Abstract of a Survey 
 
 —OF— 
 
 The Baltimore Public Schools 
 
 1920-1921 
 
 GEORGE D. STRAYER, Director 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 BOARD OF SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS 
 
 BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 
 
Abstract of a Survey 
 
 — OF— 
 
 The Baltimore Public Schools 
 1920-1921 
 
 GEORGE D. STRAYER, Director 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 BOARD OF SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS 
 
 BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 
 

 BOARD OF SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS 
 
 ISAAC S. FIELD, President 
 FREDERICK J. SINGLEY Dr. FRANK J. GOODNOW 
 
 JOHN W. EDEL CHARLES J. F. STEINER 
 
 ADDISON E. MULLIKIN WARREN S. SEIPP 
 
 Mrs. J. W. PUTTS THEODORE E. STRAUS 
 
 •SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 HENRY S. WEST 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 apr imt 
 
 HHiMiiiummii 
 
 ' ! ■ ■ > • i ' i h . . -J 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 Introduction — George D. Strayer, Director, Teachers College, Columbia 
 University, New York City. 
 
 Letter of Acknowledgment — Henry S. West, Superintendent of Schools, 
 Baltimore, Maryland. 
 
 Report of the Reviewing Committee — Abraham Flexner, General Education 
 Board, New York City ; Elwood P. Cubberley, Dean of the School of 
 Education, Leland Stanford University, California; J. W. Withers, 
 formerly Superintendent of Schools, St. Louis, Mo., Dean of the School 
 of Education, New York University, New York City; Frank W. Ballou, 
 Superintendent of Schools, Washington, D. C. ; Alexander Inglis, Har- 
 vard University. Cambridge, Mass.; Herbert S. Weet, Superintendent 
 of Schools, Rochester, N. Y. 
 
 Progress in the Baltimore School System During and Since the Completion 
 of the Survey — George D. Strayer. 
 
 The Public School Buildings and a S:hooi Building Program — 
 George D. Strayer, N. L. Engelh ardt, and E. S. Evenden. 
 
 The Administration of the Public Sciools — 
 George D. Strayer and N. L. Engelhardt. 
 
 The Teaching Staff — William C. Bagley. 
 
 The Classification and Progress of School Children — Edward S. Evenden. 
 
 The Achievements of Children in tin Classroom — 
 M. R. Trabue and William A. McCall. 
 
 Medical Inspection and Physical Education — Jesse Feiring Williams. 
 
 The Secondary Schools — Thomas H. Briggs. 
 
 The Curriculum of the Elementary Schools — Frederick G. Bonser. 
 
 The Kindergarten — Patty S. Hill, Grace L. Brown, and Annie E. Moore. 
 
 Home Economics in the Schools of Baltimore— Anna G. Cooley. 
 
 Vocational Education — Arthur D. Dean. 
 
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT 
 By the Director of the Survey 
 
 The complete report of the survey of the Baltimore Public 
 Schools will be issued in three volumes. In this complete form 
 of publication will be found all of the data which were used as a 
 basis for arriving at conclusions, and for the making of recom- 
 mendations with regard to the development of the school system. 
 
 This abstract of the survey presents the facts in summary 
 tables and statements, the findings of the survey based upon 
 these facts, the recommendations which were made, together 
 with a statement of the progress that has been made during 
 the conduct of the survey and since its completion. The recom- 
 mendations of the survey, as presented in this brief form, are 
 identical with those which appear in the more complete publica- 
 tion. The factual basis, upon which recommendations are made, 
 is given in so far as was possible, even though detailed tables 
 or descriptions are omitted. 
 
 It is of primary importance that those who are interested in 
 the development of Baltimore's public school system know that 
 the survey staff worked in co-operation with the Superintendent 
 of Schools and his staff, and with the Board of School Commis- 
 sioners at every stage of the survey, and that definite progress 
 was made by virtue of action taken by the Board of School 
 Commissioners, and by the Superintendent of Schools during 
 the progress of the inquiry. 
 
 The only justification for a survey is to be found in the re- 
 sults achieved. It is not often that a survey staff has had the 
 satisfaction that has come to those who have worked in Bal- 
 timore in seeing the development and improvement of the pub- 
 lic schools taking place in so large a degree or in so many im- 
 portant particulars during the progress of the inquiry as has 
 been the case in Baltimore. 
 
 GEORGE D. STRAYER. 
 
LETTER FROM SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS 
 
 Department of Education, 
 
 Baltimore, Md., May 31, 1921. 
 
 Dr. George D. Straycr, 
 
 Director, Baltimore School Survey. 
 
 My Dear Doctor Strayer : — 
 
 With the completed manuscript of your Survey of the Public School 
 System of Baltimore in our hands, I desire to congratulate you upon hav- 
 ing finished so extensive and so admirable a piece of work ahead of the 
 date you set. I want also to thank you on behalf of the Board of School 
 Commissioners, my colleagues on the executive staff, and our whole corps 
 of school principals and teachers, for the personal interest, the skillful 
 direction, and the detailed attention you have given to every phase of this 
 large enterprise. 
 
 When the Committee of the School Board called upon me last summer 
 in reference to the superintendency of schools, I secured from them assur- 
 ance that the Board would take steps to have a school survey inaugurated 
 at the very beginning of the new school year, so as to get the completed 
 survey report as early as possible in 1921. My attitude was to welcome 
 heartily a thorough survey of the Baltimore school system as a first and a 
 most important move on the part of the reorganized Board of School Com- 
 missioners. My own experience with previous school surveys had taught 
 me that a school survey properly conducted by a competent and impartial 
 director, not connected with the school system being surveyed, could bring 
 to that system a clearness of vision as to the existing situation, and a 
 soundness of judgment as to recommendations for the future, that would 
 be of tremendous and lasting value to the city under survey. 
 
 As this survey has progressed, all of my hopeful anticipations regarding 
 it have been fully realized. The complete report presents an array of 
 facts about the Baltimore school system amazingly comprehensive for the 
 comparatively short space of time consumed in doing the necessary field 
 work, and in systematizing and analyzing the large volume of data col- 
 lected; and the professional judgments expressed and th<i definite recom- 
 mendations offered will furnish the basis for a long-range program of 
 development. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 HENRY S. WEST, 
 
 Superintendent of Public Instruction. 
 
THE REPORT OF THE REVIEWING COMMITTEE 
 BALTIMORE SCHOOL SURVEY 
 
 The Reviewing Committee has visited forty schools includ- 
 ing all types, elementary, junior and senior high, in order per- 
 sonally to become acquainted with the physical plant and the 
 general atmosphere of the schools. 
 
 The Committee has studied the summaries of the several 
 reports of this survey and the recommendations of the Survey 
 Commission. This study has been supplemented by such confer- 
 ences with school authorities as the limited time available has 
 made possible. The Reviewing Committee has made recom- 
 mendations which are being incorporated in the final report of 
 the Survey Commission. 
 
 The Reviewing Committee is impressed by the comprehen- 
 sive and scientific study of actual conditions in the Baltimore 
 schools made by the Survey Commission. The facts resulting 
 from this study, and the form in which they have been organ- 
 ized, serve as an invaluable basis for the future improvement of 
 the Baltimore schools. 
 
 It is the unanimous judgment of the Reviewing Committee 
 that the findings of the Survey Commission as to actual condi- 
 tions and needs for improvement are justified by the evidence 
 presented. 
 
 Specific recommendations concerning educational policies al- 
 ways fall within one or the other of two categories : 
 
 1. Those which are generally accepted by educational au- 
 thorities and which are being increasingly exemplified in 
 the better city school systems. 
 
 2. Those which involve practices in which good school sys- 
 tems vary and concerning which no general agreement 
 has as yet been reached by educational authorities. 
 
 Of the policies generally accepted by educational author- 
 ities, the following are a few typical illustrations of those recom- 
 mended by the Survey Commission and concurred in by the Re- 
 viewing Committee : 
 
(a) The Superintendent of Schools should be the chief 
 executive officer of the Board of School Commission- 
 ers. He should have associated with him an adequate 
 staff of competent administrative and supervisory of- 
 ficers directly responsible to him. 
 
 (b) The appointment by the Board of School Commission- 
 ers of all members of the teaching- and supervisory staff 
 should be made only upon the recommendation of the 
 Superintendent of Schools. 
 
 (c) A compulsory attendance service and a permanent con- 
 tinuing census organization should be developed which 
 will insure to every child the education which the law 
 seeks to guarantee. 
 
 (d) The physical facilities should be maintained at such 
 a standard as to provide adequately for wholesome play 
 and to insure the safety, the comfort, the health and 
 proper physical development of school children. 
 
 (e) In the expenditure of all funds appropriated for public 
 education the Board of School Commissioners, sub- 
 ject to proper audit, should have authority commen- 
 surate with the responsibility placed upon it by law. 
 
 (f) A comprehensive system of schools should include such 
 major units of school organization as the following: 
 
 Kindergartens as an essential part of all elementary 
 schools. 
 
 Elementary schools — grades 1 to 6 inclusive — in 
 which proper provision is made to meet the com- 
 mon needs of all normal children of elementary 
 school age, with appropriate provisions for other 
 children of varying abilities and needs. 
 
 Junior and senior high schools — grades 7 to 12 in- 
 clusive — with provision for educational opportuni- 
 ties sufficiently broad in scope to meet the major 
 differentiated needs of pupils of high school age 
 and of the varying forms of service which the com- 
 munity requires. These schools should be so or- 
 ganized as to secure coordination of aim and pro- 
 cedure. 
 
Summer schools affording appropriate opportunities 
 
 during the summer vacation. 
 Continuation schools for boys and girls of high 
 school age who have withdrawn from the full- 
 time day schools. 
 Baltimore has established to some extent these commonly 
 accepted types of school organization. The needs as yet inad- 
 equately met are : 
 
 The extension and development of kindergartens and junior 
 high schools ; classes for exceptional children, such as the gifted, 
 the backward, the tubercular, and the crippled; a closer articula- 
 tion between junior and senior high schools ; and a more com- 
 plete coordination of the senior high schools. Continuation 
 schools should be established at the earliest opportunity. 
 
 As types of policies concerning which good authorities differ 
 and in which the practices of the best school systems vary may 
 be mentioned the following illustrations from the report of the 
 Survey Commission : 
 
 (a) In the development of an adequate program of super- 
 vision of instruction in the elementary school two poli- 
 cies are common: (1) Supervision by building princi- 
 pals ; (2) supervision by officers attached to the central 
 administrative office and responsible for work through- 
 out the system. 
 
 (b) In the supervision of instruction in junior and senior 
 high schools two policies are common: (1) Supervision 
 by heads of departments. in individual schools; (2) spe- 
 cial subject supervisors attached to the central admin- 
 istrative office and responsible for supervision in all 
 secondary schools. 
 
 (c) Two methods are commonly employed in the determi- 
 nation of the salary schedule: (1) The first method in- 
 volves the classification of teachers according to the 
 quality of their service in the schools ; (2) the second 
 method provides for the classification of teachers ac- 
 cording to their length of service and the qualifications 
 indicated by the amount and character of their training. 
 
 (d) Two policies are common in providing for dental ser- 
 vice : (1) The establishment of clinics in each school 
 or section of the city ; (2) the establishment of a single 
 centralized clinic serving the entire school system. 
 
 8 
 
This distinction between generally accepted policies and the 
 policies as yet not determined and attested by practice is neces- 
 sarily involved in the recommendations of the Survey Commis- 
 sion. In the judgment of the Reviewing Committee, where pol- 
 icies are involved belonging to the category of accepted good 
 practice, the Survey Commission has in each case made recom- 
 mendations, the validity of which is recognized. It is also their 
 judgment that the Survey Commission has properly recognized 
 those cases where specific recommendations cannot be made with 
 assurance and has properly pointed out the relative advantages 
 and disadvantages of differing policies in the light of local con- 
 ditions. 
 
 The Committee takes pleasure in noting that the Board of 
 School Commissioners, the Superintendent of Schools and his 
 assistant superintendents, the school principals, and teachers 
 have heartily cooperated with the Director and his staff in their 
 conduct of the survey, and that the Board of School Commis- 
 sioners has already adopted several important recommendations 
 that have been made. 
 
 It is the unanimous opinion of the Reviewing Committee 
 that the final value to the city of Baltimore of this survey will 
 depend chiefly upon the provisions which are made by the munic- 
 ipal and school authorities for the successful and progressive 
 carrying out of the very comprehensive educational program 
 which the survey has so carefully outlined. 
 
 ABRAHAM FLEXNER, 
 ELWOOD P. CUBBERLEY, 
 FRANK W. BALLOU, 
 ALEXANDER INGLIS, 
 HERBERT S. WEET, 
 JOHN \Y. WITHERS. 
 
PROGRESS IN THE BALTIMORE SCHOOL SYSTEM DUR- 
 ING AND SINCE THE COMPLETION OF THE SURVEY 
 
 I. Administration — The Superintendent of Schools has, by 
 action of the present Board of School Commissioners, become 
 the chief executive officer of the school system. All appoint- 
 ments to the teaching and supervisory staff are made upon his 
 nomination. The establishment of this practice, as a matter of 
 law, awaits the action of the Legislature. 
 
 Assistant Superintendents in charge of "junior and senior 
 high schools, of the intermediate grades, and of the primary 
 grades, have been appointed. A Director of Americanization has 
 been secured. 
 
 A Committee of the Board of School Commissioners has in 
 hand the question of reorganization of the business offices of the 
 Board. It is confidently expected that provision will be made 
 in the next annual budget for a competent person to head the 
 division of business administration of the school system. 
 
 The organization of the school system, upon a plan of a six- 
 year elementary school, three-year junior high school, and 
 three-year senior high school, has been adopted. A parental 
 school for colored boys has been established. Steps have been 
 taken to secure a director for an enlarged Bureau of Research 
 and Statistics. 
 
 II. School Buildings and School Building Program — Seven 
 million dollars have been made available for school buildings, one 
 million for emergency repairs, and six millions for new buildings. 
 Emergency repairs are already completed. New buildings are 
 being planned and sites providing ample playground space have 
 been and are being secured. The building program is being de- 
 veloped in accordance with the recommendations of the survey. 
 It is suggested that the Legislature will be asked to authorize 
 additional loans for school buildings at its next session. 
 
 III. Teaching Staff — Substantial increases in salaries were 
 granted to all teachers for the current year. 
 
 10 
 
IV. Classification and Progress of Children — The Assistant 
 Superintendents are making a careful study of the classifica- 
 tion and progress of children throughout the school system. 
 Children are being classified on the basis of ability to a greater 
 extent than heretofore. 
 
 V. Medical Inspection and Physical Education — A Director 
 of Physical Education has been appointed. An advisory director, 
 with large experience in the work of physical education and rec- 
 reation, has been appointed. A larger degree of responsibility 
 for health service has been undertaken by the director and his 
 staff in junior and senior high schools. 
 
 VI. Secondary Schools — A complete articulation between 
 junior and senior high schools has been effected. The repeat- 
 ing in senior high schools of courses taken in junior high schools 
 no longer prevails. Committees of principals, super\-isors, and 
 teachers have prepared tentative courses of study for junior high 
 schools. More opportunity is being afforded in the junior high 
 school for work in industrial arts and home economics. The 
 junior high schools have been enlarged by removing from the 
 buildings, in which they are housed, elementary school classes. 
 Further development of the secondary schools awaits the com- 
 pletion of the building program. 
 
 VII. The Elementary School Curriculum — Tentative 
 courses of study have been prepared by Committees and are be- 
 ing tried out in the elementary schools. Committees will con- 
 tinue to work on the development of these courses of study. 
 
 VIII. Kindergartens — Twenty additional kindergartens 
 have been opened. The program of work is being developed in 
 accordance with the recommendations of the survey. 
 
 IX. Home Economics — A Supervisor of Home Economics 
 has been appointed. Provision has been made for the utilization 
 of equipment formerly lying idle. As noted above, a larger of- 
 fering in this field has been provided in the junior high schools. 
 Courses of study have been revised in accordance with the 
 recommendations of the survey. 
 
 X. Vocational Education — A plan of organization for voca- 
 tional education, providing for a director of this department, to- 
 gether with three heads of the divisions of industrial education, 
 commercial education, and home economics, has been adopted. 
 
 11 
 
Two of the heads of divisions are already at work. Steps have 
 been taken toward securing the third division head. 
 
 XI. Further Progress — Further progress in the develop- 
 ment of the school system is dependent upon legislative action 
 which may be secured, and upon the money provided in the next 
 annual budget. 
 
 12 
 
ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS 
 
 The control of the public school system in Baltimore is in 
 the last analysis vested in a Board of Estimates, composed of 
 the Mayor, City Solicitor, Comptroller, President of the Second 
 Branch of the City Council, and President of the Board of Pub- 
 lic Improvements, and in the City Council. The Charter pro- 
 vides that the head of the Department of Education shall con- 
 sist of a Board of School Commissioners. It is equally true that 
 by Charter provision the Board of School Commissioners must 
 look to the Board of Estimates and to the City Council not only 
 for the moneys which are to be used for school purposes, but 
 that they must submit a budget in great detail from which they 
 may not depart in the administration of the schools during the 
 year for which the money is granted. 
 
 The Board of School Commissioners does not have control 
 of the erection of new buildings, nor of the repair of the build- 
 ings now in use. The City Inspector of Buildings is the respon- 
 sible authority even though it is provided that "the instructions 
 of the Board of School Commissioners shall be regarded by the 
 Inspector of Buildings in the preparation of his plans, and no 
 plans shall be finally adopted without the concurrence of said 
 Board." The intent of the charter as interpreted by the City 
 Solicitors makes it very clear that the Board of School Commis- 
 sioners is a distinctly subordinate department in the city gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 In actual practice the Board of School Commissioners is re- 
 quired to appear before the Board of Estimates in order to make 
 any change in the salary paid to an individual whose salary has 
 been fixed by the ordinance of estimate even though the Board 
 does not seek to spend any more money than that provided in 
 the budget for the general purpose or function involved. Even 
 where money has been appropriated for a particular purpose the 
 Board of Estimates feels that it has the authority to pass upon 
 the expenditure of the money until the sum involved shall have 
 been completely exhausted. 
 
 13 
 
The members of the Survey Commission believe that the 
 people of Baltimore look to the Board of School Commissioners 
 for the development of the public school system. They are con- 
 vinced that the provisions of the charter as interpreted by City 
 Solicitors, and as operative at the present time, interfere with 
 the efficiency of the Board of School Commissioners in fulfilling 
 their function. It is recommended that the Board of School Com- 
 missioners be given a larger degree of control over the tnouej 
 made available, for the public schools of the city. 
 
 In many American cities the board of education levies taxes, 
 and enjoys complete control of all moneys made available for the 
 support of the public schools. The boards of education in St. 
 Louis, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Bos- 
 ton, Chicago, and many other cities have, within certain limits de- 
 termined by law, the right to levy taxes or to submit budgets 
 which are mandatory to the tax levying authority, and in all 
 cases have complete control of the funds which are provided 
 in support of the public school system. 
 
 It is recommended that in Baltimore such amendments to 
 the charter be made as will make it possible for the Board of 
 School Commissioners to submit a budget classified under the 
 following heads only: (1) Administration and General Control; 
 (2) Instruction; (3) Text-books and Supplies; (4) Maintenance 
 of the Plant ; (5) Operation of the Plant ; (6) Auxiliary Agencies ; 
 (7) Capital Outlay. It is proposed that they present all the data 
 necessary to support their estimates of the cost of maintaining 
 the public school system. After the money has been allowed 
 by the Board of Estimates and voted by the City Council, it is 
 proposed that within the classifications mentioned above the 
 Board of School Commissioners be given complete control of the 
 funds so voted. 
 
 The changes in the charter advocated above and intended 
 to provide for a larger degree of control by the Board of School 
 Commissioners are in accord) with the prevailing practice, in 
 American cities and cannot be thought of as giving unusual power 
 to the school authorities. If the recommendation were for com- 
 plete fiscal independence of the Board of School Commissioners, 
 it would be in complete accord with the practice of approxi- 
 mately half of our American cities, and would receive the cordial 
 
 14 
 
support of the leading authorities on educational administration. 
 
 After the Mayor has appointed a Board of School Commis- 
 sioners "from among those he deems most capable of promoting 
 the interests of public education by reason of their intelligence, 
 character, education, or business habits," (Sec. 99 City Charter, 
 1898) surely he and his colleagues of the Board of Estimates 
 should be willing to give them such authority as is provided in 
 the recommendation for the expenditure of the funds made avail- 
 able. 
 
 In the majority of American cities the Board of Education 
 has complete responsibility over the selection of sites, erection 
 of buildings, repairs to buildings, the purchasing of supplies and 
 equipment, and other business affairs. From such inquiry as has 
 been made in Baltimore there appears to be no apparent gain in 
 placing the purchasing of supplies under the control of the Board 
 of Awards and the City Purchasing Agent. The care of the school 
 plant and the erection of new buildings in a city the size of Bal- 
 timore is a job big enough in itself to justify the employing of 
 a competent person for this service. If the type of business or- 
 ganization recommended in the survey is to be developed under 
 the general supervision of an executive officer of the Board of 
 School Commissioners, there can be little doubt but that a higher 
 degree of efficiency will be brought about. The present situation 
 makes for delay and dissatisfaction, for an increase in costs 
 through duplicating authorities involving the employment of ad- 
 ditional personnel, and fails to give to the Board of School 
 Commissioners authority commensurate with their responsi- 
 bility. 
 
 The Board of School Commissioners should appoint an 
 executive directly responsible to the Superintendent of Schools 
 whose duty it shall be to assume general supervisory responsi- 
 bility for the installation of an adequate system of cost account- 
 ing, the continued study of the need for repairs to buildings and 
 equipment, the careful and detailed study of building needs, and 
 the most advantageous location for new buildings as determined 
 by increases and shifts in population, and the standardization of 
 supplies and equipment to the end that the business administra- 
 tion of the schools be developed in such manner as to make for a 
 maximum of economy and efficiency. 
 
 15 
 
The desirability of giving to the Board of School Commis- 
 sioners rather than to the Board of Health the responsibility for 
 the physical examination and health service provided for school 
 children is generally recognized throughout the United States. 
 Over three-fourths of the cities supporting medical inspection 
 and health service have given this responsibility to the Board of 
 Education. Among the cities in which the work is organized un- 
 der this form of control are St. Louis, Cleveland, Atlanta, Kan- 
 sas City, Dayton, Minneapolis, Boston, Jersey City, Milwaukee, 
 Seattle, Los Angeles, Newark, New Orleans, and Denver. It is 
 urgently recommended that the Board of School Commissioners 
 be given this responsibility in the city of Baltimore. 
 
 In advocating that the Board of School Commissioners be 
 given larger responsibility for the conduct of the school system 
 it is recognized that the success of their administration depends 
 upon the organization and personnel of the administrative staff 
 employed by them. It is clear that if efficient administration of 
 schools is to be secured, the Board of School Commissioners 
 must recognize the Superintendent of Schools as their chief ad- 
 ministrative officer. All other executives must be responsible 
 to him, and should be elected by the Board of School Commis- 
 sioners upon his nomination. 
 
 In an opinion of the City Solicitor, dated February 24, 1921, 
 it appears that the Superintendent of Schools does not now 
 legally enjoy the right of nominating all members of the ad- 
 ministrative, supervisory, and teaching staff. 
 
 In Baltimore at the present time, the Superintendent of 
 Schools is recognized as the chief executive officer of the Board 
 of School Commissioners. There would be a distinct advantage 
 in legalizing this relationship in order to guarantee the continu- 
 ance of the present policy. There are at this time four assistant 
 superintendents. It will be necessary to add to this number. 
 If Baltimore is to develop an adequate system of vocational edu- 
 cation, a director or assistant superintendent directly responsible 
 to the Superintendent of Schools must be provided. If the health 
 service and physical education were organized under a single 
 head, as is the case in the more progressive American cities, a 
 
 16 
 
director or assistant superintendent would need to be provided 
 for this field. 
 
 The development of an adequate system of supervision for 
 the schools of Baltimore involves the further question of super- 
 vision of the colored schools. The colored people of Baltimore 
 have a separate community life in their homes, churches, and 
 schools. A supervisor of colored schools, directly responsible 
 to the Superintendent of Schools, -would have a type of contact 
 with this group in the community that is not possible for any 
 one of another race. If a supervisor thoroughly acquainted with 
 the needs of this group and well trained in the field of school 
 supervision were selected, it is believed that much improvement 
 in the organization and work of the colored schools might be 
 effected. 
 
 THE BUREAU OF RESEARCH AND STATISTICS 
 
 For a number of years Baltimore has gathered statistics 
 covering enrollment, attendance, withdrawal from school, pro- 
 motions, failures, and other elements involved in the classifica- 
 tion and progress of school children. These data have been care- 
 fully recorded by the school principals for the Bureau of Sta- 
 tistics and have been assembled with great care and consider- 
 able expense in the annual reports of the Board of School Com- 
 missioners. 
 
 Not only should the Bureau of Research and Statstics be re- 
 sponsible for the collection and interpretation of .data in the field 
 of classification and progress of children, but a similar service 
 should be rendered by this bureau to all the other departments 
 of the city school system. This bureau should be the clearing 
 house for all investigations that are being made in the school sys- 
 tem. In fact, it should operate as the bureau for continuing the 
 survey work which has been begun by this commission, so that 
 there may be developed a continuous survey of the school system 
 of the city. 
 
 Most laborious methods are at present employed in the of- 
 fice compilation of results. Computing and tabulating machines 
 and devices should be provided this department so that its work 
 may be done most expeditiously. The money spent in proper 
 office equipment and adequate clerical assistance in this depart- 
 ment can be considered as one of the best investments which it 
 
 17 
 
is within the power of the Board of School Commissioners to 
 make. In the last analysis this department provides the meas- 
 ures of success of all other departments and hence its impor- 
 tance cannot be over-estimated. The fact that such a depart- 
 ment is assuming a place of increasing importance in the large 
 majority of progressive school systems in the United States is 
 one reaon why Baltimore should provide for its development so 
 as to secure the highest efficiency. 
 
 THE SCHOOL BUILDING SURVEY AND THE SCHOOL 
 BUILDING PROGRAM 
 
 The success or failure of the educational program in any 
 public school system depends in large measure upon the type 
 and adequacy of the school housing provisions. In making the 
 school building survey, the 150 public school buildings of Balti- 
 more were scored by means of a scorecard which has been 
 utilized in scoring school buildings in many cities in the United 
 States. A score of 900 to 1000 points indicates a highly satis- 
 factory degree of construction and equipment. Where school 
 buildings have scored 400 points or less, experience has dictated 
 to the Survey Commission that abandonment of such buildings 
 for school purposes is the only justifiable course. Such buildings 
 lack almost entirely the provisions needed for the health, safety, 
 and education of the children. 
 
 Only 67 of the 140 elementary school buildings in Baltimore 
 were scored above 400 points. Fifty-two per cent, of the ele- 
 mentary school buildings have been scored by the Survey Com- 
 mission as below 400 points on this 1000 point scorecard. Some 
 of the reasons for the low scores on this very large number of 
 buildings are : the lack of playgrounds ; the non-fireproof nature 
 of many buildings ; the entire absence of fire-escapes on certain 
 buildings and the wooden fire-escapes on other buildings ; heat- 
 ing plants and fuel bins unprotected from the rest of the school 
 building; glass partitions between classrooms and corridors, 
 offering no protection against fire ; inadequate provisions for 
 natural and artificial lighting; the very insanitary outhouses of 
 many schools and the poorly maintained, inadequately equipped 
 and miserably lighted basement toilets of other schools ; and the 
 
 18 
 
lack of such rooms as auditoriums, gymnasiums, manual train- 
 ing rooms, domestic science rooms, and other special activity 
 rooms which are needed for the development of a modern school 
 program. 
 
 In Baltimore 57 per cent, of the children of school enrollment 
 have playground space provided for them of 15 square feet or less ; 
 85 per cent, of Baltimore school children have playground space 
 provided for them of 30 square feet or less. The standard of 100 
 square feet of play space per child shows to what degree Balti- 
 more has failed to provide play space. Not only is play space 
 lacking to a great degree in the Baltimore schools, but almost no 
 playground apparatus has been installed on the playgrounds. 
 
 In addition to the large number of inadequate, poorly 
 planned, and poorly equipped school buildings, 4500 children are 
 being housed in makeshift annexes, such as stores, churches, and 
 the like; 4000 in portables, which, in some instances, cover most 
 of the former playgrounds, and 2500 in classrooms constructed in 
 corridors, cloak-rooms, teachers' rooms and auditoriums, where 
 the handicaps of lighting, seating and other equipment seriously 
 affect their school work. Five thousand school children on half 
 time in 32 schools and 2800 school children on short time in 18 
 schools, together with the children housed in temporary struc- 
 tures, make a total of 13,000 children for whom better provi- 
 sions must be made, in addition to those children who are housed 
 in school buildings which have been scored below 400 points. 
 
 Heating and Ventilating 
 
 Fifty-two school buildings are heated with hot air furnaces. 
 Thirty school buildings in Baltimore are still being heated with 
 stoves in the classrooms. These undesirable and inadequate 
 systems of heating school buildings have long been replaced in 
 progressive cities by a system of heating and ventilation which 
 safeguards the health and comfort of the children. 
 
 Although in a large degree the school buildings of Baltimore 
 are non-fireproof, fire-escapes are lacking on 103 buildings, while 
 wooden fire-escapes have been installed on 38 buildings. The 
 standard enclosed stair-well has only been made a part of two 
 school buildings and the steel fire escape has only been pro- 
 vided on 5 of the 150 school buildings. An extensive program 
 for the removal of fire hazards adopted by the Board of School 
 
 19 
 
Commissioners on the recommendation of the School Survey 
 Commission is already under way. 
 
 Ninety-five per cent, of the Baltimore schools were rated 
 less than 50 per cent, efficient with respect to provisions for 
 drinking and washing. In 16 of the Baltimore schools there is 
 one drinking fountain for every 150 to 200 pupils. In 23 of the 
 schools there is one drinking fountain for every 200 to 400 chil- 
 dren. Eleven schools have no drinking fountain provisions. In 
 these groups children are practically being denied the oppor- 
 tunity for securing a drink of water. In the planning of Balti- 
 more schools, little consideration was given the need for wash 
 bowls, so that children might be taught cleanliness. Twenty- 
 eight school buildings have no wash bowl equipment whatsoever, 
 while in 50 schools, the provision is one wash bowl for every 200 
 to 1200 children. Thousands of children are denied the privilege 
 of keeping their hands clean. 
 
 The toilet systems of 76 per cent, of the Baltimore schools 
 are rated at less than 50 per cent, adequate. Insanitary out- 
 houses, dry latrines and water closets with the most primitive 
 equipment that are now a part of the equipment of the Baltimore 
 schools are included in the program for replacements which 
 has been sanctioned by the Board of School Commissioners on 
 the recommendation of the Survey Commission. 
 
 Fifty-seven per cent, of the elementary classrooms for white 
 children are below the standard area per child of pupil capacity 
 and in 65 per cent, of the classrooms for white children the stan- 
 dard of 200 cubic feet of air space per child is not met. The con- 
 dition in the elementary schools for colored children is even 
 worse. 
 
 The standards for natural illumination require that the glass 
 area of classrooms shall be one-fourth to one-fifth of the floor 
 area ; that no direct glare should be thrown on desks ; and that no 
 children should be compelled to look into the outside light. Ap- 
 proximately 75 per cent, of the elementary classrooms are below 
 the standard ratio of window area to floor area. In approxi- 
 mately 40 per cent, of the elementary classrooms the. window 
 placement is below standard. In spite of the defects in natural 
 lighting, 924 classrooms in Baltimore have no artificial light con- 
 nections. In 367 classrooms the flickering, open-flame gas jet 
 provides the artificial light, and in 735 classrooms electric light. - 
 
 20 
 
ing provisions have been made, which, however, in most cases, 
 are far below the standard. Photometric measurements made 
 at random show many cases where only one foot candle of light 
 was available for children at their desks, instead of the requisite 
 six foot candles. 
 
 Approximately 57 per cent, of all the blackboards in the Bal- 
 timore classrooms are too high to meet the needs of the children, 
 and only four pupils out of every hundred sit in seats that may 
 be adjusted to their heights. Half of the classrooms for ele- 
 mentary children are equipped with 47 seats or more. There 
 are 66 elementary classrooms in Baltimore which are provided 
 with 60 seats or more. Very few school teachers can be ex- 
 pcted to do their best work with more than 40 children in the 
 class. 
 
 Adequate lunch-rooms, auditoriums, play-rooms, libraries, 
 nurses' rooms, principal's offices, teachers' rooms, and other spe- 
 cial service rooms are lacking to an amazing degree throughout 
 the Baltimore school svstem. 
 
 The School Building Program 
 
 In order to develop a school plant which will always meet 
 the educational needs of the city's children, a continuous school 
 building program study must be maintained. Buildings should 
 be located only after a careful analysis of population growth and 
 population needs. The duplication of small plants, as has pre- 
 vailed in the past, should not be countenanced. School sites 
 should be chosen with full regard to future availability and in 
 advance of building needs, so that they may be secured at the 
 lowest possible costs. The most desirable classification of children 
 requires that school buildings of 24 classrooms and more be 
 planned, and that the special room facilities demanded by the 
 modern courses of study be provided. The following sources 
 of data were utilized by the survey Commission for the vo- 
 luminous and detailed population study report submitted : 
 
 1. The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company's census of popu- 
 
 lation growth. 
 
 2. The police census of voters for the period 1910-20, for the purpose of 
 
 discovering residential tendencies. 
 
 21 
 
3. The school enrollment figures distributed by school districts for the 
 
 past ten years, in order to discover the child growth by sections of 
 the city. 
 
 4. The police census of school children for the purpose of determining 
 
 the ratio between the attendance at public schools and the attend- 
 ance at non-public schools. 
 
 5. The Federal Census Enumeration District data, showing the population 
 
 growth over the past two decades. 
 
 It is estimated that approximately 25,000 white children will 
 be added to the public school enrollment during the decade 1920- 
 1930, and that approximately 2300 colored children will be added 
 during this same period. The buildings for these children should 
 be ready when they begin to attend school. 
 
 The type of educational organization which has been sanc- 
 tioned by the Board of Education is the 6-3-3 plan, i. e., six years 
 in the elementary school, three years of junior high school, and 
 three years of senior high school. The development of this plan 
 cannot proceed advantageously where there are too many small 
 buildings housing less than 500 or 600 children. 
 
 The relationship between the three groups of the 6-3-3 plan 
 has been considered over a period of years, in order to ascer- 
 tain what percentage of the expected increase in enrollment 
 will fall in the lower six grades or in grades 7 to 9, or in grades 
 10 to 12. The ratio between these three groups for the past 
 three years has averaged 79.7 per cent, of total school population 
 in grades kindergarten to 6, 15.7 per cent, in grades 7 to 9, and 
 4.6 per cent, in grades 10 to 12. On the basis of these figures, 
 estimates for increased enrollment in the elementary school have 
 been made for each of the wards. From these estimates, the 
 new elementary school building program has been proposed. 
 This problem has been similarly treated for both white and col- 
 ored children. 
 
 In determining the location of new junior high schools, the 
 city has been divided geographically into six sections and the 
 junior high school population for these six sections estimated 
 for the present period. The growth of the population for the 
 next decade has also been estimated for these sections. Dot map 
 distributions have been made of the present residences of all 
 students attending all of the high schools in the city. These 
 maps, together with the estimated increase in high school popu- 
 
 22 
 
lation of various wards, have formed the basis for the recom- 
 mendation covering the location of new high schools. 
 
 Summary 
 
 The recommendations include the replacement of 68 school 
 buildings within the next 15-year period, 50 of which are to be 
 abandoned and replaced as soon as possible. The program for 
 replacement follows : 
 
 PROGRAM FOR THE REPLACEMENT OF INADEQUATE SCHOOL 
 
 FACILITIES FOR WHICH SUBSTITUTION SHOULD BE MADE 
 
 AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE IN THE BUILDING PROGRAM 
 
 Enrollment Figures of February, 1921 
 
 Number of white children for whom replacement should be 
 
 made within the 1914 city limits 14,623 
 
 Number of white children for whom replacement should be 
 
 made within the 1920 annex 3,484 
 
 Total number of white children for whom replacement should 
 
 be made as early as possible 18,107 
 
 Number of colored children for whom replacement should be 
 
 made; within the 1914 city limits 4,872 
 
 Number of colored children for whom replacement should be 
 
 made within the 1920 annex 262 
 
 Total number of colored children for whom replacement should 
 
 be made as early as possible 5,134 
 
 Grand Total '. 23,241 
 
 The present inadequate buildings, together with their sites, 
 may be sold in a number of instances. In some cases the sites 
 will be retained and extended, and adequate modern buildings be 
 built upon them. 
 
 The cost for school buildings on unit bases have been slowly 
 returning to the 1914 figures. The Survey Commission esti- 
 mates that a cost figure of approximately $400 per child may 
 with fairness be used as a basis. The total cost program for 
 the decade 1920-1930 is therefore as follows : 
 
 THE COST OF THE TOTAL SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM 
 FOR THE DECADE 1920-1930 
 
 The cost of immediate replacement program, 23,241 children, 
 
 at $400 $ 9,296,400 
 
 23 
 
The cost of the five-year limit replacement program, 6,433 chil- 
 dren, at $400 2,573,200 
 
 Increase in population for the decade 1920-1930, 28,000 children, 
 
 at $400 11,200,000 
 
 Total cost $23,069,600 
 
 THE TEACHERS OF BALTIMORE 
 
 Baltimore employs 2586 teachers in its public schools. The 
 number has been increased by 646 during the six-year period, 
 ,1915-1921 — an average annual increase of more than 100. 
 
 The withdrawals from the service just prior to the war aver- 
 aged about seventy each year. In 1917-18, however, the with- 
 drawals were nearly doubled, and in the following year they 
 were three times the pre-war average. Last year 183 teachers 
 from the regular staff left the service, or more than twice the 
 pre-war average. 
 
 By computing the growth of the system for each year as 
 measured by the number of additional teachers required and by 
 adding the number of teachers withdrawing from the service, 
 the number of recruits that have been needed each year is de- 
 termined. This should be compared with the number of train- 
 ing- school graduates. 
 
 1915-16 
 
 Increase in 
 Number 
 Teachers 
 Emp'oyed 
 
 51 
 
 18 
 
 10 
 315 
 262 
 
 Death?: and 
 Resignations* 
 
 71 
 
 74 
 132 
 212 
 183 
 
 Rceruiti 
 Needed 
 
 122 
 
 92 
 
 142 
 
 527 
 314 
 
 Number of 
 Training 
 
 School 
 Graduates 
 
 1916-17 
 
 106 
 
 1917-18 
 
 169 
 
 1918-19 
 
 140 
 
 Tune, 1919-Jan., 1921.... 
 
 80 
 
 * Not including substitutes. 
 
 The facts regarding the shortage of teachers deserve the 
 most serious consideration. The Baltimore City Training School, 
 which for nearly twenty years has been the chief source of sup- 
 ply for the white elementary schools, graduated 136 students in 
 1917; in 1920 it graduated 29. The Colored Training School, 
 which graduated 33 students in 1917, graduated 25 in 1920. Thus, 
 during the years when the school system has been expanding 
 the most rapidly and when withdrawals from the service have 
 
 24 
 
been most numerous, the supply of trained teachers has steadily 
 dwindled. 
 
 Nor do these facts tell the whole story. The City Training 
 School apparently enrolled at one time a fair proportion of the 
 abler graduates of the Eastern and Western High Schools. Be- 
 ginning as far back as 1915, the proportion of these abler stu- 
 dents entering the Training School began to diminish, and the 
 proportion drawn from the lower scholarship ranks began to in- 
 crease. There is excellent material in every class of the Train- 
 ing School. However, the general quality of the entering stu- 
 dents has fallen off during the past six years. Relatively few 
 young women of marked ability are at the present time look- 
 ing forward to the type of teaching service for which the City 
 Training School prepares. 
 
 The Salary Question 
 
 The unattractiveness of public school teaching is to be at- 
 tributed in large part to the small financial rewards that it offers 
 as compared with other occupations. The war and its after- 
 math of high prices are only the immediate cause of the condi- 
 tion that the schools are facing today. For a decade or more be- 
 fore the war, it was clearly apparent that the rewards of teach- 
 ing were not increasing in proportion to the rewards afforded 
 in other callings. Openings for women in industry, in commerce, 
 and in professions other than teaching were rapidly multiplied ; 
 and thousands of high school graduates, who in former years 
 would have entered the teaching service, were attracted into 
 these new fields. The war consequently only intensified a situa- 
 tion that was already becoming a serious menace to the wel- 
 fare and progress of public education. 
 
 The unsatisfactory financial status of the teacher has found 
 expression not only in resignations from the teaching service and 
 in the discouragement of otherwise available candidates, but also 
 in the spirit of unrest on the part of the teachers who, in spite 
 of the meager rewards, have remained in the service either be- 
 cause they have conscientiously believed that they should not 
 desert it in a crisis, or because they have reached an age when a 
 change of occupation is not something to be considered lightly. 
 
 It is clear that if teaching is to attract the number and qual- 
 
 25 
 
ity of recruits that it needs, it must offer larger financial induce- 
 ments. The significant facts affecting salaries are as follows : 
 
 1. Teachers' salaries should be based primarily on the needs of those 
 who remain permanently in the service rather than on the needs of the 
 younger group, many of whom will teach but a short time. 
 
 2. Mature and permanent teachers form the backbone of the public 
 school service in all of our city school systems, including Baltimore. 
 
 3. A teacher's salary schedule should recognize the fact that mature 
 and permanent teachers, whether man or woman, whether married or 
 single, frequently, if not generally, have persons beside themselves to 
 support. 
 
 4. A salary schedule must provide for all teachers not only a living 
 wage (together with a margin for the support of dependents), but also a 
 saving wage. 
 
 5. Salaries must be sufficient to enable teachers to live without having 
 to undertake outside work, especially during the school year. 
 
 The savings of Baltimore teachers under the present sched- 
 ule of salaries, as nearly as we can determine from the replies 
 to inquiries, are not large. Out of 637 white elementary teach- 
 ers reporting, 213 or 33.3 per cent, carry no insurance. Of the 
 424 who report that they pay insurance premiums, one-half ex- 
 pend $25 or less for this purpose each year. 
 
 Of 1132 white elementary teachers replying to the question 
 on pensions, 863, or 76.2 per cent., report savings in the form of 
 contributions to the pension fund. The median amount thus 
 contributed is $15 annually. 
 
 As to savings other than insurance and pension payments, 
 the showing is still more depressing. The median amount 
 saved by 321 white elementary teachers reporting on this ques- 
 tion is $50. For extraordinary expenses, due to illness or acci- 
 dent, the accumulations of even eight or ten years at this rate 
 would be a very narrow margin. The group is obviously small, 
 but there is no reason to believe that it is not typical of the 
 white elementary teachers as a whole. 
 
 From the preceding discussion it is clear that, if the teaching 
 personnel is to be kept up to its pre-war standards, financial re- 
 wards must be provided in excess even of the recent increases. 
 
 Elements of Strength in the Present Teaching Personnel 
 
 1. The teachers of Baltimore come predominantly from na- 
 tive American stock. 
 
 26 
 
2. The teachers of Baltimore constitute an unusually stable 
 and permanent group. 
 
 3. A substantial majority of the teachers of Baltimore art 
 serious professional workers. 
 
 This fact is substantiated both by the replies to a question- 
 naire and by the testimony of those who have talked with the 
 teachers and watched them at their work. 
 
 If the attributes of the teaching personnel above discussed 
 constitute positive assets to the system, it follows that plans for 
 future development should aim to capitalize and conserve these 
 advantages. This means that teachers should continue to be 
 drawn from the economic and social groups that have heretofore 
 supplied them ; but it should also mean that the service should 
 aim to select from the highest levels of ability that these groups 
 represent. 
 
 It goes without saying that the basis of an effective morale 
 which the service now possesses in the whole-hearted devotion 
 of the majority of the teachers should be sedulously safeguarded 
 and strengthened. 
 
 The Classifications and Progress of School Children 
 
 During the last twenty years the school enrollment in Bal- 
 timore has decreased from 12.7 per cent, of the total population 
 to 11.5 per cent, in 1920. There is a very heavy elimination of 
 over-age and retarded pupils after the thirteenth year and par- 
 ticularly during the fourteenth year. 
 
 In the group which is three or more years over age there 
 were in 1920, 1342 white children (2 per cent, of net roll) and 1062 
 colored children (9.3 per cent, of net roll) who were in the regu- 
 lar classrooms and should be cared for in special and ungraded 
 rooms. This number in addition to the number already cared 
 for in ungraded rooms would make about 3000 children to be 
 taught in ungraded rooms in Baltimore. St. Louis with a larger 
 enrollment has only one-fourth as many children in this group in 
 the regular grades. In Baltimore there has been practically no 
 change since 1913. There has been small change in the accel- 
 erated group, but an increase of 7 per cent, in the normal group 
 a similar decrease in the retarded group for both white and col- 
 ored children during the period 1914-1920. 
 
The group "3 or more years retarded" is largest in the 
 fourth and fifth grades for white children and in the third and 
 fourth grades for colored children. Boys practically always have 
 a larger per cent, retarded than girls. 
 
 Twenty per cent, of the total enrollment of Baltimore fails 
 of promotion. The failures by subjects are as follows: 
 
 Arithmetic — 10 to 12 per cent, of children fail — affects all 
 grades. Reading — Failures decrease from 17 per cent, in first 
 grade to 1 per cent, in eighth. Language and Grammar — 15 to 
 17 per cent, in the fifth to seventh grades. History and Geog- 
 raphy — about 5 to 6 per cent, in the sixth and seventh grades. 
 
 The points of greatest difficulty for colored children occur 
 earlier than for white children by about one grade and the per- 
 centages of failures are greater by about 50 per cent. 
 
 Total number cared for in special classes in 1920 was 697 
 white children and 99 colored children. The group "three or 
 more years over age" in regular classroom is 1342 white chil- 
 dren and 1062 colored children. On the basis of 15 pupils to a 
 class Baltimore should have 200 ungraded rooms. Three per 
 cent, of the total enrollment or 2690 pupils, for physical reasons, 
 could profit by instruction in special rooms, such as "open air," 
 "cardiac," "crippled," and the like. 
 
 Recommendations 
 
 1. A permanent continuing census system should be in- 
 stalled and maintained by the attendance department. 
 
 2. Attendance department should be so maintained in staff 
 and clerical help as to enable it to 
 
 a. Secure prompt enrollment in the fall. 
 
 b. Secure regular attendance. 
 
 c. Maintain attendance to the close of the term. 
 
 d. Grant and follow up in co-ordination with the Department of Labor 
 
 and Statistics all working certificates for children under sixteen. 
 
 e. Investigate all cases within three days of being reported. 
 
 3. Semi-annual advancement should become definite semi- 
 annual promotions for all schools. This will increase the flexi- 
 bility and adaptibility of the school and help to 
 
 a. Increase the per cent of under age and accelerated pupils 
 
 b. Increase the per cent of normal age and normal progress pupils. 
 
 c. Decrease the large number of over age and retarded pupils. 
 
 d. Decrease the waste involved in repeating an entire year's work in- 
 
 stead of half a year, when a pupil fails of promotion. 
 
 28 
 
4. Age-grade and age-progress data should be gathered in 
 such a manner that it will be possible to show the interrela- 
 tions between the two sets of data. 
 
 5. As fast as possible the children in grades having wide 
 ranges of over-age and retarded pupils should be reclassified on 
 the basis of standardized tests and intelligence measures. 
 
 6. All children three or more years over age or who have 
 taken three or more years more than normal time to reach their 
 grades, should be cared for in ungraded or special rooms : 
 
 a. 150 additional ungraded rooms should be provided. 
 
 b. Enrollment in these rooms should not exceed the New York and 
 
 New Jersey standard of 15 as a maximum. 
 
 7. At least fifty special rooms should be immediately estab- 
 lished for children in need of special instructional conditions, 
 such as open-air or open-window rooms, rooms for cardiac, 
 crippled, blind, and the like. 
 
 8. Children should be placed in ungraded and special rooms 
 on the basis of intelligence tests (group tests checked in doubt- 
 ful cases by individual tests) and also after careful medical ex- 
 amination. 
 
 9. The question of promotions should be made a matter 
 of constant study for every school and for the entire city system. 
 More agreement should be reached on the essentials for each 
 grade and on the quality of work deserving promotion. 
 
 Measurements of the Achievements of Public School Pupils 
 
 Standard tests were administered to the pupils in the public 
 schools of Baltimore, in an effort to discover what degree of 
 progress is being made in various subjects as pupils are pro- 
 moted from grade to grade and also to learn by comparison 
 whether the results being obtained in the Baltimore schools are 
 equal to or better than the results being obtained in other cities. 
 
 Each test was given in all parts of the city, although it was 
 not possible to visit any one school with more than one or two 
 tests. Each type of school is represented in the results for each 
 test, although the results for each school are not reported sepa- 
 rately. Pupils in grades four to eight were examined in each 
 school. The selection of schools to be visited with each test was 
 made without regard to any reported excellences or deficiencies 
 of the school, and it is firmly believed that the results herewith 
 
 29 
 
presented are typical of the general situation in the Baltimore 
 public schools. 
 
 Reading 
 
 The Thorndike-McCall Reading Scale measures the capacity 
 and power of the pupil in reading and is practically independent 
 of the element of speed. 
 
 COMPARATIVE MEDIAN SCORES IN THE THORNDIKE-McCALL 
 
 READING SCALE BY GRADES 
 
 School Grade 
 Place IV V VI VII VIII 
 
 Average School System 41.8 48.0 53.7 58.3 60.9 
 
 Baltimore, White Pupils 43.8 47.8 53.1 58.1 61.2 
 
 Baltimore, Colored Pupils 38.4 41.7 45.6 47.0 47.9 
 
 The table makes it quite clear that the white pupils of Bal- 
 timore can read and understand what they read as well as aver- 
 age pupils elsewhere in the same school grade. 
 
 The speed at which pupils solve problems in the four funda- 
 mental processes of arithmetic was measured by the Courtis 
 Tests, Series B. 
 
 COMPARATIVE MEDIAN SCORES IN COURTIS TESTS 
 SERIES B— ARITHMETIC 
 
 School Grade 
 
 Place IV V VI VII VIII 
 
 Addition: Average System 4.7 6.0 7.2 8.2 8.8 
 
 Baltimore, White Pupils 4.2 5.5 6.2 7.0 8.3 
 
 Baltimore, Colored Pupils 1.3 1.7 2.3 3.4 4.1 
 
 Subtraction: Average System 5.9 7.5 8.8 10.0 11.2 
 
 Baltimore, White Pupils 5.8 8.3 9.9 10.5 11.7 
 
 Baltimore, Colored Pupils 1.1 1.5 3.0 4.9 6.5 
 
 Multiplication: Average System. . 4.2 5.6 7.1 8.2 9.3 
 
 Baltimore, White Pupils 4.2 5.7 6.8 7.3 8.1 
 
 Baltimore, Colored Pupils 9 1.2 1.9 2.6 3.1 
 
 Division: Average System 2.6 4.7 7.1 8.6 9.7 
 
 Baltimore, White Pupils 2.6 5.1 6.7 7.6 8.7 
 
 Baltimore, Colored Pupils 6 .8 1.4 2.4 3.2 
 
 In a few grades, the pupils of Baltimore do not solve formal 
 problems in arithmetic as rapidly as pupils in the average school 
 system heretofore tested. 
 
 30 
 
English Composition 
 
 Approximately ten thousand pupils were asked to spend 
 twenty minutes writing- a story on the subject, "The Most Ex- 
 citing Experience of My Life." These compositions were then 
 rated for quality by trained readers using a standard scale. 
 
 COMPARATIVE MEDIAN SCORES BY GRADES ON HILLEGAS 
 ENGLISH COMPOSITION SCALE 
 
 School Grade 
 
 Place IV V VI VII VIII 
 
 Baltimore, White Pupils 2.59 3.34 3.91 4.77 5.43 
 
 St. Paul, Minn 2.02 3.38 3.54 4.12 4.96 
 
 Nassau County, N. Y 2.76 3.42 3.82 4.18 4.56 
 
 Butte, Montana 2.34 2.80 3.41 3.77 4.11 
 
 Baltimore, Colored Pupils 2.22 2.85 2.54 4.02 
 
 Comparisons with other cities show that Baltimore white 
 pupils are, grade for grade, as high or higher than pupils else- 
 where in their achievements in English composition. In the 
 higher grades the superiority of the Baltimore results to those in 
 the ether schools is really remarkable. Such a showing might be 
 obtained either by better teaching of English composition in Bal- 
 timore than is furnished elsewhere or by eliminating from school 
 some of those who write poor compositions or by holding 
 pupils in the lower grades until they are able to make a high 
 showing. If the instruction is really better in Baltimore than 
 elsewhere, then Baltimore pupils should show the same superior- 
 ity when compared age for age with pupils elsewhere. The facts 
 are as follows : 
 
 COMPARATIVE MEDIAN SCORES BY AGES ON HILLEGAS 
 ENGLISH COMPOSITION SCALE 
 
 Place 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 
 
 2.75 
 
 3.05 
 
 3.45 
 
 3.64 
 
 4.01 
 
 4.30 
 
 4.18 
 
 5.19 
 
 2.04 
 
 2.83 
 
 3.50 
 
 3.75 
 
 4.50 
 
 5.02 
 
 5.54 
 
 5.96 
 
 2.91 
 
 3.1.0 
 
 3.40 
 
 3.70 
 
 3.97 
 
 4.42 
 
 
 
 2.26 
 
 2.53 
 
 2.06 
 
 2.77 
 
 2.92 
 
 2.95 
 
 2.37 
 
 
 Baltimore, White Pupils. . 2.50 
 
 St. Paul, Minn 
 
 Nassau County, N. Y 
 
 Baltimore, Colored Pupils 
 
 The fact that this table does not show the same superiority 
 of Baltimore compositions over those written elsewhere suggests 
 that there is probably a tendency in Baltimore to allow only the 
 
 31 
 
more capable students in English to get into the upper grades 
 of the elementary schools. 
 
 Handwriting 
 
 The quality of the handwriting done by the Baltimore pupils 
 in their English composition test was compared with the quality 
 found in the same grades of other school systems. Baltimore's 
 scores are very favorable. 
 
 Spelling 
 
 A list of tweny-five words selected from the Buckingham 
 Extension of the Ayres Spelling Scale was used to measure the 
 abilities of Baltimore pupils in spelling. The results of this test 
 in the different grades at Baltimore are as follows : 
 
 COMPARATIVE SCORES BY GRADES ON AYRES SPELLING 
 
 SCALE 
 
 School Grade 
 
 Place IV V VI VII VIII 
 
 Average School System 10.5 12.5 14.5 16.4 18.3 
 
 Baltimore. White Pupils 9.7 12.6 15.2 17.1 18.5 
 
 Baltimore, Colored Pupils 7.2 10.6 11.3 13.2 16.7 
 
 Although the median spelling scores of the white pupils at 
 various grades in Baltimore are equal to the medians of the same 
 grades elsewhere, the older pupils in each grade spell less 
 well than the younger pupils. This may be illustrated by the me- 
 dian scores of pupils of various ages in the sixth grade : 
 
 Age 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 
 
 Score 16.1 15.8 15.2 14.5 14.3 13.9 11.5 
 
 Similar results, found in reading, in composition, and in the 
 intelligence tests, would seem to indicate that pupils in Balti- 
 more are not being promoted on any very objective evidence of 
 fitness, for the younger children are in classes below their abil- 
 ities and the older children have been promoted to classes beyond 
 their capacities. 
 
 Intelligence Tests 
 
 Scale A of the National Intelligence Tests was used to fur- 
 nish some index of the general intellectual abilities of the pupils 
 in various grades and of various ages at Baltimore. The results 
 by grades are given in the following table : 
 
 32 
 
9 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 16 
 
 69 
 
 S3 
 
 91 
 
 102 
 
 111 
 
 112 
 
 118 
 
 123 
 
 73 
 
 82 
 
 98 
 
 113 
 
 119 
 
 132 
 
 122 
 
 130 
 
 56 
 
 71 
 
 87 
 
 95 
 
 107 
 
 118 
 
 114 
 
 113 
 
 55 
 
 53 
 
 71 
 
 73 
 
 74 
 
 78 
 
 103 
 
 
 COMPARATIVE MEDIAN SCORES BY GRADES ON 
 NATIONAL SCALE A 
 
 School Grade 
 Place IV V VI VII VIII 
 
 Baltimore, White Pupils 67 84 105 123 139 
 
 Washington, D. C 63 87 104 118 138 
 
 Michigan Cities 59 82 99 113 130 
 
 Baltimore, Colored Pupils 44 61 84 106 110 
 
 From the above table it is quite clear that Baltimore pupils 
 are just as intelligent as pupils in the same grades elsewhere. 
 The following table gives the comparisons by ages rather than 
 by grades : 
 
 COMPARATIVE MEDIAN SCORES BY AGES ON 
 NATIONAL SCALE A 
 
 Ages 
 Place 8 
 
 Baltmore, White Pupils.. 65 
 
 Washington, D. C 65 
 
 Michigan Cities 41 
 
 Baltimore, Colored Pupils . . 
 
 It appears that although seventh and eighth grade pupils in 
 Baltimore make higher intelligence scores than pupils of the 
 same grades elsewhere, the 12, 13 and 14 year old pupils in 
 Baltimore are not more able in these tests than pupils in other 
 cities. Pupils in Baltimore are apparently not promoted into the 
 upper grades unless there is a strong probability that they will 
 make a high showing. The unusually high standing of Baltimore 
 pupils in the upper grades is not so much because the pupils are 
 better taught but because they are more effectively retarded by 
 the schools. 
 
 Baltimore teachers must think of the school more definitely 
 as a place for instructing pupils and improving their abilities and 
 to consider the school no longer as a place for holding pupils 
 until their abilities reach certain arbitrary standards. It would 
 take much less effort to bring a class "up to grade" in a given 
 test, if it had been found, for example, that the sixth grade was 
 below standard in spelling, than it will take to make the teachers 
 feel strongly the need of giving each pupil a type of work which 
 he can accomplish with profit. Teachers tend quite naturally 
 to feel that those pupils who do the work offered in school are 
 "superior" to those who do not succeed in school, and it will 
 
 33 
 
take a considerable amount of patient supervision to bring them 
 to "lower their standards" and to think of other interests as 
 being just as "noble" and "worthy" as the academic life. 
 
 Many more special classes and special schools must be pro- 
 vided for those pupils whose abilities and interests are "differ- 
 ent." Pupils should be considered as individuals. Those who 
 have the same interests and abilities should recite and work to- 
 gether for economic administrative reasons, but each pupil 
 should be placed in a class where the work is such as will make 
 him a more efficient and a happier member of the community. 
 The provision of an adequate number of such special classes and 
 schools will do much in the creation of a right attitude among 
 the teachers toward the pupils whose interests are "different." 
 
 MEDICAL INSPECTION, INSTRUCTION IN HYGIENE, AND 
 PHYSICAL EDUCATION 
 
 A. Medical Inspection 
 
 1. The medical inspection of Baltimore children is con- 
 ducted by the Board of Health through the services of 
 34 part-time physicians and 39 whole-time nurses. 
 
 2. The physicians are Health Wardens whose duties, in ad- 
 dition to the school work, consist in routine ward super- 
 vision of communicable disease. 
 
 3. The assignment to schools is on the basis of their ward 
 work. This makes for uneven, poorly distributed allot- 
 ment. Thus Health Warden A inspects 250 children 
 (the lowest) and Health Warden B inspects 1600 chil- 
 dren plus the children in St. Elizabeth's (the highest 
 number). 
 
 4. The first and fourth grades only are examined in routine. 
 Others, referred by teacher or nurse, are examined also. 
 
 5. There is no medical supervision of athletic teams in the 
 elementary or high schools. 
 
 6. The examination card provides one-third of its items 
 for minor and parasitic conditions. There is only one 
 item on the card which should require the services of a 
 physician. This is tonsils. Item T. B. also on the card 
 will require medical attention, but the Health Warden 
 does not examine for T. B. on routine. 
 
 34 
 
The school nurse is the most valuable part of the present 
 organization for medical inspection in the Baltimore 
 schools. 
 
 The records of the Department of Health are incomplete, 
 unstandardized, and in need of immediate attention. The 
 eight years previous to 1921, show records for 1912, 1913 
 and part of 1914. Years 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919 are 
 without satisfactory statistical data. The 1920 report is 
 not yet available. 
 
 For the years 1912, 1913, 1914 there is unmistakable evi- 
 dence of lack of standardization. Thus in 1913 Medical 
 Inspector A in examining 8,068 children diagnosed 122 
 mentally deficient. All the other medical inspectors (five 
 in all at that time) examined 32,131 children and found 
 only 83 cases. 
 
 Again, Medical Inspector I-J with 108 cases of pedicu- 
 losis and 827 cases of tonsils records 168 cases of adenitis. 
 Medical Inspector C-D with 1,192 cases of pediculosis 
 and 1,505 cases of tonsils records only 7 cases of adenitis. 
 
 Recommendations 
 
 1. The Board of Education should be responsible for the 
 medical supervision of the public school children. 
 
 In the development of medical inspection service in the 
 schools, authority was granted at first to Boards of 
 Health. By 1911 over three-fourths of the cities sup- 
 porting medical inspection show authority vested in the 
 Board of Education. 
 
 2. There should be standards set for the examination, for 
 diagnoses, referring of cases, etc. This should be accom- 
 plished by a standardization clinic held by the depart- 
 ment at the beginning of the school year. 
 
 3. General inspection of all children in one week according 
 to plans and forms provided. 
 
 4. Use of symptom chart by teachers for referring cases. 
 
 35 
 
5. Medical examination of all elementary and junior high 
 children. Physician to deal with certain selected items. 
 Special examination for all students who are candidates 
 for athletic teams, referred by the teachers, failing in 
 their work, or frequently absent on account of illness,, 
 
 6. Central clinic where parents may bring children for 
 special examinations, consultations, special tests (psy- 
 chological, chemical) and treatment of special kind, such 
 as for speech defects, orthopedic deformity, etc. 
 
 Continuance of all the present available avenues of 
 treatment such as family physician, clinics and hospitals, 
 school nurse and home treatments. 
 
 7. Adoption so far as possible of the Cincinnati plan for 
 dental clinics. 
 
 B. Instruction in Hygiene 
 
 1. The training in personal hygiene at the Training School 
 provides too much emphasis on anatomy and physiology 
 and not enough on hygiene ; the instruction in school 
 hygiene deals too largely with conditions that lie outside 
 the province of the teacher to change, and neglects such 
 important items as to make posture tests, to actually 
 make vision tests, to actually make hearing tests, to ex- 
 amine teeth and be able to recognize defects, to know 
 the signs and early symptoms of the common defects and 
 diseases of children. 
 
 2. The hygiene instruction in the elementary schools is an 
 incidental matter and is treated as such. There is no 
 supervision of the work, and very little interest. An oc- 
 casional school shows a wide awake modern-minded 
 teacher, developing the hygiene in relation to habits and 
 the problems of boys and girls ; in most instances it is 
 a matter of teaching physiology. The great illusion in 
 education is well illustrated by the observation of a les- 
 son in a sixth grade. The teacher was emphasizing the 
 importance of oxygen, but the school program made no 
 provision for outdoor play ; the windows were closed and 
 the temperature in the room was 78 degrees Fahrenheit. 
 
 36 
 
3. In the junior high schools, the hygiene instruction shows 
 more uniformity and! ( has more illustrations of good 
 work- 
 
 4. Hygiene instruction in the senior high schools is taken 
 up in a regular way. In Eastern, it is taught in connec- 
 tion with biology, but as biology is an elective subject, 
 not all students receive instruction in hygiene. Less 
 is done at Western. There is no instruction in the sub- 
 ject at Polytechnic or Baltimore City College. At the 
 colored high school, hygiene is featured in the general 
 elementary biology course. 
 
 Recommendations 
 
 1. Supervision of the subject in the elementary grades. In- 
 crease in correlation. 
 
 2. Change of text in use in the sixth grade. Recitation 
 needs to be vitalized by bringing in outside sources of 
 information. Not a memory subject at all. 
 
 3. More use to be made of posters. 
 
 4. School nurse to be brought into the teaching. 
 
 5. Increase in the activities and work of the Health Cru- 
 sade. 
 
 6. Special teacher in hygiene in the junior and senior high 
 schools. 
 
 7. In the high schools, hygiene should be offered as a sep- 
 arate course, in segregated classes by an instructor of 
 the same sex as the class. 
 
 C. Physical Education 
 
 1. The physical education in the elementary schools con- 
 sists of 10-minute lessons in formal calisthenic exercises, 
 with emphasis on discipline, response to command, and 
 without any reasonable allowance for play and games. 
 
 2. In this regard Baltimore is not abreast of the times. 
 The tendency in physical education today is to provide 
 more play. The first two grades in different syllabi indi- 
 cate this tendency. 
 
 37 
 
No. of Pages 
 
 Given to No. of Pages % Emphasis % Emphasis 
 
 Syllabus Formal Given to on formal on P^ay and 
 
 Gymnastics Play Gymnastics Games 
 
 Michigan 50 100 
 
 California 190 100 
 
 New Jersey 2 37 5 S5 
 
 Philadelphia 5 20 20 80 
 
 Baltimore 28 8 78 22 
 
 3. The time devoted to work that would produce physiol- 
 ogic results in the children is insufficient. Too much em- 
 phasis is given to postural, disciplinary types of exer- 
 cises. In 175 lessons observed only 5.8 per cent, of the 
 1750 minutes observed was given to physiological work; 
 at least 75 per cent, should have been provided. 
 
 4. Physical training in the Baltimore schools is not de- 
 veloping an interest in physical activity. The love for 
 physical exercise, the participation in physical exercise, 
 is considered today as one of the essentials for health. 
 In Baltimore the children's natural instinctive impulses 
 to play are being repressed by a system of training that 
 is artificial, unhygienic, and totally unwarranted from 
 any standpoint. 
 
 5. The supervision is provided by 13 assistant supervisors 
 who are improperly and incompletely trained and who 
 lack effective methods of supervision. Not one member 
 of the staff is a college graduate holding a college degree. 
 
 6. The work at the training school is of a very poor order. 
 There are no locker or dressing room facilities worth 
 consideration, except to be condemned. 
 
 7. The Baltimore Syllabus is of very poor quality. Essen- 
 tially the same lesson is taught to all eight grades. A 
 class of mental defectives was observed in the same les- 
 son given to normal children. The defectives go through 
 the work with as much skill as the normal classes. 
 
 8. The work is absolutely lacking in standards. The use of 
 physical efficiency tests has not been utilized, although 
 a physical efficiency contest has been started this past 
 year. About .4 of 1 per cent, of the children were in- 
 terested enough to compete in the contest. 
 
 9. The work in the junior and senior high schools is per- 
 vaded by the same spirit and reflects the same goals as 
 
 38 
 
given in the syllabus for the elementary schools. For- 
 mal exercises, no provision for medical supervision, no 
 bathing, inadequate opportunity for play, for outdoor 
 activities — these conditions persist with all the coloring 
 of Jahn's German Gymnastics and Ling's Swedish 
 Gymnastics. 
 10. Polytechnic Institute provides no physical training at all. 
 Athletic teams coached by teachers of academic or pro- 
 fessional subjects compete with teams from City Col- 
 lege, coached in similar fashion. No "Athletics for all" 
 program or policy. 
 
 Recommendations 
 
 1. That a director and an adequate staff for medical super- 
 vision, instruction in hygiene, and physical education be 
 provided. 
 
 (a) Elementary school — Twenty minutes daily in phy- 
 sical education of a modern kind — organized re- 
 cess daily — sixty minutes play and recreation after 
 school, voluntary at present, to be required as 
 facilities warrant. 
 
 (b) Junior high school — Three 45 minute periods a 
 week in physical education of a modern kind — two 
 60-minute periods a week on alternate days with 
 above for after-school games and athletics, volun- 
 tary at present, to be extended as facilities war- 
 rant. 
 
 (c) Senior High School — Two 45-minute periods a 
 week in physical education of a modern kind — 
 three 60-minute periods a week on alternate days 
 with above, in games, hikes and athletics, volun- 
 tary at present, to be extended as facilities war- 
 rant. 
 
 4. Cooperation with Public Athletic League and Children's 
 Playground Association and Maryland Scholastic Ath- 
 letic Association. 
 
 SECONDARY SCHOOLS 
 
 1. There are in Baltimore five high schools and nine "pre- 
 paratory" and junior high schools, but no secondary school sys- 
 
 39 
 
tern. The high schools have developed largely as individual in- 
 stitutions, their policies determined chiefly by the respective 
 principals. The "preparatory" schools instituted by one superin- 
 tendent with a definite idea, have been continued by another 
 without adquate provision or promotion. The junior high schools 
 were begun by official mandate, without preparation of teachers, 
 principals, or plant, and have developed as well as could be ex- 
 pected without a coordinating policy and active supervision from 
 the superintendent's office. 
 
 Recommended — That a comprehensive secondary school sys- 
 tem be devised by the superintendents, the principals, and heads 
 of departments, representing the entire teaching corps. 
 
 2. The boys' high schools are designed to satisfy the needs 
 of only a small fraction of the youth of Baltimore. The Poly- 
 technic Institute prepares boys for engineering and higher 
 schools ;' the City College prepares for academic colleges and 
 commercial work. The girls' schools are more liberal in their of- 
 ferings, but still fall short of being fully comprehensive. The 
 Colored High School imperfectly exemplifies its program, which 
 is too academic for its clientele. As a result, Baltimore ranks 
 next to the last among the 41 largest cities in the proportion of 
 its population in high schools, and 38 in the ratio of high school 
 pupils to the total school enrollment. 
 
 Recommended — That provision be made in the secondary 
 school system in junior and senior high schools for all normal 
 boys and girls from 12 to 18 years of age. 
 
 3. The fact that the schools are not now adapted to the 
 pupils who enter is manifest from the data on failure, retarda- 
 tion, and elimination. 
 
 Of 442 pupils who entered Baltimore Polytechnic Institute 
 in 1914, 57 per cent, completed the first semester's work on time ; 
 71 per cent, finally completed it. Something less than a fourth 
 ultimately graduated, and of these about one-half proceeded to 
 engineering colleges where they received advanced standing of 
 one year or more. Two years after entrance, only 29 per cent, of 
 the class were in regular standing; 12 per cent. were retarded one 
 semester; 7 per cent., one year; 4 per cent., a year and a half; 
 and 1 per cent., two years. The other 47 per cent, had dropped 
 
 40 
 
out. At City College 36 per cent, of the entering class has been 
 eliminated at the end of two years. 
 
 Any institution that fails, retards, and throws away so large 
 a proportion of its raw material, cannot be considered success- 
 ful in its efforts to turn out a finished product of value to the 
 city. 
 
 Recommended — That the work of the several high schools 
 be adapted to the needs of all normal and industrious adolescents, 
 whatever their preparation, capacities, or aptitudes. 
 
 4. The purposes of the high schools, as presented in the an- 
 nual Register and as stated by the principals, are lacking in har- 
 mony and, for the boys at least, are not reflective of a considera- 
 tion of the needs of the youth of Baltimore. Some of the state- 
 ments have stood for years with but slight verbal changes. 
 
 Recommended — That after a cooperative study of the needs 
 of the adolescents of Baltimore by the teachers and officials in 
 charge, there be made a new set of statements of purpose, so 
 formulated as to be effective in the devising of curricula and 
 courses of study, in adapting instruction, and in enlarging the 
 scope of education to include the extra-curricular activities of 
 boys and girls. 
 
 5. Just before the close of schools eighth grade pupils are 
 summoned to the high schools, where they are told of the offer- 
 ings, given printed programs of study, and requested to advise 
 with their parents as to which curriculum they will elect if they 
 enter the high schools in the fall. 
 
 Recommended — That a systematic and general effort be 
 made, not merely in May but from time to time during the year, 
 to interest grammar grade children in higher education, to con- 
 vince them of its attractiveness and worth, to induce in them a 
 desire to enter high school, and to guide them toward work that 
 promises the highest return in value for the individual and to 
 the city. 
 
 6. The junior high schools are too young as yet to be fully 
 evaluated. Good features were found in all of them, but no ade- 
 quate conception of their purposes or possibilities is general 
 among the principals, teachers, and parents. Being imposed 
 
 41 
 
without preparation, these schools seem to have done as well 
 as could be expected. 
 
 Recommended — That institutes of principals and teachers 
 be convened to determine the purposes, policies, and programs of 
 junior high schools; that each one be adapted to the neighbor- 
 hood in which it is situated ; and that each school, when pro- 
 vided with able and skilled teachers, undertake to develop the 
 details of some one course of study or activity, these later to be 
 tried by teachers in the other schools. 
 
 7. No facts have been more convincingly shown by the 
 science of education than that pupils vary amazingly in their in- 
 terests, aptitudes, and abilities, that these variations are con- 
 tinuous from low to high, that by no means can pupils all be made 
 alike, and that in consequence suitable provisions should be made 
 for different groups. 
 
 Recommended — That provisions be made in all the high 
 schools for individual differences in pupils : for interests and 
 aptitudes by curricula and courses ; for abilities, by slow moving 
 and accelerant groups. 
 
 8. The curricula of the several high schools are in the larg- 
 est measure influenced by traditions. That in this matter Bal- 
 timore schools are no worse than hundreds of others is no ex- 
 cuse for the continuance of required subject-matter that causes 
 a seventh of the pupils to fail, that eliminates in one school 
 three-fourths of all entrants, and that even when mastered does 
 not make a profitable return to the city on its investment. 
 
 Recommended— That the principals and heads of depart- 
 ments, representing the entire body of teachers, on such modifi- 
 cation as they desire to make of the curriculum principles pre- 
 sented, construct new curricula for a secondary school system 
 in Baltimore, and that teachers of the several subject groups 
 then cooperatively develop for the approval of the entire corps 
 new courses of study consonant with accepted principles. 
 
 9. Observations were made of full periods of teaching by 
 103 teachers in the five high schools, and records kept of a num- 
 ber of details of instruction. As is the case in every large city, 
 there is in Baltimore some excellent, much conventional or com- 
 monplace, and some very poor teaching. In personality the high 
 
 42 
 
school teachers of Baltimore impress the field workers as rank- 
 ing high. In loyalty to their work they are typical, most of 
 them rendering to the tasks which they undertake a devotion 
 that would be more admired were it not so common among 
 school teachers. The esprit de corps has fallen somewhat dur- 
 ing the past two years because of the unsatisfactory salary 
 schedule and of professional uncertainty. 
 
 There is great variation in the size of pupil-hour loads 
 among teachers, even among those working in the same depart- 
 ment, and, with and without apparent reason, there is consider- 
 able variation among subjects. Freshmen are usually in classes 
 considerably larger than those to which the seniors are assigned. 
 To the last statement Baltimore Polytechnic Institute is a con- 
 spicuous exception. The sizes of the classes are in the great ma- 
 jority of cases above, often much above, the standards set by 
 such bodies as the North Central Association of Colleges and 
 Secondary Schools ; and the average pupil-hour load is too heavy 
 for teachers to give the personal attention that pupils need and 
 deserve. 
 
 Recommended — That young teachers who do not give 
 
 marked promise of growth be promptly removed; that the 
 school authorities, including the Board of School Commissioners, 
 give careful attention to the conserving and improving of the 
 esprit de corps among the teachers ; that the size of high school 
 classes be reduced to an average of approximately twenty-five, 
 with no class larger than 30 pupils, and the most immature pupils 
 being assigned to the smaller sections ; that the pupil-hour load 
 of no teacher be permitted to exceed 800 each week, an average 
 of 750 being sought ; that unfit teachers who for good reasons 
 cannot be removed be given assignments in the school system 
 where they can contribute most and do the least harm ; and that 
 better provisions be made for directing growth in service. 
 
 10. Recommended — That principals be freed from all pos- 
 sible mechanical routine and expected to spend the major part 
 of their time in attempting to improve the educational worth 
 of the school. If a principal is especially interested in problems 
 of administration, he should be supplemented by a full-time as- 
 sistant principal who devotes himself to problems of education. 
 
 43 
 
11. There are in the five high schools thirty heads of de- 
 partments, but they have never been assigned definite authority 
 and work nor have they devised for themselves a common pro- 
 gram. They have widely varying conceptions of their functions. 
 In the Baltimore City College there are several heads who ap- 
 parently do nothing in return for the concomitant extra salary. 
 The other heads of departments contribute variously according 
 to their conceptions of their positions, always limited by the 
 necessity of spending four or more periods a day in other duties. 
 More than a third of the heads in three schools and practically 
 all in the other two were found to be doing practically nothing 
 toward the improvement of their departments. 
 
 Recommended — That heads of departments be assigned defi- 
 nite powers and responsibility for improving teachers in ser- 
 vice, and that for this end they receive necessary relief from 
 other duties. 
 
 12. In the boys' high schools and in the school for colored 
 pupils practically nothing has been done to use extra-curricular 
 activities for enriching education. In the girls' schools a begin- 
 ning has been made. 
 
 Recommended — That provisions be made whereby extra- 
 curricular activities of the schools — clubs, assemblies, publica- 
 tions, and the like — be seriously used as a part of the educational 
 program, with teachers assigned to them as a part of their reg- 
 ular duties. 
 
 13. There has been a negligible amount of leadership for 
 the secondary schools from the superintendent's office, and no 
 definite policy. 
 
 Recommended — That the assistant superintendent in charge 
 of secondary schools be relieved of all possible routine duties and 
 assigned the responsibility of working out such a program as 
 previously suggested, of stimulating and directing his subordi- 
 nates toward the reorganization of subject matter and the im- 
 provement of teaching. 
 
 44 
 
THE CURRICULUM OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF 
 
 BALTIMORE 
 
 1. As represented by documentary evidence. There is no 
 complete, organized, published curriculum. Fragmentary courses 
 of study and outlines were found as follows : 
 
 a. Courses published in 1908 in geography, history, nature 
 study, and sewing. 
 
 b. Revisions of earlier courses, or new courses, published 
 more recently in arithmetic, English, drawing, manual 
 training, physical training, and hygiene and physiology. 
 
 c. Printed synopses or summaries of earlier courses now 
 out of print to serve temporarily in geography, history, 
 and arithmetic. 
 
 d. "Units" from the two Training Schools, in type-written 
 form, issued through the last five years, supplementing 
 the earlier printed courses of study. 
 
 e. The Baltimore County Course of Study, still used quite 
 fully in the recently annexed schools, and used as a 
 reference by a very few of the city teachers. 
 
 f. Text books or sets of manuals. The Hollis Dann Music 
 Series represents the course in music, and the Norman 
 Penmanship Series that of writing. 
 
 g. A pamphlet Report of Committees appointed by the 
 Teachers' Association recommending certain changes 
 in the curriculum. The changes recommended seem 
 not to have been authorized by the Board of Education. 
 
 Difficulty was experienced in securing a full set of these 
 documents, and a condition more chaotic could not well be 
 imagined. 
 
 2. As found in operation. Visits, and detailed inquiries and 
 observations were made in 52 schools, carefully selected to rep- 
 resent typically different environing conditions over the entire 
 city. These included one-room and other schools in the "An- 
 nex," suburban schools, and schools in the most thickly popu- 
 lated districts in the city. Both schools for white children and 
 for colored children were included. 
 
 Relative to this particular problem, there is not sufficient 
 difference between the schools for white and colored children to 
 
 45 
 
make it necessary to differentiate in findings and recommenda- 
 tions. 
 
 In some schools, teachers are left quite free to make their 
 own selections of material and their programs, while in others 
 the principal dictates the rigorous enforcement of his own in- 
 terpretation of the curriculum. In some schools there is fine co- 
 operation and democracy. 
 
 While there is much variability in practice, yet fundament- 
 ally there is a degree of uniformity making transfers of pupils 
 relatively easy. This indicates that the curriculum as actually 
 operative is largely in the minds of the principals and teachers, 
 centering about the standards established by training and tradi- 
 tion. 
 
 The General Conditions 
 
 While all degrees of quality from high excellence to relative 
 poverty are found in the selection and organization of material, 
 central tendencies as found are as follows : 
 
 1. Points of emphasis and subordination. There is marked 
 over-emphasis upon the processes of arithmetic, spelling, the 
 technical phases of drawing, manual training, sewing, and phy- 
 sical education as compared with the thought phases of these 
 subjects and with the other subjects of study. The median time 
 given to arithmetic is from 150 minutes a week in the first grade 
 to 285 in the sixth. For mathematics, the median time is 330 
 minutes a week in the eighth grade. In one school, 600 minutes 
 a week are given to mathematics in the seventh and eighth 
 grades. In spelling, the median time allotment is 60 minutes a 
 week in the first grade, 100 in the fourth, and 60 in the sixth. 
 But there are some schools giving 30 minutes a day to spelling 
 in the sixth grade, and, in one second grade, pupils were given 
 eight new words a day for four days a week with one day for 
 review. While these cases are extreme, there are many schools 
 in which the emphasis upon mechanical processes is very great. 
 
 On the other hand, the content subjects, geography, history, 
 literature, science, and the thought aspects of arithmetic and the 
 practical arts as these relate to usage and interpretation, are re- 
 latively subordinated. As compared with the time allotments 
 in 50 cities, quoted by Strayer and Engelhardt in "The Class- 
 room Teacher" (page 215), Baltimore gives about 31 per cent. 
 
 46 
 
more time to arithmetic than the median allotment for these 
 50 cities, and about 61 per cent, less to history and geography 
 combined, basing the comparisons upon approximate values for 
 Baltimore. 
 
 Throughout the curriculum as found working, the tool sub- 
 jects are strongly emphasized, while the subjects representing 
 thought content and activities related to the practical, work-a- 
 day world are relatively neglected. 
 
 2. Facilities and equipment. While there is great variabil- 
 ity in the amount and kind of teaching equipment and materials, 
 the schools generally are not well supplied. Many schools are 
 entirely without practical arts materials at the present time. 
 
 3. Uses of environment. Although Baltimore is rich in in- 
 dustrial, geographical, institutional, historic, and art activities, 
 materials, and conditions, most schools make very little use of 
 these. An exceptional school or teacher here and there illus- 
 trates possibilities by efficient use of these elements of environ- 
 ment, but most schools and teachers make very little use of 
 them. 
 
 Consideration of the Respective School Subjects 
 
 An analysis has been made of the status of each of the school 
 subjects on the basis of both the documentary statements of 
 courses and as revealed by direct evidence in the school. Specific 
 evaluations and detailed suggestions for improvement have been 
 made for each study. A brief of these detailed findings and con- 
 structive suggestions is not possible within the limits of this ab- 
 stract. The complete report affords a basis for a program of 
 curriculum revision. 
 
 Recommendations 
 
 1. To meet immediate needs. It is recommended that a rep- 
 resentative committee of teachers, principals, supervisors, and 
 selected members of the training school facilities be immediately 
 chosen to codify and organize the material now constituting the 
 best elements in the courses of study, making such additions as 
 are necessary, into a temporary curriculum to serve during the 
 interval necessary for making a more fundamental revision. 
 This committee should bring together the fragmentary docu- 
 mentary material now serving as a basis of work, modify it to 
 include the best present practices in the schools of Baltimore not 
 
 47 
 
included in the printed courses, make such desirable modifica- 
 tions in the whole as can be done in a short time without em- 
 barrassing the present teachers in the schools, and unify this 
 into one outlined curriculum. Work should be so organized 
 and planned that the results may be completed and made avail- 
 able for use at the opening of the schools in September, 1921. 
 Sufficient flexibility in the work should be provided to permit 
 readily of the adaptation of the material to the needs of the vari- 
 ous schools of the city in terms of their varying conditions as 
 to size, population, and environment. It must be remembered 
 that the range of conditions in Baltimore is very wide, including 
 one-teacher schools, suburban graded schools, and schools in dis- 
 tricts highly congested and representing many types of popula- 
 tion, both native and foreign born. 
 
 As it requires from one to three years to develop the more 
 satisfactory revision of the curriculum, it will probably be desir- 
 able to print this temporary curriculum in a quantity sufficient to 
 supply every Baltimore teacher with a copy for at least two 
 years. 
 
 2. To make a more fundamental revision. It is recom- 
 mended that a representative committee with an appropriate 
 number of sub-committees be appointed to make a thorough- 
 going study and revision of the curriculum, and to prepare the 
 results of its findings for adoption and publication by the Board 
 of Education. While such committees will necessarily have to be 
 representative, and should represent every school group in Bal- 
 timore, the interest of every teacher in the school system should 
 be enlisted in the enterprise. Every teacher should be encour- 
 aged to study the problem and to contribute a share in its solu- 
 tion. It is the teachers who have to apply the curriculum, and 
 the larger their share in its development, the larger their feeling 
 that it is their own work, the more efficiently will they carry 
 forward its provisions in practice. 
 
 As the new curriculum develops, its content should gradually 
 take the place of the temporary curriculum. Any marked modi- 
 fications in content and time allotment should be tested out be- 
 fore they are recommended for general adoption. Even in units 
 of work proving most satisfactory, a certain degree of flexi- 
 bility should be provided. While the larger body of content ill 
 the elementary school will remain permanent, no curriculum 
 
 48 
 
should be made so rigid that it will not permit of adaptation 
 and improvement as occasion makes this possible. As we live 
 in a progressive world, the curriculum should reflect those 
 changes which are progressive. 
 
 Although the curriculum developed should be a curriculum 
 for the whole city of Baltimore, it should be fluid enough and 
 flexible enough to make its adaptation and adjustment to the 
 needs of any individual school in Baltimore easy and efficient. 
 
 In this revision, the suggestions made relative to the in- 
 dividual school subjects in the more complete report should be 
 considered. The problems of special classes, of equipment and 
 supplies, of mental tests, of measures of achievement, of the 
 use of the environment, of grade norms and promotion, and of 
 supervisory needs should all receive consideration as they relate 
 to the problem of the curriculum. 
 
 By adopting these two phases of policy in revising the cur- 
 riculum, it is believed that both immediate improvement and a 
 progressive plan of permanent improvement may be achieved 
 without embarrassment of teachers or loss in their efficiency. The 
 recommendations are based upon the belief that growth must 
 be deliberate, that it must be experinced by every member of the 
 teaching and supervisory staff, and that it must begin with con- 
 ditions as they are. 
 
 KINDERGARTENS 
 
 Importance of the Kindergarten as a Unit in a Public School 
 
 System 
 
 Some of the main objectives in kindergarten education are 
 the development of right personal habits, learning to work and 
 play together, training in habits of self-reliance, initiative, and 
 good thinking. The kindergarten aims to give the children a 
 wealth of valuable first-hand experiences which shall furnish the 
 mind with ideas and concepts upon which may be based the edu- 
 cation in symbols which begins in primary school. Good habits 
 of work are built up through various concrete activities. The 
 kindergarten represents not only a highly impressionable, but an 
 equally productive period in the child's life. 
 
 49 
 
Development and Present Status in Baltimore 
 
 In Baltimore in 1911 there were 21 kindergartens. In 1921 
 there are only 36 and 6 of these were opened as recently as May, 
 1920. This shows a very slow increase during the last decade. 
 At present there are 87 schools having first grades which are 
 without kindergartens, and in the schools having kindergartens 
 there is great disparity in the numbers enrolled in these classes 
 as compared with the enrollment in first grades. There is a total 
 enrollment in the kindergartens of 1954 pupils and in the first 
 grades 5941. This is in the ratio of less than 1 to 3. Children 
 are admitted to the kindergarten at the age of 5 years. There 
 are probably about as many 5-year-old children as 6-year-olds at 
 any given time in any given neighborhood. Yet this disparity 
 in numbers enrolled is typical, as shown in four different schools. 
 
 Enrolled in Kindergarten 51 43 44 48 
 
 Enrolled in first grade 266 210 254 293 
 
 It cannot be said that there is any strong demand on the 
 part of the general public for more kindergartens or that long 
 waiting lists are common. This passive or indifferent attitude 
 on the part of the public is not found in other cities where kin- 
 dergartens have been long established and it is probably due 
 partly to a general lack of understanding and partly to the poor 
 and unattractive school surroundings and facilities almost uni- 
 versally found. 
 
 Educational Materials 
 
 In the kindergarten curriculum materials of various kinds 
 occupy an important place. Pupils have not reached a stage 
 where books can be of great value. Their training must come 
 from first-hand experience from experimentation with construc- 
 tional and art material, and their thinking must be largely in the 
 concrete situations which arise in their attempts to carry out 
 their plans and schemes of work and play. 
 
 There have been vast changes in the last fifteen years in 
 the nature of materials deemed desirable for the education of 
 young children, and the equipment of Baltimore kindergartens 
 only faintly suggests the sweeping changes which are now al- 
 most universal elsewhere. The limited closet space is crowded 
 with antiquated material which is useless, while there is almost 
 a complete lack of the newer materials, such as large floor blocks 
 
 50 
 
and physical apparatus. Even such absolutely essential materials 
 as clay, sand, scissors, crayons, paints and brushes are either en- 
 tirely lacking or supplied in quite inadequate amount. In many 
 cases teachers are themselves furnishing - some of the indispen- 
 sable materials and tools rather than suffer the handicap of their 
 lack. 
 
 It is recommended that there be an entire revision of the 
 order list worked out by the co-operation of the supervisor and 
 teachers. The useless material should be disposed of and a better 
 type supplied in sufficient quantity to render possible efficient 
 work. 
 
 Curriculum 
 
 There is no prescribed outline or course of study. The 
 work is planned by the directors and varies in value according 
 to the training and viewpoint of the individual. The usual cur- 
 riculum subjects, industrial arts, fine arts, construction, litera- 
 ture, oral language, dramatic play, games, music and nature 
 study, are found in all programs with varying emphasis. It is 
 in the planning and presenting of a modern course of study that 
 the greatest help from the supervisor is needed. Standards should 
 be defined without imposing uniformity of curriculum. 
 
 Methods of Instruction 
 
 The most common procedure is to conduct various activities 
 in large groups under the direct control of the teacher, but nu- 
 merous instances were noted where teachers were attempting 
 to work with smaller groups and definitely training the children 
 in valuable habits of self-direction and initiative. This is in line 
 with progressive work elsewhere, but most of the teachers are 
 in need of further expert guidance and help in order to become 
 proficient in using this method. 
 
 Relation of Kindergarten to First Grade 
 
 Statements of supervisor and teachers, examination of cur- 
 riculum, and observation, all show that the work of the first 
 grade is not built definitely upon that of the kindergarten. Many 
 first grade teachers find points to commend in the kindergarten- 
 trained child, but their opinion on the whole is not favorable. 
 This attitude is almost always found where primary work, as 
 in Baltimore, is extremely formal, where activities similar to 
 
 51 
 
those in the kindergarten are entirely absent in first grade, and 
 where the primary classes are very large. Enrollment in first 
 grade classes often reaches 45 to 60 in Baltimore. Under these 
 conditions children trained to habits of initiative, independence 
 and earnest following of active pursuits will not fit into the for- 
 mal scheme. 
 
 This lack of co-ordination can be obviated to great extent 
 by enrichment of primary curriculum, providing opportunity for 
 greater freedom of the right sort and bringing teachers of both 
 departments together for study of common problems. 
 
 HOME ECONOMICS 
 
 Recommendations 
 
 1. That a well trained supervisor of all the home economics 
 studies be appointed as soon as possible. 
 
 2. Recommended that equipment, space, and materials be 
 improved in order that teachers may do better work. 
 
 3. That the teaching objective be defined and work so or- 
 ganized as to be of social value to the group receiving instruc- 
 tion. 
 
 4. (a) In elementary schools. 1. Industrial arts work, in- 
 cluding certain phases of the home economics, should form a 
 basis for future work. This is not a subject added to the curri- 
 culum provided the subjects are correlated. The standards of 
 adults should not be imposed upon children, (b) In junior high 
 schools. 1. Each teacher cooperating with the supervisor should 
 adapt the course of study to the needs of the group and indi- 
 viduals as far as possible, (c) In senior high schools. Home 
 economics studies should be offered to meet the needs of all the 
 girls in high school. These needs are : 
 
 1. For general self -improvement, which may be met 
 through the course of the ninth grade and in many of 
 the units offered in the senior high school. 
 
 2. For home-making education, which may be secured 
 from the full home-making course here recom- 
 mended. 
 
 3. For industrial vocational insight and training, which 
 may be received in the more intensive and advanced 
 courses. 
 
 52 
 
5. The school lunch should be under the immediate direc- 
 tion of an expert dietitian as in other large cities. She should 
 cooperate with the home economics supervisor in making the 
 lunch hour a real part of the school program, with educational 
 features. 
 
 6. A study of the home conditions of the girls will make 
 possible the adaptation of the home economics studies to meet 
 more adequately their home and vocational needs. 
 
 Mothers as well as girls in school need home-making instruc- 
 tion. This must be given through the public schools. For for- 
 eign women home teaching is recommended. 
 
 Vocational Education 
 
 The scope of evening, continuation, part-time, and day voca- 
 tional schools in the field of industry, commerce, and the home 
 is so great and the possibilities of making contacts with business 
 men and commercial establishments so numerous that it is essen- 
 tial for the success of the field represented that Baltimore should 
 provide a director or an Assistant Superintendent of Schools who 
 will have charge of vocational activities. 
 
 The Vocational Activities should include an Industrial In- 
 stitute ; evening vocational schools; continuation and part-time 
 schools, vocational guidance, manual training and household 
 arts, as given in the elementary and secondary schools, and voca- 
 tional experience in the junior high school. 
 
 Industrial and Trade Education 
 
 A comprehensive plan for industrial and trade education in 
 Baltimore should take into consideration the training organiza- 
 tions in the large industries and establishments, first, by fitting 
 youth through day school instruction for entrance upon advanced 
 apprenticeship; second, by cooperative part-time training where 
 the public school assumes full responsibility for related work 
 and the shop and store full responsibility for practical work; 
 third, by establishing advanced technical evening courses in lines 
 not touched by the plants themselves. 
 
 A Central Trade Institute should be organized to teach : (a) 
 Printing and the related trades ; (b) Mechanical trades (inclu- 
 sive of machinists trade and other crafts of metallurgical plants, 
 
 53 
 
railroad shops and steam engine practice) ; (c) Building- and 
 woodworking trades ; (d) Ship building trades ; (e) Automobile 
 trades, nautical trades (School ship) ; (f) Trades and occupa- 
 tions open to women and girls ; (g) Truck gardening. 
 
 Corresponding provisions should be made for the colored 
 race in a colored industrial school where there is instruction in 
 carpentry, stone and brick masonry, plastering, painting, paper 
 hanging, plumbing, gas and pipe fittings, chauffeuring, tailoring, 
 cleaning and renovating, shoe cobbling, and truck gardening. 
 
 Women and girls' courses should be organized in the In- 
 stitute in order to give recognition to the large number of fe- 
 males employed in the needle trades, hair dressing and the like. 
 
 Part-Time and Continuation Schools 
 
 This report recommends that these schools follow definitely 
 the plans of the Smith-Hughes Act and conform to the theory 
 and practice as laid down in the national law. 
 
 Commercial Education 
 
 It is recommended that a director of commercial education 
 be appointed. No other field of education is in greater need of 
 expert guidance. Such a director is needed to coordinate the 
 work in the commercial department in the day high schools, 
 the evening high schools, and the continuation schools. 
 
 54 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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