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VOL. IV, moot SEPTEMBER, 1926 


S5-"Research Bulletin 


OF THE 





National Education Association 


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A Handbook of 
Major Educational 
Issues 














PUBLISHED BY TIIE RESEARCH DIVISION 


OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 
1201 SIXTEENTH STREET NORTHWEST, WASHINGTON, D. C 


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Entered as second-class matter February 10, 1923, at the Post Office 
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 February 10, 1923. 








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Research Bulletin of the National Education Association 


Published five times each year in January, March, May, September, and November: 
by the Research Division of the National Education Association of the United States. 








The payment of the $5.00 membership fee of the National Education Association 
entitles one to receive the Research Bulletin, the Journal, the Annual Volume of Ad 
dresses and Proceedings, and certain other publications of the National Education Asso 
ciation for one year. One dollar of each $5.00 membership fee is for a year’s subscription 
to the Research Bulletin. The Research Bulletin may be subscribed for separately at a 
subscription price of $1.00 per year. Single copies may be purchased for 25 cents, and 
in quantities at a reduced rate. Those entitled to receive the Research Bulletin regularl, 
are asked to report at once any change of address, giving old as well as new address. 





Entered as second-class matter February 10, 1923, at the Post Office at Washington, D. C., under 
Act of August 24, 1912. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Sectio: 
1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized February 10, 1923. 





Director of Research, John K. Norton. 
Assistant Director of Research, Margaret M. Alltucker. 
Executive and Editorial Offices - - 1201 Sixteenth Street N. W., Washington, D. C 








Research Bulletins Issued to Date 


See page 233 for titles of Research Bulletins issued to date and for information as 
to their availability. 


How to Secure Additional Copies 


Additional copies of this issue of the Research Bulletin may be obtained at the 


following prices: 
Single copies of this issue 25c 


2 to 9 copies—10% reduction 
10 or more copies—25% reduction. 


Subscriptions to Research Bulletins 


The Research Bulletin may be received regularly through a special subscription at 
$1.00 per year. Only those holding the $5.00 membership (see statement at top of this 
page) receive the Research Bulletin without such subscription. Many of the early 
issues of the Research Bulletin are already out of print. The special subscription at $1.00 
per year offers an opportunity to maintain a complete file of future Research Bulletins. 


Reproduction of Material in Research Bulletins 


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requests for further information to the Division of Publications. 

Tables, charts, and any other material appearing in Research Bulletins may be 
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affecting the work of the Research Division, address the Division of Research, National 
Education Association, 1201 Sixteenth Street N. W., Washington, D. C. 





[164] 

















TABLE OF CONTENTS 


ace and Importance of the Public School in our Republic 

stification of Universal Taxation for the Support of Public Education 
iblic School Costs—Democracy’s Insurance Premium 

»w Do the Schools of Today Compare with Those of a Generation Ago 
Vhat Do the Schools Do in Relation to What They Cost? 


.\rguments for Adequate School Support 


> 


The Essentials of a Modern School System.. 

(rained, Capable, and Conscientious Teachers 

Popular Fallacies Concerning Teaching....... 

How to Obtain Capable Teachers............. 

Facts Relative to the Teaching Personnel Must Be Obtained. 

Facts Will Become the Basis for a Plan of Teacher Training 

Teachers’ Colleges Will Be Adequately Supported ........... 
- Salary Schedules Will Be Adequate to Attract Capable Young ae and Women 
Definite Guards Will Be Set Up to Keep Out the Unqualified 

Selected References for Further Study.......... 


\ Trained and Understanding Administrative and Supervisory Staff 
What Are the Functions Performed in a Modern School System? 
What Salaries Do School Administrators, Directors, and Supervisors Receive? 
Selected References on School Administration and Supervision 


\ Living and Developing Curriculum Adapted to Social and Individual Needs 
New Conception of the School’s Function.................. 

Metamorphosis of the Old-time Curriculum.............. 

What Is the Teacher’s Part in Curriculum Building? 

References Useful to Course of Study Committees 


\n Adequate School Plant. mal eseearaieine ks 
Intelligent versus Hit- or-Mise Procedure in Obtaining : a Modern Se hool Plant 
Amount Spent on School Buildings and Sites........... 
Progress Made in Replacing Costly One-room School 
References for Further Study on School Building Programs 


\ School Term of Reasonable Length and High Regularity of Attendance 
\re School Attendance Laws Adequate and Are They Enforced?... 
Ratio of School Attendance to School Enrolment........... 

Average Length of School Term in 1924............... 


\ Just and Effective Method of — School — 
Education a State Responsibility. . 
oe cine canneedeescs 
How Progress May Be Made. 

Selected References............... 


\n Effective Form of Organization..... 
School Control and Management......... 
Necessity of Freedom of Action for School Boards 
ee ee eee ees ee 


\n Interested Intelligent and Supporting Public 
Do Schools Need Public “Good Will”’?...... 
Understanding Forestalls Criticism.......... rr ge 
The New School-and-Home Organization Movement phe 
Ten Suggestions for Parents from a City School Superintendent 
How Can the Layman Know What is Going On in the School? 
Selected References on the Home and the School 


Growth of Teachers in Service 
Number of Teachers Attending Summer School wanted 
Mobilization of the Teaching Corps through Teachers’ Meetings 
Characteristics of a Good Faculty Meeting............... 
Suitable Topics for Teachers’ Meetings................-. 
Plan for the “Entire Profession at Work on Its Problems” 
What the National Education Association Offers Study Groups 


[165] 


192 
192 
192 
194 


195 
195 
197 
198 


198 


199 
200 
201 
201 


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218 
218 
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LIST OF TABLES 


Median Salaries Paid Elementary and Secondary Teachers in Five Population Groups in Each 
er ec eatein ema cde aoa Awa SU GC ARNO 6 a6 ccnenecece 
Median Salaries Paid Elementary and Secondary Principals in Five Population Groups in Each 
ee, CE I a Soa a oo sak dns wees Oana ese eee ner awede ee 
Median Salaries Paid Rural Teachers in 1924 (Tale 3) .................4-55. , hain 

Yearly Living Wage for Professional Man and Family—Chicago, Illinois (Table 4)....... 
Median Salaries Paid Administrative Officers, Directors, and Supervisors in Cities of Five Popu 


ey ee a. 5d vida semen a ped N ONS RANE Keb eeccacwecces 
Total Value of School Property and Average Valu: per Pupil Enrolled in 1924 by States (Table 
Number of School Buildings by States, 1924 (Table 7) .................005. 


Average Length of School Term by States, 1880-1924 (Table 8)............. 
Illiteracy and Non-Attendance by States—1920 Federal Census (Table 9).... 
Contribution of State to Public School Total Receipts, 1923-1924 (Table 10). 
Summer School Attendance in 1926 (Table 11)...........ccccccccce cece cnces Rp S08 


LIST OF CHARTS 


Comparison of Increase in Total Population and School Attendance, 1880-1924 (Chart I).... 
Median Salaries Paid Elementary Teachers in Rural and Urban Sections of the United Stat 
i anes ee re ie 2a sd. wa alnuls MERE mee Mieke Reem eee oa cae tu b.d'beesees 

Percentage of Men Teachers in Our Elementary and Secondary Schools, 1880-1924 (Chart III) 
Administrative Organization of a Modern School System (Chart IV)...................0.... 
Size of Modern Elementary School Sites—Buildings for 800 Pupils or More (Chart V)....... 
Percentage of Total Public School Enrolment in Average Daily Attendance, 1880-1924 (Chart VI 
Average Teme Gl Geese Teeth, SURG Beme (CROCE VEE) onic c cdiccceciccccccccccccccccccees 
Ability to Support Schools and State Aid Received in Four Selected Counties of Arkansas (Chart VII! 
Ability to Support Schools and State Aid Received in Four New York Districts (Chart IX)... 
New York Plan for Guaranteeing Every Child a Reasonable School Opportunity (Chart X).. 
Growth in Membership of the National Congress of Parents and Teachers, 1912-1926 (Chart X! 


LIST OF FIGURES 


Uncle Sam Insures America’s Future (Figure 1) ................cccccuccceees Paints a 
The High School Graduate at Life’s Cross-road (Figure I]) ............c.. cece ccc e eee eens 
Map—State and Local Teacher Retirement Laws in Effect (Figure III).................... 
ERE Sy ON Pe ee er 
ee, 5c Le aMER REM ee Pad wiedebeEee de dss eneshsveueres 
Comparing Day School Attendance Laws Affecting the Employment of Children, Jan. 1, 1926 (Fig 
Be ER ee ee a een 
Compulsory Part-time School Attendance Laws Affecting Employed Children, Jan. 1, 1926 (Fig 
es Seer ee Ee se 6a» 5's: Se BASS AGWE OREM ER Oth da 6000 00nd sme 6 
ee os oa sade ERE RENAN OA HOD WRIRREE hoe 0s ccs rete HD ee 
De ee oon ceo b es hn s dcp eek dasewsecetedae ns es covccsscnseners 


[166] 


























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FOREWORD 


By J. W. Crabtree 


“Education has come to be nearer to the hearts of the American people than any 
ther single public interest.” So great is the importance attached to the cause of edu 
cation that both educators and laymen are inquiring as to the place of education in our 
republic and the essentials of an adequately functioning public school system. ‘These 
questions will receive national attention during American Education Week, Novem 
ber 7th to 13th, when the nation takes stock of its schools. 

Forty state legislatures will convene during the coming year. Each will have its 
education committee to consider proposed legislative measures for the improvement of 
the schools. These committees will face these questions: 

1. What is the place and importance of education in our republic? 

2. What are the essentials of an efficient public school system ? 

Women’s clubs, civic organizations, boards of school trustees, teachers’ associa 
tions, parent-teacher groups, and teacher study classes are also seeking answers to the 
above questions. 

This issue of the Research Bulletin has been prepared especially for these lay and 


professional groups, and the educational committees of the state legislatures. It dis 
f 


cusses the relation of the public school to the moral, civic, social, and economic life « 
the nation. This Bulletin names these eight factors as the essentials of an efficient 
school system: (1) A competent and conscientious teacher, (2) a trained and under 
standing administrative and supervisory staff, (3) a living and developing curriculum 
adapted to social and individual needs, (4) a school term of reasonable length with 
high regularity of attendance, (5) an adequate school plant, (6) a just and effective 
method of providing school support, (7) an effective form of organization, and (8) an 
interested, intelligent, and supporting public. ‘Timely and salient data are presented 
on each of these topics. Carefully selected references are listed for those desiring addi 
tional information. 

Leaders of both lay and professional study groups will find the section, entitled 
Growth of Teachers in Service, rich in helpful suggestions for their local work. 

“The entire profession at work on its problems” is the ideal for which the 
National Education Association is striving. It takes pride in offering this issue of the 
Research Bulletin to all those interested in studying public school problems. ‘This 
Bulletin because of its timeliness, content, and arrangement may well be used as a 
handbook by lay and professional study groups throughout the country. Think what 
it would mean to have thousands of teachers and public-spirited laymen during the 
coming months engaged in serious study of major educational issues! Better schools 
for our boys and girls would be the result—the final objective of all activity centering 


around the public school. 





[167] 











Meet eee SM a ee 












el on eee 


ame 





The Place and Importance of the Public School in Our Republic 


|hat is the justification of universal taxa- 
tion for the support of public education? Pub- 
lic education helps secure those things for 
which the founders of the American republic 
framed the Constitution, namely: A more per- 
fect union, justice, domestic tranquility, the 
common defense, general welfare, and preser- 
ition of the blessings of liberty. As the re- 
public has grown the conviction has increased 
that these can best be secured by the main- 
tenance of public schools. Public schools are 
maintained to promote the general welfare. 
Men and women are capable of being made 
more responsible and more intelligent through 
training. On this fact rests our faith in dem- 
ocratic forms of living and working together. 

Economists recognize that education is our 
most valuable form of wealth. Willford I. 
King, in discussing the nation’s ability to pro- 
duce, lists increases in the productive power 
of individual inhabitants resulting from edu- 
cation as one of four factors that mean greater 
productive power. He states: 


Some of the most expensive and important forms 
of saving are not tangible but consist of such things 
as accumulated scientific knowledge and the train- 
ing of the human mind. Savings of the last-men- 
tionéd variety are extremely perishable, since they 
are constantly being lost through the death of the 
persons possessing the education.’ 


Another economist writes: 


“A nation’s greatest wealth is knowledge dissem- 
inated among the masses of people.” 


Public school costs—democracy’s insurance 
The public school is civilization’s 
insurance against the loss of its most valuable 
form of wealth—its culture, morality, ideal- 
ism, mechanical genius, government, and home 
life. 

President Coolidge recognized education as 
America’s life insurance when he said: 


premium. 


Those who believe in America, in her language, 
her arts, her literature, and her science, will seek 
to perpetuate them by perpetuating the education 
which has produced them. 


1 Willford I. King, “The Net Volume of Saving in the United States,” 


1922, p. 307. 


Through its public schools the nation seeks 
to hold the present generation at the highest 
level to which it has attained in the deeper, 
more fundamental traits of our national 
character. 

The public 
method of insuring future progress. 


civilization’s 
It otters 


school is also 
a nation the chance to make a new start with 
each generation. Beyond holding to the level 
to which it has attained, the 
through its public schools to make greater 


nation seeks, 
advances by drawing out the best of the abili- 
ties and cultivating the talents of the younger 
generation. 

Education has the double function of hold- 
ing on to the best of those things which have 
gone before and reaching ahead to _ better 
things. 

Merely to hold on to the 
achieved through the centuries is a tremendous 


civilization 


task, since each generation has to be educated 
anew. According to one writer, “Each indi- 
vidual and each generation takes part in the 
great relay race of human evolution and each 
retires at the end of a short period.” ‘The 
public school has the task of educating children 
to replace the million and a quarter trained 
men and women over twenty, who die each 
Progress demands more than this. The 
“replacement 


year. 
taxpayers who provide only a 
education” for their community—one which 
gives their children no better training than 
they received—are overlooking the need for 
expansion and extension. Progress demands 
that each generation be better educated than 
the last. Civilization does not stand still. It 
either moves forward or backward. 

Education is recognized today as the great- 
est productive force in modern life. ‘To in- 
sure universal education, every state has passed 
compulsory school attendance laws. 

This is a far cry from the “good old days” 
when ignorance was thought to be bliss. The 
Boston Repertory in 1729 published an essay 
on public education by Bernard Mandeville, 
which expressed these ideas: 
eer 


Imerican Statistical Association 


[169] 





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“TEE NRA RAEN 2 


per 


ee 


To make the Society happy and the People easy 
under the meanest circumstances it is requisite 
that great numbers of them should be ignorant as 
well as poor. Reading, writing, and arith- 
metic are very necessary to those whose business 
requires such qualifications; but where people’s 
livelihood has no dependence on these arts, they 
are very pernicious to the poor, who are forced to 
get their Daily Bread by their Daily Labour.’ 


This same “ignorance is bliss” idea was ex- 
pressed in 1757 by Soame Jenyns,' who wrote: 


Ignorance, or the want of knowledge and liter- 
ature, the appointed lot of all born to poverty, and 
the drudgeries of life, is the only opiate capable 
of infusing that insensibility which can enable 
them to endure the miseries of the one and the 
fatigues of the other. It is a cordial administered 
by the gracious hand of Providence of which they 
ought never to be deprived by an ill-judged and 
improper education. It is the basis of all subor- 
dination, the support of society, and the privilege 
of individuals. 


In contrast with these statements, Henry 
Suzzallo,? speaking on Our Faith in Educa- 
tion, states: 





1See: “A New War with Old Weapons” by Dorothy Waples in the Educational Review, September, 1925, p; 
2 Suzzallo, Henry, Our Faith in Education, Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Co., 1924, pp. 33-34. 


FIGURE I 





In the ascent of the educational ladde: 
ter and brains are the chief determinants as 
far a man can and will go. Social posit 
economic place have been reduced to minor 
Every man’s chance must be preceded by 
cational opportunity properly seized by th 
else his “show” in the world becomes a m« 
nical privilege and not a real one, like the 
right of the average man to run in a ra 
trained sprinters. \ 


There are modern Mandevilles and 
who cry out against existing expend 
for education, but to those who face 
education has proved itself to be a prod 
force. The economist points out that . 
side of production, intelligence in labo 
management makes for large output at 
cost. On the side of consumption, inte]! 
makes for socially effective use of that pr 

Since wealth in trained minds means { 
prosperity, increase in school attendance 
be welcomed. 


Education formerly a privilege held b; 
few now a right claimed by all. The old 















" YOUR 
GBS INSURANCE 

) PREMIUM THIS YEAR - 
jf WHAT !S 
- 4 MY BILL FOR f THE COST OF 

Yb, 4 INSURANCE ALL SCHOOLS — 
Sb AGAINST is 

IGNORANCE P #2 336,073,018 









































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INSURES 









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[170] 














ining a few leaders has given place to 

iodern idea of universal education to in- 

democratic action and public service. 

t | shows that the increase in educational 

rtunity which America offers, number of 

d schooling provided annually, times the 

| number of pupils in attendance, is far 

n excess of the increase in total population. 

More people are going to school today for a 
ver period of time than ever before. 


; 


14 


How do the schools of today compare with 
those of a generation ago? On pages 172 and 
173, the schools of forty years ago and the 
schools of today are contrasted as to numbers 
enrolled, attendance, teachers, subjects taught, 
and purposes. 

[hese statistics show that the functions of 
public education have increased, larger num- 
bers have enrolled, more teachers have been 
trained, and larger service has been rendered. 


What do the schools do in relation to what 


they cost? The business man when reporting 


on a business venture reports it from two 
angles: (1) Cost and (2) amount of business 
transacted and financial returns. The public 
school should be reported in terms of the value 
of its product to society, as well as in terms of 
cost. ‘To know that public schools cost nearly 
two billions of dollars a year, tells us nothing 
about their value to the nation. Yet the lay- 
man in discussing the public schools, often re- 
ports only their cost in terms of total expendi- 
tures or millage tax levy. He even fails to 
report the two chief causes of enlarged ex- 
penditures, namely, increases in number of 
pupils trained and the depreciation of the dol- 
lar. Despite this latter factor, the public 
schools have been serving larger numbers and 
doing it more effectively than ever before. In 
other words, there have been increased returns 
in terms of a more enlightened citizenry. 

In the final analysis school costs are not a 
burden but an investment which pays hand- 
some dividends. No industry can ever be 
more productive than an effective public school 


system. The material goods with which mod- 


CHART I 





— 


Pec cent increase 3 
in total population. 

7 % 
Fer cent increase 


inpuolic elementary 
school attendance. 


Percent increase 
in. public high 
attendance 


school 





156% 


ZACH Z 









fer cent increase 


and. professional 
school enco. 


COMPARISON of’ INCREASR in TOTAL POPULATION 


and. SCHOOL ATTENDANCE 
1890 ~ 1924 


esl. 





| 
i. 


| 
| 
| 
| 





e Based om Figures of U.S. Buceax of Education. 





[171] 





Me BY accion 


Then and Now 








The Public School of Forty Years Ago 


Enrolled: 


19.7 percent of total population. 
65.5 percent of children 5 to 17 years. 
1.1 percent of total enrolment in high school. 


Had: 


62.3 percent of children enrolled attending each day. 

An average length of school term of 130.3 days. 

An average number of days attended by each pupil enrolled of 81.1. 

An average number of days attended by each child (5 to 17 years of age) of 53.! 


Taught by Teachers: 





Receiving an average annual salary of $195. 
Trained in normal schools and teachers’ colleges with an enrolment of 34,814. 


Taught the following subjects in elementary schools: 


Reading, spelling, penmanship, conduct, arithmetic, grammar, geography, U. S 
history and Constitution, object lessons—elementary science, drawing, music, 


and physical exercises. 





Had as its purpose: 


Schooling—The memorization and acquisition of a rigid body of facts and rela- 


tively simple skills. 





[172] 

















»n Education 


| —_— 





The Public School of Today 


Enrolls: 


21.7 percent of total population. 
82.8 percent of children 5 to 17 years. 


14.0 percent of total enrolment in high school. 


Has: 


78.8 percent of children enrolled attending each day. 
An average length of school term of 168.3 days. 


An average number of days attended by each pupil enrolled of 132.5. 
. An average number of days attended by each child (5 to 17 years of age) of 
109.6. 
Taught by Teachers: 


Receiving an average annual salary of $1,227. 


Trained in normal schools and teachers’ colleges with an enrolment of 245,649. 








Teaches the following subjects in elementary schools: 


Reading, spelling, penmanship, arithmetic, grammar, composition, literature, geog- 
raphy, U. S. history, Constitution of the United States, Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, state history and constitution, citizenship, morals and manners, health, 
physical education, nature study or elementary science, cooking, sewing, manual 
training or industrial arts, thrift, music, art, safety first—accident prevention 


and fire prevention. 








Has as its purpose: 








Education—The modification of conduct in the direction of developing higher 
moral character, better health habits, civic efficiency, command of fundamental 
processes, worthy home membership, vocational efficiency, and wholesome use of 
leisure. 











[173] 





AOE ee ern ee 
_ rv “ eee aed oe 


hee. 


eras 


' 
a 
‘ 


Such action is recommended not only 
manship, but by enlightened selfishnes 
must have a lower justification. 


ern industry mainly concerns itself is a fixed 3. 
quantity. No nation can increase its ma- 
terial resources. ‘‘Matter cannot be created 


or destroyed.” 


The intelligence and skill with which a na- The public gets the kind of sch 





tion uses its basic material resources are not 
fixed quantities. They are restricted only by 
the limits that are placed upon the develop- 
ment of a sound system of education. 


willing to pay for. Schools are for 
part the direct reflection of the con 
which supports them—a direct refle: 
the spirit and attitude of the commu 
relation to education. Our appreciat 


Arguments for adequate school support. the values of education determines the 


These statements were made by the General and kind of education with which we , 
Education Board in its report on the public our children. We spend money fo: 
school finances in Kentucky." things we value and consider essential. 


money will be spent on education wh 


1. The tide of prosperity does not rise in countries 


that pay little for edueation, it rises in those public becomes better informed as to the 
cet poy mae. tials of an adequately functioning scho 
tem. The next section of this Bullet 


2. A vigorous and industrious population does not 
seek a state which has poor schools; it seeks 


a state which has good schools. alyzes these essential factors. 





1 Public Education in Kentucky, a report by the Kentucky Educational Commission, General Education 
Broadway, N. Y., 1921, p. 202. 








A= IMPORTANCE is attaching to the cause of education. A new realization of its urg: 
necessity is taking hold of the nation. A new comprehension that the problem is only begi: 
ning to be solved is upon the people. A new determination to meet the requirements of ¢! 
situation is everywhere apparent. The economic and moral waste of ignorance will little long: 
be tolerated. This awakening is one of the most significant developments of the times.—Cal< 


Coolidge. 


T= CHILD of today is born into a world which would have staggered his immediate { 
bears—it is a world moving at a vastly accelerated pace and consequently throws addition 
strain upon the mental and physical being of the individual 
It is necessary that we begin to rear a new child for this new world, one who is fully equipp 
to direct its forces and instruments of power, who can master it rather than be mastered by 
We who are concerned in any way with the betterment of children are engaged in a work 
racial defense and it is essential that we summon to the task the most accurate knowledge th 
science can give us, that we perfect our social machinery and man it with experts, and that w 
look steadily ahead to a clearly visioned goal_—Herbert Hoover, The Forum, October, 192: 


p. 537-542. 








[174] 




















ee 


The Essentials of a Modern School System 


Che burdens carried by the American pub- 
lic school increase each year. If the school 
meets these new demands it must be a chang- 
ing school. It must avail itself of every facil- 
ity that modern thought and science produce 
which may be used to improve its product. 

\ thoroughly modern school should enjoy 
eight essentials. If it lacks any one of them 
its effectiveness is reduced. ‘These the 
essentials of a school system equipped for 
effective service: (1) Trained, capable and 
conscientious teachers, (2) A trained 
understanding administrative and supervisory 
staff, (3) A living and developing curriculum 
adapted to social and industrial needs, (+) 
\n adequate school plant, (5) A school term 


are 


and 


Trained, Capable, and 


No matter how well a school is otherwise 
equipped, it will not be a good school unless it 
has good teachers. The other essentials of an 
effective school system discussed in this Bul- 
letin have no reason for existence in them- 
Modern, healthful buildings, trained 
and capable administrative staffs, and the other 
prerequisites to a good school are desirable be- 
cause they increase the effectiveness of the 
teachers’ work. In working for good schools 
i community should first of all strive to place 
. trained, capable, and conscientious teacher 
at the head of every one of its class-rooms. 

These facts seem too obvious to need stating. 
In theory they are readily accepted. In the 
popular oration they are frequently dwelt 
upon at length. In practice, however, many 
school systems give but little evidence of hav- 
ing recognized the crucial importance of se- 
curing good teachers as the first step in pro- 
viding good schools. 


] . 
selves. 


Popular Fallacies Concerning Teaching 


The influence of the past is largely respon- 
sible for many present-day attitudes toward 
teaching. 

Many still believe that most anybody can 


of reasonable length with high regularity of 
attendance, (6) A just and effective method 
of providing school support, (7) An effective 
form of organization, and (8) An intelligent 
and supporting public. 

There is not a state school system in the 
Many 


state school systems have made notable prog- 


union that has all of these essentials. 


ress in the direction of achieving these char- 
acteristics. How may the citizen of a state 
and of a local community discover the prog- 
gress made by his state and local school system 


How 


local schools to 


in achieving these essentials? may he 


assist his state and achieve 


these essentials? ‘To answer these questions 


is the purpose of the succeeding paragraphs. 


Conscientious Teachers 


teach children. This idea comes down from 


the day when school keepers rather than 
school teachers were in demand. Most any- 
body can keep school. A strong right arm, 


some drill material to be beaten into the heads 
of the children, a birch rod, and a few benches 
under a roof that will shed water, and all re- 
quirements for school keeping are met. 

In colonial days the method of providing 


school keepers was simple and direct. Here 
is an advertisement from a colonial news- 
paper: 


To be disposed of: A likely servant man’s time 
for four years who is well qualified for a clerk 
or to teach, he reads, understands arith- 
metic and accounts very Inquire of the 
printer hereof. 


writes, 
well. 


The Maryland Journal of Baltimore in 
June, 1776, contained this notice: 


Just arrived: In the Ship Paca, Robert Caulfield, 
Master, in five weeks from Belfast and Cork, a 
number of healthy men and women servants.— 
Their indentures are to be disposed of. 


This notice inspired an editorial in a Boston 
newspaper issued just four days before the 
Declaration of Independence. ‘The editorial 
ran as follows: 


[175] 





ere I ins 


Sn 


ie ee a 


Now for school masters. In the Ship Paca ar- 
rived at Baltimore in five weeks from Belfast and 
Cork are imported and advertised for sale in the 
Maryland Journal of June 2d, various Irish Com- 
modities, among -which are school masters, beef, 
pork and potatoes. 


School keepers of the type of Ichabod Crane 
were the natural outcome of a period that was 
satisfied to recruit its teachers from the ranks 
of indentured servants and wayfarers of un- 
known repute. 

Another popular fallacy would have us be- 
lieve that the ability to teach is one given at 
birth—nothing is to be gained by training for 
teaching. It is readily recognized that the 
physician, the lawyer or the engineer must be 
given a long and rigorous training before he is 
prepared to serve the public. If these people 
are untrained, the patient dies, the client loses 
his case, or the bridge falls. The results of 
amateur teaching are less definitely brought 
to public conscientiousness. The untrained 
teacher deals with relatively helpless children. 
The results of poor teaching become evident 
so many years later that the cause and the ef- 
fect are not connected. Consequently, some 
short-sighted communities are willing to em- 
ploy untrained teachers because they will keep 
school at a low cost. 

Then there are communities who look upon 
teaching as a stepping stone. As has been well 
said, they forget that it is the children who are 
stepped upon. These communities evidently 
believe that anybody can teach children for a 
year or two—the shaping of character and the 
training of intellect are such simple processes 
that an amateur can perform them. 

Then there are those who seem to believe 
that capable teaching service can be purchased 
by something less tangible than the coin of the 
realm. Missionary spirit and the appeal of 
service is, and must always be, an important 
part of a good teacher’s equipment. But they 
alone will not recruit large numbers of capa- 
ble workers in any profession. Meager com- 
pensation on a half-year basis may have been 
sufficient to secure school keepers of the colo- 
nial type. It will not attract capable school 
teachers of the type needed in modern schools. 


How to Obtain Capable Teachers 


Substantial progress has been made in pro- 
viding American classrooms with capable 


We have come a long way f: 


teachers. 
time when teachers were recruited f; 

ranks of indentured servants and pers 

questionable repute. We have a lor 

still to go, however, before every A: 

class-room will be presided over by a 
and capable teacher. What are the 

which states and local communities m 
before this ideal will be attained ? 

Preliminary to everything else, the pu 
general must take a new attitude 1 
teaching. We must cease to look upon 
ing as a part-time, transient form of end: 
to be engaged in by amateurs for a 
period and then deserted for 
better.” We must recognize that teachi: 
the kind necessary to fit American chi 
for successful living in our changing and 
plex civilization calls for the best that p: 
of first-rate ability and sound training can 
throughout a lifetime of endeavor. 

When this attitude toward teaching be: 
more general, we will put into practice n 
ures that will create a far more effective t 
ing profession than that of today. 


These are some of the steps that some a 


vanced communities are already taking 
which all communities will take as they 


serious attention to the problem of putti: 


fully qualified teachers in all class-rooms. 


1. Essential facts will be obtained about the 


To 
sometnir 


and 


make-up of the nation’s teaching personn 
In many states and communities there exist 


practically no records as to the make-up of the 
It is impossible to obt 


teaching personnel. 


exact information as to the amount of train- 


ing and experience possessed by the mem 


of the teaching corps. To obtain the percent 


age of the teachers of a state who have had 


training of two years beyond high schoo! 


minimum amount required in all civilized na- 


tions—it is necessary to secure the estimates 


best guesses of school officials. 


Several attempts have been made in recent 


years to assemble a complete set of estimates 


concerning the training of the teachers of th 


various states. Approximately half of 
teachers have less than what is accepted 
the minimum amount of training desir: 


[176] 














re 
rs of 
NZ way 
m 

tr ied 
nu d 
ublic in 
toward 
1 teach- 
idea or 
a Driet 
nething 
hing of 
hildren 
id com- 
people 
an give 


ecomes 
> meéeas- 


teach- 


me ad- 
ig and 
y give 
yutting 
ut the 
ron nel, 
» exist 
of the 
obtain 
train- 
mbers 
‘rcent- 
e had 
l—the 
*d na- 


ites or 


recent 
mates 
of the 
; our 
ed as 


irable 





ee ee 





for successful teaching.* The majority of un- 
trained teachers are working in rural com- 
munities. Here thousands of girls, too young 


to vote, with little training for the work, and 
practically no teaching experience, are at pres- 
ent employed as teachers.” 

From various scattered sources evidence can 
be assembled that there is a 
amount of turn-over annually in the nation’s 
teaching personnel. Considerably more than 
100.000 teachers leave the profession each 
year. A study of teacher transiency in a state 
with one of the best developed school systems, 
recently showed that more than one out of 
every three teachers were new that year to the 
position which they held, while approximately 
two-thirds of elementary, high school teachers, 
and principals had been in their positions less 
than three years. 

It is generally recognized that the efficiency 
of any working group is seriously decreased by 
a high percentage of turn-over. The more 
skill the work involves the greater are the 
losses resulting from frequent desertions by the 
workers of the group. The loss is especially 
high in teaching, where a knowledge of indi- 
vidual children, of conditions in a community, 
and of the subject-matter and activities of the 
curriculum are essential to a high type of 
teaching effort. 

When the states seriously face the problem 
of putting a fully qualified teacher in every 
class-room, they will provide their state school 
ofices with the facilities necessary to assem- 


tremendous 


bling each year the facts necessary for intelli- 
gent procedure. 

2. Facts will become the basis of a broadly 
conceived, coordinated plan for the training of 
Teacher training is generally recog- 
nized as a state function. Yet many states 
cannot tell with exactness how many new 
teachers are needed each year to provide for 


teachers. 


replacements and growth in school population. 
The tardy effect of the law of supply and 
demand is the determining factor. In some 
ot 
teacher training courses find no positions open 
to them. 
frequent situation, it is found that there are 
The 


only way to keep some schools open is to let 


years, many those who have completed 


In other years, and this is the more 
too few trained teachers to fill vacancies. 


down the bars of certification to those admit- 
tedly unprepared for teaching. ‘The trained 
graduates of teacher training institutions find 
themselves in competition with a horde of un- 
trained transients, who are willing to keep 
school at a rate of compensation that a pro- 
fessionally trained person will not accept. 

When facts become the basis of a state’s 
teacher training program these conditions will 
no longer be tolerated. ‘The state will know 
just how many of its teachers are untrained 
and will adopt definite plans to bring all 
teachers up to the minimum standard of train- 
ing. Careful predictions will be made five 
and ten years ahead as to the number of new 
teachers needed in future years. (Guided by 
these predictions there will be selected each 
year, from among the most promising high 
school graduates who apply for admission to 
our teacher training institutions, a sufficient 
number, so that the demand for new teachers 
each year may be fully met. 

States will know with exactness the length 
of the teaching career of those who enter this 
line of work. When the turn-over is unneces- 
sarily high in some sections, they will deter- 
mine the causes. Constructive measures will 
then be adopted to reduce turn-over. 

3. The support given teachers’ colleges will 
be adequate for the work they have to perform. 
The average teacher training institution re- 
ceives extremely meager support. Teachers’ 
colleges accept only high-school graduates, as 


1At present an attempt is being made to collect from state superintendents a comprehensive set of estimates as 


to the amount of training and experience of teachers in every state in the union. 
published in the JournaL or THE Nationat EpucaTion ASSsocIATION. 


the Editor of the Journat. 


The results of this attempt will be 
For further information on this subject, address 


? Ask your local librarian for a copy of Teachers’ Salaries and Salary Trends in 1923, published by the National 


Education Association. Consult Table 78, page 100, and 


ask yourself this question, “‘Have the Rural Teachers of My 


State Adequate Preparation for the Important Work They Are Expected to Perform?” 


* Obtain a copy of The Problem of Teacher Tenure, Research Bulletin, November, 1924, National Education Asso- 


ciation, and study Table 3. 


What percentage of the teachers in your state leave teaching at the end of each year? 


“The Pennsylvania plan for gradually raising certification requirements so that all teachers will have at least the 
minimum desirable training may well be studied. A number of other states have adopted a similar plan in recent 


years. 


The Pennsylvania plan is of particular importance since its adoption was accompanied by increases in state 


financial support which made it possible to pay salaries that will secure teachers possessing the minimum training re- 


quired for certification. 


Harlan Updegraff and Leroy A. King, December, 1922. 


have become scraps of paper in the past, since the salaries were so low in 


teachers would not accept them. 


See: A Survey of the Fiscal Policies of the State of Pennsylvania in the Field of Education, 
Laws requiring minimum training on the part of all teachers 


some states that professionally trained 


[177] 





ee Thy 


Se a rE 


: 
' 
nt 
i” 
\ 
i 
H 
i 
$ 


do other colleges, and are supposed to do work 
on the same level as other colleges. Teachers’ 
colleges usually have at their command, how- 
ever, but a fraction of the amount of money 
per student enrolled that is considered neces- 
sary and is actually available in well-equipped 
colleges. 

The facts revealed by a recent Massachu- 
setts report are typical. Normal schools and 
teachers’ colleges expend an average of $214 a 
year per student. Other state-supported col- 
leges were spending $408 per student.’ 

Teacher training institutions find it ex- 
tremely difficult to obtain adequate financial 
support. The salaries at present paid the in- 
structors in many normal schools are less than 
those paid high school teachers, and in some 
cases the average is lower than those paid 
elementary teachers in progressive cities. This 
makes it difficult, at times impossible, for the 
presidents of teacher training institutions to 
recruit a capable faculty. 

When states seriously face their duty in 
training teachers, teachers’ colleges will be as 
well supported as are other colleges. Facili- 
ties will be provided so that teachers’ colleges 
may carefully study those who apply for ad- 
mission. None who appear to be unfitted for 
successful teaching service will be admitted. 
From those who appear qualified, the best will 
be selected. The total admissions to teaching 
preparatory courses in a state will be no more 
than is enough to meet the predicted demands 
for new teachers in future years. 

We will set as high standards, and be as 
careful in the selection of those who are to 
teach teachers, as we are now in selecting 
those who are to teach doctors, lawyers, army 
officers, or engineers. 

4. The hampering and morale-destroying 
influences which now afflict teaching service 
will be removed. As a hangover from the days 
when teachers were recruited from the ranks 
of incompetents, there still exist in some com- 
munities conditions affecting teaching service, 
that people of self respect accept with resent- 
ment—if they accept them at all. Some of 
these are frequently mentioned in an illumin- 








ating series of articles which recently 


in a magazine of national circulati: 
some communities the teacher’s bus 
made everybody’s business. She mus 
the beck and call of every communit) 
ment. Everything that she does is cri: 
The living conditions which she must 
with are less satisfactory than those . 
by the average resident of the com: 
Some of these conditions, of course, 
part of the job” when one holds a pub! 
tion. They frequently exist in exag, 
form, however, in relation to teachers. 
Such attitudes toward the teacher 
corrected but slowly. As the standard . 
cational attainment rises in a community 
of these petty afflictions, that decrease t 
of teaching service, disappear. Many p: 
sive communities have found it desira 
take definite measures to see that satis! 
living conditions are provided for te 
They have erected cottages and dormi: 
which offer teachers satisfactory living 
tions at a reasonable rate. Residence in | 
“teacherages” protects the teacher from 
of the petty annoyances which are the n 
outcome of the old “boarding-around” p 
5. State laws regulating the employm: 
teachers will be based on the assumptior 
teaching is a permanent form of service. 
opposite is the presumption of school cod: 
present. Most states by law forbid the 
tracting with a teacher for a period of s 
longer than a year. ‘The situation as it « 
in practice is well summed up in this staten 


Compared with employees in other lines of \ 
the school teacher, under the annual-election 
is not accorded the tenure of position give: 
street or steam-railway employees, genera! 
ness employees, policemen, firemen, or govern ; 
clerks. None of these have to apply over and 
for positions which they have been filling 
ceptably nor run the chance of annual ele 
with its attendant accidents and surprises.’ 





It is little wonder that it has been said ' 
we have a teaching procession, but no teac! 


profession. 
The reaction against the “hire and 


+ Report of the Commission for an Investigation Relative to Opportunities and Methods for Technical and !!i; 


Education in the Commonwealth, Including _ 


Massachusetts. George F. Zook, Specialist in Higher Education, 


ists. (Massachusetts) House Document No. 1700 inves). 
2See: “What is the Matter with Teaching?” 


® Cubberley, Ellwood P. Public School Adm*uistration, p. 212. 


ton, Massachusetts. 


The Delineator, October, 1925, and in succeeding months. 


rt of a Fact- finding Survey of Technical and Higher Educati 


. S. Bureau of Education, and Associated Spx 


Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company, |! 


[178] 














FIGURE II 


TEACHER~ TRAINING INSTITUTIONS SHOULD RECRUIT 
THEIR. QUOTAS FROM THE NATIONS Most PRoMIsING YOUTHS 





- 
| HALL of? LAW 
COLLEGE of NORMAL SCHOOL 
| MEDICAL N.C. YY »y) ENGINEERING TEACHERS COLLEGE 
COULEGE) )/ - 
; ) \ 


f. a f4 SHOP 
FACTORY — = [fj , TRAINING 
a) ar + el —, HOSPITAL 


F sites 
ere | 














foert bartsy) | 
Sugrhn eee. 
CO ete isl aug, 3b. 


= A. 
1. pyyti # “ 
7 Nai rid Sa“ S 






j 
ee. | wee 

| ager earner 
pasa naee oe 





=e 


a 


ee 


HicH SCHOOL GRADUATES at LIFES CROSSROAD 








_. esearch Dusan 
AMNational Educatiats 163 





[179] 





NOES SO NE ee sary re ~~ 


Sr reer 


er 


: 
1 
i, 
f 
‘ 


oe ee 





policy of employing teachers has in some places 
been in the direction of adopting inflexible 
tenure measures which make it impossible to 
dismiss teachers who are clearly incompetent. 

Neither such measures nor a “hire and 
fire” policy should govern the employment of 
teachers. These are the features which should 
characterize a broadly conceived and intelli- 


gently developed program of tenure for 
teachers. 
a. Only graduates of well-equipped teacher 


training institutions, fully recommended for teach- 
ing by these institutions, are allowed to enter 
teaching even for trial as probationary teachers. 


b. All teachers are on probation for an adequate 
period—two years or more—during which time 
they must demonstrate that they have become suc- 
cessful teachers. 


c. After the probationary period has been 
passed, all teachers are placed on indefinite tenure 
during e¢fficiency—that is, they continue to hold 
their places without annual reelection as long as 
they render efficient service or until dismissed for 
just and stated cause. 

d. The procedure for terminating indefinite 
tenure is such that the right of school boards to 
dismiss inefficient teachers for proved inefficiency 
is safeguarded while the efficient teacher is given 
certain safeguards which protect him from the 
worst of the degrading and_ respect-destroying 
evils of the hire and fire policy.’ 


6. Teachers will be selected because they 
possess the personality and the training neces- 
sary for effective teaching. In some com- 
munities the selection and continuance in serv- 
ice of teachers is dependent upon all kinds of 
irrelevant factors. 

Some communities bar married teachers and 
forbid single teachers to marry. Such a rule 
cannot govern those employed in a field of work 
which is to be more than a transient means of 
earning a livelihood. This rule frequently 
results in the replacement of experienced 
teachers of proved ability by inexperienced 
girls. 

Other communities limit teaching appoint- 
ments to “home-girls.” An inbreeding of ideas 
results which shuts off children and teachers 
alike from the broadening influence which out- 
side teachers would bring in. 

Rules such as these are frequently the result 
of a wholly wrong conception of why teachers 
are employed. Teaching positions are created 





1 Send to the National Education Association for copies of recent reports of its Committee on Teacher Te: 
The 1926 Report contains a carefully selected bibliography of articles concerning the problem of teacher tenure 


so that children may be educated. J 
not created to furnish a succession of 
girls” or political favorites an opportu: 
feed in turn at a public crib. 

It will no longer be necessary to ur; 
obvious truth when communities serious 
the problem of putting a first-rate tea 
every class-room. Every rule which pr 
the selection and continuance in serv 
efficient teachers will be repealed. The 
tion of the teacher’s home, whether s 
married or single, and other factors which 
little bearing upon her fitness and abili: 
do a first-rate job of teaching children wi 
disregarded. School boards, rather than 
ring outside teachers, will seek to obtain 
teachers from other communities. Not 
can do more to raise the general level of t: 
ing effort than a realization that a dign 
competition for teachers of first-rate abili: 
constantly in effect. Communities, rather ¢ 
closing the lists to married teachers, will 
come them—if they are good teachers. M 
communities have already demonstrated 
marriage and the first-hand experience of 
ing children may increase rather than decrease 
a teacher’s efficiency. 

Those who train for teaching, and \ 
prove to be capable teachers, will know ¢! 
their services are in demand whenever they 
free to offer them for conducting a great pub 
lic service. 


7. We shall adopt schedules of compen 
tion for teaching that fully justify cape 
young men and women in looking forward t 
this work as a life career. At the present time 
only a small percentage of school administra- 
tive, supervisory, and teaching positions offer 
such returns. 

Approximately half of the 800,000 teachers 
of the nation are receiving less than $1,200 
year at the present time; this is less than $! 

a month, or $23 a week. Compare two pos 
bilities that are open to a capable high scho: 
graduate. He may take a year’s training 
stenography and typing, if this training has 
not already been obtained in high school, and 
within three or four years easily earn $25 
week. Or he may spend from two to f 
years beyond high school graduation in 
teachers’ college or university, during which | 








qu 


[180] 

















rime he will earn nothing. Then he may public schools of the country, approximately 
qualify for teaching—a life work which pays 175,000 are receiving $1,800 or more per year 
i the average less than $25 a week. that is $35 or more a week. At the present 

‘s true that the teaching positions open to time there is one chance in five that a person 
trained people usually offer better salaries than engaged in public school work is receiving as 
th The number of positions which pay a much as $35 a week. 


fessional wage, however, is comparatively At the other extreme are the poorer paid 


small. Of the 800,000 teachers, principals, positions of the profession. ‘There are ap 


nervisors, and school superintendents in the proximately 168,000 one-room schools in the 


CHART II 
a 4 


MEDIAN SALARIES PAID ELEMENTARY TEACHERS 
IN RURAL““URBAN SECTIONS *“e UNITED STATES 





One-teacher a 
Schoots 1H 735 | 
Two teacher 
Schools , 


Thre re 
ihree or mor 820 | 


teacher: Schools 


it. opert country 


ConsolidatecL 
Schools O27 


Three or? more 

teacher Schools 

in villages & tows 
a 

Cities 

2500 to 5000 

population 


Cities 
5900 to {0,000 
population 





Citces 
10,000 to3Q000 
population 


Cities 
30,000 tr 100,00 
population 





Cctues 
over 100,000 
population 
l J 


Median Salare Thousands of Dollars 





*) - 
esearch LUxiswr 


Aationad Cdiucation Ussoctavian 











[181] 





Ee 


Se ee 


— 


R 
} 
t 


* 








TABLE 1—MEDIAN SALARIES PAID ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY TE 
ERS IN FIVE POPULATION GROUPS IN EACH OF 48 STATES, 1925 





States 
Cities 
over 
100,000 
a > 
| Sars ON Se 
United ‘States. ..| $1943 | 
Alabama 278 
Arizona....... (2) 
Arkansas. (2) 
California 1922 
Colorado anh 2024 
Connecticut 1578 
Delaware..... 1775 
| eee (2) 
Georgia...... (1) 
Idaho..... (2) 
i oi beds 7 2387 
Indiana 1930 
lowa. 1817 
Kansas... 1684 
Kentucky 1330 
Louisana..... 1531 
I inh deat aa (2) 
Maryland. 1617 
Massachusetts. . 1769 
Michigan. . 1922 
Minnesota... ... 1720 
Mississippi (2) 
Missouri -| 1877 
Montana....... (2) 
Nebraska....... 1883 
OS Ee (2) 
New Hampshire (2) 
New Jersey... .. 1882 
New Mexico.... (2) 
New York...... 2545 
North Carolina. . (2) 
North Dakota.. (2) 
eee 1895 
Oklahoma...... (2) 
G.. «vod sabe 1759 
Pennsylvania...| 2000 
Rhode Island... 1662 
South Carolina. . (2) 
South Dakota... (2) 
Tennessee. ..... 1238 
Pv nmeneee a 1500 
i nnennbtwnd 1463 
Vermont....... (2) 
OO RS 1209 
Washington.....| 1812 
West Virginia. . (2) 
Wisconsin. ..... 24061 
Wyoming. (2) 








Median salaries aul ecunatey teachers Median salaries paid high school teache: 
Cities Cities ] Cities oy Cities Cities Cities Cities | Cities ( 
30,000 to | 10,000 to | 5,000 te | 2,500 to over 30,000 to | 10,000 to | 5,009 to 2, 
100,000 | 30,000 — | 10,000 | 5,000 | 100,000 100, | 30,000 | 10,000 
7 a 5 6 8 a er ee oe 
—E— —— | ———— ol | — = 
$1528 | $1354 | $1231 | $1129 $2531 $2000 | $1738 | $1617 | $ 
046 871 796 819 1724 1541 | 1367 1133 
(2) 1669 | 1451 1380 (2) (2) 1967 | 1831 
1033 1149 | 795 760 (2) 1617 1458 | 1325 
1905 1666 | 1562 1494 2401 2456 2381 | 2222 
1661 1392 | 1330 1216 2436 2193 1769 1713 
1720 1476 1253 1186 2154 2105 | 1824 1554 
(2) (2) (2) 950 1950 (2) (2) (2) 
667 (1) 852 809 (2) 1263 | (1) 1275 
1014 917 856 788 (1) 1789 | 1321 1225 
(2) (1) 1210 1184 (2) (2) (1) 1624 
1442 1193 1064 1100 3026 1876 1676 | 1521 ’ 
1563 1315 1188 112% 2766 2017 1726 | 1580 
1458 1280 1078 1078 2221 1803 1585 | 1438 
1627 1240 1155 995 2170 1954 1697 1566 
1200 907 | 880 829 1845 1663 | 1233 1625 
| 
(1) 117) | (4) 955 2348 | (1) | 1508 (1) 
1512 1054 | 959 845 (2) | 1822 1357 1280 | 1 
(2) (1) | 1250 1123 2288 | (2) (1) 1467 | 1 
1554 1443 | 1288 1123 2445 | 1905 1745 | 1633 
1544 1286 1271 1268 2619 | = 1977 | 1797 1704 1 
| 
1615 1364 | 1166 1163 2263 2093 | 1711 1448 | 1 
(2) 978 973 909 (2) (2) | 1404 1264 | 1 
1551 986 1111 961 2564 1869 | 1423 1483 1 
1804 1461 1511 1340 (2) 1831 | 1775 (1) { 
1627 1219 1202 1110 2151 1925 1692 1610 i 
(2) (2) (1) 1700 (2) (2) (2) (1) 1 
1527 1160 (1) 971 (2) 2032 1633 (1) i 
1843 1635 1431 1362 3049 2474 2150 1812 1¢ 
(2) (a) 1308 1297 (2) (2) (1) 1692 i 
1645 1435 1489 1337 3233 2075 1718 1785 16 
1186 1226 1057 1021 (2) 1528 1569 1329 13 
(2) 1440 1258 1075 (2) (2) 1800 1519 14 
1485 1269 1098 1172 2510 2088 1789 1516 i 
1802 1114 955 968 (2) 2204 | 1700 1578 13 
(2) 1186 1203 1146 2043 (2) 1351 1500 13 
1436 1393 1356 1085 3222 1989 | 1725 1674 1 
1529 1438 1095 1048 2224 1953 | 1736 1475 16 
1255 (1) 950 930 (2) 1547 | (1) 1067 | 10 
(2) 1454 1286 1154 (2) (2) 1914 1679 14 
1039 (1) 836 765 1847 1550 | (1) 1400 11 
1227 947 921 886 1793 1700 1411 1340 i 
1398 (1) (1) 1024 1880 1720 | (1) (1) 1 
(2) 1168 1160 978 (2) (2) 1544 1536 14 
1113 1008 886 953 1839 1529 | 1371 1250 1 
1817 1450 1293 1267 2177 ama... 24380 1604 15 
| } 
1383 1174 1016 984 (2) 2033 | 1862 1367 | 143 
1483 1312 1226 1160 2600 1955 | 1758 1615 | 15 
(2) 1664 1494 1493 (2) (2) 2025 1786 | 16 



























































) No data were reported for cities of this size. 
2k There are no cities of this size within this state. 
is table is based on replies received from a questionnaire sent out by the Research Division of the National Ed 


cation Association. 











A median salary is for practical purposes ine $1 ne as an average salary. 














HE DRIVING force that makes either peace or war is engendered where the 
The teacher, whether mother, priest, or schoolmaster, is the real maker of history; 


taught. 


young are 


rulers, statesmen, and soldiers do but work out the possibilities of cooperation or conflict the 
the politicians and masses of our time dance on the wires of their 
early education —H. G. Wells, The Salwaging of Civilization, p. 39. 


teacher creates .. 





[182] 

















TABLE 2—MEDIAN SALARIES PAID EL®MENTARY 
PALS IN FIVE POPULATION GROUPS IN EACH 


AND SECONDARY 
OF THE 48 STATES, 


PRINCI 


1925 





1 


United States 


Median salaries paid supervising 
elementary pri: cipals 


Cities 
5,000 to 
10,000 


Cities 
10,000 to 
30,000 


Cities 
30,000 to 
100,000 


Cities 
over 
100,000 


; 


2140 


Cities 
2,500 to 
5,000 


Medi 


Cities 


over 


100,000 


§ 


4075 


an salaries paid high s« 


hool 


Cities 
5,000 to 
10,000 


Cities 
10,000 to 
36,000 


Cities 
30,000 to 
‘00,000 


4003 


princi 








1600 3900 3600 
450 1 1 

950 7 1 ROO 

2878 } 4163 1400 

4850 4100 


39000 4200 

3600 1 (1 
1 900 4 
? 3050 100 
> 


1 l 


3600 
3075 
4650 
3320 


450 


1075 
+300 
sS00 
1500 
$300 


4700 
5250 
1550 4900 
1500 3400 
(2) 1000 


1950 
> 


lowa 
Kansas 
Kentucky 
(2) 3700 
3200 


4150 ? 
1950 1 3650 
(2) 4200 1 
$200 
41000 


Louisiana 
Maine 
Maryland 
Massachusetts. . 
Michigan 


$617 
$350 


186 ; (2) 
1650 2050 


4650 
5593 


3300 
3300 
2600 
3100 
3300 


2033 
1400 
1670 
2050 
1750 


1900 4500 3750 
(2) ql (1 

(2) 4900 3550 
(2) 1 3900 
2250 4100 5250 


Minnesota 
Mississippi 
Missouri 
Montana 
Nebraska... 
(?) 3800 
4000 


New Hampshire (2) 3950 
New Jersey... 3036 5 $700 
New Mexico....|.. ap ; . 1 

New York 2017 4100 
North Carolina... 2050 3600 


3200 
3500 


3050 
3100 
3500 
750 
3058 


North Dakota.. 
Ohio 

Oklahoma 
Oregon. . “" 
Pennsylvania 


2050 (2) (1) 
2850 444) 
2050 1 
(2 4033 1 
1550 5409 4075 
8700 3000 
3100 (2) 
(1) 4100 
3300 (2 

3800 


(2) 4533 
(2) 1) 
(2) (1) 
2250 3600 
1800 3400 


Rhode Island 
South Carolina. . 
South Dakota. 
Tennessee 

Texas 


1596 
(?) 


1850 14 
3000 

) 16¢ 
150 


2600 
(1) 1650 
2550 2 (2) 


2100 2 


2050 
2600 


650 0 
00 (? 4 6 
(1 3200 3050 x ( 
3400 2650 800 

3900 $433 3050 ; 
3800 3700 2 


Utah , 2600 3000 3800 3 
Vermont 1 
Virginia | 2872 1920 2050 (2) 3000 
Washington. 3100 550 1900 1700 3950 
West Virginia (1) 5 Q 1950 (1 


(2) 


2505 550 


050 


3300 


3650 
3700 


2700 
1850 


2467 
(1) 


1950 
2450 


5000 4140 
1) 1 


4066 
(1) 


Wisconsin. . 
Wyoming... 


There are no cities of this si 


No data were reported for 


18) 
1) 
”) 


3x 


0 
” 
( 


{) 








schools have before 


OU ARE CONDUCTING your schools more successfully than 
work more skillfully every year, 


ever 
been conducted in a democracy, you are doing your you 
are making better and better contacts with your communities, you are guiding teachers into 
ways of greater efficiency. You will eventually get the recognition that you deserve from an 
appreciative public. But the acme of your success will be attained when we have a of 
education adequate to our professional needs.—James E. Russell, “The Scientifié Movement in 


Education,” Department of Superintendence, Oficial Report, 1926 


science 

















ae 


tee ee 


roe se sr 


TABLE 3— MEDIAN SALARIES PAID RURAL TEACHERS IN 1924 











Teachers in Principals in 
| 
Three Three 
or more or more Elemen- | Organized 
States } One- Two- teacher Consoli- teac ier tary high 
| teacher | teacher schools dated schools schools schools 
schools schools in open schools in vil- only only 
1924 1924 country 1924 lages and 1924 1924 
1924 towas 
1924 
1 2 3 4 5 6 5 
United States $735 $742 $820 $1,017 $1,142 $1, 602 $2,254 
Alabama 385 425 531 714 724 1,500 1,87 
Arizona 1,294 1,325 1,377 1,374 1,476 2,368 2,753 
Arkansas 419 §52 629 735 717 663 1,338 
California 1, 286 1,376 1,409 1,504 1,549 2,477 3,151 
Colorado 850 1,006 1,050 1,243 1,298 1,932 1,850 
Connecticut 1,000 1,140 1,102 1,237 1,288 1,745 2,180 
Delaware 776 837 1,108 1,300 
Florida 420 559 663 921 819 £871 1,817 
Georgia 372 422 445 528 670 137 1,630 
Idaho 916 1,015 1,128 1,191 1,191 1,119 ? 067 
Illinois 742 863 907 1,025 1,122 2,250 2,584 
Indiana ‘ | 873 | 916 1,004 1,072 1,148 1,683 1,969 
lowa 713 825 840 1,145 1,185 |} 2,243 2,189 
Kansas 722 850 1,029 1,101 1,167 | 1,532 2,529 
| Kentucky 531 614 728 747 865 | 1,000 1,940 
| Louisiana 646 713 794 939 1,006 1,620 1,974 
Maine ‘ | 599 | 746 874 1,017 988 1,321 2,013 
| Maryland ‘ 803 1,002 998 | 1,173 1,170 1,253 2,106 
| Massachusetts. . 954 1,097 1,173 1,249 1,221 | 1,581 2,284 
| Michigan. ot 824 040 | 983 | 1,109 1,054 2,000 | 2,179 1 
| Minnesota.... 766 911 | 988 | 1,181 1,164 1,558 2,378 
| Mississippi j 343 | 375 | 478 726 779 1,033 2,125 1 
| Missouri. . 740 | 709 780 | 891 1,014 | 1,026 1,560 
| Montana..... 856 | 1,061 1,052 | 1,260 1,270 | 1,920 | 2,063 
| Nebraska... .. 774 «| 924 986 1,061 1,130 | 1,614 1,868 
Nevada........ 1,017 | 1,250 | 1,340 ; 1,222 1,615 2, 400 
New Hampshire. . 769 | 973 893 1,006 | 1,063 | 1,167 1,912 
| New Jersey. | 1,028 | 1,136 | 1,178 | 1,293 1,333 1,784 2,613 
New Mexico.... } 762 =| 812 1,040 | 3,137 | 1,082 | 1,475 1,915 1 
New York.... | R84 1,043 1,183 1,264 1,263 1,607 2,273 
| | | 
North Carolina.... 403 | 494 | 595 | 774 699 | 612 2,350 1,¢ 
North Dakota 732 | 947 | 1,067 | 951 | 1,198 1,178 2,246 1 
| Ohio. : 900 978 1,064 | 1,109 | 1,171 1,480 1,738 1 
Oklahoma 781 900 921 | 1.008 1036 |.. 1/900 | 1 
| Oregon....... ea 911 | 988 1,079 | 1,051 1,203 | 1,580 2,283 d .( 
Pennsylvania. .... | 747 =| 806 840 | 985 1,089 1,970 1,829 1 
Rhode Island 898 928 1,076 | 983 1,124 1,180 1,900 1 
South Carolina. . 432 634 693 | 880 860 1,613 | 2,200 | 1 
South Dakota...........| 856 1,023 1,085 | 1,205 | 1,219 1,300 2,258 > ( 
Tennessee... . et al 422 478 578 | 772 «| 940 | 1,327 1,752 1,¢ 
| j 
SURE Se 605 | 666 722 | 877 868 | 1,050 | 1,660 1, 
ae os. 809 | 866 836 | 1,106 | 1,081 | 1,574 2,028 1 
Vermont 701 763 1,040 947 | 933 1,050 2,020 1 
Virginia... 407 | 475 600 749 | 775 1,288 1,774 is 
Washington | 1,220 | 1,089 1,208 1,244 1,309 1,956 2,121 
| | | | 
West Virginia 703 «| 770 875 957 1,067 1,195 2,094 1,‘ 
Wisconsin ; | 861 1,017 | 1,229 | 1,111 1,202 | 2,137 2,053 1 
Wyoming... 817 1,033 | 1,204 1,171 | Bere | 1,678 | 2,224 -A 





Read Table as follows: The average salary paid teachers in one-teacher rural schools in the United States in ! 


was $735. In the State of Alabama it was $385. Similarly read the other columns. 


Based on data from Salaries of Rural Teachers and Length of School Term in 1924. U.S. Bureau of Edu 


Rural School Leaflet No. 39, January, 1926. 














] 


E BELIEVE that normal schools and other teacher-preparing institutions should immedi 
ately recognize their obligations, first, to train teachers for rural schools, and, second, t 
create among rural people an ever-increasing demand for prepared teachers.—Selection from 
Resolution adopted by the Department of Rural Education, National Education Association, 1922 





[184] 














>? OO 


2.006 











Se et ee 





n. Half the teachers in these schools 


receiving salaries of less than $735 per 
vear, or less than $15 a week. 

Such salaries put too heavy a-strain upon 
Great numbers of capa 


nat 


iTt 


the missionary spirit. 
ble young people of vision can be expected 
to undergo an expensive period of training for 
a field of work only if that work offers a good 
chance of reaching a salary somewhat compar- 
able to that promised by other lines of work 
requiring similar ability and training. 

Salaries are so low in all but a small percent 
age of the teaching positions of the nation that 
comparatively few men are being recruited. 
Chart III shows the tendency in this regard in 
recent decades. Men women are both 
needed in the teaching of the nation’s children. 
Unless the salaries available for men teachers 
are substantially increased, the tendency re 
vealed in the chart is likely to continue. 

When the American people take teaching 
seriously, they will pay salaries throughout 
the profession which will place it on a par 


and 


with other important services. In a small pet 


centage of the positions in the profession, those 
which require unusual ability and involve the 
acceptance of the heavier responsibilities will 
be paid salaries that can compete with the 
business world in drafting people of the very 
They 


the principal of a school 


highest type of ability. will no longet 


pay plant costing 
hundreds of thousands of dollars and housing 
thousands of the nation’s children a smaller 
salary than that received by the manager of a 
few hundred workers in a dingy factory across 
the street. 

Many communities have already made deti 


nite progress in adopting schedules of compen 


sation for their teachers which indicate they 
really want good teachers. Approximately 
all cities over 30,000 in population have 


adopted definite teacher salary schedules. 

These are some of the characteristics which 
should mark an intelligently drafted plan for 
the payment of teachers: * 




















‘For number and percentage of cities with salary schedules see: Table 32, page 47, “Public School Salaries in 
924-1925, Research Bulletin, Vol. III, Nos. 1 and 2 National Education Association, 1201 Sixteenth Street N. W., 
Washington, D. C. 

For a fuller exposition of these principles see Teachers’ Salaries ay Salar Trends in 1923, published by the 
National Education Association. 

CHART III 
PERCENTAGE of MEN TEACHERS 
im OUR ELEMENTARY and, SECONDARY SCHOOLS 
18890 ~ 192.4 
1880 
1890 | 
| 
1900 | 
| 
1910 | 
1920 
1924 
Based. on figures of the U.S. Bureau of Education eis 
a = a 





[185] 





i AR Soap cage oe 


(1) Salary schedules should tend to make teach- 
ing a profession, by recognizing the value of train- 
ing and experience, and discouraging the employ- 
ment of teachers with less than the accepted mini- 
mum of training. 

(2) Salary schedules should serve to secure and 
retain competent and desirable people as teach- 
ers by: 

(a) Establishing minimum salaries that will 
provide a desirable standard of living. 

(b) Assuring a reasonable rate of progress 
from the established minimum salary to the 
maximum provided in the schedule. 

(c) Promising a career in teaching through 
the maximum salaries provided. 

(d) Making adjustments to cost of living 
and living conditions. 

(3) Salary schedules should assure a maximum 
of service and professional growth from all teach- 
ers by: 

(a) Arrangement of minimum _ salaries, 
maximum salaries, and the number and size 
of increases so that they are a constant urge 
to the teacher to render his best service and 
improve his training and preparation. 

(b) Provision for financial recognition of 
elements increasing teachers’ professional 
efficiency. 


A wholly new attitude toward the payment 
of teachers has recently been adopted by several 
cities. They have definitely rejected the fal- 
lacy that salaries are paid to benefit teachers— 
that it is the teacher’s welfare that is at stake 
when salary schedules are drafted. Rather, 
they have set up the principle that it is the 





child’s welfare that is involved in the | 
of teachers’ salaries. When salary s 
are determined, the future of the natio: 
dren is also determined. 

When this fact becomes clearly det 
public consciousness, action similar + 
which recently took place in Chicago 
result. In this city a committee of 100 
aided by a sub-committee of laymen, in: 
experts in economics, bankers, and gove: 
officials, conducted an investigation as t: 
ers’ salaries. After two years’ study a 
was prepared. ‘These principles were 

1. A board should establish a schedule 
waiting for employees to ask for increases 

2. Salaries are paid to obtain service 
please employees. Salaries should be fixed 
figures as will encourage people now in the s 
as well as prospective candidates, to a high 
of professional preparation. 

3. The salary schedule for all should be 
upon a good living wage, for a married mai : 
a family, to secure the quality of service t! 
requires. 

With these principles as a starting 
the citizens’ committee obtained a numbe: 
intelligent estimates of a living wage t 
professional man in Chicago. Four expert t 
in economics also prepared budgets. Guid t 
by these figures the committee submitted 
mates as to a living wage for a profess 
worker in that city. ‘These results are 
in Table 4. 

Guided by the figures of Table 4, th 


lowing salary schedule was proposed for 


TABLE 4—YEARLY LIVING WAGE FOR PROFESSIONAL MAN AND FAMILY 
CHICAGO, ILL. 





Rent and heat.......... 
Electricity, gas, telephone 
Food, ice, milk....... ee 
| Replacement of furniture and equipment 
Laundry and domestic help (occasional) 
Clothing and its care. 
Newspapers, books, periodicals 
Church, charity, public spirit 
| Clubs, organizations, social expense. 
| Amusements, theater, opera. 
Transportation........... 
(i RN ‘ - 
| Health, doctor, dentist, medicines, sports 
| Insurance premiums: Life, fire, liability 
| Conventions, subscriptions. . Sg fos 
Saving for investment, home owning...... 
Provisions for higher education for children. . 
ear ras e 





Total annual income.............. - ieontces 

















Average of 
Average of | four budgets | Committe: 
| 26 budgets made by recomn 
| experts in datio 
| economics 
$1,079 |} $1,110 $1,000 
eee 103 115 1 
905 | 742 900 
120 90 100 
182 275 200 
577 871 600 
yinas 45 | 45 50 | 
éawen 101 134 40) 
71 86 | 75 
69 R4 | 75 
90 86 | 00 
Se ont ee Re oews 183 235 | 200 
ner a ey Seale 101 82 | 75 
vibe eCGhbeneus es eage 206 261 | 170 
cya aeen on 47 44 $f 
enue 457 457 | 457 
I er 123 197 270 
Valk iinind tales i 272 48 150 
pS eee $4,827 $4,995 $4,730 
[186] i 
7 











ng pon 


umbe 


pve tor 


fessic 


mittee 
ymmen 
ation 


experts 
Guided 
tted est! 


nal 


These maxima were to be reached after 
mber of years of service: 


TEACHERS’ SALARY SCHEDULE 
PROPOSED FOR CHICAGO 


Elementary teachers 
Assistant to principals 

high teachers... 
school teach-rs.. 
principals 
principals 


Junior 
High 
Elementary 
Junior high 
Senior high school principals. 
Instructor in normal college 

President of normal college 


school 


8. When we take teaching seriously, definite 
guards will be set up to prevent the admission 
into the profession of unqualified teachers and 
to prevent the continuance in the work of in- 
competent teachers. The best method of bar- 
ring unqualified teachers is to establish a plan 
for the certification of all teachers through the 
state department of We have 
reached the place where it is illegal anywhere 
in the United States to pay public funds for 
the services of a teacher, unless he possesses a 
In many states, however, 


education. 


teaching certificate. 
these certificates may be so easily obtained that 
they have little significance. They do not pto- 
tect children from unqualified teachers. ‘These 
are the practices of the states which today have 
adequate plans for the certification of teachers: 


a) The authority for issuing all certificates is 
placed in the state department of education, No 
one who has not met the minimum standards for 
qualification as a teacher can obtain a certificate 
to teach in any school room in the state. In 1898 
yut 3 states had accepted this principle. By 1919, 
26 states had adopted this plan of certification. 
Since that time, a number of additional states have 
also centralized the authority 
ing certificates. 


for granting teach- 


b) The minimum standards necessary for quali- 
fying as a teacher are gradually This 
teachers already in less 
than the minimum amount of training considered 
desirable, this 
without losing their positions. It gives sufficient 
warning to candidates for 
certificates, so that they may obtain the training 
prerequisite for obtaining such certificates. 


raised. 


gives service, who have 


an opportunity to obtain training 


prospective teaching 


1 For # more detailed statement of the facts in Chicago’s unique meth: of arriving é f 


salaries’ sce the following references 

a. Bulletin of the Department of Elementary S 
Published by the Department of Elementary Scho 
teenth Street N. W., Washington, D. C 

. The American School Board Journal, 
pany, Mi'waukee, Wisconsin 


Decem|! 


c) Low grade, or temporary, certificates are 


no longer issued. These are certificates issued 


tor a 
time, to 
amount of 


period, usually one year at a 


have 
that is, 


temporary 
minimum 
than 


those who less than the 


training; something less 


graduation from a standard teacher training in 
stitution, one which gives at least two years of pro- 
fessional training beyond graduation from high 


school. 

(d) The old 
for issuing teaching certificates is done away with. 
It is recognized that a well-equipped tcacher train- 
ing institution is better able to testify as to the 
qualifications of a person for teaching, after it has 
had him under than 
is an examining board which gives an examina- 


system of examination as a basis 


observation for several years, 
tion to a group who are prepared for the same 
by a short period of intensive “cramming.” 

(e) Something more than the minimum certificate 
is required for admission to positions which in 
volve more than average responsibility and train- 
ing. In be certificated for 
supervisors, principals and superintendents, candi 


order to positions as 
dates must give evidence of having had an ap- 
propriate training, and the 
type of training and experience which fits them for 


period of particular 


these positions. 


To guard against the employment of teach 


ers rendered incompetent by advanced age, 
approximately half of the states of the union 
have adopted some definite plan for the retire- 
ment of teachers upon reaching superannuation. 
‘The map on page 188 shows that all but these 
states have adopted some plan for the automatic 
retirement of their teachers upon reaching su- 
perannuation: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, 
Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Missouri, 
New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Caro- 
Oklahoma, South 


Texas, and Wyoming. 


lina, Carolina, Tennessee, 

The principles that should govern the draft 
ing of a sound teacher retirement system have 
out.’ A 
tirement system is nothing more than a co 


plan of insurance, the cost of which 


been carefully worked teacher re 
operative 
is partly paid for by the teachers and partly by 
the state. 
ployment of teachers after old age has ren- 
effective 


state 


It protects children from the em- 


incapable of 
the 


dered them service. 


These are reasons why one after 


teac he Ts 


hool Principa Vol V, No. 1, October, 2 t 35-36 


») Principals, National Educatior Assoc on, 201 Six 


Published by the -Bruce li g Com 


er, 1925, 


A similar plan of procedure was recently adopted in New York City, when an salaries 
was recently reported by a committee of public spirited citizens. 
: A few local communities in these states have adopted plans for retir 
*For a full statement of these principles and ot! facts about teacher r 


“ 
ing and Retirement Legislation,” Research Bulletin, National Education Association, 


investigation of 


ing teachers. 
tirement systems see ient 


May, 





Teach 
1926. 


[187] 





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ther has considered it wise public policy 


to enact a law providing for the retirement 


¢ teachers: 


1 sound teacher retirement law protects sch 
hildren from incompetent by 


advanced age because 


teachers rendered 


a. It sets up a plan whereby every teacher 
upon attaining old age and infirmity will have 
had some provision made for his retirement 


b. It frees school boards from the obligation 


of continuing to employ teachers formerly 
satisfactory, but who are now rendered _in- 
competent by old age. 

c. It removes the necessity for teachers to 
continue in service after their effectiveness 


has been seriously reduced by advanced 


or other disability. 


age, 


2. A sound teacher retirement law tends to at 
tract capable young people into the teaching pro- 
fession because: 

a. It partly compensates for the lower re- 
muneration that teaching offers during active 
service. 

b. It gives a better guarantee of promotion 
within the profession. 

c. It increases the dignity of the teaching 
profession by keeping its ranks free of those 
incapacitated by old age. 


3. 4 sound teacher retirement system tends to 
keep capable teachers in the classroom, because 
a. It makes it unnecessary for capable people 
to seek other employment than teaching in 
order to provide for their old age. 
b. It makes each year of teaching service a 
step toward independence in old age. 


4. A sound teacher retirement system increases 
the efficiency of the teacher in the classroom be- 
cause: 

a. It lengthens the period of teaching. efh- 
ciency by relieving the teacher's mind of the 
fear of a destitute old age. 

b. It makes it possible for a teacher to invest 
in study, training, and travel, without en- 
dangering the provision made for his later 
years, 

c. It improves the morale of a teaching force 
by keeping open the paths of promotion. 


d. It increases the child’s respect for the 
teacher and thereby makes his work more 
effective. 

5. 4 sound teacher retirement system in the 


long run means a substantial saving to the gen- 
eral public because: 

a. It makes possible the replacement of su- 
perannuated teachers, who receive the maximum 
salaries, by younger teachers who begin at a 
smaller salary. 

b. It protects the public from the waste of 





an expensive school plant manned by super- 


annuated teachers. 


c. It guarantees the public a definite and val- 


uable return for its share of the cost 

d. It prevents the enactment of ill-considered 
and costly “pension” systems 

e. Its cost to the general public is small 


when compared with the benefits received 


6. The adoption of a sound teacher retirement 


system is in accord with the best thought of the day 


because: 


a. Private industry has already recognized 


retirement plans as essential to good business. 
b. A retirement plan has already been put 
in effect in most important public services. 


c. The public in general contributes billions 
of dollars each year for the support of insur- 


ance companies that offer protection for the 


future. 


9. When the American people come to take 
teaching seriously, they will take a positive and 
constructive attitude towards the efforts of 
teachers to improve their efficiency while in 
service. School boards will encourage teachers 
to take out leaves of absence for obtaining addi- 
tional training for their work, rather than re- 
quiring them to resign when such a step is con- 
templated. A number of cities have already 
adopted definite plans whereby teachers, after 
a given period of service, usually from seven 
to ten years, may obtain a leave of absence and 
receive part of their salary while engaged in 
an approved program of study designed to in- 
crease their effectiveness in the 
Other cities have adopted schemes for the pay- 
ment of part of the expenses involved in at- 
tendance at summer school. 

Some enlightened school boards have organ- 
ized extension classes at times and in places 
The 
instruction received in these classes is definitely 
designed to aid teachers in the solution of their 
teaching problems and to improve the general 
efficiency of their work. 

Communities which make provisions of the 
type described take teaching seriously. They 
recognize that effective teaching calls for the 
The 
training received in teacher training institutions 
is but preliminary. It must be followed up 
throughout a teacher’s career by work de- 
signed to keep him alive and in touch with the 
best work that is being done in the profession, 
and with the significant movements of our de- 


class room. 


where teachers may conveniently attend. 


constant training of teachers on the job. 


veloping civilization. 


[189] 






al SAS maine 


x 
} 





Selected References for Further Study 


BucKINGHAM, B. R., Supply and Demand 
in Teacher Training, Ohio State Univer- 
sity, Bureau of Educational Research Mon- 
ographs, Vol. II, No. 4, Ohio State Uni- 
versity, Columbus, Ohio. March 15, 1926. 

While this study is limited to the State 
of Ohio, it presents a method of attack that 
should serve as a basis for similar studies in 
other states. Compares number of “new” 
teachers needed each year with yearly num- 
ber of graduates from teacher-training in- 
stitutions, the number of graduates who 
taught, and the supply of trained teachers 
from other states. 


Cook, KATHERINE M., State Laws and Reg- 
ulations Governing Teachers’ Certificates. 
U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1921, 
No. 22. Washington, D. C., Government 
Printing Office, 1921. 

Presents detailed information as_ to 
agencies which issue certificates, methods of 
securing certificates, scholarship require- 
ments for teachers’ certificates, provisions 
for renewing low-grade certificate, recip- 
rocal relations among states, fees and mini- 
imum age requirements, and state laws and 
regulations governing teachers’ certificates. 
Data are now being collected to bring this 
study up to date. 


Cook, KATHERINE M., Constructive Tenden- 
cies in Rural Education. U.S. Bureau of 
Education. Bulletin, 1925, No. 25. Gov- 
ernment Printing Office, Washington, D. C. 
“Salaries of Rural Teachers,” pp. 13-16. 

Emphasizes need of increased salaries in 
rural schools in order to attract teachers who 
wiil qualify on same basis as those of urban 
schools. Presents tables showing salary 
trends. 


Cusser_ey, Ettwoop P., Public School Ad- 
ministration. New York City, N. Y., 
Houghton, Mifflin Company, 1916. 

See Chapters XIV and XV—The Teach- 
ing Corps. Discusses selection of teachers, 
importance of guarding appointments, funda- 
mental principles of action, and the train- 
ing of teachers. 


Rosier, Josepu, Report of the Committee on 
Standards, Requirements, and Credits of 


[190] 


NATIONAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION, 





Teachers in the Service. Washington 
National Education Association, Jul) 

This report shows that practic 
states still certificate some teachers, 
examination method. Laws are being 
making it possible to certificate on t} 
of completion of courses in normal 
and colleges. 


SUMMERS, ALEx., Salaries of Country 7 


ers in 1923. U.S. Bureau of Ed 
Rural School Leaflet No. 24, April, 
Government Printing Office, Washi: 
Zh 

Analysis and tabulation of data repr 
ing 1864 counties and covering salari 
191,421 teachers and 12,500 principa 
country schools. 


WatsH, M. os Teaching as a Profe 


New York, Henry Holt Company, | 
387 p. 


Points out that the legal requirement 
certification is recogmition of the fact ' 
the public should be protected from the 
qualified practitioner. Presents data sh 
ing tendency toward centralization of 
tificating authority. 


NATIONAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION, Kk 


search Bulletin, Vol. I, No. 3, Teache 
Salaries and Salary Trends in 1923. \ 
tional Education Association, Washingto: 
D. C., May, 1923, 115 p. 

Presents extensive data as to teach 
salaries and salary trends in 1922-1923; gives 
provisions of salary schedules in the cities 
the United States, 1922-1923; includes illus 
trations of salary schedules in operation 
1923; and lays down principles and stand 
ards involved in the making and administ: 
tion of Teachers’ Salary Schedules. 


search Bulletin, Vol. I11, Nos. 1 and 2, Ja: 
uary and March, 1925. Public School S« 
aries in 1924-1925. National Educat 
Association, Washington, D. C., 72 p 

Sets forth five reasons for adequate sa! 
schedules; answers the question, have tea 
ers’ salaries been increased; gives extens 
data as to salaries paid all groups of sch 
employees in 1924-1925; and presents p 
visions and special features of 1924-19 
salary schedules. 











NATIONAL Epucation Association, Re- NATIONAL EpucaATiON ASSOCIATION, Re 
search Bulletin, Vol. II, No. 5. The Prob search Bulletin, Vol. IV, No. 3. Efficient 
m of Teacher Tenure, Washington, D. C., Teaching and _ Retirement Legislation. 
National Education Association, November, Washington, D. C., National Education 
1924, p. 136-137. Association, 1926, 72 p. 
Presents a comprehensive treatment of Presents a critical review of the funda- 
the tenure problem in the United States; mental principles on which retirement sys 


inalyzes present and proposed state teache1 tems are based. Tells where state and local 


tenure laws; surveys local tenure regula retirement laws are in effect and analyzes 
tions; cites teacher tenure provisions in for their major provisions. Gives facts as to 
eign countries; reviews court cases affecting cost of operating retirement systems. In- 
teacher tenure; and includes texts of cludes a directory of the secretaries of state 
Teacher Tenure Laws. and local retirement systems. States why 


. i every teacher and every citizen should be 
ATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, T'eacher 


Tenure in the United States. Report of the 
Committee of One Hundred, July, 1926. 


Washington, D. C., National Education, 


9 ome 
ac Pp. [he complete text of a state retirement law 


Reviews work of National Education As- is included together with a statement of the 


interested in sound teacher retirement legis- 
lation and why every state should pass such 
legislation. A roll call by states shows plans 
under way affecting retirement legislation. 


sociation Tenure Committee and presents main provisions of eleven state retirement 
an extensive annotated bibliography. laws. Selected, annotated bibliography. 





UT AFTER ALL our schools do more than merely transmit knowledge and training; they 

are America itself in miniature, where, in a purer air and under wise guidance, a whole 
life of citizenship is levied experimentally with its social contacts, its recreations, its ethical 
problems, its political practice, its duties and its rewards. Ideals are developed that shape the 
whole adult life. Experience is gained that is valuable for all the years of maturity. I would 
be one of the last people in the world to belittle the importance of the exact knowledge that 
vives teachers impart to their pupils—as an engineer I set a high value upon precise information— 
but knowledge, however exact, is secondary to a trained mind and serves no useful purpose 
unless it is the servant of an ambitious mind, a sound character, and an idealistic spirit. Social 
values outrank economic values. Economic gains, even scientific gains, are worse than useless 
if they accrue to a people unfitted by trained character to use, and not abuse them.—Herhert 
Hoover, “Education as a National Asset,’ Department of Superintendence, Official Report; 


1926, page 66. 














a eto 


* Vit Blin mae. 


<A gece 


A Trained and Understanding Administrative and Supervisory Stafi 


What are the functions performed in a 
modern school system? One cannot appreciate 
the complexity of a modern school system until 
he begins analyzing its functions and con- 
sidering the necessary buildings and equipment, 
and the personnel required to carry out the 
intricate and important job of training young 
citizens. 

In the discussion of an adequate school 
plant on pages 199 and 200 of this Bulletin, 
some of the new and complex functions of 
the modern school are pointed out and the 
many and varied needs in the way of sites, 
buildings, and equipment are listed. Some- 
one has to be responsible for the careful plan- 
ning which should accompany the building 
up of the physical equipment of a school sys- 
tem. Provision must be made for the effective 
and economical operation and upkeep of school 
buildings. Plans must be made for keeping 
playgrounds open before and after school and 
on Saturdays. Supplies, textbooks, and other 
equipment must be purchased. Engineers, 
janitors, book-keepers, and clerks must be em- 
ployed. Courses of study must be developed 
for all branches from the kindergarten through 
the high school. Careful methods must be 
developed for the selection of teachers for the 
various school units and types of instruction. 
An adequate plan of supervision and training 
in service must be developed if instruction is 
to be kept on a high level. A continuing 
census must be kept of all children of school 
age. Attendance laws must be enforced and 
attendance records kept. Adult education must 
be cared for through Americanization and 
evening classes and home teachers. A _ well 
rounded program of research must be con- 
ducted if the school system is to take advantage 
of the products of modern thought and scien- 
tific discovery. Individual children must be 
studied, if their needs and aptitudes are to be 
discovered and given proper consideration. 
Careful statistical records of all the school’s 
activities must be kept up-to-date. 

The management of a modern school sys- 
tem is a difficult and complex task which re- 
quires a skilled executive who selects capablé 


and technically trained assistants to wh 
delegates many of the details of admi 
tion and supervision. 

Chart 1V shows the organization of t! 
ministrative and supervisory staff of one 
developed school system. 
ganization employing a hundred or 
executives and supervisors and thousan 
teachers calls for a far higher type of exe: 
ability than did the old one-room school. 

What salaries do school administrator 
rectors, and supervisors receive? ‘Tab 
gives the median salaries paid administrat 
officers, directors and supervisors in cities 
five population groups. When one conside: 
the responsibilities which these positions 
volve, and the native ability and extens 
training required to fill them satisfacto: 
one is faced with these questions: Are 
present salaries of our school administrat 
and supervisory staffs adequate? Why sly 
they be lower than those of many facto: 


Such a compl 


superintendents who are often responsible fo: 
fewer people, the administration of smalle: 


budgets, and the production of material goods 
rather than the development of citizens, fired 
with ambition, ideals, and a spirit of service? 


In any consideration of a trained and und 


standing administrative and supervisory staft 


we must remember that it is the child’s welfare 


not the administrator’s or the supervisor's \ 
fare that is primarily at issue. When we en 


ploy our school administrators and superviso: 


we are to a large extent determining the kind 


of instruction our children will receive in th 


public schools. 
equipment, and the teaching body render 
maximum amount of service depends on ¢! 
administration. 


school age. 
the superintendent of schools in those scho 


Whether or not school plants 


Expert supervision is neces 
sary to secure a high percentage of efficiency in 
meeting the individual needs of every child o! 
A grave responsibility rests upo: 


systems which enrol thousands of children 


Like the industrial engineer, he is faced wit! 
the problem of rendering maximum service w'' 


the resources at his command. ‘Too often <: 


mands for increased and additional forms 


[192] 








LV 


CHART 

































' 
Pevog 40 wa Te Ts } - 


TOHLNOD AWOSIAUTZANG ALvDIan| SCINIT NIWwOu” 
ALTHOHINY 12mg ZivOidan CaNnit aqitwos 
oe —y — ay — T — T 
| 
1 
Vises | ; - [ bs 38 7 [ Suamow al 
* @id~) . te ‘ss va J ¥ L . | | a] 
] ] ] . te 
| 137" . worm . 2 oe 
| Hea _* vs . a s ud | L z 
| - T r % 
| 
SS ae ee , i 
| 
| i 
s 
wIssdts ————— re | ] 
a— s . ~ ii be Dea | wean Beep ] | : 
' 
(MIOVNY SoINIENg) >. +. eee ee | fa ews ea 
WaINror Zea 1 < voseer oes . vin aw3tg i 
2 IN 4H “3a Inwisies y ANJON TAN Tans LNVISiSsy 
[ | 
l 
= 
—— S$TOOHDS 40 
INZINALNTE ANS {AZNHO 4 Ly wWOoudNy) 


NOILYDNaGY ao duvog 


er 





wENT 





FivuoLoity 








WHLSAS IOOHOSOS NHXHGOW V AO NOILVZINVOAO AAILVALSININGV 


les 


AI LAWHO 





[193] 


er eRe 





? 


~ > = - = —, ° ae o - P _ 
- a — - 2 wa . +- «4 - Ste - & s 2 & y 7 
* r. = + a >, w ~ 2 = tn u = = © & &) of y 7 oes 
~ = _ S = Some =| = “ —~ oan On - ~ 
- one ont ~ rm = ~~ con + = wv F = soy w 
Ss 6 s 3S . ses © MS > ue = 2g 3 >, 
@ os asc e, SS Vw TP ae - oC 7? aan de a. eS i a, | nn 





service are made on the public school without 
an accompanying increase in school funds. 


These facts face us squarely with these 
questions : 

1. How are the public schools in my city 
administered ? 

2. Is the present administration receiving 
adequate financial and moral support from 
the community ? 

For those desiring additional information 
on the topics briefly discussed in this section, 
these references will be of interest. 


Selected References on School Adminis- 
tration and Supervision 


W. N. dA Manual for School 
Century Co., 1925. 


ANDERSEN, 
Officers. 


Burton, WILLIAM H. Supervision and the 


Improvement of Teaching. Appleton, 
1924. 
Cuicaco Principats’ Cus, Education 


Committee, Margaret Madden, Chairman, 
Supervision, Bulletin No. 2, 1924. Chi- 
cago Principals’ Club, Chicago, Illinois. 


TABLE 5—MEDIAN SALARIES PAID ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS, DIRECTORS 
AND SUPERVISORS IN CITIES OF FIVE POPULATION GROUPS, IN 1925-26 


E. P. 
Houghton, Mifflin Co., 


CUBBERLEY, Public 


tration. 


CuBBERLEY, E. P. 


School. 
DEFFENBAUGH, W. S. 


Schools in the Smaller 


1922, No. 2, U. 


Houghton, Mifflin Co., 


School Ad 


19] 


1° 


The Principal and 


)23 


A dministrat 
Cities, 
S. Bureau of Educ 


Bul 


Washington, D. C., Government Pri 


Office. 


Gist, ARTHUR S. Elementary School Sx 


Scribner’s, 1926. 


vision. 


Hunter, Frep M. 


jectives of Elementary 
tional 
and Proceedings, 


ton, 1924. 


Jupp, Cuarves H. 
Personnel,” Elementary 


Vol. 23, pp. 495-503, March, 


Kyte, Georce C. Reorganization and A 
ministration of an Elementary School 


Univ 


Education Association. 


pp. 908-914. 


“The Relation of Su 
vision to the Attainment of the Major © 
Education.” 
Addr 
Washir iu 


“School Expansion ; 
School Jour) 


1923. 


Meet the Needs of a Community. 


sity of California, Publications in Edu 
tion, Vol. II, No. 2, Berkeley, Californ 












Cities 
Officers over 

100, und 

1 2 
Administrators: 

Superintendent. ............-.ee005: $9, 000 
Associate or Asst. Supt............ 5,200 
Secretary of Board............ 4,310 
Business Manager.............. 5,000 
Supt. of Buildings and Grounds. . 3,800 
Secretary to Superintendent.......... 2,100 
Chief Attendance Officer............ 3,000 
Director of Research.............. 4,010 


Directors and Supervisors: ; 


Kindergarten. ....... ,000 








3 

PE ae chee cceceuseans 3,150 
Intermediate Grades................ 3,340 
mior High Schools. ... . at 4,000 
\ Sree 6,000 
Continuation Schools erty 3,100 
IIIS, 5 vkn.cnccee cokes tuun® 3,600 
Americanization................ bn 2,650 
Vocational Education............. 3,875 
Manual Training................ : 3,600 
Home Economics................ 3,000 
ER ea RR NIN 8A 3,600 
Physical Education............... 3,500 
ORCS SE6eo de cet es-enens Ges 3,200 
Music. hitches aie liee Finn pen %s : 3,313 
Penmanship. . ENCORE ts cele 2,810 


Attendance Officers. . 


} Cities Cities Cities 

| 30,000 to 10,000 to 5,000 to 
“160,000 30,000 10,000: 

3 4 5 

-—- 

$6 ,000 $4,500 $3 , 600 
4,000 3,000 2,450 
2,500 1,000 420 
3,400 2,550 2,150 
2,600 1,920 1,800 
1,610 1,300 1,080 
1,895 1,200 540 
2,700 2,025 1,800 
2,000 1,493 1,475 
2,500 2,050 1,800 
2,775 2,400 2,050 
3,000 2,700 1,800 
3,750 3,300 2,600 
2,700 1,900 1,625 

800 400 300 

2,000 352 300 
3,175 2,475 2,050 
2,775 2,155 2,000 
2,291 1,705 1,500 
1,825 1,600 1,200 
2,700 2,200 1,800 
2,200 1,8C0 1,600 
2,500 1,900 1,588 
2,172 1,700 1,500 
1,800 855 450 














1 Figures for 1924-25. 


| 
| 





Cities 


2,500 to 


$3, 


3, 


Ne 


nN 


MN ee 


ee et et ee et ND 


200 
600 
300 
,620 
, 100 
850 
300 
000 


,250 
, 800 
, 000 
, 200 
, 000 
,418 
240 
275 
,000 
, 850 
, 440 
, 500 
, 800 
,450 
, 440 
, 280 
260 




















irnal 





A Living and Developing Curriculum Adapted to Social and 
Individual Needs 


When a nation shapes its schools, it shapes 
the thinking of its future citizens. The influ- 
ence of the school is deep-seated. It deals with 
plastic children. It fixes in the child’s devel- 
oping nervous system ways of thinking and 
habits of conduct that will be a part of him 
throughout life. What the child really learns 
will more or less completely control the habits 
and ideals of the future citizen. 

The number of topics crowded into the pub- 
lic school curriculum by state legislative en- 
actment shows an increasing faith on the part 
of the public in the ability of the school to 
modify habits of action and attitudes of 
thought. There is not a supporter of a new 
cause who does not attempt to have it adopted 
as a subject in the school curriculum. A re- 


cent review of legislation prescribing what 
shall be taught in the schools shows that in 
the last twenty years there has been a sixty 
percent increase in the number of subjects pre- 


scribed by legislation.? 

The danger of legislative enactments affect- 
ing “the freedom of teaching” is suggested by 
Dean James E. Russell of Teachers College, 
who writes: 


The trend of public opinion in matters educa- 
tional is part and parcel of the tendency of the 
times to shape conduct by legal enactment. Whether 
we like it or not, some school boards will sit in 
judgment on history texts and some will bar out 
modern science. The war taught us that German 
could be eliminated from our schools. Who knows 
what labor unionists, or chambers of commerce, or 
Biblical fundamentalists will insist on next? I 
foresee trouble enough to keep us from stagnation. 
Once a homogeneous group, bent on having its own 
way, gets the notion that the schools can be used 
to promote its particular tenets, that group will 
surely seek to shape educational procedure. As 
soon as one group succeeds in influencing school 
affairs, some other group will rise in opposition 
and demand to be heard. This is no idle specula- 
tion: parties and sects and unions are even now 
contending for preferment in a way embarrassing 
to those who look for the larger good. 





The danger foreseen is this: Statutory re 
quirements relative to the teaching of particu 
lar topics may be ill considered, the result of 
temporary enthusiasms, the action of propa 
Thoughtful action, carefully con- 
sidered in relation to the general weitare and 


gandists. 


to the public school curriculum as a whole, 
as professional 
This leads to 
the question, what are the essential relation 


on the part of lay as well 
groups will always be helpful. 


ships between state legislatures, state boards 


of education, and the local community ? 


Those who have given considerable thought 
to these relationships, in an effort to define 
them in terms of what is best for the public 
good, state them as follows: 


1. The state legislature shall state only major edu 

cational objectives in general terms. Laws 
should be fundamental and general rather than 
detailed and specific. In most instances the 
laws should state ideals to be attained rather 
than subjects to be taught. 
Ihe State Board of Education, in conference 
with and advised by its educational experts, 
both state and local, should set up, in not too 
great detail such curricular requirements and 
time allotments as are deemed essential to the 
attainment of the major educational objectives 
fixed by the legislature. 


Whether one approves or disapproves of 
narrow statutory requirements, affecting the 
elementary school curriculum, the fact cannot 
be denied, as one reviews the 926 curricular 
prescriptions on the statute books of the 48 
states in 1923, that the people have clearly de- 
creed that they expect the public school to do 
far more than give training in a few simple 


skills. 


The twentieth century has given us a new 
conception as to the function of the public 
schools. Formerly the work of the school was 
complete when the child had attained the 
ability to write a legible hand, to read, and to 
perform mathematical 


simple calculations. 


? Flanders, Jesse Knowlton, Legislative Control of the Elementary Curriculum, Bureau of Publications, Teachers 


College, Columbia University, New York City. 1925, 242 pp. 


[195] 





ee 


AGT tessa 


Today the child acquires the valuable skills 
known as the three R’s and becomes more pro- 
ficient in them as he applies them in the study 
of such subjects as hygiene, history, civics, 
science, music, and art. Through these sub- 
jects he comes into possession of habits of 
thought and action that mold his character for 
public service. 

The child of the old-time school memorized 
certain facts and acquired a few simple skills. 
Such an education does not fit a child for mod- 
ern life. To illustrate: It is not enough that 
a child be able to read aloud in a halting voice. 
He must learn to read silently, accurately, and 
with rapidity. He must acquire the habit of 
reading. He must be given the ability, insofar 


as his innate capacity permits, to discriminate 
between trash and literature. No lower 


ideals than these should be accepted in the 
teaching of reading if the foundation for in- 
telligent citizenship is to be laid. And so it 
is with every subject in the curriculum. The 
modern school seeks to create an environment 
made up of real life situations. The new 


course of study calls for the mastery 
as it is today and is to be tomorrow. 


One of the public school’s greatest 
is its flexibility. The American public s 
ability to modify its organization and th 
tent of its curriculum stands out as unig 
the history of educational systems. The | 
school is recognizing that the educat 
methods which sufficed in the eighteent! 
tury will not do for the twentieth. 

It is true that the public school 
achieving its growth without growing 
but these should not be mistaken for or; 
disease. He who condemns the school f; 
efforts to adapt its organization, methods 
curriculum content to the needs of an ag 
rapid change condemns the school for on 
its greatest virtues. It is this character 
that has enabled the school to hold 
strengthen its position as a constructive 
tution. A static school in a dynamic civi 
tion soon loses its influence. 

Hundreds of school systems are findin 


FIGURE IV 


TEACHING SPELLING in 1900 





(  - SPELL 
| ELEEMOSYNARY| 
Prec 





LEMVEL 
THOM 





Lilte's chtheeh naan dtind to the foot of the class. 


4 








[196] 

















insti 
viliza 


sary to revise their courses of study be 
cause of (1) The rapidity of change in mod- 
ern life, (2) the complexity of modern life, 
3) increases in school attendance and pupil 
terogeneity, and (4+) advances in educational 


ence and psychology. 


[he metamorphosis of the old-time curricu 
A new curriculum is emerging with 

new content, suited more nearly to present-day 
life needs. It is being built broad enough to 
meet the needs of all the children of all the 
people, and varied enough to serve the interests 
of the individual child. These are some of 
the striking contrasts between the old and the 
new curriculum. The old curriculum was 
handed down by the school superintendent ; 
the new curriculum is being built by all the 
school forces working in democratic coopera- 
tion. The old curriculum was static. The 
new curriculum continues to grow. The con- 
tent of the old curriculum was usually selected 
on the basis of tradition or imitation of what 
The con- 


was done in other school systems. 
tent of the new curriculum is usually selected 


on the basis of (1) the needs, abilities, and 
interests of the particular coal for whom it 


is built, (2) results of occupational or job 


analyses, (3) pooled judgment of thoughtful 
men and women as to the human abilities and 
characteristics which are most desirable for 
adult citizens, and (4) findings of research 
The old 


curriculum finished the child’s education. The 


as to the best educational practices. 


new curriculum begins the child’s education 
The old curriculum called for mastery of 
facts. The new curriculum calls for mastery 
of life. 


Guesswork need no longer be the only basis 
of selecting what to teach and how to teach. 
Research concerning what to teach is largely 
remaking the content and organization of 
school subjects. Consider one of the simple 
tool subjects—spelling. “Twenty-five years 
ago, “learn the dictionary” was the objective 
set up before the child. ‘Today we ask a child 
to learn those words which are most frequently 
used in business and social correspondence. 


Extensive research has shown that 1000 words 


FIGURE V 


TEACHING SPELLING IN 1926 





GEORGE ,CAN YOU CONQUER | 
THESE TOMORROW ? 
TOO COMMITTEE 
THEIR THERE FORE 

, PRINCIPAL PLEASANT 











WORDS MIs -SPELLEQ 
\N MY COMPOSITIO 


WHOLE FOUR 
SEPARATE 


CENT 








Ss D mae | PERFECT LESSON) 
nonpay 1S wenonespay 6° | FOR TWO DAYS f 


TUESDAY {G6 THURSDAY | 6d 
FRIDAY \od 








LEMVEL 
THOMAS 














te 


and their repetitions make up considerably 
more than half of those used in ordinary writ- 
ing. If the average person can spell the 3000 
most common words in the English language, 
he will seldom find it necessary to use the dic- 
tionary. 

Figures IV and V contrast the old and the 
new methods of teaching spelling. Formerly 
a whole class including both the dullest and 
brightest lined up together to spell orally 
words whose distinguishing characteristics 
were often their difficulty and abstruseness. 

Today children are drilled on words com- 
monly used. ‘Time is saved and interest stimu- 
lated by having each child compete against his 
own record, prepare spelling lists of words 
which he, himself, has missed and which he 
needs to study. 


What is the teacher's part in curriculum 
building? Under the leadership of specialists, 
teachers can give and receive help in these 
seven ways: (1) By reading the best books on 
the curriculum, (2) by helping to analyze 
present American life needs, (3) by becoming 
familiar with ** ‘:-al environment in which 
pupils are gro . (4) by evaluating the 
existing local study, (5) by familiar- 
izing themsely. ith the best current prac- 
tice, (6) by studying the abilities, interests, 
and growth wants of developing children, and 
the special needs of individual children, and 
(7) by bringing to bear on the problem of 
curriculum revision the results of their experi- 
ence as to what is practical and advisable in 
the way of class-room procedure. 

Teachers who share in curriculum building 
discover that this task is as big as life itself. 
They gladly seek the aid of specialists, scien- 
tific experimentation, and the best books on 
the subject. Below are listed references which 
they have found helpful. 


References useful to course of study com- 
mittees. ‘Two short lists are presented here, 
one dealing with the newer conceptions of 
education, and the other with general curricu- 
lar problems: 


New Conceptions of Education 


CusBerLey, ELttwoop P., Changing Concep- 
tions of Education, Houghton Mifflin Co., 
1°09. 


[198] 





CuUBBERLEY, ELtwoop P., 4n Introdu 
the Study of Education. Chapter X\ 
Curriculum and Educational Reorg 
tion, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1925. 


Dewey, JOHN AND Evetyn, The Sch: 
Tomorrow, Dutton, 1915. 


Dewey, JouHN, Democracy and Edu 
Macmillan, 1916. 


SuzzALLo, Henry, Our Faith in Edu 
J. B. Lippincott, 1924. 


THe New Repustic, Educational Sect 
“The Elementary School.” Vol. 40, N 
519, Part II, November 12, 1924. 


General Curricular Problems f 


NATIONAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION, & 
search in Constructing the Elementa 
School Curriculum. Third Yearbook 
the Department of Superintendence, N | 
tional Education Association, 1925. : 


, The Nation at Work on the Pub S¢ 
lic School Curriculum, Fourth Yearbook h 
of the Department of Superintendence, N 0 
tional Education Association, 1926. n 





——, Keeping Pace with the Advancin 
Curriculum, Research Bulletin, Vol. II! 
Nos. 4 and 5, September and Novembe 
1925, National Education Association. 





a 


Bopsitt, FRANKLIN, The Curriculu: 


Houghton, Mifflin Co., 1918. 


Bossitt, FRANKLIN, How to Make a Cu 
riculum, Houghton, Mifflin, 1924. 


Bonser, Freperick G., The Elementar 
School Curriculum, Macmillan Co., 1922. | 


Cuarters, W. W., Curriculum Construction 
Macmillan Co., 1923. 


| 
McMurray, Cuartes A., How to Organiz 
a Curriculum, Macmillan, 1923. | 





Pub 
rbook 
_ Na 


cing 
ITT, 


nbe1 


tar) 
2 


tion. 


An Adequate 


Vew school functions demand modern 


hool buildings and_ suitable equipment. 


When reading, writing, and arithmetic were 


the only subjects taught in our public schools, 

black-board, slate and pencil, and some 
primers were often the only equipment pro 
vided. Today the school’s work has merely 
begun when the child has been given a com- 
mand of the fundamental processes. By legis- 
lative enactment and popular demand the 
people of the nation have decreed that the 
public school shall equip children for life in 
. variety of ways. Each of the modern ob- 
jectives of school training, to be successfully 
fulfilled, requires a different type of building, 
site and equipment than were needed by the 
schools of yesterday. 

Sound physiques and healthful habits of 
living are. products expected from school at- 
tendance. In terms of school equipment this 
requires more than the diluted treatises on 
anatomy used in the early attempts of the 
school toward the attainment of the good 
health objective. Even the modern textbooks 
on health constitute but a small part of the 
necessary equipment. Well ventilated, prop- 
erly heated and lighted classrooms, equipped 
with desks or tables suited to the needs of 


School Plant 


growing children, rooms for health and dental 
clinics, and gymnasiums—all of these are 
essentials of a modern school building. 

The building should be located on an ade 
quate site. ‘This is requisite if playground 
activities are to be properly developed. ‘lhe 
crowded one and two acre sites of the past, 
with little more than enough room for the 
building, should be accepted only under the 
most unusual circumstances. Such sites are 
rapidly disappearing. A recent survey of the 
size of school sites purchased for elementary 
schools, to accommodate from 800 to 1600 
pupils, indicates that the majority are three 
acres or more, while one-third of the elemen 
tary school buildings erected in cities since 
1920 have been placed on sites of from 5 to 
10 acres. 

Sites for junior and senior high schools 
should be larger than this. The provision of 
school grounds of twenty and even thirty acres 
for such schools is becoming the practice more 
and more. Such sites are necessary if future 
expansion is to be provided for. “The purchase 
of large school plots when land is cheap re 
quires a smaller public outlay than does the 
purchase of additions to small plots after land 
values have risen. 


CHART V 








SIZE of MODERN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SITES ~ 
BUILDINGS for 800 PUPILS or MORE 


Less than 


3 acres 


3to less 
than & acres 


5 acces or 
more 


Read chart as follows: Of a total of 51 elementary school srtes for buldi 
800 or more pup 2S»: 
collected by thé Research Division of the National Education 


simce 1920 and acco 
Based or ¢ 
sociation, 


3 purchased, 
ils, 23.5% were less than % acres. 


aseacrch Division, Matcanal Ekucatian Gosh 





[199] 











a 


al 
« 

1 
y 
4) 
‘ 





Worthy home membership is another ob- 
jective of the modern school. In terms of 
equipment this requires cooking and sewing 
rooms, laundry rooms, outfitted with sewing 
machines, washing machines and electric irons. 
Every type of equipment essential to estab- 
lishing the highest ideals in home-making 
should be provided in the courses in household 
arts in the public schoels. 

Vocational efficiency is also a modern, edu- 
cational objective. In terms of equipment this 
means printing shops, drafting rooms, machine 
and sheet metal and automobile shops. It 
means that certain classrooms are equipped 
with typewriters, adding machines, and comp- 
tometers. It means laboratories, equipped 
with chemicals, scientific apparatus, and 
biological specimens. Provided with such 
equipment the child can be given the insight 
into occupational life necessary for the in- 
telligent choice of a life work. Without such 
equipment the school loses its touch with real 
life and follows behind rather than points the 
way to advancing civilization. 

The school can make no greater contribu- 
tion than by training for the worthy use of 
that two-edged sword of modern industrial- 
ism—leisure time. All signs point toward a 
continuance of the tendency to shorten the 
number of working hours a week. For the 
first time in the world’s history the masses of 
a population have at their disposal considera- 
bly more time than is necessary to obtain the 
necessities of life. How will this time be 
used? In enervating or energizing pursuits? 
The school can play an important role in 
determining the answer. 

In terms of school equipment this means 
musical instruments for bands and orchestras, 
auditoriums with projecting and motion pic- 
ture apparatus, and stages with curtains and 
screens. It means a well stocked library with 
books selected with the capacities, needs and 
interests of children in mind. It means copies 
of the paintings of great masters, and artists’ 
materials for children to work with. 

If the school is to offer a chance to prac- 
tice life under conditions that are ideal for 
acquiring habits and attitudes that make for 
individual and social efficiency, then the school 
plant must provide all of the equipment de- 
manded by civilized life on a high level. If 





libraries, auditoriums, typing, cooking 
sewing rooms, shops and playgrounds 
important part of the equipment for w 
living, then the school must have 
Otherwise, it becomes an antiquated i: 
tion, looking backward rather than for 
driving children through a tread-mill of 
lete subject matter which has little be 
upon present or future life. 

Intelligent versus hit-or-miss procedur 
obtaining a modern school plant. Schoo 
tems cannot obtain modern buildings, adey 
sites and suitable equipment by hit-o: 
methods. There exist too many examp|: 
the bad result of the old hand-to-mouth p 
of securing school plants to recommend 
a method. Procedures have been devised 
put into practice whereby intelligent, 
sighted methods may become the basis of 
taining school plants. ‘These are some of tly 
characteristics of a modern school buildi: 
program: 


(1) The program is worked out as a unit so t 
a complete and coordinated series of sites 
buildings is obtained. 

(2) Future as well as present needs are c 
sidered. Attempts are made to predict plant needs 
that will exist five, ten and twenty years in t! 
future. 

(3) Facts, rather than guess-work, become 
basis of recommendations. The locations of 
homes of all school children are accurately plotte 
The rate and the direction of school populati 
growth is known. 


Modern school systems seek to deve! 
their school plants by methods similar to thos 
used by telephone, gas and electric light con 
panies, and other public utilities which predict 
future demands by the most careful procedur: 

Essential qualities of a modern school buila 
ing. Not only must the building program as 
a whole be scientifically devised, but each in 
dividual building must possess certain cha: 
acteristics if it is to meet modern standards. 
These nine features should be characteristic of 
all schools according to a recent report of thie 
Committee on School House Planning of the 
National Education Association :* 

Flexibility 
. Convenience 


1. Adaptation to educa- 5. 
6 
7. Durability 
8 
9 


tional needs 
2. Safety 
3. Healthfulness 
4. Expansiveness 


. Aesthetic fitness 
. Economy 


1 National Education Association, Report of Committee on S-hool House Planning, Frank Irving Cooper, C! 


man, Washington, D. C. 1925. 164 p. 


[200] 








t10 

i! 
19 
oti 


m<¢ 


needs 


n the 


e the 
f the 
otted 
lation 


velop 
those 
com 
edict 
ures. 
il d- 
m as 


The need for school building research. 
Money is sometimes wasted because local 
school boards fail to obtain the information 
necessary to prevent construction of school 
buildings that are: 

._Infammable and unhealthful 

_ Ill suited to type of instruction for which 

are intended 

Not placed with reference to future growth 

. Situated on poorly selected sites 
5. Financed by wasteful bonding methods 
6. Proportioned poorly as to space allotments 

different functions. 


How much is spent for school buildings and 
sites? In 1924 the value of all property used 
for school purposes was $3,744,780,714, or 
$154 for every pupil enrolled. “Table 6 shows 
that the average value of school property per 
pupil enrolled varies from $272 in Nevada to 
$39 in Georgia and Mississippi. This does 
not necessarily mean that Nevada has seven 
times more adequate school property for each 
child than does Georgia and Mississippi, for 
such factors as density of population and vary- 
ing bases for estimating property valuation 
enter in te reduce the comparability of these 
figures. 

The postponement of school building pro- 
grams during the war period, the rapid increase 
in school enrolment, and the enlarged func- 
tions of the public schools have necessitated 
large expenditures for school buildings. In 
1922, $305,940,965 was spent in the United 
States for school buildings, sites, and new equip- 
ment; and in 1924, $388,469,143. 

What progress has been made in replacing 
the costly one-room school with consolidated 
graded schools? 
effective means of making poor education 
costly. In 1924, 263,204 school buildings were 
in use in the United States and of this num- 
ber 157,034, or approximately 60 percent, 
were one-room school houses. Table 7 shows 
that this percentage varies from 87.3 in Ne- 
braska to 12.1 in Utah. The hopeful side of 
the story is that in 1924 there were 14,232 
consolidated schools in the United States, and 
of this number 1,053 were established in 1923- 
1924. 

A basic consideration. 
of school-house planning and construction, we 
must realize that it is the child’s welfare that 
is at stake. It is the children who suffer when 
inflammable, poorly ventilated, inadequately 


The one-room school is an 


In any consideration 


inconveniently located school 


This fact faces one 


lighted, and 
buildings are constructed. 
squarely with these questions: 

Are the school children in my school district 
adequately housed? Are the sites adequate ? 

Does the school building program in my 
district provide for expansion of activities and 
growth of the school district ? 

Do the plans for the new school buildings 
provide for the least possible waste of space 
and the greatest possible efficiency ? 

What progress has been made in my state 
in replacing the costly one-room school with 


consolidated, graded schools ? 


References for Further Study on School 
Building Programs 


NATIONAL EpuUCATION ASSOCIATION, Report 
of Committee on School House Planning, 
Frank Irving Cooper, Chairman, Washing- 
ton, D. C., National Education Associa- 
tion, 1925, 164 p. 

Outlines eleven necessary steps in plan- 
ning and constructing a school building; 
lists essential qualities of a school site ; shows 
how to determine schedule of rooms, and 
necessary capacity of rooms and how to de- 
tect waste in the plan; discusses problem of 
illumination, and ways of estimating cost 
of a school building. 


DressLcer, FiretcHer B., American School 
Buildings. U. S. Bureau of Education, 
Bulletin 1924, No. 17. Washington, D. C., 
Government Printing Office, 1925. 


Discusses such factors as location of a 


schoolhouse, planning, construction and 


equipment, lighting, heating, and ventila- 


tion. 


Fow.kes, JOHN Guy, AND CARLILE, AMOs 
B., Bibliography on School Buildings. Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin, Bureau of Educa- 
tional Research Bulletin, No. 6, March, 
1925, Madison, Wisconsin. 


Annotated bibliography including books, 
magazine articles, bulletins, and score cards 
relating to various types of school buildings. 


OAKLAND Boarp oF EpucaTion, Book of 
Standards for the Erection of School Build 
ings, Oakland, California, May, 1926. 


[201] 





6—TOTAL VALUE OF SCHOOL PROPERTY AND AVERAGE VALUE 


PUPIL ENROLLED IN 1924 





| United States 
Alabama 
Arizona 
Arkansas 
California 
Colorado 


Connecticut 
Delaware ; 
District of Columbia. 
RTE RRS RE 
Georgia 


Idaho 
Illinois 
Indiana 
Iowa . 
Kansas 


Kentucky 
Louisiana 
Maine 
Maryland ; 
Massachusetts 


Michigan. . 
Minnesota... .. 
Mississippi 
Missouri 
Montana 


Nebraska 

Nevada ‘ 
New Hampshire... 
New Jersey 

New Mexico 


New York eee 
North Carolina 
North Dakota 
Ohio : 
Oklahoma 


Oregon... 
Pennsylvania 
Rhode Island 
South Carolina. 
South Dakota 


Vermont 
Virginia 


Washington 

West Virginia.... 
Wisconsin 
Wyoming 


Figures in columns 2 and 3 taken from Statistics of State School Systems, 1923-24. 


letin, 1925, No. 42, p. 17. 


Read column 4 as follows: The average value of schoo! property per child ($154), in the U. 
1.00. School property in Alabama worth $54 per child is given the value .35—which means that school property 
this state is worth 35% as much per child as in the nation as a whole. 
value per child than in the country as a whole. 








Value of all 


property used 


for school 


purposes, 1924 


32,598, 301 
12,131,560 
24,242,357 
234,624,580 
43,100,821 


65,175,224 

5,820,641 
15,242,000 
24,750,084 
29,273,605 


19,683 .692 
259 ,958 , 866 
110,099,296 
103 , 260,106 

72,348,432 


36,110,583 
32,781,626 
25,923,465 
28 , 264.507 
145,023,851 


191,422,457 
127,702,557 
21,793,087 
100,440, 136 
27,804, 250 


61,641,188 
4,338,678 
14,315,980 
170,547 , 849 
9,074,679 


459,814,079 
59,768,005 
37,111,668 

171,083,252 
72,428 ,093 


35,074, 302 
331,185,244 
18,634,419 
28 , 468 , 832 
31,039,310 


32,798 ,942 
114, 323,830 
21,515,217 

8,620,947 
44,683,739 


61,400,873 
48 , 348,747 
108 ,815, 260 
10,171,497 








U. S. Bureau of Education, B 
Ss. 


} : School property in Arizona has 6 per cent great 
Similarly read index figures for other states. 


Average 
value of 
school 


134 
80 


194 

121 

203 

197 | 
| 


is -iven the va 














T= ARE no greater possibilities of productive activity than in 
is true that they could remake the nation.—Charles H. Judd. 


the lives of teachers. 











Includes copies of architects’ and en- STRAYER AND ENGELHARDT, Standar 
School Buildings. Teachers College, 


eers’ contracts, general contract for ere¢ 
: ; , lumbia University, New York City. 

on of schools, affidavit of bidders, and a ' 

; a , -) ['wo publications are available; one fot 
formation for bidders. Lists detailed ;' 
ee ie : high school and one for elementary school 
tandards for criticism of specifications of buildings. Gives score cards for scoring 
elementary, junior high schools, and high buildings and sites according to standards 


chool buildings. explained in some detail. 


TABLE 7—NUMBER OF SCHOOL BUILDINGS BY STATES 





Consolidated schools | Per cent 
| of total 
Number Number | _ school 
school Number one-room | builtings 
States buildings estab- school- | used in 
usetin | lished houses | 1924 
1924 during | used 1924 which 
1923-24 were 
| one room 


6 


United States. 3, 5: i : 59 


Alabama.. 
Arizona 
Arkansas 
California 
Colorado 
Connecticut 
Delaware 
District of Columbia 
Florida . 
Georgia 
I laho 
Illinois 
Indiana. . 
lowa 
Kansas 
Kentucky 
Louisiana 
Maine 
Maryland 
Massachusetts 
Michigan 
Minnesota 
Mississipp1 
Missouri 
Montana 
Nebraska 
Nevada 
New Hampshire 
New Jersey 
New Mexico 
New York 
North Carolina 
North Dakota 
Ohio 
Oklahoma 
Oregon 
Pennsylvania 
Rhode Island 
South Carolina 
South Dakota 
Tennessee 


Vermont 
Virginia 
Washington 
West Virginia. 
Wisconsin 
Wyoming 


Figures in columns 2, 3. 4. and 5 taken from Statistics of State School Systems, 
tion, Bulletin, 1925, No. DP 16. 











APOLEON’S PHRASE, ‘every career opened to talent’ is the motto of the public schools of 
the future. I believe in the free public training of both the hands and the mind of every 
child.—W alter Hines Page. 














A School Term of Reasonable Length with High Regularity of Attend: 


Are school attendance laws adequate and 
are they enforced? Every state in the union 
has passed compulsory school attendance laws, 


the employment of children in each state. 
map on page 205 shows the compulsory 
time school attendance laws affecting 


ployed children. 

Some school attendance laws are inad: 
in that the age limit is too low. Othe: 
weak in that they contain provisions |; 
allowing some children to stay out of s 
for insufficient reasons. ‘The chief diff 
however, is that existing school attenda: 
laws are not enforced. According to the | 


requiring all children to attend school full- 
time until at least 14 years of age. The school 
law in most states usually allows children 
above this age to be excused to go to work. 
Many other exemptions are permitted which 
weaken the effect of compulsory school attend- 
ance provisions. The map on this page shows 
compulsory day school attendance laws affecting 


FIGURE VI 





COMPULSORY DAY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE LAWS AFFECTING 
THE EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN. 


g 
ra 9 
AHO 


@ 
NEy 


LEGEND 


—— bit, 
(CIT) To 18 in certain 
ToI™ 
(ZZZZ\ To 
RS To 
FESR To 
obtain 


ME T0 14, but : 
Provisions children because of physical or mental incapacity, distance from achool, or equiv: 
alent instruction, not included. 

@ With exemptions, 

+ Noexemptions under 6, except that in Ohio high-echoo! graduate ie exempted. 

@ No exemptions under |5. » 

@ No exemptions under 4. (This statement applies in Arizona according to continuation 
school law; in Delaware to Wilmington only; in cot ee of tst,2nd,3rd, or 4th class only; in Wash- 
ington only where continuation schools are estabt ) 

@ Law ies up to the specified age, "inclusive" 

@ To 16 in parish of Orleans; to /4, “inclusive, elsewhere. 

To 17 outside Baltimore; to 16 in Baltimore. 
To 17 outside Wilmington; to 16 in Wilmington. 














The above map is taken from a 29, Children’s Bureau Publication No. 114, U. S. Department of Labor, 5 
tember, 1924. Changes have been made so that the map as here printed includes all legislation up to January | 


[204] 





s 1,437,783 children over seven and 
fourteen years of age did not attend 
| a single day between September 1, 1919 
| January 1, 1920. 
School attendance for the United States in 
! was 78.8 percent of the total school en 
ment. Year by year school enrolment not 
only increases, but percentage of attendance 
to enrolment also increases. Chart VI shows 
that this percentage increased from 62.3 per- 
cent in 1880 to 78.8 percent in 1924. 
According to A. B. Hill, 


state superin- 


erence to his 


states: 


We shall never be 
tional opportunity to the children of 


able to give an equal educz 
Arkansas, until 
the people realize that the schools are for all the 
attend 


children, and that all the children must 


children 


attorded 


in different states varies not only 


Educational opportunity 
because of 
school attendance 


laxity of enforcement of 


laws, but also because of variation in length 
of school term. 


Average length of school term in 1924 was 


168 days. Chart VII and Table 8 show that 


tendent of schools of Arkansas, non-attendance 
in 1924 the schools of the United States were 
in session more days than during any previous 
The 


days schools 
session in 


is still the weakest spot in our school system. 
Unless we are able to overcome this weakness, 


we shall have to deal with the problem of year. average number of 


lliteracy for years to come. Speaking in ref- were in the several states, varied 


FIGURE VII 





COMPULSORY PART-TIME SCHOOL ATTENDANCE LAws* 
AFFECTING EMPLOYED CHILDREN. 





W/// Mrardance compulsory, but 
LLL establishment permissive. 
ing Attendance may be required if 
Schools are established. 
Se No compulsory provisions. 
* Evening schog) laws not included. Exemptions not noted. 
4 Establishment compulsory under certain specified conditions. 


@ Attendance required up +4 i6 rs.ot * 

@ Attendance required up to i7 yearsof 2. ? ; 

@ Attendance required up to is of Cin \ pplies only up to16;in Li Latten- 
Tat Se 8) 
acc as 














a. 
dance red uptol7 1,T923, to 18 2pt.i,i92$). 
A Evening school attendan substitute. ne Sept 











Publication No. 114, U. S. De partyne 
includes all legislation up to Januar 
be established and afte 


The above map is taken from page 30, Children’s Bureau 
tember, 1924. Changes have been made so that the map as here printed 
In Iowa for districts having less than 12,000 population, part-time schools may 
ment attendance is compulsory. 
In New York part-time school law is mandatory for cities or school districts 
where 20 minors 14 to 18 are not in full-time attendance. Any city 
hools, and upon establishment, attendance is compulsory 


[205] 





population t 
district may estal 


with 


school school 





CHART VI 





PERCENTAGE of TOTAL PUBLIC SCHOOL 


ENROLMENT in. AVERAGE DAILY ATTENDANCE 
1880~1924 


1880 | 62.5%) 
1890 | 64.1% 
1900 | 68.6%) 
1910 | (2, .O% 
1920 WL FY 


1924 Mir/- 5: 


esearch Division, Aational &diuaca 








Based. on figures of U.S. Bureaw of Education 





CHART VII 





AVERAGE LENGTH of SCHOOL TERM 
1880 ~ 1924 


L150 


i i i nM L i 1 lL j L i L 1 1 E l j 
0 W 20 30 40 60 GO 7 8% 390 100 UO 190 10 0 0 160 170 
Average Number Days Schools Were in Session 





essearch Qwiswn National Ghucakion, Ass? | 








Based on figuces of U.S. Burearr of Education. 





[206] 














195 in Rhode Island to 119 in South 
lina, 

[he indices presented in Columns 8 to 11 
in lable 8 show the relation of length of 
school term in each state to the country as a 
whole and what this relationship has_ been 


since 1880. Some states are lengthening their 


school term, as compared with the 
a whole, and some are regressing. 
Such facts face us squarely with these qu 


tions: 


as my state a law which keeps children 
H tat hich kee} hild 


in school until they have acquired more than 


TABLE 8—AVERAGE LENGTH OF SCHOOL TERM 





States 


1880 1890 1900 


> 2 ‘ 


United States 


Alabama 
Arizona 
Arkansas 
California 
Colorado 


Connecticut 
Delaware. ; 
District of Columbia 
Florida 

Georgia 


Idaho 
Illinois 
Indiana 
wa... 
Kansas 


Kentucky . 
Louisiana. 
Maine 
Maryland 
Massachusetts 


Michigan... . 
Minnesota. . 
Mississippi 
Missour}. . 
Montana 


Nebraska 
Nevada ‘ 
New Hampshire 
New Jersey. . 
New Mexico 


New York... 
North Carolina 
North Dakota 
Ohio... 
Oklahoma... 


105 
192 
111 


179 
50 
96 

152 


90 
133 
184 

70 


118 
148 
188 

70 
145 


Oregon. . 
Pennsylvania 
Rhode Island 
South Carolina... 
South Dakota 


68 86 
72 100 
128 133 
126 136 
113 118 


Tennessee 


Virginia 


97 
97 
159 
120 


91 
90 
165 
119 


Washington 
West Virginia. 
Wisconsin. ... 
Wyoming. . 


Figures in columns 2 to 8 from Statistics of State School 
No. 42, p. 12. 

The figure after each state in Column 8 is obtaine 
age school term, 130 days the value of 1; Alabama wit! 
see Column 8. This means that in 1880 the 
country as a whole. In 1924, the school term « 
country asa whole. Similarly interpret data in 


school 


Cc 





Average number of days schools were in 
session 


dividing eax 
1 average term < 


na was 79 per cen 
8-11 for 


Index of average length of schoo! 
term 


1910 1900 


7) 


x2uUN es 
AAw oO 


Systems, 1923-24, | ireau of Education, B 


h figure in ¢ 


Solumn 2 by 130. This giv 
f 81 days in 1880, had an index r 
f Alabama was 62 per cent as long as that maintair 
t (see Column 11) of that maint 


other states. 














the rudiments of an education and are really 
mature enough to go to work? 

Has my state a law which requires em- 
ployed youths under 18 years to attend part- 
time school ? 

Are the school attendance laws in my state 
enforced? ‘The references given below fur- 
nish additional data on this subject. 


Length of School Term and Attendance 


FepERAL Boarp FoR VOCATIONAL Epuca- 
TION. Yearbook, 1923. January 1, 1924. 
Government Printing Office, Washington, 
January, 1924. 


Contains chart prepared by Children’s 
Bureau, U. S. Department of Labor, show- 
ing “State Compulsory School Attendance 
Standard Affecting Employment of Mi- 
nors,” January 1, 1924. See insert, pp. 
250-51. Brief summarization of the main 
provisions of state laws making attendance 
at day, continuation, and evening schools 
compulsory. 


PHILLIps, FRANK M._ Statistics of State 
School Systems, 1923-1924. U.S. Bureau 
of Education, Bulletin 1925, No. 42. Gov- 
ernment Printing Office, Washington, 
D. C., 1926. 


Contains statistics on enrolment, attend- 
ance, and length of school term, by states, 


1923-1924. 


Puituips, FRANK M. _ Statistics of City 
School System, 1923-1924. U.S. Bureau 
of Education, Bulletin 1925, No. 41. Gov- 
ernment Printing Office, Washington, 
D. C., 1926. 


Financial and personnel Stati 
school systems of cities grouped 


to population and states. 


Ross, FRANK ALEXANDER, School Att 
in 1920. Census Monographs V, | 
ment of Commerce, Bureau of Censu 
ernment Printing Office, Was! 
D. C., 1924. 


An analysis of school attendance 
United States and in the 
with a discussion of the factors involv: 


sev eral 


,ATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION 
search Bulletin, Vol. Il, No. 4. “F 
the Public School for American Fd 
Week.” September, 1924. Nationa! 
cation Association, 1201 Sixteenth 


N. W., Washington, D. C. 


Presents data on increase in scho 
tendance, 1870-1922. Four charts 
percent of increase in attendance, 187 
1922; increase in high school enrolm: 
1890-1922; school enrolment in five stat 
1920 compared with total U. S. enroln 
1880; decrease in number of illiterat 


1880-1920. See pp. 103-5. 


NATIONAL EpucaTIon ASSOCIATION, ky 
search Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 4. “Five 
Questions for American Education Week 
National Education Association, 1201 Sir 
teenth Street N. W., Washington, D. (¢ 
September, 1923. 

} 


Discusses briefly state compulsory scho: 
attendance laws and their enforcement 
Table 1, p. 259 shows school age require 
and Table 3, page 261 presents data on a 
tendance and length of school term, 
states. 





T IS THE business of education to create within the individual the power and the means 
of seeing the cosmic world, the biologic world, the social and ethical worlds, in their rela 


tions one to the other. 


It should be the object and result of education that every man and 


woman should be able to see the relations which exist between those problems which affect 
the physical body, which affect the social relations, which affect ethic and religious relations 
as a part of a great life philosophy.—Francis G. Blair, What Can Education Do To Integrate 
the Problems of Life? National Education Association, Addresses and Proceedings, 1926. 











Street 


100! 
S show 
870 ti 


Iment 


> States 


olment 


terates, 


Re 


“Five 


Veek.” 


1 Six 
mm & 


school 
ement. 
quired 


on at 





A Just and Effective Method of Providing School Support 


An effective method of providing school 
support is essential if a state is to maintain 
eficient schools. The states which today have 
the highest ranking school systems are those 
which have made the greatest progress in 
adopting just and effective methods of paying 
for their schools. It is one of the first duties 
of the state to see that a sound plan exists for 
the financing of public schools throughout the 
state. 

Most state constitutions contain a clause 
similar to the following, taken from that of 
Illinois: 


“The general assembly shall provide a thorough 
and efficient system of free schools whereby all 
children of this state may receive a good common 
school education.” 


Education a State Responsibility 


The state governments are responsible for 
providing schools for all children. In prac- 
tice, however, the state governments have dele- 
gated to the local school districts most of the 
work of fulfilling this duty. This is wise pro- 
cedure so long as local communities can and 
do meet the responsibility. When the local 
district defaults, however, it is clearly the duty 
of the state to see that facilities are provided 
whereby all children may receive a good com- 
mon school education. 


How Some States Have Failed 


Some state governments have failed in this 
duty. Legislators have forgotten their sworn 
pledges to support their state constitutions. 
They have not taken action to guarantee all 
children a good common school education. 
The results of this failure are reflected in our 
figures on illiteracy and non-attendance in 
school. The last federal revealed 
3,084,733 native-born persons in the United 
States ten years of age and over, who had had 
“no schooling whatever.” Of this number 
1,242,572 were of white parentage. This 
census lists 1,437,783 children over seven and 
under fourteen years of age who had not at- 
tended school a single day during the school 


census 


year in which the census was taken. How 
many million more there were who had at- 
tended but a few days is unknown. See 


Table 9 on page 212. 


Why Some Communities Fail to Provide 
Schools 


What is the reason that some local com 
munities have failed to provide adequate 
school facilities for all children ? 

State school surveys completed in recent 
years are unanimous in designating lack of 
financial support as the principal reason. The 
taxable wealth in some local communities is 
so small that it is impossible to pay for facil- 
ities necessary to provide every child a good 
common school education. Provision of such 
facilities in thousands of local school districts 
would require a tax higher than the constitu 
tional limit permits or one which is equivalent 
to confiscation in some cases. Other districts 
are so rich that first rate schools can be main- 
tained on a low tax rate. 

Below are facts revealed by a few state 
studies. Similar situations have been found in 
every state where investigation has been made. 

In Arkansas some districts have as much as 
$2,538 of taxable wealth per child, while 
others have as little as $101 of taxable wealth 
per child. The second district would have to 
levy a tax 22 times as high as the first to raise 
a given amount of money per child. A tax 
rate high enough in the second district to pro- 
vide a good common school education for all 
children would be equivalent to confiscation. 

In Indiana, districts vary from $30,207 to 
$650 of taxable wealth per child. 
the same amount of school support the latter 
district would have to levy taxes at a rate 45 
times as high as that necessary in the first dis 


To raise 


trict. 

The average wealth per child of the school 
districts in one county in California is $29,700 ; 
in another county, $4,174. The differences in 
the individual districts in each county are much 
greater than this. 

In a single county in Colorado, school dis- 


[209] 





tricts vary in wealth per child from $26,545 to 
$617. 

In Alabamg the wealth per school child en- 
rolled in different counties ranges from $3,510 
to $827. 

In New York the full valuation of real 
property per pupil varies from $71,159 to 
$1,377. The latter district to provide a rea- 
sonable amount of wealth per pupil would 
have to levy a confiscatory tax rate—53 times 
as high as that of the first district. 

Neither the nation as a whole nor individual 
states are so poor that they need deny all edu- 
cational opportunity to thousands of children. 
School costs today require but a minor frac- 
tion of the nation’s economic power. Every 
state in the union is spending for other in- 
terests, probably less important to the com- 





' See Major Issues in School Finance, Research Bulletin of the 


for detailed figures on this point. 


mon welfare than good schools, sums co 
ably larger than school expenditures.' 

Uneven distribution, rather than | 
wealth, is primarily responsible for the 
differences in educational opportunity e 
in the nation today. Modern economic 
ization results in the concentration of 
amounts of wealth in some communities 
others have little taxable wealth. 

Several railroads may converge in one 
district. Important manufacturing esta 
ments grow up around these lines. The 
dren who happen to be living in such a d 
have first rate schools on a low local tax 

In an adjoining district there may ly 
railroad lines. No great industrial con 
are to be found producing articles that 
tribute from all corners of the nation. 


National Education Association Novemb« 


FIGURE VIII 


IS EVERY CHILD 





I ATTEND A COUNTRY SCHOOL 
My school term is '7 months, 
My teacher is paid *755a year 


My teacher is a high- 
school graduate 


My teacher has taught 
one year 


My school-house has 
one room. 


My school library con- 
tains !OO books. 





EDUCATIONAL 








district may be so poor that even an exces- 
sively high tax rate fails to provide its children 
with an acceptable common school education. 
Yet the children in the poor district will soon 
be voting citizens, with as much voice in di- 
recting public affairs as those of the rich dis- 
trict. As adults they may move to the rich 
community and stifle progress by nullifying 
each intelligent ballot by one whose marking 
is done in ignorance. 


The States Face the Facts 


Such conditions leave two alternatives open 
to the states. They can look upon their con- 
stitutions as scraps of paper and allow many 
of their children to grow into illiterate and 
ignorant adulthood or they can recognize that 
nothing is more important to a state than the 
education of its children. They can put into 
practice the principle that every dollar of 
wealth in a state, no matter where it is lo- 


cated, must pay its just proportion of the cost 
of educating the children of the state no mat 
ter where they happen to live. The majorits 
of the states have definitely accepted the sec 


ond alternative. 


A State School Fund Essential 


The state government must aid in the sup 
port of local schools if all children are to be 
Table 


10 shows that many states are at present pay 


guaranteed a common school education. 


ing a considerable percentage of the cost of 
maintaining local schools. The amount avail 


able annually from state sources probably 
should be somewhere between 30 and 60 per 
cent of school expenditures if all children are 
to be guaranteed a common school education. 
In the majority of the states, the state contri 
bution to school support is insufficient to ac 


complish this purpose. 


FIGURE IX 


ENTITLED to an 
OPPORTUNITY 7? 








[ATTEND A CITY SCHOOL 
My school term is 10 months. 
My teacher is paid. $1968 a yeer. 


My teacher is 2 college 
sraduste. 


My teacher has teught 
five years. 





My school-house has 
24 rooms. 


My school library contains 
5000 books. 


lesarch Division 
Vatiohal Eaiication Assn 











Proper Distribution of State Fund 
Essential 


It is not sufficient merely to establish ade- 
quate state school funds. These funds should 
be used principally to aid districts too poor to 
maintain reasonable school facilities wholly on 
their own resources. If this had been done 
uniformly by all states, the inequalities in 
school opportunity existing at present would 
have been remedied. 

Many states, however, are still using ob- 
solete methods of distributing state money to 
the local districts. The amount of state money 
a district receives is in some states based upon 
the value of its taxable wealth. Plainly, the 
distribution of a fund on such a basis will do 
little to assist the poorer districts to maintain 
good schools. 

Some of the states distribute state money on 
the basis of the number of children living in a 
district; others according to the number of 
children enrolled ; still others according to the 
number of children attending school. 


Experience clearly shows that no 
these plans achieves the desired result. 
any of these plans the rich districts oft: 
ceive as much or more per child in sch 
the poor districts. ‘The state money is s 
over such a large territory that district 
poor to provide good schools on their ov 
sources receive but little aid. 

The charts on pages 214 and 215 
some typical results which have been obta 
in the past. Chart VIII shows that 
sas, a state now giving considerable att 
to this problem, had one county with $3 
of taxable wealth per child which rec 
more money from the than an 
county with but $598 of wealth per child 

Chart 1X shows a similar 
York state under a former plan which has 
cently been revised. 

Chart X shows the result obtained wu: 
the revised New York plan after it increas: 
the size and improved the method of distri 
ing its state school fund so as to “‘apply th 


state 


result in N 


TABLE 9—ILLITERACY AND NON-SCHOOL ATTENDANCE BY STATES—1920 FED 
ERAL CENSUS 








Number of 
children 
7 to 14 
years of 
age not 

attending 
school 


Number of illiterates with 
“No oa whatever” 
States ; ahd ’ 
Native- White 
Born Native-Born 


4 


1 = 
: 1, 242,572 


| United States. .. 





65 , 394 84,240 
10, 300 
56,215 


23,740 


Alabama. . 
Arizona. 
Arkansas... 
California 


,825 
,599 


Colorado 
Connecticut 
Delaware 
Dist. of Col 
Florida 


eI 
| 
| 
ar. as 437, 783 
| 
| 
| 
| 


| 
Georgia 327, | 108,22 
Idaho | 3 
Iinois 41, 38: F 
Indiana 34, 27, 

| 

} 

' 


lowa 9,5 


Kansas 11, 

Kentucky 152,75 

Louisiana 288, ° 
Maine 8, of | 
Maryland 50, 





Massachusetts. i0,: 
Michigan ’ 16,375 
Minnesota 6,196 
Mississippi 228,055 
Missouri. . 65,:! 


22,242 242 
47 ,066 , 331 





Read table as follows: 
| in Alabama. 





states. 
Calculations based on U. S. Bureau of Census figures. 


| Wyoming... 





Of this number 65,394 were native-born white illiterates. 
the ages of 7 and 14 who had not attended school during the year the census was taken. 


Number of 
children 
= 7 to 14 
years of 
age not 
attending 
school 


“No schooling whatever” 


White 
Native-Born | 


5 


,067 
, 360 
157 
973 
,696 


Montana 
Nebraska.... 
Nevada... 
New Hampshire 
New Jersey.. 
New Mexico. ,519 
New York. . 406 
North Carolina 38,5 4°844 
North Dakota } 7 | , 307 
Ohio..... , 726 


,418 
,990 
§, 870 
2,255 
, 742 


Oklahoma 
Oregon. . 
Pennsylvania. 
Rhode Island . s 
South Carolina. , 164 
,490 
, 809 
,643 
925 
613 


South Dakota 525 
Tennessee | 341 
,696 
984 


Vermont. 3,641 





475 
379 
324 
449 
421 


,797 
2,624 
, 837 
,631 
487 


Virginia. 
Washington. . 
West Virginia 
Wisconsin 


In 1920, the last year for which aw are available, dens were 276,084 native-born illiter 


In this state there were 84,240 children betw« 
Similarly read data for ot 








[212] 














re the squeak is.” The New York plan 


these teatures: 
A local school district in order to receive 


the state 


ol purposes as much money as 


ol money from must 


raise for 


it can by 


i 


a reasonable tax on taxable property. 


ing 

If the school money raised by this local 
ol tax is less than $43 per pupil,' the state 
tributes enough to make up this amount 


pupil. 


[hese are some of the results obtained under 
the New York 


for distributing state 
school funds: 


plan 


|. Every district by levying a reasonable tax 
rate can be assured of $43 per pupil. This is 
less than enough to conduct a first rate school, 
but it is far better than the much smaller 
amount which the poorer districts can raise if 
left wholly to their own resources. It is con- 


templated that eventually New York state will 


upil” is meant “weighted pupil the pu 


state tur sufficient to 


hich at 


have a 
Is 
for 
hool in that state 
ot 


] 
per pupil, w present 


minimum amount necessary the cond 


an acc eptable ~ 
) 


state aid given ad 


‘The amount 
is IN proportion to its need as measured by 
amount of taxable wealth per child. 

\ district b 


quired minimum tax can raise additional fund 


vy levying more than the 


and provide a first rate school. 

4. A to 
the state school fund must make a reasonable 
that is, 


local district receive money from 


eftort on its own resources must levy 
at least a specified minimum tax upon the tax 


able property possessed. 


Maryland, Massachusetts, California and a 
of decided 


progress in recent years in adopting methods 


number other states have made 


of distributing their state funds so as to guar 
antee all children a common school education. 


Some 18 states are making investigations which 


TABLE 10—CONTRIBUTION OF STATES TO PUBLIC SCHOOL TOTAL RECEIPTS— 
1923-1924 





Percent 
of total 
receipts 
from state 
sources 


Total Receipts from 


States 
All 
sources 


State 
sources 


1 } 4 3 


nited States 2$268 , 607 , 668! |$1 958,528,872 
165 
S&S 
912 
654 


658 
505 
501 
340 


408 
47% 
958 
,951 


\labama 5.065. 
\rizona 1.935, 
\rkansas 2,802 
California } 19,238, 


14, 


> 493,275 
926,988 


,037, 
, 736, 


013 
857 


Colorado. . 
Connecticut 
Delaware ,235,703 124,613 
Dist. of Col 3.035, 861 633 , 230 
Florida ; 547,601 740,474 


, 232,518 
, 807 , 362 
5,078, 7 
, 374, 
936, 


4,367, 
862, 
§, 382, 
lil, 
076, 


540 
563 
627 
374 
048 


Georgia 
I laho 

Illinois 
Indiana 


lowa 


50 
269 


413 

703 
556 
.427,2 

286, 


Kansas 
Kentucky 
Louisiana 
Maine 
Maryland 


739,694 
, 352,631 
, 257,705 
,692,101 
, 345,168 

137 

20 
985 907 
,813,916 
, 315,432 


51? 
ru) 

602.179 
419 064 
624,170 


420 
547 


68 
103, 
58 
10, 
46, 


Massachusetts 
Michigan 
Minnesota 
Mississippi 
Missouri | 
In Alabama the tota 
2), or 35.16 per 


Read table as follows: 
his amount $5,065,658 (Column 
lata for other states. 
Calculation based on figures of United States 
1 Some receipts were not segregated as t 
tances would be somewhat increased if figures 





Oklahoma 


Percent 
of total 
receipts 
from state 
sources 


Total Receipts from 


States 
All 


sources 


State 
sources 


6 


SS? 


S18 


53 


$12,327,276 
24,484,982 
2,119,191 
419 6,376,778 
404 80,.501.913 


Montana 049 
Nebraska ,39 
Nevada $22 
New Hampshire 11 
New Jersey 214 
573 
555 
463 
341 


485 


736 
064 
59 

180 
645 


New Mexico 587 
New York 177 
North ¢ l R90 


aroiuna 
North Dakota R56, 
Ohio 741 


4,480 
271,182 
34.603 
23,720 
130,111 


28,790,446 
18,134,352 
170,086,771 
115,272 
433,874 


645 .927 
512,174 
Pennsylvaniz 369 018 
Rhode Islan 430,598 9 
South Carolina 908 .040 13 


Oregon 


882 
_483 
11,370 
657.413 
634.7 4 


18,741 
18,612 
5§3,450,9 
9,811 
300, 45 


South Dakota 974 


543 
R32 8 


]l ennessec 1 
Texas 
Utah 
Vermont 


RO 


23,287 
19 970,690 
»? 224.795 
49 568 , Of 
211,3 


Virginia 805 
Washington 
West Virgi 

Wiscon 
Wyoming 


sit 


408.765 (( 














will point the way to the most effective use of First, it will be essential to increase 
their schools funds in achieving a similar re- tially the amount of money which goes 
sult." support of the schools from the state 
The findings of these investigations will be ment. This may be done by increasi: 
the basis of legislation to be proposed in a amount of the state tax on property ; 
number of the state legislatures during the most states a preferable procedure will 
next few years. Such legislation should have obtain the additional state money by 


the support of all citizens. forms of taxation—forms of taxation 
are more effective and more just under 
How Progress May Be Made ern conditions.2, The new sources of 1 


The degree of progress already made to- should be used to supplement the income 


ward guaranteeing all children a common the property tax. Tangible property sh 
school education varies in different states. less and less important as a source of stat 
The future action required in order to achieve enue so that it may be free for use as a 
this result will differ in each state. The gen- of revenue for local taxation. 

eral direction of the legislation which is neces- Taxes on incomes, inheritances, and 
sary in most states, however, in order to pro- rations are being used more and more 
vide educational opportunity may be outlined. states as sources of state revenue. These + 


1 Communicate with your State Department of Education and with your State Education Association to fi 
such a study is now being conducted and request a copy of the results when completed. 

2 For a comprehensive and authoritative discussion of this whole question, see Seligman, Edwin R. A.: 
Taxation. The Macmillan Company. See, particularly Chapter XX, “The Next Step in Tax Reform.” 


I 


CHART VIII 


ABILITY te SUPPORT SCHOOLS AND 
STATE AID RECEIVED IN FOUR 
SELECTED COUNTIES oF ARKANSAS 





Assessed. Valuation State Aid. 
Per Child DerChild. 


Pulaski Pulaslu 
Co 3,151 4.25} Co. 


Arkansas 
Co. 










Arkans 
Co. 2,205 $3.24 








Boone 


Boone 
Co. 


Co. 922 


Newton 
Co. 








Newton 
Co. 





598 4.13 





Data from Fletcher Harper Swift,and others, Stucies in ible 
School Fitance ~ The South, University of Minnesota. 








[214] 





| 

















ecommended by the great majority of tax 
perts. [hey are just taxes. The tax paid 
inder these forms of taxation is more nearly 
roportion to the ability to pay than is the 
on tangible property. The amount paid 

‘r these taxes is also in reasonable agree- 
with the benefit received. Taxes to be 
should stand the test of one or both of 
e criteria. Severance, occupation, and 
iry taxes have also been adopted by a num- 
of states as sources of state revenue, and 
ably could be used with benefit by the 


t rs. 

[hose states which are willing to accept the 
fact that times have changed—that a tax on 
tangible property, under modern conditions, 
touches but a part of the wealth of a state, and 
that tremendous stores of wealth now exist in 

tangible form which should be made to pay 
their just share of educating the children of 
the nation—will find it comparatively easy to 

tain additional revenue. 


For more detailed discussions on this whole question t*e following are g 
iuction to the Study of Education, Houghton Mifflin Company. 
(2) Mort, Paul R., State Support for Public 


Education ;” 


ersity, New York City. 


Schools, B 


Progress along the lines outlined will in 
most states involve revision of the whole ma 
chinery of taxation, particularly in the direc 
tion of increased supervision of local taxation 
procedure by the state tax commission. 


fo revise 


im rmiost 


Second, it will bi 
states the 


necessary 
methods of distributing state sch 
money.' ‘This revision should be along these 
lines: 

1. The state should determine the minimum 
amount of money per pupil necessary, in each 
type of school district, to the provision of an 
acceptable educational opportunity for all chil 
dren. 

2. The state should require all local dis 
tricts to make a reasonable effort to support 
their schools on their own resources by speci 
fying a reasonable school tax rate which must 
be in effect in a local district before it can re 
ceive state money. 


3. The amount of state money received by 


od references (1) Cubberlev. E. P 
, Chapter XXII, “Financing P 
t Teachers College, Col } 


See particularly 


ireau of Publications, 


CHART IX 





ABILITY*°SUPPORT SCHOOLSYSTATE ATD RECEIVED 
IN FouR NEW YORK DISTRICTS (OLD PLAN) 


Assessedvaluation 
pec child encoled) 


‘Disteiot.A HRS,555) 





State aid per 
child. encoled. 
DistcicbA 


Distcict B 






Distcict, C 


District D 


Aeseac ch Duisog 


Aaboonal Stucatiot Associatioa 





Read chart as follows: The assessed valuation per child encoled in District, A 


was #5555; the state aid recewed pec child encoled in the same distcict 
was $9.61 Similacly read. data for other districts. 


Data from: Fletcher Harcpec Swift. Studies a Licblio. School France, Me ¢ 


University of Minnesota, p153. 


y - 
CaS 








[215] 








a local district should be in proportion to its Material for Further Study 
needs as indicated by the difference between The succeeding references are selected 
the amount per pupil which the local tax raises large number as being among the les 
and which the state has determined is neces- ical discussions of the issues touched u 
sary to the provision of acceptable school fa- the previous paragraphs. A study of t! 
erences should give the leaders of gro 
c a teachers or club study groups sufficient 
+. The plan for distributing state money ground for intelligent inquiry as to the 
should not be too rigid. The state school ress made by their states in achieving « 
office should have the power to make such ad- and effective method of providing schoo! 
justments as are necessary to prevent injustice. Port. —— 
The plan should be drafted so that it will not In some states it will be found that va! 


sectnints hin seiciadiatesalie th eatin ated in studies have been completed which, along 
encourage in- ; y 
B — the references cited, should furnish an a: 


effective forms of school organization such as working library for a group studying the | 


cilities. 


the one-room school. lems of financing schools in a particular sta‘ 





Research Bulletin of the National Education Association, November 1926. Also communicate with your State | 
ment of Education for references to helpful investigations. 


CHART X 





NEW YORK PLAN for GUARANTEEING EVERY 
CHILD A REASONABLE SCHOOL OPPORTUNITY 


Real Wealth Minimum School 
Pec Child Support Per Child #43 











Distcichit] 1,060 ee Disteict 











Disteictu} 200 | 


District IV | 


Amount of school money per pupil 
7 Gaised-by conaonaiia tax in isnt strict 


KG Amount ibuted by state to Muaran~ esearch DQ ; 
tee ob leacttaS pec a Aatkwoaal iecontion ameceat. 

















tax cate in this district 1s#22.50. In order to 





Data ftom: State Stapart for Public Schodls, Paul R. oct, p33. 


1 Annotated bibliography of recent studies in the state school finance will be found in Major Issues in School Fin 


Distcict 1] 15,000 NWi20.50 WY £29,50m District. | 


Distcict IIL 


Distcict [i 


Read chact as follows: The wealth pec child in Distcict I is $15,000. The amount of schoo! 
mo = cased by arm aver 
va Tecb EAS fac pupil Ue ctate must comteibute 20.50. Similacly read. date 








CHOOLS ARE the direct reflection of the people who support them—a direct reflection of 
the spirit and attitude of the community in relation to education, Angelo Patri, “Why 


Isolate the Teacher?” Delineator, April, 1926. 











[216] 














Mo 


No 





UTIL 








some states it will be found that no re- 


ill 


+ studies of the problem of state school sup- 


cen 
port have been made. In such cases it will 
often be desirable to urge the need of such a 
tudy and to offer support to the proper off- 


st 


cials in securing the resources for undertak- 


References on School Finance 
(UBBERLEY, Ett woop P., 4n Introduction to 
the Study of Education, Houghton, Mifflin 
Company. Chapter XXII, 
Public Education.” 


“Financing 


An excellent discussion of the evolution, 
present status and desirable directions of de- 
velopment of local and state plans for pro- 
viding school support. 


Mort, Pauw R., State Support for Public 
Schools, Bureau of Publications, Teachers 
College, Columbia University, New York, 


1926. 104 pp. 


A summarization of recently developed 
techniques and procedures, designed to be of 
service to workers in the field of state aid 
for public schools. Attempt is made in 
Part I to present fundamental principles of 
a satisfactory system of state aid. Part II 
is devoted to techniques of applying such 
principles. Makes use of New York state 
data in illustration of techniques. 


Norton, JOHN K., The Ability ef the States 
to Support Education, Washington, D. C., 
National Education Association. 88 pp. 


Presents comprehensive data as to wealth 
and income of each state, and the educa- 
tional obligations of each state, as measured 
by the number of children aged 6 to 13 
years. Shows the comparative ability of the 
states to support schools. 


PITTENGER, BENJAMIN FLoyp, dn Introduc 
tion to Public School Finance, Boston, 
Mass., Houghton, Mifflin Co., 1925. 


Attempts to summarize the conclusions 
resulting from the large amount of investi- 
gation that has taken place in recent years 
in the field of school finance. 


RESEARCH Division, NATIONAL EDUCATION 
AssociATION, Major Issues in School Fi 
nance, Research Bulletin, Vol. 1V, No. 5, 
November, 1926. 


Presents data as to the ability of the 
nation and of the individual states to sup- 
Compares 
support 


port education. states as to 
effort 


Suggests desirable 


being made to education. 


directions of progress 
toward better state school finance programs. 
Contains bibliography of recent surveys of 
state school finance programs conducted in 


a number of states. 


STRAYER, GEORGE D. ANp Haic, Rosperrt H.., 
The financing of Education in the State of 
New York. Vol. 1, The Educational Fi 
nance Inquiry, New York, ‘The Macmillan 
Company, 1923. 


One of a series of thirteen volumes on 
school finance issued by The Educational 
Finance Inquiry Commission. 


Swift, FLrercHer Harper, 4 Biennial Sur- 
vey of Public School Finance in the United 
States, 1920-1922, U. S. Bureau of Educa- 
tion, Bulletin, 1923, No. 47, Washington, 
D. C., Government Printing Office. 


Among the topics discussed in this bul 
letin are State Policies in Public 
School Finance; A New Conception of 
State Aid; Reforms in Apportioning State 
School Funds, and Need for New Sources 
of Revenue. 


these: 





’ 


The South. Page #9. 





VEN APPROXIMATE equality in education can never be secured throughout a state, until 
school revenues, and school burdens are equalized. 
d are equalized will depend upon at least three things: first, the equality in ability of the local 
units which furnish the revenues; second, the comparative effort made by such local units to 
provide revenues; and, third, the extent to which the state evens out inequalities in ability and 
effort existing among the local units. Fletcher Harper Swift, Studies in Public School Finance 


The extent to which school revenues 








all TNA Hl 03 Nm 














eatin t 


An Effective Form of Organization 


Should kindergartens be maintained? How 
many years should be included in the elemen- 
tary school course? Should junior high 
schools be established? Is the platoon type 
of organization desirable ? 

The wisdom used in answering such ques- 
tions as these will to a large degree decide the 
character of a community’s system of public 
schools. How may a community guarantee 
that the most intelligent answers will be found 
to these questions? 

If a community wishes to guarantee the 
effective organization of its school system it 
first, and above all else, must do two things: 

1. Create the right kind of machinery for 
the control and management of the schools. 

2. Provide a situation in which those im- 
mediately charged with the control and man- 
agement of the schools may, without undesir- 
able limitations upon their power, develop the 
kind of school systems wanted by the people. 

Mere governmental machinery alone will 
not guarantee a community good schools. 
Active interest by an intelligent citizenry is 
prerequisite. But the wrong kind of machin- 
ery for transmitting into action the will of the 
people concerning schools will often make it 
exceedingly difficult for even an intelligent 
populace to obtain the kind of schools it wants. 

A community will seldom have a better 
system of schools than it desires. But, if a 
community has set up the wrong kind of ma- 
chinery for transmitting its will into educa- 
tional action, it may have a poorer system of 
schools than it desires. Many school dis- 
tricts in the United States are at present ob- 
taining poorer schools than they want and 
deserve, because in the deve'opment of their 
governmental systems the wrong kind of 
machinery for school control has been set up. 


School Control and Management 


How may a community create the right 
kind of machinery for the control and manage- 


lowing references: 


ment of its schools? A community 
vide for the effective control and mana 
of its schools by profiting from the exp 
that has been gained in the past. ‘Thy 
come to be rather general agreement, 
those who have given thought to the 
lems of school administration, as to 
community should organize for the cond 
public schools. 

Practically all school districts in the | 
States have created school committ: 
boards of education to act for the peo 
maintaining public schools. 

Should boards of education be elect 
appointed? In the great majority of A 
can cities the elective system prevails 
recognized as being the most accepta 
creating school administrative bodies. 
berley sums up the situation as follows 
small cities there is no question but that 
tion at large by popular vote is the 
desirable method, and even for large 
experience seems to indicate that the : 
are about equally satisfactory.’ 

Some favor the appointment of 
board members by the mayor in the 
cities, particularly those of a million | 
or more. They contend that it is difficul: 
the voting constituency in a large city to 
tain the character and fitness of schoo! | 
candidates. When appointment is the met 
it is well to still have the results referal 
the people. For example, in one large w: 
city, the mayor’s school board appointn 
have to be approved by popular vote at 
election following. 

With this possible exception, experienc: 
clearly shown the desirability of electing 
school board members. The number of n 
bers on the board should be small. Fi. 


seven and certainly not over nine mem 


should be the number in all but the very 


est cities. “The term of office should be n 


than the average for elected officials, and 


1 For a detailed discussion and presentation of the facts concerning the constitution of school boards, see t! 


1. Cubberley, Ellwood P. “Public School Adm/‘nistration.”” Chapter VIII “Organization of Boar: 
School Control.” Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. ; 
2. City School Leaflet No. 8, May, 1923, entitle! “The City School Board.” Published by the U. S. !) 


of Education, Washington, D. C. 


[218] 














number elected in any one year should be 
iderably less than a majority of the whole 
aber of members. 

hool boards should be elected at large, 
hy wards. The ward-elected member too 
n conceives of his duties in terms of the 
vard rather than in terms of the city as a 
le and will be found sometimes opposing 
things, which are educationally desirable for 
the city as a whole, because his own ward is 
not receiving enough of the benefits to be 
secured from the given expenditure. ‘The fact 
that a man lives in a particular ward and has 
suficient strength to win a place on the school 
board from that ward, does not mean that he 
is better qualified to serve the schools or the 
than others who live outside this ward. 
The ward system of control frequently re- 
sults in a political school board whose lack of 
breadth of vision as to the city’s school needs 
is disappointing. 

lo the parent and taxpayer no elective 
ofice is more important than that of school 
board member. The school board determines 
the type of school opportunity which children 
receive. Nearly half of all local taxes are 
expended for schools. School board elections 
deserve the attention of every conscientious 
parent and citizen. 

A school board member should be both 
honest and intelligent. He should have an 
active interest in public schools and a desire 
to improve their effectiveness. He should 
have sufficient vision so that he may offer real 
help in the formulation of the city’s educa- 
tional policies. He should have sufficient com- 
mon sense, however, to recognize that it is 
not his duty actually to put these policies into 
execution. The policy which the school board 
member determines should be turned over for 
execution to technically trained educational 
experts working full time and having complete 
training for this type of work. According to 
one writer, a schoolboard can best perform 
its duty to the school and the taxpayers by: 
(1) Hiring the best professional administrator 
whose services it can command to act as the 
superintendent of schools; (2) by giving him 
tull sway in carrying out the educational poli- 
cies of the board; and (3) by holding him 
fully responsible for the results accomplished. 





_._ 7? Smith, Harry Pearse, The Business Administration of a City School 


The school board which does these things 
effectively, if it does nothing else, is entitled 
to the gratitude of the whole community 

Necessity for one 
school boards have made the serious mistak« 


executive head. Some 


of dividing the responsibility for the execution 
of their policies between several administrative 
heads. Instead of 
tendent of schools, in whom responsibility is 
for the effective carrying out of 


appointing one superin 


centered 
school policies, they appoint two or more 
superintendents, coordinate in power, and each 
responsible for some phase of school administra 
tion. 

The results are what might be expected. 
The old saying about “too many cooks’’ is 
applicable. <A situation is created which too 
frequently is comparable to that which would 
result if the board of directors of a business 
concern appointed several, rather than one 
general manager. 

In the light of past experience, experts in 


are rather Hy 


school administration genera 
agreed that there should be one chief executive 
officer to whom all other school employees are 
responsible. In cities where “business man 
agers” are in more or less complete charge of 
the business end of the school system, H. P 
Smith’ in an extensive study found that, ‘‘re 
gardless of the personnel involved, an educa 
tional point of view is frequently lacking in 
the administration of school business affairs 
and there is division of administrative re 
sponsibility.” 

The lack of an educational point of view 
results in: 

(a) The improper planning and equipping ot 
school buildings in terms of the educational pro 


gram. 
(b) The hampering of the adequate operation 
and maintenance of the school plant. 
(c) The purchase of improper supplies, thus 
handicapping educational activities. 


The division of administrative responsibil 
ity gives rise to: 


(a) The assignment of functions 
among the administrative officers. 
(b) The shifting of responsibility. 


(c) The conduct of affairs on a purely personal 


improper 


basis. 
(d) Inadequate financial planning and report 


ing. 


System Bureau of Publications, Teacher 


College, Columbia University, New York City, New York, 1925, 129 p 


[219] 





The conclusion is that the board of every 
school system should unify administrative con- 
trol in one executive officer whose point of view 
is primarily educational. 


Necessity of Freedom of Action for 
School Boards 


Some school systems have set up machinery 
of the kind most likely to secure capable school 
board members. They have elected school 
board members of vision and honesty. ‘The 
school board has selected a capable superin- 
tendent of schools and advised by him has 
appointed a capable school staff. Still the 
schools do not run smoothly. There is a 
constant quarrel as to what shall, or shall not 
be done. What is the reason? 

Such a condition is usually the result of 
having placed the school board under the domi- 
nance of the municipal government. If the 
question is one of school finance, the schools 
have two masters—the school board and the 
city council. If it is a question of school build- 
ings, two independent bodies must act—the 
school board and the city board of public 
works. If it is a matter of issuing bonds for 
school purposes—two bodies created for differ- 
ent purposes must agree. Even such matters 
as the purchase of school supplies may e 
partly under school board control and partly 
under municipal control. 

The results of such a divided organization 
for school management are fully as bad as 
might be expected. ‘There is likely to be a 
constant wrangle. Personal and political in- 
fluences enter in. 

Municipal officials are anxious to perpetuate 
themselves in power. The public schools offer 
a tempting opportunity to build up political 
patronage when the appointment of teachers 
and principals can be dictated. Political 
strength may be gained if the awarding of con- 
tracts for school buildings can be influenced. 
An opportunity for such political interference 
in school affairs comes regularly each year, 
when under a hydra-headed system of school 
organization, the school budget is fixed by mu- 
nicipal officials. 

This opportunity may be effectively used 
either to cripple the educational program of 
the school board or to gain the assent of the 
school board to proposals offered by municipal 





officials designed to further their politic 


terests. When lowered school efficien: 
sults, recriminations begin. The may, 
the city and other city officials hold the ; 
board responsible. The school board b 
the municipal officials. The whole issu 
comes confused. It is often difficult 
citizen to fix the blame in his own mind. 
the real sufferers in the whole situation 
the children. 

If such conditions were necessary, they c 
be tolerated. But they are not. The fact | 


boards of education have been set up as sepa 
rate governing bodies is a recognition of «hy 


desirability of separating the work of m 
taining the schools from that of conducting « 
municipal government. The work of the bo 
of education differs essentially from that 
the municipal government. 
the control of the police force and the fire 


partment cannot be successfully combined wit! 


the work which boards of education were 
ated to perform: The paving of a street, | 
proper organization of the police or fire 
partment is an entirely different job f: 
educating a child. The responsibility for s 
diverse public functions should be clearly 
vided and wholly separate. 

School boards have been set up by the px 
ple for the specific purpose of running | 
schools. They should be given full powe: 


— 


exercise the function for which they were cre 


ated. No purpose can be accomplished 


placing half of the responsibility for conduct 
ing the schools in the hands of municipal of 
cials already charged with duties of a differen: 


nature. 


The usual reasons advanced against the c: 


ation of school boards with complete ind 


pendence of action—except for the limitations 
of state law and the will of the people e 


pressed through the ballot box—are not va! 
Some have contended that to give sch 


boards power to fix their own budgets wil! 


result in extravagance. This contention 


Such functions as 


X- 


] 
J 


unfounded in fact. Available studies indicat 
that fiscally independent school boards spen 


slightly less per pupil than those dependent on 


city councils for their funds.! 


Scientific investigations thus far reported 


point to the conclusion that the schools 


1See Research Bulletin, of the National Education Association, Current Facts on City School Costs, Vol 


Nos. 1 and 2, January and March, 1924, p. 29. 


[220] 


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most effectively managed when the responsibil- 
ity for their conduct is not divided. There is 
no sound reason why a school board or com- 
mittee, elected at large by the people of a 
school district, should be subservient to the 
municipal government in school affairs. 

When involvement in city politics is not a 
necessary condition of 
board, it is possible to get a high type of public- 
spirited citizen to serve on the school board. 
The time that he devotes to the public service 
in serving as a school board member need not 
be dissipated in wrangles with municipal ofh- 
cials, but can be used for a better purpose— 
that of judging whether the schools are effect- 
ively conducted by the school officials he 
appoints—the superintendent and his staff, the 
principals and the teachers. 
school matters are less likely to be based upon 
political considerations. Under such a situa- 
tion the children are the gainers. 

The School Board Journal recently quoted 
a newspaper editorial which pointed out the 
reputation for intelligence, integrity and abil- 
ity enjoyed by a local school board. This 
Journal editorially comments as follows: 


membership on the 


Decisions on 


The tribute paid to the men and women who 
serve the schools of America in an administrative 
capacity is not only well deserved but practically 
applies with equal force to all communities. It 
would be rare indeed to find a higher type of men 
on a board of aldermen than are usually found on 
a board of education. The public is less discrimi- 
nating in its cusive of a city council personnel than 
it is of a school board membership. 

It is probably safe to say that among the deliber- 
ative bodies, none brings to the service of the pub- 
lic greater loyalty and a better equipment for the 
task to be performed, than is brought by the mod- 
ern board of education. 


The truth of these statements will not be 
doubted by those familiar with the past records 
for honesty and efficiency of school boards. 
The corresponding history of the municipal 
governments of some cities need not be dwelt 
upon, 

It appears safe to say that school efficiency 
throughout the nation would be increased, if 
all, instead of a part of our school boards, 
were unlimited in their power to develop the 
kind of schoo!s wanted by the people. 


References as to School Organization 


Public School Ad 
Mifflin 


CUuBBERLEY, ELLWoop P. 
ministration. Boston, Houghton, 
Company, 1922, p. 85-129. 


Shows that the tendency is toward a small 


board—five or seven members—elected at 
large for relatively long terms, with few or 


no standing committees. Points out that 
experience shows that the legislative func 
tions of the board and executive functions 
of the experts of the department should be 
clearly differentiated. Points out the dis 


advantages of city control. 


DEFFENBAUGH, W. S. Administration of 
Schools in the Smaller Cities. U.S. Bureau 
of Education, 1922, No. 2. Washington, 
D. C., Government Printing Office. 

These leaflets furnish information regard 
ing the size of boards of education, methods 
of education, and other facts relating to 
boards of education in cities of more than 
30,000 population and in smaller cities. 


McGauocny, J. R. The Fiscal Administra- 
tion of City School Systems. Volume V of 
the Educational Finance Inquiry. New 
York, The Macmillan Company, 1924. 

This study accurately describes significant 
differences in fiscal practices in city school 
systems, classifying these systems on the 
basis of relative independence from general 
municipal authorities. 


MENDENHALL, Epcar. dA Rural School 
Board Measuring Stick. Department of 
Rural Education, Kansas State 


College, Pittsburg, Kansas, 1925. 


‘Teachers 


Presents a scale for measuring the traits 
and qualifications of school board members. 


SmiTH, Harry Pearse. The Business Ad- 
ministration of a City School System. Bu- 
reau of Publications, Teachers College, Co- 
lumbia University, New York City, 1925, 

129 p. 

ReseARCH BuLvetin, January and March, 


1924+, National Education 
Washington, D. C. 


Association, 


[221] 








CPO, cay 5 ecindindendn Arann se) ahem 


—— 


Do schools need public “good will’ ?—The 
school as a public institution needs the con- 
tinuous interest of the people. Home, school, 
and community are three factors that must be 
reckoned with in the education of the child. 
The relationship between schools and public 
has been compared to a business partnership in 
which the people are stockholders, school ad- 
ministrators and teachers are the business man- 
agers and employees, and the product is changes 
in boys and girls. In any business partnership 
those stockholders who know the details of 
the business can best appreciate the difficulties 
of management and recognize the skill and 
effort which go into the production of the 
finished article. Because of their understand- 
ing, they are able to give that intelligent sup- 
port and encouragement that makes it possible 
for executives and employees to render their 
best service. What is true of a factory is far 
more true of a public school where the product 
is not material but spiritual. 

Parents and teachers must read the same 


‘blue-print.—When two “shifts” of workmen 


are employed in building a house they work 
from a common blue-print. Each “shift” 
knows the entire plan, notes what the workers 
have done the preceding hour, and takes up 
the work exactly where they left off. This 
close relationship is maintained even though 
the building materials are mortar, brick, stone, 
and wood, and mistakes can be corrected by 
tearing down and rebuilding. In the building 
of children’s attitudes, habits, and ideals, par- 
ents and teachers seldom have a common plan— 
too frequently each takes little cognizance of 
the other’s work. If either group makes a mis- 
take in their “building” it is difficult to tear 
down and rebuild, for attitudes, habits, and 
ideals result from changes in the nervous sys- 
tems of growing boys and girls. 

It is essential that teachers understand the 
ambitions which parents have for their chil- 
dren. The teachers’ acquaintance with par- 
ents makes possible a more intelligent under- 
standing of the children’s potentialities and 
needs. 

“Interpreting the schools to the public” is 
a common phase; it is equally important, how- 





An Interested, Intelligent and Supporting Public 


ever, that the public be interpreted 
schools. Each must understand and app: 
the other’s point of view. ‘The teache: 
become so engrossed with the work insid 
classroom that he loses touch with comm 
life. He may have been reared in the 
and be unfamiliar with the problems of : 
life ; or he may have come from another s: 
of the country where different social tradi: 
and customs prevail. He may have gai: 
large share of his information from books 
lack the knowledge that comes from co: 
with practical life situations. As the tea 
learns more of the conditions which preva 
the community and in the homes from \ 
his pupils come, he knows better what to 
pect from them and in what ways he can 
them. 

It is equally essential that parents know \ 
the schools are attempting to do, what 
need, and what values they plan to retu: 
society. 

Understanding forestalls criticism —ltf 
ents come to know teachers in a sympat! 
way, the criticism of outsiders will be fa 
met by parents. The same will be true 
tales carried home by the children. Par 
who know are in a position to set children rivht 
in their judgment of work and managem: 
This makes the teacher’s task much ea 
Frequently people criticize the schools be« 
they are entirely ignorant of what the sch 
are attempting to do. School administrat 
and teachers too often take it for granted 


the public understands the real objectives and 


philosophy back of modern education. MI 
parents visualize the schools of today as thie) 
were thirty or forty years ago. Many parent 
also visualize the modern American pu! 
school in terms of the school which they 
tended in the “old country.” Is it any wonde: 
then that parents frequently question the pu: 
poses, the enfficiency, and the results of '\ 


American educational system? Our future 
educational progress depends largely upon tic 
understanding which the American public !\1s 


of its school system and the recognition w) 
it gives its teachers. 


[222] 











thei 
com 
and 

Phe 


pen 








ure 








he position of teachers —Washington Ir\ 

» pointed out the failings of the teachers of 
his day. His attitude was justified then. It 
annot be defended today. Other writers, 
however, have done equal harm in picturing 
the teacher as a prim, precise personality, in- 
clined to didactic opinions, severe, unsociable, 
and austere. Such caricatures defame the in- 
telligent, gracious, and public-spirited teachers 


who predominate in our present-day classrooms. 
The question of social and professional recog- 
nition of teachers is not a matter of sentiment. 
It has a far-reaching effect in attracting an 
adequate supply of capable young people to 
our teacher-training institutions. It also con- 
ditions the kind of teaching done in our class- 
rooms. Personal pride in one’s calling and the 
feeling that one’s services are appreciated are 
umong the most potent incentives to efficient 
effort. 

The child is the loser when his teacher is 
not given due social and professional recogni- 
tion by his parents. 

Who runs the schools?—If the public desires 
the schools to continue to render the service 
they have been giving, and to accept the larger 
responsibilities which should be met in the 
future, larger financial resources will be neces- 
sary. This means that the public must have 
a fuller understanding of the public school— 
the institution which it created and is sup- 
porting. ‘Teachers and administrators of pub- 
lic school systems, dependent upon public taxa- 
tion for support and confronted with increas- 
ing demands for additional service, must take 
their patrons into their full confidence. ‘The 
community has a right to understand the why 
and wherefore of their children’s education. 
They have a right to know why changes are 
made. When policies are changed and ex- 
penditure of money called for, the community 
is most affected, and it should be given ade- 
quate explanations. Improvement in school 
conditions requires the approval and support of 
strong public opinion. School officers work 
more effectively when they know that the pub- 
lic has faith in them. Interpretation of the 
school to the public enables it to get a greater 
return in public confidence and secures a better 
appreciation of its work. The result is that 
every proposed change in method of instruction 
is not branded as a “new-fangled piece of 
worthlessness.”” 


1] 
IcisM WI pass away wii 


Much of the crit 


know the schools; and th 


people see and 


teachers see and know the community needs 
Newspapers are coming more and more to the 
support of the public school, and their support 
is the publicity medium most effective for 
school progress. 

The 


movement.—WThe Congress of 


new  school-and-home organization 


Parents and 
Teachers has branches in forty-seven states, in 
the District of Columbia, and in the Terri 
tory of Hawaii. The membership in these 
branches, together with the local associations 
in Alaska and the unorganized groups in the 
state of Nevada, totals about one million. 
Chart XI shows the rapid growth during the 
past fifteen years of the Congress of Parents 
and Teachers. 

Its two great objectives as outlined in the 
organization’s National bylaws are these: 

1. To promote child welfare in home, school, 
church, and community; to raise the standards of 
home life; to secure more adequate laws for the 
care and protection of women and children. 

2. To bring into closer relation the home and 
the school, that parents and teachers may cooperate 
intelligently in the training of the child, and to 
develop between educators and the general public 
such united efforts as will secure for every child 
the highest advantages in physical, mental, moral, 
and spiritual education. 


The Congress of 
offers opportunity 
ers of the nation 
common ideals and a common purpose—the 
welfare of the children of America. Parent- 
Teacher meetings offer parents opportunity to 
become acquainted with their children’s school, 


Parents and ‘Teachers 
to bring parents and teach- 


into one organization with 


its teachers, and its work. Such meetings give 
the teacher greater knowledge of the child’s 
home environment and of the parents’ view- 
point. The Parent-Teacher organization 
gives promise of an education carried on as a 
unit in the home, school, and community. 

Parents and teachers are discovering that 
their work is and 
achieves larger results when it is done co- 
operatively. The following letter copied from 
the Lawton School Record, a Philadelphia 
grade-school magazine, offers ten definite sug- 
gestions by which parents can aid their chil- 
dren’s progress in school. 

Ten suggestions for parents from a city 
school superintendent.—Philadelphia parents 
recently received this letter from their super- 


easier pleasanter and 


[223] 








intendent of schools. The points made are 
suggestive as means by which parents every- 
where can aid in their children’s school prog- 
ress. 


DeaR FRIENDS: 

You are all anxious to have your children suc- 
ceed in school. School work is the most important 
business of the children in your care. Careful home 
training, good health, religious instruction, and 
a thorough education are the best insurance for 
the future success and happiness of your children. 
Be sure that they have all these at whatever sacri- 
fice. The progress of your children in school will 
be greatly aided: 


1. If you will insist upon punctuality and regu- 
larity at school, and give no excuses, except for 
the most urgent reasons. 

2. If you will read carefully all notices and re- 
ports from school, and through the principal and 
teacher keep in touch with the work of your children. 

3. If you will encourage your children to 
strengthen their weak points as revealed by their 
report cards. 

4. If you will insist that the oldey children, who 
have assignments of homework, set aside a definite 
period for study each day. 

5. If you will lend your cooperation in the care 
of school books and other school property entrusted 
to your children. 

6. If you will withhold judgment regarding re- 
ports of happenings at school until you have heard 
both sides; and then never criticise the teacher in 
the presence of the children. 

7. If you will insist upon obedience at home and 
respect, for parents, elders, teachers and all officers 
of the law. 

8. If you will know the character of the com- 
panions of your children and ascertain the nature 
of the entertainments which your children attend 
before permitting them to attend. 

9. If you will see to it that the progress of your 
children in school is not hindered by the fatigue 
resulting from insufficient rest or late evening 
parties. 

10. If you will arrange regular home duties, or 
“chores,” for your children so that they may acquire 
habits of work, ideas of service for others, and a 
sense of responsibility. 


The progress of civilization depends upon the 
spiritual, moral, physical and mental improvement 
of each generation. It is my earnest hope and 
belief that your children will contribute toward 
making the next generation a still better one than 
the generation of which we are now a part. 

Yours sincerely, 
Epwin C. Broome, 
Superintendent of Schools, 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 


How can the layman know what is going 
on in the school?—Visit the schools fre- 
quently. Know the children’s teachers. Ask 


questions of teachers, principals, trust. 
school board members. Invite princip 
superintendents frequently to address lu: 
clubs, chambers of commerce, and simi 
ganizations. Organize parent-teacher » 
to study school problems. 
official reports, relative to the work oj 
schools, issued by local and state schoo! de 
partments. Question those who are in charg 
of the schools. 

Selected references on the home and th 
school_—The following articles will be of jn- 
terest to those who are seeking to bring about 
a closer cooperation between the home and ¢!y 
school. 


Secure and 


Home and School Cooperation 


Brim, O. G. Educational Progress and Px 
ents. Rural School Leaflet, No. 15, U. S. 
Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. 
May, 1923. 8 p. 

Discusses the problem 
school patrons with modern tendencies in 
education and changes in the school curri 
ulum. 


of acquainting 


CusBERLEY, Ettwoop P. The Principal and 
His School. Boston, Houghton, Mitilin 
Co., 1923. p. 534-559. 

Discusses the principal's work in build 
ing up school support, time to organize a 
parent-teacher association, and the need for 
constructive programs of work. 


JoHNson, CHARLES H. AND OTHERS, J he 
Modern High School, New York, Charles 
Scribner’s Sons, 1914. Chapters XII and 
XIII. 

Describes the home and school association 
as the high school’s right arm. Suggests 
that this association should include al! ‘h« 
school’s voluntary cooperative agencies, such 
as women’s and mothers’ clubs, citizens 
leagues, and other patriotic and religious 
orders. 


LomBarD, Etten C. Recent Developmen! 
of Parent-teacher Associations, U. S. bu- 
reau of Education, Bulletin No. 5, 1923. 
Washington, D. C. Government Printing 
Office. 12 p. 

Shows growth and progress of the Asso- 
ciation. 


[224] 











if | 























CHART XI 





Members 


1,000,000 “7 


900,000 _ 


800,000 _1 


700,000 


600,000 _| 


500,000 _| 


400,000 _| 


200,000 _. 


100,000 _| 





On 


S441 


31,672 
93,367 


LAD 193 


"GROWTH inMEMBERSHIP of the NATIONAL 
CONGRESS of PARENTS and TEACHERS 


1912 ~ 1926 


875,2AC 


651387 


530,546 


278,781 


190,183) 





{22,250 113,829 


BAA 
52,852 


194 195 196 IMT IS Wid 


120 L921 1922, 1923 


earch DUWSOR, 


1924 1995 1926 


atotal kdiuc 4. “Ucsh, 


_— 





| Based on TreasurersAnnual Re port to » National Congress of PST. 


——E 














LomBarD, ELLten C., AND Bittner, WAL- NATIONAL CONGRESS OF ParENtTs 


TON S. How Home and School Work To- Teacuers, Its History, Organizati 
gether, U. S. Bureau of Education, Home Program of Service, Organization 

Education Circular, No. 3, 1923. Wash- book, Pre-school Circles—How ty 
ington, D. C., Government Printing Office. ganize, Rural Parent Teacher Assoc: 


College Parent-Teacher Associations ' , 
to Organize, A Program of Wor 
Local Parent-Teacher Organizations, 


Give suggestions for unifying the work 
of the home and the school. 


MARYLAND STATE DEPARTMENT OF Epuca- gram Planning—W hy-How, Ten Prog in | 
TION, Worth-While Patrons’ Meetings,  Quztlines for Grade School Parent-Teacher 
State Department of Education, Maryland Organizations. sh 
School Bulletin, Vol. VI, No. 6, March, 

1925. Baltimore, Maryland, 98 p. These leaflets give information as ng 





ganization and purposes of the Nat 
Congress of Parents and Teachers and 
suggestions for work in local bran 


A bulletin, prepared by the county super- 
visors of elementary schools in Maryland 
and designed to meet the need of parent- , : 
teacher y+ interven for sas and They ay be obtained free from Secre‘ ry ea 
worth-while programs of study. Many of National Congress of Parents and on 
topics concerned with the child’s school Teachers, 1201 Sixteenth Street N. \\ th 
and home environment are outlined. Washington, D. C. Bia 


School and Society, “Parents and the Scho 
MarytAnp STATE DEPARTMENT OF EpDvu- ed mee 
Vol. XXII, No, 561, September 26, 19 : 


cation, School Publicity, Maryland School 


Bulletin, Vol. V, No. 3, November, 1923. Fourteen suggestions to parents for start if ¢ 
if State Department of Education, Baltimore, ing the school od right, offered bs the met 
United Parents’ Associations of Greater y 


Maryland, p. 95. 
The chapters “The Principal’s Responsi- New York Schools. atte 


bility as a Publicity Agent,” pp. 45-59; and Stevenson, P. R. Campaign Publicity (0 


eke o> O 





Fi the “Parent-Teacher Association as a Schools, Bureau of Educational Research 
ij Means of Publicity,” pp. 60-68, contain Monographs, No. 5. The Ohio State Uni 
} many practical suggestions. versity Press, Columbus, Ohio. 1926. 59 p. same 
i) , Compilation of methods which have been 2 
i Meyer, H. D. The Parent-Teacher A ssocia- : . vids * iy eek 
q , E : Bulletin, Universi f tried and found useful in procuring bet: : 
4 8, ae wee Vliverity 0 school conditions through publicity 5 
A North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Caro- grams. Contains detailed illustrative ma 6 
i lina. December, 1922. 95 p. terial and suggestions for organizing and them 
Provides suggestive subjects for pro- conducting campaigns for better schoo! sup C, 
grams. port. port 
{ educ 
i to he 
- ind 
; E HAVE STRUGGLED over that long dusty stretch of our national journey, and perceive pails’ 


q that we have not in the least arrived at the destination which was our aim—namely, an filled 
# educated citizenry. The road makes one of its unexpected turns before us, and we find our- 


: selves looking down another long stretch. We now see that “making the masses literate’ sg 

4 does not at all mean “educating the people.” We have only succeeded in forcing upon the ive 

young of our race, quite universally, the tools by which modern education may be obtained. mm 
A A whole new conception of what education is, what mass education must be, opens before us, D 

, daunting, discouraging, difficult . . . infinitely inspiriting to courageous souls.—Dorot/) tne i 

‘ Canfield Fisher, “Adult Education as the Next Battle in our Democracy’s Fight for Existence, pine 


National Education Association, Addresses and Proceedings, 1926. 














[226] 























Only teachers who are eager to improve can 
hold their places in a modern school. This 
means training on the job; for teacher train- 
ing institutions at best do not turn out a fin- 
ished product. The beginning teacher comes 
to his task with no small portion of his train- 
ing vet to be obtained. The novice and the 
journeyman teacher must strive to become 
master teachers. ‘Teachers are eager to make 
themselves more effective. Understanding 
modern life and interpreting it to growing boys 
and girls offers so great a challenge and op- 
portunity for service that most teachers are 
eager to make themselves more efficient. Sum- 
mer school courses, study groups, and teachers’ 
meetings are the chief means of training in 
service besides supervision and the slow process 
of experience through the “trial and error” 
method. 

What do summer schools offer? Teachers 
attend summer school not merely because it 
offers a change of environment and contact 
with books, but because it offers opportunity to: 


1. Come in contact with people interested in the 
same work 

2. Meet educational and lay leaders 

3. Learn the newer trends in education 

4. Re-acquire the student’s point of view 

5. Observe new methods of teaching 

6. Gain inner power to carry on and equip 
themselves for larger service. 


Summer schools are offering all these op- 
portunities and many more. The foremost 
educational leaders of the world are employed 
to help thousands of executives, administrators, 
and teachers to add “refreshment to their 
pails” which in the beginning were only partly 
filled or had been drained by the constant 
out-go of the teacher’s personality as he re- 
lives courses of study and interprets life to 
immature minds during the school term. 

During the summer of 1926, 217,220 teach- 
ers attended summer school. Table 11 reports 
summer school attendance in 482 institutions. 
It shows that 27.2 per cent of the nation’s 
teachers devoted their vacation to this form of 
professional improvement. 


Growth of Teachers in Service 


Mobilization of the Teaching Corps 
Through Teachers’ Meetings 


Why have faculty meetings? ‘These meet- 
ings are essential to a modern school, since its 
function is not merely teaching subjects, but 
developing efficient citizens. This 
means that the child must be trained in such 
matters as moral character, care of the body, 
skill in earning a living, willingness to be of 
service to others, ability to perform the duties 


socially 


of citizenship, and appreciation of music, litera- 
ture, and art. ‘The school administrator and 
his staff must have in mind the good of each 
child and that of the social group of which 
he forms a part. ‘The work of each teacher 
and of each department must contribute to the 
total development. Faculty meetings offer 
opportunity to discuss the inter-relation be- 
tween teachers with respect to particular duties. 

The constant revision of the curriculum, 
due to the rapidity of the change in modern 
life and its complexity, means that every mem- 
ber in the teaching staff must be kept informed. 
Curriculum construction and revision is today 
one of the major educational problems. ‘Thou- 
sands of teachers are helping to solve it—every 
teacher must have a sympathetic understanding 
of the changes adopted. ‘l’his requires fre- 
quent meetings of the whole teaching body 
and of particular groups. 

Advances in educational science and psychol- 
ogy and the results of educational research 
cannot be disregarded in the modern class- 
room. Findings of educational research are 
coming to be as significant for teachers as 
medical research is for physicians. ‘The pro 
gressive administrator brings these to the at- 
tention of his teachers through faculty meetings. 

The right kind of faculty meetings serve 
these purposes: 


1. The best ideas in the force are mobilized for 
the benefit of all the children. 

2. Esprit created or heightened. 
Attitudes are equalized; teachers are helped in 
getting a better perspective of their work; and a 
spirit of common interest is promoted. Teachers 


de corps is 


This section of the Handbook has been prepared in response to the many requests from principals and teachers 


for material suitable for lay and professional study groups. 





[227] 











TABLE 11—SUMMER SCHOOL ATTENDANCE IN 1926 



























































[228] 





Number of Summer School En- Percent of ~ 
teaching posi- Total Number of rolme t teaching posi- | R plat 
tions in public, number of | summer |__| ‘&tions in states 4 
States and other units elementary and| summer |. schools | | represented by ra 
secondary schools? | reporting All Courses in| enrolment in ( 
schools in courses | education | courses in ed- 
1925-26! ucation 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 
RS ———————SS ee — = - = - - —— — a> 
Continental U. S......... 799,969 661 482 311,480 | 217,220 27.2 f 
I a. « é outiee aa ss 15,580 14 7 5,736 4,302 7.6 C 
GION 6 so wnleicess sass 2,610 2 2 975 873 33.4 lem 
Ns chen kos ate ea 14,146 5 3 1,918 1,639 11.6 
California. erry. eae 34,002 23 14 8,402 5,883 17.3 lev 
SE SRE A 8,938 S 7 7,236* 5 ,563* 62 2 
Commelees. «os ice seve sins 8,785 4 2 168 22 | 3 
EL, 5 x sve Kuhl wa «oe 1,389 1 1 291 272 | 19.6 ; 
District of Columbia... .... 2,792 7 3 1,300 140 5.0 Th 
Ss caterers cent 9/090 2 2 1419 1,231 | 13.5 
ae ee eee 19,102 15 9 4,208 2,347 | 12.3 ing’ 
De ee ee 4,249 8 6 1,443 1,296 | 30.5 and 
| RE OEE se Pa 46,723 39 28 24.536* | 15.145 | 32.4 
US SSE Oe oe a 18,919 29 24 12,512 10,524 55.6 ont! 
EST RRS Bae 27,878 25 13 8,613 6,059 21.7 
Kansas 18,277 18 15 10, 245* 7,048* | 38.6 ol 
Kentucky. .......... 12,455 12 10 6,254 5,486 44.0 vide 
RF cli wie ug amas 11,184 8 4 2,461 2,059 18.4 are 
ES ta bins satin oat 6,234 s 6 1,520 1,304 20.9 
ON See ae i 7,504 9 6 2,045 1,548 20.6 con 
ee ee 25,618 18 12 6,906 3,183 12.4 e 
cs 
Michigan.......... 30,510 17 15 12,110 8,161 26.7 
Minnesota : 20,018 12 10 7,160 3,789 18.9 ' 
ee = 14,608 8 7 1,992 1,570 10.7 
Missouri ..... Sat fh ls wee 24,611 24 15 9,772 7,458 30.3 nity 
RRS Cars 5,699 6 1,388 1,162 20.4 : 
Nebraska 14,076 14 12 8,570 5,718 40.6 mini 
Nevada........... 774 1 1 145 139 18.0 * 
New Hampshire. . . 3 3 520 376 12.5 | 40 dev 
New Jersey Sa xh Malis a 21,693 11 8 2,210 1,375 6.3 | } 3 
DNS dks a ciewne a6 2,987 5 4 1,144 1,034 34.6 11 4 
es 69, 206 38 27 31,676 15,978 23.1 teac 
North Carolina...... 23,149 17 13 10, 267* 7,862* 34.0 PY 
North Dakota... .. 8, 267 8 x 4,634 4,297 52.0 } { deta 
COD. sinks a 40,111 31 25 15,438* | 10,001* 25.2 be 
Oklahoma... .. 18,935 14 12 15,165 11,223 59.3 r 
not 
tie kt ccc kee x pec 7,480 8 6 3,797 2,381 31.8 1¢ ‘ 
Pennsylvania.............. 53,779 47 39 20,885 16, 280 30.3 | 18 : 
Rhode Island............... 3,132 2 2 474 369 11.8 13 sequ 
South Carolina............. 11,312 +9 5 3,933 2,868 25.4 4 ann 
wewtn Geen. 2... 22. as. 8,545 10 9 2,968 2,378 27.8 f s 
reie’ 
Tennessee. 16,637 19 13 8,548 7,615 45.8 , 3 we 
Texas.... 39,005 45 26 12,901* 8, 420% 21.6 8 os 
Utah Bi oo 5 SNP 4,330 3 1 595 395 9.1 | 46 6. 
ee FORE a es, 2,838 3 1 815 603 21.2 | 4 serv 
Virginia......... ice 17,479 15 11 5,968 4,455 25.5 | 3 
| ana 
ES er F 9,959 9 7 5,390 3,873 38.9 f th 
I OND, ox oirncedbice ss 11,860 13 9 4,256 3,874 32.7 i 34 ot 
, i ERS PEER 17,500 15 13 9,771 6,903 39.4 7 
Els Ona 2,988 1 i 800 640 21.4 matt 
This 
EAD table as follows: Alabama there were 15,580 uently the of some states is lower than it 
R in c Gomener ont would have d all institutions reported. The sig- to di 
schools in 1926. In this state 14 tions con- _nificance of this factor in reducing any state’s rank may ing, 
duct summer It was possible to obtain a report be estimated by comparing the figures in columns 
from 7 cf these 1ons as to summer school ent 3 and ‘ : , eral 
in 1926. These 7 institutions reported a total summer 'The figures as to number of teaching positions in 197° entk 
school enrolment of 5736. Of this total 4302 were enroled _ are estimated, comeing that the percent increase was the 
in teacher or educa courses. In Alabama the same within each state between 1924 and 1926 as between cusse 
ratio of ann. educa’ in the 7 summer 1922 and 1924. In states where there was a decrease 8 
schools to ates gogiene tn the state is 27.6 1922 and 1924 the 1924 ficure was use‘. o. 
percent. percent gives Alabama a rank of 21 among 2As listed Education Directory for 1926. U.S feel 
the statesof the union in this 1 of Education Bulletin, 1926, No. 1. a and 
te eceectns Ee Gave f this table it should be kept “Indicates that in the state one or more institutions 
in mind it reports some states were incomplete. two summer sessions reported only for the firs not | 
All institutions listed in the educational directory were session. If a complete had been obtainable the nel 
given two opportunities to report. Some failed to do so. enrolment in this state be somewhat greater. ‘ 
rewe 


is th 





n it 
sig- 
nay 
nns 


926 
the 
een 
ase 


if 4) 


ons 
irst 
the 











need to haye lessons “all together” just as chil- 
dren do. 

3. Information and direction are given which 
aid teachers in placing their work on a higher 
plane. 

4. The need for professional advancement is 
constantly kept before teachers. 

5. Teachers are helped in understanding the 
program as planned. Cooperation is brought about 
as well as common aims, and common standards 
of judgment. 

6. An appreciation of those educational prob- 
lems which have state and national significance is 


developed. 


Characteristics of a good faculty meeting. 
There should be two kinds of teachers’ meet- 
ings, the general meeting intended for all; 
and the special meeting, which usually includes 
only the teachers of one or more specific grades 
or subjects. This latter type of meeting pro- 
vides opportunity for discussion of points that 
are of special interest only to those directly 
concerned. ‘These are among the characteris- 
tics of good meetings of both types: 


1. Teachers feel that the meeting is an opportu- 
nity, not a requirement. 

2. The meeting is carefully planned. The ad- 
ministrator sets the situation so as to insure the 
development of his teachers. 

3. The meeting has a definite purpose. 

4, Important issues of general interest to all 
teachers are discussed rather than administrative 
details and announcements that can usually better 
be covered in a typewritten or mimeographed 
notice or bulletin. 

§. Items are taken up in proper order and 
sequence. The meeting is conducted as though it 
were a business proposition. All trivial and ir- 
relevant matter is avoided in order that the meet- 
ing may not be unduly prolonged. 

6. Each meeting renders constructive cumulative 
service so that there is unity in the year’s program, 
and something definite accomplished by the end 
of the year. 

7. The discussion, for the most part, concerns 
matters of common interest to all those present. 
This means that there should be careful planning 
to decide what topics belong to the general meet- 
ing, and what to the special meeting. In the gen- 
eral meeting educational problems of state and 
national as well as local interest will be dis- 
cussed. 

8. Many teachers take an active part. They 
feel free to ask questions and to discuss their work 
and their problems. Two or three teachers are 
hot permitted to do all the talking. Sometimes the 
teacher who has the most self-confidence has the 
tewest ideas. The extent of teacher participation 
is the real test of a good group meeting. 


9. A record of proceedings is kept and filed 
This shows what was said, what action was taken, 
and acts as a check to show if any vital points are 
omitted. 

10. General good spirit prevails—something is 
accomplished in promoting unity and cooperation 
throughout the school. 

11. It is interesting to the teachers. The school 
administrator who forces his teachers to suffer 
martyrdom in long-drawn-out, dry-as-dust meet- 
ings is violating the principles of sound pedagogy 

12. When general rules are presented, each 
teacher is provided with a copy of points to be 
discussed. 

13. Due notice is given when the meeting is not 
held at a regularly specified time and place. 

14. It begins on time, and, as far as possible, 
adjourns on time. 


These characteristics apply particularly to a 
good group meeting: 


1. It is based as far as possible on the teachers’ 
own needs. It is an opportunity for cooperative 
drive on these needs. 

2. The group is small enough so that fraternity 
and participation are possible. 

3. The principal, supervisor, or superintendent 
who leads the meeting does not forget that it is a 
teachers’ meeting. 

4. The weaker teachers profit from the stronger. 

5. The wide variation between teachers in native 
ability and in training and their resulting differ- 
ence in needs are kept in mind in planning the 
meeting. 

6. The subject to be discussed is announced sev- 
eral days in advance, in order that teachers may 
have an opportunity to prepare themselves for 
taking an active part in the discussion, or to talk 
on any phase of the matter in which they may be 
especially interested. 


W hat types of meetings do teachers generally 
dislike? Teachers begrudge the time that 
faculty meetings take and look upon them as 
an unnecessary waste of energy when they 
are of the bulletin-board type, the grievance- 
day type, the grumbling type, the lecture-by- 
the-principal type, or the routine-business type.' 


What the teacher has a right to expect from 
teachers’ meetings. ‘These are among the out- 
comes which the teacher has a right to expect 
from teachers’ meetings: 


1. Better understanding of the particular prob- 
lems of his school building and of the school system 

2. A general rather than merely a specialized in- 
terest in the school—that is, an interest in affairs 
outside his own department 

3. The best ideas that the most competent teach- 


* See Ellwood P. Cubberley, The Principal and His School, Houghton, Mifflin, 1923. “Objectionable types of 


meeting” are discussed on pages 514-516. 


[229] 








‘ 
B? 
Fi 5 





ers in the system have to give on the solution of 
particular problems 

4. Enlarged outlook and increased technical prep- 
aration 

5. Familiarity with the best educational progress 
elsewhere 

6. Definite suggestions for professional study 
and advancement, such as carefully selected read- 
ing courses 

7. Clearer insight into those professional prob- 
lems, the solution of which will tend to elevate 
the character and advance the interests of the 
teaching profession’ 

8. Inspiration for greater effort 

9. Feeling of satisfaction that comes from shar- 
ing in the democratic administration of a school 
system. 


What happens when teachers take part in 
group meetings, dealing with such topics as 
course of study revision? Experience shows 
that teachers not only receive, but also give 
help when they are made members of course of 
study committees. A superintendent of schools 
lists these fourteen outcomes of teacher par- 
ticipation in curriculum building which were 
mutually beneficial to the individual teacher 
and to the school system: 


1. Courses of study embodying the latest re- 
search 

2. Emergence of leaders among the classroom 
teachers 

3. Direct improvement in teaching 

4. A staff more interested in current educational 
thought 

5. More general reading done by the staff 

6. Greater joy in teaching 

7. Requests by teachers for supervision 

8. Appreciation and better use of good equip- 
ment and libraries 

9. Better insight into the aims and purposes 
of education 

10. Appreciation on part of supervisory staff of 
contributions which teachers cam make in the im- 
provement of policies 

11. Better spirit of co-operation between teachers 
and administrators 

12. Teachers and principals stimulated to in- 
creased professional study 

13. Entire educational staff can better interpret 
the schools to the public 

14. Quickened interest on the part of the public 
in the schools—Jesse H. Newlon “Outcomes of our 
Curriculum Program.” Addresses and Proceedings 
of National Education Association 1925, P. 802-3. 





Suitable Topics for Teachers’. Me 


Each school administrator in plann 
faculty meetings will select those topics « 
immediate interest to the largest numbe; 
teachers, or which in his judgment are « 
vital concern to the welfare of the 
These are among the topics which hay: 
the subjects for discussion recently by 
faculty groups: 


1. Careful analysis of the course of stu 
strength and weakness and revision 

2. Moral or character education—how ca: 
developed through the regular school subjects 
of teaching subjects so that they contrib 
character development, classroom procedu: 
extra-curricular activities in relation to cha 
development, and review of efforts for cha 
development in other school systems 

3. Well-organized and well-taught demo: 
tion lessons involving subject-matter from 
course of study, followed by a critique and 
discussion 

4. Discussion of results of standard tests 

5. Remedial work following the giving of ; 
ardized tests 

6. Classification of pupils 

7. Promotion of pupils, involving age-grade 
lems 


8. Review of outstanding professional books 


magazine articles 
9. Discussion of ways and means of bri 
to parents and patrons a thorough understa 
of the objectives and problems of the scho 
10. Professional problems such as retirem: 
lowances, tenure, work of state and nationa 


ganizations, professional ethics, salaries, and th 


recruiting of the profession. 


Professional meetings at the B. I. 
Elementary School, Seattle, Weashin: 
Under the leadership of the principal! 
teachers have for several years met as a } 
ing group and discussed some professional | 


lem at each meeting. These are among thi 
topics discussed: (1) The junior high sc! 
(2) practical teaching of democracy to ¢|' 


mentary school pupils, (3) how to plan 
give drill, (4) interpretation of standa: 


tests, (5) correlation of subjects, (6) ad 


tages and disadvantages of the semi-de 
mental school, (7) the teacher as a stu 
(8) study of texts, their contents and ar: 
ment of material, and (9) the securin 
home co-operation by sending home p 
papers. 


1 Among these problems are the following: The recruiting of the nation’s most promising young people | 


profession, certification requirements, training of teachers in service, 


tenure. 


retirement allowances, and in 


[230] 








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Outline of a high school teachers meeting 
i Mandan, North Dakota—“The marking 
stem” was a question selected for discussion 
by the faculty of the Mandan high school. 
The following outline was prepared by the 
principal and distributed in advance to all! 
teachers. It is illustrative of the type of 
preparation for a faculty meeting which repays 
; principal many times for the time and thought 
required : 


The Marking System 


The next regular meeting of the teachers will be 
held Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 6, at four o’clock in 
room 6, Senior High School. 

Will you kindly give careful thought to this 
outline and be ready to offer suggestions, criticisms, 
or additions. The references given below are 
available and may be had by seeing the clerk at 
the ofice. A rather complete bibliography is also 
available. 


|. Aims and Purposes of the Marking System: 
1) To show both pupil and parent the achieve- 
ment of the pupil as shown in terms of the 
declared purpose of the course. 


(2) To provide a permanent record of the 
pupil’s achievement. 
3) To provide a basis for promotion. 
I]. Underlying Principles: 
(1) The marking system should be as ob- 


jective as possible. 

(2) Marks should have a uniform meaning to 
all teachers in the school. 

(3) Marks should be readily understood. 

4) A marking system should require only 
a reasonable amcunt of teachers’ time. 

(5) No more marks should be used than can 


be distinguished by a great number of 
teachers. 
Reports: 
The Reliability of Teachers’ Marks—M: 


Jerome N. Ristey 
The Probable  Distribution—Mr. 

Aandahl 
What Do We Mark in English—Miss Glenna 

Mae Travis 

Problems for general discussion: 
1. The above outline and reports 
. How to tabulate distributions 
. What steps shall we use 
What traits of character shall we mark 
. What weights or penalties shall we give fo 
certain types of errors. 
Problem: 

Bearing in mind that worth to the pupil 
should be the keynote of a conference, what 
replies would you suggest for the pupil who 
expresses disappointment concerning his marks ? 

Bibliography: 
Strayer and  Englehart—The 

Teacher, p. 165-166 


Sam |] 


ww w& db 


Class-room 


See list of Research Bulletins of the National Edu 


Parker—Methods of 
p. 500-510 

Wilkinson—Rural School Management, p. 289 
307 


Teaching High School 


A Plan for the “Entire Profession at 
Work on its Problems” 


Better teaching of boys and girls comes as 
larger inspiration and_ bette: 
The follow 
ing plan of the National Education Associa 


the result of 


training on the part of teachers. 


tion enlists all educational forces in the study 
of professional problems: 


The Plan in Brief 


1. Regular meetings of the staff in every ele 
mentary and high school, public and private, no: 


mal school, and college 


2. Regular meetings of city and county associa 
tions 
3. Annual meetings of district, state, and re 


gional organizations 
4. Annual the National 
Association, its departments, and allied co-operative 


meetings of Education 


organizations 
5. Biennial meetings of the World Federation of 


Education Associations. 


The first essential of the above plan is that 
every principal arrange for regular meetings 
of his staff to consider local, state, and na 
tional issues; then local associations build thei 
programs on what has been accomplished in the 
smaller groups; and state and national asso 
ciations carry the high spots of the achieve 
ments of local groups into their programs. 


The principal's responsibility in promoting 
professional study. The principal, by virtue of 
his position, is the professional leader of his 
school. Upon his vision, sympathetic under- 
standing of the needs of his staff, and his leader- 
ship depends the growth of teachers in sery 


ice through staff meetings. 

Helps for principals in planning teachers’ 
School principals may find 
suggestions helpful in carrying out the above 


meetings. these 
plan for getting “the entire profession at work 
(1) Make the state 
national journals the basis of study and dis 
cussion, (2) Send for Research Bulletins of 
the National Education Association,' (3) Re 
view the topics suggested in this Handbook, 
(4) Write the secretary of the State Associa 
(5) Call on the local 


on its problems’’: and 


tion for suggestions, 


m Assoc 


lation nm page 3 


[231] 





i 








teachers college, and (6) Call on the Research legislative committees dealing with edv 
Division of the National Education Assoca- and lay and teacher study groups. 


tion. 


offers study groups. 


The 


ment of Superintendence, the Bulletin and 
Yearbook of the Elementary School Principals, 
and Committee Reports of the National Educa- 


‘ 
tion 


cause of education. These and other publica- 
tions of the Association are already used by 
hundreds of study groups. 


By using the handbook as a tentative « 


What the National Education Association and making necessary adaptations, the 


The Research Bulletin, principal or study group leader can 0: 
a series of meetings in which problem: 


to the public school will be discusse: 
-more than an elementary knowledge o: 
topics is desired, the selected referen 
the end of each section should be assig: 
advance to particular members of the 
group and reported upon for the benefit 
whole. 

The Bulletin presents standards of bes: 


Journal, the Yearbook of the Depart- 


Association are published to promote the 


This handbook designed to help in a well- .. - ; 
. 4 tice relative to eight factors essential 
planned study of major educational issues. . he 
‘ ‘ effective school system. Local groups wi! 
School faculties, parent-teacher groups, wom-  . : 
it of interest to compare their own sc! 


’ 
ens 


clubs, and civic organizations are inter- with these standards. If weak spots i: 


ested in meeting the needs of the public schools. local system are revealed, they will ind 
Too often, however, they are unfamiliar with the points which deserve further study 


what these needs are. They are willing to toward which greater effort should be direc: 


study the problem of securing the essentials When teachers and public-spirited |. 
of an efficient public school system, but fre- join in the study of major educational is 
quently accurate and timely data are not avail- the result will be better schools for ou: 
able in a usable form for study. This hand- and girls—the final objective of all activity 
book has been designed to meet the needs of tering around the public school. 








GOOD MANY people think that the greatest business of a superintendent of schools is ' 

get money for the financial support of the schools or to establish and manage an efficient 
administrative routine. In fact, many superintendents and teachers seem to believe with a 
lot of sincerity that these are the true “reasons for being” of the Superintendent’s Office. 

I have a conviction that the greatest thing a superintendent can do for his school system 
is to open the doors of opportunity to the talent within the teaching staff for its own growth 
and development and to place the responsibility for progress upon the teachers themselves 
A teaching body properly supported and properly guided naturally develops its own leadership 
and undertakes a program of progress. Such teaching bodies always have within their ranks 
large elements of leadership which easily and quickly show themselves and come to the front 

The first step is always manifested by some general scheme of organization. The organi- 
zation first seeks to express itself by sharing in policy making, making itself felt in the genera! 
operation of the school system and becoming a factor in the civic life of the community. The 
evidence of professional consciousness next manifests itself in a desire to do something for its 
own members.—Fred M. Hunter, Superintendent’s Bulletin, April 16, 1925, Oakland Publi: 


Schools. 





[232] 

















now 








Research Bulletins Previously Issued 








Facts on the Cost of Public Education and What They Mean. Bulletin 1, 
June, 1922. 68 pp. (Out of Print.) 


Facts for American Education Week. Bulletin 2, November, 1922. 40 pp. 
Price per copy, 25 cents. 


Facts on State Educational Needs. Vol. 1, No. 1, January, 1923. 64 pp. 
(Out of print.) 


Can the Nation Afford to Educate Its Children? Vol. 1, No. 2, March, 1923. 
72 pp. Price per copy, 25 cents. 


Teachers’ Salaries and Salary Trends in 1923. Vol. I, No. 3, May, 1923. 
116 pp. Price per single copy, $1.00. 


Five Questions for American Education Week. Vol. 1, No. 4, September, 


1923. 56 pp. (Out of print.) 


Facts on the Public School Curriculum. Vol. 1, No. 5, November, 1923. 
48 pp. (Out of print.) 


Current Facts on City School Costs. Vol. Il, Nos. 1 and 2, January and 
March, 1924. 64 pp. (Out of print.) 


Teachers’ Retirement Allowances. Vol. Il, No. 3, May, 1924. 32 pp. Price 
per copy, 25 cents. 


Facts on the Public School for American Education Week. Vol. Il, No. 4, 
September, 1924. 40 pp. (Out of print.) 


The Problem of Teacher Tenure. Vol. Il, No. 5, November, 1924. 40 pp. 
Price per copy, 25 cents. 


Public School Salaries in 1924-1925. Vol. II], Nos. 1 and 2, January and 
March, 1925. 72 pp. Price per copy, 50 cents. 


Taking Stock of the Schools. Vol. III, No. 3, May, 1925. 32 pp. Price per 
copy, 25 cents. 


Keeping Pace With the Advancing Curriculum. Vol. Il, Nos. 4 and 5, 
September and November, 1925. 96 pp. Price per copy, 50 cents. 


The Ability of the States to Support Education. Vol. TV, Nos. 1 and 2, 
January and March, 1926. 96 pp. Price per copy, 50 cents. 


i Efficient Teaching and Retirement Legislation. Vol. TV, No. 3, May, 1926. 











é 72 pp. Price per copy, 25 cents. 


[233] 


_ an we 




















faye CONQUEROR can make the multitude dif- 

a ferent from what it is; no statesman can carry 
the world’s affairs beyond the ideas and capacities 
of the generation of adults with which he deals; but 
teachers—I use the word in the widest sense—can 
do more than either conqueror or statesman; they 
can create a new vision and liberate the latent pow- 
ers of our kind.—H. G. Wells. 





Ov MAY OFFER the people Utopian dreams 
fs and a quick climb up the ladder of civilization, 
and they may believe you. But only centuries of 
edueation have been able thus far to give results. 
Arthur Brisbane. 


as WE REFLECT upon the course of history, 
za we cannot fail to appreciate how little we owe 
to governments and how much to education and to 
the methods and achievements of scientific inquiry. 

If we have any assurance for the future, it lies 
in education, in the dissemination of correct infor- 
mation, in availing ourselves of the investigations of 
science in the formation of a sound public opinion 
which must rest on a broad, liberal culture.—Charles 
Evans Hughes.