£^M 333 E3 M6 >py 1 Report of the Examination of the School System of East Orange, New Jersey #""^^1 Issued by The Board of Education 19 12 =n LIBRARY OF THE |>^ UNIVERSITY OF qf^EGON ACCESSION ^UTTC^jTv Call NO. ^ t 73/ 3^7 .^ r if V Qass. Book. , 5 1 Al ' L ERRATA. Page 17, TalDle B and Page 18, Table C. Some of the amounts quoted Include purchases of lots, erection of "buildings, and payment of bonds. Other?: do not. Omitting these the figures foi' East Orange "become |6.12 and $55.87. Page 45, last line. Average. Change the first 92 to 94; the second 92 to 98. The Stockton School was accidentally omitted from this table. Page 62, No. 9, second line. Change '♦mere" to "more*'. =0 LIBRARY OF THE '^- UNIVERSITY OF OF^EGON Call ^ NO 1! ^ ;- y-^ jCy LL. ^^^7 ^ '-^7 v Book 'Ell'^C^ Report of the Examination of the School System of East Orange, New Jersey Mo OVe , HvYlCfft L^VYOi^- iik m. Issued by ^ Board of Education 19 12 New Haven, Conn., Dec. 12, 191 1. Mr. F. W. Wilson, Chairman of the Special Committee to Investigate the Educational Efficiency of the Schools. East Orange, N. J. Dear Sir: — I beg to submit herewith the report which in accordance with the action of your Board of Education at its meeting on June 12th, 191 1, I have made, at your request. Very sincerely yours, E. C. MOORE. Exchange University oi OreE^n Library Oct. 9, 1033 o <. o ^ To the Members of the Board of Education, East Orange, N. J. The Special Committee appointed, pursuant to a resolution adopted by the Board March 27 to examine and report on the effi- ciency of the present school system, report as follows: The Committee met immediately after their appointment and were of the unanimous opinion that such an examination as the Board desired could best be made by some disinterested person not in any way connected with the school system. A careful inquiry was made by members of the Committee as to the most available person to engage for the work required and an invitation was sent to Prof. Ernest Carroll Moore, Head of the Bureau of Education of Yale University, to make the examination. Our invitation was accepted by Prof. Moore, but at his sug- gestion the work was deferred till after the beginning of the Fall term. Prof. Moore came to East Orange about October first and since that time has been occupied in making a thorough exam- ination of all the schools and compiling the results. The Committee requested Prof. Moore to make the examina- tion in any manner he deemed best and to prepare his report without consultation with the committee. These instructions have been complied with and the report is herewith submitted for your acceptance. Respectfully, Frank W. Wilson, Chairman Frederick W. Garvin, President Robert M. Crater Charles P. Titus Vernon L. Davey, Superintendent Special Committee on Investigation. Foreword The educational efficiency of a system of schools is not easily determined. There is no single test by which it may be known. Like John Stuart Mills' well-known description of causation, a school system is the sum total of the conditions which produce it. — The attitude of the community toward education in the past, its attitude in the present, the assistance plus or minus which its homes render, its economic status, occupations and government, the character and efficiency of its school boards both now and in time past; the devo- tion and training and skill of the superintendent of schools, the principals, and teachers ; the type of school system which they are developing, the course of study followed, the text books used, school buildings, playgrounds, health, discipline, etc., etc., all enter as con- tributing factors which in combination for good or ill determine the effectiveness of the work of educating the young. It is impos- sible to do more than select a few of these conditions for examina- tion. I have chosen from among them all : I, An Historical Sketch of the School System ; II, The Community and the Efficiency of the Schools; III, The Board of Education and the Efficiency of the Schools ; IV, Cost as Related to the Efficiency of the Schools ; V, A General Survey of the Schools and Their Efficiency ; VI, The Teachers and Their Work ; VII, A New Course of Study ; VIII, The High School ; IX, Summary of Recommendations. The improvements which we have to suggest are not inconsider- able in importance. They are supported not alone by theory, but also as we believe, by the best educational practice of the day. The outline history of the school system has been supplied by the Superintendent and the Principal of the High School. Par- ticular attention has been given to the actual work of the schools. All of the class-rooms in both elementary and high schools have been visited, some of them more than once, and for a considerable time in many instances. We have talked with most of the teachers and supervising officers about their work and about the conditions under which they labor. Through the kind assistance of the Superinten- dent's office we have examined all the pupils in the sth, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades in the four fundamental processes of arithmetic, in Eng- lish composition, in writing and in spelling. In addition some of the citizens of the town have been consulted concerning the work of the schools, school records have been examined, statistics have been gathered, and the course of study and the rules of the Board of Edu- cation have been studied. Most careful attention has been given to the work of the High School, not because it is believed to be more important than the elementary schools — it is not — but because what- ever shortcomings there may be in the system are apt to appear very clearly under the strain of the transition which pupils must undergo in passing from the elementary grades into the care of secondary teachers. Comparisons have been made with other school systems, wherever it was felt that such comparisons would be of value. They have not always been made with other cities of the same size ; indeed, it is not necessary that they should be. What is wanted, is evidence concerning the best school practice in the land. That does not vary materially with the size of the community, but is much the same for all. Indeed, whatever advantages there are should accrue to the small city, rather than to the large one, for changes in it do not involve sums of money so large as to terrify even the progressive men who champion them. Moreover, it is a more man- ageable unit in school organization, dissatisfaction quickly makes itself known, mistakes can easily be remedied, and improvements are not difficult to introduce. School systems that minister to great masses of people are much more unwieldy. The schools of smaller cities must not. therefore, be content to take a place behind the larger cities but ought, themselves, to lead the very van of educa- tional progress. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the thoroughly courteous treat- ment I have received from everyone with whom I have had to do during the course of this examination. I take this opportunity to thank the Superintendent, and every teacher and principal in your department for the kindly way in which I was received and helped. On my part I have tried to make what must have been a trying ordeal for many whom I visited as light an infliction as I could. There is always grave danger that such an exainination as I have been making may disturb and disorganize instruction unduly. 1 have tried to keep it from producing any such result in this case. I have tried to make a constructive program for the develop- ment of a public school system such as I believe a prosperous and progressive community like East Orange should have. Much has been done already, but much still remains to be done to bring the schools to the highest pitch of efficiency. What is most needed is thorough co-operation of all concerned. I urge particularly the paramount necessity for the greatest frankness in all their relations on the part of the Board of Education, the Superintendent, the prin- cipals, the teachers and the patrons of the schools. The policy of the Board of Education must be known. The Superintendent should state his convictions upon all educational matters, and his reasons for them quite fearlessly. Teachers and principals must bring their difficulties to the Superintendent without any feeling of con- straint. They are all parts, one of another, in the greatest of un- dertakings. I realize quite clearly that I have not dwelt upon the very great merits of what has been wrought patiently and persist- ently and conscientiously through the years, and I freely testify that what has already been done is of much greater moment than all that I have suggested for attention in the future. But the goodly educational structure which has been reared should be repaired here and there, and must be enlarged to meet new conditions and to house the growing conception of education. I. — Historical Sketch The schools of East Orange were legally consolidated in 1889 and a Township Board of Education was elected. During the next year, however, the four schools of the township were allowed to continue as formerly in nearly all respects, and only a slight eflfort was made to establish uniformity or to bring them into an or- ganic system. At the end of the first year a superintendent — the present incumbent — was appointed and a systematic effort was begun, looking to the complete unification of the schools into a well- graded system. At the time of consolidation there were four school buildings as follows : Seating Estimated Value Ashland 672 $55,ooo Eastern • • • 504 50,000 Franklin 336 38,000 Elmwood • 168 17,000 The list, including lots, buildings and equipment — all at present value, with full allowances for depreciation — now stands : Seating Value *High 800 $428,041 00 Ashland 714 156,13707 Eastern 672 ii5>35i 55 Franklin • 714 94,732 58 Elmwood 588 92,365 09 Columbian 504 83,375 85 Nassau 652 86,795 68 Stockton 588 86,569 03 Lincoln • 462 1 17,869 04 Washington 462 107,000 00 Two portable school-houses 82 2,31042 Playgrounds • 23,898 07 $1,394,445 38 *This includes the Board Rooms and equipment of same. In 1890 it was decided to raise the standard of promotion from the schools and establish a well-equipped High School. Three pu- pils were graduated at the end of the first year. The high school building erected in 1890 was designed to accommodate five hundred pupils. The field of high school work has expanded greatly since that time, and the building could not properly accommodate more than three hundred and fifty or four hundred pupils, if proper laboratories were provided. This building was comfortably filled ten years after its erection. Since that time conditions became continually less favorable to satisfactory work as the number of pupils increased. A new High School building was completed and taken posses- sion of in September of the present year. The total number of pu- pils that can now be accommodated is about eight hundred, but the finishing of some uncompleted space will provide satisfactory ac- commodation for from ten to twelve hundred. 8 table The growth of the High School is shown by the following Year 890- '9 1 . 891 -'92. 892-'93. 893-'94. 894-'95- 895-'96. 896-'97. 897-'98. 898-'99- 899-'oo. 900- '01. Enrolled 159 154 182 237 205 230 330 374 449 486 470 Graduates Full 4-year Courses 10 23 14 23 S3 20 32 64 59 Year I90I-'02. i902-'o3 . i903-'o4. i904-'05. i905-'o6. i9o6-'o7. i907-'o8. i9o8-'og. i909-'io. i9io-'ii- Graduates Full 4-year Enrolled Courses 480 464 479 470 482 554 601 627 712 716 51 33 55 47 45 72 84 64 79 87 In 1890 the teaching force numbered forty-nine, with a salary roll of about $37,000. There are now one hundred and eighty-seven teachers on the list, and the salary list, exclusive of clerks, janitors and others not engaged in teaching or supervising, is $184,300. The old Ashland School was sold and replaced by a new build- ing. The Eastern, Franklin and Elmwood have been more than doubled in size and have been modernized in all essentials. Every building is equipped with apparatus for forced ventilation and with sanitary systems connected with the sewers. In each build- ing there is an assembly hall seated with opera chairs, and a fully equipped manual training room. Every pupil has a separate desk and a separate compartment or locker in the cloak room. The yearly growth of the system, as shown by the total enroll- ment and the average belonging, is as follows : 1889-90 i89o-'9i i8gi-'92 i892-'93 i893-'94 i894-'95 i895-'96 i8g6-'97 i897-'98 i898-'99 l899-'oo I900-'oi I90I-'02 i902-'o3 i903-'o4 i904-'05 i905-'o6 1 906- '07 i907-'o8 i9o8-'o9 i909-'io 1910-'! I Total Enrollment 2117 2173 2350 2482 2645 2732 2929 3192 3280 3499 3744 4051 4214 4375 4414 4623 4851 4999 5340 5649 5870 5903 Average Belonging 1495 1706 1791 1866 2097 2202 2358 2545 2707 2812 3079 3284 3369 3539 3631 3765 3896 4145 4372 4762 5069 5108 The first ofifice of the Board of Education and District Clerk was a small back room in a building facing the Brick Church sta- tion. At the end of a year a small, unoccupied grocery store on Main street was secured and its one room served for nearly two years as Board Room, store room, and offices for District Clerk and Superintendent. In December, 1891, the High School was opened and two small rooms were reserved for the use of the Board and its officers. These offices were needed as recitation rooms, and in September, 1900, the Board moved into offices in the City Hall. In October of 191 1 they went into a fine suite of offices in the old High School building. II. — The Community and the Efficiency of the Schools East Orange is a city of 34,371 people. It has an assessed prop- erty valuation of $49,982,929. Its tax rate for the year is 1.70 per hundred. It is a compact city with a total area of but four square miles. It is, too, a remarkably healthy community, for in 1909, the last year for which figures are available, its death rate was but 9.5, the lowest reported by the United States government in the vital statistics for that year. Its population is almost entirely American, and of a well-to-do class ; extremes of poverty and wealth are hardly to be found. There is a relatively small colored population, but it too is of a prosperous, and fairly well-to-do sort. There are only a very few foreigners who have come to our country so recently that the schools must perform for them the double duty of teaching their children the English language as well as the fundamental arts which constitute an elementary education. In this respect the educational task of this community is much simpler than in many of its neigh- bors, where great numbers of children of other nations must be taught a new language and many of the ideas which lie behind Am- erican school instruction, as well as the specific subjects of the com- mon school course which both those who know the language and those who do not must learn. In these respects East Orange is singularly fortunate. But certain other features of its life do not make for educa- tional efficiency in the same measure. The city is a suburb of New York. The major part of its citizens are business men, professional men, clerks, salesmen, etc., etc., in the metropolis. The town lacks unity ; it is a fragment of a larger whole ; is not complete in itself. The interests of its people are elsewhere; their social life is else- where. People come and go. Many make only a convenience of the place. Houses are rented, but homes are not established. What takes place in East Orange is of much less concern than what goes on in New York. There is bound to be an aloofness from local issues. People do not know each other, and do not work closely together for common ends. Such a condition of things aflFects the schools vitally. East Orange is not a manufacturing city, nor is it a commercial town. It is a residence suburb, beautiful, healthy, rich. Its citizens leave their homes every morning to go elsewhere to their work. Its chil- dren leave their homes every morning to go to school with the no- tion deeply fixed in their minds (for it is inevitable that it should 10 be so), that the really momentous concerns of life are to be found elsewhere. Their minds are divided just as their parents' minds are. New York plays too large a part in their thoughts. This is the pen- alty which the suburban dweller must pay for his immunity from the confusion of city life. It is a very real penalty. The children in the schools are not less intelligent than they are elsewhere ; they are more so, for they come of good American stock ; but they are less interested in school work, and know less about the necessity which men are under to work for a living upon farms and in factories and shops, than if they were brought up in a community where all the features of a vigorous economic life were playing everywhere about them. For the most part they do not come to school with any very profound sense of the great importance of these things, and in the absence of these major interests of mankind from the foreground of their consciousness, the things which do go on under their eyes assume a disproportionate importance. Complaint was made to me repeatedly by teachers that going to school and doing one's work well there was a thing of less im- portance in the eyes of many of their children than leaving school to attend children's parties held during school hours, or even staying at home in order to be fresh for social events to be held in the even- ing. I have no means of knowing how commonly the most import- ant work of children is made to wait upon their social engagements, but mention was made of this fact so commonly that I am forced to regard it as a serious hindrance to the efficiency of the schools and a condition which the parents of the community should change if the best interests of the children are conserved. From the beginning East Orange has taken pride in her schools and with money her people have supported them generously. But there is another kind of support which they seem to have withheld from them. They have built good school buildings, and paid good salaries to teachers and supervising oflficers ; but after buildings were built and teachers put in charge, they seem to have thought no more about the schools than if they were factories or department stores. The education of the young is a family concern as well as a state interest. It used to be regarded as a religious duty performed by the parents themselves. When this became impossible, teachers were brought into the household to instruct the children under the eyes of their parents, and when at length the children were sent outside the home to public schools the parents followed them to support and encourage them in getting an education, and to lend such approval and assistance to their teachers as the weighty task of nurturing the little ones seemed to require ; and this good old custom of con- cerning themselves deeply over all that happens to their children, or regarding it as a duty as well as a pleasure to be often present at their lessons, to know well the conditions that surround them, and to lend all the support and encouragement which their presence can supply, still moves the mothers, and the fathers too, of many communities to visit the schools which their children attend at fre- quent intervals and for a sufficient time to get acquainted with their teachers, their lessons, and their progress in their work. I have II never before been in schools where parents were so rarely found as \isitors. The reply which teachers repeatedly made to my ques- tions, "Do the parents of your children visit your classroom? Do you succeed in getting their support and' assistance in the work you are trying to do for their children ?" was "When a pupil takes home a poor report at the end of the month, his mother or father usually comes to see about it. They do not visit us much otherwise." But this is not satisfactory and the schools cannot do their best work without a heartier cooperation on the part of the homes than this. It is too much like thrusting the children to one side to make the most of the conditions they find there. Again East Orange does not care sufficiently for its teachers. It pays them fairly good salaries, but beyond that its people concern themselves but slightly as to their welfare. The homes of most of them are in other places ; living is high, and proper accommodations are not easily found. The teacher who comes to the community a stranger is too apt to remain a stranger. Few go out of their way to meet her and seldom are opportunities provided for making ac- quaintances beyond the circle of her own fellow workers. Only those who have been so situated as to feel the need for acquaint- ances, friends and companions, can know what a hardship it is to be thus shut off from them and thrust back completely upon one's self. Teaching is a work of spiritual radiation; only a contented, happy, and measurably successful person can generate the inex- haustible enthusiasm for knowledge which it requires. Surely the work which the teachers do is of sufficient importance to the com- munity to cause it to be solicitous for their well-being, and to pro- vide every opportunity for its teachers to live as full and rich a social life as_ is open to any class of its people. I am laying stress upon this point, for every superintendent of schools knows that the efficiency of the school system rises and falls with the condition of the teachers who perform its work of instruction. The community which allows their lot to be less tolerable than it should be will suf- fer automatically for its omission to care duly for the most import- ant of its pubHc servants. Another difficulty is that the community has no industries of its own. Shall its schools, then (particularly its High School), train Its young people for business, and for the professions by fitting them to go on to college, or shall it provide them as varied opportuni- ties fortraining in several other lines as the well equipped high schools of industrial communities are offering? This question is not easily answered. But if the community trains its children to follow their fathers' occupations only, it will undoubtedly fail to provide the very opportunities which many of its young people need. Occupa- tions are not hereditary, and no city lives so completely to itself that It can afford to provide a less complete opportunity for the training of its young people than its neighbors do. Even though the economic interests of their parents are along special lines, the education which is offered their children must be along many lines. In this connection I recommend that a systematic effort be made to secure a larger and more active cooperation on the part of 12 parents who send their children to the public schools. This can be done in several ways : ( i ) By holding public meetings for the dis- cussion of educational matters; (2) by organizing school patron's clubs, which meet periodically in the schools for the purpose of get- ting acquainted and becoming informed about school work; (3) by each school preparing an annual exhibit of its work and inviting all parents and citizens of its territory to an "at home" in the school house. This last method is particularly effective, for the children love to have their parents see their work, and seldom fail to secure their attendance at this school fete. Something of this sort is being done already, but it is not a general practice of all teachers and all schools as it should be. Suggestions as to the opportunities for training which the High School should offer will be made in a later section. III. — The Board of Education and the Efficiency of the Schools Your Board has been perhaps a bit more anxious to get work done, than to get it done through the agencies which it, itself, main- tains for the doing of it. This may have been necessary to expedite pressing business, but in one respect it is unfortunate, for it has worked a degree of demoralization in the teaching staff of the schools. Now, inasmuch as a school system is a very delicate and sensitive organization, exceedingly hard to keep in adjustment and very easily thrown out of balance, the proper systematization of school work is an exceedingly important element in determining its efficiency. It is a principle of scientific management, that in every properly directed undertaking there shall be a planning department whose duty it shall be to know about all that is being undertaken and done, and to provide plans in accordance with the laws of science. In- stead of the happy-go-lucky method of each man doing what he feels like doing and in the way which seems to him best, scientific management substitutes a thorough organization of work with min- ute subdivisions of labor. First, there must be some one place where the system comes to a head, some one person must know about all that is being under- taken and all that is being done. This one person, who has the general oversight of the entire undertaking must arrange the work of each of his assistants so that the different parts of the under- taking will fit together as nearly perfectly as they can be made to, so that preparatory stages will really prepare and contributory agencies will genuinely contribute. The principles of scientific man- agement apply to public school work just as truly as they apply to any other form of cooperative effort. But who is the one person, or which is the one department that must know about all that is being attempted and done? It cannot be the Board of Education for the Board of Education has not time to keep track of all that is going on; it is not "on the job" every minute. Neither can any one of its members do this for no one member has any legal authority ^3 to do anything save as the corporation in charge — the Board of Edu- cation — sitting as a board in accordance with the estabHshed legal procedure, specifically gives him such authority. Again, if the work of the school department is to be thoroughly planned from be- ginning to end, so that in all its parts, in its buildings, in its financial arrangements, in its system of supplies, in its selection of janitors, physicians, teachers and principals, in its course of study and methods of instruction, etc., it shall be the most effective agency possible for the instruction of the young, there must be a planning department whose duty it shall be to provide plans for the proper functioning of all the differents parts of the system. This planning department must be one department in which all the plans will be made to fit together, and it must be a department of experts. Can the Board of Education do this work? It is a board of laymen who sometimes have great difficulty in keeping from attempting to perform the work of educational experts, though they should have no more difficulty than a bookkeeper in recognizing the expertness of a carpenter, a carpenter that of a bookkeeper, or a client the ad- vantage of the special training of his lawyer, or a patient that of his physician. The one person who is "on the job" all the time, who can know about all that is being undertaken and whether it is being done in such a way as to serve the one ultimate interest of the undertaking and can make plans for the work of all his assistants, and watch their work from day to day, to see that it is being performed prop- erly, is the Superintendent of Schools. The Board of Education meets at regular intervals, either as a whole or in committees to listen to reports of what has been done, to formulate rules for the conduct of the business, to pass upon plans that may be presented to it, ratify agreements, authorize expenditures, etc., etc. It per- forms the same function for the citizens that the board of directors of a corporation performs for the stockholders of the company. Just as the actual management of the corporation is, and must be, entrusted to a staff of expert assistants whose work is guided and directed by the executive officer, who reports to the directors and transmits their directions to his assistants, so must the work of a board of education be conducted, if the principles of scientific man- agement are to be followed and the highest efficiency of the school system is to be secured. Suggested Changes in the Rules I do not find that these principles have been sufficiently con- sidered by your Board either in making its rules for conducting the business of the schools, nor in its day by day relations with them. The duties of your executive officer, the superintendent of schools, are not sufficiently defined, and the Rules do not give that office the functions it should have if the greatest educational efficiency is to be secured. Rule 23 declares that "the superintendent of schools shall act under the advice and direction of the Board and its sev- eral committees." Inasmuch as the acts of the committees must be 14 authorized or ratified by the Board and the committees are ap- pointed merely to expedite business, in order that the committees may not assume a larger authority than they possess, it would be better if the superintendent were directed by the Board itself. He should be required to attend all open meetings of the Board and its committees. Your Committee on Teachers is authorized to recommend the employment of teachers, "after consultation with the superinten- dent." This is not enough ; all nominations of teachers and prin- cipals should be made by the superintendent and the rules of the Board of Education should specify that no teacher may be elected who has not been nominated by the superintendent. Rule 13 declares that the course of study committee "shall have charge of the course of study in all schools in conjunction with the superintendent, and recommend such alterations and revisions thereof as it may deem advisable, and recommend such text-books and school accessories as it m^ay believe best adapted to the wants of the different schools." Here again the superintendent should recommend and approve all textbooks, school accessories and all changes in the course of study before the Board should allow itself to consider the adoption of them. That the public business may be sufficiently safeguarded the Board of Education must observe a system of checks and balances in its own procedure. Rule 14 declares that the committee on schools "shall have jur- isdiction over all matters involving school discipline and shall have general oversight over all school matters except such as are referred to other committees." Such jurisdiction over all matters of school discipline is meant, I take it, to be appellate and not original, but I think the rules should recognize the fact that the Superintendent handles all cases of school discipline until appeal is taken over his ruling to the committee of the Board. Rule 15 specifies the duties of the Building Committee, but does not require the written approval of the Superintendent of schools upon all plans for buildings or additions to buildings before con- tracts for the same shall be let ; yet the school superintendent is a much safer authority upon the proper arrangement of a school house than an architect, for he has learned what a schoolhouse ought to be by using it, whereas the architect knows it only by building it or visiting it. The relation of the Superintendent to the High School should, I think, be specified by the rules of the Board; this matter has been a fertile source of difficulty in the past, and the bad effects of the lack of a proper adjustment are still hindering the work which the High School is trying to do. Need for Cooperation in School Business I have not found that degree of cooperation between the sev- eral factors concerned with the administration of the schools which should obtain among them. The Board of Education has some- times acted in very serious matters without, as I think, sufficient consultation with the members of its staflF, who must carry out its 15 directions without sufficient preparation to do so successfully. The matter of self-government in the study rooms of the High School is a case in point. I do not think that the High School authorities can he blamed for finding it exceedingly difficult to save the day in this matter, for though the plan is a good one and must if possi- ble be made to succeed, as it will be, yet, its accomplishment was made unnecessarily difficult by the haste and lack of preliminary preparation which marked its initiation. Recommendations I recommend, therefore, a more thorough systematization of the work of the Board of Education, the Superintendent of Schools, the Principal of the High School, and the other officers of the system, and such changes in the rules of the Board of Education as may be necessary to specify the func- tions and responsibility of each somewhat in detail, in order that there may no longer be any confusion of offices or misunderstanding of responsibility. No other recommendation which I can make will do so much to bring peace and harmony into school work nor to promote the energetic efforts of teachers who feel troubled and insecure because they do not know what the future policy of the Board of Education may be. IV. — Cost as Related to the Efficiency of the Schools A Comparison of the Cost of Public Education in Montclair and East Orange The State Superintendent of New Jersey has defined the "Cost of Education" in his report for 1909 as follows: This term ("cur- rent expenses") as defined in section 95 of the school law includes principals', teachers', janitors' and medical inspectors' salaries (though not specified in the law, it necessarily includes also salaries of superintendents and supervising officials) ; fuel, textbooks, school supplies, flags ; transportation of pupils ; tuition of pupils attending schools in other districts with the consent of the Board of Educa- tion ; school libraries ; compensation of the district clerk, of the custodian of school moneys and of truant officers ; truant schools, insurance, and the incidental expenses of the schools. A very careful investigation of the cost of the public schools of Montclair and East Orange made by Mr. Howard Greenman whose report bears date of March T7th, 191 1, supplies the following summary of school expenses for the year ending June 3d, 1909. i6 Table A Current Expenses Amount Expended Per Capita Cost Based Upon Av. Enrollment. Av. Attendance (Excluding Manual Training) Montclair E. Orange 3098 M. 4725 E. 0. 2839 M. 4S20 E. 0. Teachers' salaries . . . Fuel and Janitors' salaries Textbooks and apparatus Other school purposes $119,043.26 14,311-87 11,485 .00 16,374-45 $138,217.56 22,346. 26 0,870.32 4,964.49 S38.43 4.62 3-71 S.28 $29. 25 4-73 2.09 I. OS $41-93 5-04 4.04 S-78 $30.58 405 2.18 1 . 10 Total current expen- 1 ses or C s t f Education $161,214. 58 $175,394-63 $52.04 $37-12 $56.79 $38.81 Other items must be added which change these totals some- what, — as the cost of manual training which was $8.32 for each pu- pil taking it for Montclair and $4.14 per pupil taking it in East Orange. Mr. Greenman estimates the total excess per capita cost on daily attendance in Montclair over East Orange as $24.45, ^":? 1 ^ > I 03 > V) > -I > 1 f>. ^ *-» 1 ^ fv I ^ •»v. tr> A3 "»^ ^ ^0 "V. C; \ > 00 > ^ 00 vS m :h ^ ^ OD Co w> , <5- •0 *-~ »^ >S ^ ^ ^ ^ CO O ^ >0 ^ f^ ^ ^ ^ 0- ("V $ ts- to ^ 00 ' — ^ ^ 6- v^ 5^ •*^ ^ > > <> ^ 5^ C- ^ N^ ^ II >- 1 ^ 1 ^ -vO ^ •v» ^0 *** '^ cvi ■»- - P0< 00 M HI M to ?^ o m (U Q M M W O pq c (U « M 02 O pq t3 a> +-> o a e J2i O to lO (7. 1 pq M " M •♦ Sent to Special Classes ro o pq W M ro Dropped to Lower Grade H •* -^ ■<1- :? (0 o pq IH 00 - VO ■CO en o M « M ■«t =0 O M 03 O pq M w ^ O 00 H o> o* CO O " 5 vr> ■"J- (1 CA o pq M • H o 3 N ■* M »». M m o pq fO »o n vO 1-1 \Reason Grade \ 00 5 > < J3 ■(J o 4 37 VI. — The Teachers and Their Work The Regulations governing the certification of teachers pre- scribe that candidates for the principalship of primary and gram- mar schools must hold the diploma of an approved college or state normal school and have had a successful experience of at least two years. Candidates for positions as primary and grammar school teachers and special assistants must have had a successful experience of at least one year and must hold the diploma of an approved col- lege, state normal school, or city normal school, a first grade New Jersey county certificate, a New Jersey state certificate — received by examination — or a first grade state certificate received by exam- ination in another state, the certificate system of which has been approved. Candidates for positions in the High School must hold the diploma of an approved college or university, and have had at least one year's successful experience. Candidates for positions as kindergarteners must be high school or normal school graduates and must hold the diploma of an approved kindergarten training school in which the course of study covers at least two years. They must have had at least one year of successful experience. Candi- dates for positions as assistant kindergarteners must be graduates of a kindergarten training school. These are the written qualifica- tions ; the unwritten ones are much higher. The Superintendent of Schools is constantly gathering informa- tion about unusually promising candidates for membership in his corps. He finds out what he can as to their training and success in teaching, then he visits them in their class rooms, sees how they vvork. When a vacancy occurs he is usually able to nominate a thoroughly trained and competent person to fill it. This important duty could not, I am sure, be more conscientiously and carefully performed. As a result the personnel of the teaching company in East Orange could hardly be improved upon. It is unfortunate that men teachers are not to be found in any of the upper grade class rooms, but unless they were as capable as the women who are now there they would not be an element of strength. The principals of the elementary schools are an exceptionally able group of men. Their attitude toward the children under their care could hardly be better than it is, while their considerate and kindly leadership is a constant source of strength to their teachers. I am of the belief that their duties are too much detailed for them, and that they are not left free enough from the necessity of making reports and of teaching classes a fixed number of hours per week to become as familiar with the instruction which is being given in their schools as they should be. The principal of a twelve-room school is directed to teach regularly not less than 400 minutes, nor more than 500 per week. This is very nearly a third of the entire school time and while this required amount is considerably less in the case of prin- cipals of larger buildings, it is still too large, and rather too defin- itely fixed to allow the best results. The principal is the captain of a ship, the commander of a station, and he should be entirery free within wide limits to use his own discretion in administering his 38 command. He should be accountable for what goes on in his jur- isdiction and to be accountable he must be put largely upon his own resources. General principles must, of course, be laid down, but ways and means must be left almost entirely to the local commander. This is so delicate a matter that it is never an easy one for a super- ior officer to adjust. One trouble with boards of education almost everywhere is that in their eagerness to perform all the duties of their office they perform many duties which for the real good of the undertaking should be performed by the educators whom they employ. The same excess of zeal makes superintendents perform more than their share of administrative work and leave too little for their principals and teachers to decide and adjust. And principals too are too apt tc arrange everything for their teachers and leave too little to their initiative. While the great and besetting sin of teachers, which as yet only very exceptional ones escape, is to teach too much. I have tried in another place in this report to show that this tendency is due to a mistaken notion of what knowledge is and to a conception of education that follows from this mistaken notion. No one person is to blame for it and school systems throughout the whole country suffer from it. It is hard for boards of education and superinten- dents and principals and teachers who are thoroughly in earnest to keep from doing more than their own work, yet a democracy of effort is best and one of the precepts which administrative officers must remember is to let the other fellow do his part. His freedom is essential to his welfare. To over-systematize his affairs for him is quite as bad for his development as not to systematize them enough. This is peculiarly true of educational work ; of teaching in which the participation of minds in due measure is the one es- sential thing. I have dwelt upon this point at length for the majority of the teacheis in the elementary schools of East Orange are doing too much teaching, not too little of it. The pupils are doing too little studying and thinking, and too much getting of lessons and reciting. A systematic effort on the part of all concerned should be instituted to correct this tendency. Study classes for teachers should be formed by the Superintendent and the principals. Such excellent books as McMurry's "How to Study and Teaching How to Study ;" Strayer's "A Brief Course in the Teaching Process ;" and Dewey's "How We Think," should be read and discussed by all. These books and others like them contain the best discussions of the teacher's work which we have. Nobody who follows this profession is ex- empt from the need to know what they contain. If objection be made that the teachers already know how to teach and should not be asked to learn more about this subject, we would reply that no- body knows how to teach, — that it is the finest and most difficult of all the arts ; that as yet nothing more than a beginning has been made in the science of education ; that no teacher not even the most suc- cessful can fail to profit by what others have thought and said about his cabling; that "nothing is worth doing that is not worth thinking about" all the time, continuously, and education least of all. 39 The discipline of the schools is good. Everybody works hard and very few seem to be inclined to interfere with the work of their neighbors. In going into the class rooms of all the buildings I did not see one serious act of disorder. This good condition is due to home training, to the seriousness of the work and the personality of the teachers. Repeated admonition is required to get good "posi- tion," but not to get good order. The "uneasy class" helps greatly and is a wise provision. The children are acquiring habits of cour- tesy and consideraton which will serve them well through their lives. Table L The Enrollment by Schools and the Distribution of the Teaching Force Total Average School Enroliment Belonging High School 716 656 Ashland School 670 602 Eastern School 574 495 Franklin School 747 660 Elmwood School 836 666 Columbian School 597 511 Nassau School 674 595 Stockton School 632 540 Lincoln School 457 394 5903 51 19 There are this year 186 in the teaching force, besides the super- intendent : Kindergarten 16 Primary 57 Grammar 48 Special assistants (one in each primary and grammar school — general helper and substitute and coach) . 8 Special, slow, first year classes 2 Special, backward class, ist to 3d years i Special class for slow children of the 3d and 4th years i Special "Uneasy class" for boys, 3d to 7th years in- clusive I Primary and grammar principals, (male. ) . • 8 High School Principal i High school teachers (not including manual training.) 27 Manual Training Woodwork \ 2 '"^" { 2 women Arts and Crafts 2 " Sewing 2 " Cooking 2 " Music supervisor i Drawing Supervisor i Assistant i (These also teach freehand drawing in the High School) Physical training \ ^ "^^" •^ ^ I I woman Penmanship (half time) I " First year primary supervisor i " (This teacher. Miss Herron, acts as a regular teacher ' of first grade during four days of the week). 40 VII. — ^The Course of Study and the Teaching of the Several Subjects in the Elementary Schools A new course of study is needed and is being prepared. There are certain considerations which I think should be kept in mind in making it. The course of study is not a demand made upon the members of a teaching corps by the school authorities. It is a co- operative formulation in outline of the task which they purpose to undertake. Everyone concerned should have a part in the making of it, — the parents, the teachers, the principals, the superintendents, and finally the board of education. Not only should opportunity be given to each one to express his views upon what should go into it, but each one should be brought to feel that he has a duty to express his views. Not all these views can find a place in it when it is draft- ed, but everyone of them should be taken into account in the making of it. The superintendent and the principals must study what is be- ing done elsewhere and supply most of the course ; and they must reduce it to its final form; but they must use the knowledge of par- ents and teachers in constructing it, else it will not embody the best thought of the community as to what should be attempted in its schools. To make a course of study in this way is a long and hard undertaking. It should be a special order of business for not less than an entire year. In some measure this method has been fol- lowed. Again the course of study should not attempt to tell in detail what is to be taught in each subject nor to give more than an outline of the methods to be used. It should indicate the larger subject- units to be treated and something as to the best methods of handling them. Beyond this it should not be prescriptive, for it is the teacher who must do the teaching, and if teaching is to be an intellectual work it must allow plenty of room for the selection of matter to be considered and the choice of method to be followed. Unless the teacher is an agent with discretion, teaching becomes merely carry- ing out orders — a mechanical and not a stimulating and vivifying work. On the other hand, it is necessary that the undertaking be sufficiently systematized to be a definite one. An outline by subject- units of the minimum amount of work to be done by each grade is required, and in fixing this minimum account should be taken of the fact that children's diseases and other interferences keep pupils from school a certain number of days each year, so that a minimum amount of work should be fixed which can be performed without undue effort in the time which remains after the normal period of inevitable absence is subtracted from the whole number of teaching days in the year. It is the quality of the work which counts, not its quantity. It is not a fact that the course of study contains too many subjects, but it is a fact that it commonly requires too much work in each subject to allow for the degree of thoroughness that should be achieved. Almost with one accord teachers protest that they have not time to perform their work as they would. In the high school it is 41 the requirements of the colleges which keep them from teaching as they would ; in the elementary schools it is the amount of work prescribed by the course of study. This is manifestly wrong and a change should be brought about. There must be a selecting of prin- ciples, ideas, and ideals to be taught. Fundamental matters should have the right of way over subsidiary matters. As much time should be taken as is required to do all that is done well ; then what re- mains to be done can well be left to the well-trained person which the pupil has become, to perform if need be in his after school life. This is certain : that the teacher who is under bondage to the course of study, or who leans too heavily upon it, is not performing the full functions of a teacher. There are certain changes in school work which I should like to present for the consideration of the superintendent, principals and teachers of East Orange. The first concerns the kindergarten ; would it not be better not to allow any kindergarten children to attend for more than a half- day, and to eliminate all prescribed primary school work from its course of study? The experience of other communities confirms this view, and the new knowledge which we begin to have as to the importance of freedom from undue constraint in the first years of childhood ratify it. There is no printed timetable which tells exactly how it is sug- gested that the time of teachers and pupils be distributed to the several subjects. Instead the timetable printed in the course of study which bears date of 1908 was handed to me with a supplementary note which reads "Time for manual training increased in all grades. In eighth grade this becomes 90 minutes per week." Arithmetic and geography correspondingly reduced; history and grammar somewhat reduced in the eighth grades ; the latter to give more time to composition. I have therefore put down 40 minutes for manual training in the first four grades, and subtracted half of it from arithmetic, 10 minutes from writing and 10 minutes from "poetry and science ;" and have increased the time for manual train- ing in the 5th, 6th, and 7th years to 50 minutes, taking 10 minutes from reading in each grade. In the 8th grade 50 minutes is added to manual training mal