VOL. V, NO. 3 APRIL, 1926 


BULLETIN 


OF THE 


Department of Elementary 
School Principals 


The Possibilities of the Principalship—Judd................. 131 
Reforming the Principalship—Hosic................0eeeeeees 137 
Leadership in the Principalship—Wright.................+..-. 140 
Cost Sheets and Quantity Production—-Roe.................. 147 
Curriculum Studies in the Elementary School—Caldwell..... 157 


The Teaching of Ethics in the Public Schools—Macartney.... 163 


The Principal as a SupervisOr—Parr..............eeeeeeeeee 167 
The Imperative Need of Organizing School Forces—Fink..... 172 
Report of Progress of the Committee on Standards and Train- 

ing for the Elementary School Principalship............. 175 
Committee on Training for the Elementary School Principal- 

GE ike Re eciae Koked anced tab ncdhs CaN sC eae eae aeRE ESE 182 
Ee nt re eerie ae eee ee I Meera ae eee 183 
po BR  erorrerer errr Terr rer rrr rer re 187 


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 post-office 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. 








——————— OO OO — — — — ——————————————— oo 


BULLETIN 
of the 
DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 

Published quarterly in October, January, April, and July by the Depart- 
ment of Elementary School Principals of the National Education Asso- 
ciation 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, 50 cents; 
Yearbook, $1.50. 

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, 
Washington, D. C. 





OFFICERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 
PRINCIPALS OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 
1925-26 
President, Ip— G. SARGEANT 
School No. 10, Paterson, New Jersey 


First Vice-President, HELEN V. SHOVE 
Longfellow School, Minneapolis, Minnesota 


Second Vice-President, J. S. NANTS 
Bates School, St. Louis, Missouri 


Third Vice-President, J. D. WiLLIAMsS 
Woodlawn School, Birmingham, Alabama 


Secretary and Editor, Department Bulletins, E. RurH PyrtLe 
McKinley School, Liacoln, Nebraska 


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


Executive Committee 
W. T. Loncsiiore 
Greenwood School, Kansas City, Missouri 
Jessie M. Fink 
Palmer School, Grand Rapids, Michigan 
ANNA Laura Force 
Broadway Junior High School, Denver, Colorado 
Luise H. Krauss 
Grattan School, San Francisco, California 
Editor Fifth Yearbook, Artuur S. Gist 
B. F. Day School, Seattle, Washington 














I 
p 
Bull 
ing t 
of O 
of th 
in sj 
45, ; 
say t 
Ni 
cipal 
or he 
the s 
the p 
T 
that 
a rea 
proce 
ing 1 
cipal 
or he 
of th 
is a \ 
of th 
yy 
of al 
cont! 
full | 
the s 
tatio 
Le 
The 
but 
schoc 
from 
teach 
task 
techr 
niqui 
is aff 
and 
cussit 














THE POSSIBILITIES OF THE PRINCIPALSHIP 


CHARLES H. Jupp 
Director, School of Education, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 


HAVE BEEN very much impressed, as I dare say others in this com- 

pany have, by statements recently published in the Educational Research 
Bulletin, of the college of education of the Ohio State University regard- 
ing the distribution of activities of school principals in the cities and villages 
of Ohio. The principals of Ohio teach from thirteen to sixty-five percent 
of their time. The full list of percentages of teaching time for principals 
in systems of different sizes ranging from the largest to the smallest is 13, 
45, 38, 53, 52, 65, and 56. Putting the matter in general terms, we may 
say that one half of the time of Ohio principals is given to teaching. 

Not only does present practice emphasize teaching as a part of the prin- 
cipal’s task, but in the vast majority of cases the principal has reached his 
or her present position by promotion from the teaching ranks. Seniority on 
the staff of a school is not infrequently regarded as constituting a claim on 
the principalship. 

I yield to no one in respect for skilful teaching, but I am quite certain 
that long and successful experience as a teacher not infrequently constitutes 
a real disqualification for the principalship. I have known principals who 
proceed on the assumption either explicitly or implicitly that all good teach- 
ing is the kind which they personally practice. I have known a new prin- 
cipal to demand of all the teachers in the school that they conform to his 
or her methods. I am not at all sure that this may not be the explanation 
of the habit of putting the senior teacher into the principalship when there 
isa vacancy. The senior teacher is perhaps less likely to disturb the routine 
of the school than anyone who could be chosen. 

The point I wish to make in these remarks is that a principal ought first 
of all to understand that his or her position should be definitely and sharply 
contrasted with the position of a teacher. The principal will not realize the 
full possibilities of his or her office until the idea and practice of organizing 
the school are distinguished from the idea and practice of organizing reci- 
tations. 

Let us put the matter in another way. The unit of teaching is the class. 
The unit which it is the duty of the principal to organize is not the class 
but the group of classes which collectively constitute the school. In the 
school unit there are a number of teachers each with a personality different 
from that of every other teacher. ‘To hold the diverse personalities of the 
teachers together in a harmonious and effective group is no less important a 
task than is that of the teacher who must organize a group of pupils. The 
technique of organizing a group of teachers is very different from the tech- 
nique of organizing a group of pupils. In the latter case the organization 
is affected typically by discussing with the pupils certain subjects like history 
and geography and arithmetic. What are the appropriate subjects of dis- 
cussion when a principal gathers the teaching staff of a building together ? 


[131] 











132 NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION 





I will attempt to state the problem in still another way. Suppose that a 
newly appointed principal wants to get as rapidly as possible suggestions 
which will contribute to an understanding of his work. What kind of 
books should he read? Books on teaching methods? ‘Textbooks on arith- 
metic and geography ? 

At this point I am going to venture a remark which I am sure is true 
but which it is very difficult to put into terms which will be thought alto- 
gether tactful. ‘The remark is something like this. Many newly appointed 
principals are wholly unaware of a necessity of adding to their stock of 
already acquired experience. Have they not taught class after class and do 
they not know how that is to be done? Have they not seen the shortcomings 
of the principals with whom they have been associated? Have they not 
learned how to deal with parents and recalcitrant pupils? Will they not be 
able on the basis of all this acquired experience to straighten out the school ? 

It is a well-known fact in business and industry that promotion is always 
a hazardous point in a man’s career. ‘The advice which is now-a-days given 
to those who would become executives or foremen is that they should pre- 
pare for the new positions by getting certain types of knowledge which they 
did not need as individual workers. The eagerness with which young 
executives in business have organized study classes shows that there is wide- 
spread recognition of the necessity of special effort if one would safely enter 
the upper ranks of one’s calling. 

Let me approach my theme from yet another angle. I read certain radical 
statements made by teachers who have organized for the promotion of 
what is known as democratic control of schools, such statements as these. 
Teachers who are in direct contact with pupils know the real problems of 
the schools. The superintendent would do well in organizing the course 
of study and in selecting textbooks to consult a council of teachers. Again 
I read frequent and pointed statements to the effect that principals are not 
wanted in the councils of teachers, that there is greater freedom when the 
printipal is absent and so on. Please note that all these statements are bor- 
rowed. I am not defining what I believe to be the relations appropriate 
within a school system. I am merely trying to state my problem. That 
problem is one of defining the lines along which the principal should move 
in the full realization of the possibilities of the principalship. At the moment 
I am using the pronouncements of radical teachers to make the point that 
these radicals think of the principal as somebody different from a fellow- 
teacher. 

We have arrived at the stage in our discussion where we may summarize 
the statements that have been made by saying that our present school prac- 
tice is a curious mixture of history and confusion. The principal teaches 
half of the time. The principal as a principal is not a teacher. The prin- 
cipal is thought of by some people as very different from a teacher and by 
common consent and expectation teaching experience is an essential qualifi- 
cation for elevation to the position of head of the school. 

Before I come to the few positive suggestions which I am prepared to 
make, I should like to discuss somewhat further the confusion which sur- 





at a 
ons 

of 
ith- 


rue 
Ito- 
ted 

of 

do 
1gs 
not 


Lys 








ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 133 








rounds the principalship. What is the ordinary relation between a prin- 
cipal and a superintendent? I am not referring at the moment to the fact 
that a certain number of principals are waiting for the superintendent to 
fail of reelection in order that they may take the step from the principalship 
to the superintendency. I am thinking rather of the relationship which is 
maintained from day to day between the head of a building and the head 
of the school system. 

I read in the surveys the statement that stagnation exists in some school 
systems because the superintendent gives such rigid orders to the principals 
that there is no flexibility in the curriculum or in the daily programs of the 
various schools. There is no adjustment of the schools to the particular 
communities in which they are located. Scarcely have I finished reading 
this objection to central domination when I find in the next survey a drastic 
statement of the evils which result when the various schools of a city go 
their own way without organization and standardization. ‘These extracts 
from the surveys lead me to consider carefully the duty of the principal in 
respect to the policies originated and promoted by the superintendent. 

One final comment by way of description of what I observe. I note that 
in many cases the principal is a very influential factor in a community. The 
principal knows the pupils and the parents. To those who live in the imme- 
diate neighborhood of the school the board of education and the superin- 
tendent are remote, often quite mythical persons. The principal is a real 
person. Sometimes when a principal has occupied his position for a long 
period of years he has known more than one generation and then he often 
begins to think of himself in a way which it is difficult to define in any sim- 
ple and limited terms. It is a bold superintendent who undertakes to hold 
anything but the most friendly conferences with a principal who has the un- 
divided backing of the community around the school. 

I intimated a few moments ago that I had a few positive suggestions to 
make. I shall delay making these long enough to repeat what a superin- 
tendent once told in my hearing. “I went,” he said, “to visit a school 
where I knew the principal was inefficient. I asked her to show me through 
her building and she did. When we came back to the office I sat down and 
said: ‘ Miss Blank, what do you need in this school to help you improve it?’ 
She looked puzzled and finally with a look of relief said, ‘ Mr. Superin- 
tendent, I think we ought to have a new rug for this office.’”’ I am disposed 
to think that the superintendent as well as the principal ought to be charged 
with responsibility for the rug episode, but be that as it may the narrative 
serves me as a starting point. 

I believe that the principal who would magnify his office must make a 
careful study of the situation which exists in his school. One of the best 
ways to bring oneself to the point of doing this intelligently is to prepare 
for personal use a statement of the outstanding virtues and defects of the 
school. I mean literally that the intelligent principal should write down 
in the first week of his tenure of the office what he regards as the outstand- 
ing characteristics, good and bad, of his school. Perhaps the building is not 
clean and well janitored. Let it be written down, and that quite specifi- 








134 NATIONAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION 





cally with dates and particulars. Perhaps the fourth grade teacher is a poor 
teacher. Let it be written down with date and particulars. Perhaps the 
sixth grade teacher is skilful and especially competent in arousing interest. 
Let it be written down. 

You will note that I am not at this time suggesting that the principal do 
anything about the dirt and the good and bad teaching. I am making a plea 
for a careful and well-ordered plan of observation and record. It is not 
safe to act when one becomes a principal until one has gained a general 
picture of the whole situation. One might attack the janitor when he and 
his untidy ways are the least of one’s troubles. One might start out to 
improve the poor fourth grade teacher when later examination would show 
that he is equal to the average. 

The first thing that a new principal ought to do is to make a record of 
twenty conspicuous points about the school. This may or may not include 
the office rug. 

After one has made a preliminary survey, the next step is a systematic 
attack on one’s problems. I remember some years ago when I went to my 
superior officer in a state of despondency and rebellion he said to me, very 
wisely I am sure, “ These difficulties ought not to discourage us; let us find 
a plan for dealing with them.” 

A record such as I have suggested puts the school in its perspective and 
gives the principal something that he can think about deliberately. If I had 
my way about it, I should have every principal in the United State write a 
short report once a month. The report being written, I should now ask 
the writer to seek methods of dealing with the situation. The positive re- 
sources of the school are to be used. That good fifth grade teacher might 
be induced to help some of the new teachers plan their work. The fourth 
grade teacher might be allowed to visit the smoothly running fifth grade. 
The positive resources of the school being reinforced in their influence, the 
principal should go about dealing deliberately with some of the difficulties: 

How the principal deals with difficulties is not always easy to suggest. 
One way and a very good way is to find out how the best principal in your 
neighborhood would do it. If principals would only exchange experiences 
more freely and frequently, we might in due time have a body of literature 
which we now lack on how to be a real principal. In the process of seeking 
consultations one has a right to think of one’s superintendent. If the super- 
intendent is competent in his work, and he sometimes is, he may be re- 
sourceful in telling an inquirer how to deal with a difficulty. A third 
possible source of suggestions is the survey literature. I think it is safe to say 
to school officers that the school surveys which have been published in this 
country constitute the best body of material on school administration to be 
found anywhere. There is a rich body of ingenious suggestions in the sur- 
veys. These documents are easily accessible, very much worth reading, and 
highly stimulating. 

One general suggestion which applies equally to situations which are 
good and situations which are bad is the suggestion that the principal adopt 
systematic plans of work for the whole school, each plan to run for a defi- 











ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 135 








nite period. Let a principal discover by reading the current educational 
journals what movements are common in the educational world and let 
him suggest to his staff that one of these movements, like the introduction 
of silent reading or instruction in citizenship be made a subject of special 
consideration and experimentation for the next two months. Or let the 
staff decide, if that seems to be a more needed reform, that. the school will 
spend the next period in improving the order in the yard and corridors. 
Or let the school make a drive on tardiness. Whatever the plan, let it be a 
matter of record. Let the beginning stage be accurately described and let 
progress be noted from time to time. Also let the devices by which progress 
was secured be recorded. 

The building records and the principal’s observations ought to be the 
property of the school system. I learned a short time ago of a report which 
the retiring principal of a school prepared for his successor. One of the 
most serious defects in the educational organization of American schools is 
the lack of continuity in policy. The system of planning which I am recom- 
mending and of records is nothing more nor less than good organization. 

The by-products of the sort of organization which has been described 
are many and important. Teachers will begin to realize that there are 
school interests as well as classroom interests. They will feel that they 
are part of a system which extends beyond their particular domains and 
reaches into these domains in such a way as to supplement and reinforce 
what they are doing. 

It is only when a principal shows that he knows how to run the school 
as a whole that teachers really have confidence that the principal can give 
valuable advice and criticism to the individual teacher. When the principal 
really becomes interested in the larger problem of organizing the school, 
he will recognize the fact to which reference was made some time ago. 
Different teachers get their results by different methods. The fact is that 
the best teachers differ from one another more than do mediocre teachers. 
As soon as a principal recognizes this fact he will become absorbed in his 
visits to the classrooms in his and other buildings in discovering good 
methods wherever they are to be found. If principals would take a note of 
the best and worst devices that they observe, they would create a body of 
concrete materials on teaching which would be of the highest value. The 
recommendations which a principal makes to teachers after he has studied 
many teachers are much more likely to be really valuable than the recom- 
mendations which result from the principal’s recollections of his own suc- 
cessful methods when he was a teacher. ‘There is nothing more stultifying 
to a school than an insistance on the part of the principal that all teachers 
do as he did. Furthermore, the principal’s attitude in giving advice when 
this advice is an impersonal transmission of what he has observed rather 
than what he has done is very much more likely to attract the interest of 
the recipient of the advice. 

I turn abruptly from the work of the principal inside of the school to 
comment on the possibility and desirability of certain lines of activity which 
extend. to the community. Every community has a character of its own. 








136 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION 





Some of the most useful work which a principal can do is community work. 
All of us know principals who have made themselves centers of community 
reorganization. I recall one high school principal whom I observed on a 
survey who had transformed the life of an industrial section of a great city 
by organizing social life in the out-of-school hours. I remember another 
principal of an elementary school in an Italian section of another city who 
became the advisor of the whole community. I never see such instances 
without recalling a little French village in which the schoolmaster and his 
wife taught the children and he kept the town records and was a magis- 
trate. He was more than a purveyor of arithmetic and reading, he was a 
social organizer. 

I could tell you of other cases, the young principal who induced the 
parents’ association to buy a printing press, the principal who showed the 
children how to beautify the yards, the principal who secured permission 
for the children to use a vacant lot near the school. All of these principals 
saw the school as a community institution. They were not classroom 
minded, they were school minded. 

The principal who does any large part of what I have thus far outlined 
as his duty will be a busy person, but he will not have fulfilled his function 
as the leader of his school until he shows himself to be an aggressive organ- 
izer, looking for new possibilities. “To conduct a school in its present form 
is indeed an achievement, but education is not static and the school must not 
stand, it must go forward. Especially is it true in our times that the school 
must find new materials of instruction and these new materials must be 
incorporated into the program in such a way as to make a harmonious and 
well coordinated system of experience for the pupils. Individual teachers 
can and should contribute items to the new curriculum, but the curriculum 
in its larger aspects can be arranged only by some one who sees the school 
as a whole. Indeed, the complete organization of the curriculum requires 
the intelligent consideration of the relation of the elementary school to the 
high school and to the demands which society will make of pupils when they 
go out of the school. I am not transferring the principal by this suggestion 
to the superintendency. There are certain broad system-wide reforms which 
the superintendent must initiate. But within the system each school must 
maintain its individuality. ‘The concrete illustrative material supplied in one 
environment differs from that supplied in another. The school in a com- 
pactly settled industrial area is very different from the school near a park. 
Each school has special problems and special opportunities. It is the prin- 
cipal’s duty to supervise the use of these local opportunities. The principal 
is the head of his unit within the system. ‘The principal is the general 
officer of the educational unit, the single school. The principal knows, or 
should know intimately the particular community and the needs of its 
pupils. He should be broad enough in his experience and interests to keep 
in contact with the movements which are initiated elsewhere in the system 
to which his school belongs and in all parts of the country. He should 
bring to the individual teachers the suggestions and the partially formu- 
lated new materials which they need to keep their instruction progressively 
alive. 











ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 137 


I dare say that someone who hears the duties of the principal described 
in these general terms will say, ‘“‘ But what of the discipline of the school if 
the principal is not at hand to support the teachers in their demands upon 
pupils and parents? What will happen to the supplies if the principal does 
not attend to them? Who will see that the janitor does his duty? Who will 
prepare the reports of enrolment and attendance? ”’ 

I have three answers to make to this kind of inquiry. First, it is my 
experience that organization results in economy of effort. Discipline is 
reduced to a minimum in a progressive school and orders for supplies are 
rendered easier where there is definiteness in the school’s plans. Second, 
it is my belief that the American people are willing to support good organi- 
zation of public utilities if they are convinced that the people in charge of 
these utilities know how to do their work. I feel sure that the American 
people can be led to understand the kind of school organization we have 
been discussing if true leadership is exhibited to them. They will supply 
assistance for overhead if they see overhead really at work in its place and 
not dissipating itself in working at trivialities. ‘The third answer goes some- 
what further. Let us suppose that something has to be neglected among 
the multitude of possible performances which the principal might take up. 
Which activity shall the principal curtail? The present tendency seems to 
be to do a great many petty tasks. Referring again to the article in the Ohio 
report, we find that principals in first-class city systems devote 19 percent 
of their time to clerical duties, 30 percent to administrative and organizing 
duties, 13 percent to teaching, 27 percent to classroom supervision and 
II percent to miscellaneous duties. Perhaps my suggestions could all be 
met within the 30 percent of time devoted to administrative and organizing 
duties. If not, I have no hesitation in advocating a reduction of clerical 
activities from 19 percent to not more than 10 and the reduction of teaching 
and classroom supervision to the point where the 30 percent administration 
can be made to aggregate at least 50 percent. In short, I advocate the per- 
formance of some of the general duties even if that means an abandonment 
of some of the traditional activities. I am sure that a readjustment along 
these lines is justifiable and is necessary if the principalship is to reach the 
full limit of its possibilities. 


REFORMING THE PRINCIPALSHIP 


James F. Hosic 
Professor of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City 


NATION-WIDE movement for the improvement of the status of 

elementary school principals is now well under way. The founders 
of the Department of Elementary School Principals of the National Edu- 
cation Association have every reason to be gratified at the progress which 
the past five years have seen. To make the principalship what it ought to be 
is today generally recognized as a major objective of education. No more 
significant development in education has taken place in our time. 








138 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





The final outcome will depend upon the ideals which dominate the move- 
inent and its relations to educational development as a whole. “The purpose 
of this brief paper is to call attention to certain basic tendencies likely to 
have an important bearing on the training of principals for their important 
work, 

The newer elementary school is slowly coming into being. No one can 
prophesy what precisely it will be like. It will be the resultant of numerous 
forces now at work. The Dalton and Winnetka plans will be seen to have 
influenced it. The platoon type of organization will have left its mark. 
Classification according to ability, reform of the curriculum, newer con- 
ceptions of method, specialization of teachers, adaptation to community 
needs, and many other ideas now working will be reflected. A composite 
picture of typical elementary schools in the more progressive cities comes 
nearest to suggesting what the fashion in elementary schools is coming to be. 

The observer is struck, first of all, by the fact that these schools are grow- 
ing larger. Figures are not available to show just what the facts are in this 
respect, but there is no doubt that schools of four or six teachers are rela- 
tively fewer than they were. One large city in the middle west has a dozen 
fewer schools than it had five years ago. A city in the west has recently 
adopted the rule that all new buildings must house approximately a thou- 
sand or more. Economy in the use of the plant and equipment and flexi- 
bility of program are said to be more easily obtained with this number than 
with fewer pupils. 

Large schools tend to be more nearly self-sufficient. Expense that would 
be prohibitive in a small school is distributed over many expenses in a large 
one and overhead is not beyond reason. Hence in the large school you are 
likely to find clerical service, organized office routine, the school nurse, one or 
more assistant principals, perhaps a visiting teacher, a psychologist—at least 
on part time—teachers of opportunity rooms, physical directors, auditorium 
teachers, shop teachers, and other specialists. Such a school gets on with a 
minimum of service from itinerants. Its workers have the advantage of 
being on the inside. “They are members of the family and likely to be in 
the closest possible touch with the principal, who can coordinate their efforts 
as he rarely does when he must place large dependence upon outsiders. In 
such a situation a principal has an opportunity to make of his school a real 
going Concern. 

More and more the principal is being held responsible for the success or 
failure of his school. He manages its business and supervises the activities 
of the teachers and pupils. He rallies the community to the support of the 
school and he is responsible for the use and care of the plant. Supervisors 
no longer assume to direct important phases of the work, perhaps without 
contact with him, but become instead expert consultants and cooperators. 
No longer compelled to undertake room-to-room visitation in order to de- 
velop teaching method, the supervisor tends to become rather the subject 
specialist, whose efforts are joined with those of the principals under the 
guidance of the head supervisor or director. Such a supervisor will be on 
call to assist the new or weak teacher. He will be on the watch also to 











ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 139 





discover teaching that is distinctively good in order that he may pass the 
inspiration of it on to other teachers, being scrupulously careful to honor the 
source and give credit to whom credit is due. 

Into such a program the principal must be capable of fitting. He must 
be able to lead his teachers in carrying out the educational policies of the 
system. He must be responsive to the newer ideals promulgated by the 
supervisors. He must have a rare sense of values and a remarkable degree 
of versatility. And he must know how to determine quickly what the next 
step is in the forward progress of development of each teacher. 

His task is rendered at once more grateful and more complicated by the 
current practice of recognizing and providing for individual differences. 
There is, first, the necessity of finding out all that can be learned about each 
child. To observation must be added testing, consultations with parents, 
testimonies of teachers, and studies of records previously made. Not all of 
this can be first-hand, but all of it will be directed by the principal and the 
results will be digested and used by him. He will organize classes to fit 
the needs; he will study with the teachers the problem of adapting the 
courses of study to the various classes; and he will seek to establish methods 
of teaching which, from first to last, keep the individual in sight and give 
him the opportunities which he in particular needs and can profit by. 

Such methods are vastly more common than they were a generation ago. 
Children have far more leeway now than formerly. To the fixed assign- 
ment has been added the volunteer project. Pupils may have a larger hand 
in what is going on if they will. “They may share responsibility for planning 
what is to be done and for the carrying out of plans. They also aid in check- 
ing the results. Many projects, moreover, are essentially individual. The 
pupil moves forward at his own rate and with such degree of proficiency 
as he is capable. 

The principal must clearly grasp both the significance and the limitations 
of these newer methods. Enthusiasm is not enough. Some things are more 
worthwhile than others. ‘Tasks undertaken must sometimes be continued 
in the face of discouragement or even of positive distaste. The pupil must 
learn to ignore discomfort, to cultivate patience, and to follow through. 
Skill to be of use must be brought to reasonably high degrees of perfection, 
and knowledge that is available is organized and instantly recallable. Hence 
in the matter of method the good principal will be a moderate progressive. 
He will not be a faddist; he will not be a stand-patter; he will be always 
openminded, wise in counsel, and a safe guide. 

These among other considerations should be regarded as important fac- 
tors in determining what should be done in the process of reforming the 
principalship. To some extent they will doubtless be covered in the “ job 
analyses” now so rapidly becoming the favorite indoor sport of educators. 
A job analysis, however, almost inevitably stresses the practices that are 
common at the time—the older, established practices. But we must have 
regard not only for what is done but also for what ought to be done. 
Principals should be trained not merely to perpetuate but also to improve 
upon existing practices. 








140 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 








We are faced here with a problem closely analogous to that of the train- 
ing of teachers. Some sort of apprenticeship is commonly demanded of new 
teachers in our large cities. Cadets are assigned to experienced teachers 
for a period of four months or more of practical experience under super- 
vision. Now it frequently happens that the young teacher, so far from 
being shown how to realize the ideals of good teaching which he has begun 
to build up in the training school, is really disillusioned, made to feel that 
old-fashioned ways are best or at least all that are possible, and hence is 
rendered positively reactionary. 

Something like that may easily happen in the training of principals. A 
successful teacher may have opportunity merely to learn how the work of 
the ordinary school is conducted. He may begin as principal of a small school 
and advance from time to time to larger responsibilities without ever having 
had a proper experience of studying the workings of a large, modern school. 
All who are concerned with the reforming of the principalship must try, 
first of all, to compass the whole, of which this single movement is only a 
part. They must seek to picture the school of the near future, the school 
that is about to be. It is for this school, not the school already obsolescent, 
that principals should be prepared. 


LEADERSHIP IN THE PRINCIPALSHIP 


FRANK W. WRIGHT 
Director, Division of Elementary and Secondary Education and Normal Schools, 
Department of Education, Massachusetts 


OUR BASIC ELEMENTS in a system of free public schools are 

wise and progressive legislation, adequate finance, an informed public, 
and trained administrators, supervisors and teachers. So fundamental is 
each of these elements, that they may well be looked upon as coordinate 
and mutually interdependent. To one aspect of the last of these, trained 
supervision through the elementary school principal, we are devoting our 
attention in this section of our national conference. 

No more interesting and significant development can be found in Ameri- 
can education than the growth of the idea that expert leadership is essential 
to efficient public schools. The term, superintending school committee, writ- 
ten into the early law of some of our New England states—indeed still 
found in one of them—show’s clearly the idea that lay supervision of schools 
was once deemed adequate. We still find remnants of this practice in occa- 
sional, though not frequent, misguided efforts of individual members of 
boards of education. For the most part, however, the belief has been firmly 
established that direct professional responsibility for the conduct of schools 
must exist in a trained executive, the superintendent of schools, and, through 
him, in his staff of principals and supervisors. 

While the secondary school principalship, or headmastership, had _pre- 
viously existed, with administrative duties somewhat vaguely defined, the 
plan of choosing trained executives to carry on the supervision of schools 








ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


141 








began to take definite form with the creation of the office of superintendent 
of schools in the decade 1830-1840. The rapid growth of the idea, and the 
rapid increase both in numbers enrolled in the public schools and in courses 
offered, made necessary the further selection of principals and of specialists 
in subject-matter to organize and evaluate the work of the administrative 
units in the school system. 

No one now questions the need for superintendents, principals, and super- 
visors. The problem today is the seeking out and training of persons ade- 
quate to the tremendous responsibilities involved. The question in this 
paper is not: Why an elementary school principal? but rather: How can 
the elementary school principalship be brought to the position of leadership 
that it so richly deserves and that the most efficient elementary education 
demands? 

It would appear that the office of secondary school principal has become 
more firmly established in the public mind than has that of the elementary 
school principal. The reasons for this situation will probably in part be 
found in the earlier development of the secondary school, and in part within 
the elementary school principalship itself. There has doubtless been under- 
estimation of the elementary school principalship both within professional 
ranks and on the part of the public. 

In a recent survey by Assistant Superintendent, Worth McClure, of 
Seattle, it was found that in but 11 of 46 cities of 100,000 population or 
over, was any attempt being made to evaluate the services of the elementary 
school principal. ‘There may have been a disposition on the part of elemen- 
tary school principals to develop an inferiority complex, or a feeling of 
satisfaction with, or at least a toleration of, the status quo. Happily, ele- 
mentary school principals are becoming professionally conscious. They are 
coming to appreciate the full measure of their responsibility for the success- 
ful administration of elementary education. 

Numerically, the elementary school principalship greatly exceeds the other 
recognized administrative groups. Approximately 6600 persons serve in the 
capacity of superintendents of public schools in this country; 19,000 hold 
the office of secondary school principal; while your ranks include at least 
50,000 persons. It is apparent, from these totals, that opportunity for service 
is measured only by your vision and your devotion to all that is finest and 
best in public education. The rapid growth of your association, since its 
formation in Atlantic City five years ago, and the corresponding growth 
in the public and professional recognition given your association, are evi- 
dence that there is need for the service you can render in an organized 
capacity. 

At least five states have associations similar to this organized on state 
lines, and steps are under way to form associations in others. Stimulated 
by these national and state associations, and by an awakened professional 
interest both within and without your ranks, there is being developed in 
the field of elementary school administration a literature that has been con- 
spicuous on account of its absence when one considers the importance of 
this portion of the school system, which, under the mandate of compulsory 








142 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





attendance laws, is charged with the training of practically all the children 
of the nation. 

In his admirable book, The Principal and His School, Cubberley has well 
set forth both the place and importance of the elementary school principal- 
ship, as follows: 


Upon the educational insight, largeness of vision, good nature, ability in adminis- 
tration, discretion, tact, personal loyalty, and frankness in discussion of the prin- 
cipals of a school system the success or failure of the policies evolved for the 
conduct of a school system in large part depends. The principal should feel that 
he represents the administration before the teachers, before the pupils, and before 
the parents. 

To be frank enough to discuss plans freely with the superintendent when asked; 
to be discreet enough not to talk outside when matters are still under discussion; 
to be able to maintain confidences granted; to be willing, wholeheartedly to try to 
put plans into operation, even though they differ from what we might have wished; 
to have responsibility without shirking; and, at times, to put our back to the wall 
and stand solidly for the system, calls for personal qualities that always command 
a good market price because they are not overabundant in the world. 

With these somewhat general remarks concerning the elementary school 
principalship, let us now turn to a consideration of some of the elements 
that enter into the further development of the leadership inherent in the 
position. Let us consider some of the changes without which the elementary 
school principalship cannot emerge from the relative obscurity that has too 
long been its lot. 

It may seem commonplace to voice the opinion that the first adjustment 
should be a release of the elementary school principal from much of the 
routine of petty duties that take the form of “ seat work,” and dissipate 
both his time and his energy. An analysis of the printed rules and regula- 
tions of boards of education will reveal the all too prevalent notion that the 
duties of the elementary school principal are largely clerical and disciplinary. 

A study by Boggs of the printed regulations of boards of education of 
30 selected cities showed 101 rules dealing with clerical work for the 
elementary school principal; 171 dealing with building and equipment ; and 
72 relating to discipline. In these same printed regulations were found but 
52 specific statements concerning the supervisory duties of the elementary 
school principal, together with nine references to his teaching duties. We find 
here no indication that the principal has any responsibility for the course of 
study, yet who would deny that this is one of the most vital problems now 
confronting him in the organization and administration of his school. 

Would it not be feasible, through a committee of this association, or 
otherwise, to study the problem of a proper distribution of the time of the 
elementary school principal, in building units of varying size, and among 
such generally accepted duties as administration, supervision, instruction, 
pupil contacts, office hours for patrons, and necessary routine matters. It is 
encouraging to learn of steps already taken by your association in the 
direction of which we might call, in the parlance of the day, “ job analysis,” 
but much remains to be done. Unless, and until, elementary school princi- 
pals have more definitely formulated convictions on this subject themselves 
it is not to be hoped that rules and regulations will reflect a much needed 


change. 





e 


ell 
al- 


in- 
he 
lat 
re 








ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 143 








Educational leadership cannot be developed or found in the principal 
voluntarily, or otherwise, in leash to a routine of petty office and custodial 
duties, which are often better performed by an efficient clerk, a committee 
of teachers or pupils, or an efficient janitor. False emphasis on the routine 
of administration and organization often mean, for the principal, neglected 
supervision of teaching. 

Beyond question, the most important duty of the elementary school prin- 
cipal is the leadership of his teachers in the fundamental task of the schools, 
good teaching. Schools succeed or fail in terms of the quality of instruction 
given in the classrooms. No amount of well-kept office records and highly 
eficient building organization will compensate for the neglected leadership 
of teachers. That principal of a school enroling more than 600 pupils who 
found, when budgeting his time, that he was giving but four hours a week 
to the actual supervision of instruction, made a discovery that should lead 
to an immediate change of emphasis. 

Suggestive in this connection is a plan for appraising the principals’ service, 
worked out by Superintendent McAndrew, of Chicago, and reported in 
the American School Board Journal of last month. On a total point score 
of 100, a maximum of 10 points is assigned to professional standing; 30 
points to administration; 45 to supervision; and 15 to leadership. 

Under the head of supervision we find the following nine factors that 
enter into the total score of 45: 

a. Evidence of beneficial influence on the methods of teaching 

b. Evidence of effective instruction secured by the principal 

c. Success in giving model lessons 

d. Success in increasing the number of pupils brought to the ability requisite for 
promotion to higher grades 

e. Success in testing and improving work 

f. Efficiency in judging teachers 

g. Efficiency in training teachers 

h. Efficiency in interesting teachers in educational problems 

i. Efficiency in realizing educational aims 

The three elements that make a total score of 15 in leadership are like- 
wise significant: 

a. Spirit, initiative, and cooperation of teachers 

b. Securing in pupils correct standards of citizenship 

c. Tact and courtesy in dealing with pupils, parents, and teachers 

The ten points allowed for professional standing are based upon a single 
test; namely, professional standing and growth as shown by the use of the 
best methods in the management of the school. A plan somewhat similar 
to the foregoing is now in use in Seattle. 

A second important factor in the development of leadership in the ele- 
mentary school principalship is the creation of more definite standards for 
pre-service and in-service training, and the development of courses by which 
these standards may be achieved. Pre-service preparation can best be carried 
on in our normal schools and teachers colleges, and in schools of education, 
as a part of the regular offering for degrees. In-service training can be car- 
ried on through summer session study, Saturday or late afternoon courses, 





144 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION 





and extension service. he opportunities for definite preparation for an 
elementary school principalship through either pre-service or in-service 
training now fall short of the growing demand. But, as is usually the case, 
when the demand becomes both great enough and insistent enough, the 
facilities will be provided. 

The findings of a recent survey of the elementary school principalship 
in Ohio by Connors and Morrison, published in the Educational Research 
Bulletin of Ohio State University for November, 1925, are illuminating in 
this connection. For men, the educational preparation of elementary school 
principals was found to be 7.3 years beyond the elementary school, as com- 
pared with 5.9 for women. For men the scholastic preparation was .7 of a 
year less than the standard four-year college course, and for women, .1 of 
a year less than the minimum two-year normal school course. Fifty-six 
percent of the men and sixty percent of the women have attended normal 
school. Sixty-one percent of the men and thirty-two percent of the women 
have done college work; and twenty-four percent of the men and eight per- 
cent of the women have baccalaureate degrees. Ten percent of the men and 
one percent of the women have master’s degrees. No principal reported 
the doctorate degree. It is reasonable to suppose that this is a fairly typical 
situation. It suggests a need for higher and more definite standards. 

Believing that there was a need for specific training for the elementary 
school principalship, the department of education in Massachusetts estab- 
lished such a course last year in the summer session of one of the state nor- 
mal schools. Under the able instruction of your president, the course made 
an immediate appeal, and is to be continued. 

This course is designed to give a working knowledge of the best thought 
and practice in the field of the elementary school principalship. “‘Chrough 
assigned reading and reports, the literature of the course was made available 
to all. Such typical problems as the following were made the basis of class 
discussion: ‘The changing conception of a sound public policy toward edu- 
cation; the evolution and present status of the elementary school principal- 
ship; the organization and administration of an elementary school through 
health and sanitary control, discipline and school spirit, supervision of in- 
struction, teacher training, extra-curricula activities; the principal as a pro- 
fessional leader ; and the principal as a community leader. 

The time has come when the elementary school principalship should 
be looked upon as a career, with definite preparation and experience pre- 
requisite to its being entered upon. Whether a minimum of five years’ teach- 
ing experience with a baccalaureate degree or the equivalent is too ambi- 
tious a standard, I leave with you for discussion. With standards for ele- 
mentary school teachers in progressive communities now on a minimum level 
of two years of professional training beyond the secondary school, certain it 
is that the standards of preparation for the principalship must be materially 
above that level. 

The current yearbook of the Department of Superintendence, ‘‘ The 
Nation at Work on the Public School Curriculum” and the recent re- 
search bulletin of the National Education Association, ‘“ Keeping Pace 








cal 


ry 








ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 145 





with the Advancing Curriculum,” suggest a third opportunity for leader- 
ship for the elementary school principal. It seems clear that the next five 
years will be years largely given over to a revaluation of the educational 
offerings of the elementary and junior high schools. We may reasonably 
expect your ranks to furnish important contributions to this undertaking. 
Any reorganization of elementary education must draw upon your resources. 
We need, in the beginning, some definite statement of principles; some 
formulation of objectives for elementary education like unto the cardinal 
principles of secondary education, now so widely recognized. A study of 
the principles underlying the making of the new curriculum for the elemen- 
tary schools might well invite the attention of your association. 

Three decades ago the belief was prevalent that it made little or no differ- 
ence what pupils studied, or how the school cared for the larger life of the 
individual, so long as something was seriously studied. The personality of 
the teacher, coupled with vigorous drill in abstract materials, was supposed 
to make a combination that was capable of meeting curriculum needs. ‘Today, 
increasing knowledge of the nature of the child to be educated, widely 
organized facilities for curriculum study, and a growing appreciation of the 
larger purposes of democratic education call for constructive leadership in 
curriculum revision on every level of administrative responsibility. 

In this connection it is interesting to note that a commission on length of 
elementary education, organized under the Educational Research Commit- 
tee of the Commonwealth Fund, has recently begun its work under the 
leadership of Dr. Judd. Important and timely results for elementary edu- 
cation are confidently expected. 

A fourth important element in the leadership of the elementary school 
principal is his philosophy of education, his outlook upon his task. Among 
people in general, among educators, indeed, among elementary school prin- 
cipals, we discover four or five types who may be classified with some degree 
of accuracy. 

We have, first, the silly optimist who is at all times so completely in tune 
with the pedagogical infinite that he cannot appreciate the needed practical 
adjustments that will keep his school modern and efficient. To him, what- 
ever is, is right. 

Most of us have seen the pessimist, who, if confronted with the choice of 
two evils, would choose both. Young life, seeking for adjustment in our 
schools, should not be under the stultifying influence of such leadership. 

The ultra-conservative is not uncommon in educational ranks, and now 
and then we find him in the principalship of an elementary school. He it is 
who believes that nothing should ever be tried for the first time. You have 
met him and you know his blighting influence upon the spirit and progress 
of his school. 

We come now to the radical, not uncommon in these days of quick ad- 
justment. He believes that nothing should ever be tried except for the first 
time. He is always interesting, but will bear watching. 

Enduring leadership of the best kind cannot be found in any of the four 
types named. Real leadership rests with the principal with the forward 





146 NATIONAL EpucCATION ASSOCIATION 








look, the open—but not drafty—mind; the principal who is willing to 
evaluate all things that promise advancement, but who holds fast only to 
those things that are good. 

If the elementary school principalship is to attract and hold persons 
capable of furnishing the leadership desired, there must be, in the fifth 
place, a frank recognition on the part of the public and responsible admin- 
istrative authorities that standards of remuneration must be elevated. Prepa- 
ration for service and growth in service should be stimulated by a salary 
schedule that sets up minimum standards of preparation and experience and 
which gives adequate compensation to those who meet these standards. 
There should be further consideration for those who surpass the standards 
set up. 

A sixth basic element in trained leadership is to be found in the com- 
munity relationships of the elementary school principal. Coming as he does, 
or should, into the most intimate contact with the interests and activities of 
his pupils, he is inevitably projected into the homes and the community that 
his school serves. Whether he will or no, the personal relationships of the 
principal color the thought and action of his constituency. His horizon 
must, therefore, be wider than the four walls of his building or the boun- 
daries of the school grounds or district. His supervision must be filled 
with a vision of the larger service his school can render. The elementary 
school principal should interpret to his community the plans and policies 
of the school system. To him the patrons turn for advice and counsel affect- 
ing the welfare of their children. The educational interest of a community 
does not, as a rule, rise above the standards set by the principal. 

Lastly, the best leadership of the principal is found in real leadership for 
his pupils. In character, scholarship, and personality, worthy of emulation, 
the principal will find his greatest reward in exemplifying to his pupils all 
that is best in life and in guiding the thought and actions of the hundreds 
of youths who rightly look to him for guidance. Kindly, sympathetic, yet 
firm when firmness is needed, a wise counsellor to young life at all times, 
the elementary school principal can establish a loyalty to school, to com- 
munity, to state and nation that will make for the splendid citizenship for 
the production of which our schools are maintained. 

Millions of American youth are from six to eight years under the daily 
influence of the 50,000 principals here represented. You are the only re- 
sponsible school executive officer who will come into intimate contact with 
hundreds of thousands of our youth whose school days end with the com- 
pletion of the work of the elementary grades. ‘To all, right attitudes, 
higher aspirations, and nobler ideals should be your contribution. In the 
years to come, these youth will rise and call you blessed. 

Whoso saves a child from the fingers of evil sits in the seat with the builders 
of cities and procurers of peace. 








ns 


rs 








COST SHEETS AND QUANTITY PRODUCTION IN 
EDUCATION 
WarreEN A. ROE 
Belmont Avenue School, Newark, New Jersey 


N THE CLOSING days of Woodrow Wilson’s rule as governor of 

New Jersey, when the repeal of the corporation acts known as the 
“ Seven Sisters ” was being urged by the governor against strong opposition, 
I observed an active Republican worker from my city, walking excitedly up 
and down the railway station at Trenton, talking to himself and gesticulat- 
ing vehemently. Becoming anxious about his condition, I inquired what was 
wrong. Turning fiercely upon me, he barked out, “‘ Just came from hearing 
Wilson talk about the Seven Sisters Act. Greatest speech I ever heard. 
Don’t agree with a word of it! Greatest speech I ever heard. Don’t agree 
with a word of it!” and he resumed his pacing. 

I fear that without the adjectives, his failure to agree will be the attitude 
of some with what I have to offer today. But an old friend of mine com- 
ments feelingly at times “ That a heretic is often a real aid to religion,” and 
perhaps in that capacity we may serve to stimulate thought and discussion. 

Rabbi Browne of the Newark Free Synagogue recently quoted Shaw with 
this addition, “‘ He who can does, he who cannot teaches, he who cannot 
teach preaches.” Adding feeling that the preachers now labored under a 
serious disability. Being broadcast-over the radio they had to prepare 
their sermons which was a nuisance. 

The accuracy of information of the average school man concerning costs 
and production is not unlike that of an estimable seamstress who was dis- 
cussing with her employer the debatable subject of secret societies and 
organizations. “‘ Well,” said she, “‘ maybe most of them are not so bad but 
those Hebrew societies you read so much about ought to be suppressed.” 
Somewhat confused her mistress inquired which she meant by Hebrew 
societies. “ Why,” said the seamstress, “‘ you know them, the S. A. R. and 
D. A. R. the Sons and Daughters of Abraham and Rebekah.” 

Some years ago at an Indianapolis meeting of the National Education 
Association, a daring high school leader ventured to challenge the usual 
complacent school attitude that scholarship, standards, etc., were the only 
correct criteria of an educational system and that places upon the honor 
roll in high school for elementary pupils and similar places upon college 
ratings for high school graduates were the best indices of the success of the 
institutions which trained these pupils. Particularly in the junior high 
school levels, there recently has been arising a persistent query concerning 
the vast numbers of pupils discarded in our school systems and a demand 
to be shown that the system which by discarding the most of its problems, 
eliminating the largest number of difficulties and holding such as remained 
of its pupils for the longest possible time, really did achieve the great suc- 
cess claimed. 


[147] 








148 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION 





This audience knows that the school in the community which has the 
fewest graduates at the oldest average age secures the highest average test 
marks and such pupils as enter maintain themselves best in high school. 
Hardly a research bureau in the country but that would approve such a 
school as the best in its community. What a perversion of common sense! 
What an outrage against the whole community which supports by its taxes 
such an institution! Let us state it in a definition, “ “That school which 
destroys most of its material, prevents the largest number of children from 
receiving adequate training, which is most expensive to operate and pro- 
duces the smallest possible product is the best for its community.” Who 
wishes to take the affirmative upon that topic? Yet that is very nearly our 
approved country-wide practice. 

Let us set up other criteria. How many pupils completed an elementary 
course above the minimum standard of essentials set up by its community? 
Did the school of 1000 pupils with 40 graduates annually who received term 
ratings of 85 percent surpass the school of 1000 pupils with 60 graduates 
annually with term rating of 80 percent? 

Quality, quantity! Quality, quantity! Scholarship, lowered standards! 
How instinctively we hunt the shelter of the indefinite. How much easier 
to talk about standards than to meet the bitter and just demand of the 
taxpayer. “ You are our biggest and most costly local business affecting 
nearly every home. What did you produce in your operations and how 
much did you produce successfully from the valuable human material we 
intrusted to you?” 

Let us take an illustration. Two factories side by side! How schoolmen 
do reject the factory idea! However these two factories are the same size, 
work the same time, use similar machinery, use wool to produce stockings. 
Factory A from a bale uses the long wool producing 1000 pair XXX 
highest grade stockings and, using part of the remaining wool to produce 
500 pair grade XX stockings, throws the rest of the wool out behind the 
factory where a large quantity rots, creating a public nuisance with its 
odor and appearance. 

Factory B from a bale also produces 1000 XXX and 500 XX 
stockings but by careful combing and perhaps greater efficiency produces 
500 pair X stockings not so highly priced but thoroughly serviceable. Factory 
B can sell all of its product slightly less than A. Besides having no refuse, 
it requires no dump and creates no nuisance. 

But the manager of Factory A goes to the factory managers’ convention 
and states that he only produces high class stockings in his plant. Note, he 
ignores the dump and nuisance! 

Factory B manager attends also. In his address he admits a production 
of considerable low quality stockings but concedes that he considers that 
better than creating a public nuisance. 

Which type of educational factory are you operating? 

How many principals or superintendents can from their records of dis- 
ciplinary cases, show analysis or diagnosis that justifies the means they 








ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 149 





are now using to handle such cases. If no such production sheets exist, why 
are they lacking ? 

How many educators analyze the problem cases at the lower grade points 
and apply corrective analysis or administration at those points? If not, 
why is it not done? Is there a factory anywhere that does not inspect for 
defective parts? Can you conceive of any production engineer permitting 
faulty parts in completed products willingly ? P 

A most striking situation in present school administration is the accumu- 
lation of statistics that are worthless when assembled and used only to fill 
dust-covered reports. Why shouldn’t the manager of a million dollar 
school plant have his weekly or monthly cost and production sheets before 
him to know exactly what is occurring in his plant? 

Suppose your community now spends from 2 to 10 million dollars annu- 
ally. What part of this is for advanced education and what part for re- 
education of failure? Suppose you spend 8 million. If your promotion rate 
is 80 percent you then spent 6.4 million for education and 1.6 million for 
re-education. Have you any idea as to what grades absorbed this re- 
education cost and why? Into what part of your system does most of the 
community’s money go? Can you justify it? What phase of your adminis- 
tration is growing fastest in importance? Is this tendency a correct one? 
Have you the facts? 

Up to approximately 1900, most school systems had one annual promo- 
tion. The fifth grade or below was the country-wide educational level. 
About 1900, the half-year term became an administrative device. The 
country-wide level rose to the sixth grade. Why? What happened? You 
had doubled your potential promotion times. The child who failed pre- 
viously lost a year, now he loses only a half year. You had cut your com- 
munity cost of re-education in half and cut the penalty to the pupil in half. 
Most of our schools are still at this level. Here and there a few pioneers 
are seeing the point and proposals to cut grade years into thirds, quarters, 
even fifths are beginning to appear. A cut to thirds will raise the educational 
level and save money for the community that does it. Probably, so will 
the quarter and the fifth although there is some point, not yet determined, 
where the increased educational product at decreased re-education cost will 
stop. You ask can it be done? It has been done. My mind reverts to two 
schools of equivalent size, population, and cost. One used a short term 
over a period of years and produced 147 graduates annually to every 100 
its next door neighbor produced under the long term with corrective sum- 
mer school added to the latter. 

More problems are in the short term than in the long term administra- 
tively. They are not insurmountable. Which of you prefers ease to achieve- 
ment? The more frequently we take account of our stock the fewer misfits 
will we have. Upon what do you now promote pupils? Save in a very 
few advanced schools, it is now done upon teacher judgment of pupil ac- 
complishment. How often should a teacher apply such judgments, one, 
two, three, four, five times a year? Is a maladjusted pupil benefited by 








150 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION 





persistence of mal-adjustment? Are his classmates benefited? If not, why 
defer adjustment months each time? 

Which brings us squarely against the reef of teacher judgment. In 
studying promotion in various communities, a remarkable fact appeared. 
The promotion range varied from 65 to 95 percent annually in different 
cities. Each city or town appeared to adhere very closely to its peculiar level 
year after year. ‘That is an extraordinary fact when you think it through. 
The natural question then arose do individual schools show similar charac- 
teristics? An examination of several large systems developed at once that 
what was true of systems was equally true of units within the same system. 
The next question then became, do the original sources, the teacher ratings 
by classes show the same characteristics ? 

Note this carefully, the records of some fifty teachers for a two-year 
period in a given school were analyzed. It became evident plainly that the 
class or grade the teacher taught, the kind or quality of pupil material made 
no difference, the length of time the pupils remained with the teacher had 
little or no effect. Each of those fifty teachers had his or her own promo- 
tion level complex. The range was from 69 to 91 percent but the teacher 
at 69 percent held that point steadily while the teacher at 91 percent held 
equally steadily to that level. Picture the effect upon pupil progress and 
community re-education cost if a pupil hit a succession of 69 percent pro- 
motion teachers and the reverse picture if he found a succession of 91 percent. 

In some remarkable way, the individual teacher has a standard of promo- 
tion, probably unconsciously held, to which he adjusts all the facts and fac- 
tors of his pupils. School units have the same forced adaptation and school 
systems have it, strikingly. Apparently, nothing matters except the indi- 
vidual, school unit, and school system complex as to what promotion num- 
bers should be. Isn’t that a terrific indictment of our pseudo-pretentions to 
scientific progress? How could such situations persist if we had proper 
analysis, with proper production and cost sheets ? 

Let us turn for a moment to the individual pupil. He, if the course of 
study is a proper one and taught adequately and if his abilities are utilized, 
has a right to expect success in terms of progress. “The community has a 
right to expect a successful product for which it pays. In the case of the 
community with a 70 percent promotion rate, this right is grossly violated. 
Take the individual in the classroom of the teacher with the 69 percent 
promotion complex, the pupil has a little better than two chances in three 
to secure his reward while if he meets the 91 percent teacher complex his 
chances are nine out of ten. It is safe to predict that both the 69 percent 
promotion teacher and the 70 percent promotion community hide safely be- 
hind the flimsy protection of “ high standards.” ‘They are somewhat like 
the rabbit in the weeds of the open field, safe until the hunter kicks him out 
into the open. There is a shrewd suspicion that mounting tax rates will 
kick out a lot of educational rabbits in the near future. 

Let us turn for a moment to certain tendencies that are apparent now. 
The increasing knowledge of individual differences, capabilities, rates of 
progress, etc., is steadily undermining the class unit of instruction that 











ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 151 





Horace Mann helped to impose upon us. Attempts at classification in 
groups, one, two, three groupings, etc., are being tried. Many of them are 
inherently vicious, stultifying our democracy with caste ideals, placing un- 
deserved and outrageous stigma upon pupils and in some cases setting up an 
obstacle to progress by an a priori judgment that foreordains a child unfor- 
tunate enough to meet it with potential progress not beyond fifth or sixth 
grade levels. Coupled with these are an interesting misuse and fear of the 
term acceleration. 

The progressive principal and superintendent is faced with the fact that 
the lock-step class unit is doomed. He no longer can justify it to himself 
but he must use classrooms in multiple units of increasing size and costs. 
He wants adaptation to the individual but he must use the plant to capacity. 
He further knows that his best pupils are marking time, his average suffer- 
ing with the others from the many factors that adversely affect progress 
while his slow pupils accumulate in groups that are the despair of his 
teachers and the anchor drag upon his system. He would open wider the 
door of progress, acceleration in its correct sense, if he could for all. Right 
here is where the short term unit offers him considerable salvation. For 
the able it means continuous progress at capability rate. For the average 
it means a decreased penalty for quarantine, illness, removal, etc., while 
for the slow it means doubled or tripled or quadrupled opportunity to 
achieve. Under our present system the lower caliber pupils repeat irregu- 
larly not continuously. For all it means frequent inspection and classifica- 
tion. To the pupil the short term offers a definite goal within reasonable 
view. The sense of achievement is a most vital inspiration to further achieve- 
ment. Do not our present long terms neglect this? 

State the proposition in financial terms. A yearly cost per pupil is $100. 
lf a pupil fails the cost is repeated so the cost is $200 for the grade. Under 
half-yearly promotions the cost would be $150 including a term repetition. 
Under the three-term plan $13314, under the four-term $125 and five- 
term $120. What is gained from the financial side is only too apparent. 
In connection with the individual pupil who must redeem failure it becomes 
apparent that since he fails irregularly as previously noted, the number of 
chances for redemption are the same as for failure but his likelihood of suc- 
cess is better than his likelihood of failure and he gains proportionately. 
Please observe that throughout this entire discussion we are not considering 
fecbleminded or congenital illiterates but the great masses of pupils of 
ability but slightly below normal who fare so badly under our present 
systems. 

Certain peculiar educational laws underly this question of raising the 
educational progress level for pupils by the adoption of new administrative 
time units. As the short term operates to increase the number of pupils who 
might move in the time gained by the short term further through the course 
of study, there will occur a fictitious appearance of lowered academic 
standard. Let us put it this way, as conservation of pupils replaces elimi- 
nation in the elementary and high schools, the apparent scholastic level will 
descend to the lower average ability of the larger number being educated. 








152 NATIONAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION 





If you select the ten most able men in a thousand, the average ability of 
the ten is very high, the average ability of a hundred is less, while the aver- 
age of nine hundred would be very low. 

In the exact ratio that you most fully serve all the children of all the 
people will your apparent academic averages reach that average level. Shall 
we sift or serve in the schools of a democracy ? 

A further factor, modifying this fictitious situation, is the increased 
progress of the short term pupil whose ratings at the furthest advanced 
point gained under a short term plan will be lower than those he would 
secure at a lower point of progress in our present lock-step system. Certain 
of our recent junior high school writers point toward this without ap- 
parently daring to state it frankly. It is barely possible that these two laws 
are stated here for the first time in an American educational gathering. 

The adoption of shorter term units will increase plant usage at lowered 
gross costs. Every month that any pupil saves from re-education, and it 
averages close to 20 percent for every pupil in the schools of the nation, 
makes a seat available for some other child for a month. Multiplied by 
thousands, it becomes a tremendous factor in economical city administration. 
More than one city now crying for rooms to house part-time pupils needs 
only education engineering to solve its problem. This saving of some part 
of the present 20 percent cost of re-education extends to every part of any 
system and carries a potent challenge to present time arrangements. I shall 
not go into the summer-time potentialities except to note that they exist 
and are closely allied and supplementary to what has been stated herein. 

Every school in each community has its attendance and promotion records 
for each year. Almost any community can give the total cost of the operation 
annually for each school. In view of this it is extraordinary that so seldom 
does the principal of the school or the superintendent of the city really know 
what effect the administrative policies are having upon the progress of the 
pupils or the effect of such policies upon the costs to the community. It is 
extremely doubtful whether 1 percent of this audience could state now 
what part of its community’s school costs are spent for advanced education 
or for re-education. This study is presented in the hope that cost and pro- 
duction will emerge from obscurity into a reasonable relationship to scholar- 
ship and curricula. 

The school studied had an average enrolment of 1566. The total cost was 
$130,507.94 for the year 1924-25. The promotion reports for the terms 
were combined by grades and then by years of work, from kindergarten to 
eighth year. The salaries of teachers were distributed to the grades each 
taught, and the clerical and supervisory costs as well, operative and main- 
tenance costs were bulked and pro-rated to each grade upon the ratio that 
each bore to the total term units of instruction. Each unit being one pupil 
for one term. 

The combined promotion record gave this pertinent table: 








at 


il 








ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 153 











TABLE I 

Kdg. c | B. | A. | Total 
Re ND oso) co Maan tastes 505 1977 | 1854 1712 | 6048 
Term units promoted........... 150 1579 1575 1471 4775 
Percent term units promoted..... 30% 80% 85% 86% | 
Term units failed.............. | 355 398 279 241 | 1273 
Percent term units failed....... 70% 20% 15% 14% | 





Obviously the kindergarten with its two-year term might be questioned 
from a progress standpoint. Beyond that it is quite clear that the beginning 
terms of the grades are less successful in progress and hence a greater cost 
to the community than the completing terms of the grades. Why should this 
be so? Two reasons are offered. First, all pupils are tested and as weak- 
ness is indicated probably are located in the beginning term. Moreover, a 
course of study presents most of its new phases in the beginning term and 
probably increases the tendency. At any rate it affects progress 6 percent, 
which is too much. More exact classification standards are needed and 
probably an equalized spread of difficulty in the course of study. 

Promotion and costs were arranged upon four different units. 1. A pupil 
term regardless of success. 2. A pupil term unit of promotion. 3. The 
number of pupils completing the A term of each grade. 4. The pupil term 
unit of failure. 


TABLE II 


! 
Promoted 


On promotion Total cost 
l 


nt Promoted o— > Failures per grade 
Kdg. 505 | 150 150 355 $8,881.25 
Ist 770 656 221 114 15,239.70 
2d 923 750 251 173 16,791.75 
3d 811 679 218 132 14,787.75 
4th 852 707 231 145 18,003.00 
sth 783 624 166 159 18,457-75 
6th 558 463 147 95 13,936.50 
7th 484 410 117 74 12,540.00 
8th 362 336 120 26 11,881.50 








154 NaTIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION 
TABLE III 
Pupils on roll | Per term unit cost 
2d 923 | 8th 32.82 
4th 852 7th 25.99 
3d 811 6th 24.97 
sth § = 783 | sth = -23..57 
Ist 770 4th =. 21.13 
6th 558 1st 19.85 
Kdg. 505 3d 18.23 
7th 484 2d 18.19 
8th 362 Kdg. 16.09 
TABLE IV 
Promoted per term unit 
No. | Cost | Percent 
2d 750 Kdg. 58.54 8th 92.8 
4th 707 8th 35.36 Ist 85.2 
3d 679 7th 30.58 7th 84.7 
rst 656 6th 30.10 | 3d 83.7 
5th 624 5th 29.00 6th 82.9 
6th 463 | 4th 25.46 | 4th 82.9 
7th 410 | 1st 23.23 2d 81.2 
8th 336 | 2d 22.38 | sth 79.7 
Kdg. 150 3d 21.78 | Kdg. 30 
ea | | 
TABLE V 
Cost per A. grade completed unit 
No. Cost | Percent 
cine — : a ! 
| 
2d 251 sth =r11.19 8th 30.4 
4th 231 7th 107.06 Kdg. 30 
1st 221 | 8th 99.01 Ist 28.7 
3d 218 | 6th 94.80 2d 27.2 
sth 166 4th 77.93 4th 27.1 
Kdg. 150 | Ist 68.95 3d 26.8 
6th 147 3d 67.83 6th 26.3 
8th 120 2d 66.89 7th 24.2 
7th 117 Kdg. 58.54 | sth 21.2 














ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 155 





TABLE VI 
Cost per grade failure 


No. Cost | Percent 





Kdg. 355 Kdg. 5711.95 | Kdg. 70 

2d 173 5th 3747 .63 | sth 20.3 
sth 159 2d 3146.87 2d 18.8 
4th 145 4th 3063.85 | 4th 17.1 
3d 132 3d 2406 . 36 6th 17.2 
Ist 114 6th 2372.15 | 3d 16.3 
6th 95 1st 2262.90 7th 6.9 
7th 74 7th 1923.26 1st 14.8 
8th 26 | 8th 853.32 8th 9.2 





We will here touch only the high points. The 2d, 4th, 3d and 5th 
grades exceeded the first grade in pupil terms. This shows plainly two 
factors, many pupils are received above the first grade and they repeat con- 
siderably until the 6th grade is reached and elimination begins to become 
effective. It happens that this represents a problem of colored pupils migrat- 
ing from the south. The highest cost per pupil term was $32.82 in the 
eighth grade and $16.09 in the kindergarten. 

The distribution per term unit of promotion was remarkable. Seven hun- 
dred and fifty promotions in 2d grade to 336 in 8th and only 150 from 
kindergarten raises definite questions as to the effectiveness of our present 
types of schools particularly when even these limits exceed in effectiveness 
by nearly 47 percent the average of the country. The cost per promotion 
ranged from $21.78 in the 3d grade upward to $35.36 in the 8th grade 
and $58.54 in the kindergarten. In the percent of promotions the 8th grade 
was highest with 92 percent, Ist grade next with 85 percent, while the 
5th grade was but 79.1 percent and the kindergarten only 30 percent. It is 
not sufficient today to say that all 5th grades are similar. Is the challenge 
of this never to be met by better organization of the course of study, better 
analysis and correction in the lower grades and better concentration of 
teaching ability in the 5th grades? When we know a problem exists, why 
tolerate instead of eradicate? If the 5th grades are our problem point, why 
put better teaching skill in 7th and 8th grades and pay a premium as many 
communities do for thus misplacing it. This particular school happens to 
have exceptional teaching ability in the 1st grade. It shows plainly in the 
record when this grade is surpassed only by the 8th in percent of promotions. 

Those pupils who passed from the top of a grade to the beginning of the 
next grade are the true products of the grade’s work. In this table the 2d 
grade had the largest number, 251, with the 7th grade the lowest with 117. 
The 5th grade cost was $111.19, 7th grade $107.06, 2d grade $66.89 and 
kindergarten $58.54. Here are four outstanding facts, the 5th grade cost 
shows failure to progress at that point, the 7th grade shows high teacher 











156 NATIONAL EpuUCATION ASSOCIATION 





salary applied to small numbers, the 2d grade cost shows low teacher salary 
applied to large numbers while the kindergarten cost shows many pupils 
handled by few teachers without any modifying charges such as manual 
training, etc. The percent table for this grouping accentuates the produc- 
tion factor. The 8th grade with few failures completes 30 percent of those 
in the grade during the year while the 5th grade completes only 21 percent 
of those in that grade during the year. 

This is driven home with force in the table covering failures. Here the 
kindergarten fails to move 355 although since here an age factor is the real 
test this is an unfair way to state it. From a production standpoint, it failed 
to produce, hence its failure cost of $5711.95 with a 70 percent retention of 
pupils is certainly open to question as to whether it is justified in relation 
to the rest of the system. Personally, in view of the high relative cost | 
doubt the wisdom or advisability of two years of training, so largely repeti- 
tion in many aspects. The 2d grade shows 173 failures with 159 in the 5th 
grades and a descending scale to 74 in the 7th and only 26 in the 8th grade. 
Here the cost again follows, production failure $3747.63 in the 5th, 
$3146.87 in the 2d and down to only $853.32 in the 8th grades. Surely 
20 percent failure in 5th and 7 percent in 8th grades is too wide a range 
and should be brought closer together. 

No factory production manager would accept such a situation. He 
would study that problem until the dip in production was eliminated. 
Because it is well-nigh universal in education we tolerate and condone it. 

_ To summarize—Quality of educational product alone is no just standard 
of democratic education. The quantity of pupil material attaining satis- 
factory standards is of equal and possibly greater importance. ‘The short 
term units are a positive aid to quantity production and an economy both 
to pupil and community. Teacher marks based upon opinion will eventually 
be replaced by accurate achievement standards. The lock-step classroom 
system is doomed. 

Flexibility will replace rigidity as educational engineers bring cost and 
production sheets into educational administration. Reduction in re-education 
costs will release funds for direct education and increase school facilities. 

Develop proper production and cost sheets. Divide the grade year into 
the lowest fractional units that are educationally sound and administratively 
possible and educational costs due to failure will be enormously decreased, 
opportunity will be increased, classroom space will be increased through 
better usage and we will attain more nearly to the ideal of education for 
all the children of all the people capable of receiving it in our democracy. 











CURRICULUM STUDIES IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 


Otis W. CALDWELL 


Director of the Lincoln School of Teachers College, Columbia University, 
New York City 


EACHERS ARE very prone to march under slogans. An educa- 

tional leader cries “ apperception,” and we stop, listen, turn and fol- 
low; then the magic word “ motivation” is called from the educational 
rostrum and we say, “ Yes, that is it.” Then a genius clarions “ project 
method,” and we drop our plows and rush to the colors; now “ curriculum 
reorganization ” has been called from the high places and whole school 
systems announce their programs for falling in line; in the distances we 
begin to hear the call creative effort, creative youth, creative adventure. 
Some are already about to change their allegiances. A careful and slow 
study shows all these to be parts of the same slow development of an 
American educational program which with due moderation and clarity will 
continue to grow, though we shall doubtless have new slogans for new 
years to come. 

It seems appropriate to open this discussion with the inquiry as to how 
may we properly improve the program of studies, or the content of studies 
by means of which school work is done. Until quite recently no teacher or 
principal in elementary schools, and very few in secondary schools would 
have dared to propose fundamental changes in the order or in the content of 
subject-matter as it appeared in the common textbooks and courses of study. 
The textbooks and courses of study had been determined by those in author- 
ity, or by specialists who represented the subjects of the curriculum. But, 
in recent years, teachers have improved both in scholarship and in profes- 
sional understanding. This improvement is most encouraging because of 
the direction it is taking rather than by the distance as yet traversed. The 
better teachers recently began to inquire as to the appropriateness of teach- 
ing materials. They asked about the lack of harmony between the ideals 
of modern educational philosophy and what actually occurs in schoolrooms. 
They looked at prefatory statements in textbooks and courses of study, then 
looked in the subsequent contents expecting to find the fulfillment of the 
prefatory promise. Too often the promise was based upon recent philosophy 
or the latest educational catchword, and the subsequent curricular materials 
bore disappointingly close resemblance to things as they had long been be- 
fore. There are even cases on record of subject specialists who realized that 
something was wrong; who had heard that school people had some new ideas 
and new ideals; who wanted to please without compromising, if possible; 
who secured outstanding educators to prepare prefaces and introductions 
with the hope that the buoyant preliminary statements thus bearing well- 
known names and some slight superficial changes would enable the old 
conventional content and method to ride the storm of the new educational 
philosophy. Such treatments of the symptoms did not greatly affect the 
fundamental causes of disturbance, and the disturbance increased. 


[157] 








158 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION 





Those charged with the actual work in schools—the teachers and super- 
visors—began to engage in ventures looking toward changes in school sub- 
jects and methods. It has now become popular to be working on revision 
of courses of study, until we are in danger of an extreme as unproductive 
of real progress as was the old restricted academic procedure. Under the 
old plan we had a kind of unwritten law licensing a small number of self- 
selected highly scholastic operators. The curricular hunting preserves were 
for them only, the open season was at their choosing, they used the choicest 
firearms and most refined scholastic ammunition, and their activities were 
accurate and frequently deadly. But nowadays there is no closed season for 
the curriculum. All may hunt without licenses. There are no accepted 
rules regarding firearms or ammunition. The game hunted may escape 
completely, or be taken, in almost all grades of mutilation. It is a time of 
open attack, one of those times in educational history which almost always 
results in important new organizations. Almost any one who wishes to do 
so, may now work upon the curriculum. It is a time of diligent and earnest 
confusion, but of promise and expectation. Surely this extreme interest and 
remarkable activity in curricular work can be most useful only as they are 
cooperative and well-guided. Unguided action rarely means progress. 

Are there not very necessary results from the old curricula which a re- 
vised curriculum should tontinue to produce?—Does newer educational 
philosophy break squarely with the older philosophy, thus causing older 
curricular materials to be no longer useful? Are new courses of study, new 
subjects of study, and new educational philosophy as well, produced sud- 
denly? Let us see. 

We used to think that school children during grades three and four 
should learn much in computation, reading, spelling, and writing. Some of 
us still believe this. I do. But there are many people nowadays who be- 
lieve that pupils in these grades should engage in purposeful enterprises, 
should be inventive and creative and self-expressive in their work; should 
use the saw and hammer, and paint brush; should write rhymes and prose, 
and make artistic designs; dramatize historical, social, and industrial events; 
do things of meaning and of genuine pleasure to themselves; learn to act 
independently and not fear their elders, though hopefully still respecting 
them; believe in their school; thinking they are really partly responsible 
for their school and finding that they are really allowed partial authority 
and responsibility in school affairs; liking their school, rising up betimes in 
the early morning with anxiety lest they be late and miss some of the day’s 
great adventures. ‘There is a growing number of educators who believe in 
this second group of purposes. I believe in them, also, as I do in computa- 
tion, writing, spelling, and reading. 

These two groups of purposes are not opposed to one another but are 
mutually contributory. “They cannot be mutually contributory, however, 
unless the whole body of material and actions which are included in the 
curriculum are changed from their older forms. Indeed, reading, compu- 
tation, writing, and the rest were not being adequately secured by the old 





———lCUT rl (iC 





ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 159 








curriculum, and the revision to include the second group of purposes, rather 
the revision based upon the second group of purposes, finds one of its justi- 
fications in a more effective, more useful and more lasting learning of the 
so-called fundamentals of the older education. It is not that we have 
dropped the old and taken up the new, either in educational philosophy or 
in the curriculum. The new grows from the old. When education starts 
to go to a new place, it, like the human beings of which and for which it 
consists, starts from where it is. There is no hiatus between now and then, 
or here and there. The old and new are stages of the same educational 
progress. 

An illustration in outline of curriculum adjustment designed to accom- 
plish the outcomes just discussed is presented—Miss Martha Groggel has 
been engaged in an endeavor to reorganize a third grade procedure so that 
the manual or industrial and the artistic interests of the pupils may have 
full opportunity to develop, while at the same time fully caring for all the 
other growths in attainment and personal qualities for which his grade 
assumes responsibility. Some years ago there was selected as a centralizing 
unit for pupils of this grade, the facts of transportation which may be 
observed on the Hudson river. This soon led to a study of boats; boats of 
today; of the recent past; of the ancient past. Then follows observation 
wherever available, reading, design and construction, artistic decoration, 
measurement, weighing, calculation of cargo, of distances, of values; com- 
position of stories with criticisms on form, vocabulary, quality; final draw- 
ings or painting as permanent records of work done; bibliographies of read- 
ings done and yet to be done; lists of topics on which adequate data are not 
to be found; lists of studies to which this study leads; tests to see if compu- 
tational reading and spelling skills are developing. The diagram prepared 
by Miss Groggel is presented herewith. 

Is curriculum reorganization an administrative function?—Productive 
effort upon the curriculum is now welcomed from any available source. Let 
us hope this may continue to be so. How we proceed depends largely upon 
what is to be done. There are many schools now announcing programs of 
curricular making in which little result may be reasonably expected. Real 
curriculum construction is a very slow and painstaking process. It involves 
reasonable scholarship in the subjects dealt with; knowledge of schools and 
classroom procedure; knowledge of educational psychology; knowledge of 
specific and general educational purposes; knowledge of means of testing 
results so as to learn whether proposed changes are better or worse than 
those formerly in use; knowledge of and technique in handling criteria, of 
selection of proper subject-matter and method from the many that are avail- 
able; ability to write subject-matter into coherent and graphic form. ‘This 
is no mean list of qualifications to be presented by those who propose to make 


changes in the curriculum. 

It must be said that most proposed programs of curriculum work so far, 
are not fundamental. This does not mean that they are not useful. How- 
ever, when a whole school system announces that it with all its teachers has 
embarked upon a program of curriculum making it is clear that some one 














SUBJECT MATTER CONTENT 
HELPED SOLVE THE PRO 


Construction of boats:- making pattern, shapi mh 
ht for k 
“etal ran a 


ferent involved in build beat, toy boat 50 it wi 


D ren "hinds 0 pail 

The need for a keel 

Different metho iS 0 soapeling a boat. 
Modern inventions 5. con conection with the propyl 


What makes bo 


THE LINCOLN SCHOOL _ |, ,.bersrssrst esto 


The ae Moon directed interest io + wang Hudsonfihig 
Historic ships:- Santa neria, flower, 
Reference work y--° and d dieuptons abo 
Vikings :- “What Kinds 0 comin Hi 
What did. they fat of hous es did the 
their boats Viet ie Vikings nave ston rs‘ Hp tow did it 
Story Pa Lief Erickson. The gods of the Vikings. Thet 
hogni ians : spocenery, boats, people, ‘ade ‘ 
cities” an us ries, tc. try. boats, beliefs 
= ptians :—Scenery, country, boats, beliefs, 
PROBLEMS QUESTIONS stb of the buildin Y, of olor’ Temple 


Early Mediterraneari peoples. 












oa 
=x: 



































| 
| 
| 
































































































‘ GEOGRAPHY 
To construct boats that will 
look like a certain kind and Geography relate 
STIMULATION with which children can play. Norway y:- Country, cl imate. peo le id occy 
nicia:~Counfry, climate. pedple, trading 
kann of ear! eo le compared with that off tay 
last yea many 0 Who first thought of nities th Merah = Roray Phowing wancient fone 
meeniscenzes | | aoa we SG 
. on which child led card-b 
cher means of travel. How did people get the idea “Globe in frequent use to | to eae rloces west ion 
4 for different shapes for boats? viline’ wor map, locating c un ries 
any summer ex- Interest in det ermining istanegs( read ig sca 
periences with boats, To know more about the Hiow far is it from Norway Jo Phoenicigs 
ople who traveled on the seas How far is it from Norway fe ey: 
Wood in supply box peop ly ti Buildi one | loner Ranhatien of floor. with blocks to 
cut in shapes suggestive ein deant helped Eek ates Te 
of boats. P pind out about the making ARITHMETIC mn ' ‘“ 
s asurements in 
Bulletin prepared Figuring the number of board feet used b 
by the teacher. How many different kinds Arithmetic cea in jonnestion ~ 
Trip to see Half of boats do we. have To-day and water , displac ment and floating objects. 
a ow is each kind us ‘ at 
Moon. sre ai Splomon's Temple compared with 
: How idid arly people use of the Lincoln 
Trip to see boat their si pst Children saw a cubit measure at the Museum 
models. FINE ART 
To Me 0 about the differ. Sketchin _* ainting pictures of Half. Moon 
ent parts of a boat. Sketching and ainting oat models. 
Drawing biackboard friéze showin history of 
much to put people know how len paper pictures showing s story Of Lief: Erick 
mu puTinto @ boat DeTore p t t + Mus 
wil Sink? rid (apnea, ey. | 
metal metasere™ 
COMPOSITION - LITERATURE 
Stories written about the trip to see Half-Hoot 
tories of other trips b individyal — 
riginal poems about hoa $ea. 
Labels and invitations for boat exhibit 





Written n oral ceports a about boats, Vikings, 
Stories for bullet n,room paper, council hews, of 
members, telling of class interest an study. 


READING 


material pertaining to topics under 
found in “school librar por at h me p 

‘s reading material - nae nd Thoriie 
Early sea rpeaple, Boat 


red by other 
material prepared by * Poa nR Feachers? i 


SCIENCE 
ow can we fel if oy bast boats x will Hyd - and bala | 
How ¢ do | an bya much to put into boat 
DRAMATIZATI 
i Story of oN Erickson, spontaneously prep 


“Ente 


onnie Boa 





























lendrick Hud 
‘lower, 
USsio 

us ions aboyt: 


Clothing did @ 


eS did th 
fom i 
Vikings. Thei 


ople, trade, 


surements in, 
d by cass inbu 
with science 
ects. 


ympared with 
the Museum 


of Half- Moon 

hist of 
1 

liek Erick 


Museum. 
clothing. 


Half -Mood 
children. 





PROBABLE OUTCOMES 











DESIRABLE HABITS AND SKILLS 

Better skill in sketching: ; 

Better skill in handling brush and paints. 

A beginning of the development of how to sew. 

Developing the habit of making a pattern 
before constructing an article. 

pe skill in shaping wood by means of 
plane and spokeshave. | 

Developing skill in using gouge and mallet 

Developing skill in reading distances on map. 

Rapid growth in map crawing. 

Developing habit of reading the newspaper. 

Better skill in measuring. ; 

Ability to gather information on a certain 
subject and reporting to class. 

Increased ability in writing. 


ATTITUDES AND APPRECIATIONS 
Economic:- ‘ 
An appreciation of the use of weights and measures. 
What it means to construct a real boat that will 
float and balance Properly. : ; 
Appreciation of the change in the lives of the 
people caused by the discovery of iron and 
he use of sails. ee : 
Appreciation of paper as a writing material. 
Appreciation of the modern inventions in 
connection with the propulsion of ships. 


Social :- 

What the ear! people contributed to the world. 
The number of people and industry it takes to. 
supply materials for the construction of one building. 

omparison of the ideas of fairness of the 
early people with the present day. 


Racrestional= ii lial 
lOping 4 joy in painiing,skeicning and drawing. 
crowing if e Lst fn reading bodks about ’ 
torical peoples, inventions or boats. 
Playing with boats made. 

Interest in the construction of a toy-hoat, 
Interest in the construction of a real boat. 
The pleasure in making maps. 

The pleasure of playing with maps. 


Aesthetic :- i 
Appreciation of the beauty in line and con- 

struction of boats. : 

The adventure of the ship. 


INFORMATION 

Knowledge of the development of the boat 
from raft to steamship. 

Who Hendrick Hudson was... 

General idea o histori¢ ships. 

An interesting acquaintance with Vikings, 
Phoenicians, an Egyptians. 

General gengraphi al knowledge of the world. 
ubit measure is. 
2dge of how to draw maps. 
Some idea of what makes objects float. 
Some idea of how to make boats balance in water. 
Some idea of how fo construct a to 


hi 


a 





How fornand Seay tablet 
The need for molds in casting metals. 


Some idea of how iron is made into dif- 
ferent shapes. 











TOTAL 
PERSONALITY 
AS 


NEW INTERESTS 
LEADING TOWARD 
FURTHER ACTIVITIES 





Interest in world geo - 
graphy and travel. 

Maps and actual distances 
between given places. 

The time it takes to get 
to certain places. 


Interest in silk through 
answering vy pin sme 
What kind of clothing 
did the Vikings wear? 
How is velvet made? 


Interest in what clay is: 
how it is prepared for our 
use and how it was pre- 
pared by early people for 
making clay tablets . 





MODIFIED 
BY THE 
FOREGOING 
EXPERIENCES 








; -boaf. 
le mage their clay tablets. 














Interest in the Enyptian 
and Phoenician alphabet 
and how our alphabet 
was developed from it. 
The materials the 
Egyptians used for writing. 


Interest in metals. 

Interest in weight of 
different metals ll h 
casting of lead for keels. 

How metals are shaped. 


Interest in the construc- 
tion of modern buildings 
through reading abou 
Sélomon’s Temple and 
comparing it with the con- 
struction of the Lincoln 
School. 


Interest in other phases 
of transportation. 


























162 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION 





is going to be misled. It may be the public; it may be the teacher; it may 
be the administration. Such programs are not likely to do more for the cur- 
riculum than to rearrange the topics previously appearing in the subjects of 
study, adding small amounts of local color materials. A careful reading of 
the published pamphlets from most wholesale curricular work shows that 
the old topics almost all reappear, very few new ones are added, though 
local situations are frequently cited. It is as if the full list of topics of a 
given subject have been listed on cards and catalogued under well-known 
major headings. Then, the headings are changed in form of expression, 
changed in order of appearance, and some of the subtopics are transferred 
to other major headings. Added to these are a few new cards of different 
color and the result is called a new curriculum. As yet, most so-called cur- 
ricular reorganization is fairly well described by this figure of reshuffling 
the old well-known pack. It is not truly curriculum making though it may 
be a very proper and highly useful curriculum adjusting. 

The largest educational value likely to result from wholesale plans of 
curriculum making is not primarily new curricular material or methods, but 
a renewed educational interest on the part of the teaching force and the 
public. If teachers are led to rethink their subjects and methods, much good 
will result. If they will restate old topics, examine local situations related 
to school work, almost any name is justified for the sake of revived interest 
in education. But we should make very clear what is really happening and 
not delude ourselves into thinking that just anyone may readily make new 
curricular materials. 


HE DEPARTMENT of Elementary School Principals is 

rapidly gaining recognition as one of the major departments 
of the National Education Association. ‘This is as it should be, not 
merely because of its numerical potentiality, but because of the 
primary and key position which the principal holds in each school. 
Whatever of improvement can be made in the office of the principal 
is the most certain effective guarantee of progress not only in the 
school over which the principal presides, but also the entire school 
system. Participation in its real sense means the hearty cooperation 
of all. It is, of course, implied that cooperation shall be intelligent 
and according to the most recent information at hand and most 
successful methods employed. The Department of Elementary 
School Principals, through its organization, committees and publi- 
cations, is exerting a positive influence in the direction of real 
cooperation.—M/. C. Lefler, Superintendent of Schools, Lincoln, 
Nebraska. 











THE TEACHING OF ETHICS IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 


CLARENCE E. MACARTNEY 
Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 


GREAT English philosopher once said that to educate reason with- 
out educating desire is like selling a repeating rifle to a savage. By 
common consent and agreement, on the part of those who from within 
organize and carry on our system of public education, and on the part of 
those who from the outside view the finished products of the schools, the 
grave peril confronting public education is the lack of moral training. If 
there are many distressing and depressing facts about our national life, 
there is also one very encouraging fact, and that is the general recognition 
that the training of the will—ethical and moral education—has been sadly 
neglected, and that this condition must be changed for an education which 
does not draw out and discipline and strengthen the moral nature of the 
scholar is not only profitless, but positively harmful and dangerous. The 
civilization which trains only the minds and the hands of its youth, and 
neglects their souls, is simply forging a weapon of self-destruction. Where 
there is no vision, no moral and spiritual light, the people perish. Our 
“land of the free and home of the brave ” will be no exception to the work- 
ings of this law. 

I have no desire to add another note to the chorus of pessimism over the 
state of our society. The records of every age will show paragraphs of 
lamentation over a decline from the morals and customs of the earlier gen- 
eration, and always there is in human nature the tendency sadly to affirm, 
what the preacher of Ecclesiastes says we ought not to affirm, that the 
former days were better than these. If there are alarming things in our 
public and private life today, there are also many splendid and hopeful 
things. 

But in our study of the problem before us our duty is to face the condi- 
tions as they exist, and the comparison between those conditions and the 
supposed conditions of the past is a very secondary thing. If a man is sick, 
it is idle to talk to him about a man next door or across the street who is 
not quite so sick, or a great deal worse. The one matter of importance is to 
heal the patient of today. When we turn our attention to the patient of 
today we discover many things which ought to stir us and alarm us and 
energize us, regardless of any comparison with the past. The vast amount 
of juvenile crime, the appalling increase in crimes of dishonesty, the undis- 
puted habits of great bodies of our youth, whether or not they prove a break- 
down in morality and a decline from the standards of the past, certainly 
reveal a terrible lack of moral standards and moral endeavour on the part 
of the population. 

In this connection, the most arresting statement which I have seen is that 
made by the committee on character education of the board of education 
of New York City. After mentioning some of the good qualities and at- 
tractive traits of the present school population, the report says: 





[163] 











164 NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION 





But the shock comes when we learn their code of morals. These same delightful 
young people believe that it is all right if they can get away with it. They lack 
respect for parents and authority. To copy homework is entirely honorable if they 
are not caught. Forging a signature is a simple way of saving a lot of trouble. 
Cutting is to be recommended if they can get by. Thieving is a matter of almost 
daily occurrence. Cheating is no disgrace if the offender is not detected. 

Now this characterization does not apply to the whole high school body by any 
means, but it does apply to a large percent of our boys and girls. They have 
adopted the code of the street because they have never been taught a higher code 
of morals. 

In the face of these facts the committee believes there is urgent need of moral 
instruction in the high schools. We must give definite positive instruction as to 
right and wrong. The school program must provide opportunity for frank 
discussions of conduct in the face of these facts the committee believes there is 
urgent need of moral instruction in the high schools. We must give definite 
positive instruction as to right and wrong. The school program must provide 
opportunity for frank discussions of matters of conduct and behavior. The aim 
should be to develop clear-cut conceptions of positive virtues, to present the 
principles of right living that will govern boys and girls in making moral 
decisions, rather than to stress the negative, “ Thou shalt not?” 

Fortunately, New York, nor any other of our great cities is represen- 
tative of the real America, whence we draw our traditions and upon which 
we must build for the future. But the school conditions sketched in this 
report are common enough to occasion deep anxiety and warrant extra- 
ordinary measures. If the school children of our country are adopting the 
code of the street because they have never been taught any other, then, 
regardless of what home or church is doing, the school must give them 
the knowledge of a higher code and urge them to adopt that code of conduct. 

A survey of our situation reveals the fact that in its great task of moral 
instruction the public school is confronted with peculiar difficulties which 
did not obtain in former generations. These difficult conditions render the 
task of the school much harder, but they also demonstrate its tremendous 
importance. 

Most striking among these new conditions under which the school must 
do its work is the change which has come over the American home. Let 
me, with the enchanting wand of memory, picture for you what I mean by 
a home training and atmosphere which make the work of moral instruction 
in the school much easier and directly applicable. Morning dawns over the 
forest-clad hills across the river, from whose waters white autumn mists 
are stealing upward towards the sky. The large bell in the hall is rung, 
and children’s feet are heard running along the hall to the bathroom, where 
the boys see who shall be the first to plunge into the cold spring water. 
After dressing comes breakfast, and then, with the family still about the 
table, family worship, a psalm sung by all, the chapter read around the 
circle, and then the prayer in which the father presents the members of the 
family before the Throne of Grace. Then the search for books and coats 
and hats. The older boys go across the field to the grey stone building of 
the college where their father is a professor; the younger children, with a 
Bible verse given them for the day, start on the two mile walk to the brick 
schoolhouse on the hillside. When the bell rings for school to commence, 








ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 165 


the scholars find their way to their desks, and the schoolmaster reads from 
the Bible and offers a prayer. Verses from the Bible are written on the 
blackboard, and its sacred texts are the models of the copybooks. 

In that home as I have described it, you had an atmosphere which was 
favorable to moral instruction in the school, and made it easy and natural. 
But today, even in religious and Christian circles, that kind of home has 
disappeared. And not only have the religious practices of such a home van- 
ished, but, too often, the moral standards and the religious faith of such 
a home. In a timely address delivered at recent convocation of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, the dean of the college, Dr. Robert Burke, told 
of a conversation he had had with a physician who had returned to America 
after a term of service in India. A brother physician near his present place 
of work had been run down by an automobile containing a party of young 
people on their way to attend a football game. The injured physician was 
left to die by the roadside while the youths hastened on to the football game. 
Dr. Burke asked this physician returned from India his impressions about 
America, and especially what he had to say about the running down of the 
brother physician and ruthlessly leaving him to die on the highway. He 
asked him, too, about the disregard for human life and the wave of crime 
now inundating the land. He replied as follows: 

My father gathered his family together each morning and commended us to 
God’s keeping before we separated for the duties of the day. On my return 
from India I found that he had given up the practise of family prayer entirely, 
and that my younger brothers and sisters were individualists who cared nothing 
for the moral and religious influence of the home. What is true of my father’s 
household is true of many homes throughout the length and breadth of the land. 
The home is no longer a unit: family life with its spiritual and moral training 
is very largely a thing of the past. This, in my judgment is the explanation of 
the lack of moral earnestness and disregard for the rights of others, so strikingly 
apparent to me after an absence of a comparatively few years. 

When we take into consideration the fall of the family altar, the aban- 
donment of moral and religious instruction in the home, the lowering of 
standards in the home, and the ghastly ravages of divorce, leaving its evil 
trail in one home out of seven, we begin to understand something of the 
gravity of the issue and the magnitude of the task now laid upon the 
shoulders of the teacher and the principal. 

Together with the thawing of family morals, there goes the immersing 
of the youth of our land in moving picture sexology and the dramatics of 
popular literature. I recall vividly the day when a dime novel was dis- 
covered in the desk of one of my classmates at school. All classes were 
interrupted and the whole school gathered in the assembly room as the 
principal named the offender and the offense, and solemnly warned us of 
the danger and moral contagion which lurked in that yellow-bound book. 
It was like a day of judgment! Yet, I have no doubt that the contents of 
that book, as to their objectionable and immoral features, were quite mild 
compared with what our youth see all the time in the picture show. Unless 
all principles of education, character building and environment are mean- 
ingless absurdities, then the violence and sexology of the cinema, and the 











166 NATIONAL EpuCcATION ASSOCIATION 





vulgarities of the comic sheet of the Sunday papers are making a deep and 
lamentable impression upon the youth of our land, an impression which 
renders it increasingly difficult to inculcate reverence, purity, sobriety, hon- 
esty, and faith. The legislature of a western state which recently passed a 
law forbidding the display of pictures which reflected upon marriage, the 
homelife, and the church was taking a very commonsense step by way of 
precaution. 

As our nation grows richer and more prosperous there has been an 
increasing emphasis put upon material success and the making of money, 
and a tendency to measure success and manhood by a dollar and cents 
standard. Our whole life has become more utilitarian, and the dollar mark 
has been stamped upon the higher professions as well as upon industry. 

These, then, are some of the conditions which make the task of the school 
dificult, but which also demonstrate the great need of ethical training and 
example. 

But how shall this need be met? If moral discipline is rapidly fading out 
of American home life, if wrong ways of thinking and living are popular- 
ized as never before, how shall the school more efficiently and successfully 
do its work in the field of morals? I venture to suggest the following 
things: 

First, there must be clear and definite instruction as to God, Who is the 
Author of our being and the source of moral law. It must be made clear 
that the great distinction between right and wrong, the blessedness of doing 
right and the unhappiness of doing wrong, are founded upon the fact of 
man’s relationship to God. In the very able address to which I have already 
adverted, Dr. Burke, of the University of Pennsylvania, says, ‘A system 
of morals without a religious sanction is an inert, lifeless thing, a mere body 
without an animating soul. A system of education to be ideal must be inter- 
penetrated by a morality which draws its compelling power, its vital force 
from religion.” 

I am aware, of course, that in the public schools, where Catholic and 
Protestant, Jew and Gentile meet together, the distinctive doctrines of 
Christianity can hardly be taught without dispute and controversy. But 
this is no reason why the great principles of religion and morality should 
not be taught, and first and foremost, fundamental to all else, is the Scrip- 
tural idea of God, the Creator of the world, the Author of our being, our 
Lord and our Judge. In the beginning, God. The fear of the Lord is the 
beginning of wisdom. Any system of education which does not begin there 
is only scratching the surface of the child’s life. Thomas Carlyle declared 
that the most sublime affirmation in the English language is the Shorter 
Catechism’s answer to the question, ‘‘ What is the chief end of man?” That 
answer is: “ The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him 
forever.” Wherever man glorifies God, there he honours himself and 
serves truly his fellowman. 

Side by side with instruction as to fact and the law of God, there must 
go instruction as to the moral nature of man. If in the higher schools and 
universities it is being taught that we are made up of a bundle of tendencies 








ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 167 





inherited from brute ancestors, that conscience is only the precipitate of 
habit and custom, that the distinction between right and wrong is merely 
racial and individual and epochal, and not due to the moral order of the 
world, then, all the more need of stressing the moral law, its blessings and 
its terrific reactions, in the elementary schools. Perhaps some fragrant of 
such instruction given by the teachers in the elementary schools will save 
from moral shipwreck the life which later in its training will come under 
the ghastly code of the ganglion and the jungle. 

Another great principle which must be declared in the schools is the fact 
of immortality. I believe there is a very definite connection between the 
moral sag of our day and generation and the decline of faith in life after 
death. It will be impossible to build any platform of solid moral instruction 
if the fact of man’s immortality is not declared. Even in religious circles 
today the predominant note has been the Here, and the Hereafter has 
faded immeasurably. As the Hereafter fades from man’s horizon, his man- 
ners and his morals become corrupted. “ Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow 
we die” is the natural and reasonable code, if there is no life beyond the 
grave. But if there is life beyond the grave, if it still is appointed unto all 
once to die, and after that the judgment, then we require for this present 
life some higher code than eating, drinking and dying. A prominent finan- 
cial journal speaks to the point when it says: 

The question of immediate and tremendous importance is, Has there been 
a decline of faith in the future life? and if so, to what extent is this responsible 
for the speculative phenomena of our times, the eager pursuit of wealth, the 
shameless luxury and display, the gross and corrupting extravagance, the misuse 
of sudden fortune, the indifference to law, the growth of graft, the abuse of 
corporate power, and the social unrest? 


THE PRINCIPAL AS A SUPERVISOR 


EunIcE E. PARR 
San Antonio, Texas 


HE TREND of the times is to make the principal responsible for 

everything that goes on in his building. If the principal is responsible 
for supervision he must know something about it. Let us consider seriously 
the much mooted question, “Is the present failure or lack of failure in 
supervision due to the inability of the supervisor to supervise, or the un- 
willingness of the supervised to be supervised?” Is it not true that the 
word “supervision” is hated by most teachers? Why? If we as super- 
visors are at fault, let us diagnose the trouble and find the remedy. 

In the past the principal has been responsible for administration largely 
and the special supervisor has been responsible for supervision. This plan 
never works because the teacher is responsible to two persons. The teacher 
should be responsible to the principal and get all instructions from him. 
The organization should be in the following order—superintendent, princi- 
pal, and teacher. If a teacher fails the principal is responsible. But you say 
that this plan of organization leaves out the special supervisor. This should 











168 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION 








be a grave mistake for if you do away with special supervisors you lose much 
in the way of expert help. The plan of organization needed is superin- 
tendent, special supervisor, principal, and teacher—the special supervisor 
contributing through the superintendent and principals to the schools. 

Some special supervisors may think, that if the principal is held responsi- 
ble for instruction in his building, that they would have nothing to do. In 
Detroit, where this plan is working, there are ten specific duties of special 
supervisors : 


. Visit schools “on call” 
. Prepare instructional material 
. Carry on research 
Carry on community activities 
. Advise on matters of appointment 
. Select textbooks, supplies, and equipment with the department of educational 
expenditures 
7. Professional activities—speeches 
8. Write publicity articles 
9. Render reports, keep records 
10. General administrative matters by assignment of the superintendent 


Auk wn 


With this organization the principal is completely responsible for instruc- 
tion in his building. 

Why has supervision been so severely criticized? It has not been guided 
by a policy; it has not been guided by a program of action; it has been too 
indefinite. “Teachers dread the word “ supervision.” If someone could only 
think of a better name the whole cause might be helped! 

We see some of the faults of supervision; what is the remedy? What is 
real supervision? ‘There are six vital elements in real supervision. 

1. Supervision must be democratic ’—It should stimulate initiative, self 
reliance, and responsibility on the part of the teachers, principals and super- 
visors. Supervision must deal sympathetically. The human element should 
be capitalized in the life of every supervisor. If you ask any teacher which 
supervisor is most helpful to him, every time he will name the one with the 
most sympathetic personality. 

Supervision should represent ‘‘ democratic leadership in a group of co- 
workers.” When a principal enters the schoolroom, the pupils should feel 
the confidence which he has in the teacher. There is psychology back of 
this point for if the children see the respect which the principal has for the 
teacher, they will have more respect for him. It is the same principle of 
psychology as operates in the home. If a father and mother quarrel or do 
not value the judgment and opinions of each other the child does not develop 
with desirable ideals. 

2. Supervision must be cooperative—It should be a cooperative under- 
taking of teachers, principals, and supervisors. This may be accomplished 
through the recognition of the peculiar contribution which each has to make 
to the improvement of instruction. Teachers’ judgments are of inestimable 
value. For example, can you as a principal write a “ Course of Study for 





*The author of these six points is A. S. Barr, associate professor of education, 
Wisconsin University. 














ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 169 





Gifted Children?” Not alone. You lack the constant contact with the 
gifted child which the classroom teacher has. 

Contributions from teachers as well as heads of departments, principals, 
and supervisors should be encouraged and used. In Detroit, teachers are 
urged to write out their ideas in about three hundred words. This paper 
goes to the director of supervision where it is placed in one of three classes: 
(1) It is good enough to be put into immediate practice; (2) it is good 
enough to be experimented with; (3) it is so poor that it is discarded. If it 
is placed in class one it is mimeographed, giving the name of the teacher 
who formulated the plan, and is sent out to the schools. If it is placed in 
class two the teacher is given a substitute for two weeks to give his time 
for further research and experimentation with the problem. 

Cooperative supervision may be accomplished through the realization 
that not only teachers but principals and supervisors are /earners in the study 
of classroom problems. Through the organization, evaluation, and coordi- 
nation of the efforts of all those concerned with the improvement of in- 
struction, supervision may be made a cooperative undertaking. 

3. Supervision must distinguish between instruction and administration--~ 
This can be done through the clearance of all administrative matters 
through regular administrative channels. How easy that is to say and every 
principal knows how hard it is to do! You say, ‘“ We need clerical help.” 
Indeed we do. In the October, 1925 Bulletin of the Department of Ele- 
mentary School Principals of the National Education Association the presi- 
dent of the Elementary Principals Association of Los Angeles reports a 
study of clerical help. In Los Angeles, clerical help is based on enrolment 
as follows: 

Five hundred or over enrolment—full time clerk. 


Five hundred to 300 enrolment—half time clerk. 
Three hundred to 150 enrolment—third time clerk. 


In some cities clerical help is based on the number of teachers in the 
building. In Gary, Indiana, there is a full time clerk for 15 teachers or 
over, and a part time clerk in all other schools. Many cities do not provide 
clerical help for elementary principals. If a principal is responsible for 
instructional conditions in his building he must have time for this work. 
The remedy is clerical help together with careful planning. 

Principals need to recognize the fact here that instructional experts (special 
supervisors) are responsible for the adequacy of instructional programs in 
the several fields of instruction. It is the work of the principal to see 
that these programs are carried out in the schools and to aid the teachers 
in the best methods to employ. 

4. Supervision must be scientific—Teachers do not seem to understand 
what we are trying to do. Do we know ourselves? The Eighteenth Year- 
book of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part II, gives 
a summary of scientific investigations which have been made in writing, 
arithmetic, reading, spelling, drawing, and music. Every principal and 
teacher should use this book constantly as a guide book on teaching. It is 
a scientific contribution to supervision. 











170 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION 





Supervision needs definite, well understood, objective standards for judg- 
ing and improving the quality of instruction. This problem has been suc- 
cessfully worked out by A. S. Barr, formerly director of supervision in 
Detroit together with fourteen special supervisors. They have listed definite 
questions which may be answered by “ yes” or “no.” This book, entitled 
Elementary School Standards for the Improvement of Teaching published 
by Edwards Bros., Ann Arbor, Michigan, has a definite practical purpose: 
(1) To set up concisely standards of practice for the assistance of prin- 
cipals in their efforts to improve instruction; (2) to state concretely the 
characteristics of good teaching for the guidance of teachers in their efforts 
to improve themselves; (3) to list specifically elementary school practices 
in order that our own notions of what constitutes good teaching may be 
clarified. This book contains work for a three or four-year program in 
supervision. Principals and teachers should decide on a certain problem 
for study. Mimeographed copies of the “ yes,” “no” questions should be 
sent to the teachers. ‘This gives principal and teachers something definite 
upon which to work. 

Experimental and laboratory studies are an aid in making supervision 
scientific. Laboratory studies such as Buswell’s “ Investigations in Read- 
ing” may be profitably used. Principals should plan experimental studies 
with teachers using suggestions given in McCall’s ‘“‘ How to Experiment.” 
The most progressive teacher is the one who uses her room as an experi- 
mental laboratory. 

5. Supervision must center upon the improvement of teaching—Expert 
supervision should lead teachers to a broad vision of teaching problems so 
that the numerous activities may be understood and interpreted in terms 
of child growth. Is it not true that the purpose of education is to produce 
desirable changes? ‘The best teacher is the one who produces the greatest 
number of desirable changes. Should we not measure teacher ability by 
child progress? ‘This may be done by graphing the results of standard 
tests, one form being given at the beginning of the term and another form 
at the close of the term. However, the danger of making our work me- 
chanical through the use of graphs needs to be guarded against constantly. 
Expert supervision should lead teachers to master the technique of class- 
room instruction, to establish good teaching habits, and to develop high 
standards of teaching efficiency. Expert supervision should lead teachers 
to a persistent study of teaching problems, to experimentation, and to use 
the classroom as a pedagogical laboratory in which to revise and improve 
methods of instruction. 

6. Supervision must be guided by a clearly defined, organized program— 
What is our technique of classroom visitation? Do we enter in as incon- 
spicuous a way as possible, sit in the rear of the room, make mental notes 
(for it is a rare teacher who is not bothered by a principal’s note taking), 
have definite points to look for, return to the office immediately to write 
out our mental notes, diagnose the case, plan a remedial program, have a 
conference with the teacher, and put the program into effect? Supervision 
is a failure without the follow-up conference. This should be in the morn- 











ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 171 





ing before school when principal and teacher are at their best instead of at 
the close of the day. Perhaps it is a good plan to ask the teacher if he 
checked himself according to the standards sent out. This opens the way 
for the teacher to present his problems. The whole object of the conference 
should be to talk over difficulties frankly, with teacher and principal work- 
ing together to form a remedial program. A card file is an effective method 
of keeping supervisory records. Always list the good points observed first 
and be sure to tell the teacher of these. 

Six vital elements of supervision have been outlined. What are we going 
to do about it? May we not raise with our teachers the question, ‘ What 
constitutes good teaching?” ‘‘ What evidence have you for this?’ “ What 
do good teachers do that poor ones never do?” Let us plan with our teach- 
ers a definite program for the improvement of teaching. 

The elementary field is the greatest field in education because it is the 
foundation. If the foundation is strong, the building will last. Let us sell 
this idea to our teachers, to our community, and to the world. May it not 
be said in the coming years that “ we are paying at the top for neglect at 
the foundation.” Let us show the need for clerical help and get it. Let us 
plan scientifically, work our plan, and our labors will not be in vain. 


A PRAYER 
OT more of light, I ask O God, No other gifts, dear God, I ask, 


But eyes to see what is; But only sense to see 
Not sweeter songs, but power How best the precious gifts to use 
to hear Thou hast bestowed on me. 


The present melodies. 
To teach the little children all, 


Not greater strength, but how to use How joyous is the world; 
ss ’ 

The power that I possess; That, in the life we live on earth 
Not more of love, but skill to turn Heaven’s glory is unfurled. 


A frown into caress. 


Give me all fears to dominate, 
All holy joys to know; 

To be the friend I wish to be, 
To speak the truth I know. 


Not more of joy, but power to feel 
Its kindling presence near; 

To give to others all I have 
Of courage and of cheer. 


Not more of life, but insight clear To love the pure, to seek the good, 


Into its mystery; To lift, with all my might, 
To comprehend as best I may All souls to dwell in harmony 
Our lofty destiny. In Freedom’s perfect light. 


FLORENCE HOLBROOK 
Principal, Forestville School, Chicago, Illinois 








THE IMPERATIVE NEED OF ORGANIZING SCHOOL 
FORCES 
Jessie M. FINK 
Principal, Palmer School, Grand Rapids, Michigan 


TAKE my subject “The Imperative Need of Organizing School 

Forces” to mean, in this instance, the imperative need of organization 
among the elementary school principals, and from that point I shall proceed. 

In the first place, let us look at this Department. What is it? Why was 
it organized, what has it done? What has it still to do? 

In the second place, let us consider the need of state organization along 
lines similar to those of the national. In the third place, let us consider 
the need of organization for a locality or a local elementary school princi- 
pals’ club, wherein lies the origin and the end of the other two. 

First, the Department of Elementary School Principals of the National 
Education Association is an organization formed for the purpose of meeting 
the responsibilities resting upon the elementary school principal in the light 
of the demands of the present-day education. 

Among these responsibilities is that of studying with united mind and 
purpose the specific problems confronting this group. Also the duty of 
enlisting the aid of educational forces everywhere to give to the elementary 
child the advantages of united effort. 

This Department is a clearing house for the activities of the elementary 
school principals’ clubs throughout the land. It is an avenue for the ex- 
change of information and cooperation among the various local organiza- 
tions which make up this group. Its aim is to obtain definite advances in 
position and recognition for the workers in its ranks, thereby giving a fuller 
and more nearly perfect contribution to the childhood of America. 

What it has done—The Department of Elementary School Principals 
has satisfied a great need in the elementary schools of this country by supply- 
ing a means of direct communication between the principals of the different 
sections of America, between those of the cities of our land and between 
those of foreign lands and our own. 

It has held semi-annual meetings and brought to them the best minds of 
our profession where the interchange of ideas has been most stimulating. 
It has published quarterly a bulletin which contains articles by the leaders 
in educational thought and practice. These are storehouses of information 
as to the technique and philosophy of education as well as to the practical 
application of the principles of supervision. 

In addition to the bulletins, this Department has issued annually a year- 
book which for richness of content has never been surpassed. It is a volume 
of authority upon the treatment of educational procedure as applied to the 
duties of the elementary school principal. 

But suggestion, recommendation, educational inspiration, contribution, 
and dissemination of professional literature is not all this Department has 
done. Its greatest accomplishment lies in its having awakened a profes- 


[172] 





vs 








ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 173 





sional consciousness in the ranks of the principals themselves. It has made 
possible a solidarity of aim and a desire of accomplishment hitherto unknown. 
It has startled into action many a lethargic or atrophied principal. 

Through its semi-annual banquets it has presented an opportunity for 
relaxation and for personal expression of its members. Thus a camaraderie 
has been developed unknown and unsuspected. The barriers of reserve have 
been broken down and the principal disclosed as a human being in a per- 
fectly natural setting. We believe that if the greatest wars of history were 
planned over the festive board, the greatest accomplishments of peace may 
have their beginnings over a like board, when men are at their fullest and 
best. 

If you would realize the efficacy of the Department of Elementary School 
Principals of the National Education Association as it functions in your 
daily life, try to do without it for a year. Feel the insignificance of your 
individual efforts for the uplift of the elementary school principalship. Be a 
victim again to all the undesirable conditions existing prior to the organi- 
zation of this Department. Live through those lean and hungry years again 
when the elementary school principal was a “ forgotten incident ” in the 
educational scheme. 

Just what has this organization done to advance the profession in its 
short career? For four years it has brought out books full of professional 
manna. If you have not partaken of it, the sin be upon your own head. It 
has set to work committees upon standardization of entrance requirements 
for admission into this field. It has at work another committee on salaries 
for the elementary school principalship. It has brought forward reports of 
educational progress as measured by our ideals and suggestions; it has 
brought before the national body every point presented to the Department 
for adjustment; it has organized our beliefs and needs, clarified them, and 
is presenting them to superintendents, school boards, and professors of edu- 
cation in our great universities. Campaigns for their adoption are in motion. 
Is not this a good record? 

Every intellectual optimist, every constructive believer in the public 
schools, every leader of teachers and little children who occupies the strate- 
gic position of elementary school principal has the most imperative need of 
belonging to this enthusiastic group of pioneers. 

Some of the things it still may do—When you are asked what this De- 
partment still may do to benefit elementary education, you may say: 

“ Are you in doubt as to the best choice of subject-matter to be included 
in your curriculum? Then read that being included by the most represen- 
tative members of your group as shown in the literature of our Department. 

“ Are you in doubt as to the best technique in use in the great systems of 
our country, or the latest experiment of the most advanced psychological or 
pedagogical laboratory? Then consult the same source of information. 

“ Are you interested in the question of a minimum or maximum salary 
for this Department’s members? Again I refer you to our bulletins and 
yearbooks. 











174 NATIONAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION 





“Do you ever feel the need of a Department of Education with a secre- 
tary in the President’s cabinet? Then join the group that is steadily behind 
this movement. 

“Do you want child labor abolished that every one may have a chance 
and a fair start? “Then by all means come with us. 

“Do you feel your impotence as an individual to bring about better con- 
ditions for the children of our land whom we wish to be intelligent voters 
and upright God-fearing citizens? Then place your hands in ours and be- 
come one of the vast army of peace workers who stand for the spiritual life 
of our children.” 

And this brings me to the second part of my discussion. Why is there 
need of an organization in the state similar to that in the national ? 
Because such an organization may do for the state conditions a service of 
untold good. It would act as a clearing-house for matters distinctively per- 
taining to the principals of the state. Here problems may be presented, 
solutions suggested, resolutions adopted, legislative measures brought forth. 
Here all matters pertaining to the elementary school principalship in the 
state could be laid before its constituent body and duly considered. 

And now to speak of the local organization of the elementary school prin- 
cipals. It first came into existence in response to a great need. Because a 
desire to apply the science of education and to master the art of teaching 
became a burning issue. Because an opportunity for such procedure was 
rapidly being snatched away by material detail occupation. Because our 
educational leadership was being threatened by specialists in subject-matter 
instruction ; because our salaries in many instances were pitifully inadequate 
and the futility of individual appeal was a universal experience. Because 
in various places injustice remained unexplained and unexplainable. But 
most of all, because our children were being placed under unprepared in- 
structors where great intellectual harm might be done the coming generation 
of American citizens. Because the physical and spiritual needs of the child 
confronted us as never before. ‘These presented some of the greatest of 
difficulties and confronted education with enormous problems. 

Only organized action could resolve these intricacies, but we realized 
nothing could be done if we sat like rabbits in our school hutches munching 
the “ lettuce leaf it to others,” so we organized. Our next step was to ally 
ourselves with the national Department. This made us realize how de- 
pendent we are upon each other and that our well being is influenced by the 
well being of all. We know that what we do can never be a matter of in- 
difference to our associates. Out of this healthy organization has come 
extended and manifold helpfulness and from it has arisen a conscious faith 
in our mission. 

And in conclusion may I say—The imperative need for the organization 
of school forces springs from the need for effecting certain definite improve- 
ments in present conditions. United and intelligent cooperation of this huge 
body of principals will make possible the most desirable conditions for the 
rearing of future cities capable and ready to accept the sacred heritage of the 
fathers as laid down in the Preamble to the Constitution of the United 
States of America. 











ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 175 





When the thousands of our group are gathered in, when the great light 
dawns on them even as it has dawned on us, then shall come that day of 
accomplishment toward which we are now headed and for which we yearn 
with a yearning that passeth understanding. 


REPORT OF PROGRESS OF THE COMMITTEE ON STAND- 
ARDS AND TRAINING FOR THE ELEMENTARY 
SCHOOL PRINCIPALSHIP 


W. T. LoncsHore, CHAIRMAN 
Principal, Greenwood School, Kansas City, Missouri 


G. WELLS says: “You are the most important people in the whole 
H. civilized universe. The schoolmaster’s place is not only important, but 

supremely important. That is my thesis. I want to put it with boldness, 
shamelessness, arrogance, and aggression. I want to suggest that they should up 
and take hold of the world. I shall tell you nothing new if I betray a consciousness 
that arrogance in taking hold of the world is not a characteristic of all school- 
masters. It is extraordinary that a lot of schoolmasters seem to be unconscious not 
only of the importance but of the range of their functions.” 

No elementary school principal, then, thinks of giving according to mea- 
sure. Once engaged, he gives his best, gives his personal interest, himself. 
His heart is in his work, and for this no equivalent is possible; what is 
accepted is in the nature of a fee, gratuity, or consideration, which enables 
him who receives it to maintain a certain expected mode of life. The real 
payment is the work itself, this and the chance to join with other mem- 
bers of the profession in guiding and enlarging the sphere of its activities. 

We must believe in the dignity and importance of the position of the 
elementary school principal. We should make a solemn affirmation of its 
importance and conduct our schools and ourselves so that the community, 
the superintendent of schools, and the board of education will recognize it. 

Our work is as important as is the work of the high school principal, and 
for relatively equal preparation, efficiency, experience and success should 
have the same professional recognition and salary when the positions have 
the same responsibility relatively. 

We are not asking favors. We are demanding that the rights of the 
younger children be recognized and that they be treated fairly, that they 
be given an equal chance. 

The idea of ‘‘ skimming ” the elementary schools to get teachers and prin- 
cipals to build up the junior high schools and the high schools is wrong. 
This “skimming” process must stop because it is wrong in theory, psy- 
chology, pedagogy and practice. I think no one will deny that this “ skim- 
ming ” process is going on in our schools. 

Why should an elementary school principal have to look to a high school 
principalship for a promotion to get enough money to properly maintain 
his family and himself professionally ? 

Why should an elementary school teacher have to look to a high school 
teacher’s position for a promotion, and in many cases spoil an excellent 
elementary school teacher, to make a poor high school teacher ? 











176 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





As our worthy president, Mrs. Jessie M. Fink, has so well said: 


Rare talent is lost to the elementary schools each year because of the stupidity of 
our inherited philosophy and practice by placing the emphasis upon the wrong end, 
that is, at the finish instead of the beginning of institutional life and training. 


The work of a principal of schools is to get things done through other 
people. He must know, in a general way, at least, what is to be accom- 
plished, and through his organization he must, to a certain extent, know 
the capacity, abilities, and the undertakings of those who work with him. 
It is true that the successful principal of a school must have a high ideal 
as to what his pupils are going to do, and what they are going to be when 
they leave school. The work, then, of getting things done through others 
involves not only a certain amount of general information, together with 
special knowledge and a certain understanding of the technique to be em- 
ployed, but it also means that the principal must be a master in dealing 
with human beings. The getting of things done through other people is 
a different problem from doing these same things, ourselves. It is one thing 
to do a piece of work and another to get it done successfully. In all admin- 
istration there are human factors to be considered. 

What are the human factors involved in the work of principalship of 
the public elementary school? With whom do you have to deal? In other 
words, who are the persons through whom you must work in order to get 
things done that are worth doing? ‘These persons are your teachers or 
members of the staff, and these persons differ among themselves more than 
the famous provinces of Gaul. If you have twenty teachers you have twenty 
different personalities to deal with. There are no two alike, yet in my 
experience I have come to feel that there are at least two general types of 
teachers. 

The first type is the teacher who loves the subjects he teaches. Out- 
standing in our personal experiences there may be two or three such teachers. 
They are the ones who had so great a love for the subject that they were 
led to study it; they are the ones who brought the subject to us in such a 
way that we in turn came to respect it, if not to love it. 


COMMITTEE ON STANDARDS AND TRAINING FOR THE ELEMENTARY 
SCHOOL PRINCIPALSHIP 


W. T. Longshore, chairman, William W. Kemp, 
Greenwood School, Dean, School of Education, 
Kansas City, Missouri. University of California, 
Charles H. Judd, Berkeley, California. 
Director, School of Education, Leonard Power, Principal, 
University of Chicago, Bryan Street High School, 
Chicago, Illinois. Dallas, Texas. 
James F. Hosic, Worth McClure, 
Professor Elementary Education, Director of Elementary Education, 
Teachers College, Columbia Uni- Board of Education, 


versity, New York City. Seattle, Washington. 











ISLEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 177 





John K. Norton, Mrs. Jessie M. Fink, 
Director, Research Division, Principal, Palmer School, 
National Education Association, Grand Rapids, Michigan. 
1201 Sixteenth Street, N.W., John L. Bracken, 
x Washington, D. C. Superintendent of Schools, 
Ethel I. Salisbury, Clayton, Missouri. 


Professor Elementary School Educa- 
tion, University of California 
Southern Branch, Los Angeles, 


Edwin C. Broome, 
Superintendent of Schools, 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 





California. 
George W. Frasier, Ide G. Sargeant, Principal, 
President, State Teachers College, Public School No. 10, 
Greeley, Colorado. Paterson, New Jersey: 


J. Cayce Morrison, 
Ohio State University, 
Columbus, Ohio. 


Mrs. Jessie M. Fink, Principal, Palmer School, Grand Rapids, Mich. : 


My thought for your committee to work out is the raising of the entrance require- 
ments for the elementary school principalship to that of the high school principal- 
ship or even college professorship, in order that a single salary schedule might be 
feasible and applicable, thus allowing a free choice of talent to serve in its chosen 
field of education, at the same time carrying with it a dignity recognized by com- 
pensation adequate for the work. 

Rare talent is lost to the elementary schools each year because of the stupidity of 
inherited philosophy, placing emphasis upon the wrong end, that is, at the finish 
instead of the beginning of institutional training. 


Charles H. Judd, Director, School of Education, University of Chicago: 


An elementary school principal ought to have perfectly definite ideas on certain 
matters with which he is concerned. For example, he ought to know how to make 
a study of the pupil population of his school and district. He ought to have some 
very definite ideas on classroom supervision. He does not ordinarily need to know 
about the principle of school finance, but he ought to have a very definite training 
in the handling of school supplies. 

I am in favor of specific, clearly defined courses for the principal. This does not 
at all preclude the possibility of giving to the prospective principals a broad general 
view of education through courses on the curriculum and history of schools. But 
it does mean that the main part of the principals’ training ought to be specific and 
definite. 

A second general point which I shall make in this connection is that every admin- 
istrative officer ought, in my judgment, to do some definite piece of research work 
as a part of the training for his advanced degree. I do not believe at all in train- 
ing which does not include some very definite requirements for original work on 
the part of the candidate. 


Ellwood P. Cubberly, Dean of the School of Education, Stanford Uni- 
versity, California: 


I am sending you under another cover a copy of the announcement of the school 
of education, in which you will see the general nature of the courses given here, 
which lead toward administration. Our specific training course for the elementary 
school principal, is ‘“‘ The Principal and His School,” and on page 55 of the announce- 
ment you will find outlined a major in administration which most of the students 
preparing for administration follow. That is, in addition to the specific course we 
insist that they carry courses in tests, measurements, statistics, and similar work. 











178 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION 





Dean F. J. Brown, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York: 


My own personal feeling in the matter is that such a course should stress super- 
vision and minimize administration. One of the gravest dangers, I think, is that we 
shall make of the elementary school principal a technician rather than an educa- 
tional advisor. 

I appreciate the work which the Department of Elementary School Principals 
is doing, as I am very interested in the problem of the evolution of the principal- 
ship. If I can be of any assistance at any time in any way I shall be glad to do so. 


Roy A. Crouch, Principal, University Elementary School, University 
of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri: 


In thinking over what should be the minimum training for an elementary school 
principal, I have decided in my own mind that in view of the fact that my study 
shows the medium amount of work for the elementary school principal is 4.2 years, 
it would seem that the principal should have at least one year’s graduate work. | 
shall be glad to furnish you any data that I have that will help you in preparing 
your report. 


Worth McClure, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Seattle, Wash. : 


The elementary school principal should secure his A. B. degree before entering 
service. Candidates for principalships should be required to hold this degree with 
a major in education. It is not too much to expect that the principal in service will 
continue his professional training and that he will eventually earn his master’s 
and even his doctorate. 

It is very possible that the next twenty-five years will see the M.A. established 
as a requirement of candidates for the principalship, since by that time graduate 
courses especially for principals will have been prepared and tested. All too fre- 
quently at present the graduate courses which are offered do not contribute defi- 
nitely to the service of the principal. They do, however, give him a breadth of 
view which is desirable for every educational leader. 


Leonard Power, Principal, Franklin School, Port Arthur, ‘Texas: 


We should say that the difference between an elementary school principal and 
a high school principal is to be found only in the differences of their schools. ‘There 
should be nothing to indicate a difference in training required and this should 
extend to the teachers as well. By difference in training | refer to difference in 
amount rather than kind. One does not need to make a general survey to note the 
actual difference that now exists and that must be broken down. Our aim should 
be to so extend the field of elementary education that there would be a life work 
in it for any man or woman inclined by nature to work with children of a 
younger age. 

It seems to me that the point where general training ends and special profes- 
sional training begins is the same for all teachers. All should have had at least 
the four years of training beyond the high school. 


James F. Hosic, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York: 


I will venture to repeat in writing the suggestion which I made when we were 
together in Kansas City, that you ask each member of our committee to come to 
the meeting prepared to state definitely just what ought to be done with some one 
portion of our work. For example, Dean Kemp would be prepared, I should think, 
to deal with certification; Worth McClure would be a good man to discuss the 
training of principals in service. I will, if you wish, outline the problem of regu- 
lar and summer school courses in universities. Doubtless other similar topics will 
occur to you. 











ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 179 








From Worth McClure, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Seattle, 
Wash. : 


I have the following to suggest: 

1. That the effort to have a full-time research man assigned to the job analysis 
of the principalship be continued. If one of the foundations will not make the neces- 
sary appropriation, we should not hesitate to ask the National Education Associa- 
tion to do so, in my judgment. I believe Mr. Crabtree could be shown the value 
of such a contribution. 

2. That the judgment of superintendents of schools in cities of various sizes be 
obtained as to feasible standards of preparation for elementary school principals. 
My thought is that a higher standard can be set and maintained in cities of 500,- 
ooo and over than in smaller cities, perhaps. The procedure would be to prepare 
a separate questionnaire for each size-group of cities and to segregate and tabu- 
late the returns separately. Mr. Norton could handle this for us very nicely. 

3. There would be a summary of courses now offered, both in regular and sum- 
mer sessions, which are genuine professional training courses for principals, and 
not such in name only. ‘Too many courses in supervision have been merely courses 
in teaching methods in disguise. Method in teaching a subject and method in super- 
vising that same subject are two different problems and should be treated as such. 
The idea would be to give this survey considerable publicity through the National 
Education Association Journal and the bulletins of our Department. Dr. Hosic, I 
believe, is accumulating some material of this kind which may cover exactly what 
is desired. 


Superintendent John L. Bracken says: 


I would like very much to see this committee establish certain desirable norms 
of training, experience and personal equipment against which candidates for the 
principalship may be checked. ‘There might be various levels concerned here. 
Four years training might be adequate while five years training, including speci- 
fied subject-matter, would be better. Entrance at certain ages into the principal- 
ship might be advantageous. The balancing of classes among such departments 
as sociology, psychology, educational, administration and supervision of teaching 
might well be made. 

May I make this as a concrete suggestion. In line with the effective work which 
has been done in the field of the classroom teacher would it not be possible for our 
committee to develop a self-grading form for the elementary school principals to 
use. The training and preparation of principals would form a considerable part 
of this plan. Other vital matters varying from routine up to leadership would be 
included. I personally feel that the individual’s check of his own qualifications on 
such a form would be of greater value than that of an additional certification on 
some putside source. If this seems to be along the line which our committee might 
follow, I will be glad to hear from you concerning it. 


And this from Superintendent Edwin C. Broome: 


As I see it, the strategic position in very school system is that of the principal. 
No matter how adequate the leadership of the superintendent or how competent 
the teaching force, good results cannot be obtained without a live, progressive, 
and intelligent principal. His influence works both ways—from the superintendent 
to the teachers and from the teachers to the superintendent. 


The following letter was sent to the deans of education of seventy-five 
of the leading colleges and universities: 

The Department of Elementary School Principals of the National Education Asso- 
ciation has a committee on standards and training for the elementary school prin- 
cipalship. We made a report of progress at the Indianapolis meeting last summer; 











180 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION 





the committee was continued and directed to bring in a report for the summer 
meeting of the National Education Association in 1926. 

We want to know what courses your university is offering to elementary school 
principals and would like also to have you give us your thoughts on this subject 
and what the prospects are in the near future for growth in such courses. Your 
current catalogue will give us some information on this subject but we would like 
to have you also express your views in a letter. 

We are hoping that this investigation and report will be useful in pointing the 
way as to what the leading institutions should offer to elementary school prin- 
cipals. 

There is a growing demand that the elementary school principal should be the 
real head of his school and should be held responsible for its administration and 
supervision. 

We will appreciate your cooperation in this investigation. 

Yours sincerely, 
W. T. LoncsHore, Chairman. 


The following are quotations from: 


Dean Henry W. Holmes, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 


I quite agree with you that the principal should be the real head of his school, 
and that means that he ought to know education thoroughly before he undertakes 
his work and that he should be given an opportunity on the job to spend the better 
part of his time in genuine educational direction. 


F. E. Spaulding, Department of Education, Yale University, New Haven, 
Connecticut : 


I am quite in sympathy with the idea that the elementary school principal should 
become increasingly influential as the head of the school. In recent years—and 
particularly in the larger city school systems—the tendency to extreme centraliza- 
tion has often involved the undue subordination of the elementary principal to 
central authorities. 


Dean M. G. Neale, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri: 


The reactions of the faculty of the school of education on this curriculum are to 
the effect that the elementary school principalship in city schools is coming to be a 
position of such responsibility and importance that it should require at least a 
year of graduate training. We, therefore, consider the curriculum outlined in our 
catalog as being merely a preliminary to a year of graduate study in the field of 
supervision and administration. 

If our graduate school continues to grow as it has during the past two years, we 
shall undoubtedly greatly increase our offerings. 


R. A. Schwegler, Acting Dean, School of Education, University of 
Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas: 


With reference to my own views, permit me to say that the University of Kansas 
is now taking definite steps looking toward the development of highly specialized 
professional training for the elementary school principalship. We already have 
courses pertaining to the theory of this office. We are now developing courses that 
shall be more specifically pointed in the direction of administrative responsibility 
and routine. Our courses in measurement, supervision, curriculum building and 
individual diagnosis are already pointed quite definitely in the direction of the 
work of such officials. We hope within the very near future to be able to report to 
you a cleancut, thorough-going program of opportunity such as you have in mind. 











ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 181 





Dean A. S. Whitney, School of Education, University of Michigan, 
Ann Arbor, Michigan: 


Personally I am much interested in the development of the elementary school 
principalship. It seems to me the next important step in the evolution of our pub- 
lic school system. The status of the superintendent and the high school principal is 
fairly well defined at the present time, but the status of the elementary school prin- 
cipal is still chaotic. In many respects the elementary school principal will, in my 
judgment, become the most important school official in connection with our public 
schools and therefore his office should be scientifically developed, publicly recog- 
nized and adequately remunerated. He will be the expert supervisor, the expert 
technician, and in many respects will render the most valued service of all of the 
public officials. He should be given large powers within his own school, and held 
accountable for results. General supervisors and general assistants should work 
through him and at his dictation. It is only in this way, as it seems to me, can the 
highest efficiency in our public school systems be secured. 


O. H. Werner, Associate Professor of Education, University of Ne- 
braska, Lincoln, Nebraska: 


I have watched with considerable interest your efforts to elevate the elementary 
school principalship. I think you are doing a piece of work which is eminently 
worthwhile. The average superintendent of schools is so busy with administrative 
affairs that he cannot keep in close touch with the elmentary school. Your notion 
that the principal should be made responsible head is a move in the right direction. 


W. S. Small, Dean, College of Education, University of Maryland: 


The principle that “the elementary school principal should be the real head of 
his school and should be held responsible for its administration and supervision ” 
is obviously sound—provided that it means that the principal should be a leader, 
not a boss. 


H. L. Smith, Dean, School of Education, Indiana University, Bloom- 
ington, Indiana: 


Personally I feel that the elementary school principal should have specific and 
definite training for the responsibilities connected with the principal’s position. I 
look forward to the time when we may add to our course at least one other, namely, 
practice as an elementary school principal, under the directorship of an efficient 
elementary school principal in charge of a building. 


Orville G. Brim, Department of Principles of Education, Ohio State 
University, Columbus, Ohio: 


There is in this state a rapidly developing consciousness on the part of the ele- 
mentary school principal. It is being encouraged as far as this institution can do 
so and will in the near future show itself in much larger representation on the 
campus. 


Guy M. Wilson, Professor of Education, Boston University, Boston, 
Massachusetts : 


I am enclosing a bulletin of our courses for the second semester. You will note 
that Professor Blair gives a course on the elementary school principal; Professor 
Mahoney on progressive teaching practices, and the courses in the curriculum and 
measurement of intelligence by myself. Mr. Mahoney also gives a course on the 
improvement of teaching through supervision, which is especially adapted to the 
elementary school principal. Then of course, we have the usual courses in psy- 
chology (which I hope are a little unusual), history of education, offered by the 
dean, and courses in sociology, etc. If you have any further questions do not 
hesitate to write me again. I shall be glad to help you if it is possible. 











182 NATIONAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION 





Grover H. Alderman, Dean, School of Education, University of Pitts- 
burgh: 

At a recent meeting of our faculty a committee was appointed to recommend 
courses to prepare people for various positions in the field. One of these positions 
which we had in mind was the position of the elementary school principal. At 
the present time thirty-three courses are given in the department of elementary 
education. Two of these have to do with the administrative side of the work of 
the elementary school principal, and thirty-one have to do with the supervision of 
various subjects in the elementary field. 


Freeman Daughters, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana: 


I am glad to see that the elementary school principals are going after this mat- 
ter seriously. It will, without doubt, greatly improve the work of the elementary 
schools when the principals investigate the standards and training which elemen- 
tary school principals should possess. I am sure some very valuable results will 
come from this investigation. 


Paul Klapper, Dean, College of the City of New York. 


It seems to me the time has come when there must be specialized training to 
prepare teachers for administrative duties. The teacher who becomes a principal 
and has no other training than that which is incidental in the course of class teach- 
ing usually has a very narrow conception of the duties of the principal. Such 
people, I find, are apt to regard the principal as an officer whose duties are limited 
altogether to the supervision of the quality of instruction in the classroom. Such 
people are concerned with the technique of instruction. They are very likely to 
overlook altogether the large community relationships which the principal must 
establish and the large social program which the school must carry through if it 
is to educate the whole child and all the children. I am sending you in addition 
to the copy of the letter that we addressed to Professor Hosic the bulletin of the 
school of education. 


COMMITTEE ON TRAINING FOR THE ELEMENTARY 
SCHOOL PRINCIPALSHIP 


MEETING AT RALEIGH HOTEL, WASHINGTON, D. C., FEB. 24, 1926 


Members present—W. T. Longshore (chairman), J. F. Hosic (sec- 
retary), Jessie M. Fink, C. H. Judd, W. W. Kemp, Worth McClure, 
J. C. Morrison, J. K. Norton, Leonard Power, Ide G. Sargeant. 

A brief summary of the results of correspondence with departments of 
education was given by the chairman. 

Mr. Sargeant urged that a report in some form be made at the Philadel- 
phia meeting in the summer. 

Since Professor Judd felt obliged to hurry away, he was called upon to 
sum up his answer to the question, What research work should be done in 
college courses for principals? He favored general courses in education for 
principals in order that persons may be trained to see a local situation as a 
whole. Specifically the speaker urged three main topics, namely, child 
accounting, curriculum reconstruction, and supervision. He would not begin 
with courses in general school administration. Principals should be trained 
to make periodical reports on their schools. All courses should be conducted 
in the spirit of research. 


s 








ry 
n- 


to 


ras T 


st 





ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 183 





Professor Morrison questioned whether we are making enough of gen- 
eral administration. Principals should know how to use office hours and 
train their clerks to handle routine. They should spend their time in super- 
vision, which, after some discussion, was defined as effort of all kinds to 
improve instruction. 

Professor Judd informed the committee that there is a general commis- 
sion on administrative units, which has nine sub-committees, one of which 
is on the principalship. 

Messrs. Hosic and Norton, at the request of the chairman, submitted a 
tentative outline of a plan of procedure for the committee. On motion of 
Dean Kemp, this was adopted. The directive sub-committees called for 
by the plan is composed of Messrs. Longshore, Hosic, Morrison, Norton, and 
Sargeant. 

Mr. Power proposed that the committee appeal directly to the principals’ 
association for funds. He would send out a circular and a letter and urge 
the immediate adoption of his standard certificate. The proposition was 
referred to the directive sub-committee. 

The sub-committee was directed to develop the outline in detail for 
presentation at the Philadelphia meeting as a program of work. 

Dean Kemp warned against giving the impression that our immediate 
object is increase of salary. We should first concentrate on standards. 

The committee adjourned. 

Four members of the directive sub-committee spent several hours together 
the following morning and mapped out a plan of action in some detail. 
Nine problems for investigation were defined. At the Philadelphia meet- 
ing Mr. Longshore will present the plan of the committee, Professor Mor- 
rison will summarize investigations so far made as to functions and status 
of elementary school principals, and Professor Hosic will report on what 
courses for principals are actually being given in normal schools, colleges, 
and universities. 


EDITORIAL 


LANS are under way which promise to make the Philadelphia meeting 
of the National Education Association one of the best ever held. 

The central theme around which President McSkimmon is building her 
program is “‘ America’s Challenge to Her Teachers.” 

The time assigned to the Department of Elementary School Principals 
is Tuesday afternoon, June 29, and Thursday afternoon, July 1. 

President Ide G. Sargeant is preparing a program for our Elementary 
Principals’ Department in keeping with the “ challenge ” which our most 
able president has thrown out to us. 

The secretary and editor of the Bulletin takes this opportunity to ex- 
press her personal appreciation of the excellent articles which have been 
furnished for the October, January and April Bulletins. Our readers, the 
country over, have been generous in their praise of the helpful, inspira- 
tional material which has been furnished by the contributors to the Bulletin. 








184 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION 





We have made requests for brief writeups of the suggestive, helpful ac- 
tivities of principals’ organizations and of outstanding achievements in dif- 
ferent schools. As the Bulletin is limited to sixty pages, some of the material 
sent in will be passed on to the editor for next year. 

We are especially grateful to Mr. Shankland and his National Education 
Association headquarters’ staff for their help and valuable guidance. 

The board of education in the residential suburb of Milwaukee known 
as Shorewood, is to be congratulated on its progressive attitude toward 
professionalism on the part of its school people. This is evidenced by the 
fact that during the last two years they have sent 100 percent of their 
administrative officers, superintendent and principals, to the mid-year meet- 
ing of the Department of Superintendence, with its meetings of allied or- 
ganizations, not only giving them the time and paying salaries while gone 
but all expenses incurred in making the trip. Such an attitude cannot fail 
to make for real professional growth on the part of the school and is far- 
reaching in its effect on the lives of the children in the care of this school 
board. 

Business session—In the business session of the Department of Elemen- 
tary School Principals on Tuesday, February 23, presided over by President 
Ide G. Sargeant, a motion was carried that the president be empowered to 
appoint a membership secretary. A membership campaign is now on and the 
membership goal set for the Philadelphia meeting is 10,000. 

Olive M. Jones spoke on the problem-behavior child report and urged 
study of this field by elementary principals. Miss Jones suggested that 
a part of the yearbook could profitably be devoted to this study. A 
discussion of the yearbook and the work and expense involved followed: 
also a discussion of the advisability of raising the dues to meet coming needs 
and demands brought out the opinions of those present. 

Meeting of Committee on Standards and Training for Elementary Prin- 
cipals—On Wednesday morning, February 24, at 7: 30 breakfast conference 
meeting, Chairman W. T. Longshore brought forth most profitable reports 
and discussions. 

Dr. Judd, Dr. Hosic, and Dean Kemp, of California, lead in discussion 
of standards and training for the elementary school principalship. Partici- 
pating in the discussions were President Ide G. Sargeant, of New Jersey; 
Chairman Longshore, Kansas City, Missouri; W. A. Roe, New Jersey; 
Helen Shove, Minneapolis, Minnesota; John Merrill, Detroit, Michigan; 
Anna Laura Force, of Denver; Leonard Power, of Dallas, Texas; Mrs. 
Jessie Fink, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Olive M. Jones, New York City; 
E. Ruth Pyrtle, Lincoln, Nebraska; Arthur Gist, Seattle, Washington; 
C. V. Davis, Norfolk, Virginia; F. H. Duffy, Stuebenville, Ohio; and 
John K. Norton, head of the Division of Research of the National Educa- 
tion Association. 

Dr. Hosic gave the state of Ohio the credit of being ahead in the study 
and analysis of the principal’s job. 

All were agreed that the principal’s time could most profitably be spent 
in child accounting, general study of the curriculum, follow-up methods and 
intensive study of supervision of technique of instruction. 








ac- 
lif- 
‘ial 


on 





ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 185 





Clerical work in the principal’s office should be done by office help, leaving 
the time of the principal for the more important duties, was the opinion 
of all. 

Dr. Judd was of the opinion that the superintendent should require a 
periodic report of his principals on the work in his building—the best things 
going on and the methods used to accomplish this best. 

Dinner meeting—The Department of Elementary School Principals’ din- 
ner was again one of the greatest gatherings of the winter meeting. 

Some three hundred guests representing every state in the Union gath- 
ered in the beautiful ballroom of the Raleigh Hotel. A local committee of 
Washington principals planned elaborate decorations of banks of tulips and 
pussywillows, and tulip place cards. 

The gay spring decorations together with the many colorful evening 
gowns made a gay assemblage in the famous Washington ballroom. 

Seated at the speaker’s table were: The toastmaster, President Ide G. 
Sargeant and Mrs. Sargeant, Mary McSkimmon, president of the Na- 
tional Education Association, Superintendent Ballou and Mrs. Ballou, 
Olive M. Jones, Mary Sullivan, president of Department of Class- 
room Teachers, Katherine M. Blake, Dr. Judd, Dr. Hosic, Otis W. 
Caldwell, Mary Lackey, former presidents; Power, McClure, Long- 
shore and Fink; also Vice-President Helen Shove; Secretary E. Ruth 
Pyrtle; Treasurer C. V. Davis and Anna Laura Force and Arthur S. 
Gist, of the Executive Committee; General Lincoln C. Andrews, Miss 
Mary A. Dilger, Joy Elmer Morgan, of the National Education Asso- 
ciation; W. A. Roe, New Jersey; and F. H. Duffy, Ohio. 

President Ide G. Sargeant in his most delightful after-dinner speech- 
making way called forth from all the guests at the speakers’ table not only 
witty entertaining after-dinner stories and reminiscences, but words of real 
wisdom for our future guidance. 

The roll was called by states, so every person present made a contribution 
to the evening’s pleasure. 

Committee on Educational Progress—One of the most enthusiastic meet- 
ings of the entire convention in Washington of the Department of Superin- 
tendence and allied organizations was the breakfast held by the Committee 
on Educational Progress at the Washington Hotel, Thursday morning, 
February 25, 1926. 

The meeting was presided over by the chairman, F. H. Duffy, principal, 
Roosevelt School, Steubenville, Ohio. The following were present: Ide G. 
Sargeant, president; E. Ruth Pyrtle, secretary; Helen B. Shove, first vice- 
president; Jessie Fink and W. T. Longshore, former presidents, all of the 
national Department; Florence Holbrook, Chicago; Rose Pesta, Chicago; 
Caroline Drisko, Kansas City, Kansas; Wm. B. Cornish, Stamford, Con- 
necticut; Jesse M. Carnine, Fargo, North Dakota; J. E. Healy, Norfolk, 
Virginia; Marion Parkhurst, Burlington, Vermont; Jessie McCord, Port- 
land, Oregon; Edwin Y. Montayne, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; John 
Merril, Detroit, Michigan; Eunice E. Parr, San Antonio, Texas; Robert 
St. Clair, St. Louis, Missouri; Geo. C. Rogers, Charleston, South Caro- 








186 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION 





lina; C. L. Miller, Cincinnati, Ohio; Kathryn Mansfield, Canton, Ohio; 
Mary N. Austin, Omaha, Nebraska; O. C. Griggs, Tulsa, Oklahoma; 
Gertrude Barr, Chattanooga, Tennessee; Edyth J. Brown, South Bend, 
Indiana; Worth McClure, Seattle, Washington; N. G. West, Rochester, 
New York; Arthur S. Gist, Seattle, Washington. 

Publicity of progress was the keynote sounded by the chairman as the 
objective to be attained by this committee. Expressions: “ We will be 
remunerated in proportion to what we give.”—Shove. ‘“ Set up an objective 
and attain it.”—Mansfield. “A principal who is aggressive will create 
more friends than he will enemies.’—Duffy. “ Let the public know what 
problems you are working out in your community.” —Gist. “ More progress, 
more publicity, more members, 5000 principals at the Philadelphia meet- 
ing.” —Sargeant. ‘“‘ Drove 900 miles in thirty-six hours to be at this meeting. 
Missouri is being shown.”—St. Clair. “ The public needs to be informed 
of the progress made by the elementary principals.” —Fink. “ One thousand 
teachers subscribed $3.00 each to have Dr. Kilpatrick, of Columbia, give a 
series of four lectures, fostered by the Omaha Elementary Principals’ 
Club.” —Austin. ‘“‘ The elementary principals are doing as much if not 
more to improve the schools of the nation as any other group of people in 
the country.” —Longshore. 

The final report will be ready for the Philadelphia meeting and it is 
proposed to have every state and outlying possession in the Union repre- 
sented. Three fourths of the states now have active committee members 
and very fruitful results are expected from this national study. 


OMEONE recently said that the greatest indoor sport of edu- 
cators is curriculum revision, and that it had become so 
| fascinating that no one seemed able to resist it. Be that as it may, 
St. Louis is engaged in it on a large scale. Two significant aspects 
stand out in the work: it will be done under leadership specifically 
trained for the work; and it will be done on a broad democratic 
plan. In this connection I propose this thought, that curriculum 
construction and revision is so significant that it should be ade- 
quately provided for in the budget. Some cities and states have set 
| the precedent of appropriating sums for this purpose. One city 
appropriated $60,000. At the same time it paid architects fees of 
more than $70,000 on one high school building. Practice indicates 
| that the profession and the public, in general at least, approve of 
| architect’s fees for building construction. Since curricula are one 
' of the three necessary elements in education, the pupil and the 
| teacher being the other two, would it not be well to give considera- 





tion to the question of providing in the budget for their construc- 
tion and revision?—J. S. Nants, Principat, Bates ScHOOL, 
St. Louis, Missouri 














DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


President—Ipe G. SARGEANT, Public School No. 10, Paterson, New Jersey. 
Secretary —E. RuTH Pyrtie, McKinley School, Lincoln, Nebraska. 


THE PHILADELPHIA PROGRAM 


June 27 to July 2 is the week for the annual meeting of the National 
Education Association and for this Department. 

Special railroad rates, one and one half fare for the round trip, may be 
secured. Write National Education Association Headquarters at Washing- 
ton or your state director for identification certificate. If you neglect to 
secure, in advance, your identification certificate, no adjustment of fare can 
be made after arrival at Philadelphia. 

Philadelphia is a city of fine hotels. Rates are reasonable. Dormitories 
and approved rooming houses of the University of Pennsylvania, Temple 
University, and Drexel Institute, also offer accommodations. All should 
keep in mind that conditions incidental to the Sesquicentennial Exposition 
will seriously tax hotel facilities during convention week. 

Secure your reservations now. Apply to Harry J. Gideon, chairman, 
Housing Committee, Grant School, 17th and Pine Sts., Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania. 


PROFESSIONAL PROGRAM 


“ America’s Challenge to Her Teachers” is the central theme around 
which all programs will be built. 

There will be three full afternoon sessions for our Department, Monday, 
Tuesday and Thursday, June 28, June 29 and July 1. 

Annual Dinner—The Department dinners have always been great inspi- 
rational affairs unexcelled in educational importance by any other function 
of convention week. Not only have they been attended by large numbers 
of principals but also by leading superintendents and professors of education 
in colleges and universities. Our annual dinner this year will take place at 
six o’clock, Tuesday evening, June 29. Get your tickets early. 

Breakfasts—The various activities of the Department are becoming so 
broad and numerous that the committees find it difficult to arrange for neces- 
sary conferences at the convention. But the makeup of these committees 
represent sections so distantly separated that a meeting of the full commit- 
tees at any other time is practically impossible. A happy solution of the 
problem is a series of breakfasts. Not merely a time for eating and the 
social amenities, but for the serious consideration of many important phases 
of our work. At the Philadelphia meeting there will be four breakfasts. 
Each at 7: 30 A. M., sharp, as follows: 

Monday, Representatives of Local Principals’ Associations. 

Tuesday, Official. 

Wednesday, Committee on Training and Standards. 

Thursday, Committee on Educational Progress. 


[187] 








188 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





Business Session—The annual meeting for the election of officers, re- 
ports of committees, consideration of matters of policy and other necessary 
items, will take place at 1:30 Tuesday afternoon, preceding the profes- 
sional numbers of the program. 

This will enable the newly elected officers to familiarize themselves 
with some of the routine and hold necessary conferences more expeditiously 
than would be possible after the close of the meeting. 

Among the matters to be considered are the following: 

Our Yearbook and Bulletins have been a source of pride and prestige to 
the Department. Yet they represent a great deal of careful work by our 
editors. Thus far this work has been done without financial remuneration. 
At the Washington meeting of the Executive Committee it was voted 
to pay the editor of the Yearbook $1000 for his services, as soon as our 
treasury will permit such an expenditure. Does the membership approve 
of such a policy? 

In the near future the Committee on Standards and Training will issue 
its report which promises to be a professional study of much importance 
and constitute a volume of 250 pages. How are we to pay for its publica- 
tion? Shall we apply to one of the foundations or increase our dues to 
$3 or $5. Some of our members feel strongly that we should do it our- 
selves to make it of greatest value. What is your opinion? 

Many of our members feel that we should have a permanent paid secre- 
tary to act as editor of the Yearbook and attend to numerous other details 
of service required by a vigorous, growing department. They feel that the 
additional service will result in a growth of membership sufficient to cover 
the extra expense for such an official. What is your opinion ? 

Some favor combining the editorial work of the Yearbook and Bulletin 
in the hands of one editor. Others feel just as strongly that to keep the 
editorship of the Bulletin in the hands of the Secretary, as has been our 
practice since our organization, is the wisest policy. What is your opinion? 

Oftentimes we hear about politics in educational organizations. \lostl) 
bunk, by the outs. If you have been one of the complainants, come out, 
do some work and assume some responsibility. Oftentimes our officials 
have to go ahead and shoulder the whole load or things would be at a 
standstill. 

Be there on time and make it the best and most constructive meeting 
in our history. 

In the meantime your president will appreciate letters of suggestion and 
criticism of matters to come up at the meeting. 


PROGRAM 


Monday, June 28, 1926, 1:30 P. M. 


’ 


Our Past, PresENT AND FUTURE, AS SEEN BY THE “ OLp GUARD’ 
Ide G. Sargeant, School No. 10, Paterson, New Jersey. 

THE VALUE OF A DEMONSTRATION SCHOOL 
Abby Porter Leland, Principal, John Hancock School, New York City. 











ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 189 





THE PracticAL ASPECTS OF RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION 
Frank L. Eversull, Principal, Woodward School, St. Louis, Missouri. 
THE PRINCIPAL AND THE IMPROVEMENT OF TEACHERS IN SERVICE 
Francis G. Blair, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Spring- 


field, Illinois. 


Tuesday, June 29, 1926, 1: 30 P. M. 


Reports will be limited to five minutes. 

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS. Chairman, Edwin Y. Mon- 
tayne, Harding Junior High School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Report OF COMMITTEE ON ENROLMENT. Chairman, Jessie M. Fink, 
Palmer School, Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON NOMINATIONS. 

Report OF SECRETARY. FE. Ruth Pyrtle, McKinley School, Lincoln, 
Nebraska. 

ReporT OF TREASURER. Courtland V. Davis, J. E. B. Stuart School, 
Norfolk, Virginia. 

ELections oF Orricers. Election shall be by ballot. Active members 
only are entitled to vote. 

Greetincs. Mary McSkimmon, President, National Education Associa- 
tion. 

EDUCATION OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PrincipAts. Henry W. 
Holmes, Dean, Department of Education, Harvard University. 


Thursday, July 1, 1926, 1:30 P. M. 


Report OF COMMITTEE ON STANDARDS AND TRAINING. Chairman, W. T. 
Longshore, Greenwood School, Kansas City, Missouri. 

Report OF COMMITTEE ON SALARIES. Chairman, W. A. Roe, Belmont 
Avenue School, Newark, New Jersey. 

REPoRT OF COMMITTEE ON EpUCATIONAL Procress. Chairman, F. H. 
Duffy, Roosevelt School, Steubenville, Ohio. 

RESEARCH AND THE PRINCIPALSHIP 
John K. Norton, Director Research Division, National Education Asso- 

ciation. 

TRAINING FoR CITIZENSHIP BY MEANS OF STUDENT ACTIVITIES 
Courtland V. Davis, Principal, J. E. B. Stuart School, Norfolk, Virginia. 

THE SINGLE SALARY SCHEDULE FOR PRINCIPALS 
W. F. Webster, Superintendent of Schools, Minneapolis, Minnesota. 


Group CONFERENCES 
Several group conferences of principals have been held since September 
and were addressed by our officers, and other meetings have been arranged. 


Groups addressed by President Ide G. Sargeant: 
New Jersey Principals, October 12, Atlantic City. 
Worcester County, Massachusetts, Principals, January 8, Worcester. 








190 NATIONAL EpuCcATION ASSOCIATION 





Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Principals, March 26 and 27, Phila- 
delphia, Pennsylvania. 

Massachusetts Principals, April 10, Boston. 

Northern New Jersey Principals, April 30, Newark. 

Westchester County Principals, May 1, White Plains. 


Principal W. T. Longshore: 
Rochester, New York, Principals, March 1, Rochester. 
Buffalo, New York, Principals, March 2, Buffalo. 
Detroit, Michigan, Principals, March 4, Detroit. 
Chicago, Illinois, Principals, March 6, Chicago. 

Principal Arthur S. Gist: 
Minneapolis, Minnesota, Principals, March 3, Minneapolis. 
Spokane, Washington, Principals, March 6, Spokane. 


Principal Jessie M. Fink: 
Schenectady, New York, Principals, March 2, Schenectady. 
Syracuse, New York, Principals, March 3, Syracuse. 


At the Philadelphia meeting the auditoriums were crowded both days. 
Superintendent FE. C. Broome, Principals Olive M. Jones, Lawrence S. 
Chase, James F. Hosic and Assistant State Commissioner Roscoe L. West, 
also spoke. Principals Montayne and Wilson were chairmen. 

At the Boston meeting, Commissioner Payson Smith was one of the 
speakers, and the Massachusetts Elementary School Principals’ Associa- 
tion was formed. Principal Milton L. Fuller, of Gloucester, was elected 
President, and Principal Wilhelmina Patterson, of Beverly, Secretary. 

In all the meetings a most cordial spirit of cooperation and welcome was 
shown by superintendents, supervisors and principals. Attendance ranged 
from 65 to 1000. All were enthusiastic. It would mean much in the growth 
of better things in education if such meetings could be held in every section 
of the land. 

One of the most gratifying features of these meetings was the attend- 
ance of school board members and superintendents and the deep interest 
manifested. 


HE First Yearbook is out of print. There remain in stock a 

few copies of the Second Yearbook, “The Problem of the 
Elementary School Principal in the Light of the Testing Move- 
ment,” of the Third Yearbook, “ The Status of the Elementary 
School Principal,” and the Fourth Yearbook, “ The Elementary 
School Principalship—A Study of its Instructional and Adminis- 
trative Aspects.” The price is $1.50 each. Make check payable to 
Courtland V. Davis, Treasurer, and address envelope to 1201 Six- 


teenth Street N. W., Washington, D. C. 











| DEFINITION OF MEMBERSHIP YEAR 


HE membership year in the Department of Elementary School 

Principals corresponds with the school year. Article Eight of 
the By-laws states specifically that the fiscal year begins July 1 
and ends June 30. Members receive Bulletins for October, 
January, and April, together with the Yearbook, which is published 
in June. The cost of publishing the Yearbook is over one dollar 
a copy, hence back numbers or duplicates cannot be furnished free. 





REMITTANCE FOR MEMBERSHIP 
DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


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 1925-26. One dollar of this fee is for a year’s subscription 
to the Department Bulletin. 

Kindly send all publications, including the Fifth Yearbook, to be issued 
in June, 1926, to me at the address given below. 


Name 
(Typewrite or print) 


Mailing address . 


(School or street) 


(City and State) 
My present position is