;-NRLF LA DO? 00 in o HELP- YOUR- SCHOOL SURVEYS Is the central office organization adequate ? Are the financial records adequate ? Are the educational records adequate ? Is the teaching efficient in classes seen? Waterbury Public Schools and Classroom Instruction in St. Paul Summaries of two surveys made by the BUREAU OF MUNICIPAL RESEARCH 261 Broadway, New York City Price 15 c$nts; 10 for $1,00 CONTENTS-INDEX Arithmetic 27-31 Age-grade 6, 10, 11, cover Blackboards 18 Board of education 13 Board of health 13 Budget 7, 11 Buildings 5, 13, 15 Census See records Cleaning See janitors Clerical assistance 15 Cloak rooms 14 Composition .22-25 Continuation school 6, 14 Cooperation, outside 6, 15 Course of study, 5, 10, 12; see subjects Domestic arts .5, 6, 14 Drinking fountains 8 Efficiency devices 11, 27, 31 Elimination . ..10 Extent of surveys 2, 17 Fire precautions 14 Geography 31 Grammar 24-26 Grounds 5 Gymnasium 6 History 32 Janitors 4, 7, 8 Kindergarten 6 Library 3 Lighting ..:. . .*. Maps 31 Manual training 5, 6, 14 Membership See size of class Museums 9 Music 19 Night schools 5 Part time 15, 16 Phonics 21 Physical examination 13 Physiology and hygiene 5, 32 Play 9 Principals 4, 15 Promotions 9 Reading 19-22 Records 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12 Repairs 7, 8 Reports See records Salaries 3, 4 Sanitation . .4, 8, 14, 18 Seating 5, 18 Size of classes 11, 12 Social center See cooperation Spelling ...26 Stereopticon 9 Superintendent 3, 4, 19 Supervision 4, 9, 18, 19 Supplies 3, 5, 7, 11, 18, 21 Teachers' meetings 19 Technical instruction 14 Text books See supplies Towels 9 Trade training 6 Ventilation 4, 5, 8, 14, 18 FOREWORD In February, 1913, the Bureau was asked by the Committee of Thirty re Needs of St. Paul's Public Schools, to answer within the limits of a six day survey of school management the following four questions : Is the central office organization adequate? Are the financial records adequate? Are the educational records adequate? Is the teaching observed. in 40 classes efficient? The full report was submitted to the committee March 4th and published in local newspapers. The study of class room instruction by Mr. A. N. Farmer, now in charge of the normal school study for the Wisconsin State Board of Public Affairs, is reprinted here ; the other portions are omitted because their points are largely covered by the Waterbury findings. The three day survey of the Waterbury schools was made by Dr. Horace L. Brittain, now director of the Ohio State School Survey. It was included at the request of a committee of business men as part of an investigation of the organization and business procedure of all city departments, financial methods, departments of police, fire, health, charities, water, parks, public works, public library, clerks, inspector of build- ings, etc. which was submitted by the Bureau April 16, 1913. The Waterbury papers printed the summary which is here given with the addition of some tables from the complete text. These two reports are reprinted for the use of school com- missioners, supervisors and laymen as pointing the way to easy-to-take remedial steps which may be needed in your city. BUREAU OF MUNICIPAL RESEARCH TRUSTEES DIRECTORS R. FULTON CUTTING WILLIAM H. ALLEN FRANK L. POLK HENRY BRUERE JOSEPH W. HARRIMAN FREDERICK A. CLEVELAND GEORGE B. HOPKINS BRADLEY MARTIN, JR. VICTOR MORAWETZ JOHN B. PINE EDWIN R. A. SELIGMAN ALBERT SHAW FRANK TUCKER SURVEY OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT EXTENT OF SURVEY Visits during 3 days in February, 1913, to 18 schools in the second taxation district, 17 elementary and one high school ; study of educational records and reports in offices of principals and superintendent, of routine procedure in offices of inspector of buildings and superintendent, etc Points marked * were not investigated in detail and for this reason no fuller treatment of them appears in the text of the full report, which consisted of 35 typewritten pages, 9 pages of tables, and 7 exhibits. The actual cost of making the survey and report was $126.89 CONDITIONS FAVORABLE TO EFFICIENCY Administration *The superintendent of schools has great freedom in the selection of teachers. Only once in 16 years has one of his appointments been set aside by vote of the board of education For over 10 years Waterbury has had in use an excellent system of continuous record cards for pupils in the schools, excellent in that (a) by reason of the use of individual cards, the com- plete record can be moved from school to school as easily as the boy (b) the things superintendent, board members and taxpayers ought to know about the children are there on the card The superintendent receives excellent reports on enrollment, transfers, net membership, attendance, promotions, double promotions, absence of teachers, attendance of teachers at professional gatherings, corporal punishment, etc, These reports are excellent in that (a) adequate information is given (b) reports are frequent (c) directions are clear At the superintendent's office is a professional teachers' library of several hundred volumes, carefully indexed. Thirty or 40 magazines are also kept in this room *The routine business of the office of the superintendent of schools is well organized in that (a) clerks work under a regular schedule for each month of the year (b) assistants' schedules tell them when to remind the superintendent of matters demanding his atten- tion (c) all official papers are systematically filed in book form (d) record is kept of phone calls The distribution of text books and supplies is under good control because the system shows stock on hand and amount consumed as well as purchased. Budget esti- mates for text books and supplies are based on a definite schedule The average salary for teachers in the second taxation dis- trict (being fourth on the list of Connecticut towns, ac- cording to the report of the state commission of educa- tion) is relatively high, placing the city in a strong position in competition for good teachers in Connecticut and neighboring states WATERBURY SCHOOLS Salary Schedules POSITION SA I,ARY Minimum Maximum High school teacher, man $750 $1500 " " woman 700 1100 Grade orincitjal's assistant 350900 Department teachers 850 Teachers, grade II IX 800 grade I 850 kindergarten 800 Kindergarten assistant 700 ^Considerable freedom seems to be allowed to the principals in developing efficiency methods in their own schools. One principal was found to have a special card index scheme giving names of pupils residing in houses where contagious disease had been reported The superintendent spends from 3 to 4 hours daily among the schools, except during such periods as the beginning and end of terms and during budget making. The super- visor of primary schools spends all the regular school hours in supervision. The superintendent meets all the principals every 2 weeks to discuss such topics as text books, course of study, etc. The supervisors of primary grades have regular and frequent meetings. Principals meet their teachers every 2 weeks for discussion Construction and Sanitation All school rooms are scrubbed 3 times a year and kinder- garten rooms once a week Push brushes and a sweeping mixture are in use in all build- ings The tinting of the rooms is standardized The high school is provided with a vacuum cleaning system The board of education has adopted a definite policy with regard to the character of school construction The lighting of new school buildings is satisfactory as to (a) height of windows (b) piers narrow and beveled (c) narrow spaces between windows (d) 4 buildings exceed standard lighting Most of the school buildings are provided with exhaust or plenum fans, or with both In recent years there has been a great improvement in the construction of sanitaries by replacing wooden partitions FAVORABLE FINDINGS and floors with stone and by installing well-constructed toilets in old buildings Corridors and stairways in new buildings are faced with salt-glazed or painted brick All school buildings, except 4, are equipped with fireproof stairways All doors open outward; many outside doors are provided with panic bolts Non-adjustable seats are being rapidly replaced by adjust- able seats The schools are provided throughout with sanitary drink- ing fountains Most of the new buildings have automatic control of tem- perature in the class room The school grounds are generally of good size compared to school grounds in other cities of the size of Waterbury. The location of schools is generally good, and in the case of the more recent buildings, very fine Text Books and Course of Study *Principals and teachers are consulted in the choice of text books and to some extent in outlining courses of study Manual training and domestic arts are taught in the elemen- tary schools from the fifth grade up. An evidence of effective teaching is the fact that 300 girls made their graduation dresses for June *Waterbury elementary schools offer a satisfactory course in physiology and hygiene The night schools offer besides the regular grammar, high school and commercial courses, instruction in practical arts, such as dressmaking, millinery, drawing and chem- istry Of the average enrollment in night schools the percentage that attends is high Evening School Enrollment and Attendance CITY Enrollment Attendance Sessions # Att. on IJnr. Hartford 2,522 646 75 26 Hew Haven 1,066 315 75 29 New Britain 944 303 75 32 Waterbury 803 518 86 64.5 Meridan 366 188 75 51 Danbury 282 83 75 29 Ansonia 149 39 50 26 6 WATERBURY SCHOOLS 180 apprentices are enrolled in the continuation school while there is a waiting list of 40. Each apprentice receives 4 hours of class room instruction per week, in addition to visits from the director of the school while the appren- tice is at work in a particular shop. The classes are limited in size to 20 each. The director, in addition to thorough technical training, is experienced in shop work and factory practice Outside Cooperation Waterbury affords many examples of outside cooperation, such as: (a) a bequest for manual training (b) the initiation of kindergartens, the beginning of public library work with school children, the opening of the first open-air school, the en- couragement of the decoration of the school rooms with plaster casts and reproductions of paintings, by the Woman's Club of Waterbury (c) assistance in the initiation of cooking instruction in the public schools, by the Friendly League of Waterbury (d) supplying gymnasium facilities for boys in public schools by the Waterbury Boys' Club and the Y. M. C. A. (e) support of the continuation school movement by manufacturers and labor unions of Waterbury support without which success would have been impossible DEFECTIVE CONDITIONS EASILY CORRECTED BY SLIGHT IMPROVEMENTS IN ADMINIS- TRATION HEREWITH SUGGESTED The school census is kept in a bound book instead of in a card catalogue, thus making difficult the current correction of the census and causing unnecessary writing of the same children's names year after year Before the next census is taken the superintendent's office should be provided with the necessary cabinets and forms for a census in card catalogue form Continuous record cards of children are not arranged by classes and grades, hence each teacher at the beginning of the year can not easily make an age-progress-health study of her class At least in the offices of the principals the continuous record cards should be arranged at once by grades and classes, and at the beginning of the next school year each CHECKING UP REPAIRS NEEDED 7 teacher should make an age-progress study of her class by means of the suggested form, and if data are then available, an age-progress-health-mentality study of her class accord- ing to a form similar to that given in Appendix A * Accurate per capita costs for text books and supplies, based on actual consumption, are available for the entire city but not for each school, although the necessary accounts are kept The next report of the board of education should utilize this information and state accurate per capita costs for each function in each school, kind of school and special activity. Where possible pupil-subject-hour costs should also be com- puted Bills for repairs are not checked up properly as to time by records kept by principals or janitors Firms doing business with the education department should be required SQ to itemize their bills for labor as to make it possible to check them by time records kept by principals or janitors in all school buildings Time cards are not in use in the office of the inspector of school buildings; neither, as a usual thing, is the time of the various men in the repair squad kept by principals or janitors A thorough system of time cards should be installed im- mediately in the office of the inspector of buildings Records of cost of materials and labor for each repair job are not kept and even when these are continually recurrent they are not standardized Records of cost of every job for materials and labor should be made a basis for standardizing the cost of the various sorts of repairs, renewals and renovations which constantly recur. Assuming that the whole amount, $16,000, allowed this year for repairs, will be expended this year and that repairs are charged to other accounts, repairs will cost 17% of the total value of school buildings which are under the direct control of the Waterbury board of education. An unusual proportion of the school buildings in Waterbury are of comparatively recent construction. In New York where there are many old school buildings, the budget al- lowance for repairs is on a basis of Records of the dates when rooms are renovated, etc., are not kept, so that it is not possible at present to make a time schedule for the life of different sorts of repairs A card catalogue giving the history of each job of repair- ing, renewing or renovating should be installed at once as a basis for standardizing the life of all sorts of work done on the physical plant 8 WATERBURY SCHOOLS The instructions to janitors are not detailed enough to secure uniformity in essentials, such as proper use of feather dusters and the flushing of water closets; nor does the present system get sufficiently quick response when janitors' supplies and small repairs are needed Detailed regulations as to care of school buildings, noti- fication of needed repairs and supplies, etc., should be drawn up as soon as possible and placed in the hands of all prin- cipals, teachers and janitors. Principals and teachers should be held responsible for securing proper care of their build- ings from day to day in order that janitorial service may be effectively standardized. The board of education should take immediate steps to have the repair squad and janitorial force put under civil service regulations. The superintend- ent of schools has no veto on the plans of buildings. Build- ings may be planned, contracts let, and even construction started without any knowledge of the superintendent dur- ing his absence from the city at vacation time Where yards are small and consequently cut up in wet weather, as in the Clay Street school, the school room floors are extremely muddy or dusty, yet they are not treated with a non-drying oil The floors in such buildings should be treated with non- drying oil, well rubbed in. However, no application of oil should be made on the floor immediately in the vicinity of the teachers' desks Toilet seats are often rough and consequently difficult to keep clean Toilet seats should be kept always smooth by varnishing or otherwise and should be thoroughly cleaned at least once every 24 hours. Some janitors should use a strong disin- fectant, such as formaldehyde; some have been using var- ious coal tar products which disguise any odors that may be lurking in the toilets Although most of the sanitary drinking fountains are excel- lent, one type in use -in Waterbury necessitates children bringing their hands very close to the jet, thus affording chance of contagion The form of sanitary fountain to be attached to old fix- tures should be of a kind which will not bring children's hands in contact with or close proximity to the jet During the inspection several rooms were found to be some- what overheated All principals, teachers and janitors should be given thorough instruction in the ventilating and heating systems in their own buildings, and every teacher should be pro- ANNUAL PROMOTIONS LOSE TIME 9 vided with blanks on which to report temperature records. Steps should be taken to make it impossible to have over- heated class rooms, either by continuous expert attention to the automatic control system, or in some other way. In several new buildings some rooms have the air inlet and outlet too close together, in some places as close as five feet. This tends to the creation of dead air spaces in the parts of the room farthest away from the inlets and outlets Schools are not provided with individual paper towels for pupils or with rolls of paper toweling All schools should be provided with paper towels for the use of pupils Thoroughly organized school museums and reflecting ap- paratus are not provided in all elementary schools to shorten and make more efficient the teaching of geography, history and English Steps should be take'n through neighborhood cooperation to procure stereopticons and apparatus for solid projection and museums for all schools. This apparatus could be used effectively in social center and night school work, par- ticularly among foreigners, as well as in regular class room instruction *Organized play does not receive sufficient attention, particu- larly in the primary and intermediate grades Course of study should be provided in organized play, and teachers should be instructed in methods of teaching plays and games Time cards showing amount of time spent in teaching, in office work and in class room supervision from month to month, are not provided for the principals, and regular reports on apportionment of principals' time are not sent to the superin- tendent Accurate records should be kept of the amount and char- acter of supervision, time spent by principals in office routine and in class room instruction Regular semi-annual promotions are not made in the Water- bury system. Where regular promotions occur but once a year, so that units of work for a grade are large, and where there are many oversize classes rendering individual instruction out of the question, not very many promotions throughout the year can be made to advantage In order to decrease the amount of time lost through non- promotion a system of regular semi-annual promotions should be introduced into the elementary schools and the high school. Causes for non-promotion are stated in the annual promotion reports sent to the superintendent. 10 WATERBURY SCHOOLS Notices of impending failure of pupils are sent to parents in time to affect the programs of pupils. In the elementary schools promotions are by subjects. About 90% of the pupils on the register at the end of the year are promoted, although the promotion problem is particularly acute in Waterbury on account of (a) the rapid growth of the city almost 60% in ten years (b) tfie influx of non-English speaking people (c) the entry into the grade of large numbers of immature pupils under 5 or slightly over (d) the large number of overage children in the lower grades The causes of dropping out in individual cases are not ascer- tained and recorded as a matter of routine Records of dropping out and the causes of dropping out should be kept in each school building and in the office of the superintendent of schools The elementary school should offer more than the one full course. There are no intermediate schools nor is there any differentiation in the last two or three years of the course given Each teacher is not expected at the beginning of each term to make a careful age-progress-health study of her class in order to learn 100% of her overage and retardation problem For the purpose of locating children specially needing at- tention, each teacher should be required at the beginning of each term to make a careful age-progress-health study of her class, which shall be kept currently up to date by mark- ing pupils who have dropped out, been transferred, or re- ceived promotions during the term Where there are several classes in each grade in the same building, children are not assigned to classes according to age, mental age, physiological age, or degree of retardation or acceleration ; but children are divided "fairly" among the teachers. This results in unnecessary extremes of age, size and progress within each individual class. In age, for ex- ample, 4 classes showed each a difference between the oldest and youngest child of 9y 2 years or over. Of the 17 classes in the upper 5 grades of one school, 13 contained both slow overage children and rapid underage children. See p. 3, cover UNIT COSTS IN SCHOOL BUDGET 11 These age-progress studies along with other data should be made the basis for classification and continuous reclassifi- cation of pupils. The necessity for such classification is in- dicated by the fact that an age-progress study of one gram- mar school with a membership of over 1,300 (the material for which study was supplied through the earnest coopera- tion of the principal and teachers) shows that in this school 4 times as many pupils lose time as gain time While the budget estimates for textbooks and supplies are carefully computed on a unit cost basis, the budget estimate form as submitted does not state the number of units and the unit costs for janitors' payrolls and supplies, various items of expense, maintenance and repairs and manual training The whole school budget should be reduced to a basis of units and unit costs *Sufncient care is not given to pass along in a regular way efficiency devices from principal to principal and school to school. For example, an excellent device used by one prin- cipal for locating children exposed to danger of contagion, is not in use in other schools of the city A clearing house should be established in the superin- tendent's office through which (1) efficiency devices in ad- ministration or instruction found to be valuable in any school within or without the system may be made immedi- ately available to all Waterbury schools, and (2) the superin- tendent, the board and the public may currently be told where attention is needed In one elementary school 3 ninth grade classes had member- ships respectively of 29, 27 and 35, while 3 first grade classes had memberships of 55, 55 and 54 Where such conditions exist small classes could be com- bined and large classes divided without any increase in the number of teachers and to the great advantage of the effi- ciency of the school as a whole. For example, in the case cited, the first grade could have been organized in 4 classes and the ninth in 2 without any increase in the number of teachers and without any class having more than 46 pupils 12 WATERBURY SCHOOLS Membership of Classes 1 19 o o % 3 ? o s 2 m 8 8 J> 1 1 I 3 I 1 1 o i 2 $ b* M fi i 3 K 3 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 3 59 1 3 9 8 10 3 50 2 7 4 6 3 4 1 44 3 3 5 12 8 3 44 4 i 1 6 6 10 3 42 5 3 3 3 5 12 40 6 2 4 5 12 1 36 7 5 4 6 6 1 36 8 4 1 3 1 32 9 6 3 2 1 31 21 26 38 61 45 22 5 2 1 1 3 Membership and attendance reports to the superintendent, in addition to the usual membership figures, do not contain membership figures which result from (a) counting every child as a member until his absence, irrespective of its length, has been satisfactorily explained and his membership cancelled officially by the superintendent (b) counting as members pupils who have dropped out of school finally during the course of the term with- out completing an elementary school course The second figure need be obtained at every promotion only for the purpose of using it as a basis for computing percents of promotion, non-promotion and dropping out Stating membership on the first basis is desirable for ad- ministrative reasons and tends to put a check on truancy and unnecessary absence. Membership on the second basis is necessary as one element in measuring social efficiency of schools their efficiency in retaining children to the end of the elementary school course and to the end of the high school course The allotment of time to arithmetic, etc., for the various grades is open to question The whole time schedule should be subjected to a thor- ough study, in connection with studies of (a) the course of study in relation to life (b) methods of teaching in relation to the development of judgment, initiative, and power of adaptation to actual conditions (c) dropping out in the various grades and at the various ages, with its causes (d) failure and its causes in the various subjects of the course, in various grades and schools, and among pupils of various origins TESTS FOR BOARD MEMBERS 13 DEFECTIVE CONDITIONS EASILY CORRECTED WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR REORGANIZATION FOR WHICH STATUTORY ENACTMENT IS NECESSARY Owing to the fact that the whole board of education comes up for election every year, continuity of policy is made very difficult. When the present board was elected, 5 of the 7 were new men Arrangements should be made by which not more than 2 members shall be elected annually or semi-annually. Whether it is possible to put this into effect at once or not, the 6 following questions should be used in testing individu- als considered for the school board : (a) are they interested in the success of the public school? (b) do they know reasonably well the local conditions which the public school is supposed to express and the local needs which the public school is supposed to meet? (c) are they in the habit of basing judgment upon facts? (d) are they in the habit of working from first hand in- formation instead of hearsay? (e) can they use effectively such sources of information as school records, reports of state and national bureaus of education, the valuable discussions of school methods and advance steps in educational journals? (f) are they capable of managing any other business where the number of subordinates, patrons and days spent equals the number of subordinates, patrons and days spent of Waterbury's school system? Owing to the short term of office of the inspector of school buildings and the frequent changes in personnel, the inspec- tion of repair work and janitorial work suffers The inspector of school buildings should be placed under civil service regulations DEFECTIVE CONDITIONS EASILY CORRECTED BUT REQUIRING INCREASED APPROPRIATION, WITH CONSTRUCTIVE SUGGESTIONS Physical examination of school children is inadequate, and the continuous record cards contain no physical data, hence proper follow-up work is impossible The school officials should help the board of health to secure a sufficient appropriation to make possible a thorough physical examination of each school child each year, the entering of the resulting data on the children's continuous record cards used by the board of education, and effective follow-up work by nurses and physicians 14 WATERBURY SCHOOLS No school buildings are supplied with humidifying apparatus Every school building should be supplied with some form of such apparatus if only a pan of water. One building should be so supplied as an experiment and the resulting improvement in the health of pupils and reduced cost of heating should be tested by comparison with records in other buildings Children's outer clothing is either hung on racks in the corridors or in cloak rooms with no ventilation save by the windows Ventilated cloak rooms should be supplied in all school buildings hereafter constructed Several of the older school buildings and several toilets have practically no ventilation save by windows Wherever on account of disproportionate expense it is undesirable to provide forced ventilation, the latest and best devices for using window ventilation without danger to children's health from drafts should be installed Some school buildings are still unprovided with fireproof landings at the bottoms and tops of stairways No building of more than one story should be allowed to remain in this condition if it is to continue in use for school purposes One school is provided with fire escapes which increase fire risks to children and teachers in the building These should be replaced at once by adequate and safe escapes No manual training or sewing is taught in the high school These courses should be given if the high school is to meet 100% of the community needs *The manufacturing city of Waterbury needs more continua- tion instruction. The feasibility of such instruction has been proved by the wise policy of the board and the superintend- ent and by the cooperation of organized labor and of em- ployers of labor The superintendent's policy of satisfying demands for continuation training as they become apparent should be heartily supported by the board of education and the citi- zens of Waterbury. The present waiting list of 40 indicates the reality of the present demand Waterbury has no technical high schools and no facilities for technical instruction in the present high school In view of the fact that the present high school has double sessions, and that the city is an industrial center, Water- PART TIME AND OVERCROWDING 15 bury should proceed immediately to the construction of the technical high school which has been under consideration for years *Principals of elementary schools with from 12 to 14 classes have no clerical assistance, so that they are not able to give a sufficient amount of time to class room supervision Clerical assistance should be supplied to the principals in the ratio of at least one assistant to 36 rooms, the assist- ants to go where necessary, from principal to principal ac- cording to a regular schedule Social center and neighborhood work in connection with the schools is under present conditions practically impossible in Waterbury. For example, no school in Waterbury is provided with a gymnasium or shower baths and no ele- mentary school has an auditorium. The lack of auditoriums makes it impossible for principals to meet all their pupils in general exercises, for teachers to meet parents of pupils at parent-teacher meetings, or for neighborhood organiza- tions to hold meetings in the most conveniently located building in the neighborhood a building moreover, which is the property of the public No future school building should be constructed without supplying adequate provisions for neighborhood activities. The use of expensive school buildings only 6 hours a day for 200 days in the year is uneconomic Waterbury provides inadequate school room accommodation and insufficient number of teachers for the children attend- ing its schools as is shown by the following facts: (a) 840 pupils in the elementary school of Waterbury are on part time. The 5 unoccupied class rooms even if properly located would be entirely inadequate to take care of the part time children. These pupils are distributed as follows: Grade I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX Total NO. 103 96 175 225 174 67 840 (b) of 198 elementary classes 59 have 40 to 45 pupils per teacher, 54 have 45 to 50 pupils per teacher, 20 have from 50 to 55 per teacher, and 4 have 55 or over per teacher, excluding kindergarten classes and mixed classes which are few in number and small in size That Waterbury, which, according to the report of the state commission of education, ranks fourth in population, fourth in registration, fourth in amount received from the state and fourth in the 1909 examination, ranks only 119th in amount 16 WATERBURY SCHOOLS spent per child based on enumeration, and only 82d based on average attendance, is not due to low salaries paid her teachers. According to the report above cited, only 8 cities and towns in the state surpass Waterbury in salaries paid, if the district schools be included, and only 4 if the schools of the second taxation district be considered by themselves. If, as appears to be the case, the low cost per child is due partly to overcrowded classes and perhaps to part time un- avoidable with the present equipment, Waterbury is pay- ing too large a price for her showing in economy The board of education should take immediate steps to learn whether the Ettinger part time plan (New York) or the plan used in Gary, Indiana, whereby 2 class rooms do the work usually done by 4 or more, would not greatly re- lieve the situation both as to part time and oversize classes. The board of education should determine just what construc- tion will be necessary to cope with any wants which can- not be met by reorganization, and with the extremely rapid growth in school population. Whatever new construction is necessary should be immediately undertaken The complete report of the Bureau has been published in all our daily papers and I wish to thank you for the fair- ness with which you made your survey here. Beyond a doubt your report will help me greatly in my work and will secure for us better boards of education, more liberal appropriations and an awakening interest among the general public. Quite a number of your sug- gestions I have put into operation at once and shall con- tinue to take them up as rapidly as possible. We have just puVour schools on an eight year basis and begun the pre- liminary work about revising our work in arithmetic. The principals have already arranged their card indexes by grades and rooms and I have been making plans so that our census next fall would be taken on a card index. In regard to the latter it seems to me that if we had it on a card index, we ought not to be obliged to pay five cents per name as we do at present because the work of the enu- merators would be very much less. Letter from Sup't. B. W. Tinker, May 6, 1913 CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION IN 54 CLASSES OP ST. PAUL'S ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS EXTENT OF SURVEY Visits consuming 19?4 hours from February 14th to 20th, 19L3, to 54 classes in 8 school buildings SUBJECT GRADE TOTAL Kg. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Reading 1 8 1 1 4 1 3 1 4 1 1 2 1 1 2 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 3 2 20 3 4 1 1 11 5 4 2 2 1 Composition . . Grammar Spelling Phonics Arithmetic Geography History Music . Drawing Manners Total 1 10 9 6 4 6 4 4 10 54 Interviews with teachers, principals and superintendent taking \2y 2 hours 17 GENERAL FINDINGS In 23 of the 54 classes visited the instruction was excellent: 8 in reading; 5 in geography and history; 4 in arithmetic; 2 in music; one in manners, phonics, language; and one kindergarten class In 31 of the 54 classes the teachers showed the need for help- ful and sympathetic supervision : 12 in reading ; 7 in arith- metic; 4 in grammar; 4 in geography and history; 2 in language ; one in spelling and one in drawing Of 31 teachers whose work showed the need for supervision and direction, 24 protested that they were not to blame for existing conditions, and raised objections to a The textbooks supplied for reading classes and the lack of supplementary material b The failure to require systematic instruction in phonics c The course of study in grammar and the course of study in spelling d The textbook and course of study in arithmetic In at least 30 of 54 classes visited the subject matter of the textbooks was dull, deadening and without interest to pupils In 45 of 54 classes teachers took a moment or two to open windows and gave pupils a sharp gymnastic drill. The bene- ficial results were evident In 2 rooms some children could not reach the floor with their feet when sitting. In not a single room visited were seats properly adjusted to all pupils The finish of walls in all buildings visited was a dark green. This^ decreased the light, especially in rooms where the lighting area of windows was far too small to properly light the rooms In 6 of 8 buildings it was found that children clean all erasers and blackboards. The pounding together of erasers is un- healthful and unsanitary and results in children's breath- ing not a little of the chalk dust In 30 rooms blackboards were found in a most untidy con- dition, partly due to poor cleaning and partly to negligence and carelessness in erasing written work In but 6 out of 38 recitations in which the use of blackboards was necessary to get the best results, was the blackboard used. In 2 rooms most of the blackboard was so covered up it could not be used. In one room the principal explained that he did not like to insist on clearing the boards because it would hurt the teacher's feelings 18 READING CONTRASTS 19 The records showed that since September, 1912, and up to February 14, 1913, every school in the city had been visited by the superintendent once and a second visit had been made to most schools. In all, over 100 visits had been made. The record shows unusual energy in visiting on the part of a superintendent In 2 of the buildings visited, meetings of principal and all teachers are held regularly and are made the occasions for carefully going over school problems that all teachers are interested in. Meetings with groups of teachers having common problems are held as frequently as needed, and "experience" meetings are held every six weeks when each teacher relates facts that show defects in instruction and discipline. These are considered and discussed. Frequent conferences with individual teachers are held by the prin- cipal to work over special problems CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION BY SUBJECTS Detailed descriptions of each recitation visited, working papers of children, etc., were submitted to the St. Paul Committee with the original report MUSIC Observation base: Two formal classes, one in 2nd grade and one in 6th grade. At other times pupils were heard in rote songs The work shows the effect of careful and intelligent super- vision. In every case where singing was heard, whether in a regular music class or otherwise, the voices of the children were of the soft, light quality so much sought by directors of singing in public schools. In the 6th grade lesson the singing by the children of "Twilight" was especially dainty and accurate The pupils in both the classes heard were doing individual work in reading music. In one room two children sang a two part song without self-consciousness; in the other room the little 2nd graders without hesitation sang their exercises and sang exceptionally well READING Observation base: Twenty classes, 8 in 1st grade, 4 in 2nd, 4 in 3rd, 2 in 4th, and 2 in 5th A comparison of classes shows what a great difference there can be in the subject matter used in teaching reading to children in the primary grades. In one lesson the reading 20 54 ST. PAUL CLASSES by pupils was a mere calling of words. Pupils named words as if listed in columns, entirely unrelated. The teacher realized that the reading was lifeless and tried very hard to get a bit of expression in the reading. She read each sen- tence as she wished it rendered and the pupils tried just as hard to imitate her, but it was almost impossible to interest children in A rat is in the trap, The man has on his hat, Had the man a cap on? In another lesson a child unconsciously and almost in spite of itself, even if stolid and indifferent, became enthusiastic when reading "Where are you going, my little cat?" "I'm going to town to get me a hat." "What ! A hat for a cat ! A cat get a hat! Who ever heard of a cat with a hat?" "Where are you going, my little kittens?" "We're going to town to buy some mittens." "What ! Mittens for kittens ! Do kittens wear mittens? Who ever saw little kittens with mittens?" "Where are you going, my little pig?" "I'm going to town to get a new wig." "What! A wig for a pig! Can a pig wear a wig? Who ever heard of a pig with a wig?" When this dialogue was rendered by different pairs of pupils, all vied with each other to read the lines with the best possible expression A comparison of two lessons shows the difference in teaching efficiency due to different methods. In one lesson children read the story of The Little Red Hen and the Sly Fox. The boys and girls found no difficulty in recognizing the words and getting the thought. They read with facility and fine expression. In the other lesson the children were absolutely unable to help themselves. They read brothers as purty, my as mamma, it as I, I have a pretty puppy as Harold has a pony, this is Harold's birthday as I do see, and I do not like big dogs as I do I do I do one kitty baby dogs Some of these children appeared to be defective but the ma- jority seemed of normal capacity. Some had been in school 3 years. The physical conditions in the room were bad, the light poor, many of the desks far too large for the children so that their little legs were dangling in air. Worst of all the teacher's hearing was so defective that it was only with the greatest difficulty she was able to understand what the visitor said to her. Indeed it is doubtful if she is able to hear when addressed in ordinary speaking tones unless she is watching the lips of the speaker. This was the poorest work observed MORE READING TEXTS NEEDED 21 The reading in at least 10 of the 20 classes visited showed that pupils were greatly handicapped because they could not make out the words of the lesson. Getting thought under such circumstances is practically impossible. This kind of reading results in failure when a pupil comes to study history, geography or civics. Even in the solution of arith- metic problems pupils fail, not so much because they can- not perform the operations, but because they have failed to read problems and so failed to understand the conditions stated. One 8th grade teacher made an earnest plea for more time to teach reading. She stated that the inability of pupils to get the thought from a printed page was pitiful and resulted in failure to get on later in all subjects involv- ing reading; that while 200 minutes per week were pre- scribed for reading, whenever pupils were deficient in any other subject reading was always the subject sacrificed Three principals and 7 primary teachers stated that some years ago when the primary 'reading was directed by a primary supervisor, phonics were taught to children, but that in recent years the teaching of phonics had been discouraged. One principal and one teacher stated that they had been ordered to stop emphasizing phonics, although they be- lieved that to teach reading most effectively phonics should be systematically taught. In every class where children read fluently it was found that the teacher had taught phonics to the children. In every case where children had serious difficulty in recognizing the words of the lesson phonics had either not been taught at all or greatly neg- lected. In 8 of the 20 classes visited the reading was fluent and the children were able to read so as to get the thought. In the 12 other classes the reading was labored and pupils had more or less difficulty in determining what the words of the lesson were ** The question of reading material was discussed with 5 prin- cipals and 22 teachers. It was the consensus of opinion that teachers were greatly handicapped by the lack of suit- able material. In the upper grades some supplementary reading has been supplied, but it was claimed by some principals that part of this was selected without consulting the needs of the children and was therefore unsuitable In the primary grades the need is the greatest. The children may have 2 books in a class, one supplied by the school and one bought by the pupil. In one school, a third book had been added with money raised by the sale of old papers and magazines One 1st grade teacher when asked how much her pupils could read during the term stated she did not know, that she had never had an opportunity to find out; that they went over 22 54 ST. PAUL CLASSES and over the 2 books available and had no other material to read. She felt sure, if only they had the books, the children could just as well as not read 10 or a dozen books a term The experience of teachers in other schools has demonstrated that children in the first grade when properly taught can without difficulty complete 20 standard primers and first readers during the first year's work. This is done by chil- dren who have not enjoyed the advantages of the kinder- garten In one 8th grade class pupils were discussing the Man With- out a Country. These pupils had a fine appreciation of the story and discussed it intelligently. The teacher in charge was one of the ablest seen In other classes pupils were reading from the textbooks in history and geography. On the whole the children did not read effectively as was shown by their inability to tell in their own words what had been read In 2 of the buildings visited the reading was excellent while in the other 6 it was poor or mediocre LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION Observation base : Three classes, one in 2nd grade, one in 3rd, and one in 8th The 2nd grade recitation was delightful. Children 6 and 7 years old were called on and in a spontaneous way told what they had to say. One delivered a short address of welcome to the visitors. Another told of an adventure in a sail boat. The children had something to say and said it freely. When a child was called on and had nothing to say, it was not urged. But in every such case the child was disappointed that it had nothing to tell In the 3rd grade pupils were copying formal, uninteresting "stories" from the blackboard. The children had formulated the stories under the leadership of the teacher. They gave these stories because they had to say something and not because they had something to say To test the ability of pupils to express themselves in writing and also to find out what pupils knew of their home city, 177 pupils in the 7th and 8th grades in 7 rooms located in 4 different buildings were asked to write on this subject, put on the blackboard: Is St. Paul a desirable city in which to live? Give reasons. In every class teachers were glad to have their pupils write on this subject. In no class was TESTING BY CITIZENSHIP ESSAYS 23 less than 15 minutes given for the exercise. In some classes pupils had 30 minutes. In nearly every class pupils had all the time they desired and wrote all they wished to write. Pupils were directed not to write their names on their papers nor the name of the school, but to indicate the grade to which they belonged. In some cases pupils also indicated their ages. These papers were grouped by grades into two classes, good and poor. Unfortunately the grading of papers is a matter on which individuals differ. In the opin- ion of the investigator less than 10 per cent, of the papers showed sufficient power in writing English to warrant a passing mark No. PAPERS Good Poor Total 8 A 25 20 45 8B 27 39 66 7 A 3 * 16 19 7B 4 43 47 Total 59 118 177 Examples selected from papers graded as good, medium and poor, illustrate the variety of work 8 A Grade (Age 13), good St. Paul is one of the best cities in the United States in which to live. It is situated in the north central part of the United States and therefore has a temperate climate which is most advantageous to the health of the people. Its central position makes it accessible from all parts of the country by railroad beside being situated on the "Father of Waters" which affords it a waterway to the Gulf of Mexico. Another advantage is that it is not far from the Great Lakes which can be easily reached by railroad. This gives it a water route almost all the way to the Atlantic. 8 A Grade (Age 13), medium St. Paul is a very good place to live. Because it is a place where people can get a good education and people are more apt to get a positions and more money than anywhere else. The climate is agreeable and that is why so many people come from other parts of the world to live here and people can live more cheaply here. 8 A Grade (Age 16), poor Is St. Paul a good place in which to live? Reason. I think St. Paul is a good place to live. It is a healthy city. There are a great many park for the people to enjoy their selves. They have a good way of providing for the sick and poor. 8 B Grade, good What makes St. Paul a Desirable to live in 1. For its health. 2. For its clean streets. 3. Its good schools. 24 54 ST. PAUL CLASSES 4. Its a beautiful city. 5. Has a good fire department. 7. Good waterworks. 8. For its position. 9. Has a good police force. 10. Has many railroads. 8 B Grade, medium St. Paul has a temperate climate, agreeable summers and win- ters, it is reached by many railroads, its is a clean city and has a fine system of waterworks, it has many good schools and colleges, it is connected by trolly with many summer resorts and has fine parks. 8 B Grade, poor St. Paul is a desirable place to live because they have pure water and they try to keep it clean and healthy and they have 15 beau- tiful parks and the are building all the city buildings so they have fresh air and have them clean. And they have some of the finest street cars in the World and you travel rapitely. and the city is govened so well lately the st Paul will be the best city in the united states in time. 7 A Grade, good St. Paul is is a good place to live in. It has street car, railroads, electric lights, fine buildings, beautiful scenery and beautiful parks and lakes. It has fine streets. It is a beautiful city, has big schools, churches and hosipals. 7 A Grade, poor St Paul is a good place to live It has clean stre. is Electric light has fine building, it has fine lake and park and school and it is the Capital of Minnesota 7 B Grade, good St. Paul is a good city to live in. One reason is because it is situated on the Mississippi River and it is a good place for com- merce. It is one of the busiest place and there is enough water power for manufacturing. It has a very rich soil in some places and it is a good place for homes. It is in the center of great rail- roads. It has pure city water and the streets are kept clean. This is the healthiest city and it is very thickly populated. 7 B Grade, poor S't. Paul is a desirable place to live. Because the climate is nice. Because it an't lonley Because St Paul is a desirable place in which to live. Subject a desirable place. Predicate in which to live is St. Paul GRAMMAR Observation base: Four classes in 3 different schools, one in 7th grade, and 3 in 8th grade The work was beyond the comprehension of the pupils and the time was practically wasted GRAMMAR TIME WASTED 25 In one lesson a pupil when asked how to express an action completed in present time, replied With the nominative case. Other children called on for similar examples gave sentences at random showing they had not the slightest appreciation of what was meant One teacher after conducting a lesson which she realized was hopeless as far as results go, stated that "it was a shame and a waste of good time to teach those pupils grammar when their oral speech and written work were so full of errors" In one lesson, when asked to give a sentence to illustrate the passive voice, one boy gave, The boy has been sick. An- other boy gave The work was done by the boy to illustrate an intransitive verb After the definition, Mode is the manner of the assertion, had been repeated by several pupils and after some discussion of it by the class, the following statements of what the definition really meant wtre written by the 17 pupils in the class, said by the superintendent to be in one of the best schools in the city: The assertion means the acting part of the verb. The way in which the Sentence is said. Mode is the manner in which an assertion is made (ex) 1. A sen- tence may be expressed in more than way (2) Mode is the way in which we make a statement (Blank) mode is the way the Sentence is made Mode is the manner in which the assertion is made The thing being done Mode is the matter of assertion. In a manner a thing is done. Mode Mode is the maner of the asserted ",means to give," fact, command, wish regest In which way the sentence is said To say the thing in a certain way. The way in which the thing is being done. Mode is the manner of the assersion. means of which some thing is said Mode is the different ways in wich a verb may be used. Example Indicative fact Subjunctive wish or purpose. Mode is the manner of the assertion means that mode tells what Rind of a sentence it is. Mode is the maner which the asertion is made means that mode tells states a fact or ask a question Mode is the manner the verb makes the assertion. Mode is the manner in which an assertion is made means in what manner the sentence is written. In the 7th grade recitation pupils were "analyzing" simple sentences. During the recitation these expressions were used : He didn't say nothing, He ain't done it, I ain't got it, He didn't do nothing 26 54 ST. PAUL CLASSES The following definitions were taken from the textbook in grammar used by these pupils : A word used with or without adjuncts to denote an object of thought is called a substantive. When we say that a sentence must contain a subject and a predicate, we speak logically. Speaking grammatically, we say that it must contain a substantive and a verb A verb that denotes an action or feeling that passes from the doer of the action to an object on which it falls, is called a transitive verb (Latin transire, "to pass over") It has been demonstrated that grammar contributes little, if anything, to the training of pupils in the proper use of language. Grammar is the science of language while the proper use of a language is a habit to be acquired by con- stant repetition and practice SPELLING Observation base : One regular class was visited and spelling was studied in connection with reading and other lessons. The teaching of spelling was discussed with 7 teachers Pupils are required to spell words they rarely see or hear and never use. One teacher stated that she believed the work to be useless. It seems that 8 B grade pupils who habitu- ally misspell there, where, then, right, almost and many other common words could employ their time more profit- ably than by studying herbaceous, anther, calcareous, foray In a 1 B grade more than half of an entire recitation was used for spelling. Among the words were squirrel, acorn, Harold. The drill was hard, grinding, but ineffective, for the chil- dren when they met these words in the reading failed to recognize them. Should 1 B children be required to spell squirrel when they may have no occasion to write the word for years to come? Many teachers are obsessed with the idea that children should be required to spell every word appearing in any lesson. If it be in physiology, children are asked to spell aesophagus, diaphragm; in geography numerous proper names, rarely appearing anywhere except in a textbook, are studied for spelling. Is it really necessary for 8th grade pupils to con- cern themselves with words like fallibility, cauterize, chal- cedony ? In not a single instance was any teacher found who kept a record of words commonly misspelled in written work of her pupils. The fact that pupils are using words shows that they are likely to continue using them and therefore should be able to spell them. Failure to check up and to give special attention to words habitually misspelled brings ARITHMETIC AND LIFE 27 on a condition complained of by teachers in grammar grades, high schools, colleges, and by business men who employ young people trained in the public schools. They say that children misuse words like to, too, two, their, there; that they misspell words where, were, forty, through, until, right ARITHMETIC Observation base: Eleven classes, one in 1st grade, 3 in 2nd, one in 3rd, one in 4th, 2 in 7th, and 3 in 8th. In addition to class work, seat work in primary arithmetic was observed in 4 rooms Some of the primary teachers are most skillful in the use of helpful devices which tend to make concrete the terms used, and help greatly in forming problems for pupils to solve In only a single instance were actual measures, as quart, yard, foot, peck, used in teaching denominate numbers involving these measures. The result was shown when pupils, asked to draw on the blackboard a line a foot long, drew lines of the following length in inches: 9, 9^, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 20, 28, 30 In one class where the teacher had made use of the foot rule 3 children were asked to do the same thing. The lines drawn measured 10, 1Q% and 11 inches In one 3rd grade class a boy was brought in front of the class and the pupils were asked to estimate his height No. PUPILS ESTII HATED 7 12 feet 3 5 3 10 2 3 2 4 2 3J i 1 6 1 24 1 6 1 I The actual height of the boy was 4 feet 2 inches Great loss of time results from needless repetition of the operation in number combinations. In one room a teacher used cards upon which the numbers were printed. She re- quired pupils to name the numbers and state the operation before giving the result, 7 times 8 are 56. By this method pupils got the result at the rate of one in 8 seconds, or 112 in 15 minutes 28 54 ST. PAUL CLASSES In another room of the same grade where this drill was con- ducted omitting the words 7 times 8, pupils gave results at the rate of one in 2 seconds, or 450 results in 15 minutes In another primary grade the same kind of a drill was con- ducted from a blackboard where the number combinations were written. The pupils were able to give results at the rate of 600 to 750 in 15 minutes The waste of time by the use of poor methods which reduce efficiency, taken into consideration with the fact that in the upper grades pupils were found handicapped because of their inability to perform simple operations, points to greatly needed supervision to increase the efficiency of drill work in numbers in the upper grades Great difference in efficiency was also shown by the character of the problems given by different teachers. In one 2nd grade class pupils were correctly solving concrete problems as rapidly as the teacher was able to state them, pupils giving the correct results, all of them interested and anxious to be called on for examples like : Ned earned 50 cents one day and 25 cents the next day; how much in all? One dozen oranges cost 24 cents ; what is the cost of 6 oranges ? A boy had 27 cents ; he spent Yz of it ; how much did he spend ? How much had he left? What part of the money had he left? Bananas are 20 cents a dozen; how many bananas can I buy for 10 cents ? To test these pupils on a problem with which they were not thoroughly familiar they were asked If 2 apples cost 5 cents what is the cost of 4 apples? In this 2nd grade class, 17 out of 19 pupils obtained the result almost before the problem was stated. The teacher then asked Five cents pays for 3 apples. How many apples can be bought for 15 cents? and 15 out of 19 pupils got the correct result. The principal asked If 5 cents pays for 3 apples, at that rate how much will a dozen cost? and 9 out of 19 gave the result immedi- ately. Other problems of the same kind were given and with practically no hesitation the pupils were able to give the results The problem to find the cost of 4 apples when 2 cost 5 cents was given in 8th, 4th, and 3rd grade classes with the follow- ing results : WHERE EIGHTH GRADES FAILED 29 GRADE No. PUPILS RESULT 8 13 20 cents 4 8 16 10 4 34 25 cents 4 10 1 8 1 12 l /2 3 14 10 cents 8 20 In a 4th grade class the teacher asked : A boy earned 5 cents for 6 days. He then bought 3 apples at 2 cents a piece. How much money had he left? The written answers showed that 31 pupils said 24 cents, 2 said 20 cents, and 3 pupils answered respectively 33, 28 and 27 cents In a 3rd grade recitation, pupils reading from a textbook ex- ercises in which they -were required to fill in blanks, answered : */3 of 6 equals 3 y$ of 6 equals 6 y 2 of 7 equals 3 Y 4 of 8 equals 2 ^ of 8 equals 4 Frank bought 3 pencils at 3 cents each. The pencils cost 6 cents. William paid 9 cents for 3 pencils. The pencils cost 6 cents each. All of this was review work. The advance lesson had to do with the area of figures in inches. The children had absolutely no idea what was meant by terms used, such as, figure, amount, surface. One child repeatedly called area, larea In 2 of 11 classes, where the teacher gave a problem that ap- pealed directly to the children, they took a lively interest and were much more effective in doing the required work. When pupils read their problems from books or from a blackboard, the appeal was not nearly so strong. The con- trast between the teacher who gave problems to pupils and the teacher whose pupils were attempting to solve problems which they had to read, was great The arithmetic in the upper grades demonstrated the in- ability of pupils to perform accurately the simplest computa- tions. In a 7th grade recitation pupils were asked to add \Y^ and ! 5 / 6 . Six out of 40 were unable to obtain the correct result. In subtracting 2^g from 4 1 /6, 7 pupils obtained a wrong result. In dividing 10 by iVs, 14 pupils obtained the wrong results, the incorrect answers ranging from l*/3 to 10%. In dividing 126% by 5, 25 out of 40 pupils obtained a wrong result 30 54 ST. PAUL CLASSES In an 8th grade recitation, when adding 1% and ! 5 / 6 , 8 pupils were unable to give the correct result, 3 of these using 12 as a common denominator and 6 using 18. In dividing 10 by 1%, these results were obtained: 15, 6, 7*4 12, 26, 10, 2^, 13J4 In dividing 126% by 5, the results were 25%, 32, 12, 25 2 / 5 , 76, 36%, 24 In another 8th grade recitation, pupils were asked to find in square feet the area of a window whose dimensions were 36 inches by 42 inches. This problem was written on the black- board so that no mistake could be made as to the dimen- sions. It was definitely stated that the area was to be found in square feet. These results were given: 22, 17, 156, 13, 12, 18, 14, 171/3, 12l/ 6 , iQi/ 2 These pupils were again asked to find the interest on $240 at 4j/2% for 1 year, 1 month, 10 days. Nineteen different re- sults were obtained, ranging from $1.33% to $99.66. An explanation of this situation may be found in the fact that these pupils were busy just at this time in extracting the square root of numbers like 98,764, and 63,725. Ten such exercises were assigned for the lesson of the following day In a third 8th grade recitation, pupils were solving the prob- lem, A train travels at the rate of 150 miles in 3 hours and 20 minutes. How far will it go in 8 hours? Only 5 dif- ferent results were obtained, in miles 8 / 25 , 284, 4000, 360 In finding the interest on $240 at 4^2% for 1 year, 1 month, 10 days, these pupils obtained the result in record time, every one having obtained the answer in less than 2 minutes, and all but 2 had the correct result The teacher conducted a rapid drill in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of whole numbers. The pupils were thoroughly alive, attending strictly to business and no time whatever was lost during the recitation In 7th and 8th grades where pupils were required to solve intri- cate problems, some of which are of a character never met with in actual business life, they failed utterly when asked to solve such problems as, If a pencil costs 2 cents and is sold for 3 cents, what is the gain per cent.? In one 8th grade class, of the 33 pupils solving this problem, 16 answered 50%, 11 answered 100%, 5 answered 33%%, and one answered 66%% In a 7th grade class the same problem was given and 8 pupils answered 50%, 9 answered 33%%, 3 answered 1%, and one pupil answered %%. In this room considerable time was spent in trying to get pupils to demonstrate the correctness or incorrectness of the results obtained. One pupil who APPLIED GEOGRAPHY ' ''' :< was particularly insistent that 33%% was correct soon reasoned himself out of 33%% and concluded that 50% was the right answer ; but even after that, some of the pupils who had obtained 50% for a result were not at all certain that 33%% was not really the right answer In order to study the actual work and procedure of pupils in attempting to perform different operations, sets of papers were collected to determine why pupils in the upper grades fail in computation. The papers show, for example, that in the solution of the interest problem some pupils covered a whole page of tablet paper with figures because of the very roundabout and indirect method of finding interest. Rarely did pupils use the simple cancellation method or the bank- ers' 60-day method so generally in use GEOGRAPHY Observation base: Five classes, one in 4th grade, 3 in 5th, and one in 6th Some of the best work observed was in geography. In all of the recitations pupils recited fluently and showed they had a keen appreciation of what they were studying Such uniformly good recitations led to the conclusion that the topical recitation method had been made effective in geography teaching. In the 4 recitations visited 2 pupils recited continuously and fluently for 4 minutes each, 4 for 3 minutes each, and 5 for 2 minutes each. At least 15 others recited for one or one and a half minutes each In 2 rooms maps were not used though very much needed in the recitation In a 3rd grade class pupils made charts for the study of weather conditions, requiring observation as to temperature, humidity, direction of wind, phase of moon, sunrise, sunset and length of day. The record for nearly a month was ex- hibited on the blackboard. Three pupils were asked to explain it and each one knew what was meant by the record. The use of similar charts by all the teachers in the grades should be encouraged In the 4th grade class the discussion by the pupils of how raw materials, such as cotton, wood, silk, rice, wheat and flax, are made into commercial, finished products, showed a grasp and intelligence rarely found in 7th grade geography classes. The teacher kept herself very much in the back- ground, permitting the pupils to control the time of the recitation 32 -54 ST. PAUL CLASSES HISTORY Observation base : Four recitations, one in 6th grade, one in 7th, and 2 in 8th grade The pupils in the history classes showed little interest. The method of the recitation tended to devitalize and sap the subject matter of its life and interest In a 6th grade recitation the class was reading stories of American life and adventure. Pupils read in the order in which they sat, each one reading one sentence. With such procedure pupils do not get the story. Pupils in this class were actually counting ahead to determine what sentence would be theirs. Occasionally they counted wrong In one lesson the teacher actually asked 37 questions during a 20 minute period. The answers with one exception were one word answers. To get these the teacher did some des- perate pumping In each of the three 7th and 8th grade recitations teachers took up the subjects in too great detail. In one recitation the events of 1862 and the Civil War were minutely gone into, yet pupils were unable to locate points like Fort Sumpter, Fort Henry and Shiloh, about which they had been closely questioned Two teachers were asked what the purpose of history work was. In both cases the reply was to get over the course of study HYGIENE No work in hygiene or physiology was examined. The schedule time for elementary school programs as published in the bi-ennial report of 1910-11 by the superintendent of schools provides no time whatever for this subject. Yet the state laws make instruction in this subject mandatory. In conversation with teachers it was learned that 10 minutes per week was given to this work, although this was not done regularly HAVE YOU AGE VARIATION FACTS FOR YOUR SCHOOL? Variation in Age Among Waterbury Pupils in Same Grade GRADE AGE EXTREMES YEARS VARIATION 9 12 17 5 8 12 16 4 7 10 15)4 5K 6 9 15 6 5 8^15 6/2 4 7/ 2 -15/2 8 3 6/2-14/2 8 2 sy 2 i6 10/2 1 4/216 11/2 Years Required to Graduate YEARS NUMBER % of Total Graduating 6 2 7 7 1# 8 66 16^ 9 234 58> 10 74 18# 11 15 3^ 12 2 Normal or less 309 77# Longer than normal 91 22< Age at Graduation AGE NUMBER 4 of Total Graduating 12 8 2 13 43 10* 14 109 27X 15 139 34^ 16 76 19 17 25 6# Older than normal 299 75 Normal or less j 101 ! 25 Age-Progress Summary For One School AGE AGE PROGRESS i> " p Normal V 6 Total fc <9 O : & s IH o fc 2 o Total Rapid Normal . , N 34 308 u m 29 250 her 42 141 s 105 699 P 2.8 24.9 e r 2.4 20.3 c en 3.4 11.4 t s 8.6 56.6 Slow 28 124 278 430 2.3 10.0 22.5 34.8 Total 370 ( 403 461 1234 30 32.7 37.3 100 Helpful Publications for School Workers (Postage prepaid) Civics and Health, W. H. ALLEN - $1.48 Woman's Part in Government, W. H. ALLEN 1.62 Organized Democracy, F. A. CLEVELAND - 2.66 New City Government, HENRY BRUERE 1.66 Helping School Children, ELSA DENISON 1.40 Conditions and Needs of Rural Schools in Wisconsin .14 School Reports and School Efficiency, SNEDDEN and ALLEN, 1.11 Outside Cooperation with the Public Schools of Greater New York .28 A Report on the Division of Child Hygiene (1911) - .28 School Progress and School Facts (1909) .29 School Stories : A Topical Guide to Education Here and Now (Illustrated; abridged) .07 School Inquiry Follow-up Cards Series of 22 bulletins on the New York school inquiry, Wiscon- sin state survey, etc., issued 1912-1913 Classroom instruction card for teachers and supervisors, 10 for 15c; 100 for $1.00 St. Louis and Philadelphia Follow-up Cards Series of 20 bulletins giving in condensed form some ' 'high -spots " from the N. E. A. meetings of the division of superintendence Notice Digest of the New York School Inquiry containing the findings, conclusions and recommendations of both educa- tional and business aspects ; 72 page digest of a 1500 page report; price 25 cents ; lots of 10 for $2.00 BUREAU OF MUNICIPAL RESEARCH 261 Broadway, New York Gaylord Bros. Makers Syracuse, N. Y PAT. JAN. 21, 1908 f UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY BERKELEY THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW Books not returned on time are subject to a fine of 50c per volume after the third day overdue, increasing to $1.00 per volume after the sixth day. Books not in demand may be renewed if application is made before expiration of loan period. tttf