of rt)c ^nibersiitp of igortf) Carolina Wt}i& book tuaif presienteb fap ?<>■' Educational Publication No. 101 Division of Publication No. 27 PUBLIC EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA published by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction Raleigh, N. C. EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS IN NORTH CAROLINA Items Total school expenditure Expenditure current expense 3. Expenditure capital outlay 4. Value of school property..- Average value per schoolhouse Xumber of log houses Xumber of white one-teacher schools Xumber of teachers a. White b. Colored ' P. Average monthly salary paid each teacher . a. White b. Colored 10. Average term in days a. White schools b. Colored schools 11. Average number days in school a. White pupils b. Colored pupils 12. Total school population a. White b. Colored 13. Total school enrollment 14. Total average daily attendance 15. Per cent of population enrolled 16. Per cent of enrollment in average attendance... 1". Xumber of public high schools IS. Enrollment in public high schools 19. Xumber libraries 20. Xumber volumes in libraries 21. Educational appropriations: a. Public schools, Maintenance b. Xormal schools, Improvements! Maintenance c. Higher institutions. Improvements! Maintenance 22. Per cent illiteracy for State a. White b . Colored 1919-1920 1,062,303.71 1,004,903.09 57,400.62 1,097,564.00 158.65 1,190 5,047 8,320 5,753 2,567 23.46 24.79 20.48 70.8 73.3 65.3 657,949 439,431 218,518 400,452 206,918 60. 51. *30 *2,000 S 12,214,258.20 9,568,743.10 2,645,515.10 24,057,838.00 3,009.50 94 2,513 16,854 12,970 3,884 S 69.55 75.90 46.85 134.0 135.9 127.4 91.8 95.7 81.9 840,981 573,736 267,245 691,249 473,552 420 29,294 100,000.00 8**3,476,796.57 16,000.00 12,500.00 65,000.00 ' 28.7 19.5 47.6 139,600.00 542,500.00 13.1 8.2 24.5 1924-1925 33,978, 21,030, 12,947, 70,705, 9, I. 1, 22, 16, 941, 643, 297, 809, 596, 73, 3, 590, 063.68 810.23 253.45 835.00 964.18 ;43 457 248 920 328 103.04 113.28 67.70 144.9 147.9 135.0 106.6 112.8 91.3 483 572 911 834 211 86.0 73.6 712 593 194 273 1,678,750.00 2,219,000.00 403,000.00 4,795,000.00 1,565,000.00 *Estimate based on the number of public high schools supported by local taxation. **When State levied ad valorem tax and apportioned three months teachers' salaries. fTwo years. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL STATEMENT Constitutional Provisions and Administration. The Constitution of North Carolina declares that the people have the right to tlie privilege of educa- tion: that it is the duty of the State to guard and maintain tliat right, and that the General Assembly shall provide by taxation and otlierwise for a general and uniform system of public schools wherein tuition shall be free of charge to all children of the State between tlie ages of six and twenty- one years. The public school system in this State is considered only tliat which per- tains to the elementary and high schools. This part of the system is ad- ministered by the State Board of Education, which is composed of the following: Governor A. W. McLe.\n. President J. Ei.MKR LoxG, Lieutenant Governor W. N. Everett, Secretary of State Baxter Dirii x^r. Auditor B. R. Lacy. Treasurer D. G. Brimmitt. Attorney General A. T. Allex. Superintendent of Public Instruction, Secretary The county board of education is the administrative authority for main- taining the public schools of the county except in certain schools that have been granted a special charter by the General Assembly to operate inde- pendently. The school committee has local control of the school buildings and school property, is charged with the duty of employing teachers for the public schools, and their contracts with teachers are valid when approved by the county superintendent of schools. Support. Public schools in North Carolina are supported largely by a county ad valorem school tax levy sufficient to meet the constitutional re- quirements for a minimum term of six months. When the county levy is insufficient, the State aids in the payment of teachers' salaries by what is known as an Equalizing Fund. This fund, which amounted to $1,500,000 during 1924-25, is a direct appropriation from tlie State Treasury for tliis purpose. The school fund thus provided is supplemented in a great many school districts through the levy of a local district tax on polls and property to increase the term or supplement teachers' salaries. K ? ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION During the first quarter of the twentieth century our elementary and secondary schools grew remarkably. As the following table shows, the enrollment in such institutions more than doubled. Last year, 1924-25, there was a total expenditure of slightly less than thirty-four mlll.ons of dollars as compared with approximately one million dollars twenty-five years ago. The city of Winston-Salem, alone, has a single school building which cost more than the entire sum spent for public education in North Carolina in 1900. This growth is shown in other items, especially the increased per cent of the school enrollment which is graduating from high schools. In 1910 one in a thousand pupils enrolled in elementary and high schools graduated from high school. During the past school year, 1924-25, one out of seventy- seven completed high school. In short, a child of school age last year was thirteen times as apt to have finished high school as he would have been had he reached the world fifteen years earlier. GEOWTH IN ELEMENTARY AND HIGH SCHOOLS IN NORTH CAROLINA Year Total Expenditure Total . Enrollment Per Pupil Expenditure High School Graduates Total Number Teachers 1900 S 1,062,303.71 3,178,950.50 400,452 520,404 S 2.74 6.11 8,320 1910 510 11,162 1920 12,214,250.00 691,249 17.67 2,999 16.854 1921 17,487,763.70 707,762 24.70 3,710 18,361 1922 21,649,645.99 753,698 28.72 4,213 19,733 1923 29,856,988.81 775,495 38.49 5,795 20,536 1924 29,747,075.84 793,406 37.51 8,863 21,403 1925 33,978,063.88 809,834 41.96 10,466 22,248 Eleni'^ntary School Progress. In 1924, in response to the demand for a statement of the minimum conditions under which standard instruction could be given, the requirements for a standard elementary school were worked out, based on the conditions considered necessary to be provided if a child is to have an equal opportunity in the elementary school. The mini- mum requirements for a standard elementary school are as follows: 1. A seven-year course of study 2. A term of eight months 3. At least seven teachers, holding proper certificates 4. At least 205 pupils in average daily attendance 5. Standard equipment, building, and system of records There are 113 schools in the State, at present, which meet these require- ments. ^■MMMM | > — ' Hl»' « ■ •-■-' -—«-*''^*>--t ■"■■■>-•■ £Mil High School Progress. As the tables which follow show, there has been considerable development in the field of secondary education since 1907. This growth was stimulated greatly in 1920, wiien the General Assembly enacted a law providing revenue for the establishment of standard high schools in rural communities. From this source approximately $100,000 per year has been used in those counties where the need was greatest and certain local effort was made. HIGH SCHOOL STATISTICAL SUMMARY, 1924-25 White Colored Total Number of Teachers 3,661 513 4,174 Enrollment 72,181 9,521 81,702 Graduates 9,473 993 10,466 Number of High Schools.. 701 94 795 High School Standardization. Intelligent interest in the development of high schools in North Carolina is manifested in no way better than in the attention which people, in general, are giving to the matter of accredited high schools. The significance of this standardization is more easily under- stood when one knows that a standard school of the lowest class is one that meets the following requirements: 1. A four-year course of study 2. An eight-months term 3. Three whole-time high school teachers, holding proper certificates 4. Recitation periods 45 minutes in length 5. Forty-five pupils in average daily attendance 6. An adequate building and required equipment At the close of the session, 1925-26, there were in this State 543 accredited schools, public and private, urban and rural, white and colored. Of these standard schools 494 were white and 49 colored. In this connection it is interesting to note that North Carolina has three times as many colored accredited high schools as any other Southern State and approximately a fourth as many as all Southern states combined. Of the white schools 453 were public and 41 private. Of the 49 colored schools 26 were public and 23 private. During the session of 1924-25, 67,086 children were enrolled in public white high schools. Of this number 57,687 or 86 per cent were enrolled in accredited high schools. Y ocational Education. Starting with the 21 schools in 1917-18, the instruc- tion in Vocational Agriculture has grown until today there are 95 white schools and 20 negro schools with teachers of Vocational Agriculture em- ployed as members of the school faculty, teaching agriculture to more than five thousand farmers and farm boys, each one of whom carries on super- vised practice work related to the instruction. The following table gives the growth of vocational education in the three fields of activity: Ycur 1918-19 1919-20 1920-21 1921-22 1922-23 1923-24 1924-25 1925-26 Agriculture Scliools Enrollment 21 323 44 721 53 1,019 65 1,468 6.8 1,900 88 2,282 105 5,293 111 5,800 Home Economics Schools 3 23 55 53 81 118 140 147 Enrollment 100 814 1,650 1,940 2,83] 4,497 5,552 6,261 Trades and Industries Classes E tirollment , 128 73 751 163 1,511 180 2, 103 175 2,021 210 2,987 258 4,044 246 3,699 Visual Education. The Bureau of Visual Education provides free film service, aids in the purchasing of standard motion picture machines for the schools at net wholesale prices, and makes pictures and lantern slides of educational and historical value. More than 125 schools now have approved projection equipment and are making use of the film service supplied free by this department. More than 1,500,000 feet of film are available for dis- tribution. During 1924-25, 1,515 six-reel programs of pictures were supplied to 95 schools. The total attendance on these programs during this year was 210,638. The service offered is being gradually enlarged to include films of in- structional value as well as entertainment. Films that may be used in the classroom, those that deal with history, geography, science, travel, industry, drama and literature, are being purchased and will be available for future use. 10 SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRESS The progress that North Carolina has made in education during the past twenty-five years is materially shown in the school buildings which laave been erected for the white children, the colored children and the Indian children of the State. In 1900 the total value of all school property in the State was only $1,097,564. There were 6,91S buildings having an average value of $159. Nearly all of these buildings contained less than three rooms and 1.190 were log houses. The State's direct participation in building modern achoolhouses began in 1903 when, through the influence of Superintendent Joyner, the Legislature converted the old State School fund of $200,000 known as the "Literary Fund." into a permanent loan fund as a practical plan of securing in a reasonable time a comfortable and respectable schoolhouse in every rural district in the State. On June 30, 1925, the principal amounted to $1,217,766.50 and the amount available to be loaned each year is $255,000. To meet the demands for larger consolidated schools the Legislature of 1921 authorized a special building fund of $5,000,000. No loan could be made from this fund for erecting or repairing any school building containing less than five classrooms. So gratifying were the results obtained from the first five-million-dollar special building fund that the Legislature of 1923 authorized another bond issue of $5,000,000 for the same purpose. The Legislature of 1925 authorized a third five million. A condition pre- cedent to receive a loan from this issue was that the building to be erected contained at least seven classrooms, and that the building be modern in all of its attainments. An evidence of what is being done for the colored children is the work of the Julius Rosenwald Fund, which has aided in the construction of 571 buildings within the State. These are valued at $2,796,710. The State has made special appropriations of $62,000 to aid in the con- struction of modern schools for the Indian children of Robeson County. At present North Carolina is spending at the rate of about $11,000,000 per year in the modernization of her school buildings. The following table gives some idea of the progress that is being made along this line: Expenditure for Year TaJue of School Propi rty Capital Outlay 1900 $ 1,097,564.00 $ 56,207.60 1910 5,862,969.00 435,765.58 1920 24,057,838.00 2.355,061.02 1921 28,202,133.00 3,716,619.17 1922 35,268,970.00 5,795,872.88 1923 48,874,830.00 12,198,385.42 1924 59,758,005.00 10,156,407.99 1925 70,705,835.00 12.470,059.28 13 CONSOLIDATION AND TRANSPORTATION Consolidation. One of the incidents of consolidation is the elimination of the one- and two-teacher schools. In 1900-01 there were 7,829 one-teacher rural schools in the State. The past school year, 1924-25, there were only 2,720 one-teacher schools. There has been a decrease in this type of school each year since 1901-02, Avhen there were 7,867 one-teacher schools. The tendency in North Carolina is tow^ard the larger type of school, one that has five, six, and more than six teachers. The follow^ing table shows the growth in this larger size school during the past four years: Year White Colored Total 1921-22 326 29 356 1922-23 45S 33 491 1923-24 634 57 691 1924-25 703 93 796 Tro.nsportation. As an aid to the consolidation of schools public trans- portation of pupils has been brought about. In most instances the transpor- tation of pupils necessarily follows consolidation. However, it is practically a new undertaking in this State, having come with the advent of good roads and the successful use of motor buses. The following table shows statistically the progress the State has made in transportation from its inception in 1914 up to the present time: Number of Number of Year Vehicles Children Used Transported 1914-15 6 150 1919-20 247 7,936 1921-22 528 20,359 1922-23 85S 31,544 1923-24 1,318 48,251 1924-25 1,909 69,295 1925-26* 2,500 90,000 * Estimate o 15 INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING AND TEACHER TRAINING During the past few years no phase of educational progress has been more marked than that of higher education. The institutions of higher learning are each administered by a separate board of trustees. The following are the names and locations of the State institutions of higher learning: White I. Colleges: North Carolina College for Women, Greensboro North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering, Raleigh University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill II. Teachers College: East Carolina Teachers College, Greenville III. Standard Normal Schools: Appalachian State Normal, Boone Cullowhee State Normal, Cullowhee East Carolina Teachers College, Greenville (Two-year course) Colored I. Colleges: Agricultural and Technical College, Greensboro North Carolina College for Negroes, Durham II. Teachers College: Winston-Salem Teachers College, Winston-Salem III. Standard Normal Schools: Elizabeth City State Normal, Elizabeth City State Normal School, Fayetteville Winston-Salem Teachers College, Winston-Salem (Two-year course) 16 There are also 27 white and 5 colored denominational or privately endowed institutions which offer work of college grade. In addition to these institutions, there were in 1925-26 thirteen teacher training departments in high schools for whites and seven departments for colored. These departments have one-year curricula and high school grad- uation is required for admission. These instiutions constitute the facilities for higher education in this State. Upon these agencies the State must rely for the training of its teachers. E'ach institution is given a rating upon the basis of which the teacher se- cures a certificate to teach. Credit less than graduation from high school is non-standard. The following facts give the status of the teaching force of the State from 1922-23 to 1925-26: TEACHERS CERTIFICATES Year 1922-23 1923-24 1924-25 1925-26 standard N 071 -standard Total 15,579 4,972 20,551 16,795 4,639. 21,434 18,240 4,017 22,257 19,785 3,116 22,901 18 STATE SCHOOL FACTS RALEIGH. N. C. Capital Outlay Distribution On September 15, 1925, the publication of STATE SCHOOL FACTS, a five column paper, was begun. This paper is publislied semi-monthly and is sent free of charge to school officials, libraries, institutions and persons interested in education. At the present time it has a mailing list of about 3,500 people. The purpose of this paper is to give the basic facts about the schools of the State. An average of about two columns is de- voted to statistical matter and the remain- ing three columns to the presentation and interpretation of these facts. After having published this paper for nearly two years it is felt that it has been a worth-while undertaking. The manifes- tation of interest on the part of the public has been far greater than anticipated. The newspapers have cooperated splendidly in giving the facts to the people by allotting a column or more, sometimes on the front page, to the presentation of the material as set forth in each issue. i :•;';:;,';.;:;:::: " ■■',;'■ p,',','. ■' :l:, :.: ; s'lii '.iuti' -.-,,.,,,.,,.,„ ;„,.;,';:. '„i,;„.;- do'l"Ir-^'ivrr"ti^'o Capltjil OuUa SZTl „„. 1021 ls6ao7.ro I,crun.l.cl.oob|| rectdlnt. Over n ilMion nnci . Hull ivcre m.ae du oe io=i--'s W U„. This Bulletin Was Prepared Foe the Sesqui-Centennial, Exposition Held at Philadelphia July 15, 1926 UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 00034021987 FOR USE ONLY IN THE NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTION Form No. A-368, Rev. 8/95