VOL. VII, NO. 1 OCTOBER, 1927 


BULLETIN 


OF THE 


Department of Elementary 
School Principals 


The President’s Message—Gist 

A Comparative Study of the Time Distribution of Rural and 
Urban Principals—English 

Evolution—The Kind That Counts—Click 

International Goodwill in Elementary Education—Poore 

Cooperative Supervision from the Viewpoint of the Elemen- 
tary School Principal—McCormick 

Cooperative Supervision—Swan 

Citizenship from the Viewpoint of the School—Burnett 

The Common Purpose Plan of Work—Thomas 

X-Y-Z Organization—Kepperling 

The Principal as a Professional Man—Brinkerhoff 

All-Year Schools—Roe 

A Democratic Form of Organization—Enfield 

Some Wholesome Reflections—Lynch 

Minutes of the Seattle Meeting—Roe 

Address at Seattle—Pyrtle 

Constitution and Bylaws 

Reports of Committees and Officers at Seattle 

Letter from Mrs, Ide G. Sargeant 











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 secondclass matter November 20, 1922, at the Postoffice at 
Washington, D. C., under act of August 24, 1912. Acceptance for mailing 
at special rate of ~~ provided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, 
authorized December 18, 1922. 











BULLETIN 
of the 
DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


Published quarterly in October, January, April, and July by the Depart- 
ment of Elementary School Principals of the National Education Asso- 
ciation of the United States. 

The payment of $3.00 active membership dues entitles a member to 
attend all meetings of the Department, to hold office, and to receive the 
Bulletin quarterly. 

Two dollars of each membership fee is for a year’s subscription to the 
Bulletin. 

Subscription to non-members is $3.00 per year; single copies, 50 cents; 
Yearbook, $2.00. 

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


Entered as secondclass matter , Meveuber 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, euthestant December 18, apm. 





Executive and Editorial Offices, 1201 Sixteenth Street Northwest, 
Washington, D. C. 





OFFICERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 
PRINCIPALS OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 
1927-28 


President, ARTHUR S. GIST 
Frick School, Oakland, California 
First Vicepresident, E. RUTH PyrtLe 
Bancroft School, Lincoln, Nebraska 
Second Vicepresident, WarreN A. RoE 
Belmont Avenue School, Newark, New Jersey 
Third Vicepresident, Herpert C. HANSEN 
Talcott School, Chicago, Illinois 
Fourth Vicepresident, Mrs, Jutta M. WHITE 
Steele School, Denver, Colorado 
Fifth Vicepresident, MarTHA M. WILSON 
ak ‘Public School 9, New York City 
Setritdny and Editor of Bulletin, HeLen B. SHove 
‘Longfellow School, Minneapolis, Minnesota 
Executive Committee 
W. T. LoncsHore, Greenwood School, Kansas City, Missouri 
(Term Expires 1928) 
Mrs. Jessie M. Fink, Buchanan School, Grand Rapids, Michigan 
(Term Expires 1929) 
M. E. Peterson, Twentieth Street School, Los Angeles, California 
(Term Expires 1930) 
ELIzABETH McCormick, Howe School, Superior, Wisconsin 
(Term Expires 1931) 








a 





THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 


ArtTuur §S. GIsT 
Frick Elementary School, Oakland, California 
HE OPENING of each school year is a time for clear thinking, 
careful analysis and firm resolution to make the ensuing year the best 
in the individual’s professional career. The elementary school principals 
of the country should resolve to build a better professional structure on 
the foundations so rapidly yet wisely and firmly built. It seems absolutely 
essential at the present time for 
each group of educators to be 
organized and to be conscien- 
tiously working along lines of 
greatest professional usefulness. 

The Department of Elemen- 
tary School Principals of the 
National Education Association 
is the one big professional or- 
ganization with which the ele- 
mentary school principals may 
be identified and to which the 
principals may turn for pro- 
fessional assistance and. often 
guidance in meeting their local 
problems. 

As your president, I urge you 
to assist us in every way possible. 
One tangible means of render- 
ing immediate assistance is to 
attend to your own membership 
dues at once and to give what 





help you can in securing addi- Aeveue & Gabe 
tional members. How many President of the Department 
principals are there who will try : 
to secure at least one new member this year, right now? You render 
professional service when you try to enlist the assistance of prospective 
members, a service to them and a service to our useful organization and to 
our great profession. Annual membership dues are $3, which brings to 
each member three 64-page bulletins containing the addresses delivered at 
our two national meetings, professional articles and news items of much 
interest and value. It also brings our yearbook of more than 300 pages. 
Our goal this year is 10,000 members. 

The 1928 yearbook will consist of the report of our Committee on 
Standards and Training for the Elementary School Principalship. This 
committee is headed by W. T. Longshore of Kansas City, Missouri. It 


(3] 











+ NATIONAL EpucCATION ASSOCIATION 





has been at work some two years, being assisted by educators of note and 
the Research Division of the National Education Association staff in Wash- 
ington. This report will consist of 350 pages and will point the way toward 
a high type of training for those looking forward to principalships and to 
those in service, by setting up the right kind of standards for the office 
and by indicating the kind of training necessary to realize these standards. 

The Committee on International Relations is headed by M. E. Peterson 
of Los Angeles. Mr. Peterson had the rare opportunity of attending the 
Toronto meeting in July and of conferring with persons of note from all 
countries. Among other undertakings, this committee hopes to formulate 
some definite plans to be included in our courses of study, looking forward 
toward fostering a better feeling and a closer understanding among nations. 
At this time it seems highly probable that this committee will have a printed 
report of a most suggestive and helpful nature ready for the members of 
this Department some time during the present school year. 

Other committees, such as the Committee on Educational Progress, will 
continue to give the usual fine type of service to us. 

The plans for a great meeting in Boston are rapidly taking shape. Fol- 
lowing is a list of some of the topics likely to be discussed : 

1. Character education—its practical aspects 

2. Supervision—criteria for judging its effectiveness 


3. Visual education 
4. Safety instruction 


These topics will be discussed by practical administrators who are con- 
sidered authorities in their respective fields. Any suggestions regarding 
our programs, topics or speakers, committee and research work, or admin- 
istrative plans will be gladly received by the president. In fact, the “ latch- 
string ” for suggestions is always hanging outside. 

Let’s work together to make this a significant year in our organization, 
each working unselfishly in the interest of all principals with no thought 
of individual honors, political preferment or professional advancement 
because of service rendered or contacts made. 


A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE TIME DISTRIBUTION 
OF RURAL AND URBAN PRINCIPALS 


MILDRED ENGLISH 
Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Raleigh, North Carolina 


HE IDEA of supervision as the prime duty of the principal is being 
advanced by many educational writers today. Crouch®* says, “ At the 
present time it is quite generally accepted by those who have given much 
thought to problems in educational administration that the most important 
duty of an elementary school principal is the supervision of instruction.” 


*Crouch, Roy A. “The Status of the Elementary School Principal.” The Fifth 
Yearbook of the Department of Elementary School Principals, Vol. V, No. 4, 
250-257, July, 1926. 








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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 5 





McClure’ found that superintendents of schools expect their principals to 
devote more time to supervision than to matters of administration or 
clerical work. 

Pollick,? from questionnaires filled out by superintendents of schools in 
39 large cities, found that “ 31, or 89 percent, of the 35 superintendents 
reporting, state that they consider ability to supervise as one of the 3 most 
important qualities to be looked for in candidates for elementary school 
principalships.” 

A speaker at a teachers’ assembly in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1925, 
made the statement to the principals’ department that school principals were 
doing nothing but sitting in the office, answering the phone, and checking 
excuses. The Raleigh principals determined to find out where their time 
was going and, in conference, worked out a blank for keeping a record of 
their daily time, using Dr. Cubberley’s * list of the duties of the principal as 
a basis for the outline and adding to it the items that go to make up the 
principal’s day at any time during the year. Dr. Sherrod’s* classification 
and grouping was made use of in the final revision of the outline. ‘The 
main divisions into which the duties grouped themselves are (1) supervision ; 
(2) administration; (3) community leadership; (4) professional study and 
growth; (5) clerical work. A record of the time for a period of two months 
in the spring of 1925 showed that the major part of their time was going 
to administrative details. 

In the fall of 1925 the superintendent of Wake County told the prin- 
cipals of the large rural schools that they were to be held responsible for 
the supervision of the elementary grades in the schools of which they were 
principals. Feeling the need of further study of the distribution of their 
time, the urban principals invited the rural principals to join them in the 
study, not only to find how the time was distributed at that particular 
period, but looking toward the elimination and delegation of certain duties 
that more time might be available for supervision. 

The two groups of principals, in conference, worked over the list of duties 
used the preceding year by the urban principals, adding to it duties belong- 
ing to the rural principals, as transportation. In the main, however, the 
list of duties was workable for both groups. A discussion of the meaning of 
each duty and an understanding of the terms used was necessary, that the 
results might be as nearly uniform as possible. 


*McClure, Worth. “The Functions of the Elementary School Principal,” The 
Elementary School Journal, 21: 500-514, March, 1921. 
? Pollick, R. E. “ Superintendents’ Standards and Policies in the Selection, Ap- 


' pointment and Promotion of Elementary School Principals,” Elementary School 


Journal, Vol. 26, No. 2, 107-111, October, 1925. 

*Cubberley, E. P. The Principal and His School, Boston: Houghton, Mifflin 
Company, 1923. 

“Sherrod, C. C. “The Duties of an Elementary School Principal,” Peabody 
Journal of Education, 1: 135-142, November, 1923. 











6 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





——— 


It was agreed by those undertaking the study that it would be more 
satisfactory to make the report weekly, and the blank was prepared 
accordingly. Time given to school duties on Saturday and Sunday was 
included in the week’s total. —The method followed by the principals in 
keeping their time was as follows—each principal kept a small notebook in 
which was entered the time a duty was begun. When it was finished, the 
time was noted. For some duties it was sufficient only to note the number 
of minutes given to it. At the end of the day, the time, in minutes, was 
entered upon the “time sheet.” A place on the blank was provided for 
recording the time necessary to keep this record. In the final tabulation, 
the time is shown in the percent of the total time given to each duty. 

The time of the principals was kept for a period of six weeks in the fall, 
and for a period of eight weeks in the spring. Nine urban principals and 
eight rural principals made reports for the fall period, and nine urban and 
ten rural principals made reports for the spring period. 

The first period is typical of regular work for the principals of both 
groups with the exception of the giving of tests during one week by the 
urban principals. The second period included a week of tests and the group 

center commencements for the rural principals and a week given to the 
reorganization for the spring semester in the urban schools. This span of 
time may be considered as representative of a complete distribution of the 
year’s work in that it includes a phase of all of the major activities of the 
school year. (Rugg says that a study of a carefully selected group will give 
approximately the same results as a study of the whole. ) 

Included in the groups making the study are teaching and non-teaching 
elementary school principals, and non-teaching high school principals, in 
the urban schools, and teaching principals of combined elementary and 
high rural schools. Since the principals of the rural combined elementary 
and high schools had as their chief work for the year the supervision of 
the elementary grades in their respective schools, the time reported by the 
principals of both rural and urban schools is largely for the work with the 
elementary grades. 

Statement of the problem—The purpose of this study has been to com- 
pare the time distribution of the rural principal with that of the urban 
principal; to analyze the time given by both rural and urban principals to 
the various duties that go to make up the principal’s day; to compare the 
time of the principals making this investigation with the time given to 
similar duties by principals as reported in available studies; to compare the 
time of the rural and urban principals given to the various duties with 
expert opinion as given in contemporary professional literature. 

Briefly, the study undertakes to answer the following questions: 


1. How does the time distribution of the rural principal compare with that of the 
urban principal? 

2. How does the percent of time given by the rural principals to supervision, 
administration, community leadership, professional study, and clerical work com- 
pare with the time given to these duties by the urban principals? 








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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 7 





3. How does the percent of time given to each duty by rural and urban principals 
compare with the percent of time given to such duties by principals as reported in 


available studies? . 
3. How does the percent of time given by rural and urban principals compare 
with expert opinion as expressed in contemporary professional literature? 


A study’ is reported of the importance of functions in actual practice as 
observed by 13 university professors which gives administration first place ; 
clerical duties, second; supervision, third; community leadership, fourth; 
and professional study and growth, fifth. It is interesting to note that the 
time distribution of the two groups of principals in this study differs from 
that report only in that supervision comes second and clerical work, third. 
The rank of the duties upon the basis of time emphasis of the rural and 
urban principals in this study also follows the order found by Seattle * 
principals after a week’s study of their time, and that of the Detroit ° 
principals, as well. 

The Los Angeles * principals rank administration and constructive organi- 
zation, first; routine activities, second ; learning activities, third ; imperative 
and emergency activities, fourth; and professional study, fifth. By a study 
of the outline used by the Los Angeles principals, the first two divisions are 
found to include the items classed as administration and clerical work in this 
study. “‘ Learning activities’ would be classed as supervision, which, with 
them has third place; with the principals in this study, second. Professional 
study is ranked fifth by the Los Angeles principals, also. 

In the Ohio’® study the principals who give approximately as much time 
to teaching as do these principals, put teaching first; classroom supervision, 
second ; administration, third, and clerical work, fourth. 

In a study by Mr. Crouch,’ of the elementary principalship in the United 
States, supervision of instruction exceeded all other functions. His classifica- 
tion is not such that the comparison can be carried further. 

A comparison of the actual distribution of the time of the rural and 
urban principals included in this study with the distribution of the time of 


*McClure, Worth. “The Functions of the Elementary School Principal,” The 
Elementary School Journal, 21: 500-514, March, 1921. 

> McClure, Worth. “The Functions of the Elementary School Principal,” The 
Elementary School Journal, 21: 500-514, March, 1921. 

* Bates, Guy. “ Functions of the Elementary School Principal,” Journal of Educa- 
tional Method, Vol. IV, 178-184, January, 1925. 

*Kuehny, Menlo S. “The Effect on the Use and Distribution of the Elementary 
School Principal’s Time by the Adoption of Daily Schedules or Programs,” Depart- 
ment of Elementary School Principals, Bulletin, Vol. V, No. 1, 42-51, October, 1925. 

® Connors, F. Herrick and Morrison, J. Cayce. “ The Influence of the Size of City 
upon the Work of the Elementary School Principal.” Educational Research Bulletin, 
Vol. V, No. 3, 45-59, February 3, 1926. 

*Crouch, Roy A. “The Status of the Elementary School Principal,” Fifth 
Yearbook, Department of Elementary School Principals, Vol. V, No. 4, 250-257, 
July, 1926. 











8 NATIONAL EpuUCATION ASSOCIATION 





the Detroit’ and Ohio’ principals and with the times estimated as ideal 
by university professors * is given in Table I. 

To supervision the rural principals in this study give a smaller percent 
of time than do the Detroit * principals and approximately the same percent 
of time as do the Ohio’ principals, while the urban principals exceed the 
percent of time of the Ohio’ principals. Both groups fall very much below 
the ideal as estimated by the university professors,’ by the Detroit * and by 
the Ohio” principals. 

In administration, the principals represented in the groups studied exceed 
the percent of time given by Ohio ” principals to this function, but fall short 
of that of the Detroit” principals. A larger percent of time is given to 
administration by both groups than the percentages estimated as ideal. 

The rural principals give a smaller percent of time to clerical work than 
the percent estimated as ideal by the university professors, while the urban 
principals give approximately the same percent of their time to this phase 
of the work. Ohio” principals spend a smaller percent of time in teaching 
than do either the rural or urban groups in this study. 

How does the percent of time given to daily routine by the rural prin- 
cipals compare with that of the urban principals?—Approximately one fourth 
of the time reported for administration by each group is given to daily 
routine. The urban high school principals give the largest percent of their 
time to this phase of the work. The teaching principals in both urban and 
rural schools give less time to daily routine than do the other two groups. 

Table II shows the comparison of the percent of the total time given 
to the duties under daily routine by the rural and urban principals. 


* Bates, Guy. “Functions of the Elementary School Principal,” Journal of Educa- 
tional Method, Vol. 4, No. 5, 178-184, January, 1925. 

* Connors, F. Herrick and Morrison, J. Cayce. “A Contrast of the Preparation 
and Work of Men and Women Elementary School Principals.” Educational 
Research Bulletin, Vol. IV, No. 17, 255-260, November 18, 1925. 

*McClure, Worth. “The Functions of the Elementary School Principal.” The 
Elementary School Journal, 21: 500-514, March, 1921. 

* Bates, Guy. “Functions of the Elementary School Principal,” Journal of Educa- 
tional Method, Vol. IV, No. 5, 178-184, January, 1925. 

* Connors, F. Herrick and Morrison, J. Cayce. “A Contrast of the Preparation 
and Work of Men and Women Elementary School Principals,” Educational 
Research Bulletin, Vol. IV, No. 17, 355-360, November 18, 1925. 

* Ibid. 

*McClure, Worth. “The Functions of the Elementary School Principal,’ The 
Elementary School Journal, 21: 500-514, March, 1921. 

* Bates, Guy. Ibid. 

* Connors, F. Herrick and Morrison, J. Cayce. Ibid. 

* Ibid. 

™ McClure, Worth. Ibid. 

* Connors, F. Herrick and Morrison, J. Cayce. ““A Contrast of the Preparation and 
Work of Men and Women Elementary School Principals.” Educational Research 
Bulletin, Vol. IV, No. 17, 355-360, November 18, 1925. 








LEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


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10 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION 





Care of building and grounds appears as the first duty under daily 
routine. A well-managed, well-ordered school building is necessary for 
good work. Mr. Coulbourn’ says “ No principal is ready for classroom 
supervision until he has so organized his school that it will promote ideal 
conditions for teaching; until he has planned an effective and smooth school 
management that will carry over into the classroom and inspire the faculty 
to better teaching; until he has set up definite, concrete objectives for his 
school and until he has set up with his faculty a definite supervisory 
program.” The time given to the care of buildings and grounds is approxi- 
mately the same for the different groups. The urban elementary non- 
teaching princip2!s lead, slightly, the rural principals rank second, the urban 
high school principals, third, and the urban elementary teaching principals, 
fourth. 

The largest percent of time given to any single duty under daily routine 
goes to management of pupils, which included management of pupils on the 
playground, before and after school, in the cafeteria or lunchroom, and in 
the dormitories, in the rural schools, as well as cases of general and special 
discipline, cases of tardiness, absence from school, and first-aid. 

To management of pupils, the non-teaching principals give most time. 
The teaching principals, urban and rural, must necessarily delegate more 
of this work than the principals who are not teaching. If a good executive 
is judged not so much by what he does as by what he gets others to do, 
then the efficient principal will not allow his time to be occupied with routine 
matters that could be delegated to others. As guiding principles in delegat- 
ing work to teachers and assistants, Mr. Coulbourn®’ says the principal 


should 


a. Never do himself what someone else will do just as well as he would. 
b. Concern himself mainly with those things which he alone can do, or which he 
can do better than others. 


In a study of the preparation and work of men and women elementary 
school principals in Ohio,’ made by the Department of School Administra- 
tion, Ohio State University, the principals were requested to list the 
administrative duties consuming most of their time. Both men and women 
were in accord in listing the five items of primary consequence as (1) dis- 
cipline, (2) playground supervision, (3) conferences with teachers, (4) 
conferences with parents and (5) supervision of attendance. 


*Coulbourn, John. “ Responsibility of the Principal for Improvement of Class- 
room Teaching in His School.” Baltimore Bulletin of Education, Vol. IV, No. 8, 
147-150, April, 1926. 

?Coulbourn, John. “Responsibility of the Principal for Improvement of Class- 
room Teaching in His School.” Baltimore Bulletin of Education, Vol. IV, No. 8, 147- 
150, April, 1926. 

*Connors and Morrison. “A Contrast of the Preparation and Work of Men and 
Women Elementary School Principals in Ohio,” Educational Research Bulletin, 
Vol. IV, No. 17, 355-360, November 18, 1925. 





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How does the percent of time given by the rural principal to supervision 
compare with that of the urban principal?—It is necessary that the prin- 
cipal see to it that the machinery of the school is running smoothly if he is 
to have a successful school. After that is done, the most serious problem that 
confronts him is how to improve classroom instruction, for supervision is 
the most important as well as the most difficult of the principal’s work. 

Mr. Stauffer,” in a study to determine the amount and kind of super- 
vision done by the junior and senior high school principals of a certain Ohio 
city, says, “‘ Every interview brought out the fact that clerical, administra- 
tive, and disciplinary duties were so heavy that no time was left to give 
supervision more than passing attention.” 

Mr. Coulbourn’ says, “Although organization, administration and rou- 
tine matters of school management are vitally important and should be 
designed to produce effective classroom instruction, the real test of a 
principal’s efficiency lies in the effectiveness of his supervisory program.” 

The percent of the total time of the rural principals given to each 
supervisory duty as compared with that of each group of the urban prin- 
cipals is given in Table III. 

Under supervision it will be observed that a greater percent of the time 
of the urban elementary non-teaching and of the rural principals goes to 
observation than to any other duty. Conferences with teachers rank second 
with both groups. The urban high school and elementary teaching princi- 
pals give more time to teachers’ conferences than to observation. Conference 
here refers to conferences with individual teachers, the teachers in groups, 
general meetings of the teachers called by the central office and to meetings 
of the principals. 

By reference to Table III it will be seen that visitation receives the 
largest percent of the time given to observation, the percent of time given 
to conferences on visitation being much less. Classroom supervision should 
not be considered a routine matter. Its purpose is to help teachers do 
better teaching. This cannot be accomplished by irregular and short visits 
to first one teacher and then to another. Dr. Burton® says, “ Supervision 
is not a matter of classroom visitation solely, as some people seem to think. 
It must not be a desultory, random activity.”” Miss Reynolds * states, “ The 
supervisor's visit should always be followed by a conference in which the 
supervisor assists in planning to overcome difficulties, encourages the teacher 


* Stauffer, E. S. “ What Principals Do When They Supervise,” Educational Re- 
search Bulletin, Vol. V, No. 8, April, 1926. 

? Coulbourn, John. “ Responsibility of the Principal for Improvement of Classroom 
Teaching in High School.” Baltimore Bulletin of Education, Vol. IV, No. 8, 147-150, 
April, 1926. 

* Burton, W. H. “ Evaluating the Efficiency of Supervisory Programs,” Journal of 
Educational Method, Vol. V, No. 9, 371-375, May, 1926. 

*Reynolds, Annie. Bulletin 1925, No. 9, p. 5, Bureau of Education, Department of 
Interior, Washington, D. C. 








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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 





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14 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION 





to discuss problems not apparent in this day’s work, discusses means of 
securing better equipment and gives such other help as seems possible.’ 

In a study by Connors and Morrison,’ it was found that both men and 
women principals of Ohio supplement supervisory visits with personal 
interviews. 

“ The supervisor should make every effort to see a lesson from beginning 
to end, and, if possible, in relation to other lessons. . . . . Every visit should 
be followed up in some way,” says Ernest J. Becker,’ principal of the 
Western High School, Baltimore, Maryland. 

Teaching for demonstration and experimental purposes receives a small 
percent of the time of the principals of the different groups, the range being 
from 0.0 to 0.9 percent by non-teaching principals, and from 0.0 to 12.7 
percent by the teaching principals. Dr. Burton® states, “ Demonstration 
lessons should be arranged and frequently given. The teacher should be 
consulted and allowed to ask for what she would like to see demonstrated. 
In some cases the supervisor should demonstrate what he sees the teacher 
needs. .... All demonstration lessons should be thoroughly planned and 
discussed in detail, afterwards.” 

“The principal should teach one or two classes as one of his regular 
duties,” is the opinion of Miss Bolton,* who goes on to say that “ the 
meeting of class situations daily will keep him in close touch with teaching 
problems and will cause him to have a more sympathetic attitude toward 
the work of his teachers. The daily classroom association with the pupils 
will enable him to know their interests and problems better than he could 
possibly know them if he did not teach.” 

Adapting the course of study—explaining it to the teachers, helping them 
find materials, and so on, receives a small percent of the time, although 
this seems an important phase of supervision. 

Visits of supervisors require a larger percent of time in the urban schools 
than in the rural schools, due to the fact, no doubt, that the urban schools 
have supervisors of the special subjects, while the rural schools have only a 
general supervisor. L. W. Mayberry ° says, ‘“ One phase of the supervision 
of instruction which often gives the principal much concern is the work 
of the special supervisor.” In the urban schools the principals usually 


*Connors, F. Herrick and Morrison, J. Cayce. “A Contrast of the Preparation 
and Work of Men and Women Elementary School Principals, Educational Research 
Bulletin, Vol. 1V, No. 17, 355-360, November, 18, 1925. 

* Becker, Ernest J. “ The Principal as Supervisor,” Baltimore Bulletin of Educa- 
tion, Vol. IV, No. 8, 151-152, May, 1926. 

* Burton, W. H. Supervision and the Improvement of Teaching. Chapter XVII, 
Pp. 409. 

‘Bolton, Euri Belle, and Howard, Clara. “Duties of the Elementary School 
Principal.” Peabody Journal of Education, Vol. 3, No. 3, 139-145, November, 1925. 

* Mayberry, L. W. “The Principal and the Supervisor.” Elementary School 
Journal, Vol. 26, No, 2, 116-117, October, 1925, 





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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 15 








accompany the special supervisors on their visits in order to be able to 
supervise the work at other times. 

Exhibits and bulletin boards, given by Dr. Sherrod* as a supervisory 
function, are not always so used by the principal, who usually uses the 
bulletin board for announcements, only. Relatively a small percent of the 
time of the principals in this study is given to exhibits and bulletin boards, 
the range being 0.0 to 0.6 percent. 

In some places, adequate clerical help the past few years has helped give 
opportunity for supervisory work. This is by no means a common practice, 
however. In most situations, the principal does the clerical work as he can 
find time for it. 

Mrs. Jessie M. Fink,* former president of the Department of Elementary 
School Principals, says, ““ Many school boards fail to detect the waste in a 
system where inadequate office equipment and clerical assistance is denied.” 

One result of the study of the time distribution of principals has been 
that school boards and superintendents are beginning to see that it is economy 
to provide adequate clerical help that the principal may have the time 
needed for other more important duties. In Los Angeles,’ the assignment 
of clerks is based on enrolment, as follows: 


500 and over enrolment.......... full-time clerk 
500 to 300 enrolment............ half-time clerk 
300 to 150 enrolment............ third-time clerk 


No clerical help is allowed for the principals included in this study. The 
range in percent of time given to clerical work by these principals is 6.0 to 
13.0. In Detroit * the principals gave 10.0 percent of their time to clerical 
duties. This is the percent of time estimated by university professors ° as 
ideal for such work. 

Reports to the superintendent require a larger percent of time than the 
other clerical duties. This might be remedied by the superintendent’s office, 
in calling only for such reports as are necessary. Records require the next 
largest percent of the principals’ time. The teachers, probably, do a good 
part of this work, especially in the high school. The large urban elementary 
schools give the largest percent of time to records. 


*Sherrod, C. C. “The Duties of an Elementary School Principal.” Peabody 
Journal of Education, Vol. 1, No. 3, 135-142, November, 1923. 

* Fink, Mrs. Jessie M. “Proper Attitude toward the Principalship.” Bulletin of 
the Department of Elementary School Principals, Vol. IV, No. 2, 82-83, January, 
1925. 

; Menlo S. “Effect of Use and Distribution of the Elementary School 
Principal’s Time by the Adoption of Daily Schedules or Programs.” Bulletin of the 
Department of Elementary School Principals, Vol. V, No. 1, 42-51, October, 1925. 

*Bates, Guy. “Functions of the Elementary School Principal,” Journal of Educa- 
tional Method, Vol. IV, No. 5, 178-184, January, 1925. 

®McClure, Worth. “The Functions of the Elementary School Principal. The 
Elementary School Journal, 21: 500-514, March, 192r1. 











16 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 





Correspondence receives a small percent of time from the urban ele- 
mentary principals, but as much as 4.6 percent of the time of the urban high 
school principals, and 2.4 percent of the time of the rural principals in 
the spring period. 

How does the percent of time given by the rural principal to community 
leadership compare with the percent of time given to such work by urban 
principals?—An important function of the principal is community leader- 
ship. He should create a spirit for the right type of school. The parent- 
teacher association and local civic organizations offer opportunities for 
bringing the school to the attention of the patrons. 

Table IV compares the percent of time given by the principals of the 
various groups to this phase of the work. 


TABLE IV.—ComParIsON OF THE PERCENT OF THE TOTAL TIME OF THE RURAL PRIN- 
CIPAL GIVEN TO COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP WITH THAT OF THE URBAN PRINCIPAL 





Rural Urban 
= Ss 
| Elementar | 
Community | eed high | High schoo! | Elementary | Elementary Total 
leadership | teaching | non-teaching | non-teaching teaching 
| ayy | a ee | — ope og = 4 
: B & 5 = 
| & a | @ a a 2 3 5 a A 
i no |. | oO & | an fy n fy a 


Visitation of Par- | | 
eres | 5 | 26] or | aos O02] 08 | 2.6) 06 a7 | 02 
Civic Activities ...| 
Parent-Teacher | | 
Association | 


The rural principals and the urban elementary teaching principals give 
the largest percent of time to visitation of parents. In the matter of civic 
activities the rural principals lead, while the urban elementary non-teaching 
and teaching principals devote the largest percent of their time to the work 
of the parent-teacher association. The range of the total time given to 
community leadership by these principals is 0.8 percent by the urban high 
school principals, to 6.2 percent by the rural principals. The Detroit’ 
principals give only 3.0 percent of their time to this phase of the work. 

How does the percent of time given by the rural principal to professional 
study and growth compare with the percent of time given by the urban 


* Bates, Guy. “ Functions of the Elementary School Principal,” Journal of Educa- 
tional Method, Vol. IV, No. 5, 178-184, January, 1925. 














ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 17 








principal to this duty?—Table V shows the percent of time the rural prin- 
cipal gives to professional study and growth as compared with that given 
by the urban principal. 


TABLE V.—CompParisON OF THE PERCENT OF THE TOTAL TIME GIVEN BY RURAL PRIN- 
CIPALS TO PROFESSIONAL STUDY AND GROWTH WITH THAT OF URBAN PRINCIPALS 


Rural Urban 
| Elementary . | Poe | 
Professional study | and ow ty High school Elementary Elementary Total 
and growth teaching non-teaching | non-teaching | teaching 

be be be , oo bo 
€ € - | a ‘ais _ 

3 a | a a | a | ais = 

fa nN me nN om n om yn | & I 

2.8 3.2 1.9 0.0 3.2 5-9 0.7 5.8 2.4 4-9 


The principal needs constantly to enlarge his knowledge by reading and 
study of the more recent investigations in the field of education. If 
he would inspire his teachers to study, he, too, must study and grow, 
professionally. 

Upon the basis of time emphasis, the principals included in this study 
rank professional study and growth, fifth. The ideal as estimated by uni- 
versity professors,’ places it fourth. An increase is shown by each group 
of principals, with the exception of the urban high school principals, in 
the spring period, which indicates that the principals are giving a greater 
percent of their time to professional study. 

What duties occur in the day of the rural principal that do not occur in 
the day of the urban principal?—In the main, the duties of the rural and 
the urban principal are the same. Some duties are characteristic of each 
group, however. Peculiar to the rural schools are the management of 
dormitories, transportation problems, the group center and county com- 
mencements; to the urban schools, the supervisors of the special subjects, the 
handling of books and supplies, which includes collecting book fees at the 
opening of each semester, and the making of a stock report at least once 
during the year. There are other duties peculiar to each type of school, but 
they do not appear in the time distribution of the two groups of principals 
studied. 

Summary and conclusions—As stated in the introduction to this study, 
the primary purpose of this investigation is to find out how the time dis- 
tribution of the rural principal compares with that of the urban principal. 


"McClure, Worth. “The Functions of the Elementary School Principal.” The 
Elementary School Journal, 21: 500-514, March, 1921. 











18 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION 





The study is based on reports kept by ten rural principals and nine urban 
principals for six weeks in the fall semester and for eight weeks in the spring 
semester. 

The rural principals in this study were in schools having eleven grades, 
a range of 179-713 pupils enroled, and six to twenty-nine teachers; the 
two urban high school principals were in schools having two and three 
grades, 625 and 742 pupils enroled, and 22 and 25 teachers, respectively; 
the urban elementary principals were in schools having six grades, a range 
of 119 to 760 pupils, enroled, and 4 to 22 teachers. 

The outstanding facts discovered in this investigation can be briefly 
summarized : 


1. Both rural and urban principals observe a seven-hour day in the fall semester 
and an eight-hour day in the spring semester. 

2. The relative importance of the duties of both the rural and the urban prin- 
cipals, upon the basis of time emphasis, is as follows: Administration, supervision, 
clerical work, community leadership, and professional study and growth. 

3. Both rural and urban principals fall below the estimated ideal percentage of 
time for supervision as given by university professors. 

4. The percent of time given to supervision by the rural principals is less than 
that given by the urban principals. 

5. Classroom visitation for the purpose of supervision is considered an important 
duty by both groups of principals, as shown by the percent of time given to visitation. 

6. Administration receives a larger percent of time by both rural and urban 
principals than the ideal percentages as estimated by university professors and found 
in available studies. 

7. Rural principals give a smaller percent of their time to administration than 
do urban principals. 

8. The rural principals give a larger percent of time to regular teaching than do 
the urban principals. 

9. Clerical work is elevated from a position ranked, by expert opinion, as theo- 
retically the lowest, to the rank of third in importance by both rural and urban 
principals. 

1o. The rural principals give a larger percent of their time to community leader- 
ship than do the urban principals. 

11. Professional study and growth, which is given the lowest rank, receives ap- 
proximately the same percent of time from both groups of principals. 

12. Clerical and administrative duties receive less attention from the teaching 
principals than from the non-teaching principals. 

13. The duties of the rural and of the urban principals, are, in the main, the same. 
A few duties during the period of the investigation, are peculiar to each group. 


In conclusion, if the thesis that the improvement of classroom teaching, 
directly and indirectly, is the great responsibility of the principal, it is 
apparent that sufficient time is not being given to supervision by the prin- 
cipals included in this study. The superintendent at the central office may 
help, by reducing the amount of clerical work required, to provide more 
time for supervision. To a large extent, the principals are the products 
of the system which elected them and defines their duties. The character 
of the principals themselves will help determine the amount of time to be 
given to administrative and to clerical duties as compared with more 
important duties. 














ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 19 





On the whole, the situation presents some encouraging features. The 
principals are cognizant of the faults of the time distribution under which 
they now work, as shown by their study to eliminate the unnecessary details. 
This study has caused the principals to analyze their problems and has 
helped them establish a proper sense of values. The study has also dignified 
the principal’s position and has called the attention of the superintendents 
and the boards of education to the large percent of the principal’s time 
given to administration and to clerical work. It is believed that they will 
cooperate in helping give the principals the time necessary for supervision. 

Since we have the distribution of the time of the principal in actual practice 
and have not yet determined what the time distribution of the principal té 
the several duties should be, the typical distribution in actual practice may 
be modified by expert opinion and accepted as a working basis until a more 
scientific distribution of time can be determined. 


EVOLUTION—THE KIND THAT COUNTS 
ELLEN M. CLICK 
Elementary Principal, Sneedville, Tennessee 


T WAS my first and only visit to a great city public school. I was filled 
with wonder at the orderly marching lines of children, the pleasant, 
busy schoolrooms, the quiet-voiced teachers. 

And the equipment! I did not know the names of much of it. I could 
scarcely believe that each girl had her individual sewing and cooking outfit, 
and each boy his workbench and set of tools. 

My heart swelled with pride to know that I lived in a country that could 
build such great schools and give such a wonderful education to its sons 
and daughters. 

A very real pang of sadness grew in my heart throughout the visit in spite 
of the thrill. Back in the southern mountains of my birth were countless 
little one-room schools like the only one I had known as a child, dark, 
dingy, wholly unfit for their purpose. In spite of the lectures and voluminous 
writings on the rural school situation and the mountains in particular, and 
notwithstanding the remedial legislation touching public schools and all 
the private efforts showing a tremendous improvement in the last twenty- 
five years, there are scores of such schools in our section today. 

To such a one, the same ungraded, one-teacher school that I attended 
as a child, I returned seven years ago to teach. The only concession I asked 
was that another teacher and a partition should be provided. The com- 
munity desired a better school and they did more than secure the extra 
teacher and a canvas curtain partition. They built a porch and two cloak- 
rooms and helped to light the low-ceilinged barn-like structure. They 
responded in full force to the call to clean up, and a mighty scrubbing of 
walls and floor, vigorous window washing, and zealous yard cleaning ensued. 
Men, women, and children helped. 











20 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION 





Common desire and cooperative activity had its unifying effect to begin 
with. Painting dingy walls, putting up attractive pictures, and buying an 
organ to help with the school singing undoubtedly added to school enjoy- 
ment and to the favorable reports of school which the children carried to 
their homes. 

A dozen drawbacks impaired proper teaching. A hundred children 
crowded to suffocation in these two divisions of one room, 25’ x 40’ x 9}’ in 
its entirety. Dirt sifted through cracks from the ceiling in dry weather and 
rain seeped in when it was wet. A floor shook at every step and had spaces 
so wide between the boards that cardboard had to be tacked over them 
in cold weather. The partition being cloth every sound made in the house 
was plainly audible in both rooms. ‘The hours for school were from eight 
to four, and over twenty classes were held daily. Saturday and Sunday 
also held their tasks in connection with school and community life. 

We had but five months of the free session and, at the end, the parents 
met at my request to consider how to extend the term three months. I 
managed to introduce the subject of our need for a new schoolhouse, and 
at subsequent meetings the idea was developed. I was studying everything 
I could find and writing everywhere I knew to get information as to the 
right kind of schoolhouse. None of us knew and no available information 
was at hand concerning school architecture, lighting, heating, etc. The 
house would have to be built at the very least possible cost, for there is 
not much ready money in a little shut-in mountain valley, however rich its 
natural resources, when far away from railroads and, markets, especially, 
if farming is the sole source of income. 

Finally we thought we had decided on the plan for the house, which was 
to have three schoolrooms and three small rooms for industrial training and 
library. A bill of the lumber required was made out and the men of the 
community agreed to give and cut down the trees, and haul the logs to a 
sawmill when one could be moved into the neighborhood. 

Part of this work was under way when an opportunity came for a con- 
ference with the state rural school supervisor from whom it was learned 
that we could get $1000 from the state on condition that two or more 
schools were consolidated. ‘That the county would contribute $1000, and 
that the community might give $2000, which could be paid in lumber, labor, 
or money. Also, we must adopt a state standard plan for our building. The 
plan provided four large classrooms, an auditorium, an office and a library 
besides the large hall. 

When I came back to my community and reported, many thought it too 
great an undertaking (and of course such a big house was not needed!). 
It was far too costly, too, but I urged and encouraged until at last they agreed 
to comply with the conditions. 

How to consolidate was a real problem. The roads become almost 
impassable in the winter months so that conveyances could not take the 
children. Finally we hit on the plan of adding the roll of a little school 





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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 21 





across the ridge to our list and calling it a technical consolidation, although 
the children would have to get here the best they could. It chanced that 
no family was defrauded of school privileges. We hoped to have effective 
consolidation with other schools in our valley when roads permitted. It 
was the initial effort at consolidation in Hancock County. It might not be 
amiss to state here that this is a county in the East Tennessee mountains 
which has no railroad, no navigable streams, no incorporated town, and 
until the last year, not a mile of hard surface graded road. The natural 
resources are undeveloped and the lack of taxable businesses probably makes 
the tax burden harder on our population in proportion to its property 
valuation than in any other East Tennessee county. 

The state officials were interested, sympathetic, and anxious to help, 
but beyond the thousand dollars they could help only with advice and 
information. 

Our men continued to fell trees at intervals as their farm work permitted, 
and I continued to teach school and school children pledged their mites. 
Their parents allowed them to “ set a hen” for the school, and the first 
dollar that was paid in was from a ten-year-old child who had earned it 
raising chickens. With one of the mothcis we walked over the country side 
soliciting from the women the price of a hen, and from the country mer- 
chants gifts of nails. All gave cheerfully. A pitiful shut-in gave a quarter, 
and a man, reputed a moonshiner, from a nearby community, volunteered 
a gift of five dollars. No money gifts were large. One man gave $50 cash, 
two others $25 each, and others smaller amounts, but most of the $2000 
was contributed in lumber and hauling. 

There had to be money to pay for roofing, hardware, cement, and other 
materials. This meant I had to solicit help from outside. I wrote hundreds 
of letters to my friends in other parts of the country and they were glad 
to do what they could, although I received no large amounts. 

The local merchant allowed me to buy materials through her from the 
wholesale houses. This was a great help. 

It would make too long a story to tell how a sawmill was secured or even 
about the time when everybody stopped and said it couldn’t be done. There 
were heartbreaking difficulties, but none of them to me as heartbreaking 
as giving up the dream altogether. 

No one was at hand to advise or encourage. Not only was there every- 
thing to do, but there was everything to learn how to do before a step could 
be taken. Truly it was more than a liberal education! It was research for 
a doctorate, from learning the difference between a sixpenny nail and a 
tenpenny, two-by-four’s and siding to all the rest! Not the least was how 
to buy and get materials delivered from the railroad with no money in sight 
to pay for them! 

I am aware that this story is told too much from the personal standpoint 
but this has not been its object. Before I state the purpose, if indeed a state- 
ment is necessary, I will say that we have been in this schoolhouse nearly 


five years now. 











NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION 


22 





It is properly lighted and heated and has good blackboards. We have four 
teachers who teach the eight grades and do two years of high school work. 
We have pupils riding horseback from five and six miles away besides some 
who walk from three and four. There is much yet to do, but a beginning 
has been made. 

We have a school and community fair each fall, a big Christmas cele- 
bration, and other events. The children love their school. Not a pencil 
mark or knife cut mars building or desks. They have responded marvelously 
to better opportunities for study. We have had notable visitors and speakers. 
A new world has come to our door. We are becoming a part of it. Our 
latest and best improvement has been the classifying and card-indexing of 
our library of 1183 books by the Dewey system. These books have been 
contributed by interested friends who would be gratified to know how 
far-reaching their influence is as they go into homes up the mountain and 
into the hollows, or up and down our little valley. Who can estimate the 
forces that will be liberated and set to work? 

Now for the conclusion. There is a vision of a country school that will 
enrich and make effective, happy, and abundant life in the country, or life 
wherever it may be lived. The best trained teachers should be placed in the 
most isolated places for all their education. It has been my job to try to 
lay the foundation for a school that would some day approach the ideal, 
praying for other and greater leaders to follow and bring to realization the 
happy dream. 

Hasten, legislators! Agitate, lecturers and writers! You know there 
are inequalities, but many of you are too far away from the sad realities. 
It is a far cry from the great city school to the poor cabin or shack misnamed 
a school. There should not be complacency or rest until there is a fair 
chance to become educated for all the children of all the people. 


HAT knowledge of supervision is necessary to a teacher in 
order that she may cooperate? 

It seems to me the teacher should know the purposes of super- 
vision, know something of its technic, and have an appreciation of 
the art. If the supervision has a very definite aim, valuable time 
and effort will be conserved and much of the timidity with which 
most teachers regard supervision will be removed. Just as modern 
methods of education are shifting the emphasis in the classroom 
from instruction to supervision, so better professional training and 
equipment of teachers is changing the plane of relationship of 
supervisors, principals, and teachers—CorNELIA S. Apair, Presi- 
dent, National Education Association. 








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INTERNATIONAL GOODWILL IN ELEMENTARY 
EDUCATION 


MARGARET I. PooRE 
Principal, Grant School, Oakland, California 


ITH India protesting British intervention in China—with China 

seething with an undercurrent of hatred toward all foreigners—with 
Russia voicing resentment against England on account of her repudiation 
of trade relations—with Pan-American countries viewing our “ strong 
arm policy” with fear and suspicion—with nationalism being intensified 
throughout the world, it becomes the solemn duty of education leaders to 
give time and thought to the momentous task of creating a new era of 
friendliness and goodwill. 

The educational forces of the world are now at work upon the solution 
of the problem. The Pan-Pacific Conference at Honolulu and the Inter- 
national Bureau of Education at Prague gave it serious consideration. 
Progressive Education at Locarno and World Federation of Education 
Associations at Toronto have as their principal objectives the development 
of sympathetic understanding and friendship among the leaders of educa- 
tional thought. —The men and women who meet in these international groups 
will discover that ignorance and conservatism are the main obstacles in the 
path of world-wide relations of friendship. 

The sword can no longer serve the patriotism of a people. ‘“ Peace on 
earth, goodwill to man” must voice the united desire of the modern world 
for the fulfillment of the promises for which so many lives were sacrificed 
during the World War. 

“The land of youth is here where the sun is cradled.” The splendid 
things of the spirit have their birth in this land of ours, but “ the spirit of 
Democracy can survive only through universal education,” says Secretary 
Hoover. 

We are-hesitating at the threshold of a new cycle in human experience. 
In this cycle suspicion must be disarmed; racial differences accepted; and 
tolerance and liberty of speech and thought encouraged. Too long have 
thoughts appeared in uniform. Our great responsibility to the future will 
be to teach children how to think. 

The international goodwill movement is not an insidious attack upon the 
standards of others. It recognizes the fact that self-preservation is instinctive 
in the nation as well as in the individual. It is our task to meet and over- 
come the hostile feeling towards aliens that has long been nurtured in 
secret by the inhabitants of some countries. In some instances, open acts 
of hostility receive semi-official approval. 

Our organized American life is menaced by the diverse ideas and 
standards that permeate it. Racial prejudice does not influence our rela- 
tions with the foreign-born of this country so much as the fear that our 
ideals and institutions will be modified and destroyed by them. Our passive, 


[23] 








24 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION 








unorganized resistance to these subtle agents of change has strengthened 
the barriers that interpose, and has liberated doubt and distrust of our 
motives. 

There are fourteen millions of foreign-born residents in the United States 
to be Americanized. It is the important task of the public school system to 
influence them through the children, to believe in our national integrity 
and to accept the principles of a democratic form of government. 

Radio, television, and aerial transportation have eliminated time and 
space and startled the inhabitants of the world by the precipitate knowledge 
of collapsing barriers and receding boundaries. The passing of the old order 
of things has left confusion and uncertainty in the minds of the older 
generation. The desire for readjustment is dormant but resentment of the 
new order is quickened. 

The traditional ideas of elementary education are changing so rapidly 
that parents are bewildered by their failure to understand the aims and 
methods of the schools. We who are responsible for educational policies, 
must accept the obligations of leadership and further a plan for better 
understanding and cooperation with the homes of the foreign-born. 

Little children are normally cosmopolitan in their tastes and associates. 
The seeds of friendliness and goodwill can be so easily inculcated. They 
are the emissaries that the elementary school must train for international 
service. They are the “ unofficial ambassadors ” to the world’s children. 

The social studies field is a prolific one for the cultivation of “ intelligent, 
responsible and socially conscious citizenry.” It presents the world as the 
home of man. From a knowledge of the steps by which man has reached 
his present place in the march of civilization, comes a realization of the 
contributions of every country to the achievements of humanity. The gifts 
of art, music, and literature, of law, science, and inventions; the influence 
of social and industrial contacts upon language; the multiplicity of customs 
adapted from other nationalities; all constitute a common heritage. 

Textbooks must be revised to show the collective character of the factors 
contributing to human progress. Ruthless people, cruel deeds and personal 
prejudice must be omitted from the pages of books that elementary children 
read and study. Early impressions of fear, hatred, and racial bias are 
cumulative and influence later attitudes. Disarmament is a help, but what 
the world wants is a history book that reads the same in all countries. 

Learning the songs and folk dances of other countries afford a medium 
for developing understanding of the customs and aspirations of the people. 
International correspondence clubs offer an unlimited field for the exchange 
of ideas and ideals. Loan exhibits from the homes of the foreign-born instill 
respect for industry, and admiration for art and skill. Exchange of stamp 
collections and scrapbooks give friendly, personal contacts. Last year hun- 
dreds of doll messengers of friendship went from the Occident to the Orient. 
Does anyone doubt the ultimate success of such efforts on the part of children 
themselves, to develop and cement ties of friendship? 














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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 25 





The greatest cooperative agents in the elementary school are a library in 
every building and a reading table, to which there is free access, in every 
classroom. If we cannot suppress the salacious literature that is sold and 
given to children, we can, at least, substitute clean, wholesome books and 
magazines. 

The motion picture industry, too, must be restrained from depicting scenes 
and situations that are untrue to American ideals and that convey false 
impressions of our social and political life. Nothing is more debauching 
to innocence than the suggestions of evil received through the sense of sight. 

An American-born youth, of Nordic ancestry, with the courage and love 
of adventure inherited from his Viking forefathers, in his materialized 
“Spirit of St. Louis,” became in a few hours the most potent envoy of 
friendship and goodwill that the world has ever witnessed. With wings 
for oars, the ocean shores are for the first time linked together. Charles 
Lindbergh, the son of a teacher and the product of the public school system 
of the United States, has performed a service in the interest of international 
friendly relations, that is immeasurable. Emerson has said it for all time; 
“The true test of civilization is not the census, nor the size of cities, nor 
the crops; no, but the kind of man the country turns out.” 

All honor to the elementary teachers of America. In their hands rests the 
solution of the problem, ‘“‘ What can the elementary school do to promote 
international goodwill? ” 

Edgar Mendenhall of Kansas State Teachers College has paid graceful 
tribute to the work of elementary teachers in some lines under the caption, 
“ How Big is Your Task?” 

How big is your task? O Teacher— 
How big is your task? You inquire. 

It’s as big as the arched sky above you— 
Yea, it touches the studded vault’s fire. 


How big is your task? you repeat it; 
How big is your task? still in doubt. 
It’s a torch in Eternity’s pageant; 
’T will blaze when Heaven’s orbs are burned out. 


How big is your task? O Teacher— 
Once more before parting, you seek; 

Pray the Sage of the sages to fathom; 
The reach of man’s mind is too weak. 








a 





COOPERATIVE SUPERVISION FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF 
THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL 


ELIZABETH McCorMIck 


Elementary Principal, Superior, Wisconsin 


‘N THIS discussion I shall attempt to do three things; first, to define 

cooperation; second, to picture the principal in his relations to other 

members of the educational group; third, to show how training for leader- 
ship grows out of cooperative supervision. 

There is nothing new or startling in the rule, “ Do unto others as you 
would have others do unto you.” It is the code of conduct that for ages 
has been held up as the proper guide in our relations with our fellowmen. 
We must serve others. We need their help. The spirit of service is the 
soul of cooperation. By cooperation we come to know each other and each 
other’s needs. Through conference, collaboration, and appreciation we may 
more rapidly progress towards educational ideals. Ruskin and Morris 
taught two doctrines which educators are coming to believe. First, that 
the workman must have pleasure in his work; second, that the world must 
share the pleasure of the workman in the use of the product. 

Personality must be given a chance to express itself. Ultimate truth 
is what we all seek. It is well to think of philosophy as a knowledge of 
the laws of intellectual and spiritual relationships, and the actions which 
grow out of them. Without this knowledge no one may lead others. The 
observance of these laws will bring cooperation. 

There has been too much individualistic work in the teaching profession. 
This has resulted in unnecessary competition. Competition always means 
war, and war is always destructive. Cooperation means the opposite to 
competition. 

In a really cooperative, educational unit, all concerned, from the super- 
intendent down to the classroom teacher, will organize democratically and 
voluntarily to gain their objects through mutual action in which the motive 
will be for the same ideal—the common interests of the children. 

The Greeks selected officials by drawing lots. Perfect concord between 
supervisors and teachers will come when the spirit of cooperation takes the 
place of the principle of competition. The purpose of school unity must be 
in the interest of the child and not for the self-seeking individual. 

The fundamental aim of cooperative supervision should be to bring out 
and to perpetuate the ability to be of the greatest service. ‘Teachers and 
principals on the one hand, and principals, supervisors and superintendents 
on the other, should be working so closely together on the common problems 
that, as the older drop out, the younger may take their places without loss 
to the schools. This is what will happen when the method is cooperative. 
Cooperation builds gradually as it goes. It simply recognizes and uses 
human values. 


[26] 














ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 27 





In order to cooperate we must understand each other, lay all self-seeking 
aside and together look for the practical means of doing the greatest possible 
good to the children of the land. We must support each other. We must 
reject self-pride and petty jealousy. To do the greatest good, superintendents, 
principals, and teachers must be united by cheerful cooperation. Isolation 
is weakness. Union is strength. “ The experience of his own weakness urges 
man to call in help from without.” ‘“ We may have high ideals. To achieve 
them is quite impossible without the help of others.” 

There can be no question of the advantage and importance of unifying 
the educational thought of all the educational workers. Already there has 
been some measure of success in this cooperation, but the fact that we are 
not satisfied yet and that we still aim for further cooperation is a good sign. 

The principal holds a strategic place in the educational system. His 
problems are very real. His responsibilities are very great. He is confronted 
on the one hand by the teachers with their individual needs, and on the 
other by the demands of the superintendent who cannot possibly carry out 
his educational policies effectively without him. He must give unswerving 
loyalty to his superintendent. He must secure loyalty from his teachers. He 
holds an intermediary, interpretative position. He must be willing to accept 
responsibility. He must be willing to contribute something of himself for 
the good of the system. 

A superintendent of schools once said to me, “ A principal will be known 
by the accomplishment of his teachers.”” True, and the wise superintendent 
is the one who is content to be known by the work of his principals and other 
subordinates. ‘‘ Who does a thing through another does it himself” is an 
old Roman motto. 

A principal must loyally support the policies of his superiors, but he must 
be a leader himself. He who would lead must first be able to follow. He 
must never issue a call to action without the certainty of right and the 
warrant of authority. The superintendent comes with his wider vision to 
advise, to indicate new opportunities of service, to give inspiration and 
deeper significance to daily tasks. All these things must the principal pass 
on to the teachers. In addition, supervisors and principals with their more 
intensive study of the academic and administrative details, must bring to 
teachers the more intensive analyses of significant problems. 

There is lack of leadership in education and it must be admitted that this 
lack is much influenced by the spirit of autocracy and the exaltation of the 
importance of the administrative and supervising officers. Educators will 
never promote the best in their profession so long as they find reward in 
acting for themselves and against others. 

The teacher, supervisor, principal, or superintendent who lives the largest 
life is not the one who sways subordinates to his purpose; not he who gains 
a little temporary fame for certain accomplishments or well proven theories, 
but he who lives in sympathetic relations with his fellow workers; not the 
one who gets what he wants by compulsion; not the one who dominates, 
but the one who is in harmony with the life of his group. 











28 . NATIONAL EpucaATION AsSsOCIATION 





The principal must be a person of ever-advancing ideals, but must not be 
in too great haste in reaching them. He must draw near to the teacher that 
he may influence her. He must draw away from her that he may give her 
liberty. ‘“‘ He must not try to bind the vine so close to the pole that he 
causes it to snap.” 

A principal should be acclaimed great, not in the degree to which he has 
done a work which may not be duplicated, but to the degree in which he 
has been instrumental in leaving successors who can equal or pass him in 
educational achievement. 

The true force of supervision is shown in being able to call out the 
initiative and constructive ability of teachers, and in bringing the individual 
teachers into full participation in the solution of the common problems of 
education. 

Not all teachers desire responsibility. There are many too content to 
simply do as they are asked. Every teacher who goes forth from a normal 
school or teacher-training college should have the disposition and the 
ability to play a part—his own part in the educational drama. 

On the other hand, many teachers are no longer satisfied with being 
blind imitators. They are individuals. They are ready to assume responsi- 
bility for doing things. They welcome set tasks but they accomplish more 
when permitted to work out the details of problems in their own way. 

A principal should permit large liberty in his school in order to set free 
more original thought and more initiative. 

“ How do you do it?” we asked a principal who is doing some extraor- 
dinary work. “ But I don’t do it,” she said, “ the teachers do it. I encourage 
great freedom.” 

The superintendent may pass on his educational theories to his principal, 
and he in turn may pass them to the teacher, but theories only will they be 
until intelligence and mental activity work them out in their own way. 

The big superintendent and the big principal pass on big ideas and appeal 
to intelligence in subordinates instead of demanding blind obedience. The 
really big principal and supervisors, with the right attitude, admit that once 
in a while the classroom teacher may happen to have an idea as important 
as any of their own. 

Every person who creates anything takes from the past and gives to the 
future. There is little actually new. The most learned, modern educator 
is himself not a genius. He is himself plus all the great teachers that have 
lived from the time of Moses to Thorndike and Dewey. 

A principal may be a specialist, he may be able to sort out the wheat from 
the chaff in the stack of modern educational values, but he cannot add 
permanent values to educational methods until he recognizes the broad, 
ethical principles which bind members in the educational group. 

His work must reflect the activities of a large number of his teachers. 
He must produce growth, not merely pass theory on. He mustn’t merely 
do things himself, but get things done, 








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hat 
her 

he 


has 


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si- 
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ze 


i, 


ye 








ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 29 


Every classroom teacher needs the stimulation which the spirit of investi- 
gation lends, needs growth from within and the sense of companionship 
in a common enterprise. Teachers do not need to be told things as they 
need to be stimulated to find out for themselves. 

The poorest paid teacher stands closest to the greatest problems and may 
offer, if properly stimulated, the largest contributions to educational investi- 
gations. The extravagant preference for ready made methods, as dis- 
tinguished from ever-developing method, is a sort of superstition with many 
educational teachers, principals, supervisors, and superintendents. 

In conclusion, the principal that does not recognize the ethical law, the 
hunger for freedom, the spirit of human fellowship, the good of self and 
all, the spirit of adventure which exists between the one individual and 
another and governs the world of man, cannot supervise, no matter what 
authority he may happen to possess temporarily. If he cannot learn he 
cannot teach. 

It is our business as principals to gain and to give, to train and to be 
trained, to stand in living ministration between supervisors and super- 
intendent on the one hand and the teachers on the other, ever keeping in 
mind that our aim must never be self-seeking. 

True leadership always means self-sacrifice and self-renunciation. It passes 
on ideas. It gives ideas but it doesn’t claim them. It scatters seeds but it 
doesn’t seek to reap the harvest. Let us make our schools clearinghouses 
for educational opinion, training schools in educational discussion, centers 
for educational dissemination. 

From the halls of educational conference, and the offices of educational 
administration and supervision, we shall pass on. May our lives and our 
labors stand as inspiration and example to those who will take our places. 

“By the steps that we have cut they will climb, by the stairs that we 
have built they will mount.” 


COOPERATIVE SUPERVISION 


GrRaAcE SWAN 
Director of Elementary Practice, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 


HE PROBLEM of supervising teaching in the elementary grades 

is one of great importance, implying as it does the improvement of the 
teachers in service. This supervision includes all teachers: (1) Those fully 
equipped for the work they are doing, with a broad outlook and enthusiasm 
in and for their work; (2) those who have a more meager preparation, 
but a willingness to be directed into proper channels; (3) those who because 
of long service, or from some other cause, feel secure in their position, and 
are slow to adopt newer methods and technic; and (4) the “ stand-patters ”’ 
who do not wish to be disturbed while they follow the path of least resis- 
tance. Each of these types presents an almost individual problem challenging 











NATIONAL EpucaATION ASSOCIATION 


30 








the supervisor to a test of her ability to sense the situation ; suggest remedial 
measures, and produce, as an end result, the cooperation of the teacher 
in solving her individual problems. 

No longer can either teacher or supervisor be satisfied with the old type 
supervision by which a teacher was rated almost wholly upon personal 
judgment—a quiet orderly classroom indicating a “ good” teacher, even 
though that quiet was the result of lethargy, or was brought about by the 
death of any development either in the teacher herself or in her pupils. 

In order to successfully supervise the teacher and direct her work into 
better and more efficient practice, it is essential that the supervisor have an 
adequate preparation for the task before her, a full appreciation of the 
responsibility placed upon her, and an ability to diagnose existing conditions 
and provide a remedy where and when it is needed. 

Assuming that you may be interested in the plan in use in the elementary 
grades in Pittsburgh; early in 1926, in order that we might proceed with 
our work under a definite program through which we could check upon our 
results, we divided the city into two districts equalizing the work as far 
as it was possible to do so. In making this distribution of schools the fol- 
lowing factors were taken into consideration: (1) The location of the 
building. This was necessary because of the time element. Some of our 
schools are reached with ease while others require long trips before they 
can be visited. (2) The number of teachers to be visited in each building. 
(3) The nationality of the pupils. Many of our schools are located in 
districts where the pupils are drawn from homes of the best types—parents, 
American born and well educated, and from homes of culture and refine- 
ment. Others come from almost wholly foreign speaking homes where the 
parents have little or no education even in their own language. Between 
these two extremes are the majority of schools having both types of pupils, 
and so our problems multiply. 

It can readily be seen that the problem of supervision then becomes 
again an individual problem and, to equalize the work, an almost necessity 
if we are to require the highest type of supervision. When assigning the 
work to the supervisors of each district the plan of sending two supervisors 
to the same school at the same time—one to supervise the first and second 
grades; the other the third and fourth grades—was inaugurated. This was 
done: (1) To conserve the time of the principal, making only one con- 
ference necessary; (2) to allow both supervisors, in conference with the 
principal, to get his reaction toward the work of teachers and supervisors; 
(3) to give the supervisors an opportunity to get a general understanding 
of the needs of the grades and also to get the spirit of each individual school. 
This plan has proved very satisfactory to teachers, principals, and super- 
visors and is bearing fruit, we believe, in a better understanding and more 
helpful attitude toward the work. The field is too large to be covered as 
often as seems necessary. However, the establishment of a sympathetic under- 
standing between supervisors and teachers has been most helpful giving 

















ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 31 





opportunity, as it has, to the supervisors to give the constructive criticism 
so essential in the development of better methods of instruction. 

When it is necessary, demonstration lessons are given by the supervisors 
in each grade, these lessons being followed by conferences with the teacher 
to discuss the work done. Much valuable material to be used in the develop- 
ment of lessons has been prepared by the supervisors, arranged as bulletins 
and distributed to all primary teachers for their use. Sources of instructive 
material have been indicated and professional books recommended for 
reading. 

An interesting development has been the “ game”’ spirit in instruction. 
While this can be overworked, which should be guarded against, it has done 
much to awaken the interest of both teachers and pupils so that the thought 
driven home with a smile has proved an efficacious method for doing what, 
heretofore, had been regarded as a hard task to be avoided. 

To break down some barriers with the successful teacher who has been 
doing good work of the drill type has been, and is, a problem to be solved. 
The teacher who conscientiously believes that she gets better results through 
the drilling process must be awakened to the value of more modern methods 
before she can expect to obtain the best results from her pupils, but here, 
too, we have been encouraged by the willingness of the teachers to cooperate 
in an effort to bring their work up to the standard of excellence which we 
are trying to attain. 

Having established a spirit of cooperation it seemed wise to search out cer- 
tain weaknesses existing in the schools and devote some time stressing instruc- 
tion along this line. With the feeling that much could be done to improve 
comprehension in reading we set ourselves to the task of planning for and 
providing opportunity for teachers to see successful work being done in 
corresponding grades in schools of similar type. Under the direction of the 
supervisors, teachers who were doing outstanding work in this field were 
selected and asked to give demonstration lessons showing a definite plan of 
procedure. ‘These lessons are invariably followed by a period of discussion, 
the results of which are soon evident. Not only did we find that the teacher 
often needed persuasion before being willing to give a demonstration lesson 
but it was also necessary to have teachers bring to the demonstration an 
open mind ready to see the good, and an inquiring mind ready to be con- 
vinced that there is a better way. The preparation of material for drill in 
comprehension lessons is a task, but so essential is it to the attainment of 
results that over and over again have I marveled at the wealth of material 
that is prepared by the teacher without compensation except that which 
comes from the knowledge of a task well done and the renewed interest 
awakened in the pupils. 

Lotus D. Coffman says, “ Mere opinion must give way to facts secured 
through trustworthy investigation.” ‘This being a truism it is necessary that 
many teachers be shown the value of scientific tests and how to use them 
to study the results obtained therefrom. No teacher should look upon these 
tests as a measure of her ability as an instructor but rather as a measure 








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NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION 





whereby she can ascertain where the weaknesses exist and through the infor- 
mation so revealed be able to apply the remedy best suited to correct the 
existing faults. When tests are viewed in this light they become, not task 
masters to be dreaded and shunned, but helpful friends on whom we can 
depend to point out to us the way leading onward to the goal of efficiency. 

Do we always have a smooth road? Do you? I think not, but if the 
road is leading upward steadily and surely, is it not worth while? If we 
must criticize—and we must—let us study this as a great and vital prob- 
lem—let us bring to bear on this problem the best qualities at our command 
to show us just when and where we should criticize and where and when we 
should commend and how many of the questions we should leave for the 
teacher to solve having given suggestions that may help in the solution. 

There is as much danger lurking in fulsome praise as there is in unjust 
criticism; one may produce a feeling of self-satisfaction which will stop 
growth while the other may cause discouragement and distrust of self that 
will hinder or dwarf future endeavor. In closing let me say that teachers 
North, South, East, and West all need encouragement—the satisfaction that 
comes from a “ well-done,’”’ when it rings true, will produce in the attitude 
of the teacher an abundant harvest of success. 


CITIZENSHIP FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF THE SCHOOL 


HAZEL Burnett, 
B. F. Day School, Seattle, Washington 


ITIZENSHIP means membership in a group, and successful member- 
ship in groups is the fundamental condition upon which our American 
civilization rests. 

Civilization is a development of institutions which represent the accepted 
ways of doing things in any particular time and place. These institutions 
have grown out of the activities of man in his long struggle to overcome 
the forces of nature and the elements, and protect himself from the self- 
interest of others, who like himself were struggling for existence. ‘They are 
the result of trial and error in racial experience. In obtaining food, clothing, 
and shelter, satisfying his desires, defending himself and protecting his off- 
spring, countless problems have been met, first in this way, then in that, 
until the ways were selected which seemed to bring the happiest results. 
These ways became customs, and the customs thus evolved in community life 
developed into institutions organized to meet the needs of the people as a 
whole. The form and organization of these institutions vary with condi- 
tions, and more especially with the character and intelligence of the people. 

Striving toward widely divergent goals has evolved many types of political 
organization. We are coming to think with Aristotle that under any given 
condition that form of government is best which works best—pure democ- 
racy or representative government for those with the knowledge and will 

















ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 33 





to operate such a government successfully, and some form of benevolent 
external authority for those to whom selfgovernment would mean only 
anarchy. These latter must acquire political ability by slow process. Our 
forefathers proclaimed to the world their faith in their own ability to rule 
when they revolted against external authority in 1776 and founded a 
representative form of government based on the Constitution in 1789. The 
stability of that government has been tried in several bloody wars, and it 
has stood the test. There are imperfections in human nature, but as Ameri- 
cans we have no desire to give up what we have gained and what other 
nations of the world are now struggling for. 

All of the institutions within an organized group must conform with 
the political organization or the result will be chaos. The school is an 
institution which has been developed to transmit to children the most 
fundamental knowledge of the race, and to set the new generation upon the 
stage of life. What the school is today, the nation will be tomorrow. In 
a democracy one is largely left to make his own way in a network of social 
relations, limited only by his knowledge and ability. Pasteur has defined 
democracy as that order in a state which permits each individual to put 
forth his utmost effort. But individual effort, exercised to the utmost, may 
be futile or even disastrous if it is not intelligently directed by a knowledge 
of social relations and institutions. 

If ‘we survey the world about us we observe that life is a complexity of 
activities. The earth is rightly endowed with natural resources which in 
themselves are useless. Men, working in groups, must call to their assis- 
tance all of the experience of the race and still solve countless problems 
before they can transform the forests into houses and the desert into fertile 
soil that they may produce their food. Many more problems must be met 
before the earth yields up her minerals, and these are transformed into 
utensils, tools and machinery. Perhaps the most complex of our present day 
problems and activities grow out of the distribution of these articles, and 
their transportation from the place of production to the place of consump- 
tion. The school should not only give the children all the available informa- 
tion which is their inheritance from the race, but should also give them 
training in the process of finding their place in a group and working with 
others for the accomplishment of a worthwhile purpose. 

These two aims are being met in our classrooms through the use of the 
project method and socialized work in gathering and sharing information. 
We produce a situation which challenges the children’s needs, interests or 
desires, then with the material that is available and the information they 
are able to obtain, we allow them to work out their own solutions. Some- 
times the results are good, sometimes not so satisfactory, just as they are 
in the activities of life. The children learn that they are happiest when the 
good results predominate, and that good results depend upon information, 
careful planning, good leadership and good fellowship. Frequently a child 
will become dissatisfied with results and start all over when he finds he tried 








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NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION 


to work out a project with little information and no plan, or perhaps a plan 
which is below his age and grade level. Last fall a group of children 
inspired by a boy in the class who had spent a year in the Canal Zone, and 
on fire with enthusiasm over the noble achievement of General Goethals, 
decided to make a miniature Panama Canal on the sand table. A sand table 
was salvaged from the attic. Several pails of sand were brought from the 
basement and dumped into it. One boy volunteered to bring clay with 
which to mold the sides of the canal and the locks, while others began to 
make ships for the canal and houses for the cities of Panama and Colon at 
the terminals. Next day the clay was on hand and our troubles started. 
The canal was the center of interest and every pupil in the group wanted 
to work on it. Everybody got in everybody else’s way. The boy who had 
visited the Canal was to be General Goethals and direct activities, but 
General Goethals’ influence was hardly equal to the occasion. Had they 
not all seen our Lake Washington and Lake Union Canals and did they 
not know how canals are made? ‘To be sure, they had read only the very 
brief account of the Panama Canal from their history texts, but after all 
a canal is a canal, so what did that matter? Three or four pairs of hands 
were plunged into the clay bucket. In a short time three or four boys were 
fairly well covered with clay, and a stiffly molded ditch about three inches 
deep and two inches wide stretched from one end of the sand table to the 
other. While the begrimed boys stood back and critically surveyed their 
work, the boy who had been making ships at his desk came forward to launch 
his vessel. You can imagine their dismay when the ship was found to be 
much too wide for the canal. Somebody suggested that the ship be launched 
upon the ocean, but they had not planned for oceans, and try as they would 
they could not make the oceans fit in. ‘‘ Well,” said one boy, “ I guess this 
is just the French attempt! Let’s take her all to pieces and start over 
again. Guess we’d better find out how the United States did it and we may 
have better luck next time.” ‘That night several boys visited our little 
branch library. The librarian, who loves children and is always interested 
in their activities, helped them to find some very valuable material. Loaded 
with books, they came to school next day and began to read. One of the 
girls, who had become interested in the project, found a helpful map which 
she enlarged and reproduced on the blackboard behind the sand table. One 
of the teachers from another room who had heard of the “ French attempt ” 
sent in an airplane drawing of the Canal Zone. The janitor who had lived 
in Panama brought a large map, four large pictures, and wrote a very 
interesting paper for the children. The girls begged the art department for 
materials and enlisted the aid of the art teacher in making booklets. A 
chairman was elected to organize the material and plan so the children 
might share their information through socialized discussion. A secretary) 
was appointed to keep records for future reference. Finally, the boy who 
had originated the project was selected to supervise the sand table. Careful 
plans were made, the work was apportioned among the boys and the second 
attempt was a success. ‘he boys decided that the United States had suc- 

















ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 35 








ceeded because she had more information, more careful plans and better 
organization. 

Several times our projects have been “ French attempts.” Always we 
have talked it over to find the reason. One play failed because of the attitude 
of the leader toward those in her group. She failed to get cooperation. 
This was largely due to a mannerism of which she had been entirely 
unconscious, and which she has tried very hard to correct. The work which 
the group had done in gathering material was not wasted however, for the 
material which had been gathered for the play was organized around the 
situation in the Philippines and shared with the class in socialized discussion. 
We try to make the group suffer as little as possible from the failure of an 
individual, and to help the individual to find a place in the group where he 
can work successfully. 

In the work where the sole aim is to acquire skill along some line, we 
allow the individual full scope for his ability. The child may go as fast as 
his ability warrants in spelling and the fundamental processes of arithmetic. 
The group work teaches him that he cannot be very useful without some 
skill, but he may be very skilful and at the same time very useless if he does 
not have an adequate knowledge of social relations, together with the 
habits and attitudes which will enable him to make use of his knowledge 
and skill. The habits and attitudes are formed very early in the child’s life, 
and are very hard to change later. An attempt to do this type of work 
in a school where no attention had been given to active citizenship habits 
and where the community was anti-social or unsocial in its standards would 
probably result in anarchy. At the B. F. Day School in Seattle many factors 
have contributed to the building up of a real civic pride which leads the chil- 
dren to guard against everything detrimental to the character and reputation 
of their school and to further everything that tends to build up a worthy 
community life. When these qualities become characteristic of the school 
community, the individual pupil whose action is not in conformity with 


’ 


these ideals is opposed by the general sentiment of his associates. 

We have had good results with the B. F. Day Improvement Club. 
Every child in school is a member, but only those in the seventh and eighth 
grades are active members. Two boys and one girl are chosen from each 
of the four upper rooms to serve as delegates each quarter. They are not 
policemen to force right conduct from the younger children, but rather 
big brothers and sisters who help them to do things in the best possible way. 
The responsibility placed upon them has a very wholesome effect upon the 
older boys and girls, and the teachers of the first six grades report a very 
fine attitude which grows out of the work among the younger children. 
Instead of talking about how things should be done, or have been done, 
and stopping there, we try to determine the best way to handle the situa- 
tions which arise in our own school community, and then we do the thing 
which seems best. To do this intelligently we need a great deal of informa- 
tion, which we are constantly gathering. In gathering this material and 








<n ie 


NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION 


36 








sharing it with others we work in groups where our conduct produces 
favorable or unfavorable reactions and either helps or hinders the group in 
the accomplishment of its purpose. Enthusiasm for the realization of the 
group purpose tends to develop the moral imagination, the ability to picture 
the good or evil consequences to self and to others of any type of behavior, 
and to develop all socially valuable, natural capacities of the individual. 
To secure thoroughness of mastery and integrity of effort on the part of each 
child, frequent tests are given and the children are rated so that each child 
may know how he stands in relation to his group. As the school is today, the 
nation will be tomorrow. May it justify the faith and vision of our fore- 
fathers when they renounced all external authority and protection to take 
upon themselves the responsibility as well as the blessings of life, liberty, 
and the pursuit of happiness. 


THE COMMON PURPOSE PLAN OF WORK 


Joun S. THOMAS 
Principal, Monnier School, Detroit, Michigan 


HERE seems to be a growing tendency on the part of teachers and 

school administrators to plunge headlong into each item of the rapidly 
increasing list of educational methods and developments, dropping one for 
the next in line, and making no definite attempt to incorporate the ideas of 
any method into present accepted procedure. This policy is not conducive 
to consistent, stable growth. Each discovery, before it is submitted to the 
profession, usually is developed under experimental conditions with pains- 
taking care to a considerable degree of success. The individual, or group, 
responsible for the experiment presents a decided contribution to teaching 
methods or some subsidiary phase of teaching. This plan’ is accepted by 
others and used under improper conditions with consequent, inferior results. 
It is soon discarded and does not have a fair trial. It may be that the 
conditions under which the original work was done cannot be duplicated, 
but there are undoubtedly some parts of the ideas that would bolster and 
strengthen the old methods that they were intended to replace. 

The project method gained wide favor and much sympathetic discussion 
from its very inception. This was quite natural, for the essentials of the 
project method had been used in effective teaching by generations of teachers. 
There is the specific example of a teacher of ancient history in the high school 
of a small town taking the boys and girls of his class out on the surrounding 
hills of the village to reenact the Battle of Marathon. The Greeks could 
be visualized on the hills, and the Persians, on the plain below. Interest and 
enthusiasm were aroused to such an extent that one boy brought a twenty- 
four foot clothes pole to class to demonstrate the advantage the Greeks had, 
with their tremendously long spears, when they swept down from the hill 
tops on to the Persians who were armed only with short swords. This 











“es 








WwW 
~“I 


ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 








example, in which may be seen much of the project method, was used, with 
other schemes of a like nature, previous to the beginning of this century, 
long before purposing was expressed as such. The plan of proceeding from 
the known to the unknown forms the foundation of teaching. 

The conscious definition and expression of these early effective ideas was 
presented for more widespread use with the actual description of the project 
method. Teachers tound it quite applicable to their socialized recitations. It 
brought interest to their work and that of the children. It filled a long-felt 
need. Teachers and schools used it with varying success. But for some 
altogether unaccountable reason, all but a comparatively few schools have 
abandoned projects in spite of their limitless applications. No substitute 
seems to have come forth to take the place of projects. ‘This is not because 
the method is unsound in either theory or practice, but rather because those 
responsible for its promulgation have been unable to discard previous 
materials and methods to effect sufficient reorganization for an extensive 
use of projects. 

Each successive contribution to the field of project literature demanded 
more and more relegation of our accepted materials and courses of study. 
Some advocated complete revision of our work, using none of that with 
which we were familiar. Others shook our most fundamental concepts of 
procedure, demanding an entirely new curriculum. 

So, in rapid succession, have been developed many valuable factors con- 
tributing to a better understanding and higher efficiency in education. The 
newer conception of supervision has superseded projects and is still in its 
developmental stage. At the present, rapidly increasing attention is being 
given to the part of the school principal in community leadership. Character, 
or moral, education is receiving much consideration and is given a well- 
deserved stimulus. These four factors: Projects, supervision, community 
leadership, and character building are but a few of the many problems serv- 
ing as subjects for thoughtful experimentation. It is certain that all contain 
much of immediate value to those on whom falls the burden of progressive 
educational growth. But it is not so sure that they will be used to the full 
measure of their merit. 

The experiment upon which the statements of this article are based has 
been carried on throughout a period of a year and a half in an elementary 
school of the platoon organization. It has proved a success to those who 
have been most intimately connected with it. While the selection of actual 
material to be used over a two-year cycle is not yet complete, the method 
of presentation and organization is sufficiently proved to make these state- 
ments justifiable. The plan attempts a proper coordination or consolidation 
of the new and the old content material and methods, using the advantages 
of both. 

The common purpose plan of work provides an educational vehicle into 
which are placed the desirable elements of the project method, teacher 
supervision, and community leadership, and is constructed around a definite 











38 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION 





program of character development. It is an integration of the many school 
activities, each of which may be formed around the basic project idea, 
“ purposing.” ‘This method of purposing is an atempt to overcome the 
inherent disadvantage of disorganization which was a natural outgrowth of 
the original project method and which was in large part accountable for 
the fact that projects led a precarious and unsatisfactory existence. 

As the term, “ project,” has been used and defined for the past ten years, 
we were led to believe that the work of the children, to be effective in this 
method of study, should be largely selfmotivated. It was expected that the 
teacher would assume a position of minor importance in the lesson. Children 
were to form the purpose of accomplishing those undertakings that seemed 
desirable to them, and, in so doing, were to realize the need for facts, skill, 
and knowledge that had hitherto been forced on them in an uninteresting 
and more or less profitless manner. 

There is no doubt but that the highly increased interest secured through 
participation of the child in an activity that meets with his desires will 
largely facilitate the ready response to learning that will form desirable and 
lasting associations and habits. It is indisputable that a method of teaching 
that takes advantage of the everyday actions and activities of the child will 
appear to him more real and lifelike, with a consequent heightened impor- 
tance in his mind. It is true that in an extensive use of the project method, 
“education is life.” But, it does not necessarily follow that dependence 
upon the purpose of the child, in the project method, will have an unques- 
tionably effective value of limitless application to life-situations. 

The common purpose plan of work, as the name implies, combines those 
studies that are traditional with the newer elements in school life, and with 
the innumerable activities that surround the child in his home and com- 
munity relationships. It retains the element of active interest. The child 
continues to purpose, but he purposes with the teacher toward a common 
goal, that of preparation for life, through active participation in life. The 
element of teacher purpose, coincident with that of the child, fitted into 
the general purpose of the entire school, makes for a greater unity of school 
growth, whereby it is possible to provide increased situations in which 
individuals and groups will find better opportunities to use their particular 
abilities. 

Combining the purpose of the child with that of the teacher, and all other 
school agencies, gives the child a far wider field of experience and knowl- 
edge from which he may draw at will. He is not limited to the few facts 
with which he has made personal acquaintance, but has at his command 
the entire range of ideas and facts that his teachers and associates have 
gained from years of living. The teacher guides him in the necessary selec- 
tion of these ideas, and, in case he cannot be guided, presents them to him 
so they must be overcome before the accomplishment of the purpose is 
possible. This plan permits a development of personality, individual, and 
yet sufficiently subjugated to, and formed into, that of the group. 











ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 39 





All classes of the school follow a similar method, along the same path, 
so that the entire school, in reality, unites in one undertaking. This brings 
all children into a sympathy of purpose obtained through all working 
toward a common goal. If the goal be large enough, each class, each 
individual child, secures much greater benefits than where the ultimate 
objective would be of value to a comparatively small number. In working 
out this plan, rather than relegate the present courses of study and accepted 
materials to the discard, as some curriculum builders deem necessary with 
projects, newly interesting and vital interpretations are found for them; 
they are fitted into the life and interests of the child. 

The subjects that have been fitted into this plan are: Detroit of today; 
good citizens; storyland; communication. The purpose of the children and 
the objective toward which they work is the presentation of an original play 
and an exhibit of their handicraft, for the benefit of their parents and 
others who may be interested. In addition to this they prepare a number 
of issues of a mimeographed newspaper, from which material is drawn for 
a printed school paper. While these tangible things form the immediate 
objectives of the teachers also, their ultimate aim is the inculcation of 
certain deep-seated character traits, slightly differing for each plan, that 
have been listed by various agencies as desirable in the development of 
personality. Each plan is divided into time units under the headings of 
some constituent elements of character. Each unit consumes either two or 
three weeks, depending upon the amount of time available between the 
initial and the final educational test periods for the semester. The topics of 
the four units in storyland are: Health; sportsmanship; workmanship ; 
service. These, in turn, have numerous subdivisions so that every grade 
from the kindergarten through the eighth finds some traits applicable to 
the group. 

Storyland, for example, is based largely on the subjects of reading and 
literature, although every subject in the platoon school curriculum has a 
given place in the plan. The school is divided into four groups of com- 
parable working ability; each group being composed roughly of two grades. 
At the close of the first unit period, group one provides the program for a 
school assembly, which is based upon the work of the first unit and which 
composes a large part of the share of this group in the play given at the end 
of the plan. This program is developed through the medium of the school 
auditorium where the ideas and facts accumulated in all other classes are 
consolidated and put into shape for presentation. This method produces a 
decidedly satisfactory correlation for the work of all rooms. ‘Those children 
who have no part in the program make some of the various articles suggested 
to them by one of the stories read either by the class or in individual reading. 
These articles are placed in the final exhibit. Another group will prepare 
an article for the newspaper. Thus, every child finds some particular phase 
of the work that appeals to him or to his group and which is within his 
ability. Each group, in turn, plans for an assembly while the others are 











40 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION 





continuing their work toward the final goals, the original play and the 
combined exhibit. All work is done in close adherence to courses of study 
and should not be considered as extracurricular in that it forms the bulk 
of everyday class activity. 

The common purpose plan furnishes an ideal medium for teacher super- 
vision, as we have come to view it. Before the work can be started, quite 
definite plans must be formulated, for these activities contain a considerable 
amount of teacher control. These begin with the general plan of the 
originator, which must include the subjects, with their subdivisions, for each 
unit, a statement of the major objectives, specified times for the completion 
of the various items, suggestions of sources of material and articles to be 
made for exhibition, and a general outline of the play. Then begins a 
series of small-group meetings in which teachers of classes in the various 
groups come together to decide upon their particular part of the general 
plan. These meetings are under the direction of the principal. These 
meetings are followed by meetings between the group leaders and the prin- 
cipal where the time is devoted to making actual written plans of the work 
of each group. From these, each teacher makes her individual written plans. 
This preliminary planning is completed by the date set for the beginning 
of the childrens’ work. 

Throughout this period of planning, the principal has been working and 
consulting with individual teachers and small groups, helping to outline 
the work, and carrying ideas from group to group.. In this way standards 
are set up and may be followed later. A fine spirit is developed among the 
teachers of the entire school. Teachers know each other and come to under- 
stand the ideals and policies of the principal and the school. The coopera- 
tion secured through all members working together on a common problem 
also helps one teacher to undertsand the problems of those in other rooms 
and grades. With the common purpose before them, tolerance of differing 
ideas comes naturally, and the final result is a harmonious product. 

From the time the children begin working on the plan, supervision is 
natural, not forced or strained. It is necessary, for checking purposes, for 
the principal to follow one class or another from subject to subject. The 
teacher understands the nature of the check and works easily. She does not 
feel that she is being spied upon nor does she suddenly change her plans 
and give the lesson that she has been preparing and saving for the occasion 
of the principal’s visit. The teacher and the principal again have a purpose 
in common with that of the children. 

The principal learns the habits of the children. He becomes better ac- 
quainted with them; they do not have that inherent fear of him that does 
more harm than good. Disciplinary problems practically cease during the 
period of these activities. 

Checks on the quality of work in different subjects do not assume char- 
acteristically undesirable appearances. They follow naturally and are used 
as a basis of comparison between the periods of this method of procedure 














ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 41 


and those in which it is not followed. The principal can offer assistance in 
fitting some particular problem of a class into the general plan. This can, 
and often does, give him an insight into the ability of the class. 

In one manner or another, the principal can cover all parts of supervision 
effectively and naturally, building up those places that need bolstering, and 
revamping methods that are not quite suitable. An ideal opportunity to 
meet the teachers on an equal basis and to work out their problems with 
them is given. 

Community leadership is absolutely dependent upon the parents of the 
school district being in hearty accord with the policies and methods of the 
school. When children acquire an increased interest in some school activity, 
and display a proportionate interest in that activity at home, they talk of 
the things they are doing in school in a happy, enthusiastic way. Parents, 
as a rule, are bound up in the welfare of their children and delight in such 
a display of happy school life. When they see the success of their children 
in the things they undertake, they place confidence in the school authorities 
and unite with them to further the interests of their children. 

It is common knowledge that many parents view, with distrust, the chang- 
ing ideas of education, particularly in the lower grades. Many of them have 
not had the oportunity to continue their own learning beyond the elementary 
stages. The institution of these plans did not discard the elements familiar 
to them and therefore met no opposition from parents in their early stages. 
But it was not long before they realized that the children were progressing 
beyond their own ideas of education. The school is in a rapidly growing 
section of the city, recently annexed, and is an outgrowth of a small district 
school. 

Parents assist children with their particular purposes. Both children 
and parents become deeply interested in the problems that the children take 
home of their own volition. Great enthusiasm is aroused in parents pro- 
viding ideas and assistance for the construction of articles for the exhibit. 
Through ideals backing some of these problems, many parents change their 
own ideas. This is especially true of many of their ideas on health. Appear- 
ance and care of the community is stressed along with other duties of a good 
citizen. As each of the subjects of citizenship is taken up, the effect may 
be noted, through the children, on the whole neighborhood. 

For each of the plays presented by the children capacity attendance of 
nearly a thousand parents and friends is secured. Parents repeatedly com- 
ment on the interest of their children at these and other gatherings at shorter 
intervals. Through the medium of the plans, many children who had 
previously been serious disciplinary problems improved to such an extent 
that their parents were delighted. 

While character training may sound platitudinous to many, there is a 
real need for some sound program of this kind. From the various studies 
of the desirable traits to emphasize have been selected those occurring with 
greatest frequency. Particular stress has been given these. Differing methods 
are used to present them to the children. Some are used by calling direct 














42 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 


attention to them by posters and similar devices pointing out the desirability 
of their virtues. Example is used considerably to provide for the imitative- 
ness of children. Comparisons are drawn between personal experiences and 
situations found in their literature. The general process of absorption is 
relied upon for inculcating many ideals. Many posters and printed slogans 
which either picture or state accepted qualities are made by individuals 
and groups. 

During the progress of these combined projects an almost unbelievable 
attitude of courtesy and consideration is displayed by the children. ‘They 
show a decided retention of the ideals developed by themselves and their 
teachers. However, they remain natural and far from an attitude of 
spurious affectation. They are in their early formative period and accede to 
setting those habits, which in the long run bring conscious pleasure, with 
great delight and considerable pride in their accomplishment. ‘Though they 
are allowed considerable freedom, they are independent, selfcontained, and 
absolutely reliable. If personality is the sum total of a man’s ideals, and 
his ideals are an expression of proper emotional reactions, then it may easil) 
be said that these children are developing personality. 

While there are many aspects of these activities upon which this article 
does not dwell, it may be pertinent to say that in these common purpose 
plans, children and teachers, the entire school forces, and the community 
unite in one common aim—to develop the accepted desirable character traits 
through an interesting, actual, lifelike study and application of the facts 
and ideals they encounter in their school work and in all other situations of 
child study. 


X-Y-Z-ORGANIZATION 


INEZ KEPPERLING 
Principal, Marxhausen School, Detroit, Michigan 


LT HOUGH most schools are organized on the basis of giving instruc- 
tion is groups, the fact that the average child is hard to find in actual 
life confronts us with the necessity of adapting even the most perfect course 
of study to the individual needs.” * Recognizing this fact, some six years 
ago, the pupils in the Detroit public schools were grouped under the 
X-Y-Z-classification. The X group included all pupils of more than 
average ability, the Y group those of average ability, and the Z group those 
of less than the average ability. This classification was for the purpose of 
making provision for the education of those pupils who had much more or 
much less than the average ability. 


‘The Fourth Yearbook, Department of Superintendence of the National Education 
Association. 

















ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 43 





For some time there has been a growing need for some sort of reorganiza- 
tion of the X-Y-Z-classification and in February 1926 at the suggestion of 
Dr. Harry J. Baker, Clinical Psychologist in the Detroit public schools, a 
study was begun of the grouping of pupils that were best adapted for 
grouping together, also a study of the assignment of teachers who were best 
adapted to the different types of teaching needed for bright, average, or 
dull pupils. 

Our school being of the platoon type, the following general steps in 
procedure as suggested by Dr. Baker, were taken: 

1. We listed the number of pupils in each half grade by X-Y-Z groups. Found 
the total number of X’s Y’s, and Z’s in all grades for use in assigning pupils to 
teachers. Assigned unclassified pupils to the groups which most nearly seemed to 
fit their ability until they could be examined. 

2. Assigned to the home-room or academic teacher one half of number of pupils 
from the Y group. In a platoon school one section may be composed entirely of the 
Y group or a teacher may have one half of each section of the Y group. 

3. Assigned to the home-room or academic teacher, for the other half of her 
group, pupils from the Z group or pupils from the X group, but not from both 


groups. 
4. All teachers therefore fell into two groups: 


1. Teachers of the Y and X pupils 

2. Teachers of the Y and Z pupils 
From the total number of pupils in X groups, Y groups, and Z groups under step 
number one, the number of teachers needed for the X groups and the number for the 
Z groups were determined. The ratio of Y-X-teachers to Y-Z-teachers can be deter- 
mined for any school and will not be subject to much variation from year to year. 
Schools in typical localities will need about an equal number of each, other localities 
will need a different ratio, but this ratio may be quite accurately determined. 


5. Selected by conference with teachers, those that preferred Y-X work and those 


that preferred Y-Z work and in some cases assigned the groups. After the groups 
are decided upon the teachers are moved from type to type only when found 
absolutely necessary. 

The steps in the plan were carefully followed and the school was reor- 
ganized accordingly but with one exception. This was in the sixth grade. 
Here one teacher was assigned all the A6 pupils, X’s, Y’s, and Z’s, while 
another teacher was assigned all the B6 pupils, X’s, Y’s, and Z’s. In each 
case, however, each of these teachers grouped her pupils so that she had a 
Y-X group and Y-Z group respectively. 

The following is the listed number of pupils in each halfgrade by 
X-Y-Z groups and illustrates just how the reorganization was perfected. 
The pupils who were extra-promoted either from group to group or from 
grade to grade in order to make a group sufficiently large enough to be 
handled as a unit are indicated in the table on page 44. 

The teachers accepted this plan with enthusiasm, and after a five months’ 
trial decided to continue it. 

There were several interesting facts brought out during the first semester. 
We found that more pupils of the same mental age were grouped together ; 
that more pupils of the same degree of brightness were grouped together ; 
and that more pupils of approximately the same educational achievement 
were grouped together. We found that the range of mentality was greater 

















44 NATIONAL EpuUCATION ASSOCIATION 
Z Y > 4 
4 
Br 36 68 (18 
At (33)—4 ne = RIG) 4-5 — ae > j(to) + 10 
| 
B2 (46)—3 21 75 
v 
A2 (40) + 3 (43)— 5 =n \(x5) +5 
B3 (24)—4 > (37)+4 17 
b] 
A3 (37)—15 > (jo)+-15 +8 < i(8)— 8 
By (23)—3 > (16)+4+3 (4)—4 
Ay (35)— 10 > (47) + 104+4 “< 
| 
Bs 14 25 ; 
| 
ms % " (49)—9 
! \ 
B6 13 36 (36) —44+9 
] | 
’ v 
ms st (16) +4 
303 495 191 


After the various units were formed the following organization resulted: 














PLATOON 
Z Y X 
* 9 B6 *52 Ab i *19 A6 
12 B6 43 B6 23 B6 
14 B5—29 As *39 As 
27 B5 —12 Ay *20 As 
*16 Ag—20 By *40 Ay 
*16 Ag—r1g By *45 Aq 
*22 A3—20 B3 *36 A3 
*17 A3—23 B3 *17 B3—20 A2 
*43 A2 *18 B3—25 A2 
43 B2 ‘*18 A2—21 B2 
29 Ar—1s Br 20 Ar —16 Br 
"44 Ar *25 Bz—20 Ar 
NOoN-PLATOON 
21 Br me aoe ae 1S 


20 Br 


Br 








bet 
five 
mer 
and 

] 
mol 
yeal 

7 
and 
uni 
the 
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had 
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and 
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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 45 








between X and Z pupils of the same class than between pupils in grades 
five months apart provided that they were grouped according to their 
mental ability. By this is meant, the range of mentality between the 5B X’s 
and the 5B Z’s is greater than between the 5B X’s and the 5A X’s. 

It was found that we could advance pupils with their own age group 
more effectually. More groups being promoted as groups to the next half 
year. This is indicated in the illustrated diagram of organization. 

The enrolment in any school determines, of course, the number of Y-Z- 
and the number of Y-X-groups and where there were very many small 
units we extra-promoted small groups to join or make a larger group in 
the next higher group or grade. This had to be done in order that the 
group be made large enough to be handled as a unit. 

Under the new plan of organization, we found it much to the advantage 
of the pupil. Those of more than average ability were able to complete 
more than the required amount of work, while those of lower mentality 
had more consideration given them in the way of review work, less compli- 
cated situations and more specific facts and questions. 

There were fewer cases of double promotions than formerly and no pupil 
received more than one such double promotion during the semester. 

On the other hand the teacher herself had a greater advantage over the 
previous type of organization in that she had fewer groups to instruct, 
and she also profited by not having to cover the entire range of mental 
differences. 

Tentative standards for use in the promotion of X, Y, and Z groups 
to grade above have recently been prepared for use in grades I through 
VI and they consider not only the average group but also the dull group 
and the superior group. ‘These standards have been prepared only after 
much observation and experimentation and are proving a very helpful guide 
along broad lines. 

Grateful acknowledgment is made to my teaching staff for assistance 
and cooperation and to Dr. Baker for many helpful suggestions which have 
made this study of the X-Y-Z-organization possible. 


(, M. WALTON, Librarian of the Michigan State Normal 
e College at Ypsilanti, is very anxious to procure a copy of 
the First Yearbook of the Department of Elementary School 
Principals. Can any of our readers help him out? 











THE PRINCIPAL AS A PROFESSIONAL MAN 


GeorcE I. BRINKERHOFF 
Principal, Webster Street School, Newark, New Jersey 


NE may question whether the principal’s calling has been a distinct 

profession, but nobody familiar with the trend of events can reason- 
ably doubt that it is rapidly becoming one. Until recently a principal was 
ranked as of the teaching profession, a successful member of that profession, 
but the time seems ripe for a sharp differentiation between the two types of 
work—teaching and “ principaling.” 

The duties and the training requirements for teachers have been fairly 
well defined but the duties of the principal and the kind and amount of 
training he should possess are still undecided matters. In practice there is 
wide variation in the method of selecting principals, and in what is deemed 
satisfactory training for a principal. Merely successful teaching experience 
is often the guiding criterion. Frequently a college degree is the deter- 
mining factor, regardless of whether the candidate has had special courses 
in education or even experience in teaching. In the more progressive school 
systems at present, preference is given to those who have done some college 
or university work in the field of education, but no definite policy in this 
respect has been established. ‘The principalship is, even now, too often 
regarded as a position that anybody can fill, provided he has some education 
and a fair degree of common sense. Special training for this most difficult 
and important calling is not always insisted upon. 

That a successful teacher, with a few courses in education perhaps, should 
properly be considered equipped to do the work of a principal, is under- 
estimating the professional character of the job. It it not enough that one 
should know how to teach well and that one should have executive ability: 
he should know the business of teaching thoroughly; he should have some 
acquaintance with the whole broad field of education—psychology in its 
manifold ramifications, experimental pedagogy, experimental didactics, edu- 
cational philosophy and practice in teaching all school subjects, organization, 
management, supervision and other branches of study intimately connected 
with school work. Just as a physician must be able to diagnose and remedy) 
physical ailments, so the principal, the educational expert, must be competent 
to diagnose and prescribe in the almost limitless field of pedagogy. A teacher, 
even a highly gifted one, is not, per se, qualified for such work. The 
teaching profession, though closely allied to the principals’ profession, is 
quite distinct. It is every bit as important and is of high rank among the 
professions, but it is different. ‘leaching appears to bear the same relation 
to the principal’s work as does nursing to the work of the physician. It 
follows, therefore, that the training of teachers and of principals must differ 
just as the training of nurses differs from that of physicians. 

A four-year high school course plus a two-year course in normal school 
is coming to be the accepted requirement for a grade teacher’s license, but 


[46] 





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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 47 





nobody today would seriously contend that this was sufficient training for 
a principal. Also, it must be admitted that a regular course in college no 
more fits one for a principalship than it does for a license to practice medicine 
or law. Since the field of education is no less difficult, no less broad, and 
no less important than the field of medicine, it is reasonable to demand of 
the principal as much professional training as is demanded of the physician. 
The modern physician feels that he must have a college education before 
he takes up the study of medicine, though in practice the fourth year of 
college is omitted and the first year of medical school substituted. Four years 
in a medical school plus one or two years as an intern in a hospital usually 
constitutes the physician’s professional training, and even then, he is merely 
a general practitioner and not a specialist in any line. No less training 
should be required of a principal. A regular four-year college course 
followed by a four-year course in a school of education should be the 
minimum scholastic requirement, and this should be followed by some years 
of actual teaching experience. Anything less than this would be degrading 
to the profession. It the principal is to receive consideration as a profes- 
sional man, and if the difficulty and importance of the principal’s work is 
to be looked upon as on a par with that of other professional men, then he 
must expect to equip himself professionally as do others of the professional 


class. 


ALL-YEAR SCHOOLS 


Warren A. ROE 
Belmont Avenue School, Newark, New Jersey 


HE FIFTH YEARBOOK of the Department of Superintendence 

has ten out of fifteen statements of the purposes of the junior high 
school which confess that our generally accepted administrative organization 
is imperfect. Instead of attacking the problems presented at their source, 
namely the lock-step administrative practices now widely current, the year- 
book attempts to meet the situation by curriculum readjustments and by a 
concept of offering variety of opportunity for adjustment at an advanced 
stage of pupil progress namely the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades. Progressive 
and valuable as these proposals are, they still have a striking resemblance 
to the antiquated situation lately held within the medical profession where 
for many years a strong belief prevailed that medical practice should be 
curative and not preventive. Just as a progressive and broadening outlook 
has elevated preventive and corrective medical practice into full kinship 
with curative practice, so we may hope that admission of need for better 
pupil adjustment will produce such careful analysis of the early years of 
the child’s educational life that we shall adopt administrative procedures 
which will bear better relationships to what we know of variations in 
ability and rates of development in individual children than those now in 


general use. 











48 NATIONAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION 





Between the individual pupil’s abilities and rates of progress with this 
pupil’s need for frequent adjustment and regrouping and the common 
practice of semi-annual and annual promotions exists a chasm of failure and 
maladjustment that weighs heavily upon the conscience of those school 
people who recognize that it exists. For those fortunate or unfortunate 
educators who do not recognize this gulf because it has always been present 
no hope exists. Time must solve that problem. But those conscious of the 
punitive and evil force of long continued maladjustment, as expressed in 
non-promotion and retardation records, find, in a shorter division of cur- 
riculum units and in more frequent regrouping and classification of pupils 
and in greater use of the time available in the years of childhood, tools by 
which we may construct fairly adequate bridges across this gulf of non- 
promotion and retardation, and in doing so give greater opportunity for 
educational achievement to our pupils while serving society more usefully 
and successfully. —The wide adoption of shorter terms coupled with a better 
use of the great margin of time in children’s lives not needed for healthful 
play and outdoor activities would be a long step ahead in educational 
progress. 

Children live day by day. They are not born to suit school terms. They 
do not cease growth in June or begin in September. Much that we know 
of child development both physical and mental mocks our stated calendar 
terms and challenges our grades and classes. As schools pass from irrational 
to rational living conditions, we shall destroy much of this rigid adminis- 
trative machinery we have created and replace it by flexible regrading and 
reclassifying procedures that will bring our regimented regroupings into 
some sane relationships to our knowledge of individual differences. This 
the all-year schools of Nashville and Newark are now doing and in their 
pioneering they are pointing the pathway that the schools of America will 
eventually seek to follow. 


A DEMOCRATIC FORM OF ORGANIZATION 


O. D. ENFIELD 
Principal, Eastman Street School, Los Angeles, California 


URING THE past five years since the Elementary Principals have 
had a functional part in the N. E. A. there have been many problems 
studied, chief of which has been the Improvement of Instruction or Better- 
ing the Technic of Teaching. The latter can be done only by providing 
more time for supervising. —The modern school with an overcrowded cur- 
riculum including classes in adult education, mothers’ classes in sewing, 
millinery and nursing, classes in health education such as nutrition, correc- 
tive work and physical education in addition to activities with the regular 
program such as sloyd, cooking, sewing, agriculture, etc., involves far too 
large a part of a principal’s time. The solution to this problem is through 
delegated powers. 








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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 49 


Following is the general outline of a plan for intensive organization 
through delegation of responsibility : 


Officers: 
Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Representative to Library, Representative 
to Teachers’ Club. 


Chairmen of Groups: 
First and Second 
Third and Fourth 
Fifth and Sixth 


Committees: 
Visual Education: 
Fifth and Sixth 
Third and Fourth 
First and Second 


Thrift: 

Fifth and Sixth 
Third and Fourth 
First and Second 


Safety: 

First and Second 
Third and Fourth 
Fifth and Sixth 


Council: 

Chairman of Organization 

Chairman of First and Second Grades 
Chairman of Third and Fourth Grades 
Chairman of Fifth and Sixth Grades 

The above plan was worked out some three years ago at Eastman Street 
School and has passed the theoretical stage because it has worked very 
successfully in solving the problem of more time for supervision. 

There are many advantages of such a plan but I shall discuss very briefly 
only three. 

First, it makes of the principal an expert executive, proving his ability to 
delegate powers without neglecting his duty. It establishes confidence in 
the principal on the part of his teachers and pupils because he is to them a 
director and co-worker and not a czar. Teachers always prefer to work 
with a principal rather than for him. If a principal respects his job the com- 
munity will have more respect for both him and his job. A principal should 
never do anything that a teacher, a pupil or the janitor might do as well. 

Second, the teachers themselves enjoy being consulted in the management 
of their plant. It develops initiative on the part of teachers. A weak princi- 
pal allows many potential abilities to go undeveloped when they might be 
utilized for the good of his school as well as for the teacher. Teachers are 
always more willing to carry on experiments or to carry out the routine 
duties of a school such as ordering supplies and arranging yard duty schedule 
if they have a hand in them. The Council as shown above meets the second 
Thursday of each month and discusses ways and means of raising money 
and for what purposes it shall be spent, decides on the nature of community 











50 NATIONAL EpUCATION AssOCIATION 
programs, and any innovations whatsoever. All matters discussed in council 2 
are discussed the following week at the various group meetings and then im 
action taken at the organization meeting the following week. ‘They feel 
that any innovation is introduced because a majority have so decreed. In ral 
a school of some thirty teachers there is scarcely one but has some part in act 
the school program. This results in thorough cooperation. | 
Third, it develops the “ esprit de corps”’ as nothing else can. A principal lat 
may work ever so hard and initiate many new schemes but unless he has a 
fine spirit of cooperation back of this there is little to be gained. At the let 
group meeting supplies are discussed, each teacher having budgeted her own 
needs, requisitions are made through the chairman and in turn distributed by wt 
her. Each group decides upon some major problem upon which to work for - 
the year. They also discuss their particular problems. The principal may 
sit in as an advisor or he may not. Again such activities as thrift, safety - 
first, motion pictures and paper drives are carried on through committees. be 
The plan provides an opportunity for developing initiative on the part of 
teachers; it creates a fine school spirit. It makes possible an efficiently ch 
managed school. ne 
ab 
SOME WHOLESOME REFLECTIONS 
RINCIPAL JOHN J. LYNCH of Junior High West Street School wl 
outlines his philosophy of the schoolroom and pupil in the following 
paragraphs entitled, “Some Wholesome Reflections ” : te 
“A wholesome reflection of life’s work is the remembrance of a service 
joyfully and well done. Do you ever have those reflections? Do you know he 
why some have them?” 
“You may place a value on your conversational powers, but I’d love to di 
pay tribute to your social silence.” 
““A voice raised above a conversational tone in a classroom or a home is 
an indictation of a loss of self-control and authority. Have your neighbors m 
ever heard your voice? Have you ever heard theirs?” 
“ Do we elders complain against our own infractions of rules, or do we fc 
excuse them on the claims of age, authority, and the most abused words— 
personal liberty? ” W 
“Ts there any other greater proof of my good citizenship than my ct 
neighbors’ declarations of my obedience to the laws of country, state, and 
city?” a 
“Who rules well and peacefully? He who is well ruled himself by 
his acceptance and conformity to the law.” a 
“TI never expect a child to obey more promptly than I do myself. If I ‘. 
take two minutes to obey, I tyrannize when I demand that a child shall obey 
at the sound of my voice.” s 
“T never ask for silence from forty children and then proceed to gossip 
in their presence.” . 
“ My dismissals are always determined by my personal wishes, inclina- 
tions, and social pleasures. I never thought or acted on those matters in 
dealing with children. Are you an exception?” 








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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 51 





—— 


“A man principal may be intolerable. Yet, he too was made in His 
image, O, Woman! ”’ 

“ Do not children observe our habits and our infractions, make them their 
rules of conduct and life, and wonder why we are so critical of their 
activities when they do the things that we have done with impunity?” 

“Ts there any rule too severe for teachers that is justified in the regu- 
lation of government of children?” 

“ Before we declare a rule for children and insist on its enforcement 
let us try it ourselves, and be martyrs of its justice and wisdom.” 

“Tf I must talk to my neighbor during a prescribed period of silence, 
why should I deny the child, whose habits I’m forming, from enjoying the 
same privilege?” 

“If a parent is solicitous about her child’s conduct at school when the 
teacher is guilty of a slight indiscretion or a hasty word, why can’t she be 
before the necessity of the visit?” 

“Some teachers accept the gossip of children as a basis of another child’s 
character. Would we like our characters to be based on some of our 
neighbors’ tongues? ”’ 

“Tf I cannot command the silence and respect of my children while I’m 
absent from the room, then I ought to exercise that privilege sparingly.” 

“Teachers, preachers, parents, our aim should be to mold character 
where it is not, and to strengthen it where it is.”’ 

“ Doctors consult to save their patients; lawyers to protect their clients; 
teachers too frequently to destroy the objects of their worries—children.” 

“Never seek information about a child unless you intend to use it 
honestly and wisely for his betterment.” 

“ Children have little hope when some teachers and preachers confer to 
diagnose on their life’s conduct.” 

“T wonder if we would like our daily conversations radioed.” 

“My neighbor may be able to do many things which I cannot do in 
my life’s work. I am myself and must act in accordance with my powers.” 

“Every bell has a meaning for teachers as well as for children. Are the 
former exempted and the latter enjoined ? ” 

“Before we speak thoughtlessly to children, angrily harangue them, 
we ought to be certain that a dictograph is not hanging in our own 
chamber.” 

“Something can always be found to help the wickedest boy. He has 
a young heart. Treat it before it hardens.” 

“Inheritance and environment may be vital factors in the development 
of a child’s life, but too frequently they are sought and used to justify the 
inadaptability of one’s calling.” 

“To mischievously seek the family history of a child is an assassination 
of the innocent and betrays the baseness of one’s heart.” 

“To look for the richness of life and not its baseness is the highest proof 


of human nature.” 


Reprint from Holyoke (Mass,) Telegram. 











MINUTES OF THE SEATTLE MEETING 


Warren A. RoE 


Secretary 


HE excellent Seattle meeting began at 7:30 A.M. July 4 with the 

breakfast conference at the Olympic Hotel. A large and interested 
group heard a short report from the Enrolment Committee which showed 
progress. The Committee on Vacation and All-Year Schools presented a 
report showing the valuable progress made in these fields. 

Tuesday began with Vicepresident Hansen reporting for the Committee 
on Educational Progress to an enthusiastic group at the 7: 30 breakfast 
conference. The afternoon meeting at Plymouth Church was well attended. 
President Gwinn of the Department of Superintendence brought greetings 
from the Department. Dean William F. Russell, Teachers College Co- 
lumbia University, spoke upon “ International Gossip.” Margaret Poore, 
Oakland, California, presented a paper in the discussion following. Com- 
mittees upon Resolutions and Nominations were named. 

The evening banquet on Tuesday brought over three hundred principals 
and guests together. The tables were beautifully decorated with flowers. 
A glee club and quartet from Seattle supplied most enjoyable music. Short 
but pointed addresses by the guests and officers together with the com- 
munity singing and the very excellent dinner combined to make a memor- 
able occasion which those present will long remember. 

Wednesday began with the breakfast report of the Committee on Stand- 
ards and Training to another large group. The afternoon session received 
greetings from the Department of Classroom Teachers conveyed by Anna 
Thompson, Kansas City, Missouri, president of that Department. The 
topic of the meeting was “ Cooperative Supervision,” discussed most ade- 
quately for the superintendent by Mrs. Susan M. Dorsey, Los Angeles, 
California; for the elementary principal by Elizabeth McCormick, Superior, 
Wisconsin ; for the elementary supervisor by Grace M. Swan, Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania, and for the classroom teacher by Cornelia S. Adair, Richmond, 
Virginia. The report of the Committee on Revision of Constitution and 
Bylaws was presented by Chairman M. E. Peterson, Los Angeles, California, 
and considerable discussion ensued. 

Thursday morning the Executive Committee held an open conference at 
breakfast at 7:30. Later the committee held its formal meeting. The 
afternoon session received the report of the Committee on Standards and 
Training. Reports of committees were received and accepted. The amended 
Constitution and Bylaws were adopted and the following officers were 
elected in conformity with the constitution: 

President—Arthur S. Gist, Frick School, Oakland, California. 


First Vicepresident—E. Ruth Pyrtle, Bancroft School, Lincoln, Nebraska. 

Second Vicepresident—Warren A. Roe, Belmont Avenue School, Newark, New 
Jersey. 

Third Vicepresident—Herbert C. Hansen, Talcott School, Chicago, Illinois. 


[52] 





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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 53 





Fourth Vicepresident—Mrs. Julia M. White, Steele School, Denver, Colorado. 

Fifth Vicepresident—Martha M. Wilson, Public School 9, New York City. 

Secretary—Helen B. Shove, Longfellow School, Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

Member of Executive Committee for four years—Elizabeth McCormick, Howe 
School, Superior, Wisconsin. 

The convention recorded its appreciation of the fine work done by the 
Seattle Committee under the leadership of President Charles Potter of 
the Seattle Principals’ Club. 


ADDRESS AT SEATTLE 
E. RUTH PYRTLE 
President, Department of Elementary School Principals, Lincoln, Nebraska 


HE GROWTH and interest in the Department of Elementary School 

Principals has been remarkable, almost phenomenal, in our short six 
years of existence. This Department is recognized in the educational world 
as one of the most alert and truly professionally minded groups working 
in American education. The fine professional research study as reflected 
in our publications together with the bi-yearly programs and the superior 
work done, day by day, in the classrooms, in the nation-wide field of 
education, has won a cordial respect, a recognition and commendation for 
the principalship from all classes of educators. 

Our opportunity as individual principals, and as an organized Depart- 
ment group, is measured only by our vision and devotion to our field of 
work—the elementary field. Elementary principals are becoming profes- 
sionally conscious or, shall I say, are now professionally conscious. 

The six yearbook® and seventeen bulletins, filled largely with contri- 
butions from our oO’ members, have received the highest praise from leading 
educators both honfe and abroad. The 1928 yearbook will be the report 
of the Committee @ Standards and Training for the Elementary School 
Principalship. Thiffeor promises to be a most valuable contribution to the 
whole field of educa¥on. 

Our host, Superintendent T. R. Cole, on the Pacific coast said last 
year of this Department: “It is my opinion that the elementary school 
principals have made the greatest progress during the last ten years pro- 
fessionally of any group of educators in the public school work. The Seattle 
school system has profited much by this professional growth.” 

About the same time on the Atlantic coast, our much loved principal 
member, Mary McSkimmon, said: ‘‘ No man or woman holding the position 
of elementary school principal can afford to remain outside this organized 
group. We need every one of our 50,000 elementary school principals, for 
we are members one of the other by the very nature of our task. Every 
principal in America has already been helped in a dozen ways through the 
fine professional spirit and service of the organization.” 

May I now gratefully acknowledge and personally thank each and every 
person of this Department who has worked so zealously and untiringly 
and thus brought about the success of the work of the Department through 
this year. 











CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS 
DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


ApopTep JULY 7, 1927, AT SEATTLE 


GREAT majority of our future citizens receive all their formal 

education in the elementary school. To it is intrusted the physical, 
mental, and moral training of the child during its tenderest years, and to 
it we must look for that basic training upon which all future education 
must rest. Educators everywhere and our federal, state, and local govern- 
ments are realizing more and more the responsibility placed upon the 
elementary school, but primarily it is the elementary school principal who 
must face these responsibilities intimately. To meet the responsibilities of 
elementary education with a united mind and purpose, to study the problems 
of the elementary school with a broad and sympathetic outlook, to enlist 
the aid of educational forces everywhere, and, in general, to give to the 
elementary child the advantages of united effort, we do hereby form the 
Department of Elementary School Principals of the National Education 
Association and adopt the following Constitution: 


ARTICLE. I. NAME 


The name of the organization shall be the Department of Elementary 
School Principals of the National Education Association. 


ARTICLE II. MEMBERSHIP 


SECTION 1. Membership in the Department of Elementary School Prin- 
cipals shall be of two classes: Active members and associate members. 

SECTION 2. State, county, or supervisory principals of elementary schools, 
who are members of the National Education Association, may become active 
members by paying the annual dues. 

SECTION 3. Other persons, not supervisory principals, who are interested 
in elementary education may become associate members by paying the annual 
dues. Associate members shall have all the rights and privileges of active 
members except the right to vote and the right to hold office. 


ARTICLE III. OFFICERS 


SecTION 1. The officers of the Department shall be the President, five 
Vicepresidents, and the Secretary, and they shall each hold office for a 
period of one year from date of election. 

SECTION 2. No elective officer may hold the same office for more than 
one term until the lapse of a period of one year or more. 

SECTION 3. The retiring President shall become automatically the First 
Vicepresident. 


[54] 











ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 55 





————— 


SECTION 4. The Executive Committee shall consist of all the officers 
together with four members elected at large. Retiring officers shall be 
ineligible to election to the Executive Committee until the lapse of one 
year or more. 

SECTION 5. Members at large shall hold office for four years, one mem- 
ber retiring each year. ‘The member receiving the largest number of votes 
at the first election shali serve for four years, and the others three, two, and 
one, respectively, according to the number of votes received. 

SecTION 6. The President of the Department shall be Chairman of the 
Executive Committee and the Secretary of the Department shall be the 
Secretary of the Executive Committee. 


ARTICLE IV. ELECTIONS 


SECTION 1. Election of officers and Executive Committee shall take place 
in the business session held during the summer meeting of the National 
Education Association. 

SECTION 2. Election shall be by ballot. 

SECTION 3. Active members only are entitled to vote. 

SECTION 4. A Nominating Committee of five members, not less than two 
of whom shall be members of the Executive Committee, shall be appointed 
by the President at the first session of the summer meeting or earlier. This 
Committee shall nominate one candidate for each office to be filled. Nomi- 
nations from the floor shall be permitted. 


ARTICLE V. DUTIES OF OFFICERS 


SEecTION 1. The President shall preside at all meetings of the Depart- 
ment and of the Executive Committee ; appoint all committees not otherwise 
provided for; call meetings of the Executive Committee at his pleasure or 
upon written request of four of its members; sign all orders on the treasury ; 
and perform such other duties as may from time to time devolve upon him. 
He shall be, ex officio, a member of all standing committees. 

SECTION 2. In the absence of the President of the Department, the 
Vicepresident shall perform all the duties of that office. 

SECTION 3. The Secretary shall keep a careful record of the proceedings 
of the Department and of all its committees; and he shall be responsible 
for their preservation. Within 30 days after any meeting of the Department 
and within ten days after any meeting of the Executive Committee, the 
Secretary shall furnish a copy of the minutes to each member of the Execu- 
tive Committee. He shall prepare and keep an accurate list of the members 
of the Department with their post office addresses; and perform such other 
duties as may, from time to time, devolve upon him. 

SEcTION 4. The Executive Committee shall be the administrative body 
of the Department, subject to the call of the President, except as otherwise 
provided for in the Constitution. To supplement and assist the President 











56 NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION 





in the conduct of his office, the Executive Committee shall, by a majority 
vote of all its members, fill all vacancies, except that of the President. T'he 
President or Executive Committee shall prepare in advance a program for 
each annual meeting of the Department, and shall cause the same to be 
published prior to the meeting. 

SECTION 5. The annual report shall contain a list of officers and com- 
mittees of the Department, a list of members of the Department, together 
with their addresses and such other matter as the Executive Committee 
may direct. This report may be printed as a Yearbook of the Department. 


BYLAWS 


ARTICLE I 


There shall be the following standing committees and such other special 
committees as the President may appoint: Committee on Educational 
Progress, Committee on Resolutions, Committee on Enrolment. 


ARTICLE II. ORGANIZATION AND CONDUCT OF COMMITTEES 


The first meeting of a committee shall be called by the first-named member 
thereof, who shall be its chairman. Minutes of the proceedings of each 
standing committee shall be kept and a copy thereof certified by the 
chairman and secretary shall be promptly furnished to the Secretary of the 
Department. All standing committees shall report to the Department in 
writing at the annual meeting. Vacancies in all committees except the 
Executive Committee shall be filled by the President of the Department. 


ARTICLE III. COMMITTEES 


SECTION 1. Committee on Educational Progress. ‘—The Committee on 
Educational Progress shall consist of one member from each state. This 
committee shall bring before the Department such features of educational 
progress as it may deem worthy of consideration. 

SECTION 2. Committee on Resolutions. All resolutions offered at an 
annual meeting of the Department shall be referred to the Committee on 
Resolutions, unless otherwise ordered by the Department. This Committee 
shall submit to the Department for its consideration such resolutions as they 
may deem advisable. 

SECTION 3. Committee on Enrolment. The Committee on Enrolment 
shall consist of not less than one member from each state, but additional 
members may be appointed by the President of the Department. This com- 
mittee shall secure members for the Department, collect the annual dues and 
pay them to the Secretary, furnishing him therewith a list of the names 
and postoffice addresses of members from whom such dues have been col- 
lected, and giving each member the Secretary’s receipt, countersigned by 
a member of the committee. 





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ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 57 








ARTICLE IV. BOOKS, RECORDS, PAPER, AND PROPERTY 


SecTION I. The records and accounts of the Department and of its 
officers, committees, departments, sections, and divisions, shall be kept in 
books provided by the Department, which shall be the property of the 
Department. 

SECTION 2. All books, papers, records, and accounts of the Department 
and its officers, committees, departments, sections, and divisions, shall be 
open at all times to the inspection of the Executive Committee or any 
member thereof. 

SECTION 3. Every officer, member, committee, department, section, or 
division of the Department having funds, papers, books, records or property 
of any description belonging to the Department shall give up the same on 
demand to his or their successors in office or to the person authorized by 
the Department or its Executive Committee to receive the same. 


ARTICLE V. DUES 


SECTION 1. The annual fee for membership shall be three dollars ($3). 

SECTION 2. The fiscal year of the Department shall coincide with that 
of the National Education Association, but memberships shall run from 
one year from date received by National Education Association headquarters. 


ARTICLE VI 


Ten cents from the membership fee of each member annually shall be 
set aside as a permanent Reserve Fund of the Department. This fund shall 
be placed in charge of the Board of Trustees of the National Education 
Association to be invested and conserved in securities that are legal. The 
Board of Trustees of the National Education Association shall be the 
Trustees of said Reserve Fund. At each annual summer meeting of the 
Department the Trustees shall report in detail the condition of said Fund 
and shall apportion the income to such uses as may seem, to the Department 
of Elementary School Principals, advisable. No part of the principal of said 
fund shall be spent except after the unanimous recommendation of the 
Executive Committee of the Department of Elementary School Principals 
duly ratified by a two-thirds vote of the members present at a stated annual 
summer meeting of the Department. 


ARTICLE VII. ROBERT'S RULES OF ORDER 

The rules and orders of Robert’s “ Rules of Order,” not inconsistent 
with this Constitution, shall govern the meetings of the Department and 
its Committees. 

ARTICLE VIII. RULES ON DEBATE 

The Department shall be governed by the ruling of the National Educa- 
tion Association that debates shall be limited to five minutes unless otherwise 
ordered during the year. 











58 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION 





ARTICLE IX. AMENDING THE CONSTITUTION 


SECTION 1. An amendment to the Constitution or Bylaws may be 
proposed by the Executive Committee or by a petition of at least ten 
regular members of the Department. 

SECTION 2. The proposed amendment shall be read in regular session 
at least twenty-four hours before a vote is taken upon it. 

SECTION 3. Two-thirds of the votes of the members present in a regular 
session will be necessary to make the proposed amendment part of the 
Constitution. 


ARTICLE X 


This instrument shall become operative from and after the last meeting 
of the summer session of the year 1927. 


REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS 


Car S. Zook 
Atkinson School, Portland, Oregon, Chairman 


HE RESOLUTIONS COMMITTEE duly appointed by your 
president begs to submit the following report. 

I. WHEREAS, The question of the establishment of a Department of 
Education under a Secretary as a member of the President’s Cabinet has 
been and is now before Congress and, 

Wuereas, Little remains of information or argument that has not been 
presented for or against such a plan; therefore be it 

Resolved, That we endorse the Curtis-Reed bill and urge school principals 
to keep in touch with their congressmen and local chamber of commerce 
in an effort to have this legislation enacted into law. 

II. Wuereas, The value of the services of the National Education 
Association and associated departments is attested by school executives 
throughout the nation and, 

WHueErEAS, Many members and delegates are prevented from attending 
meetings and conventions because of the expense involved ; therefore be it 

Resolved, That boards of education be requested to include in their 
budgets appropriations to cover expenses of delegates to conventions and 
meetings, particularly to meetings of the Department of Elementary School 
Principals. 

III. WueEreEAs, The best success of an organization demands a member- 
ship that includes approximately all eligible ; therefore be it 

Resolved, Vhat we recommend to local clubs and associations a coinclusive 
plan of membership—a plan whereby one fee covers membership in local, 
state, and national organizations; and be it further 

Resolved, ‘That state superintendents be called upon to recommend or 
urge membership upon principals not reached through local associations 
or city superintendents. 





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ELEME@TARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 59 





IV. WHEREAS, Tenure office in some degree has been quite generally 
bestowed on teachers and principals, and, 

Wuereas, The fire of politicians has in consequence been directed at 
superintendents, many of whom have been unjustly dropped from their 
positions to the serious detriment of the schools; therefore be it 

Resolved, That this Department urges the extension of the policy and 
principles of indefinite tenure to teachers, principals, and superintendents 
alike, and that we request the support of the National Education Association 
in this effort. 

V. Wuereas, The elementary schools are as important as any section 
or unit of educational system; therefore be it 

Resolved, That the single salary schedule should obtain for principals, 
whether, elementary, junior high, or senior high, on the basis of training, 
experience, and number of pupils enroled ; and be it further 

Resolved, That the same time for preliminary duties on full salary as is 
now allowed junior high and senior high school principals be allowed 
also to elementary school principals. 

VI. Wuereas, The publications of our Department—the Bulletins and 
Yearbooks—are invaluable contributions to the literature on school opera- 
tion, and, 

WHEREAS, It is important that school directors and superintendents be 
informed as to our plans, policies, and procedures; therefore be it 

Resolved, That we recommend that local associations or clubs arrange to 
place these publications in the libraries of our superintendents. 

VII. Wuereas, Character education or training is regarded by educators 
and laymen in general as among the important functions of the school, and, 

WuereAs, Principals need inspiration and guidance in this important 
field; therefore be it 

Resolved, That this department request the National Education Associa- 
tion Research Division to study and report the Detroit plan and other plans 
that have been tried and found valuable. 


REPORT OF THE TREASURER 


CourTLAND V. Davis 
Franklin School, Plainfield, New Jersey 


EREWITH is submitted the sixth annual report of your Treasurer. 

Our membership on June 1 was 3967 as opposed to 3181 on the 

same date last year, and our receipts from dues alone approximately eighteen 
hundred dollars greater. 

Again we should take the opportunity to express our appreciation of the 

work done by the Division of Accounts of the Washington office in handling 

the accounts of our Department. 





NATIONAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION 





RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES 
For THE YEAR ENDED May 31, 1927 


i i ee Mi MN, co. teaceewiadounsenemuateuskeals 
Receipts: 

Membership Dues, 3,758 Members at $2.00 each.......... 

209 Members at $3.00 each.......... 

Appropriation from N. E. A............. cece eee eee 

CIID, a wit raw deKscd i bedwansiaiectaenwenseness 


Disbursements: ‘ 

Printing—October Bulletin ...................2022-00005 
Printing—January Bulletin ...................cccceeeees 
CE caccia kane wkewiiadbedsiedtusesse 
SE NES vd ciaecdwntse se nethensesceenes 
Printing—Tickets, Membership Applications, Leaflets, 
MD IS ices ined ciate ew tee aie «eae a thal ue bearws 
Postage, Stationery and Office Expense................... 

Stenographic and Clerical Service: 
I rena chs ek ee and er cnekethacmsacn $1,701.13 
Rr Oe eee ee 60.00 


ls Wa ia celavininee nine nacémcaaewbe 49-95 


Convention Expense, Philadelphia........................... 
Excess Cost of Dinner at Philadelphia....................... 
Excess Cost of Dinner at Dallas....................00000000e 
EEA eS ae 
Fees paid Arthur S. Gist for editing Yearbook................ 
 , icnadanteuns chs ddsedubesnduestneese 
Committee on Educational Progress.................-2++005. 
Traveling Expenses: 
see akin iw nebnak dk eh we decheiies $151.02 
na ceae ta us eccuk aceetoussaunois 981.98 
keene h ered wide wen aeeninen 35-71 
I i 9 dick ine see's wag. d tab wena 402.57 
Gs htt kde nencnesnendawdchiaies 211.00 
EE EO Ee 33.07 
le ini biel inn Sa i aa ek bd 445.71 
TN, cdccennsndasincesauean velieeaes 226.81 


$7,516.00 
627.00 
2,000.00 
1,607.48 
2.35 


$429.80 
450.25 
432.40 
2,543-52 


779-00 
2,252.93 


1,811.08 
26.45 
216.00 
79-75 
109.34 
500.00 


74-60 
17.20 


2,714.87 





$1,063.86 








11,752.83 


13,501.05 


12,437-19 









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REPORT OF THE SECRETARY 
WarreN A. RoE 


Belmont Avenue School, Newark, New Jersey 


HE YEAR 1926-27 has been marked by many noteworthy contribu- 

tions to educational literature from the pens of the elementary prin- 
cipals of America. It is evident that the stimulation provided by the De- 
partment of Elementary School Principals of the National Education Asso- 
ciation is functioning and that we may hope to see the great potential 
constructive educational force of the combined abilities of the principals 
of every type of elementary school made available for the service of the 
schools of America. It is a vision of service that should call to the spirit of 
the men and women who head our schools. Can we add to the laboratory 
of theory of the college and university the intelligent produce of the 
laboratory of practice? If so, wonderful achievement awaits us just beyond 
the threshold of our endeavor. 

To the many able people, whose contributions published or unpublished 
have unitedly made possible the bulletins this Department has issued, we 
send our hearty thanks. May they all add again their present professional 
studies to those they have already made. We shall hope that to their goodly 
number will be added this year many more. To the officers, committee 
chairmen and speakers whose cooperation has aided the recording of our 
programs and work, we express our appreciation. 

Our membership has grown steadily. It appears as though we had a 
service to render that invites the support of all. The coming year looks 
full of promise for wide-spread and continued success for this Department. 


REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATIONAL 
PROGRESS 


F. H. DuFry 
Principal, Harding Junior High School, Steubenville, Ohio 


GENERAL summing up over the entire country of the items reported 

by the committee of sixty show a graduated line of progress. How- 

ever, the line should rise very much more abruptly. Here and there the 

communities are arranging to care for the old and incapacitated teacher 

by the establishment of pension laws; colleges and universities are being 

strengthened as never before; and an effort toward the centralization of the 
teaching unit is being made in the rural districts. 

It cannot be denied, however, that the public schools of the nation are 
still the target of corrupt politicians and progress of the proper kind will 
be retarded as long as the practice continues. The educational system of 
our country is far from progressing to the point where it is keeping in step 
with modern industry and for the development of that which will permit 
the generations of the near future to maintain the liberties and independence 


[61] 











62 NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION 





which we and former generations have so democratically enjoyed. The 
present steam-gas-electric-wireless age is carrying us forward at such a 
terrific rate that it far over-balances our present maximum of education, 
Economically we are living on the fat of the land. When we compare our 
educational progress during the last two decades with that of the com- 
mercial and industrial development during the same period of time the 
former all but fades out of the picture. Unless our educational system is so 
adjusted as not only to offset the present whirlwind of material progress, 
we predict that our grandchildren and greatgrandchildren, sitting in legis- 
lative halls, will find themselves in a similar position to that of the proverbial 
farmer who locked the barn after the thief was gone with the horse. 

The biggest piece of work in the way of progress that our schools can do 
today is the preparation for those who are to rule in the future. A conserva- 
tion or offsetting of the present day economic waste must come from an 
adjusted form of education if our posterity is to benefit by what we are 
attempting to pass down to them and which is more or less delusive in 
its content. 


EDITORIAL 


T THE business meeting Thursday afternoon, July seventh, apprecia- 
tion of the generous hospitality of Seattle was officially voiced. But 
we cannot think of the National Education Association of July 1927, with- 
out feeling that the chairman and committees were tireless in their efforts 
to add to the pleasure and comfort of visitors. To teachers of Seattle; 
to teachers of the entire state of Washington, to parents and citizens of 
the city and state, who so whole-heartedly contributed to make this teachers’ 
convention outstanding for its hospitality, we express appreciation. 

The new constitution makes these important changes. 

1. Associate membership created. 

2. Five vicepresidents are given vote on the Executive Committee. 

3. Elective officer may hold same office but one term; and is ineligible 
to election to Executive Committee until lapse of a year. 

4. A permanent Reserve Fund was created. 

5. A Committee on Educational Progress and also a Committee on 
Enrolment was created, to consist of no less than one member from each 
state. 

The chairman of the Enrolment Committee, Mrs. Jessie M. Fink, Grand 
Rapids, Michigan, reported that the last efforts of May, 1927 resulted in 
1536 new members. That means our membership is approximately 4000. 
The chairman bent every energy and the members of the committee co- 
operated zealously, but that membership is not quite 10 percent of the 
elementary principals of the United States. Hard to believe, isn’t it? Upon 
our enrolment depends the continuance and furtherance of our activities. 

Will you, as a member, add at least one new member before January first? 





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HANCOCK, VERMONT, 
July 1, 1927 


Department of Elementary School Principals, 
Miss E. RuTH PyrtT Le, President, 
Seattle, Washington 


My dear Miss Pyrtle: 

I received your kind letter inviting me to 
attend the present session of the National Educa- 
tion Association. It would be quite beyond my 
strength to go to the convention now. 

At present I am with my son Crosby and 
wife in Granville, Vermont, the home Mr. Sargeant 
loved and where we intended to return when he 
gave up his work in Paterson. 

The Department of Elementary School Prin- 
cipals will always mean a great deal to me and 
its success will be a gratification. 

I shall treasure the Bulletin which your 
association sent me, and I trust the loving face 
smiling out from its opening pages will long be 
remembered by his friends. 

Thanking you and your associates for your 
kind sympathy, I am, 

Most sincerely, 
Mrs. I. G. SARGEANT. 


[63] 








NATIONAL EpucCATION ASSOCIATION 





THE BIGGEST IDEALS 


EACHERS depend on the leadership of the principal. They 

_ are quick in recognizing qualities of leadership and vision in 

their principal and take pride in helping to make policies and plans 

effective. The principal without the codperation of teachers is nine 

times out of ten to blame for the lack of support rather than the 
teachers. 

The principal must know and appreciate the viewpoint of 
teachers, of pupils and of the public. He deals in relationships and 
his success depends largely on his ability to inspire his teachers to 
become acquainted with the public and with its activities and to 
interpret the schools, their purpose and work to the public. The 
biggest ideals, therefore, in education at the present time are those 
of making the points of contact between the work of the schools and 
that of the home and community. These ideals will only be realized 
as understood and worked out through the leadership of the princi- 
pal with the codperation of his teachers.—J. W. CRABTREE 





To THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


I am a member of the National Education Association. I enclose my fee 
of $3.00 for membership in the Department of Elementary School Principals. 
This fee is to include a year’s subscription to the Department Bulletin and 
a copy of the Seventh Yearbook, to be issued in April, 1928. 


Address all publications to me at the address given below. 
Name spsdiaabanassaebaibscn HERE Oe a Ve 


Mailing address . 


My present position is . 


REMITTANCE FOR MEMBERSHIP 


1201 Sixteenth Street Northwest, Washington, D. C. 


(Typewrite or print) 
(School or street) 
. (City and State) 


Make checks payabie to DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS.