JUN 2 2 1999 VOL. VIII, NO. 4 JULY, 1929 BULLETIN Department of Elementary School Principals The Technic of Democratic Leadership—Hosic.............. 531 The Supervision which Principals Should Know and Be Able De OND os hisick dec en in becewentoneeseane nessemiec 538 The Village and Consolidated Principalship in Its Relation to the County Superintendent—Butterworth............ 541 The Principal and the Professional Growth of His Staff— BE ccais ati Rinireiaewenivs sei ed edbedenas say ae aaa ae 546 Salary, Service, and Supervision—Hubbard................. 549 Status of the Elementary Principal in North Carolina— CURRIE, OU I ies ciccdwesdunsuiiivsnsssneaeeaeen 555 Improving the Principal in Service—West..............e00- 562 Relationship of Principal to Pupil—Carroll................. 565 Character Training Through Creative Pupil Experience— BOE: so cicwiasdndassdmsreawaessabmew eure meeetoenad 569 ZNO Selection GF TEmCHeOke<—Baler oo isccsiccccccvcsesssvvene 573 Report of Research Committee—Cober..............00eeeeee 575 Report of Enrolment Committee—Ritow..............0.000s 576 Minutes of the Executive Committee at Cleveland.......... 580 PRONE RNIN, foi5 casi is conte aeadacdnasecuneieaes 582 fe Tre re ere a 582 THO BERS PROGRAM —PIMRSON ooo oc civ cicscadeeviossswances 591 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 pomas provided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized December 18, 1922. $a BULLETIN of the DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS HERBERT C. HANSEN, EDITOR, 315 Plymouth Court, Chicago Published quarterly in October, January, April, and July by the De- partment of Elementary School Principals of the National Education Association of the United States. The payment of $3 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 nonmembers is $3 per year; single copies, 50 cents; Yearbook, $2. Members are requested to report at once any change of address, giving old as well as new address. 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 postage provided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized December 18, 1922. Executive and Editorial Offices, 1201 Sixteenth Street Northwest, Washington, D. C. OFFICERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 1928-29 President, Eva G. PINKSTON Sam Houston School, Dallas, Texas First Vicepresident, HELEN B. SHOVE Longfellow School, Minneapolis, Minnesota Second Vicepresident, Joun A. SPARGO Ashland School, East Orange, New Jersey Third Vicepresident, F. H. Durry 1616 Ridge Avenue, Steubenville, Ohio Fourth Vicepresident, Cassie F. Roys 2609 Bristol Street, Omaha, Nebraska Fifth Vicepresident, A. J. HAMILTON University Elementary School, Berkeley, California Secretary, HERBERT C. HANSEN 315 Plymouth Court, Chicago, Illinois Executive Committee Mrs. Jessie M. Fink, Buchanan School, Grand Rapids, Michigan (Term Expires 1929) M. E. Peterson, Twentieth Street School, Los Angeles, California (Term Expires 1930) ExizapetH McCormick, Howe School, Superior, Wisconsin (Term Expires 1931) JouHn Me_rriLi, Lingemann School, Detroit, Michigan (Term Expires 1932) Editor, 1929 Yearbook Artuur S. Gist, State Teachers College, San Francisco, California National Chairman, Enrolment Committee HERMAN RitTow, Fort Sheridan, Illinois fH Pn fF ww THE ‘TECHNIC OF DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP James F. Hosic Professor of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York HE IDEAL of democracy in education is now widely accepted. Teachers are urged to democratize their class work. Superintendents and principals aspire to a new democratic régime. We hear much about participation in the management of the school on the part of pupils, teachers, and parents. Courses of study must be varied to fit individual differences in capacity ; classes are organized for the bright, the average, and the.slow ; individual instruction is practised; and above all the program of activities is planned with reference to the development of initiative, selfdirection, and selfcontrol. Opportunity for each according to his need is a popular sentiment. As usual with new movements, especially in the United States, enthu- siasm runs ahead of analysis. We subscribe to the doctrine even before we inquire precisely what it is and what it implies. It appears to be gen- erally assumed that the American social order is already democratized and that, therefore, the school has but to square itself with prevailing practise. This is far from the truth. The problem is not so simple as this. Friendli- ness and tolerance are, no doubt, accompaniments of democratic control, but they are not the essentials of it. Pure democracy, moreover, is a rare state and probably awaits Utopia for its exemplification. ‘To no one more than to the principal of a common school are the questions of what, when, and how of democratic social control pivotal. The school justifies itself to the extent that it proves a training ground for citizenship—or better, for membership in the various social groups by means of which community life goes on. To train for this it must give actual experience; the pupils must learn by doing, not merely by talking about doing. Hence the principal has a two-fold opportunity. He may exercise democratic leadership in order to build up a happy, successful school community for the sake of the present and he may at the same time con- tribute largely to the happiness and success of the larger community outside the school, now and hereafter. Let us inquire how far the principal can be democratic and what his technic of democratic leadership should be. We observe that the head of a school has a double obligation. On the one hand he represents the people—the social group that maintains the school and through its board of education and superintendent chosen by that board determines the purpose the school shall serve, compels the attendance of the children upon it, employs the teachers and other helpers, sets up rules and regulations to govern the school activities, and thus sets bounds to the freedom of action of all connected with the institution. The school does not belong to the teachers and it is not merely a voiuntary asso- ciation of the pupils. ‘These facts are obvious but they have been somewhat [531] 532 NaTIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION obscured of late by idealistic discussion, with resulting confusion of thinking and more than a little insincerity of action. The liberty of the school is circumscribed, just as that of any other of our social institutions is and must be. Even as a nation we are learning to bend our collective will so as to harmonize our desires with those of our neighbors. In the same way the members of a school must adjust their conduct to the needs and desires of the community. In this relation the effective principal of the school appears rather as a good salesman than as a chairman of an independent group in charge of its own affairs. Like the good teacher, he must often content himself with causing the teachers and the pupils of the school to want to do what he knows they ought to do. He may at times freely consult with them as to ways and means when the end has already been set up. Sometimes, however, even ways and means are prescribed. Rarely may a public elementary school decide for itself when it will meet, how long it will remain in session, what kinds of books and apparatus it will use, what subjects of study shall be pursued, what attitude toward the established government it may assume, whether there shall be health ex- aminations, whether the ages of the pupils shall be recorded, whether reports of progress shall be handed in, whether provision for safety shall be made, whether a pupil shall attend the class to which he has been assigned, whether a teacher shall assume such share of general routine duties as may be allotted to her, and so on through a long list. Getting all such duties performed willingly, cheerfully, and well is good management and reflects social power and capacity, but it is not in the strict sense of the word democratic leader- ship. It may and often does exhibit that fine consideration for others, that tact, sympathy, and intelligence which we like to think a conscientious man or woman in our time seeks to achieve, but it differs in certain essential respects from democracy as a form of spontaneous cooperative effort. The blurring of this distinction has had unfortunate consequences, both in schools and elsewhere. The present tendency to lawlessness is undoubtedly due in part to a garbled notion of freedom. The privileges of liberty have been emphasized at the expense of obligations and necessary limitations. Individuals assert as their rights opportunities that are possible so long as they are not abused, but that must be curtailed whenever it appears that improper use is being made of them. Children are encouraged to believe that the school exists for them alone, and that they may enjoy its life as may seem best, without reference to any compulsion whatsoever. ‘Teachers, too, forget that they have enlisted in a cause, that they are public servants and not masters, and hence attempt to legislate upon matters that are not primarily theirs to decide. All are free in America, within certain limits; it is not good leadership to pretend to ignore those limits. Indeed, such a course goes far to defeat the very purpose for which the schools are established, namely, to teach children the true meaning of liberty, freedom assured by law. The alternative to rebellion is not blind, unthinking obedi- St a oo ark fer Oc 533 ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS ence but intelligent and willing acceptance of regulations made by repre- sentatives of the public for the public good. Wuat SHOULD A LEADER Do? When we turn to the matter of leadership itself, we find a lack of specifications as to what a leader should do. The desirable personal qualifica- tions have been set forth at length again and again. A leader, we are assured, should be a paragon of perfection. Well and good, though para- yons are not so common as we could wish, but how proceed? ‘hat question has gone largely unanswered. Consider what is to be accomplished: (1) A number of persons are to be welded together into a social whole—they are to think and act together ; (2) certain problems are to be regarded as common problems; (3) their solution must be sought by cooperative effort; (4) decisions reached by the majority are to be cheerfully acquiesced in; (5) machinery for carrying the collective will into effect must be devised. Ideally each member of the group contributes all he is capable of to each phase of its activity, but as far as possible the welfare of the individual must also be kept in view and not sacrificed unnecessarily to the common good. The activities of the group must not become stereotyped, but there must always be the possibility of adjustment to changing conditions without disruption or undue disturbance. Something like this is accomplished by all successful organizers of neigh- borhood clubs. The better types of voluntary extraclassroom activities are launched and maintained in this way. ‘The assembly of the school fre- quently affords a good example. ‘he meetings of the principal with his corps should certainly on most occasions embody the same conception. With such an ideal in mind we may ask again, what should the leader do? 1. He should seek to bring about acquaintance, mutual respect, confi- dence, and good will. These factors are clearly essential to success in cooperative effort. If there is to be team play, there must be team spirit. Strangers never have this. On the contrary, there is a natural or native antipathy between strangers, not always recognized as a basic cause of strife and antagonism, between the highly civilized as well as the savage. The sense of strangeness must be replaced with a sense of comradeship. ‘There must be also the complementary feeling of trust and confidence. The com- rade must have been tried out and not found wanting. Politicians understand this principle very well. They wish to meet people and to have people meet each other. They emphasize companionship. They hold meetings, have speeches, attend dinners, knit the members of their group together, so that when the time of struggle comes, the party may endure. They are said to be organizers. By this is meant much more than that they set up machinery and get something to going. They also bring about amicable personal relations. 534 NaTIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION Now the principal who aspires to leadership of his school must not overlook these essentials. He must achieve solidarity. “wo practical sug- gestions as to how this may be accomplished are worth mentioning. In the first place, acquaintance means far more than recognition and handshaking ; it signifies meeting issues together. One does not know a person until he knows how he is likely to act in various typical situations. Presence of mind is shown in emergencies. Magnanimity appears when there is oppor- tunity to show what attitude one will assume toward offense. “Vhe judicial temperament expresses itself in the seeking for and weighing of evidence on all sides of a live question. Imaginative sympathy comes out in the presence of a novel point of view. One thing the leader can surely do is to so present material issues and so encourage others to present them that the persons associated with him will know each others’ minds and come to prize frankness, fairness, and friendliness. In the second place, people become acquainted in the informal contacts of purely social hours. The best principals know well the value of tea and cakes, a bit of tasteful service and the opportunity to pass the time of day. Those who do not, fall short precisely as does the church man who never reads his Bible or goes to worship. “ He neglects,”’ as our fathers used to say, “the means of grace.” Eating and drinking together are very old and profoundly significant human activities, worthwhile in them- selves and often doubly valuable on account of the more important activities for which they pave the way. The principal’s office is after all a social function; he must deal with people. If he aspires to be more than simply a manager, he must deal with them not alone as individuals but also as groups. He may have the most altruistic spirit in the world and the deepest respect for the sacredness of personality, and yet fail of his ends because he does not know how to promote good fellowship. Many an earnest, scholarly man or woman fails at just this point. Being a good principal means much more than conducting an efficient business office. The really successful principal is a social engineer. 2. Make sure that the problem to be faced, the need to be realized, the purpose to be accomplished, is clearly defined. Autocrats do not share their thoughts; they give orders. The essence of democracy, however, is sharing. All members participate—not only in doing what is to be done but in decid- ing what is worth doing and how best to do it. ‘This is a very different process from that of authoritative decision and direction. A leader may have a goal in mind quite as definitely as a commander, but he reaches it by a different road. Instead of feeling that he must do all of the thinking, he determines to make conditions as favorable as possible for others to think. To do this he must study the situation. Is a need or aim already clear to all? Is he confident that the issue that should next be met is fairly well agreed upon? If not, bearing in mind that all participants should have opportunity to contribute as much as possible to the advancement of the ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 535 general objects that have brought the group together, he will call for suggestions as to what forward step appears to be most desirable or feasible. In any case the leader will seek to have whatever issue is presented clearly defined. Half the difficulties people experience in getting on together are caused by lack of mutual understanding. | Suppose, for example, some teachers in the school express the opinion that stricter discipline of the pupils is necessary. At once the questions arise: What is discipline? What is the purpose of it? How should one judge whether discipline is good or bad? What offenses are really serious? Why? After the members of the corps have come to something like agree- ment on the answers to these questions, the problem of what to do about certain specific shortcomings in conduct can be faced in an unimpassioned, impersonal fashion, with assurance that all are speaking the same language and thinking of the social control of the school in the same term. To undertake to work out a policy and establish procedures before this clarifica- tion has taken place is folly. The group must decide collectively where it means to go before it attempts to decide upon how to get there. Preparation for presiding over meetings such as is called for from this point of view is exacting. The leader must have a clean-cut grasp of the issue and be aware of different ways of defining it. He is ready, therefore, to see the matter from the different angles from which others will view it. He is prepared to restate and sharpen the alternative positions and to stimulate and guide the thinking of all until the alternatives and their larger implications are brought out. It is, of course, much easier merely to set forth your own views and assume acceptance of them. That is not, however, democratic leadership. Such a method of proceeding is likely to be expeditious in getting things done and is at times proper, especially in emergencies. What it fails to do is to capitalize the experience and intelli- gence of one’s co-workers and to give them a proper opportunity for growth and development. ‘The goals reached by such methods are in reality not the same as those attained by the democratic process. 3. In order that the members of a group may act together they must think together. Democratic leadership involves the conduct of group think- ing and group discussion. ‘Those who are interested in the problems touched upon in this paper, particularly in that of stimulation and guidance of free interchange of opinion, will find a wealth of practical suggestion in Professor Harrison Elliott’s recent book, The Process of Group Thinking.’ The writer characterizes much current discussion as desultory. No one, not even the chairman of the meeting, has made any special preparation; hence the talk is rambling. Certain persons monopolize the time. Relatively unimportant matters are overemphasized while important ones are entirely overlooked. Opinion is at times colored with emotion, and personal con- siderations crowd out impersonal ones. The results, if any, are scattering and undecisive and nothing of any consequence follows. * Association Press, 347 Madison Avenue, New York City. 536 NATIONAL EpucaATION ASSOCIATION To avoid these dangers the leader should provide a series of questions or an outline and place copies in the hands of all present. He should see to it that the time is distributed among the items to be considered, that the less aggressive are called upon to take part, that progress is summed up from time to time, and that the conclusions reached are clearly stated. This sounds like teaching, as indeed it is, and unless care is exercised to avoid it, the outcome will inevitably be that which the framer of the questions intended it should be. Much presentday teaching that appears to be exceedingly solicitous as to the independence of the student is in reality only a thinly disguised method of indoctrination. To avoid this the leader may well hold his questions in reserve, invite the members of the group to analyze the problem together, place on a convenient blackboard the issues raised, assist in completing the list and in ordering it, and thus keep the endeavor informal throughout. That sort of chairmanship requires readiness and address. ‘The chair- man must be able to think on his feet. He will often be compelled to restate in clear and simple terms an idea that has been imperfectly ex- pressed. He must be patient, tactful, and cool, no matter how much heat may be engendered by others. Above all, he must sincerely welcome con- tributions novel to him and keep an open mind as to the outcome, no matter what his predilections may be. His function is not to secure acqui- escence in his views but to aid the group as a group to reach views of its own. As this type of teaching becomes more common, we may doubtless expect to have more leaders of conference who can use a truly democratic technic. 4. Democratic leadership fulfills itself in bringing about appropriate action. Leadership implies movement, going somewhere. Thinking and talking should come to fruition in doing. This should certainly amount to something other than admiration on the part of the rank and file for the leader while he carries out the policies agreed upon. ‘The final stage of free discussion should deal with provision for action. Here another char acteristic feature of the socialized group appears, namely, division of labor. Each plays his part. Certain responsibilities are assumed by this committee, others by that. Real leadership appears not in undertaking all the tasks agreed upon but in choosing those persons more capable of performing them and in giving encouragement and aid as encouragement and aid are needed. In the course of the year there should be a part for everyone. Pupils who cannot take charge of traffic lines can carry messages. A boy who has small literary gift sometimes proves an admirable solicitor for advertise- ments, where such are wanted, for the school paper. Nor should the places offering large possibilities be reserved for the few. One object is to carry on school enterprise ; another is to enable boys and girls to grow through the voluntary exercise of their powers. This second aim requires that oppor- tunities shall be passed around. The natural tendency in school as elsewhere is for the rank and file to concede the conspicuous positions to the few who by reason of engaging personality, persistent ambition, sheer aggres- OK URES OE _ ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 537 siveness, general popularity, or real merit have attracted attention and gained reputation. Since the school is a place in which every child should have a chance to profit as much as he can by the experiences possible in it, the wise principal will do his best to impress upon pupils and teachers alike the danger of calling repeatedly upon the same persons for important service simply because a habit of doing so has been formed. What will gratify the group must be balanced against what is due the individual. When it comes to action, the leader has the special duty of seeing to it that the purposes in view are not forgotten. Once a movement is well started nothing is easier than to let enthusiasm run riot. Then the goal is easily lost sight of and energy is freely expended for the pure joy of doing. The good life, however, is one controled by worthy ends. This holds for groups, of course, as well as for individuals, but it is probably less commonly recognized in the latter case. The essence of leadership is guidance toward the goal—if it be democratic leadership, then guidance toward the outcome foreseen, chosen, and agreed upon by all. How much more worthwhile to inspire those seeking their anticipated goal than those blindly following, they know not where! NEED ‘TRAINING IN SERVICE I’ NO TIME has there been so great a need for training teachers in service as now. Normal schools and _ teacher- training institutions tend to lag behind the best current thought and practise, because of their attempt to prepare teachers for the average school. Education is moving ahead so rapidly today that even the graduates of our best teachers’ colleges soon find them- selves out of date unless they receive active training in service. ‘Today we need to train teachers to adapt their work to the wide differences that exist among individual children; to do active and worthwhile research in connection with their classroom problems; to look on the misbehaving child not as a culprit but as a patient; and to release each child’s creative powers and train him in the | best social use of those powers.—Carleton Washburne, Superin- tendent, Winnetka, III. THE TYPE, THE KIND, THE AMOUNT OF SUPERVISION WHICH ELEMENTARY PRINCIPALS SHOULD KNOW AND BE ABLE TO GIVE W. H. Burton Associate Professor of Education, University of Chicago T IS an accepted fact that principals should do supervision. This group has already gone on record to that effect. Therefore, no time will be wasted presenting arguments on this point. ‘The remarks to follow are for those who are willing and wish to do supervision. Before the principal can do any type of effective supervision, he must have certain understandings about supervision, and certain preliminaries must have been cleared out of the way. Some of the latter are not always under his control, but he should call attention to the need for clarification. First, the principal must have the modern concept of supervision. ‘This means that he must regard supervision as a complex and intricate matter going far beyond the traditional activities of classroom visitation and con- ference. ‘These latter are activities of supervision, to be sure, but are far from being all of it. Supervision includes anything concerned (1) with the direct improvement of the teaching act, (2) with the general improve- ment of teachers while in service, (3) with curriculum reconstruction, (4) with needed, practical research, (5) with inspection, (6) with evaluat- ing teaching, (7) with building morale, esprit de corps, and professional spirit. Second, the principal must envisage supervision as a cooperative pro- cedure in which several people participate. The point involved is that the principal does his supervision in conjunction with others. In the third place, there must be a clearly understood organization of the system for carrying on supervision. Functions should be defined for all workers and duties allocated functionally, that is, fields of operation should be delimited and cooperation provided for. This is an urgent problem and would need an entire lecture in itself. Suffice it to say that this thing must be done by the superintendent or central administrative staff. ‘The prin- cipal should constantly urge it and should participate in setting up the desired organization. This problem is well treated in a recent volume’ by Dr. F. C. Ayer of the University of Texas and Professor A. S. Barr of the University of Wisconsin. In the fourth place a general plan or program of supervision should be laid down, by the superintendent if it is a small system, by a supervisory council including the principals in a larger system. Where there is no general plan the principal should make a plan for his own building. This plan will consist of certain definite objectives which grow out of the needs * Ayer, F. C., and Barr, A. S. The Organization of Supervision. Appleton Series in Supervision Training. D. Appleton Co. 1928. 396 p. [538] ae CC ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 539 of the situation as they have been determined by any of several methods of analysis. There will also be a statement of the supervisory means to be used in attacking these objectives, and lastly, methods of checking progress will be enumerated. Now we may come closer to the actual type and kind of supervision to be performed by the principal. On the basis of the foregoing we can see, first, that it will not be haphazard or random, but will be in the nature of a consistent attack on certain definitely stated objectives, either his own or those set up by the central council. In the second place, we can make a distinction between the direct and indirect activities involved in supervision. The principal is in the strategic position. He is the leader of a small and presumably united group. Where there is the proper spirit and attitude within the building there is then the ideal situation for direct personal contacts. The principal then should do the bulk or what we call direct supervision, leaving the more indirect supervision to the supervisory officers. When the full implications of this point are clear, there will doubtless be some disagreement, but this is because the newer idea differs from the traditional concept. The principal, then, should do most of the visiting and conferring with the teacher. He should be competent to analyze and evaluate lessons, and to give the teacher assistance in terms of general methods of teaching. He should operate on the level of general principles and general methods, which most distinctly does not mean on the level of generalities. He should be able to help the teacher select the proper method, to plan lessons, to check up on errors in the application of known general principles, to direct the teacher to good illustrations within the building, and to direct her to sources of information. When he gets beyond his depth with general method, or when strictly special method problems arise, he should call upon the specialist supervisor, which is what the latter is for. The principal, furthermore, should be responsible for directing the study of his own teachers in terms of their own needs. He will do much informal, frequent visitation, with conferences on minor individual problems, re- serving his more organized visits and conferences for followup on the objectives of the program. The problem most important for each principal is responsibility for developing professional spirit and fine feeling among his group. To do this, he must absolutely know his material. He must be ready to take the time and the trouble to give help when it is asked, to seriously study through with teachers’ problems which they raise. All of his contacts with teachers must be sympathetic and kindly, and he must deal fairly with them. A contrast may help to make this matter clear. he supervisors other than the principal will answer the special calls noted above, will head up the course of study research which the principals will adapt, will evolve standards for evaluating materials and methods of instructions which the principals will use. The principal may even participate in the latter type 540 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION of work, but he is not primarily responsible for it. The supervisor will head up such research as is necessary for furthering the real problems of the system. The principal might, under some circumstances, have some minor research going on within the building, but he will doubtless find enough to do with his other duties. Certain very obvious practical difficulties stand in the way of this theory of supervision by the principal. In the first place, most principals are not trained for this type of work, but this can be remedied. In the second place, this point of view is quite contrary to the traditional con- cept of the principalship. Very obviously a new and progressive concept of the job must be acquired. The principalship should not be a minor ad- ministrative job. A high-class clerk can take care of that. The principal is a high-class professional leader of technical workers. To really be this he must believe in modern supervision and secure the training for it. The third difficulty is time, but this can be remedied with reasonable ease, granted that the principal acquires the new concept of his position and can intelligently budget time and distribute administrative duties. Summarizing, we should say, first, that the principal must know what modern supervision is and that it is cooperative. Second, the superintendent or central council should have an explicit policy on supervision and a plan of supervisory activities. Third, the principal shall do the bulk of the direct, personal supervision, calling on the specialist when needed, and leav- ing to this specialist the more remote and indirect agencies. Certain ad- ministrative difficulties in the way of this can and should be eliminated. | WASTE IN AMERICAN EDUCATION O NE WASTE is failure to adopt the teaching of early school years to the normal activities and experiences of children at that age, due to the external imposition of the three R’s; others are the uniform four abreast treatment of school subjects, instead of alternate periods of concentration and remission; the confining | of teachers to single grades; the absence of a sufficient variety of | teachers in early grades; the tendency to justify existing divisions of the school into separate units. The chief source of waste is failure at all stages, from the elementary school through the college, | to utilize the experiences of children and youth gained out of school. | Isolation of school from life is the chief cause of harmful isolations within the school_—John Dewey. THE VILLAGE AND CONSOLIDATED PRINCIPALSHIP IN ITS RELATION TO THE COUNTY SUPERINTENDENCY Juuian E. BUTTERWORTH Cornell University, Ithaca, New York HE importance of leadership for rural progress—Educational develop- ment in the rural areas is influenced by many factors, such as the devel- opment of larger local districts, equitably distributed state funds, and higher standards for teachers. One of the most important factors is, in my judg- ment, intelligent and sympathetic yet aggressive leadership on the part of those professional officers holding positions of trust in the schools. In most states these officers are the county superintendents, or comparable officers, in charge of a large area of territory, and the principal of the particular school or school district within that territory. The principal has responsi- bility for meeting, as Dest he can with available facilities, the educational needs of his community. The county superintendent has, or should have, gen- eral responsibility for coordinating the activities of the different communities under his jurisdiction and for planning how to meet new needs that are constantly arising. In a way this problem is the same as that which the city school organiza- tion has had to face. There the problem is, in theory at least, on the road to solution, but there are some special conditions in the rural areas that complicate the problem and call for special consideration. (1) It has hap- pened in the rural areas all too frequently that the principal has been a better trained officer than his official superior, the county superintendent. Various circumstances have been responsible for this condition, but chief among them have been two. The county superintendent has often been elected at large so that political ideals and abilities have been emphasized, while the local principal has been chosen by a small group responsible for school development. Choice of the former officer has commonly been limited to the county, while in the case of the latter there has been freedom to seek him wherever necessary. The former has often had a definitely stated salary which soon became inadequate in the face of rising standards and rising costs, while the latter has not been so hampered. Fortunately this situation is now changing; yet about one-half of our states still select the county superin- tendent through popular election, while in one state where he is appointed and where a relatively high salary is paid the law specifies that he must, before appointment, have lived in the state for at least three years. (2) Only in a few states has the county been the local unit. In the city there is a single school district with the board of education responsible for all public education, so that the responsibility and authority of the city superintendent has been clear and unequivocal. Outside a very few states the county board has had limited responsibility, most authority being placed in the hands of the boards of the local village, consolidated, or township districts composing the county. Often there has been no county board of education. As a result [541] 542 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION the legal authority of the county superintendent has been insufficient or indefinite. He has not been able, even where he had the training and ability, to effect the coordination among the local districts that modern educa- tional needs demand. Our developing county superintendency—While the county superinten- dent has not made the progress in many states that is necessary if this officer is to become a genuine educational leader, there are some states in which real development has taken place. Ohio is one of these states. I have no data sufficiently comprehensive to warrant a comparison between the county superintendent and the principal of the unexempted village in this state, but there are some facts that are indicative. Incomplete data’ recently tabulated shows that the county superintendent of this state is receiving a median salary of $3406; has had a median total educational experience of 24.8 years; a median tenure of 5.8 years; and a median training above high school of 5.3 years. While we all recognize that such data are indicative rather than conclusive in measuring professional ability, they are entitled to considerable weight. In order that we might see how Ohio compares with other states on these matters, I have selected nine other states in which the available evidence indicates that conditions are particularly favorable. Among the ten states, Ohio ranks second in median years of training above high school, fourth in median salary, sixth in median total experience, and eighth in median tenure. There are many aspects of this problem, but I should like to direct your attention to that one relating to the division of responsibility between the county board and county superintendent on the one hand, and the local board and the local principal on the other hand. However, before we can discuss this intelligently, we must recognize that the division of responsibility be- tween these two groups will depend upon the nature of the school organization. Four types of county control—Speaking broadly there are four types of county control in the United States. (1) In three states the county is the local school district, except in the very large cities, so that the county board has practically entire responsibility for education in the county. The county superintendent is the professional head just as is the superintendent in the city. (2) In some seven or eight states and in a few counties of three or four other states, the county board has complete jurisdiction except in those districts that are exempted, usually because of size. For example, in Ala- bama all places of 2000 and over must be independent of the county board of education while those between 1000 and 2000 may be independent. (3) In a very few states or a few counties of certain states there are both county and local boards and the responsibility is fairly equally divided be- tween the two. (4) In the great majority of states control is divided between the county and the constituent districts with a general tendency for the locality to have chief control. Ohio belongs in this group. ‘From a study being made in cooperation with the United States Bureau of Education of the status of the county superintendency. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 543 While the county superintendent is the professional head of the schools, as in the first two types of organization, the legal relationship between superintendent and principal is clear. The former is the official superior of the latter. However, our presentday ideals are leading us to see the impor- tance of giving the principal considerable freedom. He should be allowed, subject to the general policies of the county board and the county superin- tendent, to direct the activities within his own school and community. This, not only tends to make the principalship attractive to welltrained men and women of initiative but, by relieving the county superintendent of details, frees him for constructive activities on larger problems. It is where the legal control is divided between the county and its con- stituent districts, as in Ohio, that our problem now seems to be most acute, and it is to that situation that I shall give attention. The basic principle involved—The goal to be reached is clear: We want to place a particular duty where it may be most effectively assumed. In the long run we cannot give the county superintendent responsibility merely because he likes it nor place it upon the principal merely because the super- intendent does not like it. It is eficiency in performance that we are con- cerned with. But to determine with mathematical exactness where this may be best secured now seems to be out of the question. However, there are certain factors that clearly affect the distribution of responsibility. In the remainder of this article the purpose will be to show in what way these factors are involved and to suggest some specific data that may be collected in connection with them. In seeking to measure the probable effectiveness of different allocations of authority, the following now appear to be of prime importance: 1. Does the local district have a head professional officer?2—In an eastern state having the township as the prevailing type of local unit, data recently collected show that almost two-thirds of these districts have no head pro- fessional officer. When this is the situation the county superintendent ought to have authority in those matters that are of fundamental importance, such as the nomination of teachers, suggesting modifications in the curricu- lum, and choosing books for the library. In these days of complex educa- tional questions we cannot expect boards without professional leadership to make intelligent judgment. Most of us would doubtless agree that there ought to be a principal in charge of each district and that if necessary the district should be enlarged until it is possible to employ such an officer. It should be clear, however, that if there are such districts as those described the county superintendent should have large responsibilities. 2. Does the county superintendent have superior professional training and ability?—It he does not, then we can hardly expect him to exert effec- tive leadership over the principal of the local district. The local principal will not usually be willing to refer questions for advice or decision to one who is his inferior professionally. When, therefore, a study of the relative status of these two officers as to training, experience, and such evidences of ability as we can secure, shows that the county superintendent is inferior 544 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION to the principal, the superintendent’s functions should be largely nominal. Effort should then be made to the improvement of the status of the office. 3. Is there need for greater specialization in an educational function than can be secured in a local district?—The problem of attendance may be taken as an illustration. In New York state each township and village has its truant officer who is paid a nominal fee. Data’ recently collected show that the median officer has completed only the eighth grade. Where such conditions exist we cannot expect attendance enforcement to be more than a legal matter—the use of legal threats to keep children in school. While this procedure is not to be neglected, the real problem of attendance is to discover why children are not in school and to remedy those conditions in school, in the home, or in the child himself that keep him out. To do this calls for professional ability and training of no mean sort. Obviously, the average school district cannot afford to secure the services ot such a person, and probably does not have the school population to warrant the expend- iture. It should be possible to collect data that will show for the state as a whole or for representative counties the extent of non-attendance, the number and the nature of the cases to be investigated, and to infer therefrom the qualifications needed in this officer and the area that he can serve effectively. While Ohio has taken the step of having a county attendance officer, data recently collected* regarding training, experience, and salary of these officials would cause one to question whether the situation has yet been met effectively. 4. Is there need for disinterested judgment on matters affecting several districts? —-We are becoming conscious of a problem in secondary education that has too long been neglected. In most states each community has been permitted to develop a high school as it pleased with little or no guidance so long as it offered at least the traditional subjects. But various conditions are making us realize that a real secondary school should do more than that. It should provide curriculums of various kinds to meet the needs of all social and economic groups in the community. This cannot be done where there are only a few pupils. Recently I estimated that in New York State about fifty-five percent of all high schools have an enrolment of less than 100. In contrast, only eleven percent of the high schools of New Jersey have such a small enrolment. The latter state has kept down the small high school partly through state regulation, partly through the leadership of the county superintendent, partly through liberal state aid of three- fourths of the cost of transportation. Ashbaugh’s recent study’ of this *Hanson, W. L. The Costs of Compulsory Attendance Service in the State of New York. Contributions to. Education. No. 158. Teachers College, Columbia Uni- versity, New York City. *Sloan, P. W. A Study of the Present Status of the County Attendance Officers in Ohio. Master’s Thesis, Ohio State University, 1927. * Ashbaugh, E. J. “ High School in Every District Means too Many Small High Schools.” School Life, Vol. 14, No. 7, 1928. 4a # FFs me Set OO. aA - jF- D2 =e SY TO ow << ‘se ol Tell ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 545 problem in Ohio, showing 73.7 percent of four-year rural high schools as having less than 100 enroled, gives this state data needed to realize the situation. Perhaps the solution may come in part through the state, yet the county may -well have an important place. Since each district, desiring, as it generally does for commercial or other purposes, to maintain some- thing to which the name “high school” may be attached, cannot be expected to be disinterested, we must turn elsewhere. The county superin- tendent may and should be required to make detailed studies in his county that will show the number and location of high-school pupils and the num- ber and location of schools that may be designated to offer secondary school facilities. 5. Must there be cooperation of several districts to meet certain educa- tional needs?—As the result of educational activities in some of our larger cities in recent years, we are beginning to realize the need for a compre- hensive system of vocational education on the secondary level. The rural areas have been backward in this matter. Where vocational facilities have been provided they have been confined largely to agriculture and home- making with limited offerings in commercial subjects. But it should be evident that young people from the rural areas may wish to go into carpen- try, masonry, plumbing, automobile repairing, salesmanship, stenography, printing, and the like. In some of these, as homemaking, the demands may be such as to justify a department in each high school. In agriculture, per- haps three or four departments in a county will be sufficient. In automobile repairing, perhaps one to a county may meet the need. In printing, perhaps one department may serve several counties. The wise determination of such matters can come only after a careful study has been made of typical counties regarding the need for training of different types, the facilities required to provide the desired training, and the financial outlay involved. We are not likely to move ahead in providing training for all types unless the county, through the county superintendent, takes the initiative. Similarly we are facing the problem of providing for the exceptional child. Almost nothing has been done in the rural areas to provide the differentiated offerings needed to give each exceptional child his opportunity. Few local rural communities can do so; there must be cooperation on a higher level. : I have here attempted to point out some of the factors that are involved in determining what the local district and the county should do in a state having both levels of control. This inevitably involves the relationship between the local principal and the county superintendent and the profes- sional responsibilities of each. As I see it, we should make detailed studies on each of these and similar problems in order that we may know where, in a particular state, responsibility should be placed in order to insure efficient control. As such studies are made under widely varying conditions we may expect detailed principles in the establishment of relationships to emerge. THE PRINCIPAL AND THE PROFESSIONAL GROWTH OF HIS STAFF E. H. Drake Superintendent of Schools, Kalamazoo, Michigan N FORMER years the elementary school principalship, while a position of importance, did not occupy the place it does today. Consequently, the qualifications for such position were of a simpler nature. The position called for executive ability, dominating personality, successful experience in teaching, ability to maintain order, to manage and control a school. The educational qualifications demanded were more or less ordinary and did not necessarily include professional training. Small buildings were the rule rather than the exception. Today there is a nationwide movement for the improvement of the status of the elementary school principal. It has been one of the significant developments in education in recent years. To make the principalship what it ought to be is today one of the leading objectives in education. From the standpoint of preparation, a principal is expected to have a scholastic education with the A. B. or equivalent degree from a standard higher institution of learning, professional training adequate to the needs of the present age, and liberal, successful experience in teaching and manage- ment. The administrative duties of the principal now demand that he should be a leader in his community and the professional leader of his teachers. In order to be the real leader of his staff and an inspiration for their professional growth, and a leader in his school community as well, he should possess many characteristics and qualifications if he is really adapted to the job. While it is not expected that he shall be expert in the various lines of knowledge, his training and experience should be broad enough that he will have an adequate knowledge of the various subjects of instruc- tion carried on in his building, be experienced in presenting subjectmatter in the classroom, and have the professional training that will give him a grasp upon methods and child growth. He must realize that education itself is growth, and continuous in growth. He therefore must himself be growing, alive, and alert to educational situations. He must be able to see child growth in relation to purposeful activity. He should know the psy- chology of early and later childhood and of adolescence. He should under- stand the laws underlying the growth of personality, be able to assist his teachers themselves in such growth, as well as the growth of the children under their instruction. In the technical language of the hour, he should understand that the “ integration of the personality’ is one of the great purposes of the school, and he has a part, along with teachers, in guiding and otherwise assisting in this process. He should have a thorough know!l- edge of the generally recognized school objectives. He should know how to evaluate the curriculum and be able to do his part in constructing it. [546] ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 547 Evaluation of curriculum material, reconstruction and proper grade place- ment of such material, and the formulation of it have constituted an im- portant phase of the work of educators the past few years and doubtless will continue to be an important part of the work of the immediate future. Expert leadership is essential to effective schools. Recognition of this fact on the part of the principal is important. He should have large acquaintance with school procedure in the best schools of his own and other cities. In the light of such knowledge and his professional study, to which he should devote an adequate amount of time, he will be able to keep in close touch with educational theories and procedure and be able to direct his teachers along such lines. ‘To supplemert his earlier training and home study, he will find it highly advantageous, as often as every two or three years, to spend a summer in school for the professional training of prin- cipals, and to take advantage every year of the opportunity to attend pro- fessional meetings, district, state, and national. He will thus know the newer ideals of education, be able to weigh them in the light of his know]l- edge and experience, to properly evaluate them for presentday use, and will know the place in education of motivation, organization, initiative, appraisals, and values in relation. He will know how to assist in acquiring knowledge and how to develop habits, skills, attitudes, ideals and appre- ciations—the important phases of growth. ‘The changing, growing, large elementary school, with its complex or- ganization—the kind of school today that is taking the place of the smaller school of former years—will give the principal a great opportunity in the presentday field of education. It will give him opportunity to show the real significance of the statement frequently made today, “ As the prin- cipal is, so is the school.’’ His experience and professional knowledge will aid him greatly in the supervision and guidance of his teachers. Executive ability inspires confidence. He should therefore be able to demonstrate that he knows his school and knows how to administer it. He is the edu- cator par excellence to help initiate, observe and guide experiments in the classes of his school, from which experimentation he and his teachers can derive useful information as to methods, devices, and new types of subject- matter. His leadership of teachers and his grasp on his job in other respects will enhance his leadership in the community of his school, and this com- munity leadership is no small part of the good he can do. The presentday parent-teacher association will afford a fine field for such endeavor. 4 Schoolmaster in a Great City and kindred books will be of valuable assis- tance to him in such work. His leadership everywhere should be of the cooperative rather than the dominating type. The above pictures a very responsible work and sets forth ideals. These ideals, however, are by no means unattainable, and the growing importance of the place of the principal argues that conscientious effort should be made toward their attainment. The greater the leadership of the principal, the more he will inspire confidence on the part of his teachers. He must be able to assist them in 548 NATIONAL EpuUCATION ASSOCIATION personal growth. He must be able to help them individually develop wholesome attitudes. One great means of inspiring growth in the members of his staff will be the proper placement of responsibility upon them in- dividually. His chief problem here will be how to deal with the non- growing teacher. Many conscientious, faithful teachers are apt to be rather ultra-conservative. They are not adapted to change. Trained pos- sibly in a conservative educational institution their tendency will be con- servative in proportion to the conservatism of the Alma Mater; or even though the parent institution may have been a progressive one in its day, the natural tendency of such teachers will be to remain in the stage of professional growth of the time in which the training was secured. Even though this type will be a problem, nevertheless it must be considered the principal’s duty to interest his teachers as far as possible in professional study and direct them in it. There are various ways in which he can do this—inspire them toward growth by the reading of professional books, the observation of expert teaching, experimentation in classroom procedure and subjectmatter, the attendance upon professional meetings, the atten- dance of summer schools for the advancement of teaching, leave of absence for travel and scholarships. In these and other ways the principal can interest them in the newer ideals of education and in educational technic. By observing good teaching and knowing how to pass it on to others, by helping teachers experiment, by guiding, directing, and evaluating teacher visitation and conference, by his inspiration in their supervision and guidance, by helping them establish standards and objectives, by assist- ing them in working out the curriculum, by helping them in re-evaluating curriculum offerings, and by assisting them to develop an elastic technic that will enable them to adjust their work to changing conditions, the principal will stimulate growth on the part of the teachers and in the process will be creating for himself a reputation for leadership that will carry on in all spheres of his influence. Cooperative, creative supervision and leadership will ever be his strongest ally in the administration of his various duties. In exercising this leader- ship with his teachers, his criticism should be of the constructive type. He should seek every opportunity to encourage them. His commendation of their good work should be given frequently. His suggestion for the im- provement of their work can be such as to be most helpful. In short, constructive criticism, encouragement, commendation, and suggestion will always constitute most helpful supervision. He himself should not dominate, but lead in cooperation by discovering the superior abilities of his individual teachers and developing these superior abilities for the common good. This is the highest type of group leadership. It is creative supervision. op Ts n- be S- n vs ‘e — Ve SALARIES, SERVICE, AND SUPERVISION FRANK W. HusBBARD Research Division, National Education Association T ONE time “ getting by’ as an elementary school principal was an easy task. This is no longer the case. The elementary school has become a complex unit in our American education. Research has revealed the potent influence of the early formative years. The utilization of new knowledge in an efficient instructional program has become a major prob- lem. Such demands call for the highest type of leadership from the modern principal. How are competent persons to be recruited and retained in the principal- ship? Obviously, salary is an important factor. First-class persons will not be available in communities where salaries are low. Ability and brains cost money. Yet big business has proved that the best brains are cheapest in the long run. Can education profit by the experience of business? Adequate compensation for principals is becoming a reality. Progressive cities are paying higher salaries and demanding better service. This plan is more effective than demanding high-grade service on the promise of better salaries. ‘Ihe following tables and discussion show several encourag- ing tendencies.’ Salary distributions—TVables 1 and 2 give the 1928-29 salary distributions for teaching and supervising principals in city school systems. Supervising principals include only those who give full time to administration and supervision. “Teaching principals are those with some regular teaching duties. ‘he two tables include data on 10,301 principals from 1401 cities. In 1927 the Research Division of the National Education Association presented salary tabulations for the school year 1926-27. At that time 10 of the 11 supervising principals, receiving annual salaries of $5500 or more, were in Newark. In 1928-29 the tabulations show 370 supervising principals in this upper salary range. Of this number, 330 are in New York, 24 in Newark, § in Hartford, 1 in Jersey City, and 10 in cities below 100,000 in population. Salaries of teaching principals in Table 1 range from below $1200 to approximately $4800 per year. The top figure is $800 higher than in 1926-27. Supervising principals’ salaries in Table 2 range from below $7000 and over. The high end of the range is more than $1000 above the 1926-27 report. "Based on “ Salary Scales in City School Systems, 1928-29,” Research Bulletin, May, 1929. A copy of this report was sent to every member of the Department of Elementary School Principals. * See “Salaries in City School Systems, 1926-27,” Research Bulletin, March, 1927, 64 p. [549] 550 NaTIONAL EpucaTion AssoclATION TABLE 1 SALARIES OF TEACHING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS IN 1928-29 City size | ,OOC »,000 5000 2500 Salaries paid Bence es ¥ to “to | te otal 100,000 30,000 10,000 } 5000 I 2 | 3 4 5 ! 6 7 $4600 to 4799........ 27 27 4400 tO 4599........ 2 2 4200 to 4399........ 2 in 2 4000 tO 4199........ 5 I vik 6 3800 to 3999........ I I 3600 to 3799........ ie 3400 to 3599........ I