctive aim of education 
in the public schools . . . all these phases are being considered by the 
committee. 

An experiment which developed into a practical demonstration of 
coérdinatior of subject-matter as well as a linking of interests of school 
with community through ser vice, by the school, was carried on by Miss 
Margaret Strahan, principal of Lexington School, a member of the cur- 
riculum committee. 

The underlying principle of the work was service. The by-products 
were those specific activities demanded by the most modern curriculum. 

For the benefit of the disabled and needy soldiers, the sc sools of this 
city contribute regular collections of fruit, jelly, and relishes to the 
Roosevelt Hospital at Camp Custer. ‘This activity presented to Miss 
Strahan a definite project which she carried out by the arrangement of a 
program including activities in the home economics, art, mathematics, 
and English departments, whereby a composite result was obtained 
in which each department effectually functioned. For instance, the 
domestic science department acted as a collector and preserver of fruits. 
Right here a minor difficulty arose. The boys of the school lacked 
enthusiasm, and felt that their opportunity was limited. A series of 
discussions of civic as well as parental responsibilities brought out the 











54 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





man’s obligation to provide food, and the woman’s to care for and to 
prepare it. Stimulated by the new-found importance of their niche inlife 
they immediately responded to the call and led in gathering in the fruit. 
Home orchards, neighbors’ orchards, country orchards about the vicinity 
were visited and solicited. Personal sacrifices were made to add to 
the collection, even contributions of fruit purchased from intended 
“movie” money were frequent. 

A series of lessons was outlined in the domestic science department. 
Containers were brought forth from every conceivable nook and cranny 
for holding the necessary sugar for preserving. The children were 
divided into groups according to the kind of fruit each preferred to pre- 
serve. Plum groups, peach groups, crabapple groups, jelly groups, and 
so on. Each child filled his own container with sugar. The work of 
preserving began by following the given receipes. A total of one hun- 
dred twenty containers were filled with the delicious product. 

The art department made attractive labels advertising the Lexington 
Brand. They also contributed posters announcing to a wondering 
community of proud fathers and mothers a challenge to compete with 
the Lexington product. 

The mathematics department was divided into committees who 
visited stores and markets for local prices and comparison of prices. 
Frequently a difference of two cents a pound was found in the price of 
sugar. Other brands of fruits and jellies were quoted and comparisons 
drawn, the savings per jar or per dozen translated into percentages. 
Full recognition of labor charges was taken into consideration. 

The English department studied the Pure Food laws; tabulated 
various brands of preserved fruit; wrote expositions disclosing the steps 
by which the Lexington Brand arrived at its desired quality and quan- 
tity; discussed the methods of advertising by which the product could 
receive adequate recognition; related the procedure necessary to place 
it in an advantageous market. 

Finally the parents and teachers of the community came together 
at a meeting for mutual congratulation. The home had functioned 
efficiently in this project and had given to the school its moral as well 
as material sanction. The faculty of Lexington School feels as Miss 
Strahan says, “That this problem reflects the activities and interests 
of the life in which the children are participating, and that it develops 
habits, attitudes, and appreciations of common value for efficient, 
wholesome, satisfying life in a democratic society.” 

When we take note of this piece of original work and compare it 
with the outline of a Course of Study as given in the October Bulletin of 
the Department of Elementary Principals we are struck by the fact 
that the educators of the country are largely of one mind as to the 
fundamental demands of present day exigiences. Certain it is that 
Miss Strahan has included in her experiment most of the salient points 
recommended by our greatest authorities and her experiment was 
evaluated before the appearance of a definite printed recommendation. 


i 
t 
i 


~ 





cee ftnte cece end 





ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 





WHY PUPILS MISS GRADES 


LEONARD PowER 
Principal, Franklin School, Port Arthur, Texas 


STUDY of the retentions and withdrawals during a period of two 
years, 1920-21 and 1921-22, was made in the Franklin School, at 
Port Arthur, Texas. The tables below indicate how the matter 

was analyzed by the teachers, together with practical suggestions that grew 
out of that analysis, 
Retentions 
Number Cause Number Percentage 

. Late entrance 
. Irregular attendance 13 
. Defective vision 
. Defective hearing 
. Too rapid growth 
. Ill health 
. Defects in breathing 
. Defective mentality 
. Immaturity 
. Habitual indolence 
. Improper classification 
. Previous unwise promotion 
. Failure to appeal 
. Over-difficulty of course 
. Poor home environment 
. Pressure of home duties 
. Excessive use of tobacco 
. Unknown 


7 
7 
8 
6 
1 
3 
9 
3 


Withdrawals 
Number Cause Number Percentage 
. Moved from town 
. Out temporarily 8 
. Ill health ¥ 9 
. Eye trouble tig 
. Needed at home 
. Forced to work 
. Friction with school 
. Discouraged 
. Certainty of retention 
. To escape discipline 
. Dismissed 











56 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





Suggestions by the Principal to the Teachers 


Causes for retention—Late entrance, irregular attendance, and ill health 
should be the chief reasons for retention. 

You will notice that very few children have been retained for defective 
vision, defective hearing, or defects in breathing. ‘This speaks well for the 
Physical Education Department where eight teachers are giving their full 
time to teaching health habits. 

Defective mentality caused the retention of twenty-five children. Each 
of these children had an intelligence quotient of less than eighty per cent. 

The immature children were entered in the first grade by parents who 
generally failed to state their correct ages. 

Please look up the meaning of habitual indolence before assigning it again 
as a reason for retention. Unless there is some physical defect habitual 
indolence may be more chargeable to the teacher than to the child. Most 
normal children are anything but indolent. 

Retentions from improper classification can be reduced by reclassification 
before the close of the term. Reclassification should be made as soon as we 
are convinced that the child is unable to do passing work. 

Previous unwise promotion when used as a cause of retention is almost as 
bad as “unknown.” It casts a serious reflection upon the judgment of the 
teacher who promoted the child. 

Over-difficulty of the course may be used as a reason for 9 per cent of 
the failures and, if this continues to be true, it should be taken into considera- 
tion when you are writing the new course of study. For the benefit of the 
new teachers I should say here that our entire course of study has been 
made by the teachers themselves. It should fit at least 90 per cent of the 
school. 

‘Too many children were retained for unknown reasons. Certainly we 
should know why we ask a child to repeat a half year in any of his subjects. 
(Promotion is by subjects.) ® 

Unfamiliarity with English was found chiefly among our Mexican chil- 
dren who are now segregated until they have a sufficient knowledge of 
English to take regular classification. 

Causes for withdrawals—Naturally the largest per cent of children with- 
drew because théy moved from town or were transferred to another school. 

In the two years, only 32 children withdrew from school for ill health 
and more than half of these children have since returned to the school. 

We are fortunate indeed when we see how few children have been with- 
drawn from school because they were needed at home or were forced to 
work, 

In the entire two years only four children have been withdrawn on ac- 
count of friction with the school. ‘These were older children who were 
incorrigible and who were sent to the reformatory. 

We regret that even nine children should have withdrawn because they 
were discouraged over their scholastic attainments. Let us unite to’ reduce 
this number to the place where no child will withdraw from our school for 
this reason. 








ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 57 





The 34 children who withdrew because they were indifferent or grown 
really were very anxious to get out into the commercial world. Four of 
them have since returned and are now doing part-time school work. 

The 43 children who withdrew for unknown causes might have been more 
carefully investigated by school authorities. ‘This number will be greatly 
reduced in the future by the full-time attendance officer. 

The total number of causes assigned for failure is greater than the num- 
ber of children who failed because in several cases the teacher assigned more 
than one reason for the failure. The same is true for the withdrawals. 

You are invited to make a careful study of this bulletin when you assign 
your causes for retentions and failures at the close of the present term. ° 


SUGGESTED PROCEDURE FOR CLASS WORK IN PROBLEMS 
CONDUCTED ON A COMPROMISE 
PROJECT BASIS ’* 


HE directions given below are to the teacher. It is assumed that 
T pupils have had experience in such work, and that « relatively sys- 

tematic course (e. g., in geography) will be among the outcomes of 
the term’s work. ‘The details of such an organization, however, are not to 
be made in advance but are to be worked out under the teacher’s guidance 
by the teacher and class together. In directing such work the good teacher 
will avoid doing for pupils what they can do for themselves. 

1. Formulate in advance tentative limits within which you will allow the 
class discussion to select the project. 

Familiarize yourself with this field. Anticipate issues and prepare data 
(reference material, etc.) to be made available to the class as may later 
prove wise. 

Set mentally the situation out of which at least one satisfactory problem 
will probably arise. Normally out of preceding class activities the pupils 
should have developed a readiness to see fruitful problems. They have 
already been alert to note, perhaps listing in a book kept for the purpose, 
such promising questions as have from time to time been suggested in the 
class, a 

2. Set and guide the situation so that the pupils will discover or select 
or adopt a suitable problem, both gripping and fruitful. 

3. Obtain from the class a clear statement of the problem (and keep it 
definitely before the class). 

This may require reading outside of class by pupils before statement can 
be made. 

4. Get suggestions from pupils for solutions, noting subordinate problems. 


* This procedure was worked out in the Methods Class of Dr. William H. Kil- 
patrick, of Teachers College, Columbia University, in the summer session of 1922. 











58 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





5. Agree (class and teacher) tentatively upon proper data, possible 
sources, and plan of pupil organization for investigation. 

The class should as a rule break up into small groups to attack the several 
component problems. It is often wise for more than one group to be at- 
tacking the same subordinate problem. See to it that reactions come as far 
as possible from each individual in a group. 

The list of references should be continually revised according to class 
findings. 

6. Pupils according to plan attack their several subordinate problems, 
seeking information through reading, observation (excursions), discussion 
(interviews), and if feasible experiment. 

Have class keep open eyes for suggestions of related problems in this 
(geography) and other subjects. List such for future reference. 

7. Pupils report; class evaluates (tests if feasible), selects, and organizes 
data, reaching a conclusion that satisfactorily solves the problem. 

8. The class states with some precision the conclusion reached, recording 
for future use the important items with the reference materials used in the 
study. ‘The class criticizes its procedure used so as to improve it. 

9. Appraise carefully the outcomes of the project and check results 
against the desired outcomes listed in the Course of Study. 

10. Extract from the total experience its lessons for the future. 


DEVELOPING A COURSE OF STUDY 
CourTLAND V. Davis 
Principal, J. E. B. Stuart School, Norfolk, Virginia 
S one phase of the process of developing a course of study for the 
Norfolk City Schools a suggestive list of criteria for judging mate- 
rial proposed for such a course of study was outlined. It was not 
expected that this list would be exhaustive or in any way final, but merely 
a suggestion. It does, however, contain items worthy of the serious atten- 
tion of the course-of-study builder, and its suggestions should certainly be 
considered before reaching a decision as to the inclusion or rejection of any 
piece of material. The list follows: 
1. Is the material phrased in terms of pupil activities, not teacher activities? 
2. Will these activities provide experiences in some one or more of the 
following fields ? 
(a) Maintaining-life and health at the level of greatest efficiency. 
(b) Mastering the fundamental and unspecialized processes and 
their legitimate uses. 
(c) Regulating the processes of living with others. 
(d) The wise use of leisure time. 
3. Will these activities provide the experiences for which they are pro- 
posed more efficiently than any others? 
4. Can these activities be provided under the present plan of group instruc- 
tion? 
5. Are these activities suited to the physical age level with which we are 
dealing ? 











ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 59 





6. Are these activities suited to the mental age level with which we are 
dealing? 

7. Will this material provide a variety of activities leading to the same or 
similar experiences? Will this material offer wide opportunities for 
freedom of method ? 

8. Is the material such that it will permit of progression? 

9. Is the material such that it can be arranged to provide for child leader- 
ship? 

10. Can these activities be provided with our present physical equipment? 

It will be noted that the various items of the list are expressed in rather 

terse fashion in order that the various points may be the more readily car- 
ried in mind. Perhaps some explanation and elaboration of the items is 
here advisable in order that their intent may be made clear. 

1. Assuming that education comes only as a result of activity of some sort 
upon the part of the person educated it becomes necessary, in order 
that a course of study be thoroughly understood and readily followed, 
that it be phrased as a list or succession of activities of the pupil. ‘The 
activities of the teacher in providing for these pupil activities constitute 
the method of procedure and must vary from day to day and from 
individual to individual, hence, can only be described in the most gen- 
eral terms and should have only a minor place, if any at all, in the 
course of study. 

. These fields are familiar under some phraseology to all students of 
education. 

. There is much work to be done during the school life of a child and 
the time in which it is to be accomplished is very limited. It is neces- 
sary then that we seek out those activities and groups of activities that 
will provide the desired experiences in the minimum of time with a 
minimum of effort upon the part of the teacher, and with a maximum 
of experience gained. Each bit of material presented should be care- 
fully compared with all other suitable material in order that only the 
most productive activities and those which can be engaged in most 
efficiently be used. 

. The great problem before the public schools is the adaptation of mass 
instruction to the needs of the individual. Mass instruction it must be 
because of the difficulties, financial and social, inherent in the method 
of individual instruction. Consequently, while striving always to 
adapt our material to individual needs and local conditions we must 
keep in mind that our work will have to be done with a group, and 
material which cannot be used with a group should find no place in our 
course of study. 

. We must keep in mind the fact that the physical development of the 
pupils for whom we are setting up this course of study varies from year 
to year and our activities must be such as will be neither too much nor 
too little for the physical development of the children for whom they 
are intended. Not too little, for their physical well-being requires a. 








NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 















































10. 


healthy, normal functioning of the whole physical being ; not too much, 
for young bodies must not be overtaxed. 

That activities be suited to the mental age level is equally as important 
as that they be suited to the physical age level. ‘The activities must 
not be such as will be beyond the reach of the pupil’s understanding 
but they must be such as will exercise his mentality to its fullest capacity. 


. Here we must take into account the necessity for adaptation of the 


material to individual differences and to changing environment. ‘The 
individual teacher must be provided with a sufficient variety of activi- 
ties and left with a sufficient freedom of method that she may adapt 
the varying activities leading to the same or similar experiences to the 
varying individualities of which her class is made up. 

It will be necessary to organize this material in such a fashion that a 
definite progression in the day’s work from day to day and from grade to 
grade will be offered. It is necessary then that the material selected be 
such as will submit itself to such an arrangement. 

One of the most important, and often neglected, functions of the public 
schools is that of providing leadership of a high type for the generation 
that is to come. Our material must be such that opportunity for 
experience and leadership will be offered. 

It is unwise for us to put into our course of study activities which call 
for equipment widely varying from that which we now possess however 
desirable or valuable such activities may be. Our course must be one 
that can be operated satisfactorily with the present or with but slightly 
changed physical equipment. Any desirable activities requiring addi- 
tional equipment should not be listed in our present course of study, but 
added or substituted in that course of study when such equipment has 
become available. 


JOB ANALYSIS AND THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 
CURRICULUM 


J. M. Gwinn 


Superintendent of Schools, New Orleans, Louisiana 





T has been a good many years since the attack was made on the 
dogma of formal discipline. This attack has been continued through 
these years and the attack is now generally considered successful. 


Present-day educational psychology and principles of teaching are 
written emphasizing the doctrine of special abilities and the need for 
special training for these special abilities. 


Teachers, supervisors, and school administrators now pretty generally 


accept the new old-doctrine that what one is called to do in life the 
school should teach. While we have accepted this doctrine in theory, 
we have, the most of us, gone on very much like we did under the old 
doctrine of formal discipline. The school is yet charged by the lay public 
with teaching arithmetic, English forms, geography, etc., which are never 













ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 61 





used outside of the school, and with not teaching many things needed 
by the average person almost daily. There have been some changes in 
our elementary school course of study but these changes are not adequate 
to bring our course in line with our new psychology. Here is where we 
lag behind. While the psychologists have been analyzing the mind into 
its special ability and measuring the strength of these abilities, the 
educationists have not with equal interest and skill been analyzing the 
goals of education into their special elements. They have gone on 
teaching for good citizenship, worthy home membership, control of the 
fundamentals, worthy use of leisure, moral character, good health and 
physical development, and vocational efficiency without stopping to 
analyze these very complex goals into their several elements. ‘They 
have hoped and perhaps believed that what they taught and how they 
taught it would finally produce good citizenship, moral character, 
ability to use the fundamentals of an education, etc., but as yet they 
have not been able to convince the general public that they are effectively 
hitting the marks at which they aim. 

The trade school has been more efficient in its service than has the 
elementary school. In trade education, we have of recent years heard 
much of “job analysis.” The job has been analyzed into details of 
required motions, knowledges, skills, tools, materials so that whatever is 
required on the job the trade school might teach and under conditions 
like those around the worker in the trade. The use of job analysis as a 
guide to curriculum making in trade education holds, I believe, some 
valuable suggestions for making the curriculum for elementary schools. 

The elementary school may never reach the degree of efficiency of 
the trade school since the “jobs” for which it prepares are more numerous 
and less well defined. Future progress in increasing the efficiency of the 
elementary school curriculum will follow along methods of job analysis. 
Borrowing the term “job” from the trades, we must begin to analyze 
the jobs of good citizenship, worthy home membership, ability to use 
the English language properly and effectively, into their many special 
abilities and from the results of these analyses find guides for writing 
our course of study for the elementary schools. The immediate future, 
will, doubtless, see many researches which have for their purpose the 
analyzing of the various “jobs” for which elementary education should 
prepare the individual. 








62 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





THE MAJOR FACTORS WHICH DETERMINE THE 
EFFICIENCY OF AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 
Leo B. BaispEN 


Principal of Everett High School, Everett, Washington 
(Formerly principal of Jefferson Elementary School, Seattle, Wash.) 





VER since I have been a principal, I have been interested in the ques- 
tion of what really constitutes an efficient elementary school. The 
question was thrust upon me with unusual emphasis recently when I 

visited elementary schools in the principal cities of the United States. My 
particular aim was to observe the most significant things being done in the 
best elementary schools of today. My method of procedure was to go to : 
the superintendent’s office and to ask to visit one or two of: the best schools i 
in the city. When I inquired in what way these schools were the best, I 
frequently met with such explanations as, ‘We have just completed that 
building at a cost of a million dollars’—‘“The principal out there is a live 4 
wire,” etc. During my visits 1 asked principals how they thought their : 
schools ranked with other schools in the city, and the reasons for their i 
judgment. It was an illuminating experience. Almost everywhere the 
result was the same. The major factors which determine elementary 
school efficiency were not clearly defined. 

About a year ago I began a study of the question which I hope to pursue 
to the place where it will become a notable contribution to the subject of 
elementary school management. ‘The study embraces four factors: 

A survey of current educational periodicals. 

A survey of books on school administration and management. i 

A study of school survey literature. 

A questionnaire to elementary principals. 








In the survey of periodical literature covering the past four years, I have 
found only two articles dealing specifically with the subject, and these in a 
general sense. The works on school administration contain much excellent 
and suggestive material on various phases of the subject such as: “Teacher 
Rating,” “Teaching Efficiency,” etc., but no treatment so far as I have yet 
found, of the subject as a whole. In the survey literature most of the 
material considers school systems as a whole without regard to individual 
schools. ‘The absence of definite literature dealing with the subject there- 
fore lends a special significance to the information secured from question- 
naires. The following questionnaire was sent to principals of the Seattle 
schools. 


How CAN THE EFFECTIVENESS OF AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BE JUDGED? 


Instructions: 

A. The following factors have been suggested as important in judging 
a school. Check the ones you think of sufficient importance to merit con- 
sideration. Add any others that you think have been omitted. 





ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 63 





1. Quality of work in teaching the various subjects as determined by 
standard tests. 

2. Per cent of promotion. 

3. Per cent of attendance in relation to school census. 

4. Cost per capita. 

5. Degree to which the school ministers to the needs of the children out- 
side of school ; e. g. clothes for needy ; wholesome entertainment, etc. 

6. Holding power in high school. 

7. Quality of work judged by standing in high-school subjects. 

8. Quality of the teaching corps as to training, etc. 

9, Extent to which the school handles its own problems in discipline, at- 
tendance, etc. 

B. In the blank spaces below, arrange the factors you think important in 
judging a school in the order of their importance. Opposite each item 
indicate what weight you would give on the basis of 100 per cent. (Note: 
The sum of your items should equal 100 per cent.) 


Thirty-seven principals replied to the questionnaire. ‘Their replies were 
notable first, for the definiteness of the points selected; second, for the de- 
gree in which their judgment coincides with the emphasis given by the 
various survey commissions to the factors mentioned. ‘Table number one 
shows the factors according to the frequency of mention. 


TABLE I 


Number of principals 
Factor mentioning 


Tg | ee EN me 32 
2. Teaching efficiency as measured on city-wide tests 
3. Ability to handle own problems of discipline, attendance, 
ONE: ssiscanieumeenepiidesiesciasininidenetianaapranteiidiaien niece tana 28 
. Quality of work done by pupils during their first year of 
high school 
. The holding power of a school judged by the persistence of 
its graduates in high school 
. Social service rendered by the school in the way of whole- 
some entertainment, supplying needy children, etc 
. Rate of promotion 
. Esprit de corps 
. Per capita cost 
. Community codperation. (The extent to which the 
school and community work in harmony in solution of 
common problems) 
11. The percentage of attendance 


You will note that only eleven items received prominent mention. No 
other factor received more than three votes. 











64 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





Table number two shows the average percentage of value on a basis of 
100 per cent which the Seattle principals gave to each of the factors which 
they regarded as most important. 


Taste II 
Average value in 

Factor per cent 

I a a sic leeisidibeiinlgentceccicen 

ie I Ge CI CII since cstesctceeniienccnvannnnccnscnss 24 

SP gla ha sehiciuledasbbbinis 17 

NT III iis ociriiceieiercsctciciennbsincstninictansncnrvoremnenese 14 

5. Ability to handle own problems............................-.---------- 12 

6. Quality of high-school work during the first year-............... 10 

NT ET ED OT COREY EE EE 9 

IN a sida ascataiaa eaves talaioisattlespbnciabeesiiidaiebeihiniains 7 

Re ee EL RET ee 7 
REE eer ee ee eee eee Ree e we 7 
a alias 6 


The significance of this chart lies in the fact that three factors are esti- 
mated as determining to the extent of sixty-seven per cent the efficiency of a 
school. A word as to the reason for the importance of some of the items 
may be apropos. ‘The factor of teaching efficiency which is placed first 
needs no comment. ‘The importance given to the factor of the teaching 
corps which should include esprit de corps, indicates that in the judgment 
of the principals, as in the judgment of the various survey commissions, one 
of the best ways to judge a school is on a basis of what it is potentially. ‘This 
same principle, of course, applies in the judging of poultry or cattle, for 
instance. “The factor of community codperation needs no comment. 

The principals have shown by their replies that in their judgment the 
school which is able to handle most of its own problems is of a higher type 
than one which must frequently resort to the superintendent’s office, the 
school board, and other departments. The quality of high-school work 
done by graduates of an elementary school is important as showing the 
habits of study. Pupils who enter high school with excellent habits and a 
strong grasp of elementary subjects would seem more likely to make good in 
high school than if the reverse were true. The rate of promotion is sig- 
nificant, as pointed out by some of the survey commissions, because it is an 
index of the extent to which the course of study is being made to function 
in terms of the pupils. A heavy per cent of failure is evidence that there 
is a failure to adjust the course of study to the needs and abilities of the 
children concerned. ‘The remaining factors need no comment. 

It is evident that some of the factors mentioned are tangible and can be 
definitely measured and evaluated; such factors, for example, as “quality 
of school work,” and “rate of promotion.” On the other hand some of 
the factors such as “esprit de corps,” and “community codperation” are 
intangible and are incapable of definite measurement. It is significant, how- 
ever, that the factors which are given the highest value by the principals are 





ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 65 





of the type that can be measured, and I am inclined to believe that the 
intangible factors are rooted very definitely in the factors that can be 
measured. For example, it is very unlikely that a corps of teachers with 
excellent professional training and experience would be notable for low 
morale. It is equally unlikely that a school in which the subject matter is 
being taught with unusual excellence and where superior habits of work are 
required would fail to command the codperation of the community which it: 
serves. 

At the present time I am engaged in extending the scope of this question- 
naire so that it will include the opinions of superintendents and principals 
in the principal cities of the United States, with the purpose of standardiz- 
ing the items that are to be included, and of determining the relative import- 
ance of each factor. It is my purpose to eliminate items over which the 
principal in the nature of his work can have no control (such items, for 
instance, as the character of the school building) and to omit, also, items 
which would have an estimated value of less than five per cent. 

In this connection I am working with Dr. Ayer, of the University of 
Washington, on the development of a simple scoring plan whereby a super- 
intendent can each year rank his schools with reference to the major factors 
of efficiency. It would be a wholesome thing for every city system if each 
year the superintendent and the principals of the various schools could look 
the facts intelligently in the face and say, “Here is a school that year after 
year has stood among the lowest quartile in the tests that have been given” ; 
and to ask the question, ““Why?” Or, “Here is a school that year after 
year has been in the lowest quartile so far as the quality of teachers supplied 
is concerned. How can the defect be remedied ?” 

If a workable plan can be devised, its value will lie first, in the fact that 
it tends to establish standards of elementary school efficiency over the country 
at large. Furthermore, it would focus the attention of superintendents and 
principals on the big factors of school efficiency in the light of their relative 
importance. It would help to locate weak spots so that the superintendent 
and principal could work intelligently toward their elimination. It would 
aid in the hiring and placing of new teachers to the best educational ad- 
vantage. Finally, it would give superintendents a reliable basis for judging 
the effectiveness of the various schools in a system instead of depending upon 
such vague and unreliable data as reports of supervisors—which usually have 
in view only special phases of school work—complaints of patrons and per- 
sonal impressions founded on fleeting glimpses. 











66 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





THE OPPORTUNITY CLASS 


Georcia ALEXANDER 
Principal, School Forty-Five, Indianapolis, Indiana 


E TEACHERS, in our endeavor to keep the child the center of 

education, have largely forgotten that a center presupposes a 

circumference: in this case the adult community life of the next 
generation. Consequently matters go often askew. The daily work 
is in every sense routine—round and round we go without really aiming 
to get anywhere. We have the same old dates and wars, the same old 
multiplication table. Instead history should be taught for perspective— 
the look behind is merely to get the power to look around and ahead 
intelligently. Mathematics should be taught not merely for the train- 
ing of accountants (we can buy better ones made of steel) but for the 
making of men of vision whether they scan the heavens for proof of 
“relativity” or to discover within the earth itself new physical powers 
for reconstructing the whole physical life of man. How far away we 
are from this ideal, none knows better than we elementary principals. 
So buried are we in clerical work, in disciplining, and in the million-and- 
one things which traditional standards demand of us, that the wonder is 
the great good the schools accomplish. Like the little boy who went 
to sleep during the performance at the circus because he had over- 
worked himself carrying water for the clephant, we wake up at the end of 
our endeavors to find that so far as we are concerned the show is ended 
and that we must give the work over to inexperienced hands who will 
keep up the vicious circle of drudgery and sleep. 

This isolation of the teacher from community life is a serious thing for 
her personally but is far more so professionally because of the narrow 
interpretation which she in consequence puts upon her duties as an 
educator. To my mind it is just this attitude that is the chief cause of 
the greatest evil in the schools: the retardation of one-third of the pupils 
from one to three years in their elementary school life. The money cost 
of repeaters we are beginning to hear of from the taxpayers, but it is time 
we principals began to see that the life-cost to the community is incal- 
culable. More than that we must assume our share of the responsibility 
for the present state of affairs and for its remedy. I do not in any way 
mean to disparage the work of my fellow teachers—but self-complacency 
never gets us anywhere. Things are bad we must admit. What can we 
with our present equipment do to better it? What we can do to get a 
better equipment is not to my purpose in this article. 

May I suggest first, that it is quite within the power of any principal 
to grade his or her building in such a way that the primary rooms will 
be so lightened in numbers that no teacher will be required to handle 
more than forty pupils. If there must be part-time schools, have 
them in upper grades rather than in lower. In other words, so grade a 
building that the incoming stream of pupils is not polluted with repeaters 
and in eight years’ time by this method alone, the evil of retardation 














ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 67 





might be eliminated. Leonard P. Ayers is authority for thé statement 
that only two per cent of the human race is so defective that they 
cannot keep up with the normal pace. This two per cent should be 
segregated. Could we have this segregation of defectives and small 
primary schools as a universal practice it would be ideal from our present 
standpoint. But the day is far distant. The pity therefore is, that 
try as hard as one may to get all the children along on time, each year 
the transfers to the building from outside schools will probably ruin half 
one’s efforts! 

Secondly, we should give what consideration we can to the children 
in our immediate care who are already marred by malpractice in the 
past. ‘Two specific things should be done for them: first, they should be 
given special time on the program for academic training to make up for 
what they failed to get early in life; second, they should be given personal 
encouragement that will help to overcome the slouchy mental habits 
which repeating begets and in addition they should be stimulated to 
place themselves with other children of like chronological (social) age. 
We too often forget in the artificial atmosphere of the school that a 
fourteen year old pupil has had life experiences that totally unfit him to 
sit beside nine year olds even if in reading the younger child is the 
superior. Quite as much do we owe it to the younger child to protecf 
him from his knowing and sometimes vicious neighbor. The grading ot 
children solely upon chronological age I do not advocate, but I do most 
strongly urge that it should bear an important part in the decision of the 
child’s grading. Perhaps the larger civic life that is dawning to women 
teachers now that we have enfranchisement, will bear fruit to the good 
of the schools in this particular. As we become a real participating 
unit in the community, that community (which is social) will react so 
that we shall see a child primarily as a social being and secondarily as an 
intellectual being. 

Special teachers, ungraded rooms, and manual training for overage 
boys are things of familiar sound. They are all more or less efficacious. 
As a student along this line, I offer a plan which is somewhat different 
from any other that I know. It requires no special teacher, no extra 
time on the part of the regular teacher. It does require a building corps 
working together on the idea and an enthusiastic principal to steer. Its 
greatest virtue, to my mind, is that it keeps the retarded child where he is 
temporarily and saves him the humiliation of the ungraded room and 
that very shortly it stimulates him to push the mold from off his brow 
or perhaps better his soul and take his place among fellows of his size. 
All this is said with the assumption that we, as said before, have only 
two per cent of defectives. The teacher herself must get this attitude 
and must not be discouraged if the great lumbering stupid doesn’t change 
in a week. 

About five years ago, I decided one June when making the final grades 
for the term that the next year I would begin in September to grade 
because of the large number of powerful overage pupils who had done 














68 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





only one term’s work in the half year. Of course it has always been our 
custom to “promote at any time” but it was a custom honored more in 
the breach than in the observance. Two years ago I had the privilege of 
trying out the scheme with almost five thousand pupils. Fortunately 
for the experiment they were of all sorts and conditions; whites of every 
nationality, rich and poor. One thousand were colored children. All 
eight grades were included. 

We started mechanically. Each teacher made a list of her pupils 
arranging them according to age with the oldest child first on the list and 
the youngest child last. In addition to this she made a simple graph on 
quarter-inch paper to show the same thing. The upright lines indicated 
the individual pupils (the one to the left the oldest) and the horizontal 
lines six months each in age, advancing upward from the normal age for 
the class (eight years for the third grade, ten years for the fifth). When 
completed, the graph showed an irregular diagonal line running from 
somewhere near the upper left hand corner of the paper to the lower right 
hand corner where the youngest child may have been below the normal 
age for the grade. 

Next we enlisted the codperation of the pupils. After an explanation 
of what we meant by retardation and by making these older pupils 
comfortable through a recital of various causes for retardation such as 
illness, frequent change of residence, and other evils over which children 
have no control, we set a grade standard for each age. Mercilessly the 
children built it up: a nine year old should be in 4B, a child eleven years 
six months should be in 6A. Before letting the matter get too personal, 
we explained that by means of an Opportunity Class a child could go 
from grade at an accelerated rate, and asked for volunteers. Needless 
to say that while every child asked to have the privilege, our specials 
already privately picked were the most enthusiastic. 

Very promptly we segregated these mature children and placed them 
in the two middle rows of the room. This was done that the Oppor- 
tunity B might sit adjacent to the other two rows of B pupils and Op- 
portunity A pupils might have the same advantage in regard to the 
regular A pupils. The following plan for each school in the district 
(modified to fit peculiar conditions) was carried out in each room: 


mh 

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a 
a 
a 


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» S&P PP L— PH 
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Ramm 
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CToTcTs 


After that came the making of a program by which the Opportunity 
Class was given a special reading (oral) period of twenty-five minutes 
the first thing in the morning. During this time the younger A’s and B’s 
prepared some kind of seat work which the teacher might think profit- 








ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 69 





able. For this reading, the class had prepared a lesson at home on 
the previous evening. Great care was taken that the reading matter 
assigned (regular school sets were used for the purpose) was very easy. 
Where it was found after personal investigation that no one in the home 
could give such help, assistance was asked of fellow pupils. It was quite 
common to see a small boy hearing a fellow twice his size before school 
in the morning. To this reading was added a thorough grounding in 
phonetic elements. During the rest of the morning the Opportunity 
Class as a class disappeared and was merged in the two classes on the 
regular program which was complete in all subjects. Similarly in the 
afternoon, the first period the Opportunity Class again took shape and 
for twenty-five minutes had special work in computation. At the close 
of the day, each member of the class took home in addition to his reader 
a short arithmetic lesson that he might get some extra practice in that 
subject. Below is the program on which Classes from 4B to 6A (in- 
clusive) worked: 


8:30— 8:40 Opening Exercises. Civics (one day) 

8:40— 9:05 Reading Opportunity Class (seat work) 
9:05— 9:40 Composition (four days) Technical (one day) 
9:40-10:05 Arithmetic I (Composition IT) 

10:05-10:15 Milk Lunch 

10:15-10:30 Recess 

10:30-10:55 Arithmetic II (Composition I) 

10:55-11:20 Geography I (Geography II) 

11:20-11:40 Calisthenics 

11:40-12:00 Penmanship and Spelling (written) 


THREE Days 


35 Arithmetic Opportunity Class 

:15 Geography II (Arithmetic I) 

335 Reading I (Arithmetic II) 

55 Reading II (Geography I) 
00 Closing Exercises 


Two Days 
1:15— 1:30 Science Thrift 
1:30- 1:55 Arithmetic Opportunity Class 
1:55- 2:55 Art. (Chorus or Project Work) 
2:55— 3:00 Closing Exercises 


Because the span of a child’s interest is short, promotions were made 
weekly. Great boys who had been loafing, wakened up when they 
saw that a little extra work had landed a fellow student in the next 
higher class. The teachers with few exceptions worked marvelously 
with the children and I recall only one case where the teacher above did 
not make the newly promoted children feel instantly at home. Occa- 
sionally the new pupil would by reason of his age go into the Oppor- 
tunity Class in the upper room and then there was wailing that a younger 











70 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





child would have to give way to him. We adjusted that by giving all 
(except young delicate children) the privilege of accelerated promotion. 
At the end of the term we took stock: 


Total enrolment in September 4987 pupils. 
In January: 207 pupils (4%) no advancement 
3844 pupils (77%) one half grade 
842 pupils (16%) one grade 
112 pupils (2%) one and one half grades 
10 pupils (.2%) two grades 
1 pupil (.05%) two and one half grades 


These are figures and are not interesting. If I could by means of 
pictures show you the faces of some of these children and tell you of their 
increased hope in life it would perhaps be more impressive. Practically 
20 per cent of the pupils made double promotions or more. These were 
all overage pupils who by this means were climbing to the grade corre- 
sponding to their ages. At twenty-one we should deliver to the State a 
citizen twenty-one in mentality as well as in physical growth. Can we 
look ourselves in the face and do less? 


THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL AS A COMMUNITY 
LEADER’ 


Lucy J. Smoor 
Principal, Normal School, Kansas City, Missouri 


S introduction or text or prelude, I quote from Joseph K. Hart in 
the October Survey: 

“He (the pedagogue) was first of all a citizen, an individual 
who knew his way through the city’s life and therefore could help 
bewildered children to find their ways through and into the life of their 
city. The pedagogue was never a school man. He was a city-man, a 
city-zen. He led his charges through the city’s streets. He stopped to 
talk to them about the novel things they saw. He helped them to 
understand what this too-large environment meant. He helped them 
integrate their experience into meaningful experience ‘with power on 
their lives and on the world.’ Whatever helps the individual to grasp 
his world, to tear that world to pieces for purposes of understanding, to 
put it back together again for purposes of control, such experiences are 
significant for the kind of education which seems to be needed in a 
democratic and scientific age. The pedagog was once the most 
intelligent member of the community, and at the same time the most 
understanding and sympathetic member. He knew his community. 
He knew the needs of children. He had one function in his own right. 
He did the things needed to be done to help children to find their ways 


1Given before the Department of Elementary School Principals, Missouri State Teachers’ 
Association, November 16, 1922. 





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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 71 





through and into the larger inclusive life of the city—their world. The 
school if it is to do the work of democracy and support the efforts of 
science must return from academic aloofness with Plato and find its 
place once more in the midst of actual exepriences of life with Socrates, 
must draw them in and go out tothem. What goes on inside of schools 
must be seen to be the approach to what goes on outside. America was 
begun by the pioneer. Once he explored the geographical wilderness, 
now he must explore the wilderness of our institutional and social 
relationships. Intimate in this exploration is search for an education 
that shall be truly democratic, natural, human, real. Democracy is at 
stake.” 

For weeks the principals and teachers of our city have given much 
thought to the real question of leading children through the streets. 
Time and again the scene is acted, a flash of shining hair and bright gar- 
ments under the machine and the little one laid lifeless in the mother’s 
arms. 

How shall the schools meet this situation? It is a challenge to our 
intelligence. Our city, your city is facing the problem. We cannot 
turn back progress and banish the machine, the child cannot be banished 
from the life of the community. Shall children have wings and fly above 
the trafic? Shall a pogo stick of magical force help them to leap across? 
What that the pedagogue knows will help here? 

The first reaction to the series of accidents was numerous calls for 
police to be stationed at the school, near the schools, and at all dangerpus 
crossings—putting the responsibility upon the municipal community. 

Then a plan was worked out by a group of elementary school principals 
combining the efforts of the Parent-Teacher Association, the Safety 
Council, and the school. We are starting to put this plan into effect. 

Wisely enough the laws of Missouri place the responsibility of the 
children’s conduct on their way to school and from school, upon the 
teachers. For years this has been our keynote in bringing to the child 
his relation to the social unit into which he has come. They are all 
children of the school and equal under the law. His ideas of responsi- 
bility and justice will be colored by this relation. 

The community should be led to study every element which enters 
into these situations in which the child finds himself—the conduct of the 
child, the rules for traffic, the alert attention which quickly takes into 
consideration any new or third element. The best solution will be in 
educating for the best codrdination of mind and body, the practice of 
which comes in the games, in work in which the child has a share, and in 
the arts of music and drawing: The solution lies in interest, in keeping 
the mind on the work in hand. As soon as the “double hats” get in 
the “thinking caps” are in demand to rout them. 

The Community is a complex thing like the machine against which the 
children are putting their wits. The community is hard to define or to 
locate except in a special sense as “municipal community,” “ business 
community.” Dr. Snedden has analyzed for us the “thinning out of 








72 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





neighborliness,” dehumanizing and making impersonal the community 
by the loss of all the historic functions of the community. We have 
“community of interest” in various things but not a community group 
for all or even a few interests. This leads to the question as to whether 
it is worth while to have community centers. The trend seems to be 
away from their development rather than toward them except as they 
still may function in the “rurban” community. Taking into considera- 
tion then the industrial system, the dehumanized community, the highly 
centralized and developed school system, in what respects can the prin- 
cipal be “responsible for a center” as given by Dr. Gray at the Atlantic 
City meeting? 

For ten or fifteen years, the tendency was for the school or community 
center to take over the recreation, the nursing, the social welfare work as 
a whole. Great effort was made to induce the parents to come out to 
meetings at the school house, for social and entertainment purposes. 
Now the tendency seems to be to get the ideals of the school over into 
the home, to get the parents to come to school and learn about corrective 
work in physical education, about the necessity for the child having 
nourishing food, and for the home to take over the responsibility for these 
programs. ; 

The latest report in this regard, from the Recreation Congress held 
in Atlantic City, seems to indicate that “the recreation movement is 
advancing on the back yard.” 

Besides the work of getting the school ideals into the home, the prin- 
cipal is responsible for getting the home into the school, not necessarily 
having the building used for entertainment; but in getting the inarticu- 
late groups in the community to find an interest in common and to 
express this through some act of their own. ‘The community should 
initiate its own improvements.” The Parent-Teacher Association fur- 
nishes a ready-made machinery for putting this plan into effect. 

The principal should without question lead the community in work- 
ing out plans for improving the condition of the environment of the 
school. Miss Olive Jones suggests that the best way to bring home to 
the average citizen community responsibility, is to get him to study the 
causes of juvenile delinquency. 

In this field the principal should be qualified to lead. The study of 
the working of child labor and cigarette laws leading to their enforce- 
ment should be inaugurated by the principal. The principal should 
lead or lend aid to every agency that is working for child welfare—that 
stands for the child as the symbol of evolution—of the future. 

The principal should*bring to his community the new ideas in com- 
munity or adult education. Denmark has made an important contri- 
bution to community education that differs greatly from our American 
development, “something closer to the arts, more homely, more univer- 
sal, and yet grounded in real thinking.” Shall we accept the respon- 
sibility of answering, when the question ‘What of America?” is asked! 
Behold her “‘out there” an unshackled democracy, not divided into a 
general staff and an army of docile workers; but walking forth sur- 
rounded by all the lovely arts born of Intelligence and Labor, joining 
hands with the nations of the world in a pledge of justice for all. 


PE Ee ns 


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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 





THE PRINCIPAL AND THE SUPERVISOR 


WortH McCiure 
Principal, Gatewood School, Seattle, Washington 
T IS NOT the purpose of this discussion to “harpoon” the supervisor. 
It is, rather, to show that the contribution of each of these educational 
experts is part of a harmonious whole. 

There are at present two mooted questions in connection with the service 
of the principal. One is the principal’s relation to the superintendent, the 
other is his place in his own school. The answer to the second depends 
somewhat upon the way the first is viewed and it is with one phase of the 
second problem that we are now attempting to deal. 

The first and older conception of the principal was that he was the mouth- 
piece and agent of the superintendent, having little or no initiative of his own 
in the solution of educational problems of other than a routine sort. The 
principal managed the school and the central office led it professionally. 
Some superintendents and principals adhere still to this opinion, and it is a 
comfortable one for the principal. 

The second view is that the principal, under the superintendent, is the 
leader of his school and community. It makes the principal responsible for 
the improvement of instruction in the broadest sense and grants him powers 
commensurate with his obligations. ‘There is no doubt that this idea of the 
principalship as an institution demands all of the qualities that the older one 
does and considerably more. It presents the challenge of a great educational 
opportunity. 

Under the first relationship, the word of the supervisor and that of the 
principal were practically independent. ‘The supervisor led the teacher in 
developing her particular subject, and the principal gave such assistance as 
he might in regulating mechanical conditions, such as ventilation, lighting, 
necessary supplies, and the like. ‘There is no doubt that this plan led to the 
development of a uniformly high grade of technique in any subject that 
might be directed by an able supervisor of vigorous personality. The trou- 
ble with it was that the balance of emphasis amongst the various subjects 
was more apt to be determined by the comparative ability of the supervisor 
than by the educational demands of the community or the individual school. 
If the supervisor of English, for example, was more successful in pressing 
the claims of her subject upon the teachers than were her colleagues, then 
the English work of the system would probably stand out above that of the 
other subjects because it had received the greater portion of the teachers’ 
and pupils’ effort and time. This might or might not be a desirable condi- 
tion. ‘The chances are that it would be in schools of predominantly foreign 
patronage, while in others it would be a long way from the needs of the 
pupils, On the other hand, if the English supervisor should prove to be 
unable to compete on equal terms with the rest of the supervisory staff, then 
her work would suffer in all schools alike, regardless of community require- 
ments, 

In order to maintain proper emphasis among subjects, time schedules 
were established, assigning definite time allotments to the various subjects. 








74 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





These are valuable guides, but no educator realizes better than the princi- 
pal, perhaps, how ineffective and futile are such devices when weighed in 
the mind of the ambitious teacher, alongside of the active disapproval of an 
aggressive supervisor, 

Clarification of thought in regard to the elementary school in general and 
the functions of the elementary school principal in particular have led to 
the acceptance by a large majority of superintendents and educational 
leaders of the theory that the principal is and should be the leader of his 
school in every sense. Recent studies have shown that superintendents ac- 
cept this view quite generally, and that they expect him to concern himself 
chiefly with advancing educational efficiency. 

It will be seen that this newer conception of the principalship implies a 
changed relation between the principal and the supervisor, and it is exactly 
at this point that some confusion and criss-cross claims of leadership have 
arisen. ‘The old idea of independent functions has persisted, and as long as 
it does persist, there will be lack of team-work. 

There is really no conflict of service between the work of these two edu- 
cational leaders and there will eventually be no conflict of authority. It is 
because we are in a transition period that we find it difficult to see the ele- 
ments of the situation. We need to hold fast to two main considerations: 
(1) Within his own school, the principal must be leader in fact, if the 
school is to advance harmoniously. (2) There will usually need to be more 
or less supervisory assistance, at least in the so-called “special” subjects, such 
as music and drawing. 

There needs to be a leader in every school in order that the educational 
needs of the community may be intelligently met. From intimate knowl- 
edge of the children’s homes and of neighborhood ideals he will be able to 
direct the emphasis to the character of subject matter and the type of instruc- 
tion that fits. He will not hesitate to call for the services of supervisory 
experts whenever the exigencies of his own time or other considerations make 
it necessary to do so for the good of the pupils. He will protect the 
teachers when necessary from the over-zealous supervisor. He will confer 
with the superintendent about the application of the course of study and of 
the time allotment to his own school whenever conditions seem to need a 
modification. 

Depending upon the time at the principal’s disposal in relation to the size 
of the school and somewhat upon his own training and executive ability, 
there will usually be a need for supervisory assistance. In the larger 
schools, the one limitation of time, would preclude the possibility of the 
principal carrying the whole burden in addition to his other duties. In most 
schools, the principal is without the technical training necessary to enable 
him to be of assistance in the “special” branches. It is not expected that he 
be thus equipped. His is the broader type of service. 

The working relationship that has just been outlined is no idle anticipa- 
tion of an educational millenium. It is in a fair way to be worked out in 
more than one city. Detroit has probably the most carefully arranged plan 
for making the principal the leader and holding him to his responsibilities as 





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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 75 





such. In that city, the principal is held responsible for the quality of in- 
struction in all subjects, it is said. His is the duty of providing assistance 
to the teacher, either his own personal counsel and suggestions, ‘or those of 
the supervisor. It appears that the plan is developing into an effective pro- 
cedure. 

The problem of harmonizing the work of the principal and supervisor is 
one which might well be considered by local organizations of principals in 
many cities. It is true that there is a feeling on the part of some persons 
that such a topic is dangerous. ‘There is no doubt that it contains the pos- 
sibility of endless controversy. However, it is not the controversial phase 
that matters, as far as the interests of the pupils are concerned. Any local 
organization which can replace misunderstanding and suspicion with ef- 
fective functioning of the principal and supervisor in harmonious effort will 
have performed a service to the community. In order to make such an 
arrangement permanent and lasting, we need to rest finally upon the two 
main ideas already stated of the principal as the natural leader of the school 
and the probable necessity for a degree of supervisory assistance. 


THE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL AND THE FUTURE 


IpE G. SARGEANT 
Principal, Public School Number Ten, Paterson, New Jersey 


INCLAIR LEWIS in his Main Street gives us a picture of Gopher 
Prairie, which may be duplicated in the majority of American com- 
munities. The class distinctions, the snobbery, the smug inertia, the 

selfishness of special interests, the petty jealousies, the love of cheap gossip, 
the self-pity of the half-cocked would-be-reformer without sufficient ballast 
or clarity of vision to appreciate the heroism of the common homely virtues, 
or the kindly tact to tie worthwhile enthusiasms to the plodding, practical 
car of actual progress are all to be found in a varying degree in nearly every 
school district. What is more we have representatives of all these classes 
in our teaching corps. Sometimes it is the superintendent, sometimes the 
principal, and sometimes the teacher who stands like a rock against progress 
of any kind if it means a change of procedure. At the suggestion of any- 
thing new these people stand ready to cry “fads and frills” and “eave a 
brick.” These objectors to change are vastly more harmful to the advance- 
ment of education than the much decried “indifferent public.” Moreover, 
it is these people of pigmy vision and moral cowardice who are largely re- 
sponsible for the so-called public indifference, 

Recently at one of our principals’ meetings the superintendent read a fine 
outline of the work of the principal. As we were passing from the hall one 
of our number remarked, “I just said to B— that if a principal measured up 
to that outline he would deserve a front seat in Heaven with the band play- 
ing soothing melodies in his ears.” 








76 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





Last June while riding on a crowded street car I heard a principal, in a 
voice which could be heard twenty feet away, denouncing his school board 
as made up of ignorant, cheap politicians. I knew the men he was talking 
about and I knew that while they were loyal enough Americans to be in- 
tensely active in the politics of the town, they were honest, hard-working 
men of good common sense, giving the community the best there was in 
them. ‘They were better fitted for the board of education than this prin- 
cipal was for his position. What a lack of taste and what an impression 
must have been made upon those within hearing who knew him to be a 
school man! 

It is this cynicism, conceit, cheap wit, and flippancy in regard to things 
that should be treated seriously which has done education incalculable harm 
and stamped many of us as of small calibre. The principal of the future 
will not be of this sort. The position is becoming too important to the 
public weal to allow its being filled by men and women without taste, with- 
out tact, without ideals, without vision. Not only the public welfare but 
also the professional standards of the principalship demand that this type of 
principal be eliminated. It will not be school boards nor superintendents 
alone who will do this but the principals themselves. ‘Through principals’ 
organizations—National, State, and local—and by conferences we propose 
to make our work of such a high order that none but the ablest and best 
will be tolerated by the public. With this will go the dignity, the recogni- 
tion, and the financial return found in other fields for like ability and like 
endeavor. 

The principal of tomorrow will be cognizant of the shortcomings and 
foibles of Gopher Prairie, but he will see also the substratum of solid worth 
upon which with the aid of his children, his teachers, and his community 
organizations he may build the wonderful community that is to be. With 
practical tact he will harness the enthusiasms of his Carols for dynamos to 
drive the machinery of broader educational work. 

Why do I draw this picture of the principal’s work? Because he is in the 
strategic position to do it. The superintendent’s field is too vast to do ef- 
fective comunity work of the nature I foresee; he lacks personal touch with 
the people, and the class teacher’s field is too restricted. But the principal is 
in constant touch with parents, teachers, and children. He alone is in a 
position to get his message across. If he has no message he has no right to 
the position. 

If under the present operation of school systems there are handicaps and 
obstructions to be uvercome before we can do the work that must be done, 
let us remove'them. If more clerical or supervisory help is needed we can 
get it if we go after it in the right way. Whining and kicking won’t get it. 
If the school board seems slow to grasp our point of view, let us study our 
proposition. If our teachers are not what we desire let us make them so by 
helpful, constructive supervision. If our classes are too large let us carry 
on a campaign of publicity until our community is convinced. Big business 
does it and wins. Don’t knock; be a man or a woman in the best sense. 
Then we shall win. Then we shall do away with our Gopher Prairies, 
with our ugly architecture, with our inartistic interiors, with all the hateful 
things in our present community life. 





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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 








DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 
Cleveland Program 











President, Worth McClure, Gatewood School, Seattle, Wash. 
Recording Secretary, Mrs. Jessie M. Fink, Palmer School, Grand Rapids, Mich. 
Corresponding Secretary, W. T. Longshore, Greenwood School, Kansas City, Mo. 


Monday Afternoon, February 26, 2:15 o’clock 
Ball Room, Winton Hotel 


The Local Organization of Principals: its Work and Opportunities 
THE PRINCIPALSHIP AS AN EDUCATIONAL, MorAL, AND Civic INSTITUTION 
John W. Anthony, Principal, Franklin School, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
EsTABLISHING THE LOCAL ORGANIZATION OF PRINCIPALS 
W. T. Longshore, Principal, Greenwood School, Kansas City, Mo. 
THE RELATION OF THE LOCAL ASSOCIATION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY 
SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 
Mrs. Jessie M. Fink, Palmer School, Grand Rapids, Mich. 
THE WorK OF THE PRINCIPALS’ CLUB IN MAINTAINING THE PROFESSIONAL STATUS OF 
THE PRINCIPALSHIP 
Rose A. Pesta, President of Chicago Principals’ Club, Chicago, III, 
THE PROFESSIONAL STUDY PROGRAM OF THE LOCAL ASSOCIATION 
J. M. Kniseley, Principal, Green Lake School, Seattle, Wash. 


Tuesday Afternoon, February 27, 2:15 o’clock 
Ball Room, Winton Hotel 


THE RETARDED CHILD: His OpporTUNITY 
Georgia Alexander, Principal of School 45, Indianapolis, Ind. 
THE RELATION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL TO THE GENERAL TESTING 
PROGRAM 


Julia A. Mulrooney, Principal, Outhwaite School, Cleveland, Ohio. 
W. E. Moore, Principal, Longfellow School, Oakland, Calif. 
John Merrill, District Principal, Lingemann School, Detroit, Mich. 


Tuesday Evening, February 27, 8:30 o’clock 


Public Auditorium 


Joint Program with Department of Superintendence, National Association of 
Secondary School Principals, and the Department of Rural Education 


Wednesday Afternoon, February 28, 2:15 o’clock 


Public Auditorium 


The Elementary School Principalship: Present, Past, and Future 
Tue PRINCIPAL IN ACTION 
A. E. Winship, Editor of Journal of Education, Boston, Mass. 
THE PRINCIPAL OF THE PrEsENT Day 
James E, Russell, Dean of Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, 
N. Y. 






















NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





Tue PossiBiLirigs OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALSHIP FROM THE SUPERIN- 
TENDENT’S POINT OF VIEW 
Herbert S. Weet, Superintendent of Schools, Rochester, N. Y. 
THE PossiBILITIES OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALSHIP FROM THE UNIVERSITY 
PoINnT OF VIEW 
William S. Gray, Dean of the School of Education, University of Chicago, 
Chicago, III. 


Thursday Afternoon, March 1, 2:15 o’clock 
Ball Room, Winton Hotel 





THE ScHOOL ASSEMBLY AS A SOCIALIZING INFLUENCE 
Ella M., Probst, Principal of Longfellow School, Minneapolis, Minn. 

THE Project METHOD FROM THE PRINCIPAL’s POINT OF VIEW 
Thomas Agnew, Principal of Horace Mann School, Bayonne, N. J. 

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS: SALARIES, CLERICAL AND SUPER- 

visorY ASSISTANCE 

Ide G. Sargeant, Principal of Public School No. 10, Paterson, N. J. 

GENERAL DISCUSSION. 





MEMBERSHIP 
HE CONDITION of membership in the Department of Elementary 
School Principals is, first, that you are a member of the National 
Education Association with current dues paid ($2.00) and that you 
are a member of the Department of Elementary School Principals (dues 
$2.00). You get with your membership in the National Education Associa- 
tion the Journal of the National Education Association, which in itself is 
worth many times the fee paid. It gives you a broad view of what your 
National Education Association is actually doing and some of the things it 
hopes to do. 

The National Association is most helpful and most loyal to our Depart- 
ment, which it recognizes as one of its leading departments, and gives us 
every encouragement. At the Boston meeting it made us an appropriation 
of twenty-five hundred dollars to carry forward the work during the current 
year. We have in addition all the money we collect for membership in 
our Department. If we get a membership of two thousand (which is much 
smaller than it should be) you can see that we will have funds enough to 
do things on a broad basis and on a plan that should be exceedingly helpful 
to each member of the Department. | 

The National Association furnishes us an able assistant secretary, in per- 
| son, Mr. S. D. Shankland, in the Washington office, and all our printing 
and distribution is done from there. 

Remember that your membership of last year expired with the distribu- 
tion of the First Yearbook of the Department, and unless you have renewed 
since then you are in arrears and should send in your dues ($2.00) at once. 
Said membership makes you an active member of the Department and 
entitles you to all the privileges and responsibilities that go with the mem- 
bership, such as to vote, hold office, get all publications put out by the 
Department, which at the present time are three or four bulletins and the 
Yearbook, which is published in June of each year. We also expect to make 




















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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 79 





—_— 


special investigations from time to time and publish the results. We are 
going to be very liberal with the distribution of the Bulletin, but may we not 
ask that you be certain to send in your renewal at once (if you have not 
already done so) to our genial treasurer, Mr. Courtland V. Davis, 1201 
Sixteenth Street Northwest, Washington, D. C. 


To Members of the Department of 
Elementary School Principals, 
National Education Association: 

The First Yearbook of the Department is considered by superintendents 
and educators generally as one of the notable contributions to our profes- 
sional literature for the school year 1921-1922. 

The supply of this Yearbook is exhausted and we are still having three or 
more requests a day for it. We have under consideration the advisability 
of printing another edition of the First Yearbook, but this probably will be 
too expensive. 

To all new members and all who renew their membership will be sent the 
current Bulletins, three in number, October, January, and May, and the 
Second Yearbook, which will be out in June. The October Bulletin con- 
tains a statement concerning the Second Yearbook. ‘The Second Yearbook 
will reach a circulation of five thousand or more. Make sure of getting 
this literature by sending in your membership dues of two dollars at once 


to Courtland V. Davis, treasurer, 1201 Sixteenth Street Northwest, Wash- 
ington, D. C. 


Respectfully, 
W. T. LoncsHore, 
Secretary, 
Greenwood School, Kansas City, Mo. 


APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP 
Mr. CourtLAnp V. Davis, Treasurer 
1201 Sixteenth Street Northwest 
Washington, D. C. 
My dear Mr. Davis: 

I am a member of the National Education Association. I inclose my 
fee of $2.00 for membership in the Department of Elementary School 
Principals during the year 1922-1923. One dollar of this fee is for a 
year's subscription to the Department Bulletin. . 

Kindly send all publications, including the Second Yearbook, to me at 
the address given below. 


. 





NOTES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR THE 
CLEVELAND MEETING, February 25 to March 1 


President Worth McClure, of the Department of Elementary School 
Principals, has scheduled four meetings for the afternoons of Monday, Tues- 
day, Wednesday, and Thursday. 

The programs for these meetings promise to be of unusual interest. 
Many of us who had the privilege of attending the meeting in Chicago last 
February and the meeting in Boston last July remember the large attend- 
ance, the interest, and the enthusiasm of those meetings. 

Make your plans mow to attend the Cleveland meeting. Arrange to 
meet your friends at ‘the headquarters of the Department of Elementary 
School Principals, the Winton Hotel. 


AN OFFICIAL BREAKFAST 


An innovation in the way of a breakfast for the official family is being 
planned for Tuesday morning, February 27, at Hotel Winton. 

It is felt that a good fellowship and a closer acquaintanceship among the 
officials and a frank discussion of the things that are important to the De- 
partment of Elementary School Principals will redound to the good of the 
entire membership. Such is the purpose of this breakfast. Mrs. Jessie M. 
Fink will make the arrangements for this event. 


BANQUET 


Department of Elementary School Principals will have a great get- 
together banquet during the Cleveland meeting. 

At the request and by appointment of President Worth McClure, Mrs. 
Jessie M. Fink, our able recording secretary, has accepted the responsibility 
and pleasure of making all arrangements for this social affair. 

You will be there. Make it the occasion of extending your acquaintance 
with your fellow principals. It will be mutually helpful. 

Time—7 :00 P. M., Thursday, March 1. 

Place—Hotel Cleveland. 

Tickets—T wo dollars per plate. 

Toastmaster—Dr. W. P. Burris, University of Cipcinnati. 

Speakers—Miss Charl Ormond Williams, Washington, D. C.; Miss 
Belle M. Ryan, Omaha, Nebraska. 


DIRECTORY OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS’ 
ORGANIZATIONS 


We wish to make a directory of all the Elementary School Principals’ or- 
ganizations in the United States. 

We request that the president and secretary of each organization send 
at once to Mr. S. D. Shankland, our executive secretary, 1201 Sixteenth 
Street N. W., Washington, D. C., name of your organization and names 
of the officers of your organization. This directory will be valuable to 
each organization and to the officers of the Department of Elementary 
School Principals of the National Education Association. Do it at once. 

W. T. LoncsHore, 


Secretary.