ie ae et at GSSSSSSGSGGGGSGGGRRGGGGGGOO660056690 8 8 VOL. IX, NO. 4 SEPTEMBER, 1931 Research Bulletin OF THE National Education Association band S 6 bs] ISBBSESGaaSaasooaas oGansoonsoonGon nas summa onnnoaGane (ae i LP The Outlook for Rural Education a 8835959999599 9999995995556659955555955 ——- 839 g PUBLISHED BY THE RESEARCH DIVISION OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 1201 SIXTEENTH STREET NORTHWEST, WASHINGTON, D. C. 9939959968 555555 5550505550900 90555555559 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. President, FLoreNce HALE Secretary, J. W. Craptret The payment of the $5 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 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 per year. Copies may be purchased for 25 cents, and in quantities at a reduced rate. Those entitled to receive the Research Bulletin regularly 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, |). 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. Director of Research: William G. Carr Associate Directors: Margaret Alltucker Norton, Frank W. Hubbard Assistant Director: Richard R. Foster Executive and Editorial Offices - - - 1201 Sixteenth Street N. W., Washington, D. C. How to Secure Additional Copies Additional copies of this issue of the Research Bulletin may be obtained at the following prices, postpaid if remittance accompanies order: Single copies of this issue 25¢ 2 to 9 copies—10% reduction 10 to 99 copies—25% reduction 100 or more copies—33 1/3% reduction. Orders for Research Bulletins not accompanied by remittance are subject to trans- portation charges. Make checks payable to National Education Association. Subscriptions to Research Bulletins The Research Bulletin may be received regularly through a special subscription at $l per year. Many of the early issues of the Research Bulletin are already out of print. The special subscription at $1 per year offers an opportunity to maintain a complete file of future Research Bulletins. Reproduction of Material in Research Bulletins Mat service: The Division of Publications will, on request, prepare and supply mats of charts which appear in the Research Bulletin at cost. Material appearing in Research Bulletins may, with the usual acknowledgements, be reproduced for the advancement of education. No authority other than this notice is needed previous to such reproduction. For further information concerning the work of the Division, address the Research Division, National Education Association, 1201 Sixteenth Street. N. W., Washington, D. C. { 230 ] CONTENTS Foreword The Scope of the Problem of Rural Education Rural Education and Child Welfare Rural Education and National Welfare Rural Education and Democratic Government Purposes and Scope of this Bulletin How to Use this Bulletin Efficient Units of Administration Present Conditions Proposed Remedies Selected References Adequate Financing. Present Status of Financial Support of Rural Schools Improving Rural School Finance Selected References Better Attendance in Rural Schools What Are the Facts Concerning Rural School Attendance? How Can Rural School Attendance Be Improved? Selected References A Living and Growing Curriculum The Status of the Rural School Curriculum Principles and Practices Improving the Rural School Curriculum Selected References Better Teaching in Rural Schools The Present Quality of Teaching in Rural Schools Improving the Quality of Instruction in Rural Schools Selected References Rural School Interpretation The Need for Interpreting the Schools to Rural People Successful Plans for Interpreting the Schools to Rural People Selected References................ Trained Teachers for Rural Schools....... The Present Professional Status of Teachers in Rural Schools Securing Trained Teachers for Rural Schools Selected References Secondary School Opportunities for Rural Children The Present Status of Rural Secondary Education How Can Secondary Schools Reach the Needs of Rural Boys and Girls? Selected References............... Rural School Buildings and Equipment.... What Are the Facts Concerning Rural School Buildings? How Can Rural School Buildings and Equipment Be ceumunes Selected References............... Rural Teachers and Helpful Supervision . . The Status of Rural School Supervision eal How Can Rural Supervisory Service Be Improved? Selected References................. [ 231 ] 245 245 247 249 286 286 287 294 295 295 298 300 Table 1. 2. LIST OF TABLES Financial Statistics of Urban and Rural Schools, 1925-26... Combination and Alternation of Subjects Suggested in 26 Model Programs in State Courses of Study.... a Grade Combinations in School Subjects in 26 Model Programs in State Courses of Study Use and Effectiveness of Thirty Publicity Methods Used in Rural Schools... . Professional Status of Rural and Urban Teachers Compared... . Some Reasons siitied Trained Teachers Tend to Avoid Rural Schools........ Placement and Tenure of Teachers Specifically Prepared for Rural Schools. Titles of Curriculums Offered in 200 Small High Schools Trends toward Rural School Consolidation Certain Minimum or Standard Lighting Requirements for Rural Schools. .. . Certain Minimum or Standard Heating and Ventilating seats ments for Rural Schools. . Estimated Personnel Available for Rural Supervision LIST OF CHARTS 240 Elected County Superintendents Compared with Appointed County Superintendents. 242 { Taxes Paid by Farmers in the United States—1927 246 Ratios of Wealth in Rich and Poor Districts facing 247 Ratios of Wealth in Rich and Poor Counties facing 247 Differences in School Opportunities in the United States......... Salaries of Teachers and Certain Other Groups Comparison of Size of Enrolment in Rural and Urban High Schools........... Types of High Schools in Rural Communities Trends in Rural Education—1920-30 Training of Rural School Officials in 23 States LIST OF FIGURES Summary of Reading and Arithmetic Teaching Observed in the Utah School Survey. 262 ES 268 Suggested Activities for Rural Parent-Teacher Associations Direct Procedures in Supervision Some Indirect Means of Improving Instruction FOREWORD Since its organization, the National Education Association has been interested in every worth while effort to provide each child in America with a fair and adequate educational opportunity. Probably no one group of children has been so continuously or severely handicapped by inadequate educational facilities as the children of rural people. This bulletin makes vividly definite a series of general facts which have long been recognized. Well-informed educators have always known that rural children were not receiving as good an educational opportunity as city children. The extent and severity of this handicap is brought out with startling clearness in these pages To point out the existence of these inequalities is only the first and least important function of this publication. Having summarized existing conditions and shown the need for remedial meas ures in rural education, the bulletin goes on to the more important task of suggesting what these measures may be. These methods of attack, these improved procedures, these changes in plans of administration, finance, and instruction constitute a most essential and valuable contribution It is not suggested that the education of rural children be made identical with that of urban children. Differing needs and environments must be taken into account. But neither the urban nor the rural child should be given an inferior education; the opportunity of each should be rich and complete in its kind. The educational needs of rural children are fundamentally simple—trained and professionally-minded teachers, safe and healthful schoolhouses, a dynamic curriculum. This bulletin points out some of the ways in which these rights of the rural child may be assured The content of this bulletin should become a part of the professional background of every rural school teacher and administrator in the country. It should be studied by those who are pre paring to enter rural school work. It has a message, too, for city school teachers and officials, for one of our greatest needs in educational leadership is a point of view which transcends local beundaries and includes the welfare of all children in its purpose. The facts in this publication should be brought forcibly and repeatedly to the attention of every state legislature until laws are enacted which will restore to the rural child the educational rights granted him by the federal and state constitutions. Let no one read this bulletin and passively accept it. Let it become a center of disturbance, a starting point in a nation-wide campaign to bring relief to the farm by educating the farmer’s children. J. W. CRABTREE, Secretary, National Education Association. OS The Scope of the Problem of Rural Education Rural education’ is about one-third of the Nation’s total educational task. According to the 1930 census 44,600,000 persons live in unincorporated and rural terri- tory. This constitutes 36 percent, or about one- third, of the total population of the United States.” About nine million farm children are en- rolled in public elementary and secondary schools in the United States. This means that ene school child in every three comes from the farm. There are about one hundred fifty thousand one-room schoolhouses in use in the United States. This means that about three-fifths of all public school buildings are of the familiar one- room “little-red”’ type. In addition, many farm children are enrolled in the Nation’s eighteen thousand consolidated schools and twenty thou- sand two-room schools. Approximately two hundred thousand teach- ers are working in one-room or two-room rural schools. These teachers constitute nearly one- third of the Nation’s army of 640,000 elemen- tary public school teachers. Likewise, among the two hundred thousand high-school teachers, about 75,000 are employed in small rural and village high schools.® The preceding facts reveal something of the importance of rural schools in the national pro- gram of education, but the full significance of rural education cannot be estimated solely in such numerical terms. The service of the school to the children, youths, and adults in rural areas has for America a significance which ex- tends far beyond the mere statistical statement that it involves about one-third of the total edu- cational job. It is not a function of the present bulletin to examine in detail all these economic and social implications of the rural school prob- lem. However, by way of introduction, a few of these relationships may be briefly mentioned. In the first place, rural education is important because agriculture is our greatest and our basic national industry. Second, the rural school is the one widely available public agency can assume responsibility for the health, , fare, and protection of the rural child w! the home becomes unable or unwilling to acc: these functions. Finally, an effective rural sch: is an essential element in the education of children for the responsibilities of citizens in a democracy. In a word, rural education important because rural life itself is important There is little reason to suppose that basic problems of rural education are transito: The social composition of the rural population may change. Methods of farming may be rey: lutionized. Inventions and machinery, such as the telephone and the tractor, may reorganiz: the whole social and economic ‘background of rural life. The tides of population may ebb and flow between city and country. Amidst all this change, the education of the farm child fo: twentieth-century citizenship in a democracy) remains a baffling problem and a continuing challenge. Rural Education and Child Welfare Under the conditions ordinarily found in the open country and in small village communities, the one important public agency for child wel fare is the school. Students of the health of chil dren agree that the school program and envi ronment play a major part in the building of sound physique and in the development of life long health habits. In rural areas where high), specialized medical advice, health clinics, hos pitals, and frequently even the most essential medical services are not available, the responsi bility of the school is exceptionally heavy. With respect to child labor, too, students of the ques tion agree that school attendance laws represent the best approach to the difficult problem of child labor in agriculture. In the open country, where charitable agencies, special institutions, and other social services are not to be found, the school must assume an unusually larg: share of the responsibility for the protection of childhood. 1 Rural education as used in this bulletin, unless otherwise defined, refers to the education of children, youths, and adult residing on farms. Rural school means a school located in the open a or a school in a village or town which serves also a cor efin: siderable farm area. Rural children means farm boys and girls. These d itions are not proposed as more desirable or more a: rate than others. They are used merely to facilitate the discussion in this bulletin and to isolate a specific and definite pr: blet Because of incomplete data it will be necessary at times to use the term rural as defined by the Census Bureau and other agen Where this is done, however, the fact will be noted. rtment of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census; United States Summary. (Population Bulletin, First U.S. Series). Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1931. . 78. * Estimates based on Phillips, Frank M. Statistics of State School Systems, 1927-28. U.S. Department of the Interior, Offic: Education, Bulletin, 1930, No. 5, Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1930. p. 28-31. Gaumnitz, W. H. Some Compara Statistics of Public School Education for Urtan and Rural Communities. U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of Education, Rur School Circular, 1928. No. 27, Washington, D. C.: Gaumnitz, W. H. The Smallness of America's Rural High Schools. U. S. Depart ment of the Interior, Office of Education, Bulletin, 1930, No. 13. p. 9. [ 234] Rur Ag dustry the c¢ indus’ tiles, vestm™ bined railre steel. great but a more the b tial t T mane for i Let : ers ¢ skys phil ant nent nom legi mut of \ feec peo and pol and pol por of | sch tha yee thi pot th: sta stu of Rural Education and National Welfare Agriculture is by far the largest national in- dustry. In the number of its employees it exceeds the combined employees of the next five largest construction work, railroads, tex- industries tiles, machinery, and coal. In the value of in- vestment, agriculture again exceeds the com- bined total of the five next largest industries— railroads, oil, electricity, lumber, and iron and steel.t The management and protection of this great investment is not merely a rural problem, but a national problem as well. Agriculture is more than an important national industry ; it is the basic industry—the one undertaking essen- tial to the very existence of all other industries. To suppose that national welfare can be per- manently established without a sound program for agriculture is to fall into a serious error. Let agriculture cease to function, and the dwell- ers of cities would soon be willing to barter skyscrapers for a loaf of bread. The American philosophy of life does not contemplate a peas- ant farming class bound to the soil and perma- nently relegated to an inferior social and eco- nomic status. The Nation as a whole has a legitimate interest in the upkeep of rural com- munity life. Each farm community is a source of widespread national influence. Its products feed and clothe the urban population ; its young people enter all fields of work in cities, villages, and on farms; its adult inhabitants possess equal political rights with the inhabitants of cities and share actively in the formation of national policies. There is a constant interchange of population between farm and town. One study of these relationships shows that from the high school of a single typical farm community of less than 500 people, there went forth, in the ninety years, 1830-1920, 3,604 men and women. Of this group, more than one-third migrated to points outside the home community, and more than one-sixth went to points outside the home state. The same investigation, after an intensive study of the geographic and occupational scope of this migration, concludes that: The ordinary farm community is shown ‘ to be connected up with the life of the whole Nation. So far-reaching is the influence of a typical obscure farm community that the statesmen and thinking citizens of the Nation appear to be highly interested parties to all rural community problems.” When the Nation recognizes the reciprocal interests of farm and city life, it will accord the same consideration to rural life and rural educa- tion that it now gives to crop reports, food esti- mates, and farm-labor statistics. The farm is the greatest potential market for the products of our manufacturing centers. Rural education helps to place the farmer on a sound economic footing and to assure business stability generally throughout the Nation. A single generation of soundly edu- cated farmers, trained to methods to their work, keenly aware of the apply scientific economic problems relating to production, able and willing to cooperate among themselves, would be a most effective and permanent form of farm relief. That education does function to encourage a progressive and cooperative attitude among farmers is indicated by several recent investiga- tions.* High-school and college graduates con- tribute a relatively large proportion of the members of farmers’ cooperative marketing associations, while those who have had little or no education contribute a relatively large per cent of those who remain outside of the coop- erative associations. The most recent study of this question concludes that: Possession of at least a high-school education seems to be one of the most important single factors in determining membership relations insofar as the data in the survey indicate. Possibly farmers with more formal educational training are accustomed to use their reasoning powers to a greater extent and are, therefore, less influenced by the sway of past experiences which, for the less educated farmers, play a larger role in determining the decisions upon new problems that confront them. The significance of this educational influence in relation to demands for better rural schools and for more adult educa- tional work to make up part of the earlier educational deficiencies of present farmers is self-evident.‘ 1 Evans, Clark. ‘‘ Twenty Giants of American Industry.’’ New York Times. March 25, 1928 2 Hoag, Emily F. The National Influence of a Single Farm Community. U. S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin No. 984 Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1926. p. 55. For additional statistics on the migration of rural high-school gradu- ates, see: Whitlow, C. M. ‘‘ The Geographical Distribution of High-School Graduates."’ School Review 39: 213-16; March, 1951 Dolch, E. W. ‘Geographical and Occupational Distribution of Graduates of a Rural High Schocl."’ School Review 33: 413-21; June, 1925. 3 Manny, T. B. Farmers’ Experiences and Opinions as Factors Influencing Their Cotton-Marketing Methods. U. S. Department f Agriculture, Circular No. 144. January, 1931. 62 p. Jones, J. W., and Jesness, O. B. Membership Relations of Cooperative Asso- ciations. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Circular No. 407. 1927. 29 p. Fetrow, W. W. Altitude of Oklahoma Farmers toward the Oklahoma Cotton Growers’ Association. Oklahoma Experiment Station, Bulletin 178. 60 p. Merrill, F. A. Do jucation Pay the Farmer? U.S. Department of Agriculture, Extension Service Circular 52 1927. Mimeographed, 16 p. Hamer, Oliver Stuart. The Master Farmers of America and Their Education. lowa City: University of lowa, 1930, Studies in Ed tion. First Series No. 193. 151 p. ‘Manny, T. B., idid., p. 51. Such investigations do not mean that all farm children are destined to be farmers and that their education should be framed exclusively in terms of farm life and farm problems. On the contrary, it is accepted that “a percentage of farm youth do, will, and must, so far as we can see, go to the cities as a normal thing.” * As the efficiency of the farmer increases, fewer farmers are needed. The Department of Agri- culture estimates the net movement from farms to cities in the years 1924-1930 at 4,500,000 people.? This means that the rural school must train farm boys and girls so that they can: (1) intelligently decide whether they should leave the farm or stay on the farm and (2) live effec- tively and happily in whichever environment they may choose. Such a program calls for a comprehensive and balanced scheme of student guidance by all of the rural educational forces.* Rural Education and Democratic Government Democratic government presupposes equality of opportunity, especially equality of educa- tional opportunity. A democracy which con- sistently provides inferior schools for a large proportion of its future citizens is in danger. Few would seriously propose that an identical education for farm and city children is either desirable or practicable. However, it is a matter of common knowledge that the rural child is not receiving a fair educational opportunity. While rural children and urban children may well have different educational needs, the schools provided to satisfy these needs should be equally good. The White House Conference on Child Health and Protection demands for every rural child “as satisfactory schooling, health protection, and welfare facilities as the city child.” * In this introductory statement detailed de- scription of the disadvantageous position of rural education cannot be included. A few facts, however, will suffice to place the general situa- tion in outline before us. The inferior educa- tional program offered rural children Tt neither be denied, ignored, nor justified. ‘I}y tion I average salary of teachers in one-room r tor ¢ schools is approximately $900 per year. A mp result, rural children are being taught by tively young, transient, immature, inex; lems. enced, and untrained teachers. Their sc! prob are open thirty-three days less each year t exist city schools. They enjoy fewer high-school proj portunities. While three city school child selec out of every ten are enrolled in high scho only one rural school child in every ten is e rolled in high school. Rural school buildi: l are worth about one-third as much as city sc] buildings. Rural schools spend less than hal{ thes much for educational equipment as city sch: spend. In safety, comfort, health, sanitat attractiveness, and equipment, the rural scho house lags behind. These are undeniable fact secu familiar to everyone who knows the rural sc! 3 situation.® The above facts and many more that w 5 be presented later show conclusively that in sche America today equal educational opportunit 6 is a myth. Until such conditions as these widely known and resolutely faced, there is : possibility of realizing the American ideal of » g complete educational opportunity for ev: ten child. Once these facts become generally known and their bearing and importance are genera! understood, school people should point the w to a solution of the urgent problems of ru: education. Purposes and Scope of this Bulletin co The purposes of this bulletin are to facilitate the study of rural school conditions and to en courage measures to meet the needs thus re \\ vealed. The bulletin describes, in as definite and exact terms as possible, some of the salient characteristics of rural education as conducted in the United States at present. Building on this factual basis, the bulletin suggests steps { meeting the needs revealed. As far as space p mits, examples of progressive practice are cited 0 1 Galpin, C. J., quoted in Frost, Norman. ‘‘The Adjustment of Education to the Needs of Farm-Dwelling People."’ Bull: t artment mend of Rawal Education. W D.C: N National Educati of the De: ton, D. C. — pamecaticn. February, 1930. p. 21-24. 2U. Bureau of Agricultural Economics, The Agricultural Situation, Vol. 15, No. 3. Wa le , March 1, t 2S eaches , O, Latham. Rural Boys and Girke, § New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1930. 326 p. * White House Conference on Guiding Health and Protection. Proceedings, Washington, D. C.: U. S. Daily, November 2° 930. Section II, , art th Piven in thie is taken from advance data collected for the 1929-30 Biennial Survey of Educatio: the United States of Education. For other sources, consult the i references: ee W. H. Some Com pores Statistics of Public School Education in Urban and R ural Communities. U.S. of the Interior, Office of Education, Ru Circular, 1928, No. 27. Crabtree, J. W. ‘Statement before the Committee on Education and Labor.” U. S. Senate, Feb ary 1 1931. Hearing oo, oe 1491 A’ Bill To Aid in the Reduction of T: Taxes on Farm Lands Washington, D. C.: Gove! ment al Problems in Rural Education.” Journal of the National Educa ting Office. p. 6-9. Carr, William G. ‘Some Cruci Aseesiatien 19: 282-84; Yok ~ 1930. [ 236] ‘lhe many and varied aspects of rural educa- tion make it necessary to subdivide the problem for convenience in discussion. In order to ac- complish this purpose the general field of rural education has been divided into ten major prob- lems. In connection with each of these ten problems the bulletin gives a brief analysis of existing conditions and needs, a description of proposed and applied solutions, and a carefully selected bibliography which it is hoped will lead to further study of the various problems handled. Ten Problems of Rural Education of the literature on rural education suggests Review these ten basic problems: 1. How can better units of administration be pro- vided? 2. How can more adequate financial support be secured ? 3. How can rural boys and girls be kept in school? 4. How can the rural school curriculum be vital- ized? 5. How can better teaching be done in schools? rural 6. How can rural people be kept interested in their schools ? 7. How can better trained teachers be provided for rural schools? 8. How can secondary school opportunities be ex- tended to rural boys and girls? 9. How can rural school buildings be made more attractive and useful? 10. How can rural teachers be given helpful super- vision? These ten problems may be further sub- divided into many more, but they represent a convenient basic list to which the various issues in rural education can be referred. The arrange- ment of the ten problems does not represent an attempt to place them in order of importance. While all the problems mentioned are highly important, their relative significance will vary among different communities and states. How To Use this Bulletin In the preparation of this bulletin the needs of the following groups have been kept in mind: 1. County and other rural school superin- tendents can use the bulletin as a handbook of information for themselves and for thei: It suggests certain basic princip! cs ) school administration and shows how these principles have been put into effect. ‘he entire bulletin or selected parts of it can be used as a basis for rural teachers’ institutes. It fruitful fields for local problems and supplies a basis suggests study and investigation of ing local and national statistics. 2. State and county rural sche will be especially interested in the the curriculum, effective teaching, supervision. They will want to « facts presented here with the conditi ing in schools which they serve. ‘They may want to call particular portions of the bullet: attention of individual teachers and parents. 3. Principals of rural consolidated schools will find similar uses for this bulletin. 4. Rural parent-teacher associations unde: wise leadership can devote a series of meetings to the consideration of this bulletin and to its application to their own local situation. 5. Instructors and supervisors in rural edu cation courses given in departments of educa tion, teachers colleges, and normal schools can use the bulletin as a textbook or as supplemen tary reading material. 6. Trustees and school boards for rural, con solidated, and township districts can use the bulletin as a ready source of information con cerning progressive policies and practices in rural education. 7. Editors of rural newspapers and maga zines can use the bulletin as a handbook of infor mation and as a basis for editorials on the pat ticular problems in rural education which claim their interest. These and other groups should find the bulle tin helpful. All who use it should ask them- selves: What does this bulletin contain that will help me? How does it apply to the problems of my class, my school system, my community? How can I help to improve rural education ? Such an attitude will make the bulletin achieve its ultimate goal—an adequate educa- tional opportunity for every rural child. 5 oreo Bie soe ee ree was ats - x ieee eS ee en rd Present Conditions Nothing is more unanimously agreed upon both by educational leaders and students of gov- ernment than the inadequacy of the present unit for administering rural schools in most states. Repeated studies show that too small units are excessively expensive and educationally ineffec- tive. Many authoritative studies of state school organization emphasize the need for thinking of education in terms larger than the small rural district. Following are a few typical recommendations from state school surveys: Arkansas: As long as the district system is main- tained, the inequalities in the wealth of districts are so great as to make impossible any significant ap- proach to equality in school funds and consequently in educational opportunity for the children of Ar- kansas. Arkansas may temporize with the present situation. She may reduce the existing evils, but she cannot cure them unless, or until, she abolishes the district system with its legion of accompanying evils. California: The district unit for school adminis- tration has done its best work; it is expensive and ineffective, and present-day needs in rural education call for its abolition.” Florida: The district system is largely responsible for the glaring inequalities in education.® Illinois: The evils of the district system and the hopelessness of endeavoring to equalize educational opportunity and school burdens as long as the district is maintained as the chief and dominant source of school revenue, have been pointed out by every authority on the organization and support of public schools for the last one hundred years.* Minnesota: Any study of the district system of school support in Minnesota will show that this sys- tem is rife with inequalities and injustice. The dis- trict is toc small and too irregular a unit for satis- factory school administration.5 Missouri: The most fundamental reason for the decline of the rural school is the plan of dividing the territory of the state into small districts. This sys- tem may have answered a need in the day when it was established but that day is long since gone.° New Jersey: A study of existing conditions in the rural schools leads inevitably to the conclusion that a satisfactory schooling cannot be provided for the 1. Efficient Units of Administration 1U.S. Department of the satoster, B Bureau of Education. The Public School System af Arkansas. Bulletin, 1923, No. 11. W ington, D. Le Government wey ee ce, 1923. Part II, *‘ Public School Finance." * Calif om children of these schools under the present d system." Oklahoma: As to preserving the district syst cause of its so-called democracy, we may state | the chief reason for demanding its abolition is ¢| it is the most undemocratic system that cou devised. The essence of democracy is equalit opportunity. We have shown that the district s not only fails to provide such equality but | any approach to equality impossible.” South Dakota: The small school district is an a most insurmountable obstacle to the type of sc} organization required by a modern rural populat Proposed Remedies - Although these and other surveys show that the typical small unit of administration is exces sively expensive for the quantity and quality of educational service received, there is no unan imity of opinion as to what larger unit may be best substituted for the district system. Indeed it is unlikely that any one plan could be applied with uniformly excellent results to all states and communities. Each state has its own prob lems ; and after learning all that it can from the comparative experience of other states, each state must work out its own solution in the light of sound principles and an adequate anal) sis of local needs and conditions. The following are the principal larger unit in use or proposed at present: the consolidated school district, the superintendency union, th: township unit, the community unit, and ¢! county unit. Each will be briefly discussed. Consolidated school districts—The conso! dated school district is not necessarily bounded by the lines of any other existing political unit It is simply a union of two or more schoo! d tricts. Consolidations vary in size. At one e) treme is the consolidation of two very small dis tricts. Such a consolidation may still employ only one teacher, furnish no transportation, en roll only a dozen children, and represent little or no significant educational advance over the former two separate districts. On the othe: a Special ——t mittee on Education. Report. Sacramento, Cali: State of California, 1920 p. 51-2. Educational Commission. Oficial Report to the Senate and House of Representatives, Florida State Legis! § Florida bie) - Apr. 2, 1929. p. 286. Studies in Public School Finance, the Middle West. Education Series No. 3. Minneapolis, M her Harper. University pp aA 1925. p. 80. wed. 4 Harper. Ibid. Engicharde, N. L., directors. ‘* Prelimina ay rt of the Survey of the Public Schools and H Institutions in ie Sate of of Missouri.” Eightieth Annual Report of the P’ chools, Part I, Jefferson City, Missouri, 1929. p Harlan, director. Report of the Commission to Survey Public Education. Trenton, N. J.: State of New Jersey 1 p. 139, U.S. iain of the Interior, Bureau of Education. ‘Public Education in Oklahoma. Washington, D. C.: Govern: Printing Office, 1922. p. 49 *U. S. Depa rtment of the Interior, Bureau of Education. The Educational System of South Dakota. Bulletin, 1918, N Washington, D, C.: Government Printing Office, 1918. p. 28. [ 238] Inan 1) be deed 1 ’ piled tates hand, some consolidations include a large ter- ritory, use a large fleet of buses for pupil trans- portation, maintain an extensive elementary and secondary school program, and even pro- vide homes for the faculty and for some of the pupils. Some consolidated districts maintain a school in the open country, some at crossroads, some in a village or town. Some may maintain a number of schoolhouses scattered throughout the consolidated area, but all under one admin- istration. The laws governing the consolidation of schools also vary widely in strength. Some states merely permit consolidation of school districts if authorized at an election in the dis- tricts concerned; others require an election to be called under certain conditions; still others compel consolidation of districts in certain cases. The great variability among consolidated schools is well brought out by an investigation of 260 typical consolidations reported in 1924. The middle fifty percent of these consolidations varied approximately as indicated below: Area included in consolidation, 25 to 65 miles Taxable property in consolidated area, $750,000 to $2,500,000 Cost per pupil enrolled, $55 to $110 Value of school property, $30,000 to $100,000 Average daily elementary school attendance, 120 to 270 Number of teachers in elementary grades, 2-10 Average one-way distance of transportation fur- nished, 3.5 to 7 miles. When it is remembered that the above figures exclude the extreme variations in the upper and lower quarters of the 260 consolidations, and that all the consolidations included in the study were named as “typical’’ by their state depart- ments of education, the great diversity of the consolidated school is apparent. Variety, then, is the rule in consolidations. For this reason, it is impossible to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of consolidated schools in general. However, it is generally true that consolidations make for better classification and grading of pupils, allow some specialization of work among teachers, and can provide better buildings and equipment at little or no increased total outlay. Furthermore, when many small schools are consolidated under favorable condi- tions fewer teachers need to be employed. 1Abel, James F. A Study of 260 School Consolidations. U.S. Money saved can be spent for transportation of pupils, for better salaries, and for general en largement and improvement of the work of the school. Consolidated schools also frequently serve as community centers, decreasing the iso a lation of rural life. Some consolidated school districts are able to provide secondary school opportunities, specialized vocational education and guidance, dormitories for students residing at a great distance, diversified social and extra curriculum programs, and other advantages. Many investigations have been reported com- paring the achievement of pupils in one-room schools with those in the larger and consolidated rural schools. While these studies are not com- pletely unanimous, a large majority of them show that pupils in the larger schools have mastered the fundamentals of learning better, grade for grade, than those trained in one teacher schools.2 While the mere consolidation of rural schools is not in itself a guarantee of improved educational achievement, the data assembled indicate that, on the whole, pupils in the larger rural schools are learning more in the subjects of instruction that can be measured. Data from a group of studies bear ing on this point are shown in Chart | All of the foregoing advantages, however, inhere in any unit large enough to make for efficient and economical education. hey are not peculiar to consolidated school districts but may be found in some township and county units as well. There are also some disadvantages of the consolidated district which should be men- tioned. First, since consolidation is generally on a voluntary or semi-voluntary basis, it is often brought about very slowly and with dispropor- tionate effort. There is always the possibility of bargaining and vote-trading among the dis- tricts voting on a consolidation referendum with the consequent danger that the educational interests of the children may be neglected. Furthermore, voluntary consolidation proceeds according to no large-scale plan. Future devel- opment may not be anticipated, districts which should be included may be omitted, and some small districts with many children and little wealth may be left “stranded” between two or more consolidated districts which for selfish reasons do not wish to extend their boundaries. Department of the Interior, Bureau 1924, No. 32. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1924. 39 p ? Covert, Timon. Educational Achievements of One-Teacher and of Larger Rural Schools. U.S. Depirtm reau of Education, Bulletin, 1928, No. 15. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1928. 23 p [ 239 1 J Again, when high-school districts are consoli- dated while corresponding elementary school districts are left decentralized, the latter may find themselves unable to obtain adequate funds. With all these disadvantages, the consolidated district represents, under the school laws now in force in many states, an important step for- ward and is the only method by which desirable enlargement of rural school units may be secured. Superintendency unions'—In New England the basic units of school control are the towns. These are units of irregular shape and widely varied area and population. While the towns are, on the average, much larger than the one- room school districts of the West and Middle- West, it has been urged that many of these towns could profitably be combined for school purposes. Thisis being gradually accomplished in several of the New England states.2 Connecticut has grouped its 94 towns under 17 field super- 1 Cubberley, Ellwood P. State School Administration. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., State a Administration. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., visors and 26 town supervising agents appoi: by the State Board of Education. Maine brought its 500 towns under 130 town u: superintendents, appointed by the several t: school committees. Massachusetts has placed 230 towns under 76town unionsuperintende: chosen as in Maine. New Hampshire follow similar plan, placing its 221 towns unde: union superintendents nominated by the j. board of the town union and appointed by State Board of Education. Rhode Island 15 towns, 9 of which are under union to superintendencies and 6 remain under a sin town administration. Vermont has a rat complicated system of intermediate distri which involves the grouping of many of towns into single units for school adminis: tive purposes. Several other intermediate units are in which are somewhat similar in principle to t New England town unions. These include t 927. p. 185-91. Cook, W. A. Feder 1927. p. 183-5. S. Department of the Interior, Office of Education. Educational Directory, Part I. Bulletin, 1931, No. 1. Washi D. C.: : Goversment Printing Office, 1931. p. 20-31. 1930-31." ‘Salaries and Certain Provisions Relating to Rural School Superinten Journal of the National Education Association 20: 186. May, 1931. CHART I ACHIEVEMENT IN READING ACHIEVEMENT IN ARITHMETIC COMPARISONS OF ACHIEVEMENT IN LARGE AND SMALL RURAL SCHG@DLS ACHIEVEMENT IN SPELLING ” Based. on 51 Comparisons Based on &2 Comparisons Based, on 3{ Comparisons [] Percent. of comparisons in. which childeen fiom lagee rural schools showed superior ability. GE feecent of comparisons in whuch. children from small rural schools showed superior abuty Stesearch Dunsiwon Aatanal Lducaton As. oe Goo, Rage Based. fducatianal Nctuevements Settods, U.S. Department of the interior, Office of Education, O& Qre-leacter aad of Larger fucal Bulletin . 1926, No.iS, p.i9 [240] magisterial districts of West Virginia, the magisterial districts and division superintend- encies of Virginia, and the system of district superintendents of New York.’ T ownship unit—The township is a unit orig- inally adopted by Congress as a convenient basis for surveying the public lands. It is a perfectly square area, six miles on each side, and its border lines have not the slightest relation to natural seographic boundaries. The township as a form of local school administration is strongest in Indiana and the Dakotas, with limited use in Illinois, lowa, Michigan, and elsewhere.’ That the township system represents an ad- vance over the small district unit is generally agreed. But students of rural school administra- tion point out many disadvantages, chiefly be- cause it cannot coincide with natural geographic boundaries. There is little evidence that this unit is being seriously considered for possible adoption in additional states. Community unit—lIt is a matter of common observation that there exist in rural areas cer- tain social and economic groups. The members of these groups use a common trading center, attend the same rural or village churches and lodges, and use the same postoffice and railroad station. Many investigations have shown that it is possible to locate these groups and to deter- mine the boundary lines which separate them from similar groups.® It has been suggested, notably by the New York Rural School Survey, that these com- munity areas be defined and utilized as the local unit for school control.* The essential features of the community unit idea have been sum- marized thus :5 1. The territory outside of cities and villages of 4500 or more population is to be laid out in local dis- tricts without reference to the boundaries of political units. In the formation of the districts factors to be considered are: roads, topography, and existing trade, social, and educational centers. Provision is made for the modification of boundaries as changes 1 These plans are described and evaluated in the following references: Cavins, L. Virginia, Vol. 1. Charleston, West Va.: State Board of Education, 1928. p. 110-26. O'Shea, M. V., in transportation, communication, or educational needs might dictate. 2. The local enough to maintain economically an units thus selected are to be large effective four year high school. * 3. The community { units are to integrate the edu cational interests of town and country Che rural portions of the unit are to be an integral part of the administrative scheme. 4. An intermediate unit is to be fo ing community units for supervisory administrative purposes. All school units tend to become, in a sense, community units. But the plan of dividing an entire state into communities of unified social and economic units for the purposes of school administration has not yet been tried. ‘The con- solidated school district is in many cases a true community district also. Valuable guidance for rural school administration in a given state could doubtless be obtained by determining the boundaries of the natural communities within the state and comparing these with existing school district and attendance district lines. The county unit—Few terms in school ad- ministration have so many meanings as the term county unit.® The term is used here to mean a plan of school administration under which the county is the unit of direct local school control, recognized as such by statute, and administered by a county board of education through an appointed county superintendent and his staff. Differences of opinion exist as to the effective- ness of the county unit in achieving desirable educational objectives. ‘There is need for a care- ful evaluation of results secured under the county unit plan and under other plans. A few such studies have already been reported and the factual reached, subject, however, to further checking following conclusions have been and verification: 1. County superintendents selected under the ap- pointive, county-unit plans have training than those selected by See Chart II. more advanced general election.’ Education in West V., director. Survey of ‘ Public Education in director Virginia, Richmond, Va.: Educational Commission, 1928. p. 69, 302-8. Morrison, J. Cayce. ‘Clarifying the Aims of Rural School Service.”" Nation's Schools 7: 21-6, March, 1931. 2 Cubberley, E. P. op. cit., p. 193. * For example: Sanderson, D. and Thompson, W. S. The Social Areas of Otsego County, New York. Bulletin No. 422 Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University, 1923. Kalb, J. H. Rural Primary Groups. Research Bulletin No. 51. Madison, Wisconsin: Wisconsin Agri- cultural Experiment Station, 1921. * Works, George A., director. Rural School Survey of New York State, Vol. 1. Ithaca, N. Y.: Joint Committe: 1922. p. 198 ff. 5 Based on: Works, George A. *‘ Adaptation of Local School Administration to Rural Conditions."’ Educational and Supervision 15: 574-80. November, 1929 * Butterworth, Julian E. ‘‘Types of County Educational Control in the United States." 15: 349-56. May, 1927. ? Tink, Edmund Lewis. Certain Phases of County Educational Organization. Contributions to Education, No on Rural Schools, idministration ucational Research Journal of Ed 363. New York; Columbia University. 1929. p. 35. This study compares the appointive county superintendents of Alabama, North Carolina, and Maryland with the elected superintendents of Florida. Clough, G. O. ‘The Appointed County Superintendent,”’ Georgia Educational Journal 23: 13-15. April, 1931. This study com- pares superintendents in Texas and Louisiana, the latter a county-unit state. [ 241] 2. County superintendents under the appointive 3. Appointive county superintendents constit plan possess more educational experience than those more stable working group than those cl under the elective plan. The elective officials more popular election. They retain their positions commonly come from non-educational fields of work and serve second terms more frequently.” S or from non-administrative educational work.’ See _ II. Chart II. 4. Salaries paid to appointed superintende ' Tink, E. L. op. cit., p. 37-42; Clough, G. O., op. cit., p. 13. ? Tink, E. L. op. cit., p. 42-3. CHART II —E : —— ; ELECTED COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS COMPARED WITH APPOINTED COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS ( DIFFERENT SCALES) courge |__[2ib vears) 7 TRAINING ‘ | EDUCATIONAL 1.3 YEARS - ; TENURE: ; | PERCENT SERVING A SECOND TERM PROFESSIONAL | GROWTH : | PERCENT ATTEND- ING SUMMER | CLASSES | TIME SPENT IN _S2% ] fh] SUPERVISION | | TIME SPENT IN [31%] 3. | ) CLERICAL WORK i C7 Elected. (Florida ) + | mmm Appointed (Alabama, Maryland,and North Carolina ) : >. a | | Sescarch Dwiston, Aetional Lducatiate As Based. on Tink, EL. Grtawe ‘Nases of Qunty Laucatiaad Xganzatiate, p 52-70 i —— A [ 242 ] “ not higher than those paid elected county tendents, except in markedly superior.’ superin- cases where qualifications are 5. County superintendents chosen by appointment more active professionally than those chosen by They attend summer school more present ilar election. frequently, are sional meetings, rofessional writing.” See Chart II. more regularly at profes and do more research work and The county superintendent who is selected by appointment is typically service than the superintendent who is elected. He gives more time to holding professional meetings with teachers, in his work, reserves more time to the supervision and improvement of instruction, and devotes less See Chart II. unit of administration is accom- more active in educational uses more educational organizations time to routine clerical activities. 7. The county panied by “development and improvement in the degree of equality which exists in the educational offerings made in one-room schools, in two-room schools, and in mixed and graded schools.” In other words, the county unit is generally associated with the removal of educational inequalities.* In common with other plans involving or en- couraging the use of larger units, the county-unit plan may make substantial savings in overhead ex- penditures.” The presence of the county unit of school ad- ministration encourages the consolidation of schools, the provision of transportation for school children, and the abandonment of unnecessarily small attend- ance districts.° Characteristics of a good unit for rural school administration—No single type of administra- tive unit is equally effective in all parts of the Nation or even in all parts of a single state. For any given area, that unit is best which most effectively aids the educational process. What- ever this unit may be it will possess in every case certain characteristics. Comparison of three lists of the characteristics of a good unit of school administration indicates that such a unit will include as far as possible these conditions.’ An effective unit is large enough and financially strong enough to cooperate efficiently with the state and other agencies in financing a good elementary school program. 2. An effective unit reduces as far as possible the number and extent of inequalities in ability to finance 1 Ibid, p. 45-6. * Ibid, p. 47-57. * Ibid, p. 57-69. ‘Nuttall, L. John. Progress in Adjusting Differences of Amount of Educational Opportunity Offered under ystems of Maryland and Utah. Contributions to Education, No. 431. New York: Bureau of Public bia University, 1931. p. 78. § See, for example: Barnes, Chester H. ‘* Financial Aspects of a County Unit of Administration for Pennsylvania.’ a complete elementary and secondary offering. 3. An « interest in and understanding of the school pro 4. An political control 5S An ttective unit retains and develops etfective unit provides cor effective unit fessional supervision 6. An in the etfective unit reduces g differences educational offering availab] different groups of children. An effective unit provides an varied curriculum. While no one of the above criteria is accept taken together represent a cross-section of the findings of ex able if considered by itself, they perience and study. In applying these chat teristics of an effective unit in a particular local situation, due regard must be had to local con ditions and the degree of emphasis placed on each of the criteria should vary in terms of these conditions. It is recognized also that, while de sirable standards for school units may be de veloped, special conditions ot scattered popula tion or geographical barriers will frequently demand special administrative arrangements. Research as to the effectiveness of various local The following program for research on types of school units is badly needed. this problem has recently been formulated.* 1. What type of local school unit is desirable particular situation? a. What grades are to be included b. What curriculums are needed ? c. What extension of the school program to adults is desirable? d. What wealth is needed to supply the facilities ? above e. How many pupils are above facilities? necessary to justify the 2. What social and psychological factors ought to be considered ? a. What are the facilities for communication and transportation ? b. What racial, national, religious, or business groups are present? c. How will the presence of these groups affect the public attitude toward the school ? occupational, tne County l/ nit ations, Teachers College, Colum- Twelfth Annual Schoolmen's Week Proceedings. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1925. p. 51-6. Myers, J. E The County Unit Plan.” Oregon Educational Journal 3: 5, 19-20. January, Boar to Save Money.” in Frederick County, Maryland. Sixty-fourth Annual Report, Abe Bulletin, 1923, No. 41. Washington, D. C. ? Based on lists of criteria for the local unit of school administration as presented by: Thirtieth Yearbook, Part 1. National Society for the Study of Education. Bloomington, III Sx . 01 Units.” 1929. Richardson, E. S. “ Nation's Se hools 3: 27-32, April, 1929. Palmer, G. Lloyd and Biehl, J. C Baltimore, Md.: [ 1, James F. Consolidation of Schools and Transportation of Pupils. U. S. Department of the Interior, Office : Government Printing Office, 1923. p. 24-5, 82-99, How the County Unit System Enables the “A Study of Cor State Board of Education, 1930 of Education Butterworth, Julian E. *‘ Types of Local Public School Publishing Co., 1931. p. 202-6. Cook, William A., Federal a Si ~yi Sc chool Administration, New York: Crowell Company, 1927. ‘‘Character- istics of an Efficient Unit,"’ p. 187-92. Works, George Pennsylvania Schoolmen's Week Proceedings. ‘Philadelphia: University “*Types of Local School Units, op. cit., p. 205-6 * Adapted from Butterworth, Julian E. ‘The Community as a Lo ‘al Unit of Administration Ninth Annual , of Pennsylvania Press. 1922. p. 131-4 [ 243 ] 3. What variety in local units is desirable? 6. Cook, KATHERINE M. Rural Education in 1926-28 U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of | cation, Bulletin 1929, No. 18. Washington, D Government Printing Office, 1929. 44 p. Contains sections on “Centralizing Tend: in State and County Administration,” “Changes Affecting Local Administration,” and “Cent a. Is the same unit equally effective for all states? b. Is the same unit equally effective for all areas within a given state? The answers to such questions as these, com- bined with the general guiding principles cited zation of Small Schools and Districts.” above, would probably suggest what local school t - h P ° hiked a ffici 7. Cooper, W. J. “Some Suggestions for Impr: — = —— 7 . ety —_ most eancsent. Rural School Administration and Sup, This theoretical basis of selection would doubt- Proceedings, 1929. Vol. 67. Washington, D less need to be submitted to the tests of practical National Education Association, 1929. p. 501 Recommends larger units of administrat and suggests among other things the need { new plan of finance and a new system of tributing state funds. experience and controlled experimentation. Selected References 8. Covert, Timon. Educational Achievement One-Teacher and of Larger Rural Schools. | Department of the Interior, Office of Educat Bulletin 1928, No. 15. Washington, D. C.: « ernment Printing Office, 1928. 23 p. A study made to determine whether the chang: from a small to a larger school organization rural territory results in greater educational ciency. Finds in a majority of cases that p in larger rural schools are better trained. 1. ALMACK, JouHNn C., and Burscn, James F. The Administration of Consolidated and Village Schools. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1925. 466 p. Discusses the special problems of administra- tion of consolidated and village schools; such as, the school lunch, the management of a transpor- tation system, and the development of a suitable supervisory program. 9. CUBBERLEY, ELLWoop P. State School Admi 2. Bonaas, Jutius, and Serxe, Grorce A. Rural tration. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton M School Administration and Supervision. New . - York: D. C. Heath and Company, 1926. 260 p. a. Campeny, 1927. p. 189-008. Among other phases of rural education the authors discuss the adjustment of school admin- istration and supervision to rural life. Gives historical background of educatior administration and describes various types administrative units. Discusses the problem rural school administration in relation to char 3. Burris, BENJAMIN J. The County School System, in modern life. How Organized and Administered. Indiana Edu- cation Bulletin No. 73. Indianapolis, Indiana: Department of Public Instruction, 1924. 56 p. A study of the merits of the county unit for 10. DeFFENBAUGH, W. S. School Administration State Educational Survey Reports. U. S. De; ment of the Interior, Office of Education, Bu! 1930, No. 35. Washington, D. C.: Govern: eeueeens Printing Office, 1930. 34 p. 4. BuTTeRWorTH, JULIAN E. Rural School Adminis- Summarizes data and recommendations f: tration. New York: Macmillan Company, 1927. state educational survey reports on vari 379 p. phases of local school administration. A consideration of major problems of organi- zation and administration of rural school sys- tems of America. 11. Worxs, Georce A. The Community as a Loca Unit of Rural School Administration. Universit) of Pennsylvania, Bulletin, Vol. 23, No. 1, p. 13! 5. Carr, WittiaM G. The County Unit of School 42. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Administration. New York: H. W. Wilson Com- 1922. pany, 1931. 144 p. Defines the “Community” and lists functions A handbook for discussion groups and debaters be performed by the local school organizati presenting arguments for and against the county Map suggesting community units in Delawar unit of school administration. County, New York. ’ HE DiSTRICT unit is too small and teo unequal in resources for taxing purposes or for supervision, and the substitution of some larger unit for rural school administration and support is necessary if any substantial progress in rural education is te be made—Cudbberley, Ellwood P. State School Administration. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1927. p. 258. [ 244 ] 1930 TA 2. Adequate Financing \merica is a wealthy nation, yet we have in many states rural schools which under present laws cannot possibly be given adequate financial support. This seeming paradox is due to three ic Causes: 1. Methods of raising public revenues are anti- quated and inefficient. 2. The Nation’s wealth is unevenly distributed among the states, counties, and school districts, while methods used to apportion central school funds fail to recognize these existing differences in ability to pay for schools. 3. Units of administration are too small for effec- tive financial management. Discussion of the first two points only is pre- sented here, since the need for a larger unit of administration has been discussed under the preceding topic. Present Status of Financial Support of Rural Schools The financial support accorded rural schools at present is far below the amount needed to permit them to meet their great responsibility and far below the amount available for city schools. While recent data are lacking, figures for 1925-26 indicate that rural schools are cheaper schools than urban schools, and that the amount spent for them is insufficient to pro- vide adequate educational services. These facts are presented in Table 1. The facts must be critically evaluated. Undoubtedly, a salary of $855 in a rural community has greater purchas- ing power than the same salary would. have in a large city. Factors other than the different costs of living in country and city may also com- pensate somewhat for the differences revealed in Table 1. However, even when all such fac tors are allowed for, the financial differential operating against the education of the rural child is serious. The plain the discrimination against the Some seek to ex rural child in terms of the financial inability of the United States to farmer and his taxes educate every one of its children. Economists and other students who have inves tigated this question, however, assure us that the United States spends relatively little on education—less than 3 percent of its national income, as a matter of fact.’ ‘The evidence is clear that it is well within the financial ability of America to give every child a rich and com plete educational opportunity. We must reject the explanation that rural children are handi capped because the Nation cannot afford to edu cate them. Yet farm taxes are high and school taxes constitute a significant portion of the farmer’s total tax load. Each year thousands of farms are seized by the sheriff for delinquent taxes. ‘The fact is that in spite of great national wealth, the method in use for raising public revenues is so inadequate, inefficient, and unjust that more generous support for schools must, in many places, await comprehensive revision of the tax program. The farmer is one of the chief sufferers from the almost exclusive reliance on the general property tax which still encumbers the public revenue systems of the United States. In 1926 27, the latest years for which a comprehensive national study is available, taxes claimed about 30 percent of the net rent of farm real estate. On the basis of intensive studies in 14 states 1 National Education Association, Research Division. *‘ Investing in Public Education."’ Research Bulletin 8: 193; September, 1930. Washington, D. C.: the Association. I TABLE 1.—FINANCIAL STATISTICS OF URBAN AND RURAL SCHOOLS, 1925-26: Financial factor 1 . Current expense per pupil in average daily attendance. . . Capital outlay per pupil in average daily attendance... 3. Total cost per pupil in average daily attendance . Value of school property per child enrolled....... . Average salary of teachers, supervisors, and principals. 1 Gaumnitz, W. H. Some Comparative Statistics of Public School Education in Urban and Rural Communities. U. S Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education, Rural School Circular No. 27. Washington, D. C. 1928. p. 5. In this table rural means open country and centers under 2,500 in population. Percent rural is Rural of urban 2 : 4 $100.31 62.5 29.51 2 41.6 129.82 7 57.8 299.00 33.1 1787.00 47.8 [ 245] —— — — the United States Department of Agriculture reached this conclusion : Farm property is heavily taxed and . . . along with other real estate and certain other classes of tangible property, it is bearing more than its reason- able share of the cost of local government. The methods by which the local units are financed place on tangible property almost the whole weight of local expenditures.! The general property tax is by far the most important tax paid by American farmers. In 1927, this tax accounted for more than four- fifths of the total tax collections. Chart III pre- sents graphically the taxes paid by farmers. It indicates the excessive reliance of most states on the general property tax as a source of public revenue. Is the policy shown in Chart III economi- cally sound and equitable ? If we turn to experts in taxation and government for an answer we hear a thorough condemnation of th property tax as at present administered. S$ man of Columbia says: The general property tax as administer: is beyond all doubt the worst tax know civilized world. Bullock of Harvard states that: Far from being an American invention eral property tax is a discarded European d: which has been fastened upon us rather by hist accident than by reason of its peculiarly Am: and democratic qualities Lutz of Stanford refers to “the grave and injustices of the general property tax declares that it disequalizes the tax bur “introduces and perpetuates a very undesir moral attitude toward this, and, in time, tow all tax laws’; permits intangible propert 1 Coombs, Whitney. Taxation"of Farm Property. Technical Bulletin No. 172, February, 1930. United States De; Agriculture. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1930. p. 67. CHART III TAXES PAID BY FARMERS IN.” THE UNITED STATES - 1927 —Automobile License fb y Gasoline Sales Taxes y/ weA 1.7% Federal and State Income Taxe 7% Poll Taxes 7 Seseach Quisiwn Natrona Latucatior Data from Coombs, Whitney, Uzzatar 9 Farm Property. Techaucal Bulletin No, 172, february United States Department, of Agriculture, p 3 1.1% Federal and State Inheritance Taxes [ 246 ] the £ i dey meri Ve eV x.” He urde n esirable toward erty ft tment CHART IV Arkansas {to 3.6 Colorado { to 184 Connecticut { to it Idaho { to 183 Illinois { to {81 Indiara L to 68 Lowa. l to 275 Kansas 1 to 2A Maine i to 93 Massachusetts L to 43 M ichigan. L to 202 Missouri L to 211 Nebraska, Lto &l New Hampshire Lto 3 New Jersey {to 252 New York 1 to 52 Ohio Lto 26 pene vania. L Rhode Island, Lto7 Utah, Lto6 Washington ito 100 RATIOS OF WEALTH IN RICH AN ELE. — ; SOOO III III II IID III III II IOI III CLL J LLddla Lh hnmmtobhnthnthenthnthuthathathenthanthontbanthanthanbhnthenthuthenthentthnltk. ry VSLMIMMVS SAA IrITII IIT ITT ee Vhs 7 hhnhnbhh hhh Mhbuhhhbhhhh hhh hhh WLLL | SLA YU 77 _ QI OI IID. ee 77 ;andnae aaa LIDIIODILIIIL IIIT LLLALLALAAM AMAA AA AMMAMAA AN. Z Z Li ALLMAN MALMMMMMRMAMMMMAMMAMM MAMMAL MMA MMA AAMMMMMAMMMA MM MMMM MN he Vf, QI Atttts I IsIsssMtiLt{i((titiiiiijitittsttts WLLL LLL, @ a? — e LLULMLULLLLLLLL LLL LLL LLL LL LL LL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLM MAMMA AMM MAMMA MA AM MMMM MA AM Md hhh hhh ddd Z . >, LLL Ls hhhhttt yrom LLLMMMMMM MMMM LL LLILLAA MMA A OLMAA AA AMAM AMAA MMM LITT OT MM shsssstI&—(Ntttij {itt MALL QO DODO DDO LLLLLLMA AM A LLAMA MAMA MAMA AMA AMMA ALAA AA LLLLiadalilise Ah MMA hh MAM MMA MMMM AM LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL“””L”””z Li WLLL LLL LL LLL ZILLI LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LL LLL LLL LLLLLLLLLLLL LLL LLL LLL LLL Ahhh hehehehe IIIA LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL VILL LLL LLL LLL LLL LL LLL LLL LLL LL LLL LLL LLL LLL VL LLL LLL VILLA ALLAN VL LL LLL LLL LLL LLL VL LLL WILL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL VZZLLA WZ * eis “i Pim im cea ; ‘Macelech.dbet! s,and Rhode Island. . CHART IV a \LTH IN RICH AND POOR DiI = VILL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LALLA ULL LLL LLL LL LLL LLL LLL LLL LL LLL LLL LL LLL LLL LLL LLL VL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL WVU LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL ° UZILLALLLLA WILLA LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL WLLLL,LLAQaLLLAAAadddLLLLLLLLLLELLLLLLLEELLLLLLLLL_ LLL LLL ZA WZL.LLLLLLLLLLLLLLaaazazALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LLL LLL VILL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL he achusetts and Rhode Island . _esea ZILLI LLL LLLLLL LLL LLILLILMLLLILLLLLLLAA LLL LLL Vf S, ra A, / 4 if “ MMMM Gor Districts * | Rich Districts* | Sesearch Divisione, Natéoteal Lducatiow Assty. Alabama Lto5 Ay 1 ZONA tL toS California L to 12 Florida { to 20 Kentiucks i to 18 Louisiana Ll to 14 Maryland { tod Minnesota l to 63 Mississippi 1 to 75 Montana Lto6é New Mexico {to9 North, Carolina L to {if North Dakota { to 43 Oklahoma, L to 65 Oregoru t to 8 Tennessee L to9 LLL LLL LLL LLL Virgirua, t to [4 LLL LLL West Viroinsa { to{7 Wyoming Lto3 CHART V RATIOS OF WEALTH IN RICH AND VM. (hh hnhnthnhethhenthenth III III III II II IIIT IIT OI IIIT III III ITI 7) hhh hhh hhh hehehehehe hehtertheMethMehethhehhthohonbhthenhnhhhaheahenbehenhrt agama WW ZEZZZZEZE, CLL LA A MAA AAA AAA MMMM Mhhhhhhedi heheh —MAUsthItstst¢sstt tt tttiti CLLLLiLM LLM AMMAN AN AMA AN Nh Ahhh Mh Mhebohohule sheessmms ttt y : VLE EEX > LLhhkhh hhh hhhhthh hhh hh hdhebihhihedehcheheleuk LA hh hh hheud LLL AMhhhhhhhhhhhphhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhha ———— ee PDIP IILLILI IID DI IDIII DOD I III TID ID DIDI ILIII II ID IIL IL IIIS IIS hhhhhhhhhhehenhhhdhthnhthn Mah hnhhheheatenthathateudhchutbahautenth hhh hhhhhhihhehhh hh hehekehclclabbdhhhlehhhhhdhlaheahhAh A hhhhhhhhh hhh hh hehehehehe heheh LIITITI TO TIT A LLLLLLA LAL hh hos UMItIttttt{isgt ts hhh AMM Mh Mh hhhhddele VL ttt{s/Z —'VILththbtiititbbhitiitt {ttl WLL--xxxxZZQQTEEQZZZZZZYT’ LLL LLL LLL. LLL LLL LLL hk ¢ LLAMA MMMM MAMMA AMM MAM MMMM MMMM LLIMLMMMM MMMM AMMMMMMM ALM Mh WLU itt LL A LL sa tt tt iittitiititthttt ITI IIIT TT, espihtittttttttttttti vey , 7, Zz WIT, VIF, ¢ 7 VIZ i Af, de Af, J LLAMA ALLL MMMM MAMMA AAA AMAA AAA AANA MMe LLM Ahhh hhhhhhhlh ha ‘ iLike LLL Lh LLL LLL ZA ~YU iI fp QD DOOD A hhhihhhhhhhhe Mehetnhheheuhe hLLMMAAMMMA A AM CHART V LLLLLLLLLLLLLLL A ALLL LLL FALTH IN RICH AND POOR WLLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LL LLL LLL VL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL CC TITIIT7 LALL hd aa TZZA ta a & 4 COUNTIES LLLLLLLLA MMMM Poor Counties * Wi Rick Counties * | search DBivestar, Niteotral Letucation As/2 scape from taxation ; and stands in the way of t introduction of more efficient systems. Similar indictments of the general property tax rht be multiplied almost indefinitely. of wealth—The is infinitely varied. Uneven distribution eco- nic texture of any state le by side with a thriving city, where property iccumu lues are high and much wealth is lated, we may find a poverty stricken rural area where the battle for a livelihood is always bitter ind its outcome dubious. In the former situa ul tion, a reasonable tax will easily support excel In the contrasting district even paid Tor only nt schools. meager school facilities can be with real personal sacrifice. [his variation in ability to pay for schools is not confined to any state or group of states, ut is a factor which affects the rural schools f every state. Not all rural school districts are in the poor group and not all urban areas have situation. bal ot economic the an unusually favorable Nevertheless, by wealth favors the city and severely restricts the and large, lance educational opportunities of the rural child. Striking differences in ability schools in forty-one states are illustrated in Charts IV and V. These charts contrast rich and poor districts and counties respectively with reference to their financial ability to provide good public schools. They show that inequali- ties in ability at least as great as those indicated to support exist in each of the states represented. In some states the inequalities are known to be even greater than those pictured. In other states complete data are not available. For these and other reasons? comparisons as to differences in financial ability should not be made between states. The data of these charts are not offered with a view to showing that inequalities in one state are greater than those in another. Their purpose is rather to emphasize the fact that seri- ous inequalities in ability exist in practically every state, In studying these charts, an impor- tant fact must be kept in mind. All prospective and urban and rural citizens—rich poor, should have an opportunity to acquire a sound ? National Education Association, Researct tional Administration, No. 2. Washington, D. (¢ the * Comparisons should not be made between states for a number me states comparisons are made mmunities are not the same in all states. In s« child; in others in terms of the amount per pupil in attendance; in sti niormation, upon ret dy doing much to equ The Research Division will be glad to furnish not in all cases for the same year. Some states nequalities indicated in these charts __ * National Tax Association. ‘‘Prelimin # State and Local Taxation."’ Proceedings, 1919. V ire alre: Report of the ¢ l. 57. New ry ‘ ¥ Division. School Revenues and Association ommittee Apt education at public expense. O ernment requires this, and our tions ¢ xpressly direct the respect Charts I\ that as long as the sup] arded a tional opportunity 1s in latures to provide i. clear] re s a purely local matt iT t Improving Rural School Finance L he , : education art problems involved in fir e to be met in two reorganizing state tax systems quate amount of money can be by providing state funds with whicl local differences in the ability to acn of these measures brief Rez \l made significant progress in the sion of / ‘ , Tax Systems ¢ een years in modernizing thei) enue. Very influential Lic r¢ been the recommendation of th \ssociation prepared by a committ perts.* Reduced to its essential poses a public revenue system fundamental elements: 1. The ot payment by every gainf a direct personal income he 2. The local taxation of son ment of the state where resi tangil it is located 3. The imposition of a tax on the conducted for ness profit [he complete report should be carefully , 7 ° studied by all those interested in making state tax systems fairer and more efficient le ’ ° amelioration of the evils existing in the general for the Various proposals have been mak tax. Although some economists tavor the pr weight of authoritative opinion seems propert the entire abolition of ix, the operty t to favor the reduction of the general property tax and its assignment to local taxing units exclusively. This would necessitate levying other types of state taxes to supplement the general property tax. The following taxes are frequently sug sonal in Ome gested for this purpose: the pe Method ? V eu Januar 1939. p t Bases of ce in terms of the :mount of wealth per t ncerning the data used in eacl lize by means of st reasons my ; mount thers the uest, ¢ inted .. t< lation. p. 426 Prey ‘ph rk: t SS [ 247 ] tax, the sales tax, the severance tax, the business income tax, and the inheritance tax. Personal income tax—At present,’ sixteen states levy a personal income tax. Of these only four—Arkansas, Delaware, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin—definitely earmark this tax, or a portion of it, for school purposes. In most of the remaining twelve states, however, the pro- ceeds of the income tax form an important part of the state general revenue funds from which state school appropriations are made.’ Sales tax—The tax on sales in the common- wealths of the United States is generally limited to the sales of certain commodities. Tobacco and gasoline are by far the most commonly used commodities for the levying of sales taxes. Every state levies a gasoline sales tax and twelve states levy a tax on the sale of tebacco products. The former is nearly always allocated to road building but in at least four states— Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas—a part of the proceeds of gasoline taxes are avail- able for schools. The use of the tobacco tax for school purposes is somewhat more common; at least five states definitely allocate the tobacco tax or a part of it to school purposes. Severance taxes—The severance tax ordi- narily takes the form of a royalty on the extrac- tion of minerals. In at least six states—Alaska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, and Oklahoma—a part of all of the proceeds of a severance tax are assigned to the public schools. A tax on the income derived from business conducted within the state frequently accompanies a state personal income tax. At least five states allocate all or part of their business income taxes to the sup- port of schools. In several other states the pro- ceeds of business income taxes form a part of the general fund out of which school appropriations are made. Inheritance tax—aAll except three states levy a tax on the transfer of property by inheritance Business income taxes 1 1931 legislation is not included in these statements. and at least four states—Kentucky, Mi Montana, and Virginia—allocate the ret to public education. In a number of othe: also, inheritance taxes contribute signifi although indirectly, to state school through the crediting of their proceeds t general revenue funds. The foregoing brief list of indirect tax: gests the need for careful study of thes: problems by school people. The present tin does not attempt to provide the mate such a study, although other publications Research Division serve this purpose. The rural school problem is in large problem of insufficient funds. Over larg: the mounting general property tax is app ing, if it has not actually reached, the poir confiscation. Fundamental improvement rural school situation, therefore, must in 1 states await a badly needed reorganizati the public revenue system. Leaders in ed tion, urban and rural, state and local, sh make themselves able to contribute to the ; tion of this problem by attaining a work knowledge of sound tax principles and pract 2. Apportionment of state school fund After a just and effective system of taxatior in effect and the money thus collected is rec by the state treasury, there yet remains the | lem of distributing these funds back to the | spending agencies. What principles should ern a state in fixing its plan for apportion funds to local school districts? Historically, t theory of apportioning state school funds passed through three stages. As long as sch funds were small and education was a purt local concern, it seemed entirely logical satisfactory to distribute state funds to « county or school district in proportion to number of children of school age in the distri: A second stage in the development follow: when it became evident that a distribution the basis of the number of children was difficu to administer and doubtful in results. It w reasoned that the state school fund ought 2 National Education Association, Research Division. The Personal Income Tax and School Support. Studies in State | tional Administration, Study Number 8, February, 1931. Washington, D. C.: the Association, 1931. p. 13-19. 3 National Education Association, Research Division. ‘‘ Major Issues in School Finance, Part I."’ Research Bulletin 4 November, 1926. Washington, D. C.: the Association, 1926. National Education Association, Research Division. ‘‘ Major Issues in School Finance, Part II."" Research Bulletin 5 January, 1927. Washington, D. C.: the Association, 1927. National Education Association, Research Division. ‘‘A Self-survey Plan for State School Systems, Part I: Ch« Research Bulletin 8: 54-87; March, 1930. Washington, D. C.: the Association, 1930. National Education Association, Research Division. ‘‘A Self-survey Plan for State School Systems, Part II: Hand! Research Bulletin, 8: 90-163; May, 1930. Washington, D. C.: the Association, 1930. ; National Education Association, Research Division. School Revenues and New Methods of Taxation. Studies in State Educa Administration, Study Number 2, January, 1930. Washington, D. C.: the Association, 1930. 12 p. National Education Association, Research Division. The Personal Income Tax and School Support. Studies in State Ed tional Administration, Study Number 8, February, 1931. Washington, D. C.: the Association, 1931. 20 p. [ 248 ] encourage local districts to provide good ools. States gradually began to distribute all part of their school funds in such a way as to vard school districts which were willing to further than the others in the development of ir educational program. This second theory reward-for-effort was a great advance over early crude methods of apportionment. [ore recently, however, the theory of reward- for-effort has in turn been critically regarded. [he increasing concentration of wealth empha- sized the fact that some communities need state 1 far more desperately than others. Some mmunities, indeed, could not meet state minimum educational requirements without such aid. Yet the reward-for-effort theory, at least as ordinarily put into practice, denied state iid to the less wealthy districts and gave aid undantly to the wealthy districts which needed it least. Out of this condition grew a ird principle of apportionment: that state school funds should be distributed so as to per- mit every district to offer a reasonable program of education on a reasonable tax. Few, if any state apportionment plans today illustrate per- fectly either the early plan of simple participa- tion, the later plan of stimulation, or the prin- iple of equalization. Elements of all these principles are reflected in the apportionment plans in use in most states. The trend, however, is clearly toward an increased emphasis on the equalization principle. Reduced to its simplest terms the equaliza- tion principle means an adequate state school fund apportioned in such a way that a reason- able educational opportunity is available to every child without unreasonable local taxation. The importance of this principle to the rural child is clear. The details of plans for applying the prin- ciple of equalization differ somewhat from state to state. The essentials, however, remain the same. The application of the equalization prin- ciple to a given state involves extensive collec- tion of statistical information and the interpre- tation of this data as a basis for legislation. The steps in such an investigation are: (a) the fixing of a minimum educational program to be pro- vided throughout the state, (b) estimating the cost of this minimum program, (c) fixing a minimum school tax rate to be levied in every school district, and (d) discovering the amount needed in each local unit which, when added to the amount raised by the minimum local tax, will provide the minimum educational program. The facts shown in Charts IV and V con tront every state with two alternatives. They can deny many of their children, chiefly those in rural areas, a complete educational opportunity or they can recognize that nothing is ultimatel) more important to a state than the education of its children. They can put into practice the principle that every dollar of wealth in the state, no matter where it is located or in what form it exists, must pay its just proportion of the cost of educating all the children of the state no matter where they happen to live. When this is done and when the funds to do it are provided through modern, just, and effective tax systems, the rural school problem will be brought fa: 1 along to its solution. Selected References 1. BALDWIN, RoBEerRT Dopnce. Financing Rural Edu cation. Stevens Point, Wisconsin: Rural Service Press, 1927. 210 p. A study of the problem of ral school finance from the standpoint of state school financial legis lation. Summarizes practices in financing rural education, evaluates the results of these prac tices, and suggests plans for state school finance ing. ~) 2. Mort, PAut R. State Support for Public Schools. School Administration Series. New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1926. 104 p. Part I discusses the nature of a satisfactory system of state support for public schools with regard to the equalization of educational oppor- tunity; the cost of the minimum educational pro gram; and division of support between state and locality. Part II describes technics involved in the development of such a system and suggests needed research on the problem of state support of public schools. 3. NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION, RESEARCH DIVISION. “Major Issues in School Finance.” Research Bulletins 4: 236-58; November, 1926 Part I; and 5: 2-63; January, 1927—Part II Washington, D. C.: the Association Part I presents data to show the nation’s eco nomic ability to meet school costs and discusses school costs and economy in public expenditures. Part II discusses school costs in relation to the economic resources of the states, state advance 1It is desirable, however, that reforms in taxation and apportionment be accompanied by reforms in t 1dministrative uit Indefensibly small and inefficient school units should be discouraged rather than perpetuated by taxat ind apport nent legislation. { 249] toward sound school finance programs, and the payment by every person of a direct perso essentials of a sound plan of state taxation. to the government under which he is . . (2) the taxation of tangible property at its NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION, RESEARCH “) ' bie Division. The Personal Income Tax and School Support. Studies in State Educational Adminis- 7. NEULEN, Lester Newson. State Aid for I tration, No. 8. Washington, D. C.: the Associa- tion, February, 1930. 20 p. Estimates the effectiveness of the personal in- come tax as an administrative and fiscal measure and discusses its economic and social results, with special reference to school finance. (3) the taxation of business carried on f tional Projects in the Public Schools. ¢ ions to Education, No. 308. New York: B Publications, Teachers College » « versity, 1928. 84 p. Analyzes the practice of state aid for tional projects and concludes that it is in | NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, RESEARCH Division. School Revenues and New Meihods of Taxation. Studies in State Educational Admin- istration, No. 2, January, 1930. 12 p. A summary of recent legal provisions for taxa- tion in the different states. Bibliographies. 8. Swart, FLETCHER Harper, and ZimMMi Bruce L. State School Taxes and Sc/ | favor and is likely to be continued. Finds ever, that state leadership and the rais state requirements have been more effect the utilization of special subsidies NATIONAL Tax AssociATION. “Preliminary Re- = ° . rr ' pe ! ? UJ . nartr port of the Committee Appointed To and Their 400 Sette 96 -* " Sepaes Prepare a Plan of a Model System of State and the Interior, Office of Education, Bulletin Local Taxation.” Proceedings 1919. Vol. 57. New No. 29. Washington, D. C.: Government P: York: the Association. p. 426-70. Office, 1928. 431 p Recommends plan of state and local taxation Describes briefly the state school reven based upon three fundamental principles: (1) the apportionment systems in each state, as E NEED a new plan of school financing. . . . Ability to support governmental agencies and especially schools is no longer adequately measured by the general property tax. A! increasing number of states report other types of tax used in whole or in part to support schools such as income tax, inheritance tax, occupational and license tax, and sales tax. In the latter ar« included five states with a tobacco tax and one with a tax on malt syrup. It is reasonable to assun that wealth in these new forms and found chiefly in cities is dependent more or less on the existenc: of a “back country.” If so, its prosperity and its advantages, especially in educational opportunity are matters of vital importance to the possessors of such wealth. All this appears to call for a large unit—probably a state unit if just and fair taxes are to be levied. The law which levies the tax must of course provide the machinery for handling and apportioning the funds.—William John Cooper United States Commissioner of Education. Proceedings, 1929, National Education Association p. 502. [ 250] RM Fun ent int What Are the Facts Concerning Rural School Attendance? Three factors are involved in the question of better attendance—the length of term, the proportion of children enrolled, and the regu- larity of attendance. Qn each of these points the rural school lags behind. Rural schools are open only for brief terms. While one- and two-teacher schools offered in 1925 an average term of 150.5 days, city schools offered an average of 183 days.‘ A recent sur- vey of selected counties in five states shows an average term of 166 days in one-teacher schools, 168 days in two-teacher schools, and 178 days in cities over 2500 in population. In rural ® secondary schools, 87 percent of the students enrolled have a term of less than 181 days while only 41 percent of the total enrolment in urban high schools have a term shorter than 181 days.* In addition to the national statistics, the fol- lowing reports from typical state surveys fur- ther illustrate the differential operating against the rural child with respect to school terms. Indiana: The Rural Education Survey Committee found that 89 percent of the children outside of towns and cities attended schools which were open less than 161 days a year. Less than 1 percent of the children enrolled in cities were thus handicapped.® Maryland: The State Department of Education finds that one-teacher schools are responsible for 3 out of every 4 short terms (less than 180 days). This general condition has been true for a number of years.® Missouri: The State Survey Commission found 53 rural districts with a term of less than four months. Only 1 rural school in 25 had a term as long as 9 months.’ 3. Better Attendance in Rural Schools North Carolina: Official reports show that the term of rural schools was 44 days shorter than that of city schools in 1920. Since then the gap has been lessened gradually but even in 1927-28 rural schools for white children were open 36 days less than those for white children in cities. The colered schools showed a difference of 51 days between city and rural terms.® Conditions such as these mean that many farm children get less schooling in eight years than city children get in six years. Rural children are handicapped also by the irregularity of their attendance on the short sessions available to them, Ayer’s study of the attendance records of 72,120 rural children in 10 states in 1922 showed that half the children in rural communities were attending school less than seven and one-half months; over a fourth, less than five months; and thirteen percent, less than three months.” A recent sampling of rural schools in twenty-two counties of five states showed 48 percent of the non-transported chil- dren under seven years old attending less than 151 days. Older children showed a slightly bet- ter attendance but even among children 15 and 16 years of age, 29 percent attended school less than 151 days.'” For the Nation as a whole in 1925-26, elementary school attendance was 85 percent of the enrolment in rural'! areas and 91 percent of the enrolment in urban areas. In individual states a similar situation pre- vails. In Delaware the children in one-room schools are absent, on the average, eight days more each year than the children in the larger schools.'* In Maryland, 12 percent of the chil- dren enrolled in one-room schools are absent 40 days or more, as against 7 percent of the chil- 1 Gaumnitz, W. H. Salaries and Salary Trends of Teachers in Rural Schools. U. S. Department of the Interi More re t dat n, Bulletin, 1929, No. 6. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1929. p. 37. nd unpublished, suggest that the discrepancy between urban and rural school terms still exists but is de yr, Office of Educa- s yet incomplete 4 ? Cook, Katherine M., and Gaumnitz, W. H. ‘‘ Availability of Schools in Rural Communities,’ Thiriieth Yearbook, Part I. National Society for the Study of Education. Bloomington, Illinois: Public School Publishing Co., 1931 80 + Rural high schools in this case are defined as those located in centers of less than 2500 populat ‘ Cook and Gaumnitz, op. cit. p. 92. ‘ Indiana Rural Education Survey Committee. Report. 1926. Indianapolis, Indiana: State Superint nt of Put Instruc- tion; p. 15-19, ® Maryland State Department of Education. Sixty-fourth Annual Report. Baltimore, Md.: State I rtment of Education. 1930. p. 18-19, * Strayer, George D., and Englehardt, N. L., op. cit., p. 121. 8 North Carolina State Department of Public Instruction. Biennial Retort, 1626-27 and 1€27-28. Raleis ment of Public Instruction, p. 15-17. * Ayer, Adelaide M. ‘‘A Study of Rural Schcol Attendance,"’ Procecdings 1925. Vol. 63. Washingt D tion Association, 1925. p. 526-39. ” Cook and Gaumnitz, op. cit., p. 74. " Rural here means places of less than 2500 inhabitants or the open country. _ ® Gaumnitz, W. H. Some Comtarative Statistics ....; Office of Education, Rural School Circular No. 27. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1928 % Delaware Department of Public Instruction. Annual Report. Dover, Del.: Department of Pul 151-53, 244. [251] N, ( State Depart- ( N I i for Rural and Urtan Communities. 1928. U. S. Department of ior p. 4 Instruc n, 1929. p dren in graded schools. These illustrations could be multiplied indefinitely to show that the attendance of rural children at school is un- satisfactory. The differences in school oppor- tunity in the United States are shown graphic- ally in Chart VI. How Can Rural School Attendance Be Improved? There is no single, general panacea which will bring better attendance to the rural schools. In this field, as in others, progress in any one respect will accompany progress all along the line. Local needs and conditions must determine the best steps to be taken to bring rural boys and girls into the schools and to keep them there. The basis for an intelligent attack of irregular attendance. These cause and frequently . 1 invoive other aspects of rural school administ operate singly Numerous investigations of the causes of attendance and irregular attendance in schools have been reported. These gest the steps which may be taken to ins ter attendance in rural schools. Some of steps are listed below: 1. Longer terms—A short scho commonly accompanied by more irregula attendance than longer terms. Ayer, in a of 9 counties in 5 states, found that 47 px of the children in schools offering 139-day t were present less than 80 days, while on! percent of the children in schools offering day terms were present less than 80 day brief, children having the shorter term d on the problem is a knowledge of the causes even attend the school that was availal 1 Maryland State Department of Education, op. cit., p. 29. 2 Ayer, op. cil., p. 526-39. CHART VI Urban Schools All Rural Schools | 156 | One - Teacher Rural Schools Consolidated Schools | 150 | Tics | Urban Schools 151.5 | All Rural Schanis 121.7 | DIFFERENCES IN SCHG@DL OPPORTUNITIES IN THE UNITED STATES AVERAGE LENGTH OF SCHOOL TERM IN DAYS AVERAGE NUMBER Of DAYS ATTENDED BY PUPILS ENROLLED Sesearch Owiston, National Lducation Ass partment of the Interior, Office of Based on Gaumnitz,W.H. Wwadibdity of Publie-School Education vw. Rural Communes, \L.S. De Education, Bulletin, 1930, No.34, p.7-8 [252] ll as did the children having the longer term. ne terms encourage and reward better at ndance. ) Child la is not confined to the cities, Some of its Freedom from injurious work ist regulated and most arduous forms are found in rural communities. Cooper and Coopei ind that work, either agricultural or in other upations, was the leading cause of absence in » one-teacher schools of Delaware.’ In earlier nvestigations of the National Child Labor Committee, Folks found that 73 out of 132 ises of late entry in school and 70 out of 90 ises of early withdrawal from school were due to work on farms and in canneries.” It is sig nificant also that the fifteen states with the highest percent of non-attendance are also the fifteen states with the highest percent of chil- dren employed in agriculture.* The White House Conference on Child Health and Pro tection concludes that “agriculture has always involved more child workers than all other oc- cupations together ; it includes a large number of young workers ; it employs thousands of chil dren as migratory workers; it presents difficult problems of control.” * Regular school attend ance and adequate legislation regulating the la- bor of children on farms go hand in hand. 3. Good economic conditions—Closely re- lated to the factor of work as a cause of non- attendance is the economic status of the homes from which the rural schools draw their pupils. A study of 13,069 school records of farmers’ children in three states showed that the chil- dren of tenant farmers were absent a somewhat larger percent of the school term than the chil- dren of farm-owners.® Summarizing similar studies in 37 states, the White House Confer- ence on Child Health and Protection concludes “that the children of owner ire in the most favorable position, especially in regard to school attendance; those of tenants on a cash basis come next, and children of tenants on a crop share basis, those who are hired out, and those in ‘contract labor’ families have the poorest showing.’ ® Eighteen states have enacted laws specifying that poverty in the home is an ac ceptable excuse for non-attendance at school unless books, clothing, and other necessary arti cles are provided at public expenss 4. Enforcement of attendance laws—A¢ cording to one investigation, twelve states fail to provide for the appointment of school attend- ance officials outside of the cities.* Another in vestigation reports that in only eleven states are educational or moral qualifications prescribed for persons charged with the administration of compulsory attendance laws.® As a result many attendance officers have no professional pre paration for their work. An unpublished study covering several eastern states found that 60 percent of the attendance officers had only an elementary school education, and only 14 per cent could by any means be classified as pro fessionally trained.'® A study of compulsory at- tendance service in the union school districts of New York State showed that the median at- tendance officer had not completed the eighth grade and gave only 3 percent of his time to the enforcement of the attendance laws.'! In Ohio the median county attendance officer had only nine years of schooling.’? When we consider that the attendance officer should be more so- cial worker than policeman and that the eftec- tiveness of court action in compulsory attend- ance cases depends principally on the character __ 1 Cooper, Richard Watson, and Cooper, Hermann. The One-Teacher School in Delaware: A Stu n Altendance iversity of Delaware Press, Newark, Del., 1925. p. 266. ? Folks, Gertrude. ‘‘ Farm Labor versus School Attendance,’ American Child 2: 73-89; May, 1920 ul Mc! Ruth “The Effect of Agricultural Employment upon School Attendanc« Elementary School Journal 18: 536-43; March, 1918 263 4 Ibid., p. 261. ’ Folks, op. cit., p. 73-89. * White House Conference, of. cit., p. 262. See also: Interst * White House Conference on Child Health and Protection. Preliminary Commitiee Reporis. New York: Century ¢ 1930 ite Commerce Commission. Rate Siructure Investigation. Part 3 “Cotton,” Report No. 1700. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, p. 685-6 ? Keesecker, Ward W. Laws Relating to Compulsory Education. U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of Education, Bulletin 1928, No. 20. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1928. 70 p. ® Denius, H. G. Legal Status of the School Attendance Oficial. Unpublished master's thesis. Ohio State University, Columbus Ohio, 1926. _ *Liebler, Charles C. ‘‘Qualifications and Compensation of Persons Charged with the Enforcement of Compulsory I tion." Elementary School Journal 27: 695-706; May, 1927. %” Reported in C. C. Liebler, tbid., p. 705. 1 Hanson, Whittier Lorenz. The Costs of Compulsory Attendance Services in the State of New York and Some Factors Affecting the Cost. Contributions to Education, No. 158. New York: Teac hers College, Columbia University, 1924. 122 | 2 Sloan, Paul W. Present Siaius of the County Attendance Officers in Ohio. Unpublished master’s thesis. Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio, 1927. 77 p. tz 3 | of the evidence presented by attendance ofh- cers,! the necessity for a high type of pro- fessional attendance service in rural areas 1s emphasized. 5. Health—Preventable illness is common among rural children, and this fact accounts for a considerable proportion of the irregular at- tendaricé iff rural schools. An examination of the children of the county schools (largely farm children) in Virginia showed 15 percent with defective vision, + percent with defective hear- ing, 57 percent with defective teeth, 23 per- cent, one-tenth or more underweight, and 29 percent not vaccinated against smallpox.’ These conditions are fairly typical of other states where inspections have been made and reported.* On the other hand, rural children appear to enjoy relative freedom from such communicable diseases as typhoid fever, diph- theria, and measles when compared with chil- dren in villages and in small and medium-sized cities. In New York State, for instance, the incidence of diphtheria in unincorporated areas was 70 cases per 100,000 as compared with 180 cases in cities of 10,000 to 20,000 popula- tion.* Illness is prominently mentioned as a cause of absence from rural schools by many investiga- tions.® Illness heads the lists of causes of absence in studies of rural schools in West Virginia and Maryland and is second in importance in Utah. A vigorous public health program supported by effective health instruction will significantly improve irregular school attendance in most rural areas. 6. Transportation—Under rural conditions, especially where transportation to school is not available, bad weather may be of considerable importance as a factor in causing irregular attendance. Closely connected with bad weather as a cause of absence is the distance from 1 Bender, John Frederick. The Functions of Courts in Enforcing School Attendance Laws. ( school. Twenty-two states exempt childre: ing at specified distances from school from provisions of the compulsory attendance la Distance from school may, therefore, even a children to grow up without any formal ed tion whatever. The Texas Survey Commi states that “‘in the sparsely settled counti: southwest Texas more than 50 | cent of the area is geographically exempt f the operation of the compulsory attenda law.” Furthermore, “the aggregate (of dren thus exempted ) is undoubtedly consid: able.”* Reavis, in a study of five Mary! counties, found that where transportation not provided distance was the most import of fifty selected factors in determining atte: ance.* Other surveys, as in Delaware and \ ginia, reach similar conclusions. A study of tendance covering sixty thousand children five states concludes, “that distance is a decis factor in and attenuation, and that it works a spe school enrolment, attendar hardship on young children, but that it aff thousands of rural children at all the differe: age-levels is believed to be a reasonable con sion from the data presented.” ® The bad effe of inclement weather and isolation on regu! attendance can be overcome to a large extent most rural areas by a program of transport tion at public expense. 7. Attractive school opportunities and Difficult to measure ob tively, but doubtless of great importance lated conditions- causing absence from rural schools, is the “pulling-power” of the rural school itself good school, well-adapted to the needs of community, with something definite to off every child who enters its doors, will do mu to attract children and to keep them in regul attendance. An ineffective school will enco age late entry, early withdrawal, and freque: ontributions to Educ 262. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1927. 187 p. 2 Assembled from mimeographed data by Kyte, George C. *‘ Pupil Status in the Rural School.” Thirtieth Yearbook, Par 1931. Natione! Society for the Study of Education, p. 36. * For further data see: Wood, T. D., et al. Health Improvement in Rural Schools. Chicago: American Medical Asso 1922. 52 p. 4 Godfrey, E. S. ‘‘Age Distribution of Communicable Diseases According to Size of Community."’ American Journal of Pu Health 18: 616-31; May, 1928. ’ Maryland State Board of Education. Op. cit., p. 29. Coo Rural Child Welfare. New York: Macmillan Company, 1922. * Keesecker, op. cil., p. 11. ? Works, George A., director. General Report. Texas Educational Survey Report, Vol. 8 Commission, 1925. See also Vol. 1, p. 397. Other studies concerning how far rural children live from school are summarize and Gaumnitz, op. cit., p. 56-66. r and Cooper. OP. cit., p. 322 hapter III. National Child Labor ¢ Educational S Austin, Texas 8 Reavis, George H. Factors Controlling Attendance in Rural Schools. Contributions to Education, No. 108. New York: Tea College, Columbia University, 1920. p. 13 * Cook and Gaumnitz, op. cit., p. 73. [ 254] Jp TI dan chi sider yland 1 Was rtant tend Vir »f at -n in isi\ ¢ ance ecia| ects -rent aclu Tec ts rular nt in rta- nN ences. In this sense the problem of attend- ce is part of the whole problem of improved ral school facilities. Selected References Ayer, ADELAIDE M. “A Study of Rural School Attendance.” Proceedings, 1925. Vol. 63. Wash- ington, D. C.: National Education Association, 1925. p. 526-39. A study made to determine actual school at- tendance of rural children of the United States; the effect of attendance upon school work; and how school attendance is affected by child labor. It includes records of 72,120 children of 70 coun- ties in 10 states. Cook, KATHERINE M., and GAumwnitTz, W. H “Availability of Schools in Rural Communities.” Chapter 3, Thirtieth Yearbook, Part I. National Society for the Study of Education. Blooming- ton, Illinois: Public School Publishing Company, 1931, 272 p. This study aims to show to what extent educa- tional facilities, elementary and secondary, sup- ported at public expense, are available to rural children. Cooper, RICHARD WATSON, and Cooper, HEr- MANN. The One-Teacher School in Delaware: A Study in Attendance. Newark, Delaware: Uni- versity of Delaware Press, 1925. 434 p. An attempt to find factors governing the at- tendance and enrolment of one-teacher schools in Delaware. The causes of absence in order of their importance were found to be work, illness, other work, parental indifference, agricultural weather, and a few miscellaneous causes such as poverty and truancy. + INSTRUC Hooster State INDIANA STATE DEPARTMENT OF PUBL TION, DIVISION OF ATTENDANCI The {ttendance Officer, Indianapolis, Indi Department of Public Instruction ina A periodical for attendance ofhcers monthly Contains information as to cou t deci sions, recommendations for improving atten ance, tabulation of truancy reports, the work of attendance ofthcers, and related topics KEESECKER, WARD W. Laws Relating to ¢ sory Education. U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of Education, Bulletin 1928, No. 20. Wash- ington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1928 70 p. An analysis of the m pui~ compulsory attendance laws of each state, tabulating legislative fea tures relating to school attendance and terms LIEBLER, CHARLES C. “Qualifications and Com pensation of Persons Charged with the Enforce Eleme ntary 1927 Education May An examination of the statutes pr ment of Compulsory School Journal 27: 695-706: oviding for and the qualifications, appointment compensa. tion of compulsory education officers Reavis, Georce H. Factors Controlling Attend ance in Rural Schools. Contributions to Educa tion, No. 108. New York: Bureau of Publica tions, Teachers College, Columbia University 1920. 69 p. A study of attendance covering five Maryland K counties. The results show that the followin factors were particularly significant: distance from school; retardation and acceleration in grade placement; rating in class; the teacher's qualifications, and the educational interest of the community EGULAR SCHOOL attendance is an attitude of mind which may or may not become R' It needs to be instilled in the mental life of rural teachers, parents, and pupils school is an institution of society, and passes on to the younger generations, those traditions found to be most worth while for the general welfare of society in part upon one’s regular attendance to the job at han to see that such habits of action are firmly regularity of attendance at school are essential to such training —Hermann Cooper, An ing of Progress and Attendance of Rural School Children in Delawari lumbia University, 1930. p. 123. instilled if a habit The elementary I and Success in life depends istoms 1. The school and the home must cooperate the youth of the nation. Punctt lity an Teachers College, ¢ 4. A Living and Growing Curriculum’ The Status of the Rural School Curriculum It is trite but necessary to point out that the way of life for which children must somehow be prepared is astonishingly different from the mode of life followed by their parents and their grandparents. During the last half century, each year has added its quota of change and diversity to civilization? until we have at last been driven to accept a condition of constant and accelerating change as the natural order of things. The marvels of new inventions and sci- entific discoveries have ceased to astonish us. No machine is so uncannily human, no medical discovery so revolutionary, and no feat of en- gineering so audacious as to cause anything but the mildest ripple of surprise. Our entire cul- ture has changed so rapidly that we have become immune to discoveries and inventions which a generation ago would have startled the world into agitated concern. This increasingly rapid development of mechanical and_ technical knowledge has revolutionized every aspect of our material life. While these industrial changes have crowded one upon the other, changes no less sweeping and obvious have oc- and mechanical curred in social, political, and economic rela- tionships. In these fields, too, incessant shifting and change have become the only sure and pre- dictable characteristic, and mere novelty, while it may annoy us, has ceased to surprise us. radical, rapid, and frequently unpre- is the distinguishing feature Change dictable change of the modern way of life. Into such a culture the school must help to initiate the successive generations. It must pre- pare boys and girls to live successfully and happily in an altering world. Since no one can predict the future for even a few years in ad- vance, the school must prepare pupils to adjust intelligently to new ideas, new ways of doing things, new human relationships.* Moreover, the school will not make its greatest possible contribution unless it helps its pupils ticipate wisely in the actual direction and agement of the social and physical forces them.* To propose such a function f school at once suggests the inadequacy conception of education which is limited few routine skills and a few traditional plines. Such a conception belongs to the pa it no longer meets the insistent demands present era. Considerations such as the foregoing impelled educational leaders to urge the for extensive and continuous study of wh schools teach and might teach and for thor going revision of the curriculum in the li these studies. While disagreements exist the exact nature of this revision, a w accepted body of general principles and ‘tices has been developed.® Many school s have intensively studied the problem of w teach and are now operating continuou progressive programs of curriculum re\ In the main, however, the influence of the ern curriculum has been felt strongly on the larger city systems. The rural schools | not as yet seen the need for a changed philos: and content of education. With a tions, the curriculum in rural schools is t to the dead past. The following findings of a few state school surveys con Tew €x abstracts summarize ing the value of what has been taught in schools. While some states have doubtless n great progress since these reports were wt the general picture of the situation is main an accurate one. Florida: In general, this study shows an u: emphasis upon the tool subjects, such arithmetic, writing, and spelling. There is a « sponding lack of the newer subjectmatter that been introduced into the elementary school cu: lum in response to our changing civilization situation holds for both rural and but is more marked for the rural schools. It likewise noted in this study that the teachers \ following a type of school program that deals most entirely with children as a group. Very as rea urban scl 1 For lists of books dealing with general curricular problems consult: ‘‘ Books Dealing with General Curriculum Prob! the Secondary School,” ‘‘ Books Dealing with General Curriculum Problems of the Junior High School,”’ ‘‘ Books Deali General Curricular Problems.” Research Bulletin 7: 243; 6: 54; 3: 168-69. September, 1929; January, 1928; September-N 1925. National Education Association, Washington, D. C. 2**I}ustrations of Significant Discoveries Since 1890." Research Bulletin 7: 177-79; September, 1929. * Kilpatrick, William H. Education for a Changing Civilisation. New York: Macmillan Company, 1926. 143 p. 4 Finney, Ross L. Sociological Philosophy of Education. New York: Macmillan Company, 1928. 563 p. § National Society for the Study of Education. ‘‘Foundations of Curriculum Making."’ Twenty-Sixth Yearbook, ! Bloomington, III.: Public School Publishing Company, 1926. 236 : D [ 256] was discovered that was set aside for the treat it of boys and girls as individuals. Another short- ng of the elementary school curriculum is the re to adjust the curriculum to bright and dull- mal children. The true situation, how r, could not be fairly represented without stating examples of the more modern type of school iculum were found. On the whole rida boys and girls are not being offered an mentary school program that meets the demand of resent-day conditions. This situation obtains also the secondary school.! Mississippi: The [rural] schools, with their faces turned to the past, cling to much educational material that has long ago outlived its usefulness. Public opin- n still has it that what was good enough for the fathers is good enough for the sons. What is needed the schools, one often hears, is not more of the new- fangled subjects but more of the three R’s. To over- come tradition, to supplant the old and outlived with what is genuinely required by the new economic and social life of the people, is the great problem con- fronting Mississippi, in common with other states.” New York: The conclusion of it all is that the curriculum now being pursued by rural children is not providing an educational opportunity consistent with modern standards.® North Carolina: Speaking of the rural elementary schools, the report says: Their actual study program, while based on the state course, is extremely nar- row, particularly in the one-room schools. It consists in grades 1, 2, 3, and 4 almost exclusively of read- ing, writing, spelling, and arithmetic; seldom indeed in these grades is there instruction in drawing, music, history, geography, physiology, or agricul- ture. The three R’s are likewise prominent in the day’s work of the more favored pupils who reach grades 5, 6, and 7; however, attention is given in these grades to geography and physiology, and a little history, with an occasional reading lesson in agriculture. Cooking and sewing for girls and hand work for boys are almost unknown in the white schools, but a little in these activities is frequently attempted under the direction of the Jeanes teachers in colored schools. . It is generally agreed that the state should provide for the children of the open country the advantages of a diversified school program.‘ Texas: This course of study was not organized with the rural ungraded schools in mind. It is not intended for any teacher with more than four grades. __ 1! Florida Educational Survey Commission. Oficial Report to Tallahassee, Fla.: State of Florida, 1922. p. 211-12. ?-Mississippi Survey Commission, M. V. ment of Education, 1926. p. 54. O'Shea, director 3 Works, George A., and others. Rural School Survey of New York State. Vol. 4 Schools, 1922. p. 198, I Che subjectmatter is outlined by s cts and grades according to city school standards. All ; ects are independently organized. (¢ yrre it n s but is not worked out in any I would he the rural teacher reduce his many duties In making over this curriculum to fit his conditions the rural teacher works blindly and unaided with results such as one might expect Che rural teacher, most heavily burdened, least well-train and, in the main, unsupervised, is given a ¢ ic lum not suited to rural school conditions and is give only general advice in adjusting it effectively to his own situation. A curriculum should be constructed in terms of the rural school situation Virginia: A more vital curriculum is needed. The traditional subjects are not sufficient to prepare children for this modern world so that new subjects topics, and activities should be introduced Virginia: It is true that the complete state « se of study is effective in very few rural or semi-rural schools, the subjects most neglected being music drawing, nature study, agriculture, sewing, cooking and manual training These and other analyses of the present rural school curriculum may be summarized by the following quotation dealing with rural educa tion in general rather than in any one state: Curriculum organization and content [of the rural schools| have been and are formal and unrelated to the life of the child, community, o1 society, while the environment abounds with vital material. The [ rural school] curriculum is organized upon the subject matter-to-be-learned basis, while the child’s life has been teeming with potentially educative activities and experiences. The rural school finds in rural life a superior educational laboratory. To neglect it as we have is an educational crime against the rural child.” The need for a thorough reconsideration of the rural school curriculum is indicated by the above material. Principles and Practices Improving the Rural School Curriculum Study of a ments concerning the rural school curriculum number of authoritative state leads to the formulation of several general the Senate and House of Representatives, Florida State Legislature *ublic Education in Mississippi. Ja Miss.: State Depart Ithaca, N. Y.: Joint Com nitt R ‘ Public Education in North Carolina. Report to Public School Commission of North Carolina. New York: General Education Board, 1921. p. 27-8. ’ Works, George A., director. Texas Educational Survey Reports. Vol. 5. Austin, Texas: Educational Survey Comm n 1925. p. 320, 321, 325, 328. § O'Shea, M. V., director. Public Education in Virginia. Report to the Educational Commission of Vir Richmor \ 1928. p. 116. _ Virginia Education Commission and Virginia Survey Staff, Alexander Inglis, director. Virginia Public Schools. Part Yonkers-on-Hudson: World Book Company, 1920. p. 99. * Brim, Orville G. ‘‘Guiding Principles in Rural Education.” Thirtieth Yearbook, Part I. National Society for the Study of Education. Bloomington, IIl.: Public School Publishing Company, 1931. p. 262. [ 257] principles to guide in its revision. The enu- 8. The rural curriculum should prepare th. child to choose wisely his own life and vocat it should not be limited merely to preparation { single vocation of agriculture.” meration of these principles does not imply that the ultimate objectives of rural and urban education are different. As a matter of fact, education in city and country has the same Some recent curriculum revision progra general aims. However, the differing environ- Each state and county must handle its ments and the consequent differences in school problems of curriculum revision. A stereot organization make complete identity between Plan of organization for curriculum con urban and rural curricula impossible. Some tion ought*fiot-to-be-tncritically adopted of the principles which follow apply to cur- curriculum-constructing organization in riculum construction in general; others have area must be determined in the light of particular significance for the rural schools. conditions. However, study of plans in eff The list is not intended to be a complete state- elsewhere may be suggestive as to what to ment of the general principles governing cur- or avoid ina particular situation. A Tew riculum construction. It merely summarizes these plans are described below. Further inf what a number of recognized authorities have mation about these plans may be secured by written on the subject. The references in the lowing up the references given in the footnot footnotes indicate the sources drawn upon and Maryland: This state has a well developed cour the location of further discussion. unit system, with professianally-trained full-t supervisors in each county. State Superintend 1. Each responsible curriculum-developing unit A. S. Cook states: “The making of a course of st (usually state or county) should have availabie is the most important instrument of supervision ] exact knowledge as to the distinctive characteristics 40 not want a state course of study in Maryla of its rural population.2 but we do want twenty-three county courses 2. Courses of study for use over a wide area this basis, each county in the state has attack« should not be organized primarily for city educa- | 9W® Curriculum problems. In Baltimore County, { tional conditions, leaving difficult adjustments to the example, the work began by an age grade prog rural teachers and supervisors.” survey and the testing of each pupil in reading 3. The primary responsibility of the curriculum arithmetic. This examination of existing condit | is to provide material which will help each rural 4S followed by group meetings including ey child to adjust most effectively to the practical and teacher in the county. At these meetings the cultural demands of modern life. This does not teachers discussed these questions: . . ie por ype. eihi] mean, for most rural pupils, a college-preparatory 1. W hat is the teacher’s responsibility ir revision of a course of study? 2. What three subjects in our curriculum been given sufficient thought to justify sele for immediate detailed revision? 3. What definite suggestions do you offer garding: (a) procedure for revision, (b) mo cation of content, and (c) activities as facto the curriculum? course.” 4. A definite and workable plan of state and county organization for continuous-rural curriculum revision should be provided.‘ §. The educational resources peculiar to rural environment should be discovered and capitalized in the curriculum.’ 6. The rural school needs to take advantage of all administrative plans which make it feasible ‘ , ‘ : . Teachers’ institutes during the year also te enrich and vary the curriculum without increasing . cussed curriculum revision. Tentative drafts of the size of staff. posed changes were distributed to teachers for 7. The rural curriculum should be based, to an — oyt under normal classroom conditions. As the s increasing degree, on comprehensive experimental visors visited classes, they noted the success o1 investigation conducted in rural school environ- ure of these proposals. The result of this ments.” study was a course of study in reading and a: 1 Dunn, Fannie W. ‘‘ The Rural Elementary Curriculum." Thirtieth Yearbook, Part I. National Society for the Study cation. Bloomington, I1l.: Public School Publishing Company, 1931, p. 120. Brim, Orville G. ‘‘Guiding Principles in Rural I tion."’ Loc. cit., p. 263. ? Dunn, Fannie W. OP. cit., p. 121. Brim, Orville G. Op. cit., p. 263. Works, George A., director. Rural School Surve York State. Vol. 4, Chapter [X, ‘Elementary Rural School Curriculum—General Principles,’’ by Orville G. Brim. p. 109 * Ferriss, Emery N. ‘‘Some Important Curricular Problems in Rural Secondary Education."” Thirtieih Yearbook, P National Society for the Study of Education. Bloomington, I1l.: Public School Publishing Company, 1931. p. 151. Works Vol. 7, Chapter VII, ‘* The Curriculum,” by E. N. Ferriss. p. 179. ‘ Ferriss, op. cit., p. 152. Works, op. cit., Vol. 4, p. 110-11. ‘Ferriss, op. cit., p. 152. Brim, op. cil., p. 262. * Ferriss, op. cit., p. 153. Works, op. cit. Vol. 7, p. 180. ’ Brim, of. cit., p. 264. Works, op. cit., Vol. 7, p. 173. * Works, op. cil. Vol. 7, p. 173. National Society for the Study of Education. ‘‘The Foundations of Curriculum M Twenty-Sixth Yearbook, Part II. National Society for the Study of Education. Bloomington, Ill.: Public Schoo! Publishing pany, 1926. 236 p. * The plans presented here refer to state and county practice only. For suggestive descriptions of city practice in curr revision see: National Education Association, Department of Superintendence. ‘‘The Nation at Work on the Public Sch riculum.”” Fourth Yearbook. Washington, D. C.: the Association ,1926. p. 28-58. [ 258] W \ c in which each of the teachers in Baltimore preparation of the course was a } f the class ( itv could see the best of his own thinking re- in curriculum study in the summe ess ut the fected.) University of Idaho. The work was promoted an Alabama: In 1929 the State Board of Education directed by the State Superintendent of P c In inted a committee to revise the state course of truction. When the course of study has been tried y tor elementary schools. Since one objective of ut in the se hools, and necessary revisions made the committee was to produce a course of study which will be adopted as part of the complete revisiot , ld be acceptable to teachers, supervisors, and prospect for the entire course. The State Education inistrators throughout the state, the coopera 1 of various groups of educators within the state s secured. Representatives of the State Depart- nt of Education, subjectmatter specialists, princi- s, superintendents, city supervisors, state regional ervisors, county superintendents, and approxi- \ssociation and the classroom teachers of the state will cooperate in the revision and s juent test ing of the curriculum Indiana: The State Superintendent of Public structio;r appointed four committees | evise the elementary curriculum. The direct He mately 5,000 teachers participated in the work of vision of the work was in charge of the Gene 1, evision, guided by the advice of an expert in Executive Committee The task of termining curriculum-making. curriculum practice in the subject fields devolved he relationship of the state to localities with ipon the Subject Executive Committee. Data to be to espect to the objectives, content, method, and out- used by the Subject Committee was collected and i mes of the curriculum was determined by the compiled by the Experimentation and Researcl tes lication of two principles. The first, an inter- Committee and plans for adapting the course of retation of “equalization of educational oppor- study to the needs of the small scho vere fe = unity,” was to the effect that ‘“‘a state may make lated by the Small School Committee Much of the mandatory such curriculum materials as will guar- work in the various subject fields wa ‘ np antee the adjustment of instruction to the abilities committees . individual pupils;” the second, that “a state \ bulletin,*® setting forth the principles and We should make available curriculum materials which jectives of the revised curriculum was prepare = will encourage local progress.” the General Executive Committee to serve as te The use of these two principles in formulating guide to the subject committees in the construction a the objectives of the curriculum led to the conclusion of the curriculum and the teachers and supervisors . at general objectives should be prescribed by the for whom it is being prepared. A cooperative plan is , state; whereas specific objectives are only suggested of curriculum construction was recommended s - ind may be varied to meet local conditions. While that a more extensive and effective use of the com ata the state requires the use of certain textbook , the pleted course could result from the participation in i ontent is not necessarily limited to the material its construction by those for whom it is devised iin contained therein. The state course of study en- The course of study is based pon the general re courages local systems to supplement the textbook principle that “education is the development of the with outside material. Methods are suggested, but individual that fits him to live well in a socia i there are no mandatory regulations governing them. environment.” ‘The “integrating” function of ed “a [ype lessons are presented, ranging from the recita- cation is recognized as the basic objective in the tion type to units of work. While the state course of study suggests desirable itcomes in each grade and subject for the average development of the course of study. The “seven pted is general ol cardinal principles”® are acce jectives of education: health, command of funda s child, teachers are warned not to expect the same mental processes, worthy home membership, ethical results from all children. The committee considered character, worthy use of leisure, vocational efhx that state examinations at certain periods encourage iency, and good citizenship practices that are contrary to both prim iples cited ( ertain guiding principles otf elementary cur : above. Individual abilities and aptitudes are apt to riculum revision are suggested, as: curriculum Se be disregarded and instruction directed toward construction and revision should be a continuous passing the examination. The committee felt that process; the curriculum should be constructed by - the rough measure provided by their definition of educators although the attitude of the general pub . outcomes was more desirable than the mandatory lic should be comsidered: the success of curriculum state examination.” Idaho: During the school year 1927-28 the State Board of Education approved for tentative use in the elementary schools a revised course of study in revision is measured largely by the degree to which it is understood and used by the teachers of the state; the construction or revision of a curriculum should be based upon the result of scientific re reading, language, spelling, and penmanship. The search; there should be a_ reasonable egree of 1 [bid., p. 47-50. ? Caswell, H. L. ‘‘ The Alabama Curriculum Program.” Peah urna Education 8: 16-23; J ) * Idaho. Eighth Biennial Report of the State Board of Educa 1 g. I e, Id State B I Q ‘ Guiding Principles of Elementary Curriculum Revision for ndiana. Ind D Bulletin 107, 1929. 13 p. 5 Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education. U. S. Departmer I r. OFF I | Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office. 1918. p.11 uniformity in grade placement of fundamental sub- jects, allowing for local variations.’ Iowa: The preparation of a new elementary course of study was a major project in lowa in 1927-28. An executive committee was appointed to take charge of the work. Subsidiary committees, composed of representatives of the various educa- tional groups of the state, prepared the units of subjectmatter under the direction of the executive committee. The objectives of the course of study, together with a report of committee procedures, were presented at the annual meeting of the lowa State Teachers Association. In accordance with the plan of the executive com- mittee, the material for each subject was organized to include first, a preliminary statement of the aims and objectives of the course; second, general directions dealing with the books and materials required for teaching the subject; third, a state- ment of general methods and suggestions for typical exercises or teaching devices; fourth, an outline of the course of study by years, including essential subjectmatter, a statement of the relation of the course of study to the textbook in use, important methods of teaching, standards of achievement, the use of tests, the relation of the work in this par- ticular subject to other subjects in the same grade, special helps to rural teachers, special primary problems and a list of pupils’ references; fifth, a minimum list of books for the teacher’s professional library. Since the course of study would be used in both rural and graded schools, the material could in- clude only the core of instruction. The fact that a variety of textbooks were in use in the state also had to be considered. An attempt was made to adapt the organization and language of the course of study to the untrained teacher.” New Mexico: The preparation of a course of study for the elementary schools was undertaken by classes studying curriculum revision in the Uni- versity of New Mexico. In the summer of 1927 the class made a study of the literature pertaining to philosophy of education, modern methods of teach- ing, scientific studies of the determination of subject- matter to be included, and methods of planning and developing courses of study. The task of studying material in the various subjects taught in the ele- mentary schools was assigned to committees. In the summer of 1928, the class prepared a course of study in language. Any teacher in the state could partici- pate in the construction of the curriculum. Contribu- tions from teachers were integrated with the work of the class. The tentative course thus prepared was presented to the officers of the New Mexico Education Asso- ciation, the State Department of Education, repre- sentatives from higher institutions of learning city and county superintendents. The cours then revised in the light of suggestions and crit obtained from these sources and adapted f in the schools.° Oklahoma: The Twelfth Legislature of homa appropriated the sum of $10,000 for th. pose of constructing an elementary course of The undertaking was made a cooperative prise. Thousands of teachers and administ officials helped to work out the details. A « committee, consisting of twenty-two teacher superintendents, directed the work of construct Pennsylvania: Recognizing that changes in mentary school procedure necessitate modifi of the course of study, a committee was appo to revise that in Alles County, Pennsylvania. This committee comp supervising principals worked in conjunction the county superintendent and his assistants. It decided that the “point out the aims of instruction in each s indicate the content in each suggest types of activities or procedures to ployed and indicate desirable achievements secured.” It was also decided that the teache the county should participate in the progra revision. Work in the various subject fields done by committees, in some instances guided the advice of subjectmatter specialists from University of Pittsburgh. The committees exan various courses of study and investigated a nu of scientific studies in curriculum c preparation for the work of revision Individual differences among pupils were nized in the revision. An attempt was made to k standards flexible. The committee report points that the new course of study is not to be regard: a constant, but that it will serve its purposs when used to guide child development Tennessee: In 1927 a course of study use in the schoois of revised course of study s| materials or mstructior was pared for the elementary schools of Han County. The task of developing this curriculum undertaken by teachers in the county, workin; committees. Each subject to be included was st by these committees who made a final report set forth the objectives with means of attaining t! sources of materials, and minimum requiren In addition to the subjects required to be taug! elementary schools by the state laws, the c course of study lists the following: health nutrition, nature study, kindness to animals, dr ing and citizenship. The completed course of st was printed as a manual and a copy was pla the hands of each teacher with instructions to | changes which should be made from time to t West Virginia: During the school year 192¢ fifteen committees, composed of over eighteen | 1 Guiding Principles of Elementary Curriculum Revision for the State of Indiana. Indianapolis: Department of Public I) tion, Bulletin 107, 1929. 13 p. 2 Samuelson, Agnes. “‘The Organization of the Iowa Elementary Course of Study."’ Elementary School Journal 2 February, 1929. ?U. >: 4 . S. Department of the Interior. Biennial Survey of Education, 1926-28. Office of Education, Bulletin, 1930, N Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office. p. 129. 4Oklahoma. Thirteenth Biennial Report of the Superiniendent of Public Insiruction, 1928-30. Oklahoma City: State D« ment of Public Instruction, 1930. p. 14. § School Report of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, 1927-28. Pittsburgh, Pa.: 595 Union Trust Building. p. 13-5. * Fifty-third Annual Report of ithe Hamilion County, Tennessee, Public Schools, 1929-30. Hamilton County, Tennessee, [ [ 260} St ca pnt Ns) 3 and is wit eve heid i > 5 4 HEYL, teachers, principals, superintendents, and mem- of normal school and college faculties, were inted to of [hese committees worked under the direction he state superintendent. A of iy was developed and approved for use during school year 1927-28 by the State Board of Edu- tion. After a thorough trial in schools throughout construct an elementary course tentative course state, the course was revised in accordance with results of this Che State erintendent in this report points out that there state-wide try-out no such thing as a finished course of study and ggests that bulletins showing improved phases of curriculum be published from time to time. Lack of space prevents the inclusion of state- nts relative to the curriculum programs now progress in many other states and counties cising leadership in this field. Selected References BriM, OrviL_te G. Rural Education. New York: Macmillan Company, 1923. Discusses the purposes of the rural school as 302 p related to rural problems, proposes standards for judging these purposes, points out the edu- cational possibilities and need of the rural en- vironment, and draws certain conclusions con- cerning practical implications for rural elemen- tary education. CuBBERLEY, Ettwoop P. Rural Life and Educa- tion. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1922. 377 p. Among other educational problems the author discusses those pertaining to the rural school curriculum; such as, the influence of tradition and the adaptation of the curriculum to the life of the rural community. DuNN, FANNIE W. A Rural Curriculum: An Outstanding Need in Rural Schools. U. S. De- partment of the Interior, Office of Education. Rural School Leaflet No. 40, 1926. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office. 4 p. Emphasizes the need of a curriculum for rural schools which takes account of the rural situa- tion. Suggests that it should provide for profit- able use of rural potentialities. Heten Hay. “Differentiation in Curric- ula to Meet the Life and Needs of Rural Chil- dren.” Rural School Supervision, U. S. Depart- ment of the Interior, Office of Education, Bul- letin, 1927, No. 24. Washington, D. C.: Govern- ment Printing Office. p. 43-6. Attempts to answer the question “In what ways and to what degree should elementary- school curricula vary significantly as between rural and urban regions?” Discusses objectives of rural and urban elementary education, varia- tions in approach, emphasis, and content. NATIONAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION, Depart- ment of Superintendence. “The Nation at Work on the Public School Curriculum.” Fourth 1 West Virginia. Report of the State Superintendent of Free & f Education. 1928. p. 25-6. [ 261 ] Yearbook. Washington, D. (¢ t \ss 1926. 520 p. Discusses fundamental considerations in <¢ culum building, and tells how city, county, and state school systems are attacking the problem of curriculum revision; also contains ports of national subject committees NATIONAI EDUCATION ASSOCIAT Research Division. “Keeping Pace with the Advancing Curriculum.” Research Bulletin 3 112-61; September-November, 1925 Creating a (¢ } culum tor Adolescent Youth.” Research Bu n 6: 2-79; January, 1928. “Vitalizing the High School Curriculum.” Research Bulletin 7: 174 275; September, 1929. Washing D. ¢ the \ssociation. These three bulletins deal with the elemen tary junior high-school and high-school « riculum, respectively. They discuss the curri ulum in relation to changes in modern life and recent advances in educational science Th necessity for differentiation of courses of study t meet the needs of pupils of different interests and abilities is emphasized. The bulletins also sun marize research findings concerning curriculum building in the various subjectmatter fields Selected bibliographies are included NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCAT Twenty-Sixth Yearbook, Part | Curri im Making: Past and Present Part II Che Foundations of Curriculum-Making Bloom ington, Ill.: Public School Publishing Compa 1926. 475 and 236 p. Part I reviews a century of curriculum-mak ing, discusses the influence of such factors as the theory of mental discipline and modern scientific research on the curriculum. Part II pre sents a general statement of the working prin ciples of curriculum construction REYNOLDS, ANNIE. Recent Superior State Courses Department of the Interior, Office of Education Rural School Leaflet No. 41. Washington, D. ¢ Government Printing Office, 1926 Characterist Features of of Study. U. S 13 p Reviews general conditions making for bette: state courses of study. Discusses the adaptation of state courses to needs of rural teachers and gives illustrations of specific improvement in the treatment of elementary subjects SNEDDEN, DAvip. “Schools for Farmers’ Sons Present Deficiencies—Future Prospects.” Jour nal of Rural Education 1: 241-46; Februar 1922 Suggests flexible curricula and _ suitable courses for the able-minded, the bookish, and the mechanical. U. S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF EpucATON. Biennial Survey of Education, 1926- 28. Bulletin, 1930, No. 16. Washington, D. ¢ Government Printing Office, 1930. Chapter 5 27 _20 4/-3U “Rural Education.” p. Summarizes the work in curriculum construc- tion and revision for rural schools West Virginia, 1927-28. Charleston: State I 5. Better Teaching in Rural Schools The Present Quality of Teaching in Rural Schools As long as the present inadequate training and salaries of most rural teachers continue,’ the quality of teaching offered can never rise to the greatest heights of efficiency. Nevertheless, while working for better qualified teachers, much remains to be done and can be done to improve the quality of the instruction now be- ing offered. Surveys of current teaching practices in rural schools yield rather discouraging findings. A summary of a few of these studies will indicate the general nature of the existing situation. A study of 1343 recitations in the rural schools of New York in 1922 showed that 39 percent in- volved drill, 46 percent involved rehearsals of the textbook, and only 3 percent involved moti- vated discussion centering around a problem which demanded a solution. To these textbook rehearsals and drill lessons, the pupils made lit- tle contribution of their own. In 96 percent of all the recitations, material was derived solely from the pages of the text. In only 10 percent of the recitations did the pupils contribute in- formation from their own experience and in only 17.5 percent did the teacher attempt to 1 See Section 7 of this bulletin for evidence on this point. 2 Works, George A., director. ‘‘The Teaching Personnel relate the classwork to the experiences pupil. Only 14 percent of the assignment volved constructive work, problem-solvin appreciation ; only 7 percent were develo the class itself; and only 5 percent gave tion to the differences in individual need experiences.” A similar study of 1246 recitat in Texas*® rural schools and of 238 recit in open country and village schools in S Dakota‘ yielded similar conclusions In the Utah School Survey an attempt made to indicate both strong and weak point the teaching as observed. Some of the find with respect to two subjects only are prese in Figure 1. Crumbling the teacher's time—Bud; the hours of school time among the va grades and subjects is an especially difficult important phase of successful teaching in schools. The California Curriculum S: found that the preparation of a time sche was “the greatest difficulty which teach« rural schools were facing.’ ® The investigat found that some teachers were attemptin handle more than thirty-five classes in a sit day; that the rural schools overempha reading, spelling, and arithmetic and gav little attention to the content subjects, that " Rural School Survey of New York State. Vol. 4. Itha Joint Committee on Rural Schools, 1922. Part II. ‘Elementary Rural School Curriculum.’ O. G. Brim. p. 189-98 * Works, George A., director. ‘‘ Courses of Study and Instruction.”” Texas Educational Survey nenerss. V 5. Aust E duce we al Survey Commission, 1924. Chapter 10. ‘‘The Actual Curriculum Presented in School.’ 365-79 Department of the Interior, Office of Education. The Educational System of South Dakota. Bulletin, 1918, N ae D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1918. p. 114-30. 5 Bagley, William C. and Kyte, George C. The California Curriculum Study. Berkeley, California: The | fornia Press, 1926. p. 68 FIGURE 1..—SUMMARY OF READING AND ARITHMETIC TEACHING OBSERVED IN THE UTAH SCHOOL SURVEY in telling time by the clock. 3. Use of practice tests. 1 | Subject a Points Weak Points | | 1 | 2 3 | Reading 1. Use of supplementary reading material as | 1. Pupils sometimes read word by w | well as regular textbooks. the teacher printed or wrote. | 2. Skillful checks used by teachers to determine | 2. Pupils sometimes pronounced words pupil's comprehension of material read phrases in concert. silently. | 3. Use of home-made and commercial seat-work | 3. Some teachers were mechanically | material to re-enforce class instruction. formal procedures and failing to secur¢ | | understanding and interest of their pur Arithmetic | 1. Objective teaching through imitative games, | 1. Waste of class time in having pupils « such as ‘‘ playing store their answers to problems during the « | period. | 2, Practical use made of learned material,—as | 2. Loss of time in unnecessary explanat | problems. } | 1 Adapted from U. S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Education. Survey of Education in Utah. Bulletin, 1926, Ni Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1926. p. 113-25. nts dit ent VED { scheduled at inappropriate were physical education immediately afte h; penmanship immediately after play pe- is); and that subjects involving similar ac ties over a long period of time were often uped together.’ Similar conditions are reported by other in The that ng 154 teachers in one-room schools, only while 10 \s acon sequence, class periods were extremely) brief. vestigations. Texas Survey found had as few as 20 classes per day, yrted more than 40 classes per day. Six classes recited two minutes; twenty-six re cited three minutes ; one-fourth of all the « met for 10 minutes or less.2 The 3 R’s were highly emphasized and frequently such subjects is Civics, nature study, hygiene, and music were given no place in the program. Similarly, the New York Rural School median of 29 recitations per day Survey reported a in the eight half of these length, or Virginia‘ revealed a similar situation, ide rural schools and nearly recitations were 10 minutes in shorter.2 Earlier South Dakota These small classes with only a few minutes surveys in and allotted to each constitute one of the major diffi rural school teaching. As Horace Mann wrote in 1838, “they crumble the teach culties of er's time into dust.” Improving the Quality of Instruction in Rural Schools As already pointed out, the problem of high- quality instruction in rural schools is first of all a problem of placing a trained and highly capable teacher in every rural schoolhouse. This can hardly be done under the salary schedules for rural teachers prevailing at present in most parts of the country. Nevertheless, much can be done to facilitate the work of the rural school teacher and to make it more effective. Some of the methods for improving instruction which have been used successfully follow :® State study—Some of the new state courses of study 1. Suggestions from the course of 1 Ibid. p. 89, 106, 118, 129 have been prepared with the 1 s of rura schools in mind and especially helpful materia ror rut i school teachers has n att uded \ well-made state course of study will help th rural teacher. It should be s tive itn highly restrictive in nature. It should encourag: individual initiative and local ( f « riculum problems. 2. Planning the daily progra Much hel; ful research has been conduc ted on time-allot ment practices in rural schools. One of the out standing problems faced by the teacher in small rural school is the budgeting of time for recitation purposes. A technic for onstructin programs according to the needs of particular schools has recently been suggested 3. | fective use of time In der to utilize the school day most ettectively these sugvestion may be followed, as Tar as conditions wi mit: Subjects which are closels ted in content may be taught as a single unit. Sug ted correla tions as tound in 26 model state « f study a listed in Table 2. Over half of the n | programs suggested the correlations of hist vith civics and writing with drawing b. Subjects or grades or both n ilternate from year to year. See Table 2 c. Grades may be grouped int visions, each livision being taught as a single unit, although each child is the diy binations lefinitely assigne | to a given ¢& ide within sion The frequency or certain g ide com as recommended by state courses of stud is shown in Table 3 The most commoniy recom mended combinations are grades 5 and 6 in spe ing, reading, and arithmetic; grades 3 and 4 in reading; and grades 7 and 8 in reading, language spelling, and arithmetic d. Care may be exercised to see that subjects are not scheduled at inappropriate hours of the day e. The teacher’s special interest in a particular grade or subject should not be allowed to distort the schedule of classes f. Content and appreciation subjects should be given a place in the program commensurate with their importance. Over-emphasis on the drill sub jects should be avoided.’ g. A wider use of directed study, individual read ing, and self-instruction may re crowded program and at the same time provide for indi vidual needs 2? Works, George A., director Courses of St 1 Instr 1s Education Su k . Educational Survey Commission, 1924. p. 321-4 * Works, George A. OP. cit. p. 161-3 ‘ Inglis, Alexander, Director. Virginia Public Schools, Part I. \ N. Y.: World | ( 1920 ) Op. cit. p. 114, * Improvement of instruction through the supervision program eparately treated in a later sect ' Reynolds, Annie. Characteristic Features of Recent Superior State Courses of Study. U. S. Dept. of t » J Education, Rural School Leaflet, No. 41. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office Myron. Analytic Survey of State Courses of Study for Elementary Schools. U. S. Dept. of the Interior, Bur April, 1926. 13 Kx r ( 1922, No. 42. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1922. 116 7 : ® Caswell, Hollis L. Program Making in Small Elementary Schools. | 1 Studies, No. 1. Nas! I ollege for Teachers, 1930. 77 p _* For a summary of prevailing practice and a bibliography see: Mann, Carleton Hunter, Ho j é er me. ( butions to Education, No. 333. New York: Teachers College, Columbi versity, 1928. 202 p [ 263 ] TABLE 2.—COMBINATION AND ALTER- Ohio; and Boone County, Missouri. TI NATION OF SUBJECTS SUGGESTED was under the direction of the Nationa IN 26 MODEL PROGRAMS IN STATE mittee on Visiting Teachers. 1 . COURSES OF STUDY 2. Cottincs, ELtswortuH. An Experiment Project Curriculum. New York: Macmil > eave Number | Grades most 1923. 346 P- % Gulp a or of frequently Report of an extended experiment wit! ternat . . ee: ee aa suggested ject curriculum in a small rural school 1 2 3 purpose of comparing results with schools History with civics...........| 15 oP ae the traditional type. The curriculum devis History with geography... | 7 5-6 use in this experiment differs from the Writing with drawing 12 All classes . . : ‘ ; - , Reading with eneiling ; 4 offerings of the rural school, its conten Reading with history 7 3-5 selected from the purposes of the pupils Reading with language 5 1-3 . ; Saas = : cam fh ; Geography with hygiene 6 5-6 life. Four projects, called excursion, han Language with spelling 6 1-3 and story, made up the curriculum. Tw Hygiene with agriculture s — trol” schools, similar to the experimental . in all respects save curriculums, wer: 1 Reinoehl, Charles Myron. Analytic Survey of State for comparison. All three schools used Courses of Study for Rural Elementary Schools. U. S. 4 3 Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Education, Bulletin, experiment were located in McDonald ( 1922, No. 42. Washington, D. C.: Government Print- Missouri. At the end of four vears the ing Office, 1923. p. 22. : mental school was found to rate higher t! “control” schools with respect to acquisit . . > common facts and skills, attitudes toy 4. Help from professional reading—Space amon facts and skills, attitud _ ‘ school and education in general, and des does not permit detailed descriptions of im- changes in community life. proved teaching practices which have been 3. CooLey, Rossa B. School Acres: An Ads worked out in rural school situations. Below is in Rural Education. New Haven: Yal ° ° ° . . a Dsaen tet a list of books which describes how these im- versity Press. 1930. 166 p. roved practices have been put into effect. If moms of an experiment in negro « P - oe i aier'e in the Penn School, St. Helena’s Island every rural teacher and school officer could read Cuan: This achesl was feunded br | one of these books each term, a stream of new M. Towne during the Civil War. It ha and effective teaching devices would soon begin — to provide for the negro an edu . “er adapted to his needs. Oo ate the practice of teaching in the rural : . : ‘ae hae : 8 , 4. Dewey, Evetyn. New Schools for Old schools. York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1919. 33 The story of the transformation of the P Selected References school, near Kirksville, Missouri, und 1. Benepict, AcNes E. Children at the Cross leadership of a teacher who was able to s Roads. New York: The Commonwealth Fund, latent possibilities of the one-room school. Division of Publications, 1930: 238 p. detailed account of the reconstruction Individual case stories of the work of visiting school plant and of the reorganization teachers among maladjusted rural children in school and social life of the community. S! Monmouth County, New Jersey; Huron County, what can be done toward the solution 1 The list is restricted to a few books describing actual conditions. Many of the standard textbooks on rural scl not included here, have useful chapters describing typical experiences in rural schools. TABLE 3.—GRADE COMBINATIONS IN SCHOOL SUBJECTS IN 26 MODEL PE GRAMS IN STATE COURSES OF STUDY'‘* | Number of programs combining Subjects amas | ¢ ? = 1 | Grades | Grades Grades Grades | Grades Grades Grade: land2 | 2and3 | 3and4 4and5 | Sand6 6 and 7 7 and 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Reading. . 13 5 24 | 6 19 5 19 } Language ; 15 5 | 16 } 6 16 6 19 Spelling... .. 3 2 18 10 } 26 12 | Arithmetic : 10 1 16 | 5 »? 6 1”) History... . 4 4 4 4 5 12 | Geography. i 2 10 8 5 x 1 NS ak on alt 4 4 | 3 4 12 4 10 Nature study... | 11 | 5 x | 1 5 Agriculture....... 7 7 deans 2 1 5 ; 1 Reinoehl, Charles Myron. Op}. cit. p. 20. RO- economic, social, and ethical problems encoun tered in a rural community. DUNN, FANNIE W., and Everett, Marcia A Four Years in a Country School. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1926. 173 p. Report of the progress of an experimental rural school conducted by Teachers College, Columbia University, at Quaker Grove, War- ren County, New Jersey, with a view to work- ng out, in a typical rural school situation, the organization and curriculum best adapted to the conditions of the one-teacher school. Tells how certain problems were dealt with, as: child labor on the farm, educating children from foreign-speaking homes, and pupils who are mentally too immature for first providing for grade. The school building and equipment, the curriculum, the method of grouping pupils, and the daily work in the classroom are described in detail. FieLp, Jessie W. The Corn Lady: the Country Teacher's Work. Chicago: A. Flanagan Company, 1911. 107 p. Personal letters in which a young teacher tells of her attempts to relate the work of a one-room Story of a country school to the life of a rural community in Iowa. An old book, but still good. HatcHer, O. LATHAM, Editor. 4 School. Richmond, Virginia: Garrett & Massie, Inc. 1930. 248 p. Report of an experiment in the mountain school of Konnarock, Virginia. Gives an ac- count, not only of the school, but of the homes from which the children come to the school, thei: Mountain parents, and the children themselves. Discusses problems relating to the curriculum, the testing program, teaching the various subjects, social and recreational activities, and character build ing. KirKPATRICK, Marion G. The Rural School from Within. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co. 1917. 302 p. The writer gives an account of his experi- ences as a teacher of a Kansas rural school. The problems and mistakes of the beginning teachet are treated sympathetically. Such problems as leadership in the community, “managing” the pupils and the school board, and repairing the school building receive humorous as well as sympathetic treatment. MAtcotm, Davin Jounston. The Letters of a County Superintendent to His Daughter. New York: Benjamin H. Sanborn and Co., 1927. 165 p. Recounts the actual expe es of a county superintendent, in the form of personal letters lreats of the problems of the ii teacher with practical suggestions for their solution. Deals with questions of dist ipline, methods of conduct ing the recitation, making programs and lesson plans, beautifying the school grounds, and securing community cooperation and support Netson, C. A., and Winpes, E. E. 4 Type Rural High School. U. 8. Department of the Interio hee of Education, Bulletin, 1924, No. 4. Wash > thee, 1924 ington, D. C.: Government Printing \ lescription of the Mount Vernon High School, Skagit County, Washington, a typical nion high school. Gives the essential details of the organization of the district, transporta tion of pupils, organization of the school, the buildings and equipment, the student body, ad ministration, the teaching staff, curricula and vocational courses of study “SCHOOLS WHICH ARE PROPHESIES \ series of articles in the Journal of t/ National I a n Association. Ihe following articles in this series describe rural or semi-rural schools \ Rural School Blazes a New Trail.” Bessie M. King 1928. “The Dream of a Far-Seeing 1 t Glenn K. Kelly, May, 1930. “A Midwest Rural School.” Charles W. Howard. February, 1928 October SMITH, CLARA H., and ALvey, LA RAg. Milpitas 1 Rural School Project in Teacher Training U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of Ed ucation, Rural School Leaflet, No. 27, 1924 Washington, D. C 1924. 19 p. Che Milpitas School was made into a training : Government Printing Office school for teachers in 1921 by the San Jose, Cali fornia, State Teachers College. This was done with three objectives in mind: (1) to give pros pective teachers an opportunity to teach in a , rural school; (2) to give them a 1 Opportunity to teach children of foreign parents; (3) to demon strate what could be done in a rural school by utilizing existing agencies. This report gives an account of the progress of the project and of results obtained. STABLETON, JOHN KaAy Diary f a Western Schoolmaster. Chicago, Ill.: Ainsworth and Co 1900. 140 p An account of fifteen years’ experience in lealing with adolescent boys in the school room Reported as case studies, giving a characte: sketch of each boy, his particular problem, and the method of handling it. Out of print, but available in many libraries HE CHIEF ESSENTIAL is a teacher qualified for the desired type of work the advance of the progressive educational idea, and its concrete exemplification in hundreds of situations, suggestions and materials are increasingly available. Have we not reached the time when we are justified in expecting that every rural school, however small, shall be genuine education of high quality?—Fannie W. Dunn, Teachers College, Columbia University Proceedings, 1930, National Education As«ociation. p. 474. With a place of [ 265 ] 6. Rural School Interpretation Rural people are deeply interested in the wel- fare of their children. ‘They want their chil- dren to develop into healthy, responsible, suc- cessful men and women. But rural parents fre- quently fail to understand the large contribu- tion which the schools can make to the future well-being of their children. They fail to recog- nize that an effective school can guide and en- courage the mental, social, and physical growth of their children. They tend to think of all edu- cation outside of the fundamentals as mere “booklearning.” This limited view of education is due largely to the fact that educational lead- ers have failed to interpret the broader aspects of the educational program to rural people. Furthermore, even when the rural public has been drawn to a consideration of school policy, the approach has been almost exclusively from the viewpoint of financial support. Peck and Stevenson, in a study of publicity campaigns in rural school districts, found that 66 percent of the campaigns were concerned with the raising of funds for capital outlays and 16 percent with increases in teachers’ salaries. On the other hand, only 6 percent of these campaigns were con- cerned with building up interest in education as a social process, and only 2 percent were aimed at the development of some aspect of rural com- munity life." These facts suggest the need for continuous and comprehensive educational in- terpretation in rural areas. Campaigns for in- creased school support are at times highly de- sirable and even necessary. But such campaigns should grow out of a continuous and broad pro- gram of school publicity, rather than being merely spasmodic and hasty emergency appeals for more funds.” The Need for Interpreting the Schools to Rural People Alexander reports an investigation in this field based on the opinions of 86 successful rural school officials. According to this study, the fol- lowing motives rank high in effectiveness in 1 Peck, R. R. and Stevenson, P. R. *‘ Rural Publicity."’ Educational Research Bulletin 2: 315-20; November 28 securing public support for rural schoo grams: 1. To give one’s children as good a chances as any children get. 2. To give children a better education than parents had. 3. To make farm life more attractive 4. To provide high-school opportunities home. The agencies used in a group of <¢ school systems for enlisting public support appreciation have been studied by Hines Jones,* and by Peck and Stevenson. Table 4 presents certain findings from 1 two investigations. While the two studi not strictly comparable, the table shows general way how the publicity methods act in use compare with judgments as to thei: tive effectiveness. It also indicates the w range of publicity media which are available use in programs of rural school interpretat Figure 2 illustrates how one medium, the sc! newspaper, may be used to inform the public of the needs and services of its schools In any such program there will be fou certain groups which are readily won ove an appreciation of the value of education certain other groups which are more difficult convince. Peck and Stevenson found that following groups rendered the strongest port to education: families with children school, business and professional men, wom« clubs, and skilled labor. Among the most act opponents the same investigators list retired izens and families with no children in schoi Prominent among the causes for failure of « paigns for rural school support are these: igi rance of the people, lack of campaign organi tion, lack of public interest, lack of effect publicity, hard times, and lack of evidence as the need for the improvements requested. T} causes for failure indicate that in many ca the school people themselves are in part blame for the lack of appreciation of edu tional values which farmers frequently rev: 1923 } ? For a bibliography of school publicity consult: Journal of the National Education Association 19: 82; March, 1930 1923 * Alexander, Carter. ‘‘ Publicity Work for Better Support of Rural Schools."" Journal of Educational Research 7: 1-13; Ja 4 Hines, Harlan Cameron and Jones, Robinson G. Public School Publicity. New York: Macmillan Company, 1923 * Op. cit. p. 317. * Peck and Stevenson. O>?. cit. p. 318. [ 266 ] Successful Plans for Interpreting the Schools to Rural People Following are a few illustrations of success experience in rural school publicity. |. Securing a township high school in IIli- —lIncreased enrolment in an Illinois dis- t rendered inadequate the building occupied iintly by high school and graded school. The two school boards decided that the only solution in erecting a new building for the town- p high-school district. Feeling the need for the widest possible publicity concerning existing nditions and future needs, they enlisted the ipport of the local paper and presented the problem through its columns. In an assembly of all the school officials of the township a reso- lution was passed endorsing the proposition for , new high-school building and calling a public mass meeting to present the facts to the people. In calling the meeting the columns of the local paper were again used freely and handbills were posted throughout the village and township. The proposition was put before a representa Hart, T. C. *‘Cooperation between Scl 1 Boards and tl t lering of b isiness and | t sional en tarmers, and people from eve valk of life ind a general discussion was entered into by the public. The result was the adoption of a resolu tion endorsing the proposition and iuling upon the high school board to tak t necessary steps Lhe petition to call i speci l el tion 1 selec ting a high school site, erecting the b d ing, and issuing bonds was started then an was three days later handed to the secret iry of the high S¢ hool board, sloned ( five h in dred voters. ‘he board met at once and called the special election. [hey were asking a $/)5,VUUU bond ° ] ' 1 . issue, almost the five percent limit allowed by iw, and a five acre site. Notices and sample bal lots were posted inevery prominent place in the township. The newspaper also carrie d the notice and sample ballot and gave publicity to existing conditions. Members of the board went before the local commercial association and tl lax Payers’ League explaining educational prob lems and asking support. In each case the organ TABLE 4.—USE AND EFFECTIVENESS OF THIRTY PUBLICITY METHODS USED IN RURAL SCHOOLS Method of Publicity 1. School reports Circular letters Exhibits....... 4. General newspapers 5. Public addresses 6. Personal letters 7. Circulars and handbills 8. Publicity bulletins ». School newspapers ; ). Educational magazines 1. County fairs 2. Calendars 3. General magazines 4. Stereopticon slides 5. Teachers institutes 6. Spelling contests 17. Parent-teacher associa 18. Community meetings 19. Community picnics 20. Personal interviews 21. School surveys 22. Talks by pupils 23. Instructions to voters 4. Posters 25. Advance polling 26. School parades 27. Petitioning 28. Cartoons........ 29. Windshield stickers for automobiles 30. Children's letters to parents r 1 After Hines and Jones. Op. cit ? After Peck and Stevenson. Op. cit. p. 317 * Paid advertising. * News and editorials. Percent of counties using | Scores assigned as to the effec methods indicated! tiveness of methods indicated SCHOOL TO PATRONS FIGURE 2 Flathead Messenger Published Periodically by the Faculty FLATHEAD COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL GREETINGS Te Sent free to patrons of the school and to others upon request |_ GRADU ATES vou vi THE FLATHEAD MESSENGER, KALISPELL, MONTANA, MAY, 1980 mt WHAT OF OUR GRADUATES? But preparation for a vocation or a college dues not exhaust our responsibility to the graduate, nor hie responsibility to society, We expect him to be able to Gil his leisure time (if he ever has any) better than the a right to expect that the young graduate will be a more effective home member. As a son, daughter, brother or sister now, or as & par- ent later on, the high school grad- wate should be more intelligent and cooperative because of the four yea Finally, our graduate should most certainly be a more ef- fective member of society gen- erally. This is really the import- ant thing in such a world as this one is getting to be, where people must pull together or be pulled to pieces. Our grad . partly be- cause of bis training here, can be expected to participate in the po- litical affairs of bis locality, bis state, his nation. As « member ot a number of organizations, be should be reasonably effective, either as a leader or a follower. In both formal and informal groups, be should show evidence of social- mindedness COUNTY HONOR scH00Ls CURRICULUM FOR NEXT YEAR Reports for the fourth month show that seventeen schools were County INCLUDES A FEW DEVELOP’ Honor Schools that month. MEN TS In looking over the reports and checking requirements each month, NEW COURSES WILL BE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY eS en aa eee AND RETAIL MERCHANDISING-SALESMANSHIP ; of Carteret County Honor Schools is POSSIBLE CHANGE IN HOME ECONOMICS DEPART- to have a set of good standards that MENT: EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES WILL may be met by practically every NOT CHANGE a echool in the county VEGETABLE GARDEN INTERESTS : Free Activity Work CAMP GLENN PUPILS GREATLY Interests Sea Level Have Planted Many Sorts of Vegetables And Will Plant Others; The primary grades are st “Live-at-Home” Program Was Observed Successfully much interested in free activity present one group is working The boys are very interested in — box. In a few days this their vegetable garden. They- haxe} Myers ee a little white ra will be brought his new hon LOOKING FORWARD one of the third grade boys The merchant that does not | The following are stories made look into the future in planning Smyrna School Has the children as results of their his business will almost invar- tivity periods iably fail. If the teacher and Good Water Supply Today our group worked on a ra the school people do not take bit box. We sawed four pieces tw any thought of the future of The installation of the running wa ty-seven inches long and four pis their school they will soon be ter system at Smyrna High School eighteen inches long. We need { aware of the fact that they are, which was begun last year has recent- (more pieces eighteen inches . failing to keep up with the prog ly been completed. The drinking (Then we will have the frame saw reas of the times. The business fountains were installed last week Kingmore Willis Grade CARTERET COUNTY SCHOOL NEWS A PAPER BY THE SCHOOLS AND FOR THE SCHOOLS VARIETY OF WORK DONE BY PUPILS White Oak First Grade Pupils mm To Make Many Things The boys and girls in the first grades secm to enjoy their work at chool, but they look forward espec ally to the first part of the day's program. This time comes from 9°15 to 10:00 o'clock At this period the small boys and girls are at liberty to © the things they wish to do. The daily program is arranged so that each child may chose some form of work which he likes. Some of he little folks like to make pictures with erayons and water colors, while me enjoy making things out of clay me of the little girls prefer to «ew make rugs A visitor entering these class reoms is no doubt surprisid to find uch @ variety of occupations going on at the same time. In one corne some boys are to be seen working with tools perhaps they are building 4 table, a house a store, or some fur niture to use in their class room. An ‘ aioe aie Newport Pupils Are Planning Camp Glenn School Is Moving Smoothly; Various Plans To Beautify School Grounds Are Under Way Much Interest Aroused In The Various Grades; Hope To Make The Camp Glenn p T. A. held its School aay Very Attractive; Newport Will Enter regular monthly meeting on Tues rangular Debate This Year day night, February 4th. There were many visitors and members present Not being sa ed with the fairly good condition of the ¢ COST OF TRANSPORTING PUPILS Scena 4 erage but aspiring to make then ‘ ly beautiful the various grad f 1928— 29 hool have taken it upon thems to see what a transformation Items 31 Trucks 31 Trucks 1 Tereck 1 Truck ms one in the appearance of 8 Months 1 Month 1 Meath 1 Dey a. ri aeee ane ee Mileage 69,820 8,730 281.6 14.1 rooms together have en as Pupils carried 184,000 23,000 742. Sa t Gals. Gasoline 16,193 2,024 65 3% Soe ewes : The Cost Gasoline $ 3629.06 = $ 453.63 $14.63 $ .73 icici yy hada. Oil Quarts 2,581 323 1013-31 05 Siliatiedy ties. Ganne at the aoe Oil—Cost $ 68.04 $ 2.20 $ 11 received: “The s grade t R: pairs $ 971.42 $31.34 $1.56 girls are planning t ake the Drivers’ Salaries $ 392.35 $12.65 $ .63 way to the sch uilding pr FR The boys have dug trenche ‘ Total Cost -- . $15083.61 $1885.44 $60.82 $3.03 side and are putting rich 1 1 Per capita cost per pupil per day, 8.1 cents. ao te v $ ( t $1.64 per month per pupil for transportation will water + fing 3. Cost $13.12 per year to transport one pupil to school have beautiful flov [ 268 ] ations endorsed the plan. When election day tually came the proposition called forth little position. Z. The School Neu Spaper ina County U nit tem’—A new county superintendent found ssatisfaction with the expenditures of school funds in previous years. He decided to abandon iilding plans and further increases in taxes intil he had an opportunity to direct the atten tion of the public to the real work that the hools were accomplishing. This phase of s hool publicity had been previously neglected. There were in the county, schools offering six, seven, eight, and nine months terms, a con- dition which led to inconvenience in planning ounty-wide program. A uniform term, there re, seemed to be the most vital need. By irrying a state-wide tax for a two months ex ended term several things could be accom plished: a uniform term, a uniform tax rate, increased consolidation, and perfection of the county unit plan. This program required organized school pub licity. Few daily papers were read in the rural sections of the country. Even the local weekly papers had a limited circulation. One school knew nothing of what other schools were doing. lo meet this isolated condition, a county school newspaper was started. Its purposes were: (1) to distribute the news of the schools among the patrons; (2) to create a desire for reading school news; (3) to stimulate local interest and pride in the work of the schools; (4) to build sentiment for a longer school term; (5) to rec- ognize and encourage effective work among the various county schools; (6) to publish nothing that would cause resentment or argument. A meeting of the high-school principals in the county was called and the plans for the paper explained. hearty approval. Each school principal was an associate editor and monthly. News from all the schools in the These plans met with their contributed editorials county was collected through the principals and the teachers in the one-room schools. ‘The paper was edited by the county superintendent and the county rural school supervisor. Enough adver- tisements were secured to meet the cost of printing. In this way the Carteret County School News made its first appearance. Besides the 1 Adapted from Workman, J. H. School Publicity and County Carolina. Mimeographed. 4 p. ? Suggestions for the rural school newspaper are found in I news from the various schools, t front page presented school facts concerning the whol ounty Che editor! ils dealt with county-wide S\ hool problems. The question of a « int wid uniform school term was approached in a gen eral way, gradually getting more and specific with respect to the actual situation in Carteret County. This paper appeared six times during the sions of the six months term. Twelve hundre hal? copies of each Issue were printed Enough cop } I lren were sent to each principal si > chil could carry one to each home re} ented in the school. Paid subscriptions were not depended ipon During the latter part of tl hool vear a questionnaire was sent out to ascertain what ettect the paper had on the parents and children It was estimated that 100 percent of the chil dren and 80 percent of the parents had read the paper. [he paper had begun to fulfill its pose in creating goodwill, cooperation, counts wide interest in education, and sentiment fi i longe S( hool term Meanwhile, in the office of t int intendent, plans were laid for a special tax el tion. This issue was discussed at the grouy center commencements. [he county superin tendent emphasized the advantages of a long school term. He called attention to the steadily decreasing seventh grade enrolment and gave causes for this condition. He asked for an 1 equal chance for all children in the county. Having laid a basis of public support, the fol lowing procedure with respect to the tax ele tion was inaugurated: 1. The proposal for an election ented to the county board of education and the county board of commissieners. Approval by these bodies was secured 2. The county superintendent conferred privately with influential leaders of public opinion in the county. 3. The active cooperation of the local newspapers published in the county was secured 4. A mass meeting of all school mmitteemen in the county was called. This meeting endorsed the eight months term without a dissenting voice. The meeting also inaugurated a petition calling upon the county commissioners to set a date for a special tax election. 5. This petition was present id the election was called immediately. Unit Plan. Carteret County P wth, Frank 7. The Country Teacher a | Jew rk: M millan Co., 1930. Chapter 4, ‘‘ Publishing a School Paper."’ 541 p. [ 269 ] J 6. The campaign was now carried direct to the 7. Every local parent-teacher associati people. Full information concerning the purpose and sent a weekly letter urging the members to s« amount of the new tax was given through all pos- everyone voted on election day. sible channels. Two bankers, one school principal, one newspaper editor, and the county superintend- [he election was entirely successful an ent canvassed the entire county, holding meetings at . “ty! 5 B tax was authorized. In a number of pre the schoolhouses and explaining the issue to the people. This campaign continued for three weeks, during which time a special issue of the school measure. there was not a single vote against the proj paper appeared, giving the advantages of the 3. A program for parent-teacher coopera yropos i month: 3 » facts conc - . . ] , . proj sed eight months term and the facts concern in developing rural schools—An effective ing the amount of money necessary to finance it. A. coe ; ; ° ° ° ‘ ace . or rating +h copy of this paper was mailed direct to every voter important agency in inte rpreting the in the county. school to its patrons is a properly orgar FIGURE 3.—SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES FOR RURAL PARENT-TEACHER ASSOCIATIONS I. Health 1. Organize study circles on prenatal care, child health, local health conditions, schoo! wate supply, and similar problems. . Join the national summer round-up. (A program for getting every child in good physical condition before school cpens in the autumn.) 3. Discuss and encourage immunization against smallpox and diphtheria Work for installation of hot lunch service in local schools. 5. Cooperate actively with all local health officers and agencies. nN II. Home Membership 1. Organize groups for study of parenthood and home relationships. 2. Conduct home improvement and beautification projects. 3. Locate comfortable and suitable quarters for teachers. III. Vocational Effectiveness 1. Encourage and help young people to earn money for services to the community and its le 2. Study and report on vocational opportunities for young people, including farming. 3. Discover the facts concerning youths who have left the rural school and publish history of their experiences and success. IV. School Development 1. Study, under competent leadership, the financing and administration of the rural school system 2. Study and list the characteristics of the modern school systems with relation to building, equip ment, teaching materials, teaching methods, and the like. 3. Evaluate local schools with relation to above characteristics and help towards lifting the local school up to desirable standards. V. Use of Leisure — . Encourage and assist the formation of clubs, bands and orchestras, and athletic teams 2. Investigate local library facilities and if necessary secure additional help from state an county libraries. 1 VI. Citizenship 1. Sponsor excursions to civic occasions so that children may see government in action 2. Encourage strict compliance with laws governing school attendance and all other topics 3. Encourage inte!ligent use of the ballot. VII. Ethical Character . Cooperate with all worthy local religious and character-developing enterprises. | 2. Discuss, under intelligent leadership, boy-girl relationships, or other problems of social ad justment. = 270 ] nt-teacher association. Such an organiza- concerning rural school . ° tions should have a definite program for the Hines, HARLAN CAMERON ) and improvement of rural school condi- G. Public School Publ in its home community.’ The Bureau of millan Company, 1923, 72 p al Life of the National Congress of Par \ study of the use and effect one, . ~} h 7 S and Teachers has outlined a program of school publicity method NATONAL CONGRESS OF PARENTS V1 ies for such a group.” Certain elements of : e _ Brouy Handbook. Washington, D. C. 193 this program are shown in Figure 3. The items Part 1 deals with the parent in this list are intended to be suggestive and tions in the community and Par should be carefully adapted to fit local needs structure if i l ? 3 ) l j I ian Co., 1928. 149 p. Also, National Congress of Parents et, N. W. 112 p. of the National ¢ appendix are bylaws and conditions. needed for reference NATIONAL CONGRESS OF PARENTS Selected References Pie Pudliciia Primer, Wadlleaae ALEXANDER, CARTER. “Publicity Work for Bet- 24+ p ter Support of Rural Schools.” Journal of Edu- \ handbook of publicity ational Research 7: 1-13; January, 1923. parent-teacher associations. ( Some concrete suggestions as to motives in- crete suggestions fluencing people to vote for better school sup- RTH CAROLINA EDUCATION ASSOCIAT port, successful presentation of appeals, and c Education in 1900 and Now. Raleig cautions to be observed Carolina: Bynum Printing Company BALDRIDGE, CHLOE E. Program Discussion Ma- \n example of what on r. 4 —_ > een = terial for Nebraska Rural Parent-Teacher As sociation is doing to interp1 sociation. Lincoln, Nebraska: Department of nubhii Pesta Sen — 977 : Public Instruction, 1927. 109 P “OTHER Forms oF PUBLICITY cludes pla for organizing parent-teacher In lud $ plans ure 5 pare National Education Asso associations based on the plans in the Handbook 1931 SU. of the National Congress of Parents and Teach- bad a : , \ bibliography of schox ers. Presents material for discussion by parent- : oa ae Peck, R. R., and STEVENSON, P teacher associations. CaRNEY, MaAsev. “The Community Relations of Rural Schools.” Rural School Survey of Nex York State. Vol 4. Ithaca, New York Joint Committee on Rural Schools, 1923. ‘“‘The Teach- city.” Educational Resear Bu November 28, 1923 A study, by means of a means of securing publicity ing Personnel.” p. 211-73. Finds that the most effective the public were personal inter A consideration of community relations and | activities of rural schools, and recommendations ngs, talks before local cl 1 For further discussion see: Butterwort! n Edward. nd T ? Adapted from: National Congress of Parents and Teachers. Con HE TEACHERS must bridge the gap between the school and home, and between the school ei and the community, with a clear understanding of what type of cooperation the school needs They must cultivate a willingness to recognize the public as another channel for the education of the child. The teacher-public should utilize every agency that may assist in enriching the school education program. The only school education that is effective is that which is tied into the life of the community.—Mrs. Hugh D. Bradford, President, National Congress of Parents and Teachers Sacramento, California, Proceedings, National Education Association, 1930. p. 135 7. Trained Teachers for Rural Schools’ The Present Professional Status of Teachers in Rural Schools A summary of national trends in rural edu- cation would give about the following descrip- tion of the median teacher in one-room schools :* The typical one-room rural teacher of the United States is a young woman about twenty-three years of age, of native American stock, and of farm or small-town background. Her preparation includes four years of high-school education with approxi- mately one year of professional training, secured frequently in summer sessions or in the graduate year of high-school training classes. She teaches from twenty to twenty-five children through the eight grades of the elementary curriculum for a school term of eight months, and remains only one or two years in the same school. Her median annual salary is $883 and her total service in rural schools averages about three years, after which she marries or transfers to grade teaching or continues her education, usually in a state teachers’ college.’ While the above description is admittedly based on estimates and on incomplete and in- comparable sets of data, it is doubtless a fairly typical picture. In some states the rural schools are better served than these averages would in- dicate; in other states, especially if the negro teachers in southern states be included, the situ- ation is far worse. The important factors entering into the pro- fessional status of teachers are: training, ma- turity, experience, tenure of position, and sal- ary. On every one of these items the teacher of rural children suffers by comparison with the teacher of urban children. Table 5 presents a body of facts to substantiate this point. While these facts have been gathered from a wide variety of sources and are not strictly compar- able, they nevertheless show conclusively that the rural child is being taught by relatively young, immature, untrained, underpaid, and in- experienced teachers. Only a few exceptions to this general statement can be found ; and when found, they merely serve to intensify the con- trast. On the whole, rural teachers appear to be from one to five years younger than city teach- ers, to possess about two years less training, to have from one to eight years less experien: to receive about two-thirds as much sala: Securing Trained Teachers for Ru Schools Some of the reasons for the present quate training of rural teachers have al been suggested by the preceding discussi their professional status. Chief among causes are: low standards of certification, ir quate salaries, and incomplete training fa As a first step in the improvement of teaching service, these three barriers to pr must be removed. 1. Higher standards of certification principle of equivalent educational opport is involved in the certification of teachers. | states still issue certificates valid only in schools, which require a degree of prepara inferior to that demanded for a certificat general, state-wide validity. Such a policy plies that the rural child does not need o1 serve a trained teacher as child. Such an assumption is utterly uny ranted. Certification standards which are b much as a upon this unsound assumption should be vised. This does not mean that rural school teachers need a professional ed tion identical with that of the urban tea While the differing needs of the two group and should be training neither should be inferior and incomplete i: kind. Although the special low-grade certit valid only in rural districts is found in states, the low standards required for cert grades of certificates in nearly all states afi the rural school adversely. In spite of the { that certificates requiring little or no train and issued by local examining authorities n theoretically be valid in any school in the st their use in actual practice is confined lar; to the rural schools. The teachers in t! schools represent, on the whole, the lowest m prt spt recognized, the 1A separate section on the training of rural teachers does not imply that such training should be narrowly limited t rural school field. The opposite is the case. Rural teachers need a broad and general professional preparation with special pr tion in the handling of the problems peculiar to rural life and education. 2 Based on advance data from the Biennial Survey of Education, 1928-30. U. S. Department of the Interior, Office Mabel. ‘‘ The Preparation of Teachers for Rural Schools"’, in The Status of Rural Education. Thirtieth Year tion, and on Carney, of E Part I. National Society for the Study of Education. Bloomington, Illinois: Public School Publishing Company, 1931. p. 16 * The description relates wholly to white teachers. [ 272] COMPARED TABLE 5.—PROFESSIONAL STATUS OF RURAL AND URBAN TEACHERS Year investigation was reported Area covered Typical rural tea [. Age Comparisons nited States! 5 rs bey New York‘ West Virginia!® wa’ 1930 Gr lorida™ 1929 12 years of edu Delaware® 1925 14.49% I Virginia$ 1925 9.6% wi III. Experience United States!’ lowa‘ 9 New York! 1923 3 West Virginia! 1929 44 New York‘ 1925 4 Indiana® 1975 2 9% Texas 1925 3 8 Delaware’.... 192 > 32 South Dakota 8 y United States!’ $88 Colorado" (selected counties 1931 950 California" (selected counties 1931 1408 Wisconsin!’ (selected counties 1931 891 Kentucky!’ (selected counties 1931 5 2¢ lowa!® (selected counties 1931 1 lowa?® 1930 0 New York‘ 1925 $24 we Indiana! Wisconsin”! 1 Bagley, William C. ‘‘The Teaching Personnel of the R Ithaca, New York: Joint Committee on Rural Schools. 1923 12-10 ?One-room schools. 3 Village schools. ‘ Wiley, George M. The Teaching Personnel in | tllage and Rur University of the State of New York, 1925. 24 p 5 Work, George A., director. Texas Edu ational Survey Ret sion, 1925. 6 Women in one-room schools ? Larger schools in independent distri * Incorporated districts. * Board of Educational Examiners. Teachers of the Public Fly men 10 Cavins, L. V., director. Survey of Education in West | irginia. \ 342 p. 1 One and two-teacher schools. 12 Elementary schools only. 8 Third-class cities. ™“ Strayer, George D., director. Report the Educational Surve 1929, 743 p. % Communities under 500 population. % Communities over 2500 population. 17 Advance daia from U. S. Department of the Interior. Office of KE 18 Cook, Katherine M., and Gaumnitz, W. H. ‘‘ Availability of Sct iral mi Rural Education.” Thirtieth Yearbook, Part I. National Society for the Study of Educati School Publishing Company, 1931. p. 78 19 Indiana Rural Educational Survey Committee. Report 2° Median for all elementary teachers employed in cities reporting National Education Association. #1 “School Costs in Wisconsin.” Wisconsin Journal of Education 63 Comparisons IV. Salary Comparisons b 11ers Rural i Sur 192 a 8. Aust Tex , Secondar . Chae, ‘ Commission and Sur ication olis, 1926 yn the biennial salary 449; May, 1931 mum training accepted by the state. Low stand- ards and inefficient methods of certification, therefore, do most damage in the rural schools, and any improvement of these standards and certificating methods is reflected first in an im- proved level of preparation among rural school teachers. Whether the work of rural teachers is sufficiently different from that of city teachers to justify a special rural certificate, is a debat- able question of detail with which this bulletin is not concerned. All will agree, however, whether or not a limited rural certificate is issued, that nothing should be permitted to en- courage the placing of teachers with inferior training in rural areas. 2. Adequate salaries—The median annual salary of rural* school teachers is $945 and of ! Teachers employed in open country schools and in places of less than 2500 in populat of Education, 1928-30, U. S. Department 2 Advance data from the Biennial Survey teachers in one-room schools, $883.2 0 facts concerning salaries of teachers and groups are shown graphically in Chart \ These facts doubtless go far to explain w is almost impossible to keep the services of y prepared teachers in rural schools. Discussing the rural teacher situation United States Commissioner of Education marks: The training, the tenure, and the professi status of teachers and other professional worke the rural schools of America are to a large de circumscribed by the rewards offered and social. It has long been recognized in a gen way that such rewards in rural schools are mea in comparison with those in urban schools a1 both fina comparison with those in other gainful occupati But the detailed facts have not been sufhcie: he Interior, Ofte t | CHART VII Average income of all gainfully occupied persons 1928 Average salary of federal eme loyees, 1928 Average salacy of teachers. principals and supervisors 1926 Average carcnings SALARIES o* TEACHERS ano CERTAIN OTHER GROUPS ? 1863 Saruves t of Wage and Fersonnet ( ment, p 366. Teachers’ Salaries from U.S of wage earners 1928 Average salary of | whute iF |OGO teachers in consol idated colored schools 193 Average | white 945 salary for rural teachers 1930 colored 1% 588! Average | white teachers in oner schools colored ZiA 1930 Average income of gainfully occupied, and average carrungs of wage-carners from Willford | Me Natiaacl lacome and Its flurchasing Power p.87 Average salacy & federal employees fron - > / _ Fersennel Classification Board, United States Goves Department of Interior, £ Educati Cttice [ 274 ] Or d ot rt \ why of we On, ‘ion essio rkers deg inanc gene meag and Pations icienth ion Awe es k wn, and the relationships of these meaver sal aries to the not fully } educational opportunities of the rural child are realized While the extended demands on city school teachers and greater public recognition of theit services have justified increases in the salaries of these public servants, the education of rural children requires an equally high type of serv ice. Yet the salaries of rural teachers have re mained practically constant. Salaries of urban 1921 to 1930: ose of rural teachers increased only $65 in the teachers increased $247 from 1 therefore, that the same period. It appears, salary differential between urban and _ rural teaching service is not only great but also is crowing greater. The relatively low salaries paid rural teach ers are one of the prime causes which attract the best-trained rural teachers to the better paid positions in the cities. The findings of four nvestigations on this problem are combined in Table 6. This table indicates that low salaries TABLE 7.—INSTITUTIONS OFFERING SPECIAL COURSES FOR THE TRAIN ING OF RURAL TEACHERS Number of Number offering Year of institutions al schoc nvestigation covered teachers by study c ulums l 2 ; ”) ) 419 L/4 D t t ’ ‘ 1928 ¢ \ ) lent Printing O 1928 M x \ | UO t , 5 »0)-0 R. | Met I M 1928 M ( school Lable 7 shows the trend in this respect are one of the prime causes for the unwilling as reported by a number of difterent in ness of trained teachers to remain in rural serv tions. Although these invest n e not ice. strictly comparable, the table how tri enera 3. More complete training facilities for trend. It shows a rapid in from 1905 rural school teachers.—An increasingly large when only three institutions training rural number of teachers colleges and normal schools teachers were reported until 19 when 123 are providing training specifically directed to- were reported. The 1931 stud not show wards the needs of prospective teachers in rural _ significant changes since 1927 1 Gaumnitz Ww. H. Salaries and Salary Tres Teachers in Rura U.S. Department I Bulletin 1929, No. 6. Washington, D. ¢ Government Printing Off 1929. p. 1. (Letter of trar TABLE 6.—SOME REASONS WHY TRAINED TEACHERS TEND TO AVOID RURAL SCHOOLS Poor schools Limited educational or cultural advantage 4 AP AN RK SODNAM EWN Preparation of Teachers for Rural Schools. U.S Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1928. p. 21 Lack of professional prestige and enjoyment.) Not include Ss Reasons 493 New York village teachers! 1 2 Too many grades to teach 1 Low salaries 2 Too far from home; isolation 6 Poor living conditions 3 Dislike for rural life Not included Poor working conditions Not included 10. Complexity of task Not included 1 Few social contacts 7 12. Lack of supervision Not included 13. Lack of public appreciation Not included 14. Uncertain tenure Not included 1 Lack of special preparation Not included 1 Bagley, W. C., op. cit., p. 38 ? Powell, Gail F The Status of the Rural Teacher."’ Edu 3 Carney, Mabel. ‘‘ The Preparation of Teachers," op 4 Robinson, W. M The Rural School Curriculum as Ju Department Importance as ranked by Average 217 Nebraska 242 teacher 38 graduates Rank rural training of ira teachers officials curricula 3 4 5 6 " Not 1 1 ; " Not led 3 N ‘ ] j { 3 Not l j j N luded Not l l ( 5 N ided Not included N ided S N luded 6 ¢ N ided Not ine led Not ided I led Not includ NJ ncl led ® @ Not led 9 n 50: 414-19: M 1939 p. 1/3 iged Graduates n ¢ k, Kat Oth { Ed I ~ ( bo i a What types of work in rural education are of the successful city teacher. Activitie offered by various types of institutions? Table items of skill and information were { 8, based on facts reported in 1925, indicates the which were unique to the teacher in th: answer to this question. The table shows that room school. The entire study and others lik the teachers colleges and normal schools placed are indicative of the type of careful and « more general emphasis on practice teaching than tive work which needs to be done to p: the universities. None of the three groups of | a workable and useful course of preparatio: institutions studied placed general emphasis on _ rural teachers. rural secondary education, the rural school cur- The problem of securing a trained tea riculum, or on the special problems of adminis- for each schoolroom will not be solved tration and teaching in consolidated schools. every state makes a careful study of its tea: These topics are conspicuous among the titles training program in terms of the numbx of the most commonly offered courses. new teachers needed annually in the s The titles of courses offered, however, are fields and the number of teachers being | not as important as the content of the courses _ pared to fill these positions. At present ther: themselves. A recent investigation suggests the few facts and fewer general policies availa usefulness of the job-analysis as one factor in concerning teacher supply and demand. It determining an appropriate training program however, safe to say that for the United St for rural teachers. A checklist of 112 items as a whole there is no surplus of fully-trai: covering the duties, activities, and responsibili- teachers who are prepared to teach in ru ties of teachers was formulated and submitted _ schools.* Although accurate data are lacking to groups of rural and urban teachers. Returns _ is generally admitted that: (1) the graduates came from 200 grade teachers in towns and _ teachers colleges and normal schools are ent: cities and from 550 teachers in one-room _ ing rural service in increasing numbers, and schools, Among the latter group were 94 teach- a large proportion of those specifically trai: ers rated as “best” by their county superintend- for rural service work in rural schools for o ent, and 84 teachers rated as “poorest.” In the a brief period, or not at all. Table 9 prese: opinion of the county superintendents the most data from a fairly recent study of this questi: important factor making for success of a teacher Columns 3 and 5 of this table show a mark in a one-room school was special training for contrast between graduates of one-year that type of position. The data showed that the of two-year rural education courses. Of t! activities, duties, and responsibilities of the suc- former group, 86.4 percent planned to teach cessful rural teacher clearly differed from those one- and two-teacher schools, while only 21 1 McGuffey, Verne. Differences in the Activities of Teachers in Rural One-Teacher Schools and of Grade Teachers in Cities. ‘ tributions to Education No. 346. New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1929, 65 p. See Anderson, C. J. and Kibbe, Delia E. Field Problems of Wisconsin Rural Teachers. Madison, Wis.: State Superintendent of P Instruction, 1929. 74 p. ee * National Society for the Study of Education. Thirtieth Yearbook, Part I. ‘‘ The Status of Rural Education."’ Bloomir Ill.: Public School Publishing Company, 1931. Chapter 6. ‘‘The Preparation of Teachers for Rural Schools.”’ p. 160. See Research Division, National Education Association. ‘‘Teacher Supply and Demand." Research Bulletin, Vol. 9, No. 5. (1 published for November, 1931.) TABLE 8.—COURSES IN RURAL EDUCATION! - | | Numb f | Total b f 1 Titl f | imetituti umber of insti- otal number of rural | itles of most commonly offered Type of institution | tutions studied | education courses offered rural education courses 1 2 3 4 Colleges and universities 77 124 Rural education | Rural school administration | | Rural schoo! management and organizat Teachers colleges. ......... 52 140 | Observation and practice teaching | Rural school administration | Rural education | Rural school management and organizat | Normal schools 70 116 | Observation and practice teaching i Rural school management and organizat | | Rural school problems | i 1Cook, Katherine M. Courses in Rural Education Offered in Universities, Colleges, and Normal Schools. U. S. D t ment of the Interior, Office of Education. Rural School Leaflet, 1925, No. 37. Washington, D. C.: Government Print Office, 1925. 18 p. it ent of the latter group intended to enter field. Only a little more than one-half of the service of two-year graduates was rendered the one- and two-teacher schools. These facts vain emphasize the necessity for making rural 1001 teaching more at ractive if teachers ot superior training are to be drawn into this 1 of service. Other factors of some importance doubtless ffect the trained teachers in iral schools, but it is clear from the preceding percentage of collection of facts that higher standards of cet tification accompanied by more adequate sal- iries and more complete training opportunities would go far towards placing a trained teacher n every schoolroom, rural as well as urban. Selected References 1. BuNTING, R. L., and McGurrey, VERNE. “Prep aration of Rural Teachers.” Teachers College Record 29: 716-27; May, 1928. Presents findings of a questionnaire study of nine specific phases of what publicly supported normal schools and teachers colleges of the United States are doing in the preparation of rural teachers. 2. BUTTERWORTH, JULIAN E. “Differentiating the Training Needs of Rural and Urban Teachers.” Nation’s Schools 4: 58-62: December, 1929. Advocates giving specialized instruction to the prospective rural teacher in education, sociology, economics, and practice teaching in preparation for the needs he is likely to face in the rural school. 3. CARNEY, Masev. “The Preparation of Teachers for Rural Schools” Thirtieth Yearbook, Part 1. National Society for the Study of Education Bloomington, II].: Public School Publishing Com pany, 1931. p. 155-77. 6. GAUMNITzZ, W. H (sives information conce I the presel status of rural teachers with respect to schola ship, training, salaries, and tenut Discusses current demands, and new trends. Emphasizes need of specialized training f I teachers CHARTERS, W. W., and Wap tes, D As. 7 Commonwealth Teacher-Training Study. (¢ cago: University of Chicago Press, 1929 Report of a three-year study of teacher-train ing curricula. Presents data on the evaluated activities of teachers intended to x tion of material for professional courses. Finds that the duties and responsibilities of al teachers differ markedly from those in more highly organized schools. G ink-list of traits of rural teachers in com iris with those of teachers in other types of scl CooK, KATHERINE M. Courses in Rural Educa tion Offered in Universities, ¢ s, and N mal Schools. \ S. Department of the Inte: Ofhce of Education. Rural School Leaflet, 1925 No. 37. Washington, D. (¢ G nent P ing Othce, 1925. 18 P Lists and describes courses pertaining to rura } education and planned especia teachers, administrators, and s Salaries and Salary Trends of Teachers in Rural Schools. U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of Education, Bulletin 1929, No. 6. Washington Printing Office, 1929. 54 p Includes data concerning the 2. 4 Government relationship of training to rural teachers’ sala McGurFr ey, VERNE. Differences in the Activ-ties of Teachers in Rural One-Teacher Schools and of Grade Teachers in Cities. ¢ Education, No. 346. New York: Bur lications, Teachers College, ¢ sity, 1929. 65 p. Discusses knowledge and skills necessary for differ from Recommends that ontributions to eau of Pub olumbia Univer the teacher in rural schools which those needed in city schools they be included in the training of rural teachers TABLE 9.—PLACEMENT AND TENURE OF TEACHERS SPECIFICALLY PRE- PARED FOR RURAL SCHOOLS! Plans of One-year graduates Placement Number 1 2 One and two-teacher schools 1380 Larger open-country and village schools 80 City school systems 7 Continuing their education 90 Others 20 Total 1596 _ 1 From a study by W. M. Robinson, summ hirtieth Yearbook, Part I. National Society for the Study Company, 1931. p. 171. rized by Mabel ¢ I fE ; Distribution of time of two-year graduates since graduation Plans of Two-year graduates Percent Number Percent 3 4 5 6 86.4 189 6.8 5 0 470 66 .¢ 0 0.4 11 1 12.0 5.6 36 6 100.0 706 100 0 100.0 T} ; ' I Ati i Bl bhi 3s: P I 8. Ropinson, WILLIAM M. “The Problem of Differ- entiating Rural Teacher Preparation—Ab- stract.” Proceedings, 1928. Vol. 66. Washington, D. C.: National Education Association, 1928. p. 484-6. Recommends that different curricula should provide for observation and practice teaching, carefully supervised and graded to meet the varying needs of the students. Stee, Mary Atice. “Some Aspects of the Train- ing of Teachers for the One-Room Schools.” Journal of Rural Education 5: 50-6; September- October, 1925. 10. Report of a study made to detern state normal schools and state teach are doing to train teachers for rural schools U. S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIO EpucaTION. Professional Preparati ers for Rural Schools. Bulletin Washington, D. C.: Government Printi: 1928. 71 p. Consists of abstracts of addresses sional preparation of rural teacher at a conference called by the Unite missioner of Education, February ¢ | l ) Br SOCIAL PROGRESS will not endure with anything less than a well-trained teacher each classroom. The problem is one of pointing the way out and of suggesting that the time is at hand when a decided step should be taken to place the status of teacher-training on a muct higher level and, in so doing, eliminate the instruments of control that have tended to maintair low ‘standards as the chief stumbling block, namely, low requirements for graduation from training institutions and for professional certification—Charles C. Sherrod, President Tennessee State Teachers College. Proceedings, 1930, National Education Association oO # [ 278 ] 8. Secondary School Opportunities for Rural Children The Present Status of Rural Secondary 2. 7 ndependent sc) sually able Education to maintain grades above tl 1 unit which generally ( 1 ‘ Investigation of the secondary school oppor High schools in independent d ! ins tunities extended to rural children has centered rea t to all children in rura ns round three problems: the extent to which In about two-thirds of th igh-school facilities are available for these chil- enter indy say Goerands one ee e : an lit rowing in favor and f ’ ren, the extent to which such facilities are — he r hool distr is : } 1. In most states the common school district served by any high school. No nation-wide sta legally empowered to offer instruction to the higher apt ; a 2 : : ‘ tistics on this point are available, but it is known grades but its low property value operates against +} its doing so. hat ten percent of all rural high schools* now 1 Defined here as high schools enrolling one hundred or fewer | ? Data on these and many other secondary school problems will vailable with t f secondary education now in progress under the United States Office f Education + Hood, William R. Legal Provisions for Rural High Schools. U. S. Department of the Interior, | 1924, No. 40. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1925. p. 24-54 ‘ Rural here means schools located in the oven country and in centers of less than 2,500 p [979 offer less than four years of work.’ Data for a few states on the availability of secondary school opportunities follow: New York: The rural school survey in 1922 re- ported that one-third of all high schools in rural areas and villages under 4,500 offered less than four full years of work.’ Indiana: Of 937 elementary school graduates who were not in high school in September, 1930, 410 had no high school in their district and an additional 175 children had no transportation available. In short, two-thirds of these children were out of school because no secondary school facilities were provided for them.’ Pennsylvania: In 1925 more than half the high schools in fourth class (chiefly rural) districts offered less than a four-year course. Ten percent of the high school students in the state were enrolled in two- and three-year high schools.* Kentucky:In the study of a single rural county, it was found that the average child in high school traveled 13.2 miles daily. One-fourth of these chil- dren lived 17.7 or more miles away from their school.® To what extent do rural children avail themselves of their secondary school opportuni- ties ?—As previously stated, rural boys and girls do not enroll in high schools in as large propor- tional numbers as urban children, nor do they remain in high school as long. Recent estimates indicate that of the rural® children aged 15-18 years inclusive, 26 percent are enrolled in pub- lic high schools, while of the comparable age- group of urban children, 72 percent are en- rolled in public high schools. The same inves- tigation finds that only 4.6 percent of all rural children enter college as against 12.8 percent of urban children.’ Conditions in individual states are suggested by the following brief reports: New York: A study of the holding power of the small high school leads to this conclusion: “On the 1 Gaumnitz, W. H. The Smaliness of America's Rural High Schools. U. S. Department of the Interior, Office average the enrolment losses in small high scl are not more serious than in all New York schools. Even that, however, is not entirely s factory. Too many children leave high school ing their first two years. To select the small } schools which suffer the most severe losses w reveal a most apparent failure to hold pupils school.’”* Texas: The Survey Commission Report of 1 presented data to show that boys and girls in la communities were remaining in high school t much greater degree than pupils in smaller munities. Girls were remaining longer than and white pupils longer than colored pupils senior class was 36 percent as large as the fi: man class in districts with 150 or more scholast while in the smaller school districts the high-sc} senior classes were only 2.8 percent as large as t freshman classes.” West Virginia: After a study of attendance elimination from school, the recent survey cludes that “the lack of high schools in the sections is still the gravest defect in the school s tem. If the same ratio of high-school enrolment elementary school enrolment that we have in independent districts obtained in the non-indep: ent (largely rural) districts, the total high-sct enrolment would be doubled. The people of W Virginia should be urged to see the importancs providing high-school facilities for all pupils in ¢ state. Under the present regime of education, high school is the gateway to professional trainir Any state that bars the way of its youth to hig! education is thereby culling its potential lead: ship.”” What type of secondary education is pr vided in rural communities?—The most o vious characteristic of rural high schools their smallness. A survey of rural high schools throughout the United States indicates th three-fourths of them have an enrolment of || pupils or less. Only 1.4 percent have more th 300 pupils. These facts show a sharp contra Bulletin, 1930, No. 13. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, p. 9. * Ferriss, Emery N. ‘‘The Rural High School.”” Rural School Survey of New York State. Vol. 7. Ithaca, N. Y.: Joit on Rural Schools, 1922, p. 15. 3 Wisehart, Roy P., State Superintendent cf Fublic Instruction. Annual Report. Indianapolis: Indiana Departme Instruction, September 30, 1930. p. 54 ‘ Pennsylvania Committees on Appropriations and Subsidies, High Schools, Normal Schools, Rural Schools, Tea nt Comm nt of P uchers tutes. Educational Surveys, 1925. Harrisburg, Pa.: Department of Public Instruction. p. 165-7. ‘Vaughn, W. H. Rural School Graduates in High School. Unpublished master’s thesis. George Peabody College { Nashville, Tenn., 1927, * Children residing in the open country and in centers under 2,500 population, 7 Gaumnitz, W. H. Some Comparative Statistics of Public School Education in Urban and Rural Communitie ment of the Interior, Bureau of Education, Rural School Circular No. 27. Washington, D. C. 1928. 5 p * Coxe, Warren W., and Cowen, Philip A. Educational Needs of Pupils in Small High Schools. University of th N. Y.: University of the State of New York Press, 1931. p. 56 York, Bulletin No. 969, April 1, 1931. Albany, } * Judd, Charles Hubbard. ‘‘Secondary Education."’ Texas Educational Survey Report. Vol tate 3. Austin: Texas Educ Survey Commission, 1924. p. 92-7. Tennant, J. L. “Improving High-School Opportunities for Farm Boys and Girls lou of Rural Education §: 242-52; January-February, 1926. ” Cavins, L. C., director. Survey of Education in West Virginia. Vol. 1. Charlestcn, W. Va 25 p. 25-6. State Board of Education High schools located in the open country or in villages of less than 2,500 population. [ 280 ] rr ) +o the relatively large urban high schools. Com- types of rural high schools are shown in Chart h te data on the size of urban and rural high IX. This Chart shows that, in spite of the - hools are presented in Chart VIII. very widespread adoption of the junior high h [he same investigation shows that the typical school in the cities, it has as yet made little 0 tral high school enrolls 76 pupils and has a headway in rural areas. ° taft of tour teachers. Most of these s« hools are Although onlv about half of those who enter ganized as regular four-year high schools, small rural high schools complete the full tou 1924 though there are a few rural high schools — years of work, and although only about 40 | : vanized to include the junior high school or cent of those who graduate go on to higher ther reorganized groupings of grades. The _ institutions, the curriculum of the igh ] CHART VIII ithe he — — : ‘ IN RURAL AND URBAN HIGH SCH@LS tt tl E RURAL HIGH SCHOOLS URBAN HIGH SCHOOLS n WROLMENTS (14,143) (A01I4 ) ENROLMENTS ‘a | ER - 300 —_—_———— bi - 300 Vest 201 -250 al 151 -200 tl ‘a Ol - 150 ing he: le Over 300 r¢ ol st = eo la Uf | la i ads | 25) 300 | ol ho | Below - 50 151 20 | ; 10l- Ibo | 5 loo | Below. 50 a a = : esearch Dwrsiot Aational Lducation Assh | Read chart as follows: Out of the 14.143 rural high schools for which information | is available , 42.7 percent have enrolments of below 50, 33.1 perceat have en- | rolments of between S{ and 100 etc. Similacly interpret data for other enrol ments and for the 4,014 urban fugh schools. | Based on Gaumnitz,W.H. We Snaliaess oY Americas $uutal Aig Sechioos. 1L.$. De | partment of the Interior, Office of Education, Bulletin, 1930, No 13, p.7. 281 schools, emphasizes college preparatory work even, in many cases, to the exclusion of all other courses. The list of curriculums offered in 200 small high schools in 1927 is shown in Table 10. This table indicates that preparation for col- lege is the dominant factor in rural high school offerings. Less than one-third of these high schools offered an agricultural curriculum, less than one-fourth offered a vocational curricu- lum, and only one in twenty offered a curricu- lum in home economics and domestic arts. This rapid summary of the present status of rural secondary education may be summarized hy two quotations from recent national studies of the subject. A committee of the National Society for the Study of Education reports, in part, as follows: the core of the rural high-school curriculum is still largely composed of college-preparatory sub- jects. It is academic in its most common features. It lacks balance, whether viewed from the angle of the common developmental needs of the adolescent, Sixth Yearboo’. Washington, D. ¢ TABLE 10.—TITLES OF CURRICULI OFFERED IN 200 SMALL H SCHOOLS Freque Titles of curriculums “pes of ment College Preparat Norma! School Prepar Commercial ( Agricultural Vocational, Industr nd Manual Tr Home Economics, Domestic Arts General Scientific English Academic Classical Engineering Latin Scientific Life of the Average Individual 1 Taken from: Natio Educat partment of Superint ence The D the High School Curt ilum Sixth Ye W ington, D. ¢ tl As ition, 1928 ; 1 National Education Association, Department of Superintendence. ‘‘The Development of the >.: the Association, 1928, p. 98-100. Gaumnitz. W. H. 7 Schools, p. 7-8. A comparison between the educitional needs of the pupils in small high s iis and th ff is given in Coxe, Warren W. and Cowen, Philip A. Educational Needs of Pupils in Smali High Schools. Albat or from the angle of individual differences in ests and aptitudes . or from the ang the social adjustments needed by the great people in modern life Comparison of statistics with those of approximately a decade indicates little change in the general features High-S ( [ Smallne f America 4 CHART IX Regular four-year high schools Regular three-year, two-year, and one-year high schools Junior -senior high schools (including 3-3 organizetion, 6 and 5-year undivided organization) Junior high. schools (two- year, three-year and four- | 204 year organization ) TYPES OF HIGH SCHOOLS IN RURAL COMMUNITIES 19926 4s , AMehiona LAKMCALL0I 4 Rescarck Du. a on Gaumnitz, W.H. We Smallness af Americas fural igh Schoas. \.S. Department the Interior, Office of Education, Bulletin, 1930, No. 13, p.9 [ 282 ] UMS al high school curriculum. In a minor way, how unds for special services are king. Sparsity I . ‘ : 1IGH r, encouraging changes seem to be taking place ot pe pul ition is, In many Cases, t nae ing } al ; i Cases Ind iVitip 1 | cause of the smallness of rural hig] hools, and —n \ study of the rural high school by the ay . : : : . . \ . In such Cases improvement must De achieved n United States Office of Education reaches this te in ; . without signincant change Ss in the 1Z¢ t the 7 nclusion : “Reger school. But in many cases it wou possible [he secondary education of the child attending to reorganize high school district O as to pro the rural or small high school is in most cases cir vide larger secondary schools. Manv state de ( imscribed by an untrained and overburdened partments of education are carrying on active teaching staff; it is limited to a narrow and malad ‘ ; , a ; campaigns for the consolidated high-school dis isted program of educational activities; and it is handicapped by the meagerness or the entire ab trict or for other larger units of administration sence of educational equipment. which will lead to the formation of larger high schools. Such conclusions could be further substan Che problem is in large part a matter of state tiated by the results of many other studies.* Jegislation concerning school administration \lthough high-school training is everywhere and taxing units, In many states an aggressive recognized as highly desirable for effective citi- Te ary. as ll as ele ‘ntaryv sche “y ; ‘ proved secondary, is well as elementary s« 100 cial induceenenta. lncliime tu thé comnatidiatn facilities. These and other needs have been dis- of pany contiguous elementar ey oe yT lan ed Ss ir\ lOOL dist! cussed generally in the preceding sections of this {5+ high-school purposes.” } tin. / : : ce | 1 ce cs DI o a VO yroposals and el 1 illetin. At this point these proposals and « estan dk dec atlecs Lestinn alimsibin thin shin tain others are presented with special: reference ' . ; 7 of the rural high school in any given area which to the high-school level. ; ; rar gr i : ; have been suggested are listed below |. Larger high schools—The preceding dis cussion has shown that smallness is the out- . we ¢ . 1. Proportion children of high-s« ige are of standing characteristic of the rural high school. * : . si B : : : gers : the total population he small high school finds it difficult or impos- sible to provide a complete program of educa- 2. Proportion high-school enrolment is of children : : f high-school ag tional service at a reasonable cost. A few teach- | gh-school age ers must handle a wide range of subjects, the 3. Extent of provision of separate high schools principal has little time for supervision, and for boys and girls ] 1 Ferriss, Emery N. ‘‘The Curriculum of the Rural Four Year High School."’ Thirtieth Yearbook, |! e Study of Education. Bloomington, Illinois: Public School Publishing Company, 1931. p. 141 ? Gaumnitz, op. cil., p. 68 | ’ Recent studies include: Combs, M. L. Efictency in Relation he Size of High Schools. Richt Education, 1928, 124 p. Clifton, John L. The Small Secondary School in Ohio. Columbus: State Depart I | 131 p. Spaulding, F. T. The Small Junior High School. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1927. 218 l ligh School. Contributions to Education, No. 236. New York: Teachers ¢ lege, Columbia University, 1926, 14 I Secondary Education in Country and Village. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1927. 401 ‘ Proctor, William M. ‘‘Union versus Single-District High Scl Educational Administration n4 | March, 1918. 7 _ § For evaluation of these factors consult: Proctor, William M >. cit. Koos, Leonard V. The Ame | boston: Ginn and Company, 1927. p. 208-19. Palm, Reuben R I Determinants of Size and P hool Review 39: 186-95; March, 1931. —] l 283 J 4. Extent of provision of separate high schools for white and colored races. 5. Degree of concentration of the population within the area concerned, including such factors as the size of farms and amount of unoccupied land. 6. The amount and quality of the improved road mileage. 7. Wealth and income of the area concerned, the distribution of wealth and income within the area, and the effect of the system of public revenue on this distribution. Detailed analysis and evaluation of these fac- tors require extended research, with special at- tention to factors operating in each state. While some of these factors are inherent in the rural situation, there are others which are definitely subject to control. Such factors should be han- dled so as to increase the efficiency and economy of the rural high school by increasing its size. 2. Provision of transportation and tuition at public expense—Closely connected with the problem of securing larger districts is the prob- lem of bringing high-school pupils to the cen- tralized school. ‘The extended use of the auto- mobile and improved highways are greatly aid- ing in the solution of this problem, Consolida- tion of schools without provision for free trans- portation and tuition may prove a hindrance to high-school attendance. In order to be truly accessible, consolidated high schools must pro- vide a means for the student to reach the school and to use its advantages without cost to him- self or to his parents. Tuition payment plans in public secondary schools are of two generai types: (1) those under which pupils pay all or part of the cost of their schooling, and (2) those in which the pupils pay none of the cost.' The latter type is becoming widely accepted. Most of the states make definite legal provision for meeting the cost of high school for non-resident pupils out of funds provided by the school district in which the pupil resides.* There are still a few states where some pupils living in a school district which has no high school must pay tuition for high-school education in another district. Transportation at public expense is legal for high-school pupils in 41 states, but in all except three states the decision as to whether trans- portation is needed or not is left solely with the high-school districts.* There are, however, no national statistics showing separately the ber of high-school and elementary school | transported. 3. Special provisions for isolated pu The provision of transportation for high-s pupils is not feasible in many isolated ar: the United States. If the children living in areas are to have secondary educational o; tunities, special provisions must be made i form of (a) board and dormitory provisior high schools too far removed from the p residence to permit daily trips, (b) « spondence lessons, (c) itinerant teache (d) a combination of these plans. Selected References 1. Comps, M. L. Efficiency in Relation to t/ of High Schools. Richmond, Virginia Board of Education, 1928. 124 p. The following factors are used as crite efficiency: teaching staff, salaries, pe cost of instruction, program of studies, ma equipment, holding power of the school, of tests, records of graduates in freshman at college, and percentage of high schools ing requirements of the Association of C and Secondary Schools of the Southern St for Accrediting. 2. GAUMNITZ, WALTER H. The Smallness of A ica’s Rural High Schools. U. S. Departme the Interior, Office of Education, Bulletin No. 13. Washington, D. C.: Government P ing Office, 1930, 78 p. Facts concerning the extent and type of ondary education provided in rural com ties. Discusses educational problems and li tions of the small high school. 3. Ferriss, Emery N. Secondary Educat Country and Village. New York: D. Ap and Company, 1927. 401 p. The author states in his preface: “The pose of the book is to present the gui principles of secondary education in a de! racy, to indicate their bearing upon the of the small secondary school and to con: with reference to these principles some of major problems of the secondary scho small communities.” 4. Jupp, CHARLES Husparp. “Secondary Educat Texas Educational Survey Reports Vol. 3 tin, Texas: Educational Survey Commiss 1924. 103 p. A study of the secondary school syste! Texas including junior high school, the s high school, and the junior college. 1 Butterworth, Julian Edward. Problems in State High-School Finance. Yonkers-on-Hudson: World Book Company, 1918 2 Troxel, Oliver L. State Control of Secondary Education. Baltimore: Warwick & York, Inc., 1928. p. 16. 3 Troxel, ibid., p. 22. [ 284] Ruri, JoHN. The Small High § Contribu CROXEL, OLiver L. Sta ( , , T ’ tions to Education, No. 236. New York: Bureau Education. Baltimore, Ma \ of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia York, Inc., 1928. 232 University, 1926. 145 p A study of tawe and f A study of the problems of the small high state control of secondary edu school which arise from the environment states. Presents data 1 t 1 finances, housing and equipment, fac v¥, admin tion of high-school | 7 istration and supervision, pupils, and curricula 8. Winpes. E. E. R ’ , ; Farm Population in § ted § U. Ss. D PI SPAULDING, Francis T. The Small Junior Hig srimene of the. Iatesias. Of S dune in School. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Universit letin 1925. No. 6. Washin; nD. ¢ fan yr Press, 1927. 226 p. nment Printing Office. 192 , ul \ study of the possibilities and limitations of Shows the comparative ex ‘ the small junior high school. Discusses difficulties nd non-farm , ’ se peculiar to this type of high school such as classi ndary education and the cal : fication of pupils, the offering of electives, pro factors concerning high sch s and the fa visions for extra-curriculur activities, etc., with opulation to participatior la suggestions for meeting them tion bv farm children I t es IT Ile ’ P 4 HE SECONDARY SCHOOL serving rural communities. if it is to be a ¢ institution, should give the opportunity for a liberal education, but liberal it tn broad, sympathetic understanding and appreciation of the important and signifi ict - ties of today. It should assist the pupil to become an eficient member of society he 19 know himself and by equipping him in the most direct way possible to realize s he : ance, and to render his service, whatever it may be, to societv. For many this wi : tunities for vocational training. Its work in a particular community should be det vith reference to the significant activities of that community but should not be limited to th Often it will need to supplement, enlarge, or redirect, some of the practices of a community t uch educ tion in the light of the desired trends in social economic progress Above all, tl gh a work, it should strive to develop, within the possibilities of each individual, resourcefulnes ‘, tellectual honesty, correct habits of thinking, and an open mind.—Emery N. Ferriss, ¢ versity, Ithaca, N. Y., Proceedings, 1927, National Education Association, p ] id 1! 5) A : T \ s I 9. Rural School Buildings and Equipment What Are the Facts Concerning Rural School Buildings? Approximately 150,000 one-room schools are in use in the United States. These schools, practically all of which are located in the open country, constitute approximately 60 percent of all the public school buildings in use. These one-room buildings represent the schoolhous- ing facilities offered to the overwhelming ma- jority of the farm children of the Nation. While larger school buildings are, in general, much more effective than the smaller buildings, and while it is often possible to abandon these smaller buildings in favor of consolidated rural schools, one-room schools must continue to serve large numbers of rural children. Having made all of the consolidations that are feasible, the question yet arises as to what can be done to improve the large number of one-room schools which must remain in use, At present, the buildings, equipment, and grounds of these schools do not constitute an environment which meets modern educational standards and needs. In recent years score cards' for rating one- room school buildings have been devised, and these score cards have been applied in surveys of rural education in a number of states. Such investigations indicate that only a small per- cent of existing one-room schools can meet the standards proposed by the score cards. The relatively small amount invested in rural school property accounts in part for the inadequacy of existing buildings and equip- ment. The value of urban school property per child in average daily attendance is about three times as great as the value of rural school prop- erty. The average value of rural school prop- erty is $99 per pupil and that of urban property is $299 per pupil. Present expenditures for capital outlay in rural and urban areas are $12.29 and $29.51 respectively.” The foregoing estimates include in the term “rural” all school buildings located in the open and in communities ef under population. If it were possible to secure contrasting urban schools with the one-1 open country schools alone, the contrast country value would be even more striking than t suggested above. With this financial diff ential operating against the one-room sch it is not surprising that in safety, comfi health, sanitation, attractiveness, educatior fitness and equipment, the rural school! lags behind national standards. The following examples selected from resentative recent state school surveys port: the rural school plant in individual states. West Virginia (1929): The 397 white one-t school buildings, measured by worth Score Card," yielded a out of a possible 1000 with the middle 5 falling between 452 and 693. means of the B median score On the whole, the one-room school building the state were found to be satisfactory as to size shape, but as a rule they structed and equipped to render the most efhi service. Lighting arrangements were inade many of the schools. were heated in such a way as to preclude ventilation. Nearly all of the desks were of th were not properly juate Three-fourths of the adjustable type. In a few schools, home-made benches wer« One-third of the schools depended upon som« Almost th fourths of the schools had grounds of less than minimum standard size (one and the sa proportion had no playground equipment. M than four-fifths of the buildings needed repair. |] oldest building in use dated back to 1856. Of buildings, concerning which data were 169, or nearly 50 percent, were more than 25 old. About 1 rural building in 10 had served more than 50 years. The median one-teacher school in this state was $858 side source for their water supply. acre), availa estimated value of Texas (1925): Seventy-eight one-room sch were rated according to the Butterworth scale. 1 median score was 594 out of a possible 1000. | percent of the buildin Only 25 percent scores of the middle 50 ranged between 505 and 649. the buildings scored over 649 points. 1 Butterworth, Julian E. ‘‘A Score Card for One-and Two-Teacher School Buildings."” Journal of Rural Education September, 1922. Strayer, George D. and Englehardt, N. L. “*4 Score Card for Rural School Buildings.” Score Card for Village and Rural School Buildings of Four Tea or Less. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University. Bulletin No. 9. January, 1920. Ashbaugh, E. J. and Stevensor Educational Research Bulletin 3: 34-5, 47; January, 1924. 2 Gaumnitz, W. H. Some Comparative Statistics of Public Education in Urban and Rural Communities. U. S. Depart the Interior, Bureau of Education, Rural School Circular No. 2 7. October, 1928. Washington, D. ¢ 1928, 5 p 2 Butterworth, Julian E. “‘A Score Card for One-and Two-Teacher School Buildings." Journal of Rural Educatior September, 1922. 4 Holy, Thomas C. ‘School Buildings.”’ Survey of Education in West Virginia. Vol. 3. Cavins, Lorimer V., director. C! West Virginia: State Department of Education, 1929. 228 p. [ 286 ] 2500 data ‘(oom t in that ffer- 1001, fort, onal Ouse rep- tray che tter 553 ‘cent Ss in and con ient e in oms per 10n sed. put- ree- the ime lore The a> ols The Phe ngs of Fifty percent of the buildings were of the box type. Two-thirds of the rooms had less than the standard amount of window space and a still larger proportion did not have windows correctly placed for proper lighting. Only one-third of the rooms were heated by jacketed stoves. While more than half of the schools were supplied with water from a well or cistern on the grounds, or from a com- munity water system, more than one-third still used the open pail and more than one-tenth had no drink- ing facilities whatever. One-third of the schools had no place to hang hats or wraps. ‘These were left lying on desks or floors when not being worn. Not quite one-fifth were provided with cloak rooms. Half of the 78 schools had no fuel rooms. One-third had no place to keep library books and in one-fifth of the rooms the “blackboards” were merely painted wood, plas- ter, or cloth. While a large proportion of the schools had an acre or more in the school grounds, more than half were fenced with barbed wire, and the grounds are described as “unsightly” in three-fourths of the cases. Half of the schools had no playground equipment.’ Wisconsin (1925): Three hundred fifty schools located in 4 counties were included in this survey. The buildings were scored by means of a specially devised rating card which allowed 1000 possible points per building. The median score of the one- room schools was found to be 485, with the range of the middle 50 percent between 436 and 548. The buildings were scored on 6 items: site, construction, classroom, service systems (heating, ventilation, and water-supply), accessory rooms, and equipment. The rating of classrooms, including size and shape, walls, doors, windows, blackboards, etc., was given 57 percent of the possible score. As a rule, the lighting was inadequate. The walls were often in bad repair and the decorations poor, but floors were usually in good condition and blackboards were, on the whole, considered very good. Cloak-room space was provided in all rural schools, but the standards set for space and equipment in these rooms were seldom complied with. Although few of the buildings were fireproof, only 7 of the 350 schools had fire extinguishers. All the schools had some arrangement for water supply, but in many cases this merely consisted in carrying water from the nearest house. In general, the construction and condition of the toilets were considered unsatis- factory.” California (1930): The chief of the state division of schoolhouse planning in his report for 1930 asserts that more than half of the rural schools of the state have no garden and that only 15 percent show any real atempt to develop an artistic garden setting. “The vast majority of our rural schools,” he goes on, “are of cheap and sometimes flimsy construction.” Four buildings out of every five are Class E frame structures. Play areas are “in a state of primitive development” and inadequate attention is given to sanitation and health. Such conditions can not be completely remedied until there is “a change in tax methods or an adequate means of local relief through an equalization apportionment by the state.’’ How Can Rural School Buildings and Equipment Be Improved? Increasing demands on the rural school have resulted in efforts to improve present educa- tional facilities through consolidation, state aid, standardization, improved administrative policies, and by securing community interest and cooperation. Several of these methods of improvement are separately discussed elsewhere in this bulletin. These are mentioned here merely with respect to the special problem of the school building. 1. Consolidation—The number of one- teacher schools in the United States is believed to have reached its peak sometime prior to 1918. Since that time they have decreased 1 number from 195,397 to 153,306 in 1928, an average annual decrease of more sare! ae and a total decrease for the decade of 22 per- cent. States showing the greatest progress in closing the small rural school are: Georgia, with only 26.3 percent as many one-teacher schools in 1928 as in 1918, Arkansas, Connec- ticut, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Massa- chusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jer- sey, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. During the decade from 1918 to 1928 the number of consolidated schools in the United States, established generally to take the places of abandoned one-room schools, increased from 5,349 to 17,004. The movement toward larger educational units has been greatly facilitated by improved means of transportation. From 1904 to 1928 the per capita expenditure for roads increased from $.90 to $11 in the United States, and the mileage of surfaced highways increased from 153,530 to 626,000. Improvement of motor-drawn vehicles has also been an influential factor toward consolidation. Thirty-two states report that of 48,459 ve- hicles used in transporting pupils, 42,768 are motor-drawn.* 1 Works, George A., director. ‘‘Organization and Administration.’ Texas Educational Survey Repori. Vol. 1. Austin, Texas: Educational Survey Commission, 1925. Chapters 18 to 21 inclusive, p. 313-92. * Giles, J. T., chairman. Wisconsin Rural School Survey. Report of the Building Survey Committee, Bulletin of the Wisconsin Teachers Association. Madison, Wis.: the Association, November, 1925. 37 Dp. ' * Hill, Andrew P. ‘‘Report of the Division of Schoolhouse Planning.” Biennial ie of the California Siate Depariment of Education, Part I, 1930. p. 164-84. Sacramento, California State Printing Office, 193 _ 4 Covert, Timon. Rural School Consolidation. ington, D. C. Government Printing Office. p. 12. U. S. Dept. of the Interior, Office of Education, Pamphlet No. ¢ , 1930. Wash- [ 287 ] ‘Table 11 and Chart X show some trends in rural education which are highly significant in terms of the type of buildings available. Along with the decrease in the number of one-teacher schools is given the concomitant increase in the num- and the spent for transportation over a period of ten years. the number of consolidated schools, ber of pupils transported, amount State aid for rural school buildings— Recognition by the state department of educa- tion of the greater educational, social, and ad- ministrative advantages to be derived from cen- tralization of schools has resulted in their active support of the movement. By 1918, eighty years after the enactment of the first consolidation law, all states had passed laws permitting the centralization of small rural schools under specified conditions. ‘T'wenty- seven states have legal provisions for granting state aid to consolidated schools for buildings, transportation, or current expenses. Such funds are usually granted only to schools which have met certain standards with respect to build- ings, equipment, transportation, or instruc- tion; the objective being either to improve the existing school plant or to promote consolida- Alabama granted $232,999 in 1925-26 as tion. Ibid. p. 3. 13. Op. cat. p. 12. list of typical score cards: Arkansas De Elementary Schools—Guide Card."" Arkansas Course of Study fe School Requirements—Score Sheet, Caxton Printers, Caldwell. Schools. Kansas Department of Education. Department of Public Instruction. Rural Schoothouses. Bulleti ! Covert, Timon. ? Covert, Timon. * Following is a ‘Score Card for Schools.” 1918-19 tor bu and equipment of rural schoolhouses. Gi: compared to $170,083 in increased the fund to aid in the establish; and maintenance of consolidated and schools from $100,000 in 1919 to $300.0 1926. In Minnesota, tion was increased from $216,207 $807,621 in 1926, addition, grants were made each year for buil state aid for transp in 19 and, in din consolidated districts. 3. Improving Rural Schools by Rat Standardization—The interest of state de; ments of education the rural schools has resulted in the pre; in improvemen and use of a number of state score ca! rural schools.* These cards lay great emp! on the building and physical equipment of school since these factors are relative] The typical card is based on 1000 points for an idea to observe and to measure. school and allows a fixed proportion of points for various factors connected wit! grounds, equly ot made school , such as, buildings, attendance, and a wide variety othe: tors. The ratings are usually or county school officials, and the schools w! + receive more than a fixed percent of the possible score are recognized as “standard partment of Education. ‘‘Minimum Re quirements f w the Elementary Grad-s. Fort Smith, 1927. p. 37-9. Ida lowa Department of Education. Sian lard School Ratir Better Schools for Kansas. T« eka, 1928. p. 5-13. M n No. 54. Lansing, 1923, 90 p. Mississippi epee I +} tion. Score Card Elementary Schools, Jackson, 1926. Nebraska Department of Public Instruction. *‘ Official Score C Standard Rural Schools.’ Rural School Standards. Lincoln, 1927. p. 6-8. Ohio Department of Education. Rural we 1 mentary School Standards, 4 p. Tennessee Department of Education. Rating Card for Rural Schools, 8 p. Texas Depart Education. Oficial Score Card for Rural Schools, 4 p. Vermont Board of Education. ‘Official Rating Sheet for Rur The Rural Schools of Vermont: A Guide for Their Improvement and Standardization, Chapter IV. (Bulletin No. 1 Virginia State Department of Education. West Virginia Standard School—Score Card. 1929 TABLE 11—TRENDS TOWARD RURAL SCHOOL CONSOLIDATION. Approximate 1 Number in the United States =a a a ee : Amount Spent | Year | or | One-Teacher Consolidated Number Pupils Transportation | Schools Schools Transported Ee i Ce A Pcie ~ 1 2 3 4 5 Ss, 0 See ee 187,948 12,500! 350, 100 $14,537,754 1921-22 174,945 13,000! | 593.7308 21,814,744 1923-24 165,417 14,000! 837 , 361 29 627,40 1925-26 161,531 16,000! | 1,111,553 35,052 , 680 1927-28 153, 306 17.500! | 4.250/574 39.952 502 1929-30. | 145 0008 18, 500? | 1,350, 0008 44 000, 000 S. Department of the Interior, Office of Educ 3-4. Source of data: Covert, Timon. Rural School Consolidation. U. Pamphlet No. 6, 1930. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1930. p. ' Estimates based on partially complete data. 2 Estimates based on trend in past years. 3 Estimates derived by interpolation. or, [ 288 ] ldin eorg hme his 100 in porta €as\ score rural these 1 the 1enft, fac state hic h ‘ota! and ire conspicuously marked as such by a brass plaque or other emblem. In order to determine the type of require- ments fixed by these score cards for rural school buildings and equipment, an analysis was made of 11 such rating cards in use in the following states: Arkansas Nebraska Idaho Ohio Iowa Tennessee Kansas Texas Mississippi Vermont West Virginia This is a good geographical distribution, in- cluding one New England state, four north- central states, one western state, four south- central states, and one south Atlantic state. The combined judgment of the eleven state de partments of education thus represented should give a reasonably accurate picture of what con- stitutes an acceptable rural school building in the United States today. All of the score cards suggest that the rural school building should be constructed with rural school and com- munity needs in mind. The following com- posite is suggestive only and does not aim to provide a complete account of desirable stan dards. ‘To secure such an account one should consult the score cards on which the statement is based and the references at the close of this section. The Schoolhouse: According to these score cards, the leading features of a good one-room school building are: correct construction, proper lighting CHART X TRENDS IN RURAL EDUCATION -!920-1930 | 0 ——_______,_— 7 | | 186 } * 2) Guess E = a TRENDS IN: | 357 as 350 Number of one-teacher schools --- wor | | Number of consolidated. school Number ot pupils transported —e—{ | Amount. spent, for transportation ———— | 318), | Percent. of population. living } 405 | 300 m farms a a | | 975 eee } — es —_ “ ad | . we al 74) : - —_ x ¥ 200 N 140 148)! 15O }— ~ ete 128 a_i? —_ ee 108 er 44): ———_— 1920 =100 | Ico ee 2 8 86 BD ] 2 ete Sat he = 77} (93 a Ng eee ee Sse ree ebay 4 ( ] a 16 50 |}— t | | 1920 1922 IG7A 1926 ~ 1928 1930 Years tescarch Dtirsiate, A , / rhe [ 289 ] (including good window shades), good housekeep- ing arrangements, ventilation, painting and repair, proper heating arrangements, and adequate floor space. Other minor features include decoration and arrangement of rooms, locks on the windows and doors, cloakroom and locker facilities, storage space, and screened windows. A few of the more signifi- cant and important of these features will be dis- cussed in more detail. Lighting is the most heavily weighted feature of a good rural schoolhouse. The Vermont card empha- sizes that “thousands of children have defective vision which can be directly traced to improper lighting conditions in the schoolrooms. Nor is this all. Modern science tells us that eyestrain causes many of the nervous diseases which handicap our people.” Table 12 shows the minimum standards suggested by certain score cards for various aspects of schoolhouse lighting. This tabulation shows that a composite judgment of what constitutes good lighting would require windows on the left or on the left and rear of the seated children, placed on the east of the building at least 3 feet from the floor and extending as high as possible. Divisions between windows should be narrow. To avoid glare, no window should be placed nearer the front of the room than 6 feet. To insure adequate light for the entire room, very wide, low rooms should be avoided. The actual glass area (not the glass and sash area) should be at least one-fifth of the area of the floor. General construction of the schoolhouse is given a prominent place by the score cards. lowa, Ten- nessee, Texas, and Kansas emphasize the need for a solid foundation, and for a roof and sidings which are water-tight. The need for a tight foundation which will help keep the floor warm in the winter is pointed out in the Vermont standards. Ventilation under the building to prevent decay is also impor- tant. Heating and ventilation are specifically men- tioned in all of the score cards. The factors in- volved in satisfactory heating and ventilation are summarized in Table 13. The economic and educative importance of main- taining the school building in presentable condition is specifically recognized by the state score cards. A composite of the requirements mentioned includes a well-painted exterior (repainted at least every 5 years), windows without broken panes, sash in working order, floors kept smooth and in good con- dition, heating plant kept in good working order and without fire hazards, no leaks in roof, walls, or foundation, and porches, steps, and vestibules in safe condition. Three states require the rooms or lockers to be furnished with hooks, 2 require shelves for lunches and books, and 1 requires a cot. The Kansas score card emphasizes the need for keeping the cloakrooms free from being used as storage spaces and the need for teacher supervision of these rooms, while the Texas card suggests the need of having cloakrooms lighted and ventilated. Other. features of a good rural school building include the arrangement and decoration of the rooms, locks on the doors and windows, work: in the basement or elsewhere, floors oiled o1 at least twice each session, screened windows needed, at least two doors opening outwa name or number of the school displayed, s closets, a roofed porch, and a library room or a Other Buildings: Besides the schoolhouse it the other structures mentioned by the score « include toilets, fuel shed, barn, and garag these, the most commonly mentioned are the to and detailed standards are set up by the var score cards covering their construction Grounds: The desire to make rural schoolh attractive is reflected in the standards suggest: the grounds in which they are located. Among factors which help rural school grounds to meet standards set up by the score cards, walks, shi trees, and lawn take first place. It is suggested shrubs be placed either close around the scl house or around the edge of the lot, so as to the yard itself open for games. Play apparatus follows trees and shrubs in of importance according to the values assigned the score cards. Such apparatus, the Vermont card points out, “need not be expensive nor ela rate” but will yield rich returns in encourag social cooperativeness and other desirable traits The size of the lot on which the schoolhouss located is mentioned by several score cards. Stat ards vary considerably on this point. Arkansas quires 1 acre for each 50 pupils or major fract thereof, and Mississippi 1 acre for each teach Iowa also requires a fenced playground of at |] 1 acre. Nebraska will accept a 1-acre lot as n mum but encourages the use of a lot double size. Ohio gives maximum credit to grounds 2% acres in extent but will give fractional c: to grounds as small as one-half acre. ‘Tenn and West Virginia accept one-half acre per teac! Location and care are also important factors evaluating rural school grounds. The lot should oblong in shape, well-drained, accessible, safe free from stones, sticks, weeds, rubbish, and ash Sanitation: Several aspects of rural school sanit tion have already been mentioned in connection w the location, construction, and care of outbuildings drainage of school grounds, and ventilation a care of the schoolroom. Other sanitary feat which merit brief separate discussion are: drinkit water supply, washing facilities, cleaning equipme! and items related to these. Water supply standards are usually expressed general terms, and school boards are urged to « for assistance from state or county health ofh« if any doubt exists concerning the purity of t school water supply. If the water is carried to schoolhouse, the Kansas regulations require t! the carrier be designated by the board and that covered vessel be used. If a well is used, Nebras requires that it be deep enough to avoid drainage, and that the cover be tight fitting. T! of water coolers is satisfactory in Tennesse: Mississippi but these must be covered, dustpr: and equipped with a faucet Drinking and washing facilities are described [ 290 ] BY KY-98Y9 xY XY 91 ) SI 0 se | C OZ I 007 007 007 007 O77 S7Z jee] Sox SoA S24 Sah i Ss \ \ Ss Ss \ s ‘ s \ S , se seq \ pane ZI Il ol 6 8 Z 9 s > £ Z I JUOULIZA gassouuay ogo BeySeIgeN iddississ! qq sesury BMO] oyep] pled 9109S pied 3109S pled 3109S ainjeeg ygneqysy Aaaing quom -U0SU9A3}S UISUOISIM -layng SP1BD 9109S 3383S STOOHOS Tvana WOU SLNAWANMINOAY ONILVWIILNAA AGNV DONILVAH GUVANVILS AO WOWINIW NIVLYGO—t!l ATAVL roo! yA wool jO YPM 1 G4 = MM m jo do} ssa] } 401 uwlol} eNsig Ass | usIH ah SMOPUIM JO doy winwIxeuw 1G Is *SMOp soy ol WINWIXeUl S8TSUT OT eae a 5 a + Ee en 1s 85 ENR ere ee eae eS ee oe ee eee On tee “ULM UdEMIeAq BDURISIC $}]evas “[] em PuOIy WOT} } S MmOd i] AI JON 19 Sa Mae oe tae ee er ge ee ee ee ee ae oe SMOPUIM JO BDUP SIC] ivod IPol j Bt wm RZ “1009 We¢ WW¢ WEOVE g9 40 ‘WN ¢ 4a ME WOOL} SMOPUTA JO JUBIH ved 1vol 1ea1 ’ pue ye] pue dye] pue ye] vai pure do"] Wor] do"T 10 YjJoT 10 2j9 TJ 10 2j9T dye] 40 BJe’T "WYWBY JO apis H 40 HS padiojoid A M 19 A jwsou wo ,aords t/1 91 S9UIOD 3s yw) S/T sil 9/1 s/t st SI g/l Ss 9/T 99 I 9/1 OOH 0} sse[s jo o1ney | ZI II ol 6 8 Z 9 s + £ z I yUOTIIZA sexo] sessouuay o1uo PYSeIgeN | lddississty sesuvy BMOT oyep] a pied 2109g | preg 9109S 91njeo ysnequsy Againg piBy 2109$ - — - . — _— i a uwosusAc}S uISUGOSIM quomseyng Sp1BD 2109G 9343S | ‘SIOOHOS IVYNN AOA SLNAWANINOAY ONILHDIT GAVANVLS XO WOWINIW NIVLAXO—2Z!l ATAVL i ee = -~oSos = : ase Zzaass es 5 wf y c oe hh —— “i no SHe =. sewer Stesa PHekeoeg . “Ue SFE Scaee ose ste SSVsaeSwt swe a — Po Ot = & tf 6 & Sta ae & ~~ ee Caw Oa m2 vv = sa cn BP SF oY “Secewunnes 2 a & “= seat St 8S evs c z”°s0o5 $S& Stwmp ki ee SUS SMES Sa pg SEV eK~ ovr ss aon itt pat S28 w2~hSHMPSeCaoetassiso = { 291 ] considerable detail by most ot tne score cards. The common cup is, of course, taboo. Bubblers or indi- vidual cups are required. The latter must be kept clean by frequent scaldings and placed where dust will not collect on them. A cup which can be carried home and washed every night is desirable. Folded paper cups, which can be made by the pupils and discarded after using, are suggested by the Ne- braska and Vermont cards. Washing facilities in- clude, in addition to the water supply, wash basins, soap, mirrors, and towels. Individual or paper towels are always specified; common and roller towels are forbidden, often by law. Furniture: The furniture of a good rural school includes desks and seats, special kindergarten-pri- mary furniture, bookcases, supply cupboards, teach- er’s desk, teacher’s chair, extra chairs, doormats and footscrapers, lunch cupboards, bookracks, filing cabi- nets, and tables. Desks and seats are included in all of the score cards. Four generally accepted requirements for seating equipment are: proper arrangement, suitable material and finish, a separate seat provided for every pupil, and adjustable seats and desks when- ever new furniture is purchased. Desks and seats should be placed so that the children using them will not face a window. The edge of the desk should overlap the front edge of the lowered seat by about 1 to 2% inches. No child should be re- quired to sit at a desk where his feet do not reach the floor or be crowded into a seat where his knees are bent at an acute angle. The old-fashioned double desks are roundly condemned, and adjustable and movable seats are frequently urged for all new equipment. The score cards insist on the importance of proper seating furniture because such equipment encourages good posture, good bodily development, a quiet and orderly classroom, and efficient study. Bookcases are also included in most of the score cards. The bookcase should be capable of being easily opened and closed so as to exclude dust. It should be used for books only, rather than for miscel- laneous storage, and should be equipped with a lock and key. The teacher’s desk and chair are listed by nearly all of the score cards. The desk should be of a modern type, in good condition, and large enough to meet the teacher’s needs. At least one drawer should be equipped with lock and key in working order. Other desirable items of furniture include extra chairs, cupboards, doormats, tables, and special furniture for primary children. Instructional Equipment: The most important equipment for instructional purposes noted by the score cards includes blackboards, dictionaries, sup- plementary books, globes, maps, musical instruments, pictures, chalk, blackboard erasers, reference books, newspapers and magazines, charts, phonographs and records, sand tables, flags, stereopticons or simi- lar visual education equipment, writing and drawing supplies, lenses, pointers, and weights and measures. Supplementary books head the list of instructional equipment. They appear on every score card in- cluded in this study. Idaho requires at least 1 sets of supplementary readers and additional including the pupils’ reading circle books and bouks. Iowa requires two complete sets of su mentary readers and 100 books chosen from ar proved state list. Ohio requires at least 5 for one-room rural schools. Texas standards r« the outlay of at least $25 per classroom for app: supplementary books. Blackboards are also mentioned by all! of score cards. The required amount, position of the blackboard vary somewhat braska requires 20 linear feet “of good quali some of which is within the reach of small child: Idaho requires 25 linear feet; Iowa, 20 linear of slate installed at “the proper height”; Kan 100 square feet with slate preferred. Mississ requires 30 linear feet for full credit on this ji but will accept composition board if kept in g condition; Ohio, 18 linear feet with slate preferr: Tennessee, 30 linear feet with slate allowed 50 | cent more credit than composition board; Texas linear feet at least 3 feet wide; and Vermont, linear feet at least 3 feet wide with some secti: 24 or 26 inches from the floor. quality A wide variety of other instructional equipm: is included in one or more of the score cards. ‘J list is too detailed to be reproduced here. Items m frequently mentioned are: maps, globes, ency: pedias, dictionaries, wall pictures, musical inst ments, magazines, bulletin boards, and flags. Managerial Equipment: Managerial supplies clude such articles as: clocks, fuel, bookmend materials, pencil sharpeners, thermometers, wa baskets, hot lunch equipment, bells, coal buck: first-aid kits, fire extinguishers, duplicators, a: printing outfits. The above composite of the judgments 1 resented in a group of rural school score ca: should suggest the usefulness of these agen in encouraging needed improvements in t buildings and equipment of one-room scho: 4. State funds for rural school buildings The low assessed valuation and limited bon ing power of many rural school districts pr: vent the erection of an adequate schoolhou Most state school apportionments can be e) pended by the local districts only for main tenance. In the absence of adequate and co prehensive equalization funds, to compensat for lack of financial ability to support edu: tion, some provision for state assistance school building often results in schoolhouses in rural areas. States providing funds for the construct or improvement of the rural school plant i: clude:? Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Iow impro\ 1 Swift, Fletcher Harper, and Zimmerman, Bruce Lewis. State School Taxes and School Funds and Their Apportionment Department of the Interior, Office of Education, Bulletin 1928, No. 29, Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1 427 p. [ 292 ist three al box KS nd song Supple lan a 0 books require proved of the ty, and at. Ne uality,” lildren, ar teet Cansas, Sissippi is item n good erred: 50 per- Kas, 30 nt, 16 ections pment . The S most icyclo- nstru- es in- nding Waste ickets, and Tep ‘ards Ncies the ools. gs— ond - pre- use. €x- ain- Maine, Minnesota,t New York, North Da- kota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Wis- consin,t and West Virginia. Since the object of this practice is to raise the standard of rural school buildings and equipment, such aid is usually given only to schools which comply with specified requirements. Various plans have been formulated for pro- viding state aid. Alabama, Delaware, New York, South Carolina, and Tennessee give di- rectly a part of the necessary funds for the construction, equipment or repair of rural school buildings; Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Vir- ginia, Wisconsin, and West Virginia grant special aid to standardized schools; Arkansas has a revolving loan fund from which loans are made to needy school districts for erecting, equipping, or repairing schoolhouses or for pay- ing off indebtedness on buildings or equipment ; Pennsylvania provides a fund to aid rural school districts to replace school buildings which have been destroyed by fire. Indirectly, too, the state funds which en- courage consolidation and the provision of transportation facilities lead to better rural school buildings. Fifteen states now provide special financial aid for maintaining schools in consolidated districts, eight states have legal provision for state aid in building consolidated schools, and seventeen states provide definite grants for pupil transportation expense.” 5. State school building service-—School architects or directors of schoolhousing are now employed in sixteen state departments of education.* —The purposes of the Division of School Buildings and Grounds in Arkansas are illustrative.* 1. To prepare plans of school ground develop- ment. 2. To furnish generalized building plans to rural and village school officials. 1 Baldwin, Robert Dodge. Financing Rural Education. Stevens Poiut, Wis.: Rural Service Press. 1927. p. 171-3. 2? Covert, Timon. State Aid for School Consolidation and Pupil Transportation. U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Edu- cation. Leaflet No. 3, February, 1931. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office. 9 p. ? National Education Association, Research Division. ‘‘Staffs and Salaries in State Departments of Education."’ Studies in State Educational Administration, No. 9. Washington, D. C.: the Association, March, 1931. p. 19. 4 Hirst, C. M. ‘‘ Problems and Programs of Schoolhouse Building in Arkansas,"’ American School Board Journal 74: 94, 140; January, 1927. ’ For a summary of arguments in favor of free textbooks consult: National Education Association, Research Division. ‘‘A Self-survey Fian for State School Systems, Part I—Checklists, Part IlI—Handbook." Research Bulletins 8: 54-163; March and May, 1930. Washington, D. C.: the Association. p. 143-44. * The questions of state uniformity, state adoption, state printing, and state publication of textbooks are not discussed here. See: National Society for the Study of Education. ‘‘ The Textbook in American Education."’ Thirtieth Yearbook, Part II, Bloom- ington, Ill.: Public School Publishing Company, 1931. 364 p. [ 293 ] 3. To furnish preliminary sketches of floor plans for larger buildings which present special problems. 4. To check architects’ plans for school buildings on request. (In some states such checking is compulsory). 5. To advise school officials as to plans for re- modeling, repairing, and altering school build- ings and as to interior arrangement, furni- ture, and equipment. 6. To advise teachers and superintendents as to interior arrangement, furniture, and equip- ment. The rural districts in particular profit by a well-devised and executed program of state advice and leadership in school building mat- ters. Such a program need not result in cur- tailing local initiative in desirable directions. The larger school districts remain free to de- velop their own plans in accordance with their own needs and desires. The state merely as- serts its undoubted right to fix reasonable mini- mum standards of safety, sanitation, and edu- cational adequacy and stands ready to help those which need aid to meet and, if possible, to exceed those minimums. 6. Free textbooks—Under present condi- tions, books are perhaps the most important single item of school equipment. The provision of textbooks at public expense does much to facilitate the work of the schools. Particularly in rural areas, where bookstores are hard to reach and where short terms and irregular attendance make a prompt beginning of school work especially desirable, the provision of text- books at public expense is especially important.° In about half of the states textbooks are provided at public expense in all elementary schools and an additional twenty states have enacted laws permitting local districts to sup- ply free textbooks.° Poor housing and equipment are not neces- sary accompaniments of rural school conditions. In many places the one-room school is no longer needed and is being rapidly replaced by Formulates principles for planning consolidated school buildings. “The one-room schoolhouse ; gives advice concerning struction or remodeling Gites, J. T., Chairman, Wisconsin Rura a iy : Survey. Report of the Building Surv a building on rural homes and home life will mittee. Bulletin of the Wisconsin be significant. The plans described above will Association, Madison, Wisconsin: th¢ tion, November, 1925. 37 p. school itself can be made an attractive and effective educational center. The effect of such do much in the next few years to make the rural school plant and equipment a suitable Three hundred fifty rural schools : he ; biliti hicl four counties in Wisconsin, were agency tor the important responsibilities which this survey. center in It. . Hoty, THomas C. “School Building Education in West Virginia. Vol Selected References Lorimer V., director. Charleston, We “A Score ginia: State Department of Educat ASHBAUGH, E. J., AND STEVENSON, P. R 228 p. Card for Rural School Buildings.” Educational Research Bulletin 3: 34-5, 47; January 23, 1924. Standards and scores for evaluating small buildings. Score card published by the Public School Publishing Company, Bloomington, Illi A study of school buildings in West ginia. Six hundred forty-five school were scored, 83.6 percent of which we schools. Analysis was made by nois. score card BALTHIS, FRANK K. “Beautifying Village School ate Standards and Score Cards Grounds.” American School Board Journal 6 acse are a fruitful source of practi (3-5, 40-1; 67: 50-1; May, June, July, 1°23 ar, See the footnote in the text Suggestions for planting trees, plan é re chese score cards are discussed around school buildings. Illustrated wich phe: 1 “ferences graphs. STKAVER, C:eorGe D., AND ENGELHA BUTTERWORTH, JULIAN E. Improving the School Score Card for Village and Rural S Building Facilities of One and Two-Teacher ings of Four Teachers or Less. Teachers Districts through Measurement. Extension Bul lege Bulletin No. 9, January, 1920. New \ i oti 7 9 979 - . » . . letin No. 52, June, 1922. Ithaca, New York City: Teachers College, Columbia Univer Cornell University, 1922. 18 p. 1920. Presents standards to be used in scoring small school buildings by means of the Butter- worth score card. Sample score card is filled Sample score cards, fixing standards rural and village school buildings. Works, Georce A., Director. Texas | tional Survey Reports. Vol. 1, “Organi and Administration.” Chapters 18 to 21 sive. Austin, Texas: Educational Survey out. DressLAR, FLETCHER B., AND Pruett, HASKELL. Rural Schoolhouses, School Grounds, and Their Equipment. U. S. Department of the Interior, — Office of Education, Bulletin, 1930, No. 21. mission, 1925. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Report of a school building survey whic! Office, 1930. 427 p. cludes the rating of 78 one-room schools in them. It seems reasonable, therefore, to assume that states, as organized institutions of government to protect its citizens, will exert more authority in seeing that the school building, as a workshop for the children—citizens of the state—is safe, ... hygienically correct, ... clean and efficient so that the teacher and pupils may accomplish the maximum amount of results in the least time, with the least possible loss of energy and the keenest interest. The rural sch child as a citizen of the United States is entitled to a workshop in a style of architecture that will furnish inspiration for work and develop a love for the beautiful.—Fletcher B. Dresslar and Has kell Pruett in Rural School Houses, School Grounds, and Their Equipment. U. 8. Office of Educa tion, Bulletin, 1930. No. 21. p. 24. Sch Cor achers SS OC avins Vir- 1929 Vir dings rural ot a | sug ». 288 com- a, de uild- Col- York rsity, for luc a- ation nel ‘om nh in- 10. Rural Teachers and Helpful Supervision ' The Status of Rural School Supervision Number of rural supervisors—Supervisors are not provided for rural schools to the same extent as for city schools. There are approxi- mately 558 urban pupils for each principal and supervisor as compared with 908 rural? pupils. There is one supervisor for every eleven urban teachers and one supervisor for every 33 rural teachers.* The number and type of rural school supervisors vary greatly from state to state. The actual total number of rural school supervisors in service cannot be accurately de- termined. Table 14 gives a series of approxi- mations based on a number of sources. Qualifications of rural supervisors—A re- cent survey of the training of 1,487 county superintendents in 23 states showed that 112 hold master’s degrees, 438 hold bachelor’s de- grees, and 937 or nearly two-thirds of the total number have had less academic prepara- tion than indicated by the bachelor’s degree.* The same investigation reports data on train- ing of 570 rural supervisors and 1,893 super- vising officials in consolidated schools. Among the rural supervisors, 90 have master’s degrees, 169 have bachelor’s degrees, and 311 have no academic degree. Those without degrees con- stitute more than half of the total number. Among the superintendents and principals of consolidated schools, 182 had master’s degrees, 1,530 had bachelor’s degrees, and 181 or only 10 percent were without academic degrees.° ‘These facts are presented graphically in Chart XI. To the extent that these figures are rep- resentative of the Nation as a whole, the group of rural school supervisors with the longest period of training appears to be the principals and superintendents of consolidated schools. Among the individual states striking varia- tions in the number and training of rural super- visory officials appear. The following reports from recent state surveys illustrate the varying conditions in a few states. Indiana: Sixty of the 92 county superintendents did not have degrees. They had an average of slightly over two years of college work. Seventy-nine had done no college work since being elected, and an average of fifteen years had elapsed since last training had been received.’ Kansas: Of sixty-nine county superintendents, 21 had received only high-school training or less. Less than one in three had received more than two years of college or normal school training Nebraska: Only 33.8 percent of the county super- intendents in Nebraska have college degrees as com- pared with 80.2 percent of the city superintendents.* TABLE 14—ESTIMATED PERSONNEL AVAILABLE FOR RURAL SUPER- VISION.’ Types of Supervisor Number Percent ’ = of Total 1 2 3 Countyandruralsuperintendents 3,427 17.52 County rural supervisors 900 4.60 Rural school principals* 15,000 76.68 State rural school officials 104 53 Regional supervisors employed by teacher-training institutions 130 67 Total of estimates... ; 19,561 100.00 1 Sources: ‘‘Salaries and Certain Provisions Relating to Rural School Superintendents 1930-31 Journal of the National Education Association 20: 186; May, 1931. Gaumnitz, W. H. op. cit. Cole, W. E. The De- velopment of Supervision of Instruction. Unpublished master’s thesis. Cornell University, 1928. Frost, Nor- man. ‘‘ The Development of Rural School Supervision’ and Pittman, M. S. ‘‘The Supervisory Personnel in Rural Schools." Thirtieth Yearbook, Part I. National Society for the Study of Education. Bloomington, II] Public School Publishing Company, 1931. p. 179-84. National Education Association, Research Division. ‘Staffs and Salaries in State Departments of Educa- tion."’ Studies in State Educational Administration, Study No. 9. Washington, D. C.: the Association, March, 1931. 61 p. 2Includes also parish (Louisiana town union Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island), town supervising (Connecticut), district (New York, Vermont, and Utah), division (Virginia), and deputy state (Nevada) superintendents * Estimates based upon an advance report for 1930 from the U. S. Office of Education. A 56 percent report totaling 8,275 principals has been raised to represent 100 percent. Many of these principals are in reality only head teachers. 1 See also the sections of this bulletin dealing with the unit of administration, the curriculum, and the preparation of teachers. 2“*Rural"’ here means open country and centers of less than 2,500 population. 3 Gaumnitz, W. H. Some Comparative Siatistics of Public Education in Urban and Rural Communities. U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of Education. Rural School Circular No. 27, Washington, D. C.: 1928. p. 4 4A more complete investigation of the status of the county superintendency by J. E. Butterworth is to be published soon by the United States Office of Education. § Pittman, M. S. ‘‘The Supervisory Personnel in Rural Schools."”” Thirtieth Yearbook, Part I. National Society for the Study of Education. Bloomington, IIl.: Public School Publishing Company, 1931. p. 182-84. 6 Devricks, Robert K. ‘‘The County Superintendent."’ Indiana Teacher 69: 20, 22; May, 1925. Indianapolis, Ind.: Indiana State Teachers Association. 7 O’Brien, F. P. ‘‘The County Superintendent of Schools as Supervisor of Instruction.’ Journal of Educational Research 13: 345-54; May, 1926. 8 Anderson, J. T. ‘‘The County Superintendent."’ Journal of the National Education Association 20: 9-10; January, 1931. [ 295 ] District superintendents’ in Utah had, on the whole, a creditable amount of experience in school work. In general, they had come up to their positions through high-school principalships. Rela- tively few of the superintendents had experience as superintendents in other districts or cities before they accepted the positions held at the time of the survey.” Virginia: Virginia rural® median of 5.8 years of experience in grades one to Utah: supervisors have had a ! The schools of each county district in Utah ( D. C. : Government Printing Office, 1926. p. 60-73. 3 Of the 140 local school units in Virginia, 24 are city districts, 88 are rural districts, A separate district is a town of 500 to 5,000 population that has v: may be called semi-rural. / county school organization. It has its own board of trustees which exercises general control, inc but the division superintendent of the county school budget over and above the county levy; separate district is located is the superintendent. outside of independent cities) are administered district superintendent who is selected by the county-district board of education. 2 U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education. Survey of Education in Utah. Bull seven; 2.5 years in grades eight to eleven: ar years elsewhere, usually in normal school or ¢ or as private tutors. All except one of the visors reporting have had considerable ex in elementary school. Seventeen of them had + in both elementary and high-school grades have had less than three teacher while six have had fifteen years o: years of experience } In addition to their experience as teachers, the and supervised | lletin, 1926, No. 18. W and 28 (known as “‘separaté« ted to become separate iding the determinat or group of counties in wl CHART XI [2 | COUNTY TRAINING OF RURAL SCHOOL OFFICIALS IN 23 STATES (DIFFERENT SCALES ) Vibehddbiadia/s/)// YJE@PY/)// hhh hd SUPERINTENDENTS [/ Vd No Degree (1487) RURAL SUPERVISORS (570) SUPERINTENDENTS OR PRINCIPALS - IN CONSOLIDATED Masters De Degree a 1| Bachelors Degree ZZ | 4 SCHOOLS (1893) (f-im Slesearch Division, Aetwaaal Litéicats ind colleg: Supe Prien taug! Ni p as mo! *y ha count ingt ricts om thy } of the ich the Z a median experience as supervisors of 4.2 years. Twenty-four had experience in open-country schools; twenty-two in hamlet and village schools, and thirteen in city schools. Seven have had experi- ence in all three types of schools.’ Amount of supervision provided—Since on the whole the rural school teacher faces a most dificult task with limited training and experi- ence, one might expect that rural teachers would receive an abundance of supervisory help. With the exception of a few states and counties this is not true. The typical rural teacher does her work with only two or three brief visits each year from her supervisory oficial. In counties which provide one or more supervisors in addition to the county superin- tendent, more frequent visits are made.? The following reports from recent state surveys in- dicate the varying practice in a group of states. Indiana: The average number of visits was two per teacher per year, with 80 minutes spent on each visit, a total of 160 minutes of supervision per teacher each year.® Kansas: Three out of every five rural schools were visited only once during the year. One-fourth of these schools were visited twice and 11 percent were visited three times or more. The prevailing length of visit was about one hour.‘ Ohio: The average interval between visits of county superintendents was 6 weeks; between visits of local superintendents, 2 weeks. The average length of county superintendents’ visits was 47 minutes, of local superintendents’, 26 minutes.° Virginia: In the rural areas, 7 percent of the school rooms were not visited by the superintendent in 1926-27, while all rooms in the cities were visited. However, the city schools had a slightly larger per- centage of rooms visited by the superintendent only once, the figures being 29 percent for the cities and 26.5 percent for the rural schools.° West Virginia: Most county superintendents did not visit each teacher more than once a year. The one-teacher schools were most often neglected. The percent of county superintendents visiting these schools only once was 80; for two-teacher schools it was 64; for three-teacher schools it was 60; and for four- or more-teacher schools it was 59. District superintendents visited each of their schools only two or three times a year. The percent visiting their one-teacher schools once a year was 25; for two- teacher schools it was 17; for three-teacher schools it was 11; and for four- or more-teacher schools it was 8 Of 1,326 teachers making direct answers to the question whether or not they had received help from any of their supervisors, only 2.4 percent said they received “considerable help ;” 25.3 percent said “very little,” and 72.3 percent stated that they received “no help.”” Studies of the values of supervision—A number of studies of the results of a program of supervision have been reported in recent years. On the whole these studies suggest that rural teachers experience a real need for super- visory assistance and that when such assistance is available the efficiency of the instruction is increased. The studies reported on this subject are of unequal merit and conclusiveness and no detailed evaluation of them is presented here.‘ Results from a few of these investigations are presented below. Michigan: Thirty-five one-teacher schools and 8 rooms of two-teacher schools were included in an experiment conducted in two counties of Michigan. The schools chosen were carefully matched in such qualifications of teachers as age, training, experi- ence, tenure, and salary, and in number of pupils enrolled. Pupils in grades 3 to 8 were tested as to native capacities and as to abilities in school sub- jects. In practically all respects in which both pupils and teachers in the counties were compared they were very similar; such differences as appeared were insignificant. Supervisors of instruction were provided in one county and not in the other. A study of gains made by the pupils, expressed in percentages of the normal gain for a school year, found that the pupils in the supervised schools accomplished 171 percent of a normal year of school work; while the pupils in the unsupervised schools accomplished 97 percent of a typical year of school work.’ West Virginia: The benefits of supervision were not limited to superior achievement in school sub- jects but included also better organization, better attendance, and better classification of pupils. 1 O'Shea, M. V., director. Public Education in V irginia. Report to the Educational Commission of Virginia of a Survey of the Public Educational System of the State. Richmond, Va. : Davis Bottom, Superintendent of Public Printing, 1928. p. 87. 2 Cole, William E. The Status of Rural Supervisors of Instr uction in the United States. Ithaca, N. Y .: Department of Rural Edu- cation, New York State College of Agriculture, Cornell University, September, 1930. p. 35. * Indiana Rural Education Survey Committee. Report. Indianapolis: State Superintendent of Schools, March, 1926. p. 51-6. ‘O’Brien, F. P. ‘‘The County Superintendent of Schools as Supervisor of Instruction.” 13: 345-54; May, 1926. § Hall, H. E. ‘A Study of School Supervision in the County Districts of Ohio.” February, 1926. * O'Shea, M. V. OP. cit. p. 71. Journal of Educational Research Journal of Rural Education §: 231-6; January- 7 Cavins, Lorimer V., director. Survey of Education in West Virginia. Vol. 1. Charleston, West Virginia: State Board of Edu- cation, 1928. p. 180-2. 8 See Heyl, Helen Hay. ‘‘An Evaluation of Rural School Supervision.’ Study of Education, 1931. p. 184-91. " Thirtieth Yearbook, Part I. National Society for the ®* Hoppes, W. C. The py of Supervision in Rural Schools of Oakland County. Bulletin No. 7, 1926. Lansing: Michigan Edu- cation Association, 1926. 40 [ 297 ] Supervised Unsupervised was equal to 12 days in a school year of Average score on edu- The study involved results of tests in the t cational tests ' 7. 42.6 jects for 53 pairs of pupils in classes ta Average attendance supervised and unsupervised teachers. (percent) 74 Kansas, Johnson County: A supervisory centering on improving the methods 7 , spelling resulted in important gains. On to promotion problems and pupils were farther jects, which were not emphasized by advanced for their ages.’ visors, children in the supervised and In supervised districts more attention was given Indiana: Two supervisors were employed for a schools made almost identical progress period of two years for each of the two counties selected for demonstration work, while two other counties with similar conditions as to training of teachers, type and equipment of buildings, and other governing factors, including taxable wealth, were — selected as control counties. School attainment of lhe the two demonstration counties and of the control many other problems of rural education counties was approximately the same at the begin- on securing a unit of administration free { ning of the experiment. political management and large enou The combined results of tests in reading, lan- guage, spelling, and arithmetic showed that during the first year of the experiment the schools of the demonstration counties considered as a whole ac- for administering rural education is disé complished 14.3 percent more work than the schools e]sewhere in this bulletin and need not of the control counties. During the second year this superiority was even more marked, the progress in the demonstration counties exceeding that made in the control counties by 25.7 percent. In other words, rural supervision are suggested. It is the pupils who had the advantages of supervision ized that several of these advances must learned in the first year about a seventh more, and state legislative changes. This bulletin in the second year about a quarter more, than the pupils in the schools of the control counties which had no supervision.” South Dakota: In this study, the experimental rather it proposes certain conditions group consisted of pupils and teachers in fifteen = which such improvement in work maj schoolrooms, of which eleven were one-teacher schools and four were two-teacher schools. The control group consisted of pupils and teachers in 1. Better paid and better qualified twenty-five schoolrooms of which fifteen were one- yjsgrs—The status of the rural school teacher schools and ten were two-teacher schools. Differences in amounts of improvements made by the two groups in the functions under investigation during the seven months of the experiment were superintendents) has been described as credited to the effect of supervision. At the end of the experiment positive correlation was found be- tween supervision and achievement of the pupils, Visor in our rural systems is a mature woman she is approximately ten years younger than t How Can Rural Supervisory Service Be Improved? improvement of supervision 1 provide financially and otherwise for t ployment of professional supervisors. ‘The ther elaborated at this point. In the rem part of this section certain steps for imp not make many specific recommendation cerning the everyday work of rural sup¢ tained. visor has greatly improved in recent yea typical rural supervisor (not including The representative general elementary amount of professional reading done by teachers, attendance, holding power of the schools, and social typical city supervisor. Although her title va life of the community.* she has supervision of all the elementary grad North Carolina: A study of two groups of consoli- throughout the county system. Under her s dated schools showed 126 percent greater progress vision there are 88 teachers and 30 schools in wi in achievement for the supervised group over the the principal teaches full time. Her services unsupervised group.‘ not supplemented by those of any other supervis Washington: The rate of progress by which the official, and she receives an annual compensat supervised group exceeded the unsupervised group of $2,412. She has had four and a half years of « 1 Cavins, Lorimer V., director. Survey of Education in West Virginia. Vol. 2. Charleston, W. Va.: State Board 1928. p. 156-7. 2 Indiana State Department of Public Instruction. Value of Rural School Supervision. Educational Bulletin, No. 84 lis: State Department of Public Instruction, 1926. p. 8. 3 Pittman, Marvin Summers. The Value of School Supervision, Baltimore: Warwick & York, 1925. 140 p. 4 Southall, Maycie. A Study of the Value of Supervision in Consolidated Schools. Raleigh, N. ( State Department Instruction, 1925. 31 p. 5’ Misner, Frank. A Study of the Com ty Achievements of Pupils in Supervised and Unsupervised Rural Sch lished master's thesis. Pullman, Wash.: State College of Washington, 1927. Reviewed in Heyl, Helen Hay, op. cit., p. 186 * Morgan, David Ansel. The Effects of Supervision in Certain Rural Schools of Johnson County, Kansas. Unpublished thesis. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago, 1926. Reviewed in Heyl, Helen Hay, op cit., p. 185- 6 [ 298 | 2 da ol s ght frogran aching rs super- rvised yice ke linges from rh to e em > unit ussed > Tul ining Ving ecor- LWwait does con sors; indet € at- u per Ipel The unty IWs : uper- , but 1 the iries, ‘ades iper thich are sory ation col- iter 8 lege training; is a graduate of high school, normal school, and a college of education, having received a bachelor’s degree in 1925. When she began super- vising, she had had eleven years of educational experience, seven years of which were as an ele- mentary teacher. She has been a supervisor for the past five years. She has been in her present position for the past four years, and had been a principal or teacher in the system one and a half years before she began supervising.’ The standards suggested by the above quota- tion are not too high for every rural super- visor. At present, however, about half of the rural supervisors fall below this standard. The problem is primarily one of securing adequate financial support by convincing the public of the value of supervision. Low salaries go hand in hand with lack of professional training and experience. 2. More supervisors needed—The dispro- portionately heavy load of rural supervisors has already been mentioned. When 400 supervisors were asked to list difficulties encountered in their work, the heavy supervisory load was ranked first.2 A definite statement as to the number of teachers which constitutes a reason- able supervisory load must consider such fac- tors as the extent of territory covered, the types of schools to be supervised, the needs and prob- lems of the teachers, and other factors. One writer states: There is rather general agreement among county superintendents that the number of rural teachers which a supervisor can effectively supervise should be kept under 50. Many school officers believe the ideal supervisory load to be between 25 and 35.” Standards such as these are far ahead of practice in most states. 3. The rural school principalship should be magnified—There are about 15,000 principals in rural schools of all types. Of this number approximately 4,000 are principals of elemen- tary schools, about 8,000 are principals of com- bined elementary and secondary, and 3,000 are in charge of organized high schools. What opportunities for supervision are available to this group? When Eklof asked rural high-school principals in California to estimate the amount of time given to super- vision, the reports ranged from 5 to 15 percent of the six-hour day.* Under ideal conditions these same principals suggested that 20 to 40 percent of the school day should be given to supervision. Evidently, many boards of trustees ir rural areas are expecting principals to give large portions of school time to teaching and clerical duties. Would it be possible to employ another full-time or part-time teacher to relieve the principals of their teaching duties? Could clerks be employed to relieve teachers and prin- cipals of routine tasks so that more time might be allotted to the distinctly professional de mands? 4. Discovering the supervisory needs of rural teachers—In order to be of maximum service the supervisor needs to know the prob- lems faced by the teachers. An outstanding study to discover the problems faced by rural teachers has recently been completed in Wis- consin. Rural teachers of the state were asked to cooperate by listing important problems which they encountered in their actual teach- ing activities. They were asked to do this dur- ing a period of three weeks early in the fall, three weeks near the middle of the year, and three weeks near the close of school in the spring. They were instructed to list the two or three problems each week which had caused them the most thought and upon which they would have liked to have secured supervisory assistance. The study lists 19,740 different problems concerning which teachers felt the need of as- sistance and gives the frequency with which each problem was mentioned. Most of these problems were highly specific in nature. This study suggests one means for developing a pro- gram of supervision in accordance with the needs of the teachers.°® 5. Providing clerical help for supervisors— The amount of time supervisors must spend in clerical duties lessens the amount of time they may spend in supervising. This may be illustra- ‘ National Education Association, Department of Superintendence. ‘‘The Typical Rural Supervisor Eighth Yearbook Washington, D. C.: the Association, 1930. p. 69. 2 Cole, William E., op. cit., p. 48. 3 Reynolds, Annie Supervision and Rural School Improvement. U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of Education, Bulletin, 1930, No. 31. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1930. p. 4-5. ‘ Eklof, Carl M. The Rural High School Principal. Unpublished master's thesis. Stanford University, June, 1930 * Anderson, C. J., and Kibbe, Delia A. Field Problems of Wisconsin Rural Teachers. Madison, Wis.: State Department of Public Instruction, 1929, 74 p. [ 299 ] ted by a study of the situation in Kansas, where county superintendents spent 41.3 percent of their time in general office duties, and 26 per- cent in visiting rural schools. ‘Those who had full-time assistants to handle the office details were able to give an average of 45 percent of their time to visiting their schools, while those having no office assistants spent only 20 percent in this activity." The need for office assistants is being recog- nized in some of the states. Forty-six percent of the county superintendents reporting for Nebraska have office ‘Twenty-four in Utah re- ported clerical assistance. Nine of these had a study of assistants. superintendents one full-time assistant each, while the remain- ing 15 had from 1 to 7% hours of clerical help daily.* In 1930 every one of the 23 county school systems of Maryland employed a full- time school clerk, the total expenditures for this purpose being $55,422.* A relatively small amount of money spent for clerical assistance may accomplish much by releasing the energies of the professional supervisor for more difficult and important work. 6. Professional organizations, conferences, and group research—How many of the various types of supervisors are active participants in organized professional groups? Of the 3,427 rural and county superintendents, only about 15 percent are members of the Department of Superintendence. Less than 400 members of the National Education Association’s Depart- ment of Elementary School Principals live in communities of less than 2,500 in population. If all of these persons are in charge of elemen- tary schools, then only about 10 percent of the potential rural school membership has been enlisted. Although many rural workers have yet to be enlisted in national organizations for profes- sional study, there has been much local and state progress. Morriss has described how rural principals and supervisors in Buncombe County, N. C., carried on a joint program of profes- 13: 345-54; May, 1926. * Anderson, J. T. ‘‘The County Superintendent.” *U. S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education. Survey of Education in Utah. Bulletin, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1926. p. 60-73. p. 35 1 O'Brien, F. P. ‘‘The County Superintendent of Schools as Supervisor of Instruction.” sional study.® In Maryland the state de; ment arranges exchange visits between supervisory officers of the various cour Usually, these conferences consist of parts: (1) a meeting to explain the pro (2) a day of visits to representative s and (3) a discussion ot the schools ovdse County superintendents in Maryland a: conferences for rural and village prin Regardless of the fact that the teachin; supervisory loads are often heavy, the pro sive rural school executive can gain muc!| becoming a student of his problems. Com tees can be formed for county surveys of s« conditions, curriculums need to be revised stitute teachers can be employed so as to mit teachers and principals to visit ot schools, and effective conferences can bi on Saturdays. These and other direct « direct technics (see Figures 4 and 5) are able to the alert supervisor who refuses “mark time” while present handicaps appropriate legislative action. 7. Professional reading and study as a of improving supervision— The quality of supervision will continue to improve as supervisor broadens his knowledge, skill! Renewed training, association with co-workers, th« interests. cultural and profess! velopment of educational research project perimentation with new and promising t ing methods, and a program of profes reading are all helpful. ‘This section con with an annotated list of books and bul! on school supervision. No periodical refere: 1 } and no references prior to 1925 have bee: cluded. The books themselves should be sulted for helpful references on many sp supervisory problems. Selected References 1. ALMACK, JoHN C., and Burscn, JAMes | Administration of Consolidated and ] Schools. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co 446 p. Chapters 18-20 problems of the discuss the principal of supery consolid Journal of Educationa Journal of the National Education Association 20: 9-10; J] 1926, No. 18. W « Maryland State Board of Education. Sixty-fourth Annual Report, 1930. Baltimore: State Department of Edu 4. § Morriss, Elizabeth, C. ‘‘A Joint Program of Supervisory Study among Principals and Supervisors.” Bulletin 9: 78-93 ary, 1930. Washington, D. C.: Department of Elementary School Principals, National Education Association. * State Department of Education. ‘‘ Developing Leadership in the Elementary School Principal.’ Maryland Sc} 10: 74-7; September, 1928. [ 300 ] depa en ft yuntic - thi ogra choo serve irran cipal; ng and rogre uch ymmit soc! d, si O pe othe: held l, and sional 1¢€ de fs, @X- teac! sional ‘lud letins rences nin con ECITN * The ‘ila e - 1925 yiSOT\ dated 4 a a 4. 5, schools, including such matters as planning supervision, and observing teachers. ANDERSON, C. J., BARR, A. S., and Busn, M. G. Visiting the Teacher at Work. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1925. 382 p. Useful suggestions on case studies of teach- ers, pre-teaching interviews, and follow-up conferences. Barr, A. S., and Burton, W. H. The Super- vision of Instruction. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1926. 626 p. A review of typical activities in the im- provement of teaching and learning. Boraas, Jutrus, and Se_Ke, Georce A. Rural School Administration and Supervision. Bos- ton: D. C. Heath & Co., 1926. 260 p. Describes the history, duties, cations of the county superintendent of schools. Burton, W. H., and orHeRS. The Supervision of Elementary Subjects. New York: D. Apple- ton and Co., 1929. 710 p. Chapters by L. J. Brueckner, F. G. Bonser, Laura Zirbes, and others. Summarizes re- and qualifi- search and supervisory practices in relation to the various school subjects. BUTTERWORTH, JULIAN E. Principies of Rural School Administration. New York: Macmillan Co., 1926. 379 p. oO 10. The work of rural school supervision is described in Chapter 14. Discusses need for continuity of educational policies and methods for stimulating professional growth. CoLLinGs, ELLswortH. School Supervision in Theory and Practice. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1927. 368 p. A program of supervision based upon the theory of education which emphasizes “pupil growth through purposeful activity.” Hucues, J. M., ano Me .sy, E. O. Supervision of Instruction in High School. Bloomington, Ill.: Public School Publishing Co., 1930. 191 p. Summarizes the supervisory practices of high-school principals. KyTe, Georce C. How to Supervise. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1930. 468 p. Particularly helpful and practical in dis cussing such technics of supervision as teach- ers’ meetings, class visits, demonstration teach- ing, and individual conferences. NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION, DEPART MENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS. “The Principal and Supervision.” Bulletin (Tenth Yearbook) April, 1931. Washington, D. C.: the Association. A statement by principals in the field as to how they supervise their schools. FIGURE 4.—DIRECT PROCEDURES IN SUPERVISION 1. Class visits | ? 3. 4. 5. 6. lead to many worthwhile conferences. p. 65-84; and 14, p. 320-5 Teachers’ Te ache “rs’ meetings are effec tive ineofar as they observe the prin- 2, p. 37-55; 3, p. 410-28; 10, meetings | ci iples of a good recitation. Fatigue and boredom develop in teachers’ | p. 211-42; 12, p. 65-84, 297 | mee tings from the same causes as in the classroom. 342; and 14, p. 326-31 Directed Before a teacher visits s another classroom, the supervisor should he 1, p. 368-9; 3, p. 431-4; 8 observation | sure (1) that the teacher to be observed has something to offer, and (2) | p. 11-13; and 14, p. 332-8 | that the observer will discuss the lesson with the demonstrator or the | supervisor. Bulletins Effective bulletins are (1) neatly treed or painted. (2) carefully 10, p. 243-70; 11, p. 225 written n, (3) short and to the point, (4) adaptable and vital to the | 316; 12, p. 65-84; and 13, p teacher’ 8 problems, and (5) stimulating, not pli atitudinous. | 178-94, 7. Professional Through ‘the professional library, extension courses, summer 3, p. 434-8; 10, p. 384-458 8. 9. Curriculum revision Procedure Demonstration lessons Comments Class visits are usually reported as the most frequently used device 2, p. 56-77; 3, p. 141-86; 7 in direct supervision. Does a large number of visits indicate effective | p. 281-8; 10, p. 137-68; 11, p supe rvision? Should all visits be followed by conferences? The funds amenti r steps for a a monstration servers in advance of the purpose of the lesson, with an outline, and (3) follow the lesson with Confer srences Studies show ‘that informal conferences with te chers are much 1, p. 361; 2, p. 222-330; 3 appreciated by teachers. Regular office study | schools, professional magazines, and adjustment 10. Research and experimentation! in the classroom. A teacher who can discover problems has taken a long step toward improving instruction. Pupil Instruction is often improved for an individu: il pupil ber placing 3, p. 318-23; 10, p. 332-80; him in contact with pupils and instructors who are more stimulating and congenial. latent talents of classroom teachers. The final test of technics and materials of instruction takes place 3, p. 294-402; 10, p. 441- and solve her own 504; and 13, p. 10-86, 178-94 ; 1 References in this column refer to the publication on pages 71 to 74. For example: 2, p. 56-77 means Reference 2 , Visit- ing the Teacher at Work by Anderson, Barr, and Bush, pages 55 to 77. hours for consultation often | p. 141-86; 10, p. 168-210; 12, discussion teacher keeps abreast of progressive practices in educi ation. Supervisors have found th: at curriculum revision programs not only revitalize the subject-matter taught, but they often awaken the | 307-31; 11, p. 375-9; 18, p 2) provide observers 10, p. 270-90; 14, p. 332-8; a free discussion. ind 15, p. 121-3 References \ 225-316; and 14, p. 309-19 are: (1) inform ob- 1, p. 366-8; 3, p. 428-32 groups, the alert | and 12, p. 263-96 11, p. 319-72, 441-504; and | 14, 339-48 5, p. 1-701; 8, p. 50-228; 10, p 135-560; and 19, p. 40-651 [ 301 ] 12. 13. 14. NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION, DEPART- MENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE. “The Superinten- dent Surveys Supervision.” Eighth Yearbook. Washington, D. C.: the Association, 1930. 471 p. Presents the superintendent’s viewpoint in a way which is both practical and inspiring to principals. NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION, DEPART- MENT OF SUPERVISORS AND DIRECTORS OF IN- sTRUCTION. “Current Problems of Supervisors.” Third Yearbook. New York: Bureau of Pub- lications, Teachers College, Columbia Uni- versity, 1930. 252 p. Teachers and supervisors contributed state- ments as to the common supervisory prob- lems and how these difficulties could be met. NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION, RESEARCH Division. “The Principal as a Supervisor.” Research Bulletin 7:279-348; November, 1929. Washington, D. C.: the Association. A brief and simple statement of the prin- cipal’s common supervisory problems. NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION, RESEARCH Division. “The Principal at Work on His Problems.” Research Bulletin 9: 93-159; March, 1931. Washington, D. C.: the Associa- tion. Discusses primarily the work of the prin- cipal. The section on supervision deals with such topics as: class visits, conferences, test- ing, demonstration teaching, pupil adjust- ments, teachers’ meetings, curriculum sion, and methods of improving supervision. REYNOLDS, ANNIE. Supervision and Rural School Improvement. U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of Education, Bulletin, 1930, No. 31. Washington, D. C.: Government Print- ing Office. 41 p. A bulletin designed to give information con- cerning rural school supervision—its values, methods and parents and school officials. revi- procedures—to STONE, CLARENCE R. Supervision of the Ele mentary School. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1929. 573 p. Suggests many practical devices in helping teachers to improve the instruction of read- ing, and the other common school subjects. UnL, WILLIs L., AND OTHERS. The Supervision of Secondary Subjects. New York: D. Apple- ton and Co., 1929. 673 p. A statement of the principles, practices, and measuring devices in the secondary school subjects. Chapters by various specialists in- clude many references to research studies. FIGURE 5.—SOME INDIRECT MEANS OF IMPROVING INSTRUCTION 1. 2. 3. Improved school organiza- 4. Better attendance of pupils. Procedure Comments! References to other sections | of this bulletin Larger school unit of admin- istration. grading of pupils. A larger unit means greater financial resources, economy in overhead Sections 1, 3, expenses, more attractive positions to well-trained teachers, and better and 8. Longer school terms, transportation, school nurses, visiting teachers, and health instruction all tend to improve attendance. Better attend- | ance means more educational opportunities. | Section 3. tion. Consolidated schools make it possible to adjust and grade pupils more Sections 1, 3, Planned daily programs. 5. Utilization of state courses of study, etc. use in every school district. 6. Employment of well-trained teachers. The crux of education is the classroom teacher. With the present sources and supply of teachers, school authorities should demand per- sons of first-class preparation and ability. 7. Placing teachers according to training, interests, and abilities. Surveys show a widespread practice of placing teachers to teach sub- jects or grades for which they have not been trained. Often both the teacher and the pupils are discouraged. 8. Increasing the tenure and community contacts of teachers. Teachers often leave rural areas because they are excluded from the | community's social life. A happy teacher is usually an effective class- room instructor. ¥. Developing the community's interest in the school. Communities where the patrons are intelligently interested in the | school reap dividends from a loyal school faculty. 10. Proper selection of textbooks and instructional materials. Often the costlier books or supplies are the cheapest in terms of the progress of children. The judgment of teachers should be called for by school boards. 1 Many of the points in this column are developed more fully in the text of this bulletin. satisfactorily. | and In both one-room and consolidated schools the time schedule is a | Sections difficult problem. Surveys show a need for less drill on the tool subjects | 4 and 5. and more time given to the content studies. A number of the state departments of education provide courses of | Sections study, booklists, and other instructional materials which should be in | 4 and S. Sections 4, 5, and 7. Sections i and 7. Sections 5, 6, and Section 6. Sections 4 and 9. [ 302 ] = Publications of the National Education Association of Special Interest to Rural School Teachers and Officials RESEARCH BULLETINS Vol. VI, No. 1, January, 1928, Creating a Curriculum for Adolescent Youth, 80 p. 25 cents Vol. VII, No. 4, September, 1929, Vitalizing the High-School Curriculum. 104 p. 25 cents Vol. VIII, No. 4, Sentember, 1930, Investing in Public Education. 56 p. 25 cents Vol. IX, No. 2, March, 1931, The Principal at Work on His Problems. 64 p. 25 cents DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE Fifth Yearbook, 1927, The Junior High School Curriculum. 562 p. $2.00 Sixth Yearbook, 1928, The Development of the High School Curriculum. 584 p. $2.00 Eighth Yearbook, 1930, The Superintendent Surveys Supervision. 472 p. $2.00 DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS Seventh Yearbook, 1928, The Elementary School Principaiship. 512 p. $2.00 Eighth Yearbook, 1929, Activities of the Principal. 400 p. $2.00. Ninth Yearbook, 1930, The Principal and Administration. 603 p. $2.00 Tenth Yearbook, 1931, The Principal and Supervision. 527 p. $2.00 DEPARTMENT OF CLASSROOM TEACHERS Third Yearbook, 1928, Problems and Opportunities in Teaching. 112 p. 50 cents Fifth Yearbook, 1930, Teaching as a Creative Art. 307 p. $1.50. Sixth Yearbook, 1931, The Economic Welfare of Teachers. 244 p. $1.50 DEPARTMENT OF RURAL EDUCATION Bulletin of the Department of Rural Education, February, 1930, Rural Education in the South. 31 p. 25 cents. Bulletin of the Department of Rural Education, February, 1931, Special Problems in the Education of Rural Children. 64 p. 25 cents. DIVISION OF PUBLICATIONS National Education Association, Annual Volume of Addresses and Proceedings A pproxi- mately 1200 p. $3.00. Included in Life and $5 memberships. National Education Association, Journal. 64 ». 25 cents. Included in Life, $2, and $5 mem- berships. (Published monthly, except July, August and September All orders for publications should be accompanied by funds in payment for same. Orders not accompanied by funds in payment are subject to transportation charges. Make checks or money orders payable to National Education Association, 1201 Sixteenth Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. Complete list of publications sent free upon request. This conference recommends that there be held in the nation’s capital, a national conference on rural education and culture, following the gen- eral plan of the White House Conference on Child Health and Protection; that this national confer- ence be followed by similar state conferences to be arranged by the governors in cooperation with the educational agencies and organizations of the various states.—Recommendation of the First Na- tional Conference on Rural Education, Called Jointly by the National Education Association, the United States Office of Education, and the National Congress of Parents and Teachers, Meet- ing in Los Angeles, Calit., July 2, 1931.