Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Boston Library Consortium IVIember Libraries http://www.archive.org/details/publicschooladmi1922cubb dlHU||||l>ni||| l|||M"«|||IHMI1||llllM|||U'M||MII"l|||||IHl|||||MM||||||H|||||Mif|||jlll"ni||ll''ll|||ll'Mim^ I||l>">l|l|l<><>l|l|l"»l||l i|jl""'M ;miillliiiiiilllMiiiilllihiiilllmiullliiMiillliiiiiilllihiiilltnMiMlliiMiillliiiiiillliiiiii COPYRIGHT, I916, BY ELLWOOD P. CUBBERLEY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED nr/x. CAMBRIDGE • MASSACHUSETTS PRINTED XN THE U. S. A. RIVERSIDE TEXTBOOKS IN EDUCATION EDITED BY ELLWOOD P. CUBBERLEY PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY DIVISION OF SECONDARY EDUCATION UNDER THE EDITORIAL DIRECTION OF ALEXANDER INGLIS PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION HARVARD UNIVERSITY EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION An attempt has been made, in the space of this book, to state the fundamental principles miderlying the proper organization and administration of public education in the United States; to state briefly the historical evolution of the principal administrative officers and problems; and to point out what seem to be the most probable hues of future evolution. To do this, and to make a satisfactory textbook on school administration in so short a space, naturally required much condensation and the employment of a number of econo- mies in presentation. In the body of the chapters these fundamental principles have been stated, often somewhat positively. At the same time an attempt has been made to base the statements on such well-established principles of action, tested by experience, and so to reinforce the pres- entation made in the body of the chapters by footnote extracts and suggestions as to supplemental reading, as will make the book a serviceable text for use in colleges and normal schools giving courses in educational administra- tion. It is also hoped that the volume may prove useful, as an organization of principles, to supervisory officers of all kinds in service in our schools. The book has naturally centered about the administra- tion of city school systems, simply because almost all of the great recent progress in organization, administration, supervision, and adaptation to needs has taken place there. By showing the origin and relationship of aU forms of vi EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION educational activity to the state purpose, as has been done in Part I, and by applying the results of the administra- tive experience of our cities to county and state educa- tional organization and administration, as has been done in Part III, the author has tried to present, in one volume, the essential principles governing proper educational control for all types of public-school work, — city, county, and state. In making the statement of principles of action the au- thor has sought to avoid what seems to him to be the com- mon defect of most of the books on school administration so far produced, and that is such a nice balancing of argu- ments that the book is, practically colorless. He has also tried to avoid the production of a book of mere facts and figures. Such facts can be obtained without difficulty, and as needed from public-school documents. Instead, he has endeavored to make a book containing such a clear state- ment of fundamental principles that either the lay reader or the student, on finishing it, shall know what ought to be done, and why. To give a student ideals for his work, and to establish in his mind proper principles of action, has always seemed to the writer an essential part of any course on public-school administration. To make the book more useful to students in classes, a large number of questions for discussion, and topics for investigation and report, have been added to each of the chapters. These will serve to give concreteness to the pres- entation, and will enable students and instructor to ques- tion and discuss the principles laid down in the text. In the footnote extracts, opinions by representative thinkers and practical workers have been given by way of backing up the arguments presented in the text. In the bibliogra- phies at the end of the chapters the author has shunned the EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION mi common practice of adding a large and unclassified list of references, good, bad, and indifferent, leaving the student to grope his way through them. Instead, a list of selected references has been given, and these have been classified as to content and value, and only the best of those most likely to be accessible in the smaller libraries have been cited. The aim has been to guide the student to a small number of easily accessible articles on each topic, written by those who have contributed most to its discussion. The administration of public education centers about the work of three persons. The first of these is the class- room teacher, in the conduct and management of a single school. The second is the school principal, in the organi- zation, administration, and supervision of a single build- ing, or perhaps a group of buildings. The third of these is the superintendent of schools, in the organization, admin- istration, and supervision of a group of schools. The prin- ciples underlying the successful work of the first consti- tute what is commonly known as classroom management, on which a volume is now in preparation for this series. The second will be presented in another future volume on the Organization and Administration of a School. The third is covered by the present volume. It is hoped to offer soon still another volume, on the Supervision of Instruction, as another number of the administrative division of this series. As the author conceives a course in school administra- tion, it should include the work of both the school princi- pal and the superintendent, the course beginning with a study of the problems of organization, administration, and supervision as represented in the building unit, and being followed by a study of similar problems for the larger group. The present volume represents the second part of such a viii EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION course in school administration, and is in effect a digest of what he has for some years given at the university with which he is connected. Part 11 of this volume also covers the substance of a course of lectures on "City School Ad- ministration " given at Teachers College, Columbia Univer- sity, during the summer session of 1914. Ellwood p. Cubbebley CONTENTS PART I. OUTLINES OF STATE EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION CHAPTER I. Origin and Development of Schools . . 3 Early attitudes — Schools at first community undertakings — — The district unit — Evolution of district organization — Early district officers — Rise of state systems — Early state or- ganizations — The first school laws — The change lq attitude — The present conviction — Questions for discussion. CHAPTER n. State Authorization and Control . . 14 The State the unit — Court decisions — Delegated author- ity — The recovery of state sovereignty — Examples of such transference — Advantages of state control — Disadvantages of state control — The State's proper functions — A state educa- tional pohcy — Questions for investigation and discussion. CHAPTER HI. State Educational ORGAiazATiON . . 27 Evolution of forms of control — Chief state school officer — The office an evolution — Duties of such an official — New de- mands for leadership — State boards of education — Types of state boards — Good state educational organization — The problem at hand — Questions for investigation and discussion. CHAPTER IV. County Educational Organization . . 35 The county in school administration — Evolution of a county school officer — Early duties of the office — New and changed duties — New demand for educational leadership — County boards of control — The educatioual problem involved — Ques- tions for investigation and discussion. CHAPTER V. Town, Township, and District Organiza- tion 44 County subdivisions for administration — The town — Marked features of the town system — The township — Disad- vantages of the township unit — The township unit not funda- mentally necessary — The school-district unit — Bad features X CONTENTS of the district unit — District system not necessary — A funda- mental reorganization needed — Questions for investigation and discussion. CHAPTER VI. The City School District 5S The city district a special case — The city district an evolu- tion — Recent rapid growth of city school systems — Promi- nence of city administrative problems — The city's distinctive contribution — State vs. city control of the school district — Pro- tection instead of bureaucracy — Other problems of relation- ship — To study the city first — Questions for investigation and discussion — Selected references covering Part I. PART II. THE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT AND ITS PROBLEMS CHAPTER Vn. Evolution of City School Organization AND Administration 71 The original town control — Subtracting powers from the towns — Rise of the school committee — Two centuries of evo- lution — Massachusetts a type — Types of development else- where — The separate school board — Development of the ward and committee systems — Evolution of professional supervision — Further differentiation of executive functions — Present con- ceptions as to school control — Selected references. CHAPTER VIII. Organization of Boards for School Control 85 Special governing boards — Recent reorganizations — Tend- encies in recent reorganizations — Size of school boards — Basis of selection, wards vs. at large — Appointment vs. election — Term of oflSce, and elections — Pay for services — Origin of pay proposals — Commission form of government and the schools — Dependence on vs. independence of the city government — The ordinary citizen and the schools — Disadvantages of city control — Questions for discussion — Topics for investigation and re- port — Selected references. CHAPTER IX. Functions of Boards for School Control 109 The board as a body — Boards continuous and changing — Types of school-board members — The committee ^orm of con- trol — Committee control applied to hospital management — Committee service time-consuming — Committee action illus- CONTENTS xi tratcd — A confusion in functions — The real work of the board — Legislative and executive functions — Selection of executive officers — Bases for selection — Types of board members — Re- sults of faithful service — Questions for discussion — Topics for investigation and report — Selected references. CHAPTER X. The Superintendent of Schools . . . 130 A new profession — Importance of this official — Large duties of the office — Education and training — The years of appren- ticeship — Learning and working — Dangerous pitfalls — Per- sonal qualities necessary — The qualities of leadership — Ques- tions for discussion — Selected references. CHAPTER XI. Threefold Nature of the Superintend- ent's Work 142 Three types of service — Time for the larger problems — Loss of balance and perspective. 1. The superintendent as an organizer — A policy for develop- ment — Educating a board — Importance of such service. 2. The superintendent as an executive — Proper personal and official relations — Mutual trust and confidence — Appealing to the community — Relations with the community. 3. The superintendent as supervisor — Dangers faced by the superintendent — Questions for discussion — Selected references. CHAPTER Xn. City School Department Organization 160 Size and distribution of cities — The small city school system — The comprehensive type of superintendent — Dangers of such a position — Organization in a small city — The place of the super- intendent in the scheme — Expansion as the city grows — Proper administrative organization for the larger city — Guaranteed powers — Educational organization in the large city — Central position of the educational department — Executive heads of departments — Faulty educational organization — Questions for discussion — Topics for investigation and report — Selected references. CHAPTER Xni. Organization of the Educational Dis»artment 177 The superintendent as a department head — He gives charac- ter to the department — Sensitiveness of teachers to leadership — Characteristics of a good supervisory organization — Responsi- bility of all for successful work — A weak supervisory organiza- tion — Personnel of the supervisory organization — Assistant xii CONTENTS superintendent and supervisor — Cabinet solidarity — The per- sonal equation — Relations of superintendent and assistant — The special supervisors — The school principals — Increasing their effectiveness — Underlying purposes of supervisory organ- ization — Questions for discussion — Topics for investigation and report — Selected references. CHAPTER XIV. The Teaching Corps ...... 198 I. Selection and Tenure. 1. The selection of teachers — The early method — Defects of this method — Importance of guarding appointments — Funda- mental principles of action — Standards which should prevail — Methods of selecting teachers — Right rules of action — Bases for selecting teachers — The competitive examination — Electing applicants vs. hunting teachers 2. The tenure of teachers — The usual plan — The uncertain tenure of teachers — The life-tenure movement — Effect of life- tenure on the schools — A middle ground — Terminating the contract — Supervisory officers and tenure — Assistant superin- tendents — Assignment of the teaching staff — Questions for discussion — Topics for investigation and report — Selected ref- erences. CHAPTER XV. The Teaching Corps 225 II. Training and Supervision. 1. The training of teachers — Leavening the teaching corps — Professional standard for entrance — The local training- school — Limitations to such training — Effect of such courses on the school system — Training vs. attracting teachers — Train- ing of teachers in service — Teachers' meetings — Reading-circle work — Leaves of absence for study. 2. The supervision of teachers — Deficient supervision — Supervision of the wrong type — Need for helpful supervision — Purpose of all supervision — Means to this end — Distribu- tion of time and effort — Demonstration teaching — Placing for effective work — Questions for discussion — Topics for investigation and report — Selected references. CHAPTER XVI. The Teaching Corps 251 III. Pay and Promotion. Low standards and compensation — Adequate pay necessary — What such pay is worth — Reasonable salary demands — Automatic increases — Rewards for growth and efficient service — Stimulating industry and individual improvement. CONTENTS xiii 1. Graded salaries based on positions — Defects of such sched- ules. 2. Additional salary grants for study. 3. Salary grants based on grades in service — Promotions on recommendation — Promotional examinations. 4. Salary grants based on efficiency — Criticism of the plan — Plan right in principle — Type plans for estimating efficiency — Incentives to growth — Essential features of a good salary sched- ule — Questions for discussion — Topics for investigation and report — Selected references. CHAPTER XVII. The Courses of Instruction ... 274 I. Construction and Types. The superintendent and the courses of study — The superin- tendent's guiding hand — The construction of courses of study. 1. Information or knowledge courses — Dependence on text- books — The administration of such courses — Effect on the instructing body. ^ 2. The development type of courses — The principal and teacher in such a school system — Such courses growing courses — Cooperation of all needed — Variations between schools — Experimental rooms or schools — Study of local problems and needs — Economy of time in education — Questions for discus- sion — Topics for investigation and report — Selected references. CHAPTER XVm. The Courses of Instruction. . . 294 II. Adjustments and Diffebentiations. 1. Retardation and acceleration — The average course of study — A poorly adjusted course of study — The results of non-pro- motion — The effect of such conditions. — The super-normal child. 2. Promotional plans — More frequent promotions — The Batavia plan — The Pueblo plan — The new Cambridge plan — The differentiated-course plan — The Baltimore experiment — The Mannheim plan of grading. 3. Differentiations in school work — New types of schools. 4. Fundamental reorganizations — Reorganizing the upper grades — Theory of the intermediate school — A reorganized and expanded school system — A reorganized and redirected school system — The Gary plan — Questions for discussion — Topics for investigation and report — Selected references. CHAPTER XIX. Efficiency Experts; Testing Results 325 A new movement — Meaning of the movement — The scien- tific purpose — Measurement by comparison — Units or stand- xiv CONTENTS ards for measurement — Need for standards as guides — Im- portance of such standards — Efficiency departments — Lines of service; experimental pedagogy — The clinical psychologist and his work — A continuous survey of production — Questions for discussion — Topics for investigation and report — Selected references. CHAPTER XX. The Department of Health Super- vision 344 Health supervision a necessity — Three stages of develop- ment — Scope of the work — Control of the work — The large- city plan — The smaller-city plan — The teacher and health service — Importance of the service — Questions for discussion — Topics for investigation and report — Selected references. CHAPTER XXI. The Attendance Department ... 857 The compulsion to attend — Differences and difficulties — The attendance department — Increased school attendance — The registration of school children — A continuing school census — Further obstacles and needs — Types of schools needed — The educational opportunity — Questions for discussion — Topics for investigation and report — Selected references. CHAPTER XXn. Business and Clerical Depart- ment 375 Department organization — Work of such a department — Purpose of the department — Misdirection of the business de- partment — Purpose and position of such departments — Intel- ligent expenditures — Topics for investigation and report — Selected references. CHAPTER XXin. The School-Properties Department 384 The superintendent of school properties — Purpose and place of this department — Responsibility of the superintendent of schools — A new type of building needed — The new Pittsburg type of building — Larger use of school-buildings — Costs for buildings — Payment for by tax or by bonding — Large future educational needs — Questions for discussion — Topics for inves- tigation and report — Selected references. CHAPTER XXIV. Auxiliary Educational Agencies . 397 1. The public library — Efforts toward cooperation — Admin- istrative control — Unity of the work of library and school — The library in the future school. CONTENTS XV 2. The public playgrounds — Playground oi^anization — Im- portance of directed play. 3. School gardeniag — School gardening and the school — New educational agencies and purposes — Questions for discus- sion — Topics for investigation and report — Selected ref er- CHAPTER XXV. Costs, Funds, and Accounting . . 408 Constantly iacreasiag costs — A cheap school system — The problem of increased funds — Funds independent of the coimcil — The competition for city funds — A better school bud- get — Better accounting methods — School accounts and unit costs — Questions for discussion — Topics for investigation and report — Selected references. CHAPTER XXVI. Records and Reports 423 Good records a necessity — Pupil records — School-system records — The annual school report — Effective presentation of information — Enlightening the pubUc — Selected ref erence^. PART m. CITY ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE APPLIED CHAPTER XXVII. City Administrative Experience Summarized 433 The city an educational miit — Administrative organization — Diversity as a result of unity — Teaching and supervisory organ- ization — Business organization and finance — Initiative and educational progress — Clear and unmistakable lessons. CHAPTER XXVin. Application to County Educational Organization 441 City and county administration contrasted — District trustee control — Need for a fundamental reorganization — Rudimen- tary county-unit organizations — The county superintendency — Why trained men go to the cities — The way out — Details of a county-unit plan: (1) General control — (2) Educational Control — (3) Business and clerical control — (4 ) Powers and duties of the superintendent — Such a reorganization not easy — Steps in the process — Questions for discussion — Topics (of investigation and report — Selected references. xvi CONTENTS CHAPTER XXIX. Application to State Educational Organization 458 State organization undeveloped — The chief state school office — Potential importance of the office — State departments of edu- cation — Controlling principles: (1) General control — (2) Edu- cational control — (3) The chief state school officer — Piu^ose of such an organization — State administrative problems — The State to establish minima — State stimulation vs. state uni- formity — Questions for discussion — Topics for investigation and report — Selected references. INDEX 473 LIST OF FIGUEES 1. Early Organization of School Districts 6 2. Later Organization and Reorganization 7 8. New England Towns and Western Townships compared ... 48 4. Units for School Organization and Administration .... 51 6. City and School-District Boundaries compared 62 6. Chart showing the Development of Special and Professional Con- trol in the Administration of City School Systems between 76 and 77 7. Growth of a Professional Consciousness facing 80 8. Tendencies of Twenty-five Years (1895-1920) in School-Board Reorganizations 88 9. Frequency of Size of School Board ...••••. 91 10. A City of Nine Wards 94 11. Illustrating the Process of Educating a School Board . , . 146 12. Plan of Educational Organization for a Small City School Sys- tem, and showing Proper Relationships 167 13. Plan of Educational Organization for a Medium-sized City School System, and showing Proper Relationships . between 170 and 171 14. Plan of Educational Organization for a Large City School Sys- tem, and showing Proper Relationships . between 172 and 173 15. An Incorrect Form of Educational Organization between 174 and 175 16. Teachers' Salaries and Pay in the Trades compared . . . 254 17. Tendencies in the Distribution of Teachers under Different Types of Supervision and Different Salary Schedules .... 256 17x. A Teacher-Efficiency Score Card 266 18. Promotional Results in a City following a Course of Study ad- justed to the Average Capacity of the Pupils 295 19. Promotional Results in a City following a Knowledge-Type Course of Study, and with Quarterly Promotional Examinations . . 296 20. Retardation and Acceleration in the Grades 297 21. The Batavia Plan 302 22. The Pueblo Plan; Individual Progress 303 23. The Pueblo Plan; Group Progress 303 24. The New Cambridge Plan 304 25. The Portland Plan 305 26. The Differentiated-Course Plan 306 27. Class Organization of the Volksschule at Mannheim, Germany . 309 xviii LIST OF FIGURES 28. The Transformation of the Newton, Massachusetts, School Sys- tem between 314 and 315 29. Result of the Redirection of the Newton Schools .... 316 SO. A Courtis Score Card in Arithmetic 334 31. Effect of Absence on Promotion Rate and Dropping from School 361 32. Showing Decline in Attendance after the Sixth Grade . . . 370 33. Principal and Interest Cost for a School-Building .... 392 34. Showing the Competition for City Funds 414 35. County-Unit Educational Organization . . . between 448 and 449 80. State Educational Organization between 464 and 465 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION PART I OUTLINES OF STATE EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION CHAPTER I ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOLS Early attitudes. Everywhere, with us, the school arose as a distinctively local institution, and to meet local needs. The Federal Constitution made no mention of any form of education for the people, nor does the subject occur in the debates of the Federal Constitutional Convention. By the terms of the Tenth Amendment to the Federal Constitu- tion,^ ratified in 1791, education became one of the many unmentioned powers '* reserved to the States." Of the fourteen state constitutions framed by 1800, six made no mention whatever of schools or education, and in a number of the others the mention was very brief and indefinite. 2 Nothing which could be regarded as even the beginnings of a state system or series of systems of educa- tion existed. Nine colleges,^ a few private secondary schools, and a number of private and church schools offer- ing some elementary-school instruction of an indifferent character, constituted the educational resources of the new nation. Even in New England, where a good beginning had 1 "Article X. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." 2 See Cubberley and Elliott, State and County School Administrationt vol. II, Source Book, pp. 12-17. ' Harvard, William and Mary, Yale, Princeton, Pennsylvania, Colum- bia, Brown, Rutgers, and Dartmouth. Thirteen additional colleges were founded between 1776 and 1800. 4 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION been made in the seventeenth century, the educational en- thusiasm of the people had largely died out and the schools had sadly degenerated. In the rural districts, where the greater number of our people then Hved, there were prac- tically no schools of any kind, while in the towns and cities ignorance, vagrancy, and pauperism went hand in hand. Schools at first community undertakings. For some dec- ades after the estabUshment of our Republic this condition and attitude continued. The apprentice system and the school of experience, rather than the school of books, min- istered to the needs of the people of the time. We were a simple and a homogeneous people, devoted chiefly to a subsistence type of agriculture; the old aristocratic con- ception of education still prevailed; and there was little in the political, economic, or social Hfe of the time which made education at public expense seem important. Many of the earlier schools were private undertakings, though, not infrequently, these were aided by public sup- port. Sometimes the people of a community built a school- house and then permitted a teacher to conduct a private school in it, and later on the school was taken over and made a pubHc school. In still other cases the first schools were distinctively voluntary community undertakings, owing their origin and maintenance to the voluntary action and contributions of parents who sent their children to them. In still other cases the first of the early schools were established as pubhc schools in response to direct legislative permission, though many of these were at first only subsidized private schools, or' the " rate-bill " — a per-capita tax levied on the parents of the children attending — was for years used to supplement the tax levied by the community for their support. Many of the city school systems in the territory north of the Ohio and the Potomac and east of the Missis- ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOLS 6 sippi River trace their origin from some one of these forms of early community endeavor.^ The district iinit. These early community efforts show how natural it was that the school district should have be- come the unit for educational organization. Though the town to the eastward and the congressional township in the new States to the westward were early made the unit for civil administration, such units soon proved unsuited to the school needs of the early pioneer, and, as the schools developed, the smaller and irregular school district, rather than the town or the township, became the unit for educa- tional organization and administration. As a unit for school organization the district was well suited to the somewhat primitive needs of the time. Wher- ever half a dozen families lived near enough together to make organization possible, they were permitted, by the early laws, to meet together and vote to form a school dis- trict and organize and maintain a school. Districts could be formed anywhere, of any size and shape, and only those families or communities desiring schools need be included in the district organization. The simphcity and democracy of the plan made a strong appeal. Communities desiring schools and willing to pay taxes for them could organize and maintain them; communities not desiring them or unwilling to support them could let them alone. 1 In Buffalo, for example, a sehoolhouse was built privately in 1806. This was burned in 1813, and in 1818 the town levied a tax to rebuild the school, but city maintenance and control did not come for some years thereafter. In Cincinnati, private-venture schools existed before 1800; in 18] 7 a private Lancastrian school was opened; and in 1818 a wealthy banker left a bequest of $1000 a year "for a charity school." It was not until 1825 that a public-school system was organized. In Chicago, on the sale of the school lands in 1833, grants were made, until 1844, to the teachers of the existing private schools, who in turn certified attendance to the public-school trustees. The first city school- house was not built until 1845. 6 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Evolution of district organization. Organized at first only where there were settlements, in time all the area of a county, and eventually of a state, came to be included in some school district. The evolution of districts is well shown in the illustrations on this and the following page. These show the process of district formation within a county. At first, during its period of settlement, only a portion of the county was organized into school districts; ^ » — n I . ♦ I L _^i-pu^ — ; — L_ ♦ -► — T" ♦ ♦ I 1835 I860 Fia. 1. EARLY ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS later on, all was so organized, and towns, with their graded school systems, began to develop. Still later, the increase of population led to the development of a central county- seat city and two towns along the fine of the new railway, and to a subdivision of nearly all the larger rural districts; and, still later, the changes in the distribution of the popu- lation have led to the abandonment of some of the district organizations, the consolidation of eight others into one rural and consolidated school, and a very material enlarge- ment of the school system of the central city and the two towns. The process illustrated here is typical of the evo- ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOLS 7 lution which has taken place in all parts of the United States. •♦ ♦ — ♦ ^ ^ M '* ^ -^ r. * ♦ * * o ^.^^ * , - * » o ♦ o ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ *■ _ ♦ ♦ ♦ 1885 i^lO ». 2. LATER ORGANIZATION AND REORGANIZATION Early district officers. Each school district, once legally organized, became " a body politic and corporate," and possessed of certain legal powers. For the government of the school created, members of the community, usually three in number, were elected by the people as district trustees, and they, guided by the people in the annual and special school-district meetings, managed the schools as best they knew. As a simple and democratic means for providing schools for the children of people living under somewhat primitive pioneer conditions, the district system rendered a useful service. In the days before modern school systems were developed, when there were no courses of study, no supervisory officers, no sanitary regulations, and almost no organized body of school law or pedagogical knowledge, these local representatives handled the schools in a manner which gave reasonable satisfaction to the people they represented. So well was the district unit 8 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION adapted to the educational needs of an earlier and more primitive society that it has, in many of our States, per- sisted to the present, though most of the conditions which gave rise to it and gave it its earher importance have since largely passed away. Rise of state systems. In time, the national land-grants for public schools, which began with Ohio in 1802, came to exert a stimulating effect on the new States to the west of the Allegheny Mountains. The different States early pro- vided for the election or appointment of trustees to care for the school-section lands, and, after permission to sell them had been granted by Congress,^ to see that the proceeds were husbanded and the income properly spent. The creation of the so-called " Literary Funds " was also begun by the older States to the east. The permanent school fund of New York dates from 1805; that of Maryland, from 1812; New Jersey, from 1816; North Carolina, from 1825; Penn- sylvania, from 1831; and Massachusetts, from 1834. It was some Httle time, however, before the demand for a system of public schools, to supplement and in part dis- place the private, charity, and church schools of the time, made itseff felt. The simple agricultural life, the homo- geneity of the people, the isolation and independence of the villages, the hard life of the time, and the absence of im- portant pohtical questions to be settled at the polls made the need for schools and learning a relatively minor one. It was not until after about 1820 that the development of manufacturing, the extension of manhood suffrage, the action of the labor unions, the rise of the many humanita- rian movements, and the introduction of the Lancastrian system of instruction began to awaken a demand for 1 First granted by Congress to Ohio in 1826, followed by permission to Alabama in 1827, Indiana in 1828, and, Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, and Tennessee in 1843. ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOLS 9 public tax-supported schools, under the authority and partial support of the state. The " charity-school " con- ception of education, under which free tuition was to be provided only to the children of the deserving poor; the plan of turning education over to the churches and rehgious societies, with some aid from the pubHc purse; and the earlier aristocratic idea that education was an individual rather than a public matter; — all these had to be met and eliminated. Gradually, however, the people of the different States were converted to the idea of adopting pubHc edu- cation as a state function, and state after state began to pro- vide for tax-supported schools. Early state organizations. The first permanent law for the organization of schools in the State of New York was enacted in 1812; New Jersey first provided for the education of pauper children in 1820, and created schools for all in 1838; Ohio first authorized taxation for education in 1821, and the law of 1825 made the real beginning of a school system for the State; the first school law in lUinois dates from 1825; Baltimore began schools in 1825, and Maryland enacted an optional school-organization law in 1826; Rhode Island first organized schools in 1828, though the city of Providence had organized schools as early as 1800 and Newport had provided for its pauper children in 1825; Philadelphia was permitted to organize free schools in 1816, though the first Pennsylvania school law dates from 1834; the creation of the Massachusetts State Board of Educa- tion in 1837 made the beginnings of state oversight and control for that State and greatly stimulated schools there and in neighboring States; North Carolina enacted an optional county school-organization law in 1839; and the Indiana school system really dates from 1849, though the first permissive law goes back to 1824. Many of the cities began schools at about the same time. 10 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION The public school system of Cincinnati dates from 1825; Chicago's first public school, from 1830; Pittsburg's school system, from 1835; Cleveland's, from 1836; Buffalo's, from 1837; and New York City's, from 1842; while Washington did not free itself from the pauper-school idea until after 1844. In most of the smaller cities and villages free public schools did not begin until after they had been ordered estabhshed by the school law of the State. The battle for the estabHshment of tax-supported public schools was a bitter one, but after about 1850 it had been won in every Northern State. The new States to the west- ward have all inaugurated a free public educational system, as a part of the State*s pubHc service to its citizens, either at the time of their creation as States or during the previous territorial period. In the Southern States, with two or three exceptions, little was accompHshed until after the Civil War and the period of Reconstruction were over. The first school laws. Many of the earliest state laws relating to education were purely permissive measures. They merely granted to the people of the different com- munities in the State the right to meet and form a school district, and to levy, legally, a property tax for schools. Such laws frequently merely permitted a change in form from private community effort to a legal organization under the authority of the State. Of such a nature were the first laws in Ohio, Indiana, and some other States. Still other of these early laws were even more special, being, in effect, an authorization to certain specified cities within the State to form a public school system and to levy a tax for schools, but without granting such power to the State as a whole. Of such a nature were the early laws per- mitting of the formation of pubHc schools in Providence, Newport, and Philadelphia. After schools had been begun in places under these permissive laws legislation was then ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOLS 11 secured, though usually only after much argument and effort, requiring the estabhshment of schools throughout the State. The change in attitude. Gradually, though but slowly, the state laws relating to schools were enlarged in scope, and a School Code for each of the States has gradually been built up. The history of the gradual expansion of our edu- cational system, and the gradual transference of powers from district to township, township to county, and county to State, in the interests of better organization and more efficient administration, forms an interesting part of the story of our nation's growth. To trace it would be to trace much of the story of our national development. From a collection of isolated villages and rural communities we have expanded to a large nation, each part bound to all the other parts by close social, commercial, and p>ohtical ties. New world-relationships have been developed, and the early isolation, and with it the early ideas as to great local importance, have, in large part, been swept away. New methods of transacting both public and private business have been introduced, and the need for larger units for the administration of the pubHc's business has been made evi- dent to practically all. New needs and new problems have arisen in our democratic life, for many of which education has been seen to be almost our only remedy. Public education has thus gradually been established as a great state, one might also say a great national, interest. The principle that the wealth of the State must educate the children of the State has been firmly estabUshed. Sectarian- ism and the ** charity-conception " have been eliminated. The compulsory attendance of children of school age is at last beginning to be enforced. The school term has been very materially lengthened, the course of instruction has been greatly enriched, the methods of instruction have been n PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION much improved, and an entirely new type of material equip- ment has been substituted. The School Code of each of the States to-day represents an important historical develop- ment, and contains a large, important, and constantly ex- panding body of school law, while school legislation has become one of the important interests considered in each meeting of the legislature of the State. The present conviction. As a result it may be stated to be, to-day, a settled conviction of the people of our different American States that the provision of a Uberal system of free education for the children of the State is one of the most important duties of the State, and that such educa- tion contributes very markedly to the moral upHft of the people, to a higher civic virtue, and to increased economic returns to the State. We of to-day conceive of free public education as a birthright of the child on the one hand, and as an exercise of the State's inherent right to self-preserva- tion and improvement on the other. The children of to-day are the voters of to-morrow, and to prepare them well for their duties is the opportunity of the State. Each new generation of voters, so prepared, should in turn stand for an enlarged conception as to the need for, purpose, function, and scope of public education. In no other country have the people worked out so fully the purpose of making a system of public education good enough for rich and poor alike, and with equal opportunity for all, and in no other country have the results shown forth to better advantage in the general intelligence, poise, good judgment, and pro- ductive capacity of the people. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. How do you explain the lack of any mention of education in the Con- stitution of the United States? 2. How do you account for education, which had been started well in early ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOLS 13 New England, being at such a low ebb at the time of the formation of the Union? 3. What do you understand to have b^n meant by "the charity-concep- tion" of education? 4. What national developments have helped to change education from a private and personal matter to a general national undertaking? 5. In what ways have national changes altered the type of unit for school organization best suited to educational needs? CHAPTER II STATE AUTHORIZATION AND CONTROL The State the unit. In all of this development, however, it should be noted that the authority and power to develop have come from the State and not, except secondarily, from the community. This is an important point to be kept in mind. The school district, the township, the village, the city, and the county are all subordinate creations of the State, erected for the purpose of better local administra- tion. The State creates these subdivisions of itseK and then endows them with their powers, and these it may add to or subtract from, within the limits set by the constitution of the State, and as the best interests of the State may seem to require. It has been the people as a whole, repre- sented in the legislature of the State, and not portions of the people here and there, who have been supreme in the matter of educational legislation. Such has been the policy of practically every State, and such a policy has the support of practically all of the administrative experience relating to public instruction which we have accumulated since we began to adopt education as a proper function of the State. The principle involved was so well stated by Secretary Hill, of the Massachusetts State Board of Education, in dis- cussing the right of the State of Massachusetts to require every town in the State to be under the supervision of a properly qualified superintendent of schools, that his words are worth quoting here entire. He said : — In this matter of determining what is best for the welfare of the schools, it should not be forgotten that it is the people as a whole who are supreme, and not portions of them here and there. It STATE AUTHORIZATION AND CONTROL 15 needs only an elementary acquaintance with the constitution of the State to satisfy one that in law the State is not the creation of the towns, but the towns rather of the State. The powers of the State are not derived from the towns, but those of the towns from the State. In other words, the people, without reference to towns existing at the time, or to possible towns thereafter, organized the State and fixed its authority. And ever since the State has been making towns and unmaking them, adding to their powers and subtracting from them, and in a thousand ways, within the limits of the original compact, showing its supremacy. This way of putting it, however, is suggestive of a despotism that does not really exist; for it needs to be repeated that the State is not an authority apart and different from the people of the towns, ruling them from a distance and insensitive to their interests. On the contrary, the State is an expression, by formal and solemn agree- ment, of the will of the people living in these very towms, — the highest expression, indeed, the towns' people of the Common- wealth ever made of their civic aspirations and resolves. Whatever authority the town has over its schools, it has by direction and permission of the State; that is, by direction or permission of the people at large, of whom the people of the town are a part. Now, this view of the relation of the State to the towns and the schools, supported, as it is, by the constitution of the Commonwealth, should silence certain ill-considered talk that is heard when new legislation affecting the town is proposed, about the State's tres- passing on town rights, usurping town privileges, establishing a central despotism, and all that. The fundamental thing about a State's power is that the State, within the terms of the constitu- tion, can curtail, if it chooses, the rights of towns without trespass, withdraw privileges from them without usurpation, give them new powers without exhaustion of its own, and exercise additional cen- tral authority over them, with wide margins for subsequent con- tingencies. The right of the State, for instance, to determine the nature of the supervision the schools should have is indisputable. The expediency of any particular measure looking to that end, however, is a legitimate subject for discussion. ^ Court decisions. This same view has also been stated, more or less clearly, in decisions of the highest courts in 1 Annual Reports of the State Board of Education of Massachusetts, 1898- 99, p. 188. 16 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION nearly every State of the Union. From a long series of such decisions quotations will be made from typical opinions, rendered in four of our American States, to illustrate the point of view of the State. 1. New York State. In the case of Gunnison v. The Board of Education of the City of New York,^ the court said: — It. is apparent from the general drift of the argument that the learned counsel for the defendant is of the opinion that the employ- ment of the teachers in the public schools, and the general conduct and management of the schools, is a city function in the same sense as it is in the care of the streets, or the employment of police, and the payment of their salaries and compensation; but that view of the relations of the city to public education, if entertained, is an obvious mistake. The city cannot rent, build, or buy a school- house. It cannot employ or discharge a teacher, and has no power to contract with teachers with respect to their compensation. There is no contract or official relation, express or implied, between the teachers and the city. All this results from the settled policy of the State from an early date to divorce the business of public education from all other municipal interests or business, and to take charge of it, as a peculiar and separate function, through agents of its own selection, and immediately subject and respon- sive to its own control. . . . In the case of Ridenour v. The Board of Education of the City of Brooklyn, 2 the court said: — ... He is an employee of the Board of Education. It is not a part of the corporation of the City of Brooklyn, but is itself a local school corporation, like every board of school trustees throughout the State, and is, like every such board, an integral part of the general school system of the State. It is a state and not a city agency, doing state and not city work and functions. Education is not a city, village, county, or town business. It is a matter be- longing to the State Government. From its comprehensive founda- tion by Chapter 75 of the Laws of 1795 down to the recent codifica- tion of our school laws, our state system of education has remained a consistent whole. The present Board of Education of the City of 1 176 New York, 13. 2 15 j^ew York Misc.. 418. STATE AUTHORIZATION AND CONTROL 17 Brooklyn is as distinctly a part of that whole as is any school district in the State. £. Indiana. In the case of the State ex rel. Clark et al. v. Haworth ^ the Supreme Court, in deciding the constitu- tionality of an act giving to the State Board of Education control of the new state textbook system, said : — Essentially and intrinsically, the schools in which are educated and trained the children who are to become the rulers of the Commonwealth are matters of state, and not of local, jurisdiction. In such matters the State is a unit, and the legislature the source of power. The authority over schools and school affairs is not necessarily a distributive one, to be exercised by local instrumen- talities; but, on the contrary, it is a central power, residing in the legislature of the State. It is for the lawmaking power to deter- mine whether the authority shall be exercised by a state board of education, or distributed to county, township, or city organiza- tions throughout the State. With that determination the judiciary can no more rightfully interfere than can the legislature with a decree or judgment pronounced by a judicial tribunal. . . . As the power over schools is a legislative one, it is not exhausted by exercise. The legislature, having tried one plan, is not precluded from trying another. It has a choice of methods, and may change its plans as often as it deems necessary or expedient; and for mis- takes or abuses it is answerable to the people, but not to the courts. It is clear, therefore, that, even if it were true that the legislature had uniformly trusted the management of school affairs to local organization, it would not authorize the conclusion that it might not change the system. To deny the power to change is to affirm that progress is impossible, and that we must move forever "in the dim footsteps of antiquity." But the legislative power moves in a constant stream, and is not exhausted by its exercise in any num- ber of instances, however great. . . . 3. Illinois. In the case of Speight v. The People ^ the court held : — All laws, whether in city charters or elsewhere, designed to affect free schools, may be' regarded simply as school laws. And although they may require the boundary lines of cities to be 1 23 New England Reporter, 946. 2 g? Illinois, 595. 18 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION adopted as lines for the formation of school districts, and that city ofQcers shall perform the duties of school oflacers, yet this is for convenience only, and the districts thus to be formed, and the officers thus required to perform duties, are to be regarded simply as agencies selected by the State to provide a system of free schools. Although the limits and officers of the two corporations are the same, their purposes and objects are different, and they are, in fact, separate and distinct corporations. The one has its exist- ence and is limited in the powers it may exercise by its charter, proper; the other by the school law. In the case of Potter v. Board of Trustees ^ the court held, with reference to the powers of school trustees : — The trustees can act only in pursuance of law. They cannot be compelled to act unless the law is complied with in every sub- stantial particular; nor are they permitted to act, until it is so complied with. They have no power to waive anything that is necessary to compel their action. They may not, as a matter of grace or favor, take territory from one district and add it to another. They may do this only in the cases provided by law, and whatever is essential to be done, before they are bound to act, they must require before they do act. They must know that the petition conforms to the law before they proceed. Jf. California. In the case of Kennedy v. Miller ^ the supreme court said : — The City of San Diego is a corporation distinct from the cor- poration known as the School District of the City of San Diego, and the rights and obligations of the school district corporation are to be determined by the provisions of the Political Code of the State, and not by those of the charter of the City of San Diego; and a provision of its charter, that all moneys belonging to the school fund of the city shall be deposited with the city treasurer, does not supersede the requirement of the Political Code that all moneys pertaining to the public-school fund shall be paid into the county treasury. The legislative declaration, in Section 1576 of the Political Code, that every incorporated city is a school district, though it makes each school district a public corporation, does not import into the 1 10 Appellate, Illinois, 343. 2 97 California, 429. STATE AUTHORIZATION AND CONTROL 19 organization any of the provisions of the city charter, or limit the powers and functions which, as a school district, it has by virtue of the Political Code. These clear statements of state policy are, however, rel atively recent expressions of our highest courts, and rep- resent the present clearly formulated interest of the State in the matter of public education. They are based in part on the fundamental theory as to the nature of the State itself, in part on the now well-estabKshed American prin- ciple that " the whole State is interested in the education of the children of the State," and in part on the convic- tion that the State cannot leave so important a matter as pubKc education to the whims or caprices of individual communities. Delegated authority. Ultimate state control, however, does not of necessity involve immediate state direction and oversight in anything. The State may delegate its authority, in whole or in part, to the subdivisions it creates within itseK for purposes of local administration. As a matter of fact every State does so, though some do it to a much greater extent than do others. In the early part of our educational history the delega- tion of authority to the subordinate units was very large. To the school district, in particular, the delegation in some of our States was so large as almost to prevent the develop- ment of the schools. Indiana offers, perhaps, an extreme example of this, though in many other States the delegation of control was extensive. By the Law of 1833 the district system was substituted for the township in Indiana; three trustees were to be elected annually for each school district; taxes could not be assessed on any householder unless he sent his children to school; and religious and private schools shared equally with the state schools in the township school funds. In 1836 householders were permitted to make indi- 20 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION vidual contracts for the education of their children, and finally, in 1841, the requirement of even a teacher's certificate was made optional with the district-school trustees. It was not until 1849 that Indiana enacted legislation which began the process of state subordination and control. Massachusetts also offers us an interesting example among the older States. There the school districts were en- dowed with corporate powers in 1817, and in 1827 were per- mitted to select their trustees, determine the textbooks to be used, and to examine and certificate their teachers. In the days when there were practically no state standards, almost no supervisory officers, no normal schools or trained teachers, and no organized body of educational theory, such delegation of authority was a perfectly natural attitude for the State to assume. The rule of thumb and the school of practical experience guided both the trustees and the people in the management of their schools. The recovery of state sovereignty. As a state conscious- ness as to the needs and purposes of public education began to develop in the different States, legislation began to be enacted which inaugurated the process of recovering the original sovereignty of the State. School officers were created to represent the State, to gather statistics, and to oversee and advisv. cts to the establishment of schools and the carrying out of the laws; state aid began to be granted, or was increased, and with state aid came closer state over- sight and control; and details previously left to local initia- tive now began to be placed under the control of officers representing larger administrative units, or were prescribed uniformly for all by general state law. This movement was well under way by 1850, but was checked for nearly three decades by the discussion preced- ing the Civil War, the war itself, and the period of recoverjl following the war. After about 1875 or 1880 the moveinent STATE AUTHORIZATION AND CONTROL 21 toward a greater unification and control of the different local school systems went forward rapidly, and since 1900 the progress of the movement has been very marked. The process has been one of the transference of powers from small communities to larger school units, in the interests of greater efficiency in school administration. The school district has been forced to surrender powers to the town- ship, the township in turn to the county, and the county to the State. Examples of such transference. Examples of the trans- ference of powers from smaller to larger units of adminis- tration are abundant. The rights of parents to make indi- vidual contracts with teachers; to determine whether or not their children shall go to school, or whether or not they themselves will pay school taxes; and the right of parents assembled in district meeting to dictate the choice of the teacher, or to say whether a school shall be maintained this year or not, are examples of powers originally possessed by parents, but which the State has now completely taken away. The right of the school trustees of the district to waive the requirement of a teacher's certificate, or to certif- icate the teacher selected, has been superseded by township or county certification, and this, in tm-n, has been replaced in many States by the requirement for all of uniform state teachers' certificates. Uniformity in textbooks and courses of study, with the city, the county, or the State as the unit, has displaced the earlier plan under which each school in such matters was a law unto itself. Uniform laws relating to length of term, type of school or schools which must be maintained, subjects of instruction, type of school-building, sanitary conditions, compulsory attendance of children, and taxes which must be raised, have likewise superseded the earlier policy of leaving each district full authority in aU such matters. 22 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Such legislation has naturally gone further in some States than in others. In some a large degree of local control and decentralization is still the rule; in others the centralization of power in the hands of the State has become so great as to exert, at times, a cramping and stij&ing influence on the progress of the schools. Advantages of state controL State control of public in- struction has many advantages, but it has some disadvan- tages as well, and the purpose of wise educational adminis- tration must always be to utilize the advantages and to minimize the disadvantages as much as is possible. As a whole, the possible advantages greatly outweigh the pos- sible disadvantages. One of the chief advantages of state control is the power of the State to determine the minimum standards to be permitted, and to formulate a constructive educational policy. Once formulated, the State can see that this policy is carried out. The educational needs of the State may thus be considered as a whole, and be legislated for accordingly. What the State deems to be wise for its children, it may require communities to provide. If any community is too poor to meet the legitimate demands of the State, the obli= gation then naturally rests upon the State to help such community to comply with its demands. In making education a state rather than a district or a municipal function, the State can also prevent local civil governments from overlooking or slighting this " major claim." Regardless of what may be needed by the patron- age departments of poHce, fire, water-front, and streets, the State can prevent the neglect of public education, in the perpetual city struggle for appropriations, by giving the school authorities power to provide for the needs of the schools independently of the city governmental authorities. If cities or other communities do not provide properly for STATE AUTHORIZATION AND CONTROL 23 their children, the State may even order that proper pro- vision must be made. In introducing uniformity where uniformity is desirable? as, for example, in the certification of teachers; in directing the extension of educational advantages to its children, as, for example, in the provision of high schools or vocational education; in requiring a longer school term, or better financial support; or in standardizing classroom construc- tion or sanitary demands, — state oversight and control may render very valuable service. Often the needs and rights of children can only be properly safeguarded by the intervention of the State itself, and this it should have th^ power to do when neglect is clearly evident. Disadvantages of state control. On the other hand, the ease with which interested parties — citizens, teachers, or organizations — can go to the legislature of the State and secure school legislation which some local board of control has refused to grant, — such as life-tenure for teachers or the imposition of some bad administrative form or condi- tion, and which may be inimical not only to the best inter- ests of the schools of the community concerned but perhaps also to other communities in the State, — is an example of the disadvantages of state control. Another serious disadvantage, unless carefully guarded against in legislation, is the infliction upon large and pro- gressive school communities of a cramping uniformity and standardization, adopted either with the needs of smaller or average-type school communities largely in mind, or from a desire to standardize administration and make it easier to direct. Nearly all of the substantial progress which has been made in pubhc education has first been made by some city school system, free to act in carrying out and testing a new idea, and such freedom in any worthy line the State should be very careful to safeguard. In some of our American 24 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION States state uniformity, particularly in matters of text- books, courses of study, and character of instruction, has al- ready gone too far for the best interests of the schools. The State's proper functions. Up to a certain point, varying somewhat in different States and with the type of school maintained, state oversight and control are desirable. Too much liberty may mean weakness and lack of coordina- tion rather than strength. la such matters as methods of bookkeeping and accounting, uniform fiscal years, and uni- form statistical returns, the State should prescribe such a degree of uniformity as will produce intelligent and com- parable returns. In all such matters as types of schools which must be maintained, length of school term, education and certification of teachers for the schools, the supervi- sion of instruction, building and sai. :ary standards, forms and rates of taxation, term for com^ ulsory attendance, and child-protection laws, it is essentially the business of the State to determine the minimum standards which the State will permit in any school, or in the schools of any type or group into which the State may see fit to classify the schools for purposes of organization or administration. It is also the right and duty of the State to raise these minima, from time to time, as changing conditions or new educational demands may seem to require or as larger finances will per- mit. To do so will frequently involve reciprocal obligations on the part of the State toward certain of its communities, but such the State must expect and prepare to meet. On the other hand, those charged with the administration of public education ought carefully to guard against un- necessary uniformity in non-essentials, or a uniformity which may tend to stifle the higher educational activity of any progressive community. This is a constant danger in any State as the centralization of control proceeds. Uni- formity in means and ends makes administration more STATE AUTHORIZATION AND CONTROL 25 machine-like and hence, to the ordinary executive, easier to handle. Uniformity, too, appeals strongly to certain types of minds, and is often pushed into non-essentials and to a degree that is both irritating and unnecessary. It should be remembered that too great a uniformity is always most cramping and deadening on the school systems most capable of making substantial educational progress. Be- tween the two extremes the State's greatest service to its communities and to itself may be rendered. A state educational policy. It ought to be essentially the business of the State to formulate a constructive policy for the development of the education of the people of the State, and to change this policy from time to time as the changing needs of the State may seem to require. This may involve more than the mere regulation of schools, and may properly include such educational agencies and efforts as hbraries, playgrounds, health supervision, and adult education. In- stead of being a passive tax-gatherer and lawgiver, the State should become an active, energetic agent, working for the moral, intellectual, and social improvement and advancement of its people. The formulation of minimum standards for the various forms of public education, the raising of these standards from time to time, the protection of these standards from being lowered by private agencies, and the stimulation of communities to additional educa- tional activity, is a fundamental right and duty of the State. On the other hand, to find what can safely be left to local initiative and control, and then to pass this down, ought to be as much a function of proper state school administra- tion as is the removal from community control of matters which communities cannot longer handle with a reasonable degree of effectiveness. Unity in essentials and liberty in non-essentials, as high minimum standards for all as is possible, constant stimulation to communities to exceed the 26 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION minima required, and large liberty to communities in the choice of methods and tools and in the extension of educa- tional advantages and opportunities, ought to be cardinal principles in a State's educational policy and in its relations to its subordinate governmental units. QUESTIONS FOR INVESTIGATION AND DISCUSSION 1. Does the reasoning of Secretary Hill appeal to you as sound? I^ not, in what way is it weak? 2. Have you any legal decisions in your State in which the question of the unity of the State's educational system was involved? If so, what was the point in question, and the nature of the decision? 3. To what extent, in your State, is the State's authority in educational matters centralized, and to what extent delegated? List up, in parallel columns, a number of matters in which the State's authority is (a) cen- tralized, and (6) delegated. 4. Does centralization of authority of necessity mean uniformity in proce- dure? Should it? If not, how may such be avoided? 5. To what extent do you seem to have a conscious state educational policy in your State, and what is its nature? 6. What recent legislation have you, in your State, which illustrates the advantages of state control? 7. The tendency, in the New England States, is for the State to become the unit in educational administration. What peculiar advantages would follow state unification in educational control there? 8. Illustrate what is meant by the State establishing minimum require- ments. 9. What reciprocal obligations are likely to be met when a State increases the required length of school term? CHAPTER III STATE EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION Evolution of forms of control. To carry out this more or less clearly conceived and defined state educational policy, each of our American States has evolved some form or type of state administrative organization and control. The form, scope, and powers of such a state organization vary greatly in the different States, there being as yet no standard type. The evolution has been so recent, and is still so clearly in the process of further development, that but few of our States have at this time reached anything like a settled or per- manent form of administrative organization. Everywhere, though, we find the State the unit, with a corresponding state educational organization of some type and degree of effectiveness; everywhere, outside of New England and Nevada, the county is also a more or less important admin- istrative unit to assist the State in administering and direct- ing the educational system; and within the county we find towns, townships, cities, districts, or subdistricts, estab- lished by the State with a view to assisting in the adminis- tration of the system of public education maintained. Chief state school officer. A common feature of each of our American state school systems, and including Porto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippines, is the election or appoint- ment of a chief state school officer, who is charged with certain definite and many indefinite functions. Prominent among the definite functions are certain clerical and statis- tical duties, specified in the school laws of the State; the preparation and distribution of blanks, for various pur- poses; the interpretation and enforcement of the laws relat- 28 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION ing to schools; and, where there is also a state board of edu- cation, that of executing policies which have been decided upon by the board. The title of this officer varies somewhat, though that of " state superintendent of public instruction " is, at present, most frequently employed. Such titles as " superintendent of common schools," " superintendent ctf free schools," '* superintendent of education," and " secre- tary of the state board of education " are also used by some of our States. In the recent reorganizations the tendency has been to substitute the term "commissioner of educa- tion" for these older designations, as being a title more expressive of the gradually enlarging functions of the chief state educational office. The office an evolution. Like practically all other features of public education with us, the office of chief state school officer has been an evolution. The first State to create such an educational officer was New York, which appointed a super- intendent of common schools in 1812. After nine years, however, the office was aboKshed, and the secretary of state acted ex officio as superintendent of schools until 1854, when the office of superintendent of pubhc instruction was created. This official was displaced by an appointed com- missioner of education in 1904. Maryland provided for a superintendent of pubhc instruction in 1826, but in 1828 the office was aboHshed and was not re-created until 1868. Vermont provided for a rudimentary type of state school official in 1827, but abohshed the office in 1833, and did not re-create it until 1845. The first State to maintain continuously such a state official was Michigan, which created the office of superin- tendent of common schools in 1829. In 1836 the title was changed to " superintendent of public instruction," and as such has continued to the present time. The creation of the Massachusetts State Board of Education in 1837, with an STATE EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION 29 appointed secretary to discharge the duties of a superin- tendent of schools, was an event of much importance, and gave a decided impetus to the movement for the creation of a chief state school officer in each of the States. By 1850 every Northern State and some of the Southern States had either provided for such an officer or had designated some other state officer to act, ex officio, as such. Most of the new States to the westward created the office early in their territorial period, and all of the Southern States provided for such an official soon after the close of the Civil War. Duties of such an official. During the early period of our educational history the duties of such a state officer were almost entirely clerical, statistical, and exhortatory. To look after the school lands, so far as they were under his control; to tabulate and edit the statistical returns required from the towns, townships, or districts; to compile an annual or a biennial statistical report; to apportion the state aid, as directed by law; and to visit the different parts of the State, stimulating teachers and school officers, and exhort- ing the people to estabhsh or add to their schools, consti- tuted almost entirely the duties of the early state superin- tendents of schools. Since that time many new duties have been added. The decision as to controverted points in the school laws; the recommendation of courses of study, textbooks, and library books; the supervision of finances in the educational sub- divisions of the State; the issuance and revocation of teach- ers' certificates; the visitation and conduct of teachers' institutes; the recommendation of desirable changes in the school laws; the publication of special bulletins; the inspec- tion and accrediting of schools; and the serving, ex officio, on various educational boards may be mentioned as among the more important of the newer duties of the office. New demands for leadership. Within the past decade or 30 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION two, with the rapidly enlarging conception as to the place and importance of public education with us, new ideas as to the nature of the chief state educational office have been pushed to the front. The continued transference of func- tions and duties from smaller to larger administrative units; the gradual extension of state oversight and control; the addition of new judicial and administrative functions; the demand for real educational leadership in matters of instruc- tion, administration, sanitation, child welfare, training of teachers, agricultural and vocational education, and school legislation have all alike tended to increase the importance of the office and to demand a new type of chief state school officer. The exhorter and the institute worker have come to be needed less and less, the student and administrator more and more. State boards of education. Another somewhat common feature of our state educational organizations is a state board for educational control, usually known as a " state board of education." The first state board for educational purposes was the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, created in 1784, and which has continued down to the present. Organized at first primarily for the manage- ment of Colunibia College, new duties and functions have from time to time been added until the board has finally evolved into a strong state board of education for the con- trol of the school system of the State, executing its decisions through an appointed commissioner of education and a staff of assistant commissioners and inspectors. Two other States ^ provided for a rudimentary form of state educa- tional board before 1837, in which year the State of Massa- chusetts created the first real state board of education, in the modern sense of the term. ^ North Carolina in 1825, which was continued to 1832, and Vermont in 1827, but which was abolished in 1835. STATE EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION 31 By 1852 five other States ^ had created state boards of education, of one type or another, though few of them were at first entrusted with any important functions. The care of the school lands and the advising of the chief state school officer constituted the most important duties of such boards in most of the States. The Massachusetts State Board of Education was given the most power, was the most active, and did the most to show the advantages of such an organi- zation. The story of the life and work of Horace Mann,^ from 1837 to 1849, is largely the story of the educational revival in Massachusetts and the formulation, for the nation as well as for Massachusetts, of the principles of state over- sight, advice, and control. Since 1852 a number of other States have created some form of state educational board, and the creation or recon- struction of others has been recommended by a number of state educational commissions. Not all of our States as yet have such a body. Types of state boards. Four types of state boards of edu- cation exist in our different American States. One, and the most rudimentary and unsatisfactory type, is a state board of education composed, ex officio, of state officers. ^ Elected as such men have been for other purposes than educational control, and with httle knowledge of, or interest in, public education, such boards cannot, with safety, be entrusted with any important administrative functions relating to public education. Such boards are usually superseded by a better form of organization when- 1 Connecticut in 1839 (abolished in 1842 and re-created in 1865), Ken- tucky in 1838, Arkansas in 1843, Ohio in 1850, and Indiana in 1852. 2 See particularly B. A. Hinsdale, Horace Mann and the Common School Revival in the United States. * The state board of education in Missouri is illustrative of this type, being composed, ex officio, of the governor, the secretary of state, the attorney-general, and the superintendent of public instruction. 32 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION ever any large degree of educational control is entrusted td a board representing the State. Another type of state board is one composed entirely of school officers, often designated for service on the repre- sentative principle/ and created on the theory that, since educational matters are technical and require expert knowl- edge, only school men who have risen to important educa- tional positions are competent to handle them. The chief defects of such boards He in that the persons designated are usually so busy with the work of their own cities or institu- tions that they give little attention to the larger problems of the educational system of the State, and that the chief functions of such boards should be to govern and not to execute, and for this expert educational knowledge is not fundamentally necessary. Combinations of these two types of boards, forming the third type, are also found in a few of our States.^ The fourth type of a state board of education is the small appointed board, composed of citizens of the State, acting as a board of directors of a corporation would act and exer- cising general control over the educational system of the State, but acting through the appointed executive officers of the board. Such forms a true board of educational con- trol, and represents the most desirable type of state educa- tional board which we have so far evolved. 1 The Indiana state board of education represents this type, being com- posed of the governor, the superintendent of public instruction, the presi- dent of the State University, the president of Purdue University, the pres- ident of the State Normal School, and the superintendents of city schools in the three largest cities of the State, ex officio, together with one county superintendent of schools and two other persons actively engaged in edu- cational work, to be designated by the governor, for three-year terms. 2 Virginia illustrates such a combination, the state board of education there being composed of the governor, the attorney-general, and the super- intendent of public instruction, ex officio, and three educators, elected by the legislature from a list of eligibles submitted by the boards of trustees of the different state educational institutions. STATE EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION 33 Good state educational organization. Within the past decade certain rather clearly marked tendencies have be- come manifest with us in the matter of state educational organization. The recent legislative reorganizations in a number of our States ^ have followed, in the main, one direction. This has been the creation of small appointed state boards of education composed of representative citi- zens of the State, and substituting such boards for the former ex officio types of boards; the change of the chief state school ojfficer from a popularly elected state official and clerk into an expert executive officer and adviser of the state board of education, and selected and appointed by it; and a marked increase in the powers and duties of both the state board of education and its executive officers, with a view to evolving a real state board for educational over- sight and control. The position of chief state school officer under a good form of state educational organization is, potentially, a more im- portant position than that of the presidency of the state university of the State, and the recent legislative reorgan- izations have been in the direction of making it actually become such. The school business of any of our large Amer- ican States has by now evolved into a very important state undertaking, costing the people of the State millions of dollars annually to maintain, and as such it should be placed under a form of management and control dictated by the best American experience in city and corporation management. What these are we shall set forth in Part II of this volume. The problem at hand. The problem at hand is how best to create a state educational organization capable of handling 1 For example. New York in 1904; Massachusetts in 1909; New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, and Oklahoma in 1911; and California and Idaho in 1913. S4 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION the State's educational business and problems in a really large way. The present very Hmited and politically organ- ized state educational departments cannot much longer continue to try to handle the situation. With an efficient state department of education, organized along lines cal- culated to insure large and intelligent service, and manned by a number of properly qualified expert executive officers, many functions now handled rather poorly by local officials and subordinate administrative units could and should be transferred to state control. Conversely, with an efficient reorganization of subordinate administrative units, as we shall point out further on, certain functions now exercised by the State could be passed down to these subordinate units to handle, and as local needs might seem to require. The real problem is how to secure greater administrative efficiency without interfering with local initiative and im- pairing local administrative efficiency. QUESTIONS FOR INVESTIGATION AND DISCUSSION t. Classify the duties of the chief state school officer in your state under the headings of (a) Administrative, (6) Supervisory, (c) Clerical and Statistical, and (d) Judicial. 2. How much real power has he, under each head? 3. What new demands have come on the office in your State during the past decade? 4. If there is a state board of education in your State, of what type is it? 5. What powers and duties are entrusted to it? 6. Is there any clear distinction between legislative and executive functions in its work? 7. Illustrate what is meant by "unity in essentials and liberty in details in the attainment of results, and liberty in plan," as applied to state edu- cational supervision and control. 8. In what way is the position of chief state school officer potentially a more important one than that of president of the state university? CHAPTER IV COUNTY EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION The county in school administration. All of our American States are subdivided into counties, for purposes of local administration. As an administrative unit the county is least important in New England, and most important in the West and South. ^ The size of the county varies greatly, being smallest in the South and largest in the West, though, due to the greater sparsity of population in the West, the county there can hardly be said to have, as yet, attained its ultimate size. In the better settled portions of the United States an area from 350 to 600 square miles represents the usual size. ^ As a subordinate division of the State for the administra- tion of the educational system maintained by direction of the State, we find the county in all stages of evolution from practically nothing to an important administrative unit. In New England and Nevada attempts to make use of the unit for purposes of school administration have been aban- doned. In New England the county unit, so Httle used there 1 In New England the county is used for little except judicial purposes, while in the West and South it forms a natural unit for the management of almost all phases of the county's business. 2 For example, the average size of the counties in Maryland is 415 square miles; Virginia, 402 square miles; Georgia, 389 square miles; Alabama, 765 square miles; Ohio, 463 square miles; Indiana, 392 square miles; Illi- nois, 549 square miles; Nebraska, 835 square miles; Colorado, 1728 square miles; Utah, 3044 square miles; and California, 2684 square miles. In other words. Eastern and Southern counties vary from 20 by 20 miles square to 25 by 30 miles square, while Western counties run from 40 by 40 to 60 by 60 miles square. Yet in the West the county is extensively used as an administrative unit. 36 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION for any administrative purpose, was given up as an educa- tional unit decades ago in favor of the smaller town.^ In Nevada, due to the sparsity of population, the county unit was abandoned for the larger unit of a group of counties united to form a state supervisory district, under the super- vision of an assistant state superintendent. ^ In all other American States we find the county as a more or less im- portant educational subdivision of the State, extending from the weak county and strong district combination, as found in Missouri, to the county as the unit of organization and administration, as found in Maryland. Between these two extremes all forms or stages in the development of county control are to be found. Evolution of a county school officer. As education began to evolve into a state interest in our country, the need for de» veloping some subordinate form of state control became evident. The school-land sections needed to be looked after by some person representing the larger interest of the State; the local school officials needed supervision, to see that they maintained schools as required by the laws, and that the school moneys were properly levied and spent; an agent to collect statistical information for the State and to act as a means of communication between the State and the school districts became more and more desirable; and, often most important of all, an agent of the State was needed to stimu- late a local interest in schools, and to help and inspire teach- ers in their work of instruction. Hence a county school officer, known as a county super- intendent of education, a county school superintendent, * An irregular area of from 20 to 40 square miles. 2 There are at present five such officers for the entire State of Nevada. Nevada has an area practically the same size as that of New York and the six New England States combined, but only about as many teachers are employed in the entire State as are employed in such a city as Fall River» Massachusetts. COUNTY EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION 37 or a county superintendent of public instruction, was grad- ually provided for, sometimes by amendment of or during a revision of the constitution of the State, and sometimes by statute laws. Sometimes, too, the office was gradually evolved out of some other county office, such as auditor, or treasurer, or probate judge.^ In Iowa and in some of the Southern States the office evolved cut of the presidency or executive officer of the county board of education, an or- ganization which in some States preceded the county super- intendency. In New York and Michigan, too, the township superintendency preceded the county superintendency. The office of county superintendent of schools began about 1835, and by about 1870 was common in most of the older States. In the newer States to the west the office was frequently created in the territorial period. Early duties of the office. Everywhere, at first, the county superintendent was to a very large degree a clerical and statistical officer, representing the State in the carrying out of a state purpose, and serving as a means of communication between the State on the one hand and the school districts of the county on the other. He recorded changes in district boundary lines; apportioned the income from funds to the districts; saw that the teacher employed possessed a teach- er's certificate; collected figures as to expenditures, attend- ance, etc., and reported the same for his county to the State; visited the schools and advised trustees and teach- ^ Illinois and Indiana represent the process fairly well. In 1835, in Illi- nois, the office of county land commissioner was created to look after the school lands; in 1845 some educational functions, and the title of ex officio superintendent of schools were added; and in 1855 the position of county superintendent was created. In Indiana a county school commissioner was created in 1835 to look after the school lands, as in Illinois; in 1841 the duties were transferred to the county auditor, and he was made ex officio a county school officer; in 1853- a county examiner of teachers was created, and the school functions of the auditor transferred to him; and in 1873 the position of county superintendent of schools was created. 38 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION ers; and exhorted the people to provide for and extend their schools. His duties were simple and required no professional train- ing or skill; so election from among the body of the elector- ate, and for short terms, with as frequent changes in the office as in the case of any other county officer, early be- came the established method for securing this official. Officially he represented the State; actually he represented the people. The method of nomination from among the electorate of the county, and election by popular vote, es- tablished early, has been followed by the new States to the west, and was carried into some of the Southern States in the period of Reconstruction following the Civil War. Despite a number of changes which have since been made, the elective method remains to-day the most common plan for selecting the superintendent of education for our counties. New and changed duties. After the office of county super- intendent of education had become established, new duties began to be entrusted to this new official. Some of these new duties were passed down from the State above, in the form of a delegation of authority; others were gathered up from below, by taking the powers away from the districts. Most of the new powers have come from the gathering-up process, the districts being gradually deprived of more and more of their early power and authority, in the interests of the more efficient education of the children of the districts concerned. Examples of such transference of powers and authority have been cited in Chapter II. As the result of a long process of transference, extending over more than haK a century, the office of the county super- intendent of schools has to-day, in many of our American States, evolved into an office of large potential importance, and the county superintendent has become a general over- COUNTY EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION 39 seer of education, representing the State. The county, too, has become, to a greater or less degree in the different States, an important subordinate unit for the administration and control of the State's system of public instruction. In all clerical and business matters the county superintendent, or some clerk acting for him, acts as a county supervising officer for all records and business matters concerning the schools within the county. In professional matters the super- intendent commonly acts as the chief educational officer of the county, determining largely what is to be done. Unhke other county officers, his functions are only in part cleri- cal and routine; and if he is to render the highest service he must be a professional leader rather than an office clerk. It might almost be said that his real effectiveness as a county superintendent is determined by how far he is able to sub- ordinate office routine to real professional leadership. While much of his work must be at the county seat, his real work, nevertheless, must be out in the schools of his county. New demand for educational leadership. Perhaps the most marked change which has come in the conditions sur- rounding the office of county superintendent of schools, within the past two decades, has been the marked increase in the demand for the exercise of professional functions. The effect has been to inaugurate a movement which will, in time, effect important changes in the office of county super- intendent of schools. The rapidly rising demand for real professional supervision for the rural schools, supervision that is close, personal, and adequate, and the many move- ments for the improvement of rural education, which have been brought to the front so prominently within the past ten years, are expressions of this changing conception as to what the office ought to be and what the officer ought to do. The yearly visit of a politically elected county educa- tional officer no longer suffices; what is needed now is the 40 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION close oversight and direction of an expert in village and rural education, — one possessed of imagination, breadth of view, and expert technical and professional knowledge. Everywhere our rural and small town schools are calling for educational leadership and for professional supervision of a new type, but this cannot come, in most cases, until there is a marked change in the nature of the county educational office. Of what this change should consist, and the nature of the new functions and duties which should be developed, we shall point out more in detail in Part III, after we have first considered the problem of administering and supervising school systems in our cities. County boards of controL In a number of our American States some form of county board for school control, com- monly known as a "county board of education," has been created by law and with a view to carrying out better the State's educational purpose in establishing schools.^ To such boards either consultative powers or additional edu- cational functions have been entrusted, with a view to im- proving the administration of the system of schools within the counties. Some of these boards are quite rudimentary in type, as, for example, county high-school boards of Nevada, whose sole function is to act as a board of control for the county high school, should such an institution exist. The ex officio boards of county textbook commissioners in Iowa or South Dakota, whose one function is to adopt textbooks for use in the counties, also represent another rudimentary type. The county boards of examiners, found in many of our States, and whose function is to examine and certificate teachers 1 In a number of Southern States such boards preceded the provision for a county superintendent of education, such officer frequently being evolved out of the presidency of such a board, or being selected by it to act as its agent and executive officer. Iowa and Delaware represent the former method; Georgia and Louisiana, the latter. COUNTY EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION 41 for the counties, represent another type of county board for partial school control. The county boards of education of Cahfornia/ which examine and certificate teachers for the schools, examine pupils for graduation and issue di- plomas, make the courses of study, and approve supple- mental books and apparatus for purchase by the districts, represent a still higher degree of county board control. In addition to such rudimentary or partially developed county boards, a few of our States have also provided for the appointment or election of real county boards of educa- tion, boards which exercise functions analogous to those ex- ercised by city boards of education. In a few of the States having such boards they exercise a coordinating and super- vising authority over the different school districts of the county; in a few others they have reached their full logical development, and direct, in conjunction with the county superintendent of education, the schools of the whole county, much as a city board of education and a city superintendent of schools direct the schools of a city. Where the full logical development has been attained, the school districts naturally have been subordinated to county oversight and control. Maryland and Utah offer good examples of such develop- ment. The educational problem involved. The problem now be- fore our American States is what form or forms of county education organization will secure for the rural and small town schools of the State the best educational administra- tion and the closest, most ejBPective, and most highly pro- fessional supervision. The rural-life problem, which has developed within the past two decades and which is now ' Composed of the county superintendent of schools, ex officio, as secre- tary, and four others appointed by the board of county supervisors, three of whom must hold teachers' certificates. These are boards of school men, exercising largely professional functions. 42 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION forcibly demanding attention, is fundamentally a problem of educational reorganization, and the rural schools of our States are badly in need of such an educational reorganiza- tion and redirection as will enable them to render a dis- tinctively larger service to the communities in ^hich they are located.^ J These reorganizations and reconstructions call for con- structive educational leadership of a new type, and the changing of the county to a more important unit for the administration of the system of public instruction which the State has seen fit to organize and to maintain is one of the important steps in that direction. The county super- visory system is weak in almost all of our Northern and Western States, partly because of the poKtical nature of the office of the chief county school officer, partly because the clerical rather than the professional functions predominate, partly because county boards of control of the right type have not, as yet, been developed, and partly because of the large powers still granted to subordinate educational units within the county. Under a good form of county educational organization the possibiUties for helpful and constructive service are very large, and the office of county superintend- ent of education will, in time, become an office of large importance, attracting to the position many of the best- trained men engaged in educational work. Before indicating how this may be accomplished, however, we wish first to pass to a brief consideration of these smaller educational administrative units, and then to a somewhat detailed con- sideration of the organization, administration, and prob- lems of one type of these units. * In another volume in this series. Rural Life and Education, the author has set forth this rural-life problem at much greater length and has pointed out the means necessary for its solution. COUNTY EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION 43 QUESTIONS FOR INVESTIGATION AND DISCUSSION 1. To what extent is the county an educational unit in your State? 2. How and when did the county school officer evolve in your State? 3. Is the method at present followed in your State for securing this officer satisfactory, or not? If not, what changes in method would you suggest? 4. List up some of the powers and duties that have been transferred from the districts to the county educational authority. 5. Classify the duties of the chief school officer of your county under the headings of (a) Administrative, (6) Supervisory, (c) Clerical and Statis- tical; and (d) Judicial. 6. How much real power has he, under each head? 7. If the district system flourishes in your State, how do the powers of the county superintendent compare with those of a board of district trustees? 8. If there is a county board of education in your State, in what stage of development is it, judged by its powers? 9. How far are the powers which it exercises helpful and stimulating to the schools, and how far restrictive and imintelligently uniform? 10. How much of an attempt has been made, in your State, to reach the rural-life problem through educational reorganizations and redirections? 11. Illustrate some of the new demands for leadership on the office of County Superintendent of Schools. 12. Compare rural and city school supervision as to adequacy and effectiveness. CHAPTER V TOWN, TOWNSHIP, AND DISTRICT ORGANIZATION County subdivisions for administration. In a few of our States, as has been mentioned, the county has been made the unit for educational administration,^ but in most of our States the county is still further subdivided into smaller ad- ministrative units for the more detailed administration of the State's educational system. These smaller administra- tive units are towns in New England, townships in the North-Central States, and school districts in all parts of the Union outside of New England. Each of these smaller units also represents the State, in a small locality, in the carrying out of the State's educational purpose; each is entrusted with more or less limited powers, and is charged with more or less important duties; and each, except in New England and Nevada, reports through the county unit to the State, and is in turn in part directed in its work by the county educational authorities. We shall next consider these sub- ordinate units, and in the above order. The town. The town is a pecuHarly New England insti- tution, though the term is also applied to similar subdivisions in New Jersey. A New England town is irregular in shape, following hills, water-courses, or old roads. In size it contains, as a rule, from twenty to forty square miles. The New England town thus has natural geographic boundaries, 1 That is, all schools in the county, with the exception, perhaps, of large cities, are under the management and control of one county board of edu- cation, which employs the superintendent of schools and directs the general work of organizing the schools. In Georgia the central city is a part of the county organization. See map on page 51 for the county-system States. TOWN, TOWNSHIP, AND DISTRICT 45 and as a result commonly embraces a natural center for a community life. The term "town" is applied to all of the area included within the civil government, and may include farmland, suburban residence districts, villages, and even a small city.^ The educational affairs of each town are managed as a unit by one town school committee, elected by the people of the whole town, and all of the schools of the town — city, village, and rural — are under its control. For super- vision each town in Massachusetts, and to a certain extent in the other New England States as well, separately or in conjunction with one or more other more or less contiguous towns, must employ a superintendent of schools who de- votes his time to the work of supervision, ^ and who acts as the executive officer of the school committee or committees. A superintendent in Massachusetts thus presides over a small and compact school system, either a city school system or a small county school system in type. ^ To a large degree 1 A New England town is thus somewhat like a Western township, ex- cept in form, though the use of the term "town" is quite different in the two parts of the country. 2 All towns in Massachusetts must employ a superintendent of schools. Of the 354 towns and cities in the State, 119 employ a superintendent alone, while the remainder unite with other towns to employ such an oiEcer. There are 74 union superintendencies in the State, — 20 of 2 towns each, 25 of 3 towns, 26 of 4 towns, 2 of 5 towns, and 1 of 6 towns. The Massa- chusetts idea of compulsory supervision is being extended rapidly to the other New England States. 3 Supervisory Union No. 64 (in Essex County), and the city of Newton, in Massachusetts, illustrate these two types well. Union No. 64 is composed of the four towns of Merrimac, Newbury, Salisbury, and West Newbur5\ The total population of the four towns is approximately 6800, the combined area about 57 square miles, and the number of teachers employed 39, for the 34 different schools. This is es- sentially a small rural county. Newton, on the other hand, with a population of approximately 40,000, an area of 18 square miles, maintaining 25 schools and employing 315 teachers (1915), is essentially a city school system. Many such examples may be found in the different New England States. 46 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION the problems of organization and administration in New England are the problems of either a city or a county school system to the westward. Instead of reporting through a county educational ojQficer, and being subject in part to his oversight, these towns report directly to the state educa- tional authorities. Marked features of the town system. Perhaps the most marked feature, as well as perhaps the most commendable single feature, of the New England town system for school control, is the organization of all of the schools — rural, village, and city — of the geographical area known as a town under one school board, one superintendent, and one administrative organization. The school districts within the towns, which once existed generally throughout New England, and which did more to ruin the efficiency of the schools of the towns than any other single feature, have everywhere been entirely abandoned,^ and town school control has been substituted in their stead. So far as district lines still remain they exist merely to classify and regulate the school attendance. All children in the different schools of the town are pro- vided with an equal length of term, high schools and special- school advantages are open equally to all, special subjects of instruction and special supervision go to all schools, the school property is all under one board of control, and the cost of maintaining the school system of the towns is spread equally over the property of the entire town. The schools of the whole geographical area known as the town are man- aged as a unit, just as the schools of a city elsewhere are a unit for maintenance, administration, and supervision. This, and the natural character of the town boundaries, are two of the most important advantages which the New 1 See map on page 51 for dates of the final abandonment of the district system. TOWN, TOWNSHIP, AND DISTRICT 47 England town possesses over the Western township form of school organization. The township. The township system of the North-Central group of States is a somewhat similar but less well-developed form of school organization, and may be regarded as an imper- fect adaptation of the earher New England town system to the newer States of the Central West. Like the New Eng- land town system, the Western township form of school organization attempts to provide for the systematic organi- zation and administration of the educational affairs of a whole township under one responsible board,'- elected by the people to manage the schools, and with the idea of secur- ing something of the same efficiency in educational adminis- tration which characterizes a New England town. As a sub- ordinate unit for educational administration it is greatly superior to the still smaller school district which it has gen- erally displaced. A better equalization of both the oppor- tunities and the advantages of education are provided under it than under the smaller district unit, and it is more effi- cient and economical as well. In the matter of providing high-school facilities for rural communities the township, in the upper IMississippi Valley, has rendered particular service. Disadvantages of the township unit. The chief disadvan- tages of the Western township unit lie in its rectangular out- lines, its lack of adaptability to natural community bound- aries, the exemption of the central towns from township control, and its fixed area, — too large for some purposes, and much too small for others. Instead of following natural geographical boundaries, de- fined in outline by natural community lines, and varying in ^ Usually a board of three or five, but in Indiana the schools are under the control of the same one township trustee who looks after roads, bridges, and poor-relief for the township. 48 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION size to meet local needs, as do the New England towns, the Western township boundaries run straight across the coun- try, following the points of the compass, and bear no relation to natural geographical features or to possible community boundaries. The area, too, which is six miles square every- where west of east central Ohio, has too often in the past proved too large a unit for purposes of school organization. In the future, with better developed means of transporta- tion, it is likely to prove too small. Fro. NEW ENGLAND TOWNS AND WESTERN TOWNSHIPS COMPARED Essex County, Mass. Area 497 sq. miles, 34 towns. Huntington County, Ind. Area 386 sq. miles. 12 townships. The difference is well shown in the two counties drawn in the above figure. These differences in size and shape and area, together with the fact that the township form of organization is unadapted to rough country, are distinct weaknesses of the Western township unit. Almost nowhere do we find the township unit in simple and well-defined form. Even in Indiana, which represents perhaps the best example of the township form of school administration, the unity of the township is nearly every- where broken into by the exemption of the central incor- TOWN, TOWNSHIP, AND DISTRICT 49 porated town or city from any close connection with the township educational organization. i In financial matters, in particular, the central town or city is largely or wholly independent. This fundamental difference from the New England town system of school administration, where a unified school organization is the rule, is another distinctly weak feature of the Western township unit for school organ- ization and control. The township unit not fundamentally necessary. The county oversight and control in the North-Central States, which is absent in New England, is also another important difference between the town system of New England and the township system under discussion. The towns of New England deal directly with the State, as there are no county educational authorities; the townships of the North-Central States deal primarily and directly with the county educa- tional authorities, and only secondarily and indirectly with the State. This difference makes the township unit much less necessary for school administration in the West than is the town in New England. Like the town in New England, the township marked a distinct advance over the school-district unit which gener- ally preceded it, but, as will be pointed out in a later chapter (Part III), better administrative conditions could now be provided in most of our States if all fixed administrative units, smaller than the county, were displaced by making the county the educational unit, and then organizing within the county, and as the changing necessities of education might seem to require, flexible and changeable administra- tive groupings to meet local conditions and needs. The school-district unit. The rise and spread of the dis- * That is, the central village, as soon as it comes to possess any property, is permitted to set itself off as a separate school district, and to become financially and educationally independent of the township. 50 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION trict unit for school organization and administration has been traced briefly in Chapter I. It was the natural unit in the beginnings of our school systems. It was particularly adapted to a time of little general interest in public educa- tion, before the period of state and county school ofl&cers and a developed administrative organization, and among agricultural communities with but few means of communi- cation and but little interest in one another. It was well adapted, too, to the days of small things, and to schools which gave instruction only in the rudiments of an education. Originating in New England, and as a part of the process of disintegration of the earlier town government, it spread to the westward and to the south, and firmly established itself before conditions were ripe for any other unit of or- ganization. The result is that to-day, after nearly all the conditions which gave rise to the district form of organiza- tion have passed away, and when new social and educational needs are almost imperatively demanding a larger and a better unit for rural-school organization and administration and a different type of school, the little district unit is tenaciously clung to by the rural people of many of our States, and largely because they remember its earlier ad- vantages and are bhnd to its present defects. Bad features of the district unit. As a unit for school organization and maintenance the district system has been condemned by educators for fifty years, and the educational conditions existing in any State to-day, so far as they relate to rural and village education, are in large part to be deter- mined by how far the State has proceeded along the line of curtailing the powers of the district-school officials and trans- ferring their functions to county and state educational au- thorities, or of entirely abandoning the district system of school organization and administration. The map on the opposite page shows the use of the different units of school 52 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION organization and administration in the different American States. The district unit is no longer so well adapted to meet present and future educational needs as are other units of larger scope. District-school authorities are usually short- sighted, and often fail to see the real need^ of the schools under their control. The large number of district-school trustees required — an army of thirty to forty-five thou- sand in an average well-settled State — in itseK almost pre- cludes the possibility of securing any large proportion of competent and efficient men. The district unit is entirely too small an area in which to provide modern educational facilities, and the difficulty of securing cooperative action of the trustees of a number of adjacent districts for a larger and a better school is a difficulty that is almost insuperable. As a system for school administration the district system is expensive, inefficient, inconsistent, short-sighted, unpro- gressive, and penurious; it leads to a great and an un- necessary multiplication of small and inefficient schools; the trustees frequently assume authority over matters which they are not competent to handle; it leads to marked in- equalities in schools, terms, and educational advantages; and it stands to-day as the most serious obstacle in the way of the consolidation of rural schools. Most of the prog- ress that has been made in rural education within the past two decades has been made without the support and often against the opposition of the district-school trustees and the people they represent. District system not necessary. To have a fully organ- ized board of school trustees for every Uttle schoolhouse in the county, — a board endowed by law with corporate rights and important financial and educational powers, — is wholly unnecessary from either a business or an educational point of view. In fact, it is just such boards which impede pro- TOWN, TOWNSHIP, AND DISTRICT 53 gressive action and stand as the most effective block in the road of real educational progress. As a means for providing for the establishment of schools the district system has rendered its service, and there is to-day httle call for the continuation, in any great numbers, of the kind of schools which the district system brought into existence and nour- ished through the critical period of the infancy of our state educational systems. The real progress of rural social life and social institutions to-day depends upon the organiza- tion, for country people, of an entirely different type of rural school. A fundamental reorganization needed. What is needed is a fundamental reorganization and redirection of rural and small village education, and along lines which will trans- form such schools into more useful social institutions.* This, however, can be accomplished only by some authority of larger scope and insight than the district-school trustee, and by the application to the problem of a larger type of administrative experience than that represented by district control. In New England this is in process of accomplish- ment by the town, or the grouping of towns, acting under the educational oversight of the State. Elsewhere the county seems the natural unit for this reorganization. In Part III we shall point out the many advantages which the county possesses for this purpose, and lay down the funda- mental principles which should govern sound county edu- cational organization. Before doing this, however, we wish first to consider the special administrative problems of one important form of the school district, concerning which we have so far said 1 Of what this reorganization and redirection is to consist, and why it is needed, has been set forth in the author's Rural Life and Education, which see. The legal form which such a reorganization needs to follow has been set forth in the author's State and County Educational Reorganization, which also see. 54 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION but little, with a view to ascertaining what the administra- tive experience of this form of school district has been, and how far this administrative experience may be applied gen- erally to the solution of the problems of county educational organization and administration, which everywhere present themselves, and, to a certain extent, to the problems of*" state educational organization and administration as well. QUESTIONS FOR INVESTIGATION AND DISCUSSION 1. Why is the organization of all the schools of a town — rural, village, and city — under one board of control a distinct educational advantage? 2. Assuming that the chief reason for the segregation of the villages and cities in the West has been the financial one, why is its continuance unwise? How might this stimulus to segregation be eliminated? 3. How does the township unit provide for a better equalization of the op- portunities and advantages of education than does the district unit? 4. From the figure on page 48 point out the advantages of the New Eng- land town over the Western township in the matter of boundaries. 5. What is the value of the common argument for the school district, — that it is the most democratic of our units for government, and has been very valuable in training our citizenship in the institutions of democ- racy? 6. Why has the movement for the consolidation of schools made but little headway, and why is it likely to make but little headway in the future, in any strong district-system State? 7. Take the figures for any district-system State and calculate the number of trustees needed to manage the schools. Try to estimate the unnec- essary duplication of effort and the waste in administration resulting from such a number of people working at the same task. 8. Under a rational reorganization of the educational affairs of a county, with good consolidated schools replacing the many district schools, about what percentage of the present teaching force would be needed to conduct the elementary schools? What effect would such consoli- dated schools have on the extension of educational advantages? 9. In a number of States an attempt has recently been made to educate trustees as to their duties by an annual institute. Of about what value is this ? CHAPTER VI THE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT The city district a special case. The special form of school district which we wish first to consider is that of the city school district, — a form which presents a very different type of problems from that of the rm'al or small village district. It is of com-se true that the city school district is, in a sense, only a country or a village school district grown large; but, by reason of its very size, the character of its population, the complexity of its interests, and its pecuUar needs and problems, it represents a form of school district which should be given special powers and be treated somewhat as a spe- cial case. Still more, cities of different size present quite different problems in organization and administration, — a city of fifty thousand people having quite different condi- tions and needs from those of a city of five thousand, or, on the other hand, from those of a city of half a million popula- tion. Even two cities of approximately the same size, say one hundred thousand inhabitants each, may, due to very different social, economic, and racial needs, present quite different educational problems for solution. While necessarily a part of the state educational organi- zation, city school districts nevertheless represent special as well as somewhat individual problems, to which uniform standards and mass requirements cannot be applied if the best educational results are to be expected. The minimum standards of the State for such districts the city school dis- tricts should of course be expected to meet, but large free- dom should be given cities in exceeding the state minima, 56 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION and in the choice of the tools and methods by which they are to accompHsh the required educational results. The city district an evolution. In the beginnings of our school systems there were but few cities, and nearly all schools were rural schools. With the growth of our popula- tion, and with the increasing tendency of our people to con- gregate together in centers, certain areas or places increased in population much more rapidly than did others. Rural school districts developed into villages, villages into small cities, and small cities into large ones.^ As the community grew, the number of small ungraded one-teacher schools was multiplied, and later these were collected together into larger buildings, and into a more or less graded school or group of graded schools. Still later a public high school was organized. The school principal was evolved, and later on the supervising principal or superintendent. At first the number of school districts was multiplied, without unifying the schools. Later, when unification was effected, the board of trustees frequently was increased in size, either by the addition of new members for the new schools or the new areas annexed, or by the subdivision of the rising city into wards and the election of one or more members to the board from each ward. The title of the board was also changed, in the process of development, from that of the " board of school trustees," or " school directors," to that of " city board of education," and the school laws of the State now granted to the new board enlarged powers in the adminis- tration and control of the schools. Most of our city school districts have had such an educational history.^ 1 This is in a way illustrated by the growth of the central city in Figs. 1 and 2, on pages 6 and 7. 2 The city of Buffalo illustrates the process fairly well. The first school- house was erected in 1806. This was burned in 1813, and the first tax for an educational purpose levied by Buffalo was in 1818, for the purpose of rebuilding this school-building. By 1832 the growth of the city had been THE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT 67 Recent rapid growth of city school systems. It was not, however, until about 1850 or 1860, and one might almost say until after about 1870, that the special problems of city school organization and administration began to attract se- rious attention. In the first place, there were but few cities at an earher date, and these were relatively small in size.^ such that six small school districts, each with one small schoolhouse and one teacher, had been organized within its confines. Even in 1837, when a new law permitted the appointment of a city superintendent of schools to coordinate and oversee the schools, there were but seven districts and seven teachers, so that his duties must have been very light. On the full estabUshment of the free-school system, in 1839, the number of districts was increased to fifteen and a school ordered established in each, with a central school for instruction in the higher English branches. The schools of Chicago present a somewhat similar history. The first pubhc school was opened in 1830, and by 1835 the school system consisted of five school districts, each with its own board of district-school trustees, each of which employed teachers, levied taxes, and built buildings. In 1851 the power to employ teachers was taken from the district trustees, of which there were now seven boards, and in 1853 the position of city super- mtendent of schools was created, to grade the schools and to introduce order and unity into the system. The present city of Redlands, in southern California, oflFers a good modem case of a similar nature. Three country school districts happened to abut at the place where this city began to grow. Each district was under the control of a special board of three district-school trustees, and each main- tained a small rural school. In time the schools increased from one-room schools to many-room schools, and a principal was employed by each board. The three districts later united for the purpose of establishing and maintaining a high school, but retained their separate identity as ele- mentary-school districts. The three elementary-school principals evolved into supervising principals, as the schools grew. They met together and made a gentleman's agreement with one another and with the high-school principal with regard to transfers, school regulations, courses of instruc- tion, and standards. Finally, the people voted to consolidate the three elementary-school districts and the high-school district into one city-school district, under a city superintendent of schools, and to substitute one city board of education for the different district-school boards. ^ The modern city has been made possible by steam and electricity and the solution of the problems of sewage and water-supply. Steam and elec- tricity have provided transportation and machinery, thus making manu- facturing on a large scale possible, while the solution of the sanitary prob- lems has removed the greatest handicap to the growth of mediaeval towns. 58 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Table showing growth of cities in the United States Per cent of total population in cities of 8000 or over Number of cities Year of 8000 or over of 50,000 or over of 250,000 or over 1790 3.3 4.0 4.9 4.9 6.7 8.5 12.5 16. 20.9 22.6 29.0 32.9 38.7 43.8* 6 6 11 13 26 44 85 141 226 286 447 545 782 924 2 2 3 5 9 16 25 35 58 79 109 146 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1 1850 2 I860 3 1870 7 1880 8 1890 11 1900 15 1910 1920 19 24 *In addition to this percentage add 7.6 per cent for persons living in cities of 2500 or over and under 8000, and 8.6 per cent for persons living in incorporated places of less than 2500 inhabitants. This leaves 40.1 per cent of the population, in 1920, as living in rural districts and unincorporated villages. Their school systems, too, were of a relatively simple type, and their boards of school trustees, with the people of the districts, exercised almost complete control. But few cities had as yet created the office of superintendent of schools, and the few which had had assigned clerical rather than executive functions to the new official. As late as 1870 there were but twenty-nine city superintendents^ of schools 1 These 29 cities were, with decades of their jBrst appointment: — Buffalo, N.Y. 1837 Baltimore, Md. 1849 Chicago. 111. 1854 Louisville, Kv. 1837 St. Louis, Mo. 1854 Providence, R.I. 1839 Cincinnati, 0. 1850 St. Joseph, Mo. 1854 Boston, Mass. 1851 Indianapolis, Ind. 1855 Springfield, Mass. New Orleans, La. 1840 Gloucester, Mass. 1851 Worcester, Mass. 1855 1841 New York City 1851 Milwaukee, Wis. 1859 Rochester, N.Y. 1843 San Francisco, Cal. 1852 Columbus, 0. 1847 Jersey City, N.J. 1852 AlbaJiy, N.Y. 1866 Auburn, N.Y. 1848 Newark, N.J. 1853 Kansas City, Mo. 1867 Brooklyn, N.Y. 1848 Cleveland, 0. 1853 Washington, D.C. 1869 Syracuse, N.Y. 1848 Oswego, N.Y. 1853 From a table prepared by William T. Harris, while United States Commissioner of Education. THE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT 59 employed in the entire United States,^ and with but thirteen of the thirty-seven States represented. As late as 1860, also, but sixty-nine of our present cities are regarded as having by that time organized a clearly defined high-school course of instruction. Since 1870 the growth of city school systems, both in number and size, has been very rapid, and with this growth many new problems in school organization and administra- tion have been pushed to the front. The number of city school systems has been multiplied rapidly since 1870, and the size of many then in existence has trebled or quadrupled. In 1870, too, there were but fourteen cities having 100,000 Table comparing cities and States in size, 1920 City Population State Population New York City Chicago 5,621,151 2,701,705 1,823,158 993,739 796,836 748,060 588,193 576,673 457,147 437,571 401,247 387,219 380,582 314,194 234,595 179,754 75,917 Ohio 5,759,368 Wisconsin 2,631,839 Philadelohia Louisiana 1,797,798 Detroit Florida 966,296 Cleveland Oregon 783,389 Boston Maine 768,014 Pittsburgh Rhode Island Montana 604,397 547,593 Milwaukee Utah 449,446 Washington New Hampshire Idaho 443,083 Cincinnati 431,826 New Orleans New Mexico Vermont 360,247 Minneapolis 352,421 I ndianapoHs Arizona 333,273 223,003 St. Paul Delaware Worcester Wyoming 194,402 Harrisburg Nevada 77,407 1 The Civil War gave a check to the movement for city school supervision, but three cities being added during the war decade. By 1876, however, 142 cities, out of the 175 cities at that time having 8000 inhabitants or over, had city superintendents of schools, and the number has rapidly increased since then. In the Educational Directory, published by the United States Commissioner of Education, 2798 superintendents in cities and towns of over 2500 inhabitants are listed for 1920-21. 60 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION inhabitants ; in 1920 there were sixty-eight such cities, and these sixty-eight cities contained 26 per cent of the total population of the United States. In these larger cities the public school system is comparable in size to state school systems, while the administrative problems are different and more difficult and the complexity of the school system is far greater. This may be seen, in part, from the previous com- parisons, based on the United States Census Reports for 1920. Prominence of city administrative problems. With the increase in both the number and the size of cities, and the marked increase in the number of educational functions assumed by the cities, as their school systems have evolved, the schools in our cities have differentiated themselves in character from those in the rural districts and the small villages. So marked has been the modification of school systems to meet special urban needs, arising as a result of the rapid development and the changing character of our municipal population, problems, and governments, that it may be said that the great bulk of the problems of school control which have been before us for discussion and solu- tion, during the past forty years, have been problems relat- ing especially to the city school district. Only recently have our rural and village schools received any particular atten- tion, either in discussion or in legislation. So rapid, too, has been the city development since about 1860 or 1870 that the ingenuity of both legislators and school men has been taxed to evolve ways and means by which our city school districts could meet the many new problems which the rapid growth and changing character of our cities have pushed to the front. The city's distinctive contribution. As a result our city school systems have so far offered the largest opportunities for constructive educational leadership, attracting the best minds to their service. It is not too much to say that the THE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT 61 great educational advance which we, as a nation, have made during the past half -century has been, to a very large degree, the advance which our cities have made in organiza- tion, administration, equipment, instruction, and in the ex- tension of educational advantages. The grading of schools, the development of high schools, the introduction of instruc- tion in special subjects, night and continuation schools, va- cation schools, playgrounds, evening lectures, schools for adults, the kindergarten, schools for dependents and de- linquents, compulsory education, health supervision, voca- tional guidance and vocational instruction, free textbooks and supplies, the estabhshment of the value of good super- vision and business organization, and the working-out and estabhshment of sound principles in educational organiza- tion and administration, — these have been distinctive con- tributions which the city school district has made to our educational theory and practice. As a result, most of our best administrative experience in the field of pubhc education is that which has been worked out in the organization and administration of the school systems of our American cities. It is to them, then, that we naturally turn first for guidance in handling our administra- tive problems. A study of their best administrative experi- ence can frequently throw much light on administrative problems in other fields of public education. State vs. city control of the school district. One very im- portant reason why the cities have been able to make such marked educational progress, and to contribute so much to our theory and practice in the field of school organization and administration, is that, in the past, our city school districts have been quite free to go ahead, within the limits of their finances, and do what they saw to be done and knew how to do. Up to recent years the States have been willing to grant to the cities almost any form of educational charter. 62 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION and have shown but Httle disposition to interfere with them in their educational work, though there is, at present, a growing tendency toward uniform regulation and toward an increase of the state control. The general interest of the MAP OF PORTLAND, ORE. SHOWIMG BOUNDARIES City ■ !!■ School District — «^— Schools ■ ? Fig. 5. CITY AND SCHOOL-DISTRICT BOUNDARIES COMPARED The above map of the city school district and the municipality of Portland, Oregon, as they were in 1913, shows the two corporations as only partly coterminous, the school district being larger than the city. Each dot indicates the location of an ele- mentary school, and each small square a high school. The government of the two corporations is almost entirely distinct. (From the Report of the Portland School Survey, World Book Co., Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York. Reproduced by permis- sion.) people of the whole State in the maintenance of good schools, the laws requiring all communities to meet certain minimum standards, and the general conception of the school district as a separate and distinct corporation from the munici- pal corporation with which it may be partially or wholly THE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT 63 coterminous, have all alike served to protect the school sys- tem from too great interference by the municipal authori- ties. These have been important points of strength for the cities. Protection instead of bureaucracy. With the growing tendency of the State to increase its oversight and control of all types of school districts, and the constant temptation, with the growth of the school system, to interested persons in municipahties to subordinate pubHc education to per- sonal ends, there is an increasing need for a clearer defini- tion of the rights, powers, duties, privileges, and obligations, individual and reciprocal, of both the State and the school districts of om* cities. To preserve the schools from the deadening rule of a state bureaucracy, and at the same time to protect them from political exploitation or neglect; to leave to the cities as large liberty in the selection of tools and methods as is consistent with the securing of the results desired by the State; to see that local school systems are adequately financed, instead of being subordinated to the pressing demands of other city departments; and to keep the school systems of the city school districts in touch with community needs and expressive of community wishes, and at the same time safeguard them from politics; — these are the principal problems in the relation of the State to the city school districts subordinate to it. The State, as the guardian of the educational rights of its future citizenship, must see that local administrative units do not override such rights for local or political or selfish ends, and at the same time must not unduly cramp or hmit the efficiency of the city school districts. Other problems of relationship. In addition to these primary problems of state oversight and control, the prob- lems of relationship confront the State in dealing with the city school district. Chief among these are as to the best 64 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION form of organization for the board of control for the city school system; the powers and duties which should be given to such boards; the business and statistical relations of city school districts to the county and to the State; the classi- fication of city school districts on the basis of size, or some other basis, for the placing of extra educational require- ments and the granting of larger freedom; the powers which should be guaranteed, by law, to the superintendent of education and other executive officers in city districts; the extent to which cities, as centers of wealth, should contrib- ute to the partial maintenance of schools in county and State; the general business administration of the schools, and the financial powers to be given city district boards, both for annual maintenance and plant expenditures; special requirements as to the school plant; health super- vision and sanitary control; special problems relating to the teaching corps; courses of study and textbooks; and the maintenance of special-type schools. The prime purpose of the State in legislating on all such matters is not so much to impose its will as to stimulate the cities to educational activity; not so much to insist upon the State's methods as to insure satisfactory final results. Any wise constructive state educational policy will keep these problems of relation- ship clearly in mind, and will observe, wherever possible, a definite line of demarcation between the powers and rights of the State and the privileges and options of communities. It is primarily the business of the State to preserve and advance the general educational welfare, but in doing so it should allow all reasonable scope to the city school districts in all matters in which individual variation may be desir- able. To study the city first. The great number and the great variety of the problems involved in good city school ad- ministration tp-day, even in the city of small or moderate THE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT 65 size, and the fact that the city has for some time been a place of conflict, where the fundamental principles underlying sound educational organization and administration have been fought out, make it particularly desirable that we should turn to a special study of our best city administra- tive experience before considering further the general prob- lems of state and local control. After having done so (Part II) we shall return to these general problems, and shall then attempt (Part III) to apply the results of such experience. QUESTIONS FOR INVESTIGATION AND DISCUSSION 1. Why has the school-district meeting passed out with the establishment of city boards of education? 2. Name three causes for the rapid and continued concentration of popu- lation in cities. S. Why has such a marked educational expansion been necessary, for the larger cities, during the past half-century? 4. How would you classify cities, if drawing up a law for their government for school purposes, and what different powers and duties would you give to the different classifications? 5. What are some of the specific restrictions which your State imposes on the cities in their exercise of control over the schools? 6. What do you understand by "freedom in the choice of tools and methods by which they [city school districts] are to accomplish the re- quired educational results"? 7. Compare the administrative problems of a state superintendent of public instruction in any of the States given in the table on page 59 with those in the corresponding city. 8. Is there "a growing tendency to increase the state control" over city school districts in your State, or not? If so, how has it manifested itself ? 9. Would you say that it has been the result of a more general apprecia- tion, on the part of the public, of a state responsibility for good schools, or to some other cause? 10. Show that, as regards public education, the relation of the State to the city is essentially and necessarily different from the relation with refer- ence to other municipal functions. 11. Distinguish between natural centralizing tendencies in state educa- tional administration, and "aggrandizing tendencies" on the part of the state educational officials or state boards. 12. What fundamental educational principle should underlie all centraliz- ing legislation? 66 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 13. Distinguish between narrow and prescriptive, and liberal and adapta- ble state oversight and control of city school districts, in such legislative matters as courses of study, school building plans, maintenance of special-type schools, and secondary education. 14. Why is it that we can point out the weakness of a situation years before we can hope to remedy it by legislation? 15. To what extent is the proper solution of the problems of relationship, cited on pages 63 and 64, tied up with progress in other fields of polit- ical and social endeavor? 16. Should the State attempt to direct or supervise the instruction in city school districts, under a city superintendent of schools? If so, to what extent and how, and in what size of cities? 17. Is there a tendency in your State to subordinate the interests of the schools "to the pressing demands of other city departments" ? If not, why not? If so, why so? SELECTED REFERENCES COVERING PART I The following books and magazine articles cover the subject-matter of the chapters of Part I: — Bard,H.E. The City School District. 118 pp. Trs. Col. Contribs. to Educ. no. 28; New York, 1909. A study of the relations between the city school district and the city on the one hand and the State on the other. Brown, S. W. The Secularization of American Education. 158 pp. Trs. Col. Contribs. to Educ, no. 49; New York, 1912. A study of the gradual process by means of which American education was secular- ized. Chamberlain, A. H. The Growth of Responsibility and Enlargement of Power of the City School Superintendent. 158 pp. Univ. Cal. Pubs.; Education, vol. Ill, no. 4; 1913. Section III of this thesis is very good along the lines of Chapters 11 to V, and Section IV along the lines of Chapter VI. Chancellor, W. E. Our Schools; Their Direction and Management. 338 pp. D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, 1908. Chapter I, "The State and the School," considers the school as an agent of the State. Cubberley, E. P. Changing Conceptions of Education. 68 pp. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1909. A brief historical sketch, relating especially to Chapters I and II. Cubberley, E. P. Rural Life and Education. 365 pp. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1914. Chapters FV, V, VII, and VIII of this book describe the effect of the rural-life changes (Chapters I and II) on the rural school ; rural-life needs ; the fundamental needs of rural education; and the forms (units) for organization and control of schools (Chapters IV and V). THE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT 67 Cubberley, E. P., and Elliott, E.G. State and County School Administration. Vol. I, Principles. Macmillan Co., New York, 1916. Division II, "State Administrative Organization," contains seven chapters (V-XI) dealing with the State and its educational subdivisions, and the relationship of each to the problem of proper state educational organization and administration. Cubberley, E. P., and Elliott, E. C. State and County School Administra- tion. Vol. II, Source Book. Macmillan Co., New York, 1915, Chapters I, V, IX, and XI contain illustrative documents on the origin, present status, and needs of the State and its subordinate administrative units. Draper, A.S. "Educational Organization and Administration"; in Butler, N. M., Education in the United States. American Book Co., New York, 2d ed., 1910. A brief general statement (31 pp.) of American organization, prepared for the Paris Exposition of 1900. Draper, A. S. American Education. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1909. Part I, Chapters I-IV, 60 pp., contains "The Nation's Purpose"; "Development of Schools" ; "Functions of the State"; and "LegalBasis of Schools." Good articles on the organization of American education. Dutton, S. T., and Snedden, D. S. Administration of Public Education in the United States. 614 pp. Macmillan Co., New York, 2d ed., 1912. Chapters IV-VIII cover the State and education, local imits, problems of adminis« tration, and city school systems. Elliott, E. C. Legal Decisions Relating to Education. Macmillan Co., New York, 1916. Chapter V, "The State the Unit," contains a series of supreme-court decisions, further illustrative of the principles of state control laid down in Chapter 11. Hollister, H. A. The Administration oj Education in a Democracy. 377 pp. Scribners, New York, 1914. Chapters I-IV (pp. 1-71) contain a short historical account, and describe our na- tional ideals and the units employed for school organization and administration. Monroe, Paul {editor). Cyclopedia of Education. Macmillan Co., New York, 1911-13. A very important work. See especially the articles on "City School Administra- tion"; "County System"; "District System"; "State School Administration";" Town System"; and "Township System." Moore, E. C. "Indispensable Requirements in City School Administra- tion"; in Educational Review, Vol. 46, pp. 143-56. September, 1913. An excellent article on the fundamental proposition that the city school district is a state, and not a city, administrative unit. Parker, S. C. The History of Modern Elementary Education. 505 pp. Ginn & Co., Boston, 1912. Chapter XII, "Development of American Secular School Systems," describes the development in New York City, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Indiana, as typical. Rollins, F. School Administration in Municipal Government. 106 pp. Col. Univ. Contribs. to Phil. Psy. and Educ, vol. xi, no. 1; New York, 1902. Chapter I, pp. 11-20, is a good short chapter on the interest of the State in the school administration of cities. 68 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Seerley, H. H. "The Province of the Common People in the Administra- tion of Public Education"; in Proceedings of National Education Asso- ciation, 1909, pp. 415-23. Stands for large local liberty, as opposed to centralized control. Followed by a discussion of the paper by Professor W. S. Sutton. Webster, Wm. C. Recent Centralizing Tendencies in State Educational Ad- ministration. 78 pp. Columbia Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law, vol. viii, no. 2; New York, 1897. A study in the changes of relation of the State to public education. PART II THE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT AND ITS PROBLEMS CHAPTER VII EVOLUTION OF CITY SCHOOL ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION The original town control. The taking-over of education from the church as a function of the State, and the evolu- tion of an administrative organization and machinery for its maintenance and control, was a long and, for a time, a very slow process. It began, in the United States, when the school in New England was founded as a creation of the civil instead of the religious town, but it was not until the nineteenth century that a full civil directing body to man- age the school was finally evolved, and the process of evolv- ing professional supervision for the schools was begun. The process is best illustrated in the case of Massachusetts, and forms an interesting introduction to the study of city school administrative organization and control. In the first general law of the colony definitely requiring the establishment of schools, the Massachusetts General Court placed the responsibility for their establishment and maintenance with the towns, as wholes.^ At first, when the school was a small and a simple affair, and when neither the educational nor business control of the school presented any problems of consequence, the people, in town meetings, attended to the matter of education just as they attended to matters relating to roads, defenses, or the civil govern- ment, and just as, in religious meeting, these same people attended to matters relating to the affairs of the religious 1 Decree of the Massachusetts General Court of 1647. For the full text of the decree see Paul Monroe, Sources in the History of Education in the United States. 72 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION parish. The practice of the different towns varied some- what, though in general the people, assembled together in town meeting, first voted to establish and afterward to sup- port the school, and then voted to select a schoolmaster for it.^ In these early meetings of the townspeople we find the first faint beginnings of the process of differentiating between the lay and the professional functions in school control. In that early vote of school support [says Suzzallo ^] are implied those powers and duties of school administration which have al- ways remained, for the large part, in the hands of laymen officials in school affairs. In the early vote of electing the teacher are im- plied those powers and duties of school supervision which have passed, or are, by slow degrees, passing into the hands of a pro- fessional class of educational workers. Subtracting powers from the towns. The Law of 1647 had required the different towns to establish and maintain schools, and had imposed a fine of five pounds for failure to do so. Every detail relating to the carrying of this law into effect, however, was left to the people of the towns. Seven years later the first step in the direction of any control of the towns was made in a general law of the Colony which * A few examples will illustrate this: — Boston, in town meeting in 1635, established its first school by the adoption of the following order: — "Likewise, it was then generally agreed upon, that our brother Philemon Pormont shall be entreated to become schole-master for the teaching and nourtering of children with us." A year later Charlestown voted to arrange with William Witherell "to keep a school for a twelvemonth," and fixed his salary at £40 a year. Cambridge, in 1638, established its first school by voting certain lands for "the vse of mr Nath Eaten as long as he shall be Imployed" in the work of teaching the school. Newbury, the year following, granted to Anthony Somerby "foure akers of upland" and "sixe akers of salt marsh" as an "encouragement to keepe schoole for one year." 2 Henry Suzzallo, The Rise of Local School Supervision in Massachusetts, p. 4. EVOLUTION OF CITY ORGANIZATION 73 commended to the selectmen ^ of the different towns that they exercise some supervision over the character of the teachers employed by the towns. ^ Nearly forty years later (1693), by a second law, the selectmen and the towns were jointly charged to see that the schools were maintained, and the selectmen were given power to levy taxes for schools, provided a majority of the people of the towns had pre\d- ously voted to direct them to do so. Excepting these two very limited laws, no action looking toward the removal from the town of any of its powers relating to schools was taken during the seventeenth cen- tury. The law of 1701-02, which required the master for the grammar school to be examined and certificated by a majority of the ministers of the town and the two adjoining towns, was the first real subtraction of power from the people of the town as a whole. The law of 1711-12, which applied the same principle to teachers for the elementary schools of the town, and placed the power to examine and certificate such persons definitely with the selectmen of the town, was the second subtraction of power. Both of these subtractions, made by direction of the State, were subtractions of educational fimctions, and were made in the interests of a higher degree of efficiency in the schools. In the first case, the power to examine and certificate was given to a distinctly educational body; in the second, to the representative body for the government of the town. The people still voted funds, cared for the school property, selected textbooks, and directed the instruction. ^ Selected men representing the town in certain forms of its business; the prototype of the modern city council as a city-governing body. 2 The law commended to "the selectmen in the seuerall townes, not to admitt or suffer any such to be contynued in the office or the place of teach- ing, educating or instructing of youth or child, in the colledge or schooles, that haue manifested ym selves vnsound in the fayth, or scandelous in theire lines, & not glueing due satisfaction according to the rules of Christ." 74 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Rise of the school committee. As the school business of the towns increased, there was a natural tendency among the towns toward the appointment of special committees for various educational purposes. Sometimes these com- mittees were purely special and temporary,^ and some- times they were appointed for definite purposes and for definite periods of time.^ These committees, however, were appointed by the towns for mere convenience of adminis- tration, and without either the authorization or direction of the general law. In 1798, for the first time, a new state law, deahng with the certification of teachers, recognized such special com- mittees by authorizing the acceptance, for elementary- school teachers, of a certificate from such committees in Ueu of a certificate from the selectmen, and by implication also sanctioned the employment of teachers for the schools by such special committees. ^ This law also gave the selectmen some power in the grading of the schools, and also made the visitation and inspection of schools a uniform require- ment upon the ministers and selectmen or committees of the several towns. This last requirement marks the beginnings of author- ized supervision in Massachusetts, and from this time on special school committees began to be appointed in the differ- ^ For example: Duxbury, in 1747, appointed a committee of one as "their Agent to procure a Schoolmaster"; Dudley, in 1760, appointed a committee of three to sell the schoolhouse; and in 1762 Braintree appointed a committee of three "to examine into the state of the School." 2 For example: Boston, in 1721, appointed the first committee on visita- tion for the schools, and continued to appoint such annually thereafter for nearly a century; Springfield, in 1735, appointed a committee of three "to take the Inspection and Regulation of the School" on the west side of the river; and Fitchburg, in 1776, gave to a school committee supervisory power over the teachers employed by the town. 3 Referring to the certification of grammar-school and other masters, the law includes the following clause: "such Selectmen or Committee, who may be authorized to hire such schoolmaster." EVOLUTION OF CITY ORGANIZATION 75 ent towns. ^ Often, however, these new school committees also included the selectmen.^ In 1826 the State took the final step in the evolution of a distinct school board by ordering each town in the State to elect a separate school committee ^ to have " the general charge and superintendence of all the public schools " of the town.^ This law marks the final transfer of the educa- tional functions from the selectmen to a new body, created for the purposes of administering public education in the towns. This new body now elected the teachers, certificated them, supervised the instruction, selected the textbooks, had control of the school-buildings, and made rules and regulations for the control of the schools. The voting of school support was now the only power of importance re- maining in the hands of the people. Two centuries of evolution. We see here the result of two centuries of evolution in the organization and adminis- tration of public education. When the civil school first arose, and for some time afterward during its period of infancy as a public institution, the people of the towns, in town meeting, arranged all details relating to its control. As the schools grew and increased in size and importance, * Many of the towns took advantage of this law and appointed school committees, or boards. The School Committee Records of Newburyport date from 1790, those of Boston from 1792, and those of Hingham from 1794. 2 In Boston, for example, the school committee consisted of the entire board of selectmen and twelve additional conmaitteemen, elected by the people of the town in the annual town meeting. 2 This is still a common New England designation of what elsewhere is generally called "board of education." ^ An exception to this was Boston, where, on the incorporation of the . ity in 1822, the control of the schools was given to the eight aldermen of the new city. This continued until 1835, when a separate school committee, composed of two citizens to be elected annually from each of the twelve wards of the city, together with the mayor and the president of the common council, ex officio^ was created. 76 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION the first of the functions represented by the two early votes, namely, that of voting support, remained with the towns; but the second function, namely, that of choosing the teacher, became complicated, differentiated itself into a number of more or less professional acts, and was gradually delegated by the people to those who could represent them better than they could act for themselves. The first professional act to be differentiated was the certi- fication of the teachers employed; the next was the visita- tion and inspection of their work; and, finally, the right to employ the teacher also passed from the hands of the people into the hands of others who represented them. At first, these representatives were the learned men of the towns, — the ministers, or the men selected by the people for the general town government; finally, a special representative body (school committee) was evolved, selected because of supposed ability to direct the system of public education maintained, and to this body were transferred the educa- tional functions formerly resting with the towns. The final compulsory establishment of school committees (1826) marks the definite recognition by the State that the people of the towns were no longer able en masse to handle intelli- gently those educational matters relating to the teaching function of the school. Such matters were now to be de- cided for them by their representatives (or by the State); the voting of school support alone still remained with the people. Massachusetts a t3npe. Massachusetts represents, a type of the best of our colonial development, and brings the evolution of city school control up to the close of the first quarter of the nineteenth century. By this time the school board had clearly evolved, and its functions had become fairly well established. This is shown in the chart in- serted here. From this time on it is only a further differ- EVOLUTION OF CITY ORGANIZATION 77 entiation of functions and a delegation of powers to execu- tive officers. It is in Massachusetts, too, that the breaking-up of the towns into school districts first reached its extreme develop- ment. Beginning early in the eighteenth century, the proc- ess reached its culmination in the Law of 1827, enacted in part as a reaction against the Law of 1826, whereby the districts were created bodies corporate and politic and the trustee for each (" prudential committeeman," as he was called) was given power to appoint the teacher for his dis- trict. This law marks the high-water mark of the district system in Massachusetts; after 1837 it was on the defensive, and was finally abolished in 1882. The influence of this development on the new States to the westward, however, was large. Types of development elsewhere. It is at about the point reached by Massachusetts by 1826 that the develop- ment in many of our other earlier States begins, and one or the other of the plans worked out in Massachusetts was followed by them. Some cities began with the district system, and later united the various districts into one city school system; ^ others began, from the first, with a board of education (school committee) for the city as a whole; ^ a few followed, for a time, the plan employed in Boston from 1822 to 1835, and placed the schools under the direct control of the city coimcil; ^ and a few others empowered the city council to appoint a board to manage the schools and to report to them.^ The first plan has now everywhere ^ Pennsylvania cities form excellent examples of this. Buffalo and Chicago are other good examples of early district organization. ^ Columbus, Cincinnati, and St. Louis illustrate this type. 3 Buffalo, from 1839 to 1914. * Cleveland's first charter (1836) provided for the appointment annually, by the city council, of a board of managers of common schools, and gave the council power to determine the funds needed. The school board was thus little more than a subcommittee of the city council. This condition 78 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION been abandoned, the cities of Pennsylvania being the last to give it up, and the second is now the almost universal practice. In some of our older Eastern cities what later evolved into public education was begun by school societies, and was only gradually assumed by the public. When the schools were finally taken over, however, they were placed under city boards of education which were granted all of the powers which the school committees of Massachusetts had come into possession of as a result of two centuries of slow evolution. The separate school board. Early in the second quarter of the nineteenth century the idea of a separate board in cities, for the management of the public school system main- tained, may be said to have become an accepted principle in our local government, and practically all powers of school control, aside from the voting of funds, now rested with such boards. All of the many powers evolving out of the side of school control represented by the early town vote to choose a teacher had now passed from the people to such a board, as had also some of the functions evolving out of the other vote to establish and maintain a school. The State, by general or special law, or by means of city charters, now laid down certain general rules which must be followed, and made certain demands which must be met. Within such limits as these laws imposed the board, as a unit, exercised all of the general and specific duties of school control. They also legislated for the schools and then executed, through their own officers, — president, secretary, or clerk, ' — or through the masters or the head masters of the school, the legislation which they had formulated. As time went by, and public education for all became a recognized func- continued until 1859, when special legislation was secured from the State which provided for the election of a city board of education, by the people and along ward lines. EVOLUTION OF CITY ORGANIZATION 79 tion of the State, the duties of administration and control devolving on such boards naturally increased. Development of the ward and committee systems. In cities where the ward or district unit of organization became prominent, a subdivision of the increasing duties was made on the basis of ward or district lines. The central board ex- amined teachers, selected textbooks, visited the schools, and exercised general supervision over them, while the trustees for each district employed the teachers for that district, built and cared for the schoolhouses, and levied taxes for all purposes except for the pay of the teacher.^ Under this plan of district organization, sectional and local interests naturally attained great importance, great inequalities in the schools and in the burdens for their support existed, and the school systems resulting can hardly be said to have been much more, at first, than a loosely federated collection of local and contiguous schools. The system also resulted, by the addition of territory and the natural growth of the cities, in the development of large and unwieldy boards of education, 2 more actuated by special interests than by the ^ This was essentially the plan in operation in Chicago from the organi- zation of the city in 1835 to the consolidation of the school system into one city system, by the abolition of the districts, in 1857. Phili>delphia and Pittsburg had essentially this plan untU 1905. 2 A few examples will illustrate this : — Boston, in 1818, had a school committee (board) of 24. 'in that year primary schools were established, and a primary school board of three citizens was provided for each. By 1849 there were 214 board members serving the city. After reduction, in 1854, to 72 members, six for each of the twelve wards of the city, the number was again increased, by the annexation of new wards, to 116 by 1875, when the number was reduced by law to 24. The city now has a board of five. Cincinnati's board of education increased by a similar process from 10 in 1837 to 50 in 1873. Philadelphia represents the most extreme case, the board being com- posed of six members from each ward, and, by the annexation of new territory, came to consist of 403 members by 1880, ^5 by 1889, 533 by 1900, and 559 by 1905. In that year the number was reduced by state law to 21, and in 1911, to 15. 80 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION general good of the city as a whole, and under which prog- ress of any kind became increasingly difficult. In other cities, not afflicted with the district system, a committee system was developed as a means of dividing among the members the administrative burdens arising from a rapidly expanding and developing school system. From a few committees at first the number was gradually in- creased, and to each was assigned, subject to the direction and approval of the whole board, the performance of certain specified duties, such as the employment or certification of teachers, the building or repair of schools, the approval of bills, the selection of textbooks, or the formulation of courses of study. A large and an increasing board conse- quently became an advantage, as it provided more members to transact the constantly increasing business. A dozen to a score of standing committees in time came to be not un- common, while Cincinnati at one period of its educational history came to have seventy-four different committees, and Chicago, seventy-nine. This committee form of school-board organization repre- sents the first stage in the process of separating the legisla- tive and the executive functions in the control of a city school system. Evolution of professional supervision. The next step in the process of separation was the evolution of the pro- fessional school superintendent, appointed or elected from without the board of education, and gradually entrusted with executive functions and directed to act in the name of the board. With the development and expansion of the school system of the cities, this step followed as naturally as did the evolution of the school committee or the board out of the selectmen or the town council at an earlier date. Our city school systems may be said to have reached this stage in their development by about 1875. ^ee» »^^ ^1 Fig. 7. GROWTH OF A PROFESSIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS Showing the development of administration and the growth of sentiment toward central- ization as indicated by the number of articles on the subject in each number of the annual proceedings of the National Teachers' Association and National Education Association — 1857-1918. (After Chamberlain.) With the entry of the United States into tie World War the attention of the Superintendents was directed elsewhere, as the chart shows EVOLUTION OF CITY ORGANIZATION 81 The unmistakable tendency, once this official was evolved, has been to delegate to him those professional functions relating to teachers and instruction, as well as many of the matters relating to buildings and equipment, the board reserving to itself advisory control, the power to enact general legislation, and the control of the finances of the schools. Just as the towns originally passed these functions over to special representative boards, with a view to secur- ing more intelligent action, so such boards have in turn passed these functions over to an expert officer, and with the same purpose in mind. The dates of the appointment of the first city superin- tendents of schools have been given, ^ and the statement was made there that their duties at first must have been quite simple and limited. Some of the first superintendents of city school systems were not even school men,^ and their duties were more those of a school-board clerk or business manager of to-day than those of a modern professional superintendent. Gradually, but slowly, with the growth of the cities, the widening sphere of public education, the in- crease in the complexity of the school system maintained, the increase in the number of superintendents employed, and the growth of a professional spirit among them,^ ^ See page 58. 2 Cleveland first designated the secretary of the school board as "acting manager of schools," and he continued in this capacity for twelve years before a real superintendent of schools was elected. In Jersey City the office was for some time an unsalaried one, and was held by merchants and other business men, who performed merely nominal duties. Cincinnati at first elected a superintendent from among the citizenship, and by popular vote, just as members of the school board were secured. ^ The National Association of School Superintendents was organized in 1865, and held its first meeting in Washington in February, 1866. This organization later became the Department of Superintendence of the National Education Association, and has continued to the present time. Most of the important discussions of supervisory problems have taken place before this body. 82 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION boards of education began to decrease the number, impor- tance, and activity of the standing and special commit- tees, and to direct the new superintendent of schools either to investigate conditions and needs and to report to them with recommendations for action, or to act in their name. Further differentiation of executive functions. With the still more rapid growth of cities since 1880, and the still more rapid expansion of our city school systems since that date, even further specialization of functions and delega- tion of authority has become a necessity, if intelligent edu- cational service is to be rendered to the community sup- porting the schools. The problems relating to organization, instruction, and school management have become far too technical to be handled successfully by the ordinary layman, while the business and clerical work has so increased in quantity as to demand the continuous services of an officer specially capable in such lines. Even more, the problems relating to instruction and school organization have in themselves so differentiated as to require, in our larger cities, a division of executive functions among a number of specially trained educational officers. Large boards, ward control, and the committee system of school administration have all alike proved so inadequate and so unsatisfactory, under modern conditions of school organization and administration, that there has been a marked tendency, within the past quarter of a century, toward a very material reduction both in the size of city school boards and in the number of their standing com- mittees. There has also been a marked tendency toward the delegation to expert officers, not members of the board, of many of the powers and executive functions formerly possessed and exercised by the city school boards. Some- times this has come about by tacit understanding, and sometimes by the requirements of general law. EVOLUTION OF CITY ORGANIZATION 83 The result has been the evolution of what might be called a comprehensive type of school superintendent in our smaller cities, and of a number of executive officers for our larger city school systems. In some of our cities and states these officers have been clothed by law with certain definite powers and duties with which boards of education cannot interfere, or at most over which they can exercise only a moderate supervisory authority. On the business side has been evolved the school clerk, or secretary, who attends to all purely clerical functions, and the business manager, who acts in the name of the board in most financial matters. On the educational side, in addition to the superintendent of instruction, have come supervisors of special forms of in- struction, a supervisor of health, and a supervisor of school attendance. In between the two, and partaking of the func- tions of both the business and the educational sides, has come a superintendent of school buildings. Other executive officials, of more or less importance in the educational administration, but not necessary to enumerate here, have also been evolved to meet special needs in different city school systems. Present conceptions as to school control. The marked trend of the past quarter of a century in city school admin- istration has been to increase the importance of the board of education as a legislative body, to decrease its impor- tance as an executive body, and to centralize authority and responsibility in the hands of one or more well-trained and capable executive officers, with the city superintendent of schools as the directing and coordinating head of the exec- utive organization. These executive officers are responsible to the board, and the board in turn to the people. The func- tion of a city board of education has become, more and more, to act as a board for school control, — representing the people on the one hand and the State on the other. Its 84 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION powers in the matter of finance and building have been materially enlarged; its powers to legislate and direct, within the limits set by general law, have likewise been expanded; and to it, in conjunction with the superintendent of schools, has been given the task of determining the local educational policy relating to public education. In the ex- ecution of the legislation or of the policy determined upon, however, it has come to be conceived, more and more clearly, to be in the interests of efficient administration for the board to leave all executive functions to carefully chosen execu- tive officers, who act as its representatives. In this regard the evolution of city school control has kept in touch with the best principles of corporation management and control. It is at this point in the evolution of city school organi- zation and administration that we take up the problem for more detailed consideration. SELECTED REFERENCES Burnham, W. H. "Principles of Municipal School Administration"; in Atlantic Monthly, vol. 92; pp. 105-12. (July, 1903.) Economy; school politics; local adaptation; autonomy; expert administration; civil service; concentration of power and responsibility. Chamberlain, A. H. Growth of Responsibility and Enlargement of Power of the City School Superintendent. 162 pp. Univ. Cal. Pubs.; Education. vol. Ill, no. 4, 1913. Section 4, pp. 362-395, cover the beginnings and the expansion of the city office. Hinsdale, B. A. "The American School Superintendent"; in Educational Review, vol. vii, pp. 42-54. (January, 1894.) A good general article on the evolution of supervision. Martin, G. H. Evolution of the Massachusetts School System. 284 pp. Appleton, New York, 1894. A very readable volume. Traces the main lines of the evolution of educational ad- ministration in Massachusetts. Prince, J. T. "Evolution of School Supervision"; in Educational Review, vol. 22, pp. 148-61. (September, 1901.) A brief general article, dealing with the evolution in Massachusetts. Suzzallo, Henry. Rise of Local School Supervision in Massachusetts. 154 pp. Trs. Col. Contribs. to Educ, no. 3. New York, 1906. An excellent study of the rise of the school committee and the general transference of power from the people to a special representative board in matters relating to education. CHAPTER VIII ORGANIZATION OF BOARDS FOR SCHOOL CONTROL Special governing boards. Special school boards for the control of the educational systems of our cities are to-day an almost universal feature of city-district school organi- zation. While the term " board of education " is the most common designation for such a body, the term " school committee " (New England), " school board " (Minnesota), " board of school directors " (Pennsylvania; Oregon), " board of school trustees " (Indiana; Montana), " board of school commissioners " (Baltimore; Indianapolis), and " board of school inspectors " (Peoria) are also used.i There is no generally established method for the creation of such boards, some being elected by wards, some elected at large, some appointed by the mayor or some other ap- pointive body, and some owing their existence to special charters. 2 Many boards are large; some are small. Some 1 Practically aU of these titles, and very naturally, are expressive of the earlier conception as to the nature of the functions to be exercised by gov- erning boards for schools in cities. In the light of our best present-day con- ceptions as to the nature of the work of such governing bodies, the term "board for school control" would be a better one for future use, for the reason that it expresses more accurately the real function of a school board in any city where modern conceptions as to its work prevail. The term "board of education" has gradually become a misnomer, and its use tends to continue, in the minds of both board members and the people, a conception that it is the function of such bodies to continue to attempt to exercise technical and professional functions which ordinary laymen are no longer competent to handle. 2 Such special charters were quite common once, when some communities -lesired to progress and others did not, but few such are granted now, while many States prohibit such special legislation. Georgia forms an excellent illustration of such grants, almost every city of any size in the State having at some time been granted a special educational charter. Four counties — 86 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION still retain the old committee system in full strength; some have only a few committees; while a few have abolished standing committees entirely. Some are both legislative and executive bodies, the superintendent of schools being much in the nature of a clerk to the board; some divide the ex- ecutive functions to a greater or less degree with this official; while a few cities have clearly separated the executive from the legislative functions, and entrust all of the former to paid experts, the board acting entirely as a board of control for the school system of the city district. Recent reorganizations. So rapid has been the growth of our cities, and so recent has been the more complex develop- ment of public education and the appointment of profes- sional experts to advise and to direct, that practically all of our cities, up to a relatively few years ago, possessed an educational organization much better adapted to the time when they were villages and when education was a relatively small and simple affair, than to needs and conditions now existing in a growing American city. Perhaps a large ma- jority of our cities are still in this condition. Progress in education has outrun the development of the governing law. Within the past two decades, however, a number of our cities, large and small, have effected voluntary or compul- sory educational reorganizations, with a view to adapting better the administration of their school systems to the needs of the future in matters of educational organization and administration.^ Such reorganizations have come, in large Bibb, Chatham, Glynn, and Richmond — have special county school systems, which include the cities, towns, and rural districts, and which are largely independent of the state school laws. In Bibb County the board consists of fifteen members, and itself fills all vacancies in its membership. The St. Louis board also had this power from 1833 to 1897. ^ The following, among our larger cities, illustrate this tendency: — St. Louis, in 1897, changed from a ward board of 21 to one of 12 elected from the city at large, and with the powers of the board and of its executive officers clearly defined. ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL BOARDS 87 part, as the result of the gradual establishment of certain standards relating to the organization and work of city boards of education, and the relationship such bodies should bear to their executive officers and to the general city gov- ernment. In this chapter we shall briefly indicate the nature of such reorganizations, and state what these standards are with reference to the legal organization of the board for city school control; in the following chapter we shall state what they are as they relate to the work and proper functions of the board. Tendencies in recent reorganizations. As was pointed out in the previous chapter, the tendency has been, with the evolution of the professional superintendent and the dele- gation of administrative functions to experts, to reduce the size of the board, to curtail both the number and the work of the board committees, and to eliminate all ex-offi/do members from the board. By this means the board is re- duced to a small and businesslike body, and transformed into a real board for school control. Within recent years many of our city boards of education have been so reduced in size and the number of their stand- ing committees decreased, with a view to securing a bet- ter educational organization for the administration of the San Francisco, in 1898, changed from a board of 12 elected along ward lines to one of 4 appointed by the mayor. Baltimore, in 1898, changed from a board of 28 elected along ward lines and with the mayor a member ex officio to a board of 7 appointed by the mayor. Rochester, in 1901, changed from a ward board of 16 to a board of 5 elected at large. Boston, in 1905, changed from a ward board of 24 to one of 5 elected from the city at large. Philadelphia, in 1905, changed from a series of 43 elected district boards, consisting of 559 members, to a board of 21 members appointed from the city at large by the judges of the court of common pleas. In 1913, the board was further reduced by general state law to 15 members. 88 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION CITY population 1910 SIZE OF BOARD Formerly Now Change in 25 Years Albany Bridgeport Spokane Cambridge Lowell Nashville Grand Rapids Dayton Fall River Omaha Paterson Richmond Scran ton Memphis Birmingham INew Haven Syracuse Worcester Oakland Atlanta Toledo Columbus Portland Denver St.Paul Rochester Xiouisville Providence Indianapolis Seattle Kansas City Jersey City Minneapolis lios Angeles Washington New Orleans Newark Cincinnati Milwaukee San Francisco Buffalo Detroit Pittsburgh Baltimore Cleveland Boston St. Louis Philadelphia Chicago New York 100 102, 104. 104, 106, 110. 112, 116, 119. 124, 125, 127, 129, 131, 132, 133, 137, 145, 150, 154, 168, 181, 207, 213, 214, 218. 223, 224, 233, 237, 248, 267, 301. 319,198 331,069 339,075 847,469 863,591 857 912 715 766 905 485 663 .585 029 008 283 883 253 054 402 839 294 364 571 577 295 096 600 628 867 105 685 605 249 986 174 839 497 511 214 381 744 149 928 326 650 194 ,381 779 408 373, 416, 423, 465, 533, 558, 560, 670 687, 1,549 2,185, 4,766, Present size I I Decrease in 25 years Increase in 25 years Fig 8. TENDENCIES OF TWENTY-FIVE YEARS (1895-1920) IN SCHOOL BOARD REORGANIZATIONS IN FIFTY CITIES As shown by the fifty cities in the United States which in 1910 had over 100,000 inhab- itants. It will be seen that there is no relation between the size of the city and the size of the school board. ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL BOARDS 89 schools. Sometimes these changes have come as a result of the people of the city asking for an amended charter or a special law.^ Most of the earlier reorganizations came about in this way. More recently the tendency has been for the State, by means of a general state law, and without waiting for the cities to act voluntarily, to compel a reduction in size and a change in the basis of selection of board members for all cities of the State, doing so in the interests of a more efficient administration of the schools in the city school districts. 2 Some of the changes produced by these recent general laws have been large, and thoroughly fundamental in nature.^ Some of these recent laws have even hmited and specified the number of standing committees which may be created, and, most important of all, have clearly stated that 1 As, for example, Cleveland, which substituted a board of 7 elected at large, for a large ward board in 1892; Newark, which reduced its board from 32 to 9 in 1908; San Diego, California, which substituted a board of 6, elected at large, for a ward board of 18 in 1909; Newton, Massachusetts, which reduced its board from 15 to 8 in 1910; New Orleans, from 17 to 5 in 1912; and Cincmnati, from 29 to 7 in 1913. 2 Under such general state laws the school board of Indianapolis was reduced from 11 to 5, and Louisville from 16 to 5. Kansas, in 1911, by general law reduced all school boards in cities of over 2000 inhabitants to 6, to be elected at large; and Ohio, in 1913, reduced all city boards of educa- tion to 5 or 7 members. ^ In Ohio, as a result of general laws of 1904, 1908, and 1913, school boards of 15 to 27 have been reduced to 5 or 7. The most marked reduction has come as a result of the Pennsylvania state law of 1911, whereby all cities were classified, and the size of their boards determined, as follows : — Class Population of City Size of Board 1 3 4 500,000 and over 30,000 to 499,999 5,000 to 29,999 Under 5000 15 9 7 5 This law also abolished the district system of representation, and sub- stituted appointment by the judges in the two first-class cities, and election at large elsewhere. The result of this law was to reduce the board of educa- tion in Philadelphia from 24, and in Pittsburgh from 45, to 15 each; and in Harrisburg from 32, in Reading from 64, and in Williamsport from 52, to 9 each. 90 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION certain executive functions must be delegated to specified executive officers to be appointed by the board. ^ As a result of the discussion, legislation, and experience of the past two decades in city school organization and administration, it may be said that the best type of board for educational control in our American cities, large or small, now seems to be a small board — five or seven mem- bers being the most desirable numbers — with no ex-officio members;^ elected from the city at large, or, perhaps, ap- pointed by the mayor, or commission for the city; elected for relatively long terms, with only a small percentage elected or appointed at any one time, and with not too long con- tinuous service for any one member; few or no standing committees; and with a clear differentiation stated in the law between the legislative functions of the board and the executive functions of the experts of the department. The reasons for the impositions of such standards in the organiza- tion of boards of school control for city school districts are about as follows: — Size of school boards. The experience of the past half- century, in city school administration in this country, is clearly and unmistakably that a small board is in every way a more effective and a more efficient body than a large one. It of course should not be too small, as very small 1 The St. Louis law is a good example of this. But four board com- mittees are provided for, namely, — Instruction, School Buildings, Finance, and Auditing and Supplies. Five executive departments are also provided for, and the powers and duties of each clearly specified. The administration is businesshke, and the legislative and executive functions clearly differ- entiated. 2 It used to be a somewhat common practice to include the mayor, ex officio, as a member of the board of education, but the plan has almost invariably given poor results, and has been abandoned generally. The temptation to the mayor, who is primarily a political personality, is always strong to play politics at the expense of the schools, and the elimination of this official is a necessary step in the elimination of politics from the administration of public education. ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL BOARDS 91 boards tend too much to become one-man affairs, and the gain that comes from having a number of heads consider and discuss a proposition is lost. On the other hand, a few men can always work more economically and more efficiently than can a large body. The unquestioned experience of our American cities, having large school boards or city councils, has been that the real thinking and planning and executing is usually done by from half a dozen to half a score of men within the group. The inevitable result is cliques, factions. I. Cities of over 100,000 inhabitants Size of Board Number of Cities Graphic Distribution 1 B 3 5 6 1 14 1 B B "^^^^ 7 10 ■IHi 9 10 8 ■■■■ 11 H^B 12 S mSM 14 S BIH 15 S warn 16 1 u 17 1 H Median 7 H Cities of from 25,000 to 100,000 inhabitants Fig. 9. FREQUENCY OF SIZE OF SCHOOL BOARD Given for two groups of cities. The upper half of the chart shows the distribution for the 50 cities which in 1910 had over 100,000 inhabitants; the lower half for the 139 cities which by the same census had between 25,000 and 100,000 inhabitants. 92 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION and wheels within wheels in the administration. A board of five or seven is now generally regarded as the most desir- able size for all but perhaps the very largest cities, and with from nine to fifteen proposed for such large cities as Chicago and New York. The small board is far less talkative, and hence handles the public business much more expeditiously; it is less able to shift responsibility for its actions; it cannot so easily di- vide itself up into small committees, and works more effi- ciently and intelligently as a committee of the whole; and it cannot and will not apportion out the patronage in the way that a large ward board can and will do. A large board is unwieldy and incoherent; it seldom transacts the public business quietly and quickly; it tends too frequently to be- come a public debating society, where small or politically inclined men talk loud and long and " play to the galleries " and to the press; while personal and party politics, and sometimes lodge and church politics, not infrequently de- termine its actions. It is almost always divided into fac- tions, between whom there is continual strife and rivalry, and important matters are usually caucused in advance and " put through " by the majority at that moment in control. A reduction in size to a body small enough to meet around a single table and discuss matters in a simple, direct, and business-like manner, under the guidance of a chairman who knows how to handle public business, and then take action as a whole, is very desirable.^ Basis of selection; wards vs. at large. The election of school-board members from city wards or districts is a sur- vival of the early district system of school control, and the 1 With such a board, long evening meetings are unnecessary. If the board confines itself to its proper work, an hour a week will transact all of the school business which the board should handle. There is no more need for speeches or oratory in the conduct of a school system than there would be in the conduct of a national bank. ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL BOARDS 93 evidence everywhere is against the continuance of this practice. No surer means for perpetuating the personal and political evils in school control can be devised than the con- tinuance of the ward system of representation. In cities where part of the school board has been elected at large and part by wards, those elected at large have almost invariably proved to be the better members. In cities where the com- plete change from a ward board to a smaller one elected at large has been made, the change has practically always re- sulted in the production of a better board from among the body of the electorate, and a better handling of the business of public education. The larger the city the more important that the ward system be abandoned. The tendency of people of the same class or degree of success in life to settle in the same part of the city is matter of common knowledge. The successful and the unsuccessful; the ones who like strong and good government, and the ones who like weak and poor government; the temperate and the intemperate elements; and the business and the laboring classes; — these commonly are found in different parts of a city. Wards come to be known as " the fighting third," " the red-light fourth," " the socialistic ninth," or " the high-brow fifth "; and the characteristics of these wards ^ are 1 The writer once knew a ward board composed of one physician, two business men, one good lawyer, two politician lawyers with few clients, one bookkeeper, one blacksmith, one saloonkeeper, one buyer of hides and tallow, one butcher, one druggist, one worker in a lumber yard, one retired army officer, one man of no occupation except general opposition to any form of organized government, and one woman. The result was a board divided into factions, members from the better wards having but little in- fluence with those from the poorer wards. The constant danger was that the less intelligent and less progressive element would wear out the better element and come to rule the board. Important measures had to be cau- cused in advance of proposing them to see that a majority was a probability. In appointing the committees, the chairman had to choose between having half the board do all of the important work, or of placing men on com- mittees for which they were wholly unfitted. 94 PUBLIC SCHOOL AX>MINISTRATION frequently evident in the composition of the board of edu- cation. The young and ambitious politician not infre- quently moves into an '* open ward '* in the hope of securing an election there, and, when elected, makes the school board a stepping-stone to the council and higher political 5 © Best ® Main Red-light district Higher ground © residence ® business wards © ® street ® Negro ward shacks Fig. 10. A CITY OF NINE WARDS The three wards south of the river contain the poorer classes of the city. Theae live in the cheap homes south of the railway tracks. Wards 1, 4, and 7 lie on higher ground, and the better residences of the city are in these three vizards and in the upper edge of Wards 2, 5, and 8. The business district of the city parallels the river, and lies in Wards 2, 5, and 8. Wards 1, 4, and 7 always select good members for the Board of Education, while Wards 3, 6, and 9 practically always select poor members. The fight then hinges around Wards 2, 5, and 8, the better element of the city being compelled to watch these wards carefully, so as to elect good men from at least two of these three wards. preferment. Not infrequently the school janitor, appointed in the first place as a reward for political services, becomes the ward boss in turn and dictates the nomination of the school-board members. ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL BOARDS 95 One of the important results of the change from ward representation to election from the city at large, in any city of average decency and intelligence, is that the inevitable representation from these " poor wards " is eliminated, and the board as a whole comes to partake of the best charac- teristics of the city as a whole. The members represent the city as a whole, instead of wards; they become interested in the school system as a unit, instead of parts of it; and the continual strife in boards caused by men who represent a constituency instead of a cause, and whose efforts are con- stantly directed toward securing funds, teachers, and jani- tors for the school or schools " they represent," is largely eliminated. Under the ward system of representation, too, it is matter of common knowledge that men are nominated and elected from wards who could not be nominated, much less elected, from the city at large. Better men are almost al- ways attracted to the educational service when election from the city at large, and for relatively long terms, is substituted for ward representation. A man of affairs, really competent to handle the educational business of a city, often cannot be induced to accept membership on a large ward board because of the great waste of time and the small results attained. If the management of a school system is political, or personal, or petty, the best men tend to keep off the school board, which in turn accentuates the trouble and brings a constantly poorer quality of men to the service. Appointment vs. election. A plan tried in some of our cities, but one less in favor now than some years ago, is that of having the mayor of the city appoint the board members instead of their being elected. This plan has been especially favored for large cities. In small cities there is no question but that election at large by popular vote is the more de- sirable method, and even for large cities experience seems 96 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION to indicate that the results are about equally satisfactory.^ In Philadelphia appointment by the court of common pleas has been tried, but to this method there is much objection. The judges do not desire the responsibility, and it should not be put upon them. In a few of our commission-governed cities the city commission appoints the school board. So far as the objection to appointment by the mayor rests on the plea that it " removes the schools farther from the people " is concerned, the objection is of little weight. Our city executives are elected by and represent the whole people, and are usually very close to the people, at least to that class of the people who concern themselves most with city government, and they represent the average opinion of such very well. Too often this is one of the most serious ob- jections to such a method of appointment. If the mayor is of a distinctively high type, and deeply interested in the public welfare, he may make better appointments than the popular-election method will produce. Too often, however, the temptation to play city politics at the expense of the schools is irresistible, and the result on the schools is dis- astrous. In favor of appointment, over election at large, is the be- lief that the mayor can be held responsible for bad appoint- ments, and that he can select with greater care and without reference to where the appointee lives. Against such ap- pointment is the close personal relationship likely to exist between the mayor and the appointees; the sense of obliga^ tion resulting in a return of favors; the mixing of city gov- ernment and school government; the tendency of mayors to interfere with the administration of the schools; the likeli- hood of introducing city politics into appointments and the * Election by the people and at large has certainly given better results in Boston, St. Louis, and Portland, Oregon, than has been the case under appointment by the mayor in New York, Chicago, or San Francisco. ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL BOARDS 97 awarding of contracts; and, in case of a bad mayor, the ease with which the school system may be demoraHzed. San Francisco, in 1921, began a trial of a combination method of appointment which may prove useful. Under it the mayor nominates the school board members, sixty days before the city election, and the people then vote, at large, to approve or to disapprove his nominees. Term of office, and elections. It used to be a common practice to elect the school committee or school board annually, and the survivals of this custom are still found in many of our cities. In a few the entire school board is elected annually or biennially, and in many cities half the members are elected at each annual or biennial election.^ Short terms of oflBce and rapidly changing membership do not produce conditions conducive to good school ad- ministration, and do not attract the best men to the service. In cities where all or even a majority of a school board change at one time, neither the school board nor the super- intendent of schools can plan and execute any long-time educational policy; and both are forced to consider, al- together too much for the good of the schools, what it is expedient to do. Better men are attracted to the service by a longer term of oflSce and a relatively stable membership. The new member can be gradually initiated into the work and ideals of the board, and an educational policy can be planned and carried out over a longer period of time. School election contests, based on a desire to change the character of the administration, are much less frequent, and a radical change in educational policy scarcely ever results from one election. If the superintendent of schools is also given a relatively long term, the conditions are very favor- able for eflScient and progressive educational administration. ^ If one half are, theoretically, new at each election, practically a majority, due to deaths or resignations, has to be elected each time. 98 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION From three to five years would seem to be the most de- sirable length of term for school-board membership. Where the board consists of three or five, one should be elected each year, and for a three- or a five-year term. In case of a board of seven, the election of one, two, two, and two each succeeding year would seem most desirable. The larger the membership, the longer should be the tenure. It will at once be objected that city or state elections usually come only biennially, and that an annual election of school-board members is therefore impossible. Such ob- jections usually come from the man who is not interested in making it possible. The divorce of school-board elections from city or state political contests is in itself very desir- able, and this is done in a number of cities. Such board members should be elected at a spring school election, con- ducted in a simple manner at the schoolhouses and without reference to the Australian system of balloting, and names should be placed on the ballot without party or other desig- nation. If more than one person is to be voted for for the same place, say three, the position of any one name should be different on each third of the ballots. Such elections are conducted in many places in a simple, inexpensive, and thoroughly satisfactory manner.^ Pay for services. A few communities pay their board members either a per-diem or a yearly fixed sum. Five or ten dollars a meeting, and the number of meetings limited to four or five a month, is occasionally found. A fixed sum, such as $100 a year, is also occasionally found. Rochester, 1 The confusion of the city school-district organization with that of the city municipal government is in large part responsible for this idea that the elections must be held at the same time, and by the same methods. In Portland, Oregon, for example, where the school-district government has been kept clear and distinct from the city-hall government, the school elections have been held quietly each June, irrespective of the biennial city election in May. A number of California cities now follow the same plan. ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL BOARDS 99 in its reorganization of 1901, provided for a yearly salary of $1200 a year for each board member, and San Francisco, in the reorganization of 1898, provided for a board of four members, to be paid $3000 each, and required to devote their entire time to the work of the school board. In a bill before the New York Legislature of 1911 for the reorganization of the New York City school board, but which brought forth bitter opposition and finally failed of passage, it was pro- posed to reduce the school board from forty-six to seven in number, the president to be paid $10,000 a year, and each of the members $8000. This was much the same plan as was followed in San Francisco to 1922. In the controversy over this proposal the fundamental principles underlying paid and unpaid boards were fully brought out.^ It may be accepted as a fundamental principle in Ameri- can educational administration that a school board should not be paid for its services. In all of our cities there has never been any difficulty in securing the services of an unpaid board, and there is not likely to be. Our schools lie so close to the interests and hopes of parents and public- spirited citizens that there is not likely to exist, once ^ See especially seven letters between Mayor Gaynor and President Nicholas Murray Butler on the subject, reprinted in the Educational Review for September, 1911 (vol. xlii, pp. 204-10), and the letter of Mr. C. W. Bardeen, of Syracuse, to the President of the Public Education Association of New York, reprinted in the same journal for October, 1911 (vol. xlu, pp. 322-24). Mr. Bardeen, among other things, said: — "The only object of the paid board of education, as the proposed pro- visions show, is to substitute its authority for the authority now vested in the superintendent; in other words, to substitute the amateur for the expert; the theorist for the man who has tried; the lawyer, the merchant, the physician, for men who have had equally long and severe training in the business of teaching. Mayor Gaynor would not think of proposing a judi- ciary board made up of leading public men who should dictate to the supe- rior court judge what his decisions should be, and yet the superintendents of New York are quite as expert in their subject and chosen quite as care- fully as the justices of the supreme bench." 100 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION make the conditions and the office right, any trouble in en- listing the cooperation of men and women who will be willing to serve the schools, for a term of years, without any pay. Origin of pay proposals. All proposals to pay members come from other than students of educational administra- tion. It is not the lack of pay which keeps those best quali- fied to serve off our school boards, while even a small salary attached to the office makes it attractive to just the type of man who ought not to be selected for board member at all. A salary is all the more dangerous an incentive where the people elect the board members. Practically all proposals to attach a salary to the office of a school-board member are based on a complete misunder- standing as to what are the proper functions of a city board for school control.^ These we shall elaborate in the succeed- ing chapter, but suffice it to say here that it is not the proper function of a school board to administer the schools in any detail, and there is no work which the members can do to earn any salary worth mentioning without interfering with, or doing over again, the work of the professional officer or officers of the school system. An ideal board member is a man accustomed to handle business matters promptly, to consider the recommendations of superintendents, princi- pals, and business officers in a broad and unbiased manner, and to pass judgment on affairs of expenditure or policy. Such men do not serve for pay, nor will they devote all of their time to the business of the schools. A per -diem basis of pay tends to multiply meetings, and leads to the exer- cise of functions which boards should let alone; while an annual salary of any size tends to make the office a job, fills the board with a mediocre membership, and leads to ^ This is well shown in Mayor Gaynor's letters. He entirely miscon- ceived the function of a board of education. ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL BOARDS 101 unnecessary interference with the proper work of the board's executive ofiicers.-^ Commission form of government and the schools. A new departure in the administration of city school systems has recently been made in a few of our cities where the commis- sion form of government has been introduced. In some of these the board of education for the city school district has been abolished, and the school system has been incorporated as a department of the commissioned-governed city. In such cases either one commissioner exercises a special super- vision over the school department, or the city commission- ers pass upon school matters as a body. In some other cities the board of education is retained, the commissioners for the city merely succeeding the people or the mayor in the one function of appointing the board, and perhaps also in determining the amount of school funds to be placed under its control. That there is a tendency toward the simplification of city government, and the placing of all city departments under one small board of control, is unmistakable. The inclusion of the schools as one of the departments of the commission- governed city seems a perfectly logical thing to do, but, not- withstanding a few apparently successful experiments here and there, ^ it is nevertheless as yet a somewhat question- able proceeding. Whatever the future may bring forth in ^ San Francisco has proved to be an excellent example of this. There the board of education has become virtually a board of superintendents, reducing the proper supervisory force to the rank of clerks. This situation developed almost from the first. See "School Situation in San Francisco," in Educational Review, April, 1901 (vol. xxi, pp. 364-83), 2 Sacramento, California, a city of 65,000 inhabitants, is an example of this type. An elected city commission of five governs the city, one of whom is the commissioner for schools. This commission has so far, by employing a new superintendent and inaugurating a new progressive policy, done much to improve the schools, but the election of a new commissioner of a different type might at once jeopardize much of what has been secured by the recent reform. 102 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION the matter of improving municipal administration, we as a people have not, as yet, attained to the conception of the purpose of public education and the standards in its admin- istration which would make the turning-over of the schools to the control of the city government a wise thing to do.^ If the commission control extends only to the appoint- ment of the school board, action by the commission taking the place of popular election or appointment by the mayor, and to the replacing of the city council in the determination of the school-board funds, ^ then the plan, instead of being objectionable, may be quite commendable. In these two matters of administration the commission form of govern- ment is very likely to result in an improvement in educa- tional administration, but in most other respects the school system is more likely to prosper if operated by a separate small board of control, and under the provisions of the general educational law of the State. Dependence on vs. independence of the city govern- ment. In the present stage of the development of munici- pal government the student of educational administration is thankful that the schools are, at their foundation at least, state and not local affairs, and that a constantly growing body of school law regulates and controls many of the de- tails of the conduct of the schools within the cities. As was pointed out in Chapter VI, the chief danger in such con- trol lies in that the state oversight may become too narrow and too restrictive in matters where local liberty should be granted. The most important work of any community is that of providing public education for its children. In its deeper significance this work completely transcends in importance ^ This is discussed again in Chapter XXV, under the head of the tax- levying power. 2 This is essentially the Houston, Texas, plan. See the article by Horn, in Educational Review, April, 1909. ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL BOARDS 103 the work of the street, police, fire, or any other city admin- istrative department. It looks primarily to the future, rather than to the present, and its aim is clearly to improve upon conditions now existing. It is chiefly because of this larger and more distant aim of education that the work of the schools is so frequently misunderstood by the people. The ordinary citizen and the schools. The ordinary citi- zen, the average lawyer, the city official, and all who like to see a logical city administrative organization, find it hard to understand why students of educational administration object to such a logical subordination of the schools.^ With them the school service is regarded as practically on the same plane as other mimicipal service. Consequently contracts should be properly distributed locally, and jobs should be properly passed around among the daughters of the electorate. The meaning of competency in school work is scarcely understood, and the poor teacher or janitor has a large hold on their sympathy. That the result is deaden- ing and disastrous to the finer work of the schools, that the teachers and administrative officers do not do their best work under such conditions, and that the intellectual life and moral tone of the city is lowered in consequence, they cannot see. That plundering the schools is not on a par with plunder- ing the public treasury they also cannot see. If money is illegally or unnecessarily taken from the public treasury the tax rate is only raised a little. In time, if the mismanage- ment becomes too bad, the grand jury investigates, there is a municipal house cleaning, the charter or the form of government is perhaps changed, and all is well once more. If the schools, however, are plundered through contracts and building operations and degraded by the employment ^ This was clearly apparent in the Butler-Gaynor letters, to which ref- erence has previously been made. 104 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION and retention of incompetent place-hunters, the penalty is not only a higher tax rate, but a lower moral tone and a weakened intellectual life for the city, the influence of which extends throughout the whole of the life of the generation of children then in the schools. This, also, the ordinary lawyer, mayor, or " man in the street '* does not see, and can scarcely be made to appreciate. Because the student of educational administration does appreciate these differences, and because he knows, from the experience of cities gener- ally, how easy it is to subordinate educational efficiency to political expediency, he does not favor any more connec- tions between the city government and the school depart- ment than is absolutely necessary. Laws that put the school department at the mercy of the city council are un- sound in principle, and frequently lead to deplorable results. Disadvantages of city control. The school boards of our cities almost always lay larger claim to character, fitness, and disinterestedness than do members of the city council in the same city, and, as a rule, they are far more respect- able and responsible. ^ One important step in the elimina- tion of politics from city school administration is the almost complete separation of the school department from the municipal government. Subordination to the mayor also frequently leads to a similar situation. Not many mayors are wise enough to keep their hands off the school department, and any school system in which the board members need to consult the mayor before taking important action is one in which the educational policy is likely to be both vacillating and weak. On the other hand, the school board which can act inde- pendently of municipal control, consulting only the edu- cational needs of the school district, and can, within the 1 See A. S. Draper, "Plans for Organization for School Purposes in Large Cities," in Educational Review, June, 1893. ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL BOARDS 105 limits set by law, certify or levy the funds needed for school maintenance, is a board which is likely to carry forward a strong and a continuously progressive educational policy, and one likely to develop a school system which will render valuable service in improving the intelligence and the moral tone of the community. Both types of administrative organization for the school departments are represented in our American cities.^ Toledo, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Portland (Oregon), or Los Angeles represents the type of separate organization.^ In each the school system is a separate and distinct organi- zation, has its own funds, looks after its own plant, and manages its schools in the interests of the education of its children. Providence, Schenectady, Baltimore, and San Francisco offer examples of the close city-control type, the school department being quite dependent on the city authorities for its funds, and upon other city departments for semi-educational service. This dependence, in so far as it relates to finances, will be considered further in Chap- ter XXV. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. Why is action by the State in fixing, by general law, the size and method of selection of the board of education justified ? 2. Why is a board small enough to meet around a single table more likely to transact the public business quietly and expeditiously than one where the members have separate tables or desks scattered about the room? 3. In Indiana, for many years, the city council appointed the school boards, one member each yearfor a three-year term. This worked fairly ^ At this point only the general proposition of city control is discussed, postponing to Chapter XXV the bearing of such control on the levying of taxes and the authorization of building expenses. 2 For a description of the St. Louis organization, see article by C. W. Eliot, in Report of U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1903, vol. ii, pp. 1356- 62. The complex Schenectady organization is given in Report of U.S. Commissioner of Education, 1913, vol. i, pp. 99-100. The two make a good comparison in matters of educational organization. 106 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION well there, but has since been abandoned by all the larger cities. What is your judgment as to this method, and why? 4. What is your judgment as to the Sacramento method, and why? 5. What is your judgment of the Houston method, and why? 6. What is the fundamental defect in any such logical city organization for the work of the educational department as is represented by Sche- nectady or San Francisco? 7. Is Draper's argument for separate organization for the schools sound? 8. In a few of our cities local or district school boards exist, largely for local purposes, in addition to the central board of education. Read the article on " City Schools, Local Boards " in Monroe's Cyclopedia of Edu- cation, and state your opinion of the advisability of such boards, either for assisting in school control or for visitation. 9. Would it be a good idea to permit boards of education to elect their suc- cessors, as is done somewhat commonly in college government? Why? 10. Can a scheme be provided which will insure a city a school board of a type much in advance of the general tone and character of the city itself? If possible, how far would it be desirable to do so? 11. Eliot says that after two terms there should be a break in membership; that is, after the completion of the second term, a member should be ineligible for membership until after a lapse of at least one year. Is this a good idea, or not? Why? TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT 1. What method is used in constituting city boards of education in your State? What is their present size and term, and what tendencies in school-board organization have been manifest in your State during the past two decades? 2. Are school boards paid in your State? If so, how much, and with what results? 3. After reading the articles by De Weese, The Dial, Jones and the dis- cussion following, Mowry, and Tufts, what is your judgment as to appointed or elected boards? 4. After reading the Butler-Gaynor correspondence, the Bardeen letter, and the article describing the San Francisco situation, what is your judgment as to paying boards of education for their services? Why? 5. Contrast the Schenectady organization, as outlined in the Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Education (1913, vol. i, pp. 99-100), with the St. Louis organization (Eliot). Which is the more likely to produce good educational organization and administration, and why? 6. Outline, in the form of a charter provision or a law, your ideas, as a result of the discussion of this chapter, as to the best plan for the or- ganization of a school board for some small or medium-sized city which you know. ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL BOARDS 107 SELECTED REFERENCES Bard, H. E. The City School District. 118 pp. Trs. Col. Contrib. to Educ, no. 28; New York, 1909. Chapter I, pp. 43-64, is on the work of boards of education, giving conditions found at the time. Butler-Gaynor. "Should New York City have a Paid Board of Educa- tion?" in Educational Review, vol. xlii, pp. 204-10. (September, 1911.) Seven letters on the subject. The question is well stated. See also the Bardeen letter in the October issue of the same journal (pp. 322-24) and later comment in the November issue (pp. 429-31). Chancellor, W. E. Our Schools: their Administration and Supervision. 434. pp. D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, 1904. Chapter II is very good on the school board and its work. Gives many good illustra- tions. Chicago, Illinois. Report of the Educational Commission of. 248 pp. Chicago, 1899. Reprinted by the University of Chicago Press. Article I deals with the fundamental principles relating to the organization of the board of education. An important document. Cubberley, E. P. "The School Situation in San Francisco"; in Educational Revieiv, vol. xxi, pp. 364-83. (April, 1901.) Describes the situation in a city where the school department is a part of the munic- ipal administration, and the board of education is a paid body. De Weese, T. A. "Better city school administration"; in Educational Review, vol. xx, pp. 61-71. (June, 1900.) A good article on school-board organization. Dial, The. Editorial on "Elective School Boards"; reproduced in Educa- tional Review, vol. xxvii, pp. 537-40. (May, 1904.) A strong editorial on the meaning of an elected board in Chicago. Favors appoint- ment. Draper, A. S. " Plans of Organization for School Purposes in Large Cities " ; in Educational Review, vol. vi, pp. 1-16. (June, 1893.) States the fundamental lines of administrative reform. An able article. Dutton, S. T., and Snedden, D. Administration of Public Education in the United States. 614 pp. Macmillan Co., New York, 2d ed., 1908. Chapters VIII and IX contain a general discussion of the proper constitution and work of a school board. Eliot, Charles W. " A Good Urban School Organization"; in Report of U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1903, vol. ii, pp. 1356-62. Describes the reorganized St. Louis sj'stem. A good article, describing a system which operates independently of the municipal corporation. Eliot, E. C. "A Non-Partisan School Law"; in Proceedings of the National Education Association, 1905, pp. 223-231. A good article, describing the origin, establishment, and working of the St. Louis law. 108 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Ellis, D. A. *' A Decade of School Administration in Boston"; in Proceed- ings of the National Education Association, 1910, pp. 987-92. Describes reforms resulting from the reduction of the school board from twenty-four to five members. Horn, P. W. " City Schools under the Commission Form of City Govern- ment"; in Educational Review, vol. xxxvii, pp. 362-74. (April, 1909.) Describes the Houston, Texas, plan. Jones, L. H. "The Best Method of electing School Boards"; in Proceed- ings of the National Education Association, 1903, pp. 158-63. Good discussion follows paper, and a number of views are set forth. Mowry, D. "The Elective Board of Education"; in The Dial, vol. xxxiii, pp. 82-84. (August 16, 1902.) Favors popular election instead of mayor-appointed small boards, as advocated by Rollins. Nearing, S. "The Workings of a Large Board of Education"; in Educa- tional Review, vol. xxxviii, pp. 43-51. (June, 1909.) Contrasts Philadelphia with Albany, Rochester, and Boston. Shows the popular fallacy of large boards. Rollins, F. School Administration in Municipal Government, 106 pp. Col. Univ. Contribs. to Phil., Psy. and Educ, vol. xi, no. 1; New York, 1902. Chapter II gives a general outline of existing conditions. Favors small boards, appointed by mayor for long terms. Strayer, G. D. "The Baltimore School Situation"; in Educational Review, vol. XLii, pp. 325-46. (November, 1911.) Describes a situation in a city where the schools are a part of the city administrative organization. Tufts, J. H. "Appointive or Elective Boards of Education "; in School Review, vol, xvi, pp. 136-38. (February, 1908.) A good article. Opposes appointment for Chicago. Good statement on the subor- dination or independence of the school department. CHAPTER IX FUNCTIONS OF BOARDS FOR SCHOOL CONTROL The board as a body. The board for school control, how- ever constituted and by whatever official title it may be known, is the successor in point of authority of the old town or district meeting, in which the people met and represented themselves. There they voted taxes for the support of the school, selected a teacher or appointed a committee to do so for them, and then turned over to the teacher the control of the school. Later on they voted to delegate the testing of the qualifications of the teacher and the visitation of the school to those who could best represent their interests for them. Boards for school control in our cities to-day, as the suc- cessors of the town or district meeting, now represent the peo- ple in the matter of schools, and through such boards the people now exercise control over the education provided at public expense for their children. The school board members are merely citizens, selected as their representatives by the people of the community. As individuals they are still citi- zens : only when the board is in formal session do they have any actual authority. It is the board, acting as a body, which in the name of the people controls the schools, and not the individual members who, when in session, compose it. Even when the board is in formal session, the individual members have only a voice and a vote, and their control over the schools is through the votes whereby rules, regulations, and policies are adopted. To have authority otherwise the authority must be expressly 110 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION delegated to a member by the board as a body, and by vote, and his authority then extends only so far as specified by such vote of the board. Members, to be sure, often attempt to exercise authority at other times, and frequently do so, but such authority is usurped authority and authority for which there is little or no legal right. Boards continuous and changing. All boards for school control are, in the eyes of the law, continuous bodies. They are bodies corporate, have a seal, hold title to the school property, pass the title to their successors in office, may sell and legally deed property not needed for school purposes, and, in case a majority should at any time and for any cause cease to exist, the functions of the board are merely sus- pended but do not die. On the other hand, the board is kaleidoscopic. Both the personnel and the character of the board change rapidly. Often the best men in the community do not find their way to membership on it. Men of limited education and inex- perienced in school affairs, and with but little conception as to what constitutes good administration of public educa- tion, are constantly elected by the people to membership on the board. On assuming membership, conceiving that they have been elected to manage the schools, they pro- ceed to do so in a manner which accords well with their in- experience and lack of technical knowledge. The older meni ^ bers of the board and the superintendent of schools have ti» keep constantly in mind the slow education of the newcomer. The longer the term of office and the more gradual the replacement, the less the school administration of a city is disturbed by such changes in the representatives of the people. Types of school-board members. The city which keeps an able school board continuously in office is indeed fortu- nate. In most cities such boards alternate with poor boards; FUNCTIONS OF SCHOOL BOARDS 111 in some cities such boards scarcely exist at all. In most cities the board is a combination of diverse elements, and repre- sents, fairly well, the general average of intelligence of the electorate and the average conceptions of the people as to the administration of public education. A city school board composed of a machinist, a retired gentleman, a grocer, a shoe clerk, a real-estate agent, a druggist, a lumberyard foreman, a hotel-keeper, an old and busy lawyer, a book- keeper, a young lawyer without much business, and a banker, might be considered to be a board of the better type. All of these men are upright and honest citizens, inter- ested in schools and in the education of their children, and more or less successful in their different lines of work. The chief trouble with them is not their honesty or their general intelligence or their willingness to serve, but rather that they know so little about what constitutes good school adminis- tration that they are likely to think that, because they have children in the schools, they know all about how the schools should be conducted. Should they think so, as most new members on boards of education do, they are almost cer- tain to attempt what they are not competent to handle, and the result is both disastrous and pathetic. If, in place of five of the better members of the board described above, we substitute a teamster, a blacksmith, a saloon-keeper, a young politician with little or no visible means of support, and a crank with an educational hobby, as often happens as a result of city elections or appointments by mayors, we get a combination which is likely to do much to destroy the efficiency of a school system by turning it into a city patronage department, and by attempting to perform almost every technical and professional function which a board should leave to experts to perform. The superintend- ent resigns, the teachers who can get away do so, and the 112 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION schools slowly deteriorate under such administrative con- ditions. The committee form of control. The most common means by which mismanagement and interference with the tech- nical and professional functions of the experts of the school department comes is through the attempt of such boards to manage the schools by means of a large number of standing committees.^ Committees commonly exist, such as those on courses of study, textbooks, instruction, and promotions and grading, which simply cannot exercise intelligently any of the functions usually assigned to such bodies. The work at- tempted by such committees involves professional knowledge and judgment which no city board of education, either as a body or through a committee, ought ever to try to assume. Taking the board of the better type given above, let us distribute the membership among the different standing committees which we may assume such a board to have pro- vided for in its rules and regulations. Giving each man the chairmanship of one committee, which is a very common proceeding, and then distributing the members in order of number to complete the membership of each committee, we get the following result: — Committees Membership 1. Teachers and Instruction. (1) Machinist, (2) retired gentleman, (3) grocer. 2. Courses of Study. (2) Retired gentleman, (4) shoe clerk, (5) real-estate agent. 3. Textbooks and Apparatus. (3) Grocer, (6) druggist, (7) lumber- yard foreman. 4. School Supplies. (4) Shoe clerk, (8) hotel-keeper, (9) busy lawyer. 5. Buildings and Grounds. (5) Real-estate agent, (10) book- keeper, (11) young lawyer. 1 Bard, in his study of 112 school districts, found 976 standing com- mittees, or an average of nearly 9 to each city. Of these, ^55 appeared only once, and 54 only twice in the 112 cities studied. FUNCTIONS OF SCHOOL BOARDS 113 Committees 6. Janitors and Sanitation. (6) Druggist, (1) machinist, (2) retired gentleman. 7. Rules and Grievances. (7) Lumberyard foreman, (3) grocer, (4) shoe clerk. 8. Promotions and Graduation. (8) Hotel-keeper, (5) real-estate agent, (6) druggist. 9. Kindergartens. (9) Busy lawyer, (7) lumberyard fore- man, (8) hotel-keeper. 10. Elementary Schools. (10) Bookkeeper, (9) busy lawyer, (11) young lawyer. 11. High Schools. (11) Young lawyer, (1) machinist, (10) bookkeeper. 12. Presiding Officer.* (12) Banker. *Ex officio a member of all committees. While the above is, of course, a hypothetical case, it would not be at all surprising if the outline represented an actual condition in some city in the United States. The equivalent, at least, of such an arrangement exists in many of our cities. The trouble with any such arrangement of committees and distribution of Vork hes in that there is little that such committees can do intelligently, or ought ever attempt to do, in the government of any city school system. They must either delegate their work in turn to the superintendent of schools or some other executive officer, or else continually interfere with the proper work of the superintendent, mak- ing blunder after blunder as they work. The pity of the situation is that too often neither they nor the people they represent know that they are blundering and mismanaging the most important undertaking of the community. When the superintendent of schools objects to their blundering and mismanagement, they do not understand him, and often consider him as merely greedy for power. Committee control applied to hospital management. The absurdity of such committee control of professional and technical matters will be seen more easily if we assume that 114 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION this same board of twelve men has been elected by the peo- ple to represent them in the management of a municipal hospital, and that they then divided themselves up as be- fore, for purposes of control, into eleven approximately equiv- alent committees. We then get the following results: — Committees 1. Doctors and Nurses. 2. Medical Treatment. 3. Drugs and Instruments. 4. Ward and Kitchen Supplies. 5. Buildings and Grounds. 6. Nurses and Attendants. 7. Complaints. 8. Operative Cases. 9. Maternity Ward. 10. Children's Ward. 11. Contagious Diseases. 12. Presiding Officer.* Membership (1) Machinist, (2) retired gentleman, (3) grocer. (2) Retired gentleman, (4) shoe clerk, (5) real-estate agent. (3) Grocer, (6) druggist, (7) lumber- yard foreman. (4) Shoe clerk, (8) hotel-keeper, (9) busy lawyer. (5) Real-estate agent, (10) book- keeper, (11) young lawyer. (6) Druggist, (1) machinist, (2) retired gentleman, (7) Lumberyard foreman, (3) grocer, (4) shoe clerk. (8) Hotel-keeper, (5) real-estate agent, (6) druggist. (9) Busy lawyer, (7) lumberyard fore- man, (8) hotel-keeper. (10) Bookkeeper, (9) busy lawyer, (11) young lawyer. (11) Young lawyer, (1) machinist, (10) bookkeeper. (12) Banker. *Ex officio a member of all committees. Take for granted now that these eleven committees as- sume the same degree of control over the hospital that such committees do over the schools, and the same degree of authority, individually and collectively, over the superin- tendent, heads of departments, and nurses, that similar com- mittees and committee members frequently do over the superintendent of schools, the principals, and the teachers in the schools. The result is easily imaginable, yet the mis- management in the case of the hospital could not be greater FUNCTIONS OF SCHOOL BOARDS 115 than very frequently takes place to-day in the management of city schools. The chief difference lies in that, in the case of mismanage- ment in the administration of a hospital, the effect is soon visible and is easily brought within the comprehension of the people. In the case of mismanagement in the adminis- tration of a city school system the effect is concealed, — the people, as yet, having no standards by means of which they can understand that mismanagement is taking place. While a good superintendent of schools makes about as good and as thorough preparation for his work as does a physician or a surgeon for his, and is about as .competent in his profes- sional field as is a physician or surgeon in his, the pubhc does not understand this, and can hardly appreciate that such can be the case. The profession of medicine is an old one, and there has been time to evolve popular standards as to its work; the superintendent of schools is a recent evolution, and popular standards regarding his work have not yet been developed. Committee service time-consuming. Turning back to the list of educational committees given, practically every func- tion coming under the jurisdiction of committees, 1, % 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, and 11 are educational functions, and should go to the superintendent of instruction, and grievances under 7 should go to the same place. The work of committees 5 and 6 lies more within the province of a school board, though part of each is also clearly the work of the superintendent of schools. It is in the attempt to handle all such professional and technical matters themselves that boards of education usually make their most serious administrative errors. Matters coming before the board are referred to these committees for consideration and report. The opinion of the superintendent of instruction is usually sought, but sometimes he is entirely ignored. The committees meet fre- 116 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION quently, and the board meets frequently in consequence.* The members are earnest, the new problems are interesting, to them, and they frequently sacrifice much time and show a deep devotion to duty in their efforts to render service to the schools. Ofttimes, when the time consumed in such com- mittee work and board meetings is considered, one is led to wonder how any one except a man of wealth or leisure, or a young man of no particular business, can afford to accept membership on such a school board. ^ Committee action illustrated. A few examples, all actual cases, which have come to the writer's attention, will illus- trate the over-activity of committees. In one city the board committee on course of study meets with the principals and teachers, and formulates and approves even the smallest details of its administra- tion. The superintendent is seldom consulted, and natur- ally disclaims any responsibility for the kind of instruction offered. In another city the board meets with the principals in the matter of changes in the teaching force, sees personally all applicants for positions, and elects and discharges, from vest-pocket memoranda, and as influenced by the pressure of interested friends. In another city the committee on books and library spent 1 The school board at Portland, Oregon (see Survey Report, chap, n), illustrates the process very well. The board of five was divided into eight standing committees, with two members and the president on each, each member being on four of the eight committees. These committees met weekly, and sometimes oftener, and the board as a whole, in addition to the seven regular fortnightly meetings, held sixteen special meetings during the three months between February 20 and May 23, for which tabulations were made. 2 The twenty difiFerent types of business considered, given in the Port- land Survey Report (chap, ii), further illustrate the point. Here a board, composed of good men, was engaged in supervising minute details in the administration of the schools, while the paid executive officers acted largely as clerks to transmit requests and to report back decisions. FUNCTIONS OF SCHOOL BOAEDS 117 thousands of dollars in purchasing an adult's library for the high school, which was of httle use for teaching purposes, and books for the grades which were not at all suited to the needs of the pupils. In another city the supply committee, in favoring a partic- ular local dealer, furnished such a poor quality of writing- paper that good writing exercises or composition work during the ensuing year were next to impossible. In still another city the supply committee ordered the supply estimate of the superintendent for the year's needs cut fifty per cent, with the result that teachers and classes had but most hmited supplies for their work. In another city the committee on buildings met fre- quently, for months, with a local architect, in evolving a plan for a new grammar-school building, to be the largest and finest in the city, and, after the plans had been ap- proved and the foundations were in, the board was finally convinced that haK of the rooms were poorly lighted, — four of them so poorly as to be unfit for use, — and stopped the work to reconsider the matter. In two other cities, members of the teachers, instruction, or course of study committee go to the schools, observe the instruction, and criticize the work of the teachers and the management of the principals. In city S the committee on printing reported against allowing the superintendent of schools to have a certain perfectly harmless form of letter-head printed; in city B the committee on supplies recommended against allowing the purchase of a certain brand of salad- dressing desired for the domestic-science work, on the ground that other brands could be purchased for less money. The reports in both cases were adopted by the board. Hines tells of a case where the blacksmith at the head of the textbook committee determined the Latin book to be 118 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION used in the high school.^ The writer knows of a case where the chairman of the same committee stopped the use of a certain United States history in the high-school classes, be- cause he did not think it fair to the Northern side, he being a prominent G.A.R. man. A confusion in functions. All of these cases of over-ac- tivity on the part of board members and board committees arise from a confusion as to what the members were elected to do. A school board is elected primarily as a board of school control, to determine policies, select experts, approve new undertakings, and determine expenditures, and the members transform it into a board of supervision for the detailed over- sight of the work of the schools. This no board of laymen should undertake to do. In all such matters as the outlining or changing of courses of study, the selection of textbooks and library books, the character or the competency of the instruction, the selec- tion, assignment, promotion, and dismissal of teachers and janitors, and the engineering and hygienic problems of schoolhouse construction, boards and their committees should not attempt independent action. Instead, experts competent to deal with such problems should be employed, and their opinions should be sought and followed. In case a board doubts the wisdom of an opinion it should either postpone the matter for further consideration with the ex- pert, secure an additional opinion from an outside disin- terested expert, or employ a new expert whose judgment they are willing to follow. If the expert knows his business the board is almost certain to act unwisely if it acts in opposi tion to his judgment. ^ 1 See L, R. Hines, "The Ideal School Board from the Superintendent's Point of View"; in Proceedings of the National Education Association, 1911, p. 1001. 2 This calls for an exercise of self-restraint which many strong men find it hard to carry out, as the desire to control is pronounced in such men. FUNCTIONS OF SCHOOL BOARDS 119 The real work of the board. This does not mean that a board of education will have nothing left to do, though its labors will naturally be materially reduced. Freed from the details of school organization and administration, and fron: the pulls and influences which surround detailed work on many of the larger features of the administrative problem^ the board is now free to devote its energies to the problems of its work as a board for school control. These relate to the selection, from time to time, of its expert advisers, a prob- lem upon which far more time and care should be spent than is usually given to it; the selection of school sites, always with the larger future needs of the community in mind; the de- termination of the annual budget and tax levy; the consider- ation of recommendations for the expansion of the school system; the prevention of legislation by the city or by the legislature which is against the best interests of the schools under their control; and the proper presentation, to the peo- ple whom they represent, of the work and needs of the schools and the policies of the school department. It is these larger problems of control which are most important, but which are almost certain to be neglected when a school board undertakes to transform itself into a board of supervision and to handle the details of school administration. Legislative and executive functions. In other words, boards of education should act as legislative, and not as executive bodies, and a clear distinction ^ should be drawn * "The duties of the board of education as fixed by law involve the es- tablishment and maintenance of a public school system. This imphes that the board, acting for the people, shall prescribe the general educational policy of the city, determining, on the one hand, the kind and number of buildings to be erected for school purposes, and on the other what shall be taught in the schools, and spending economically and fairly the school funds for these purposes. The administration in detail of the schools, either on the educational or on the business side, cannot be carried on by the board act- ing as a whole, and should not be carried on by a system of committee management." Report of the Educational Commission of Chicago, p. 14. 120 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION between what are legislative and what are executive func- tions. The legislative functions belong, by right, to the board, and the legislation should be enacted, after discus- sion, by means of formal and recorded votes. The board's work, as the representative of the people, is to sit in judg- ment on proposals and to determine the general policy of the school system. Once a policy has been decided upon, however, its execu- tion should rest with the executive officer or officers em- ployed by the board, the chief of whom will naturally be the superintendent of schools. If the board desires information on any question, it should direct its executive officer or officers to furnish it. On the recommendations submitted the board should sit in judgment, and, until convinced of the wisdom of the recommendations, the board should hold them in abeyance. In all matters which are strictly profes- sional, and which relate to the details of administration, the board should refuse to act in any way until the matter has first been brought before the proper executive officer, and his decision should not be reversed unless the board is thor- oughly convinced that he is wrong. ^ Even then, in many cases, the board will be wise not to act hastily. In certain strictly professional matters, such as courses of study, textbooks, and instruction, boards should be de- prived of the right to act, except upon his recommendation. The wisdom of such a separation of functions in the ad- ministration of a city school system has been shown repeat- 1 "Its functions are not executive, but legislative, deliberative, advi- sory, and report hearing. In the nature of the case, being a lay body, it cannot itself run the schools. Instead, it is there to represent the people by performing for them certain delegated functions of selecting experts to run the schools, advising with them as to how the people would have public education conducted, examining into the sufficiency of their plans, pass- ing upon then- reports of results, and maintaining a general oversight over all that they do; upholding and protecting them in their work as long as it is satisfactory, and putting others in their places as soon as it ceases to be BO." E. C. Moore, How New York City Administers its Schools, p. 89. FUNCTIONS OF SCHOOL BOAEDS 121 edly in our city schools. It is when boards or board com- mittees, anxious to direct and manage as well as to govern, seize executive functions and begin to displace the chosen executive officers in the administration of the school system, that trouble usually begins to develop. In the exercise of its legislative functions the board will need few, if any, standing committees. If the board is small, say five or seven, action can be taken better as a whole, all committees being purely temporary. In any case, three com- mittees will be sufficient for even a large board, namely, a committee on educational affairs, a committee on business affairs, and a committee on buildings and finance. The first would consider the recommendations of the superintendent of instruction in all educational matters; the second would, in a broad way, consider the business matters of the school department; while the third would deal with the larger mat- ters of finance for yearly maintenance, sites, and buildings. Many students of educational administration feel that school board standing committees serve little or no useful purpose, and should be prohibited by law. Selection of executive officers. Such a separation of leg- islative and executive functions means the selection of a properly trained expert, or experts, and then giving to such men both responsibility and power. The board of educa- tion then becomes what it should be, — a real board for school control. The selection of such experts is one of the most important functions any board is called upon to exer- cise, and hasty or careless action here is likely to interfere seriously with the efficiency of the schools for years to come. The first and most important of these officials, and in many cities the only one to be chosen, is the superintendent of schools. It is he who gives tone and character to the entire school system. To select local men because they are local men, to promote the principal of the high school be- 122 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION cause he is considered next in line, to consider only those who come and apply for the place, or to consider, for a moment, any such purely extraneous reasons as locality, politics, religion, fraternal-order membership, club or social influence, or mere good nature and personal acceptability, is a sure way to head toward a serious mistake. To allow city politics or political trades to determine the choice is also a sure way to engraft an incompetent and a politician on the system, — one whom the board will find it hard to get rid of, and one whom they will sooner or later be forced to ignore. The best men do not seek office by these means. Still more, the men most worth having usually do not seek the office at all. They do not have to. While not always true, in a general way it might be said that a man's ability properly to fill the posi- tion of superintendent of schools is about inversely propor- tional to the effort he makes to secure the position. Bases for selection. Instead, the board should regard the selection of its superintendent of schools as the most im- portant duty it ever has to perform. Instead of considering only those who apply, the board itseK should make an active and an intelligent search for the best man or woman avail- able for the money which the city can afford to pay. This, too, is no place to economize. The salary should be made large, so as to tempt the best men,^ and the tenure should be long enough also to offer attractions. ^ 1 T le difference between a salary of $3000 and $4000 for a city of 20,000 inhabitants, is a per-capita difference of only three and a third cents per year, but to the superintendent, on an estimated cost of $2500 a year for living, $4000 is three times as large a salary as $3000, and hence will draw a very much better grade of man. It is a fundamental mistake for a board to economize or haggle here when good men are under consideration. Sim- ilarly, for a city of 250,000 inhabitants, a salary of $7500 costs but one cent more per inhabitant per year than does a salary of $5000, when in quality >f service it should purchase at least twice as efficient a superintendent. 2 The usual one-year tenure is most undesirable, and is unattractive to ihe best men. It does not give a man a proper chance to work out an educa- FUNCTIONS OF SCHOOL BOARDS 123 The authority to be assured the new superintendent, too, should be commensiu-ate with the importance of the service the board expects him to render to the city. The things which should count with the board are his general educa- tion, his specific training for the work of city school super- vision, his past administrative experience, what men prom- inently engaged in educational work have to say w^hen asked confidentially for an opinion,^ and his personality, force, and general grasp of the problem as shown in a personal interview. What the board should seek is a man of strength, courage, personal force, general knowledge, and professional skill, — one who can look them in the eye with a confi- dence born of being the master of his calling. If other executive officers are to be selected, such as a school clerk, a business manager, a school architect or en- gineer, a superintendent of attendance or of health, similar care should be exercised in making each selection. After the selection has been made the board should turn the executive functions over to such executive officers, and then expect them to look after their part in the administrative organiza- tion in a wise and intelligent manner. If they cannot or will not do so, — that is, if the board has made a mistake in their selection, — a change in executive head should be made at the first opportunity. T3rpes of board members. To render such intelhgent serv- ice to the school system of a city as has been indicated requires the selection of a peculiar type of citizen for school- tional policy, and is too often used by boards to keep a superintendent in proper subjection. 1 General letters of recommendation should be practically discarded here. What is wanted is confidential letters from those whose educational opinion is worth while, and also from former employing boards, written directly and in reply to specific questions as to the ability of the person under consideration to handle a certain specified problem or situation. A personal interview should also be sought, and if the distance to be traveled is far, it should be at the expense of the school district. 124 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION board member. In many respects it calls for a higher and a more intelligent type of community service than is called for in any other branch of municipal work. Remembering that it is the function of a school board to select experts for the executive work, and to govern by deciding upon the larger matters of policy, expansion, and expenditure, and not to administer, in any detail, the school system under their control, we can deduce the type of man most likely to prove useful as a member of a city board for school control. Men who are successful in the handling of large business undertakings — manufacturers, merchants, bankers, con- tractors, and professional men of large practice — would perhaps come first. Such men are accustomed to handling business rapidly; are usually wide awake, sane, and pro- gressive; are not afraid to spend money intelligently; are in the habit of depending upon experts for advice, and for the execution of administrative details; and have the tact and perseverance necessary to get the most efficient service out of everybody from superintendent down. Such men, too, think for themselves, can resist pressure, and can explain the reasons for their actions. College graduates who are suc- cessful in their business or professional affairs, whatever may be their profession or occupation, also usually make good board members, provided their education has been liberal enough to enable them to understand properly the cultural side of public education.^ ^ Chancellor, in Our Schools; Their Administration and Supervision (p. 11), thus describes an ideal school-board member: — "1. Age from thirty to sixty -five years. 2. Education, at least to the extent of high-school graduation. 3. Experience in the affairs of property, or of a business. 4. The confidence in himself and the reputation for good judgment that comes with success in one's personal affairs." Hines (see chapter references) also gives an excellent outline of what constitutes a good school-board member. FUNCTIONS OF SCHOOL BOARDS 125 On the other hand, the Hst of those who usually do not make good school-board members is much larger. Inex- perienced young men, unsuccessful men, old men who have retired from business, politicians, saloon-keepers, unedu- cated or relatively ignorant men, men in minor business positions, and women, ^ are usually considered as unde- sirable for board membership. ^ All such persons tend to deal too much with details, to miss the importance of large points of view, and tend to assume executive authority when and where they should not. Perhaps still more objection- able than any of these are people of any class or either sex who desire to ride an educational hobby, or those who wish to get on the school board to revolutionize things. The crank, the hobby-rider, or the extremist should never be put on boards of education. What is wanted is a sane, an evenly balanced, and an all-around administration of the schools, leaving the details of administration to those who can handle them best. Results of faithful service. The service that a broad- minded and progressive school board, free from political, 1 "The thought that women would make better board members than men has its source largely in the erroneous notion that the board mem- ber's business is to deal directly with schoolroom problems, have confer- ences with the teachers and pupils, and do many things a woman can do as well as a man. The board member, according to such ideas, is actually to supervise the work of the schools. The truth of the matter is that the affairs of the school board are largely business matters. The fixing of tax rates, the distribution of funds, the erection of buildings, the providing of repairs to buildings, listening to complaints of citizens, buying supphes, hir- ing janitors, etc., constitute the greatest part of the school board's business. The average refined, sensitive woman is not fitted in any way to deal with such things. As a board member she is likely to tire soon of the only work she can do without interfering with the actual working of the schools wdth which she is connected." (Hines [see chapter references], p. 998.) ^ Chancellor, in Our Schools; Their Administration and Supervision (pp. 12-16 and 61-67), gives a more detailed explanation why these various classes usually make good or bad school-board members. Hines also should be read on this point. 126 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION denominational, and fraternal influences; one that works with the higher welfare of the schools under its control con- stantly in mind; and one that extends to its executive offi- cers the confidence and intelligent sympathy which brings out the best in each of them, so that all connected with the schools feel assured of their wisdom and fairness; — such a community service is one the importance of which is hard to overestimate. To few men in any community comes the opportunity for finer or more enduring service. To feel that one has by his labors contributed to conditions which have resulted in a better moral tone in the community and a quickened intellectual life for all, is a personal satisfaction which is more attractive than money to the type of men most likely to make good school-board members. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. Why is the school administration in a city less disturbed by changes in the personnel of the school board when the term is long and the replace- ment gradual than when the opposite is true? 2. Why is it natural for a new school-board member to feel that he has been elected to manage the schools? 3. Why does the public have trouble in appreciating that a good school superintendent is as skillful and technically as well trained as a physi- cian or a surgeon? 4. Why, when a superintendent of schools objects to board mismanage- ment and asks for power commensurate with the responsibility he feels for proper administration, is he said to be "hungry for power," or "desirous to rule," whereas similar demands from a doctor in charge of a hospital or a superintendent in charge of a factory would be sustained by public opinion? 5. Why, if a nurse is unskillful and as a result patients die, does she re- ceive little sympathy when discharged, whereas an unsuccessful teacher, under whom children die intellectually, frequently gets much public sympathy, and can often put the superintendent on trial if he attempts to secure her dismissal? 6. Explain what you understand by a separation of legislative and exec- utive functions. Does a state legislature assume executive functions? Does a city council? Does a board of directors for a bank? 7. Why have school boards assumed executive functions more than other legislative bodies? FUNCTIONS OF SCHOOL BOARDS 127 8. Is the existence of a number of standing committees a constant temp- tation to a board to exercise executive functions? 9. What advantages do you see would accrue to a board of education if it referred all matters involving professional functions to the superin- tendent of schools, and refused to act on such except on his recom- mendation? 10. Suppose that the superintendent of schools cannot or will not exercise executive functions, has little or no educational policy, and a weak way of dealing with administrative questions and problems; should the board or its committees assume his functions and manage the schools? 11. Should a board ever attempt to plan a school building? 12. Have you ever known any boards which divested themselves of exec- utive functions, and looked after the larger problems of their work? What was the general result on the schools? 13. Have you known of cases where boards were so busy with the details of administration that they allowed legislation inimical to the best in- terests of the schools to go through the legislature or the council? What was the nature of such legislation? 14. Is a board justified: — (a) In regulating the purchase of salad-dressing for the schools? (6) In dictating the kind of paper or pencils which must be bought? (c) In regulating the superintendent's stationery? (d) In granting an interview as a body to a man who applies for a position as a school principal? (e) In receiving a committee from a body of teachers who wish to recommend their principal for a vacant supervisor's position? (J) In requiring a high-school principal to apply to them for per- mission to have a distinguished visitor speak to the high-school students? (g) In ordering the purchase for the schools of books or apparatus specified by them? If so, under what conditions or circumstances? 15. W^hat is the danger of a man with an educational hobby on a school board? What misconception are the people under in selecting such a person? 16. Is a board of education justified, as is not infrequently done, in taking the ground that they will not consider an applicant for some important position because he has not filed a formal application? 17. Some superintendents contend that it is just as well that all legal powers continue to rest with boards of education, as then each superintendent secures such powers and authority as he is able to use. What do you think of this argument ? 18. Enumerate some of the advantages which would accrue to board members if they all declined to deal with matters which were pri- marily executive, leaving all such to its executive officers, referring all persons to them, and taking action only on their recommendations. 128 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT 1. What powers are guaranteed, by general law, to city superintendents of schools in your State? In haK a dozen other selected States? 2. Examine the rules and regulations of the board of education in half a dozen selected cities to see in how far they conform to the principles laid down in this chapter. 3. To what extent does committee control exist in the city school systems of yoiu" State, what committees are provided for, and how large are their powers? 4. Draw up so much of a set of rules and regulations for the government of a board of education as has to do with the relations which should exist between it and its chief executive officer in matters of educational policy and general administrative control of the schools; the names and work of board committees; and provide for a proper separation of leg- islative and executive functions. 5. Draw up a plan of procedure to be followed in the selection of a new superintendent of schools. SELECTED REFERENCES Butte, Montana. Report of a Survey of the School System. 163 pp. 1914. Published by the School Board. (Sale price, 25 cents.) Chapter VII, on the administration of the schools, deals with the proper work of the board as a board of control. Chancellor, W. E. Our Schools; Their Administration and Supervision. 434 pp. D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, 1904. Chapter 11 is very good on the board and its work. Gives many good illustrations. Chicago, Illinois. Report of the Educational Commission of. 248 pp. Chi- cago, 1899. Reprinted by the University of Chicago Press. Article I good on the organization and work of a board of education. Draper, A. S. "The Crucial Test of the Public Schools"; in American Education, pp. 77-86. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1909, 383 pp. A very good article on the need of concentrating power in the hands of the school board's executive officers. Eliot, Charles W. "A Good Urban School Organization"; in Report of U. S. Commissioner of Education., 1903, vol. ii, pp. 1356-62. Describes the St. Louis system, and the way the board and its executive officers handle the educational business. A good article. Eliot, E. C. "School Administration; the St. Louis Method"; in Educa- tional Review, vol. 26, pp. 464-75. (December, 1903.) Describes how the new St. Louis board transacts the business through its executive officers. Ellis, D. A. "A Decade of School Administration in Boston"; in Proceed- ings of National Ediwation Association, 1910, pp. 987-92. Describes the fundamental reorganizations effected by the new and smaller school board. FUNCTIONS OF SCHOOL BOARDS 129 Greenwood, J. M. "The Superintendent and the Board of Education"; in Educational Review, vol. 18, pp. 363-77. (November, 1899.) An excellent article on the work and relationships which should exist between a superintendent of schools and a board of education in our smaller cities. Hines, L. N. "The Ideal School Board from the Superintendent's Point of View"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1911, pp. 994-1002. An excellent statement. Hunsicker, B. F. "Retrospective and Prospective School Administration"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1904, pp. 897-901. General on educational progress, chiefly with reference to work and attitudes o! boards of education. Mark, C . W. " The Function of School Boards " ; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1909, pp. 839-42. The board simply as a board of control for the schools. Moore, E. C. How New York City Administers its Schools. 321 pp. Part of the New York City School Survey Report of 1911-12. Reprinted by World Book Co., Yonkers, New York, 1913. A detailed consideration of the work of the board for New York City. Points out the difficulties in the way of efficient administration. The principles stated are appli- cable to other large cities. A valuable volume. Portland, Oregon. Report of the Survey of the Public School System (1913). 418 pp. Reprinted by the World Book Co., Yonkers, New York, 1915. Chapter II describes the work done by the board, and lays down fimdamental principles of action. A good example of board over-activity. Salt Lake City, Utah. Report of the Survey of the Public School System, 250 pp. 1915. Published by the School Board. Chapter II deals with the work of the board, and indicates a desirable administra- tive efficiency. Soldan, F. L. "Charter Provisions for Reorganization of School Systems"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1905, pp. 231-35. Describes certain administrative details of the St. Louis system. Sutton, W. S. "The School Board as a Factor in Educational Efficiency"^ in Educational Review, vol. 49, pp. 258-65. (March, 1915.) A good general article on what constitutes a board of education's proper functions. CHAPTER X THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS A new profession. As we look back over the three quar- ters of a century during which the office of superintendent of city schools has been in existence, a few names stand out with particular prominence as men who have laid — often against tremendous obstacles, often in conflict and contest to the end of their careers, and often by the sacrifice of much that men hold dear — the foundation principles of the new work to which they gave the best years of their lives. Doing a pioneer work, and often misunderstood and unappreciated by those with whom they labored, these men patiently blazed a trail for others to follow. As a recent writer has put it,^ " each traveled the trail at his own gait, with rations and blanket only, and never knowing, though caring much, where each year's tramping would end." Out of this three quarters of a century of trial, conflict, discussion, and ex- perimentation, a profession of school supervision is at last being evolved. School supervision represents a new profession, and one which in time will play a very important part in the develop- ment of American Hfe. In pecuniar^'', social, professional, and personal rewards it ranks with the other learned pro- fessions, while the call for city school superintendents of the right type is to-day greater than the call for lawyers, doctors, or ministers. The opportunities offered in this new pro- fession to men of strong character, broad sympathies, high 1 A. Gove, "The Trail of the City Superintendent," in Proc. N. E. A, 1900, p. 215. THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS 131 purposes, fine culture, courage, exact training, and execu- tive skill, and who are willing to take the time and spend the energy necessary to prepare themselves for large service, are to-day not excelled in any of the professions, learned or otherwise. No profession offers such large personal re- wards, for the opportunity of hving one's life in moulding other lives, and in helping to improve materially the intel- lectual tone and moral character of a community, offers a personal reward that makes a peculiarly strong appeal to certain fine types of men and women. Despite inadequate rewards in the past, this new profes- sion has for long attracted to it many of the best minds of the nation, men fully informed as to what the rising gener- ation may become and dedicated to the service of trying to realize possibilities, — often under discouraging conditions. Within recent years there has been a much larger reahza- tion, on the part of the public, of the importance of the office of School superintendent, and in many cities to-day the head of the school system is the best paid official in the pay of the community. To attract the best minds to the educa- tional service, though, there should be offered here a chance to attain some of the distinguishing marks of success which mark other professional callings. Importance of this official. Potentially, at least, the most important officer in the employ of the people of any mu- nicipality to-day is the person who directs the organization and administration of its school system, and who supervises the instruction given therein. Actually, the condition fre- quently is otherwise, but where the superintendent of schools is of the type he should be he^ renders a service the impor- tance of which, in terms of character and future citizenship^ * Here, as elsewhere throughout this book, the masculine form is used, anc for the simple reason that nearly all of our city superintendents are men. What is said, however, is equally applicable to women. 132 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION is not approached by that of any other official in the employ of a municipality. In popular estimation the mayor, the president of the city council, the chief of police, or the head of the fire department may occupy more important posi- tions, but the far-reaching character of the services of a capable and energetic superintendent of schools transcends in importance any of these. What the schools are in organization, administration, in- struction, spirit, and purpose, and the position which they occupy in the eyes of the community, they are largely as the result of the actions, labors, manliness, courage, clear vision, and common sense of the superintendent of schools. About him and his work the schools revolve, and it is largely he who makes or mars the system. What he is, the schools, under proper administrative conditions, become; what he is not, they often plainly show. Large duties of the olSce. His is the central office in the school system, up to which and down from which authority, direction, and inspiration flow. He is the organizer and director of the work of the schools in all of their different phases, and the representative of the schools and all for which the schools stand before the people of the community. He is the executive officer of the school board, and also its eyes, and ears, and brains. He is the supervisor of the in- struction in the schools, and also the leader, adviser, inspirer, and friend of the teachers, and between them and the board of education he must, at times, interpose as an arbiter. Amid all of his various duties, however, the interests of the children in the schools must be his chief care, and the larger educational interests of the community as a whole he must constantly keep in mind. The position of superintendent of schools in a modern city, if properly filled, is a full man's job, and calls for the best that is in a strong, capable, well-trained, and mature man. THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS 133 It is a position for which a young man ought to be willing to spend many years in hard and painstaking preparation. To be able to obtain a small superintendency at thirty, and a large and important position at forty, is about what a young man desiring to prepare for the work should be content to expect. It is a position for which years of careful prepara- tion should be made, and, given equal native ability, the more careful has been the preparation the larger is likely to be the ultimate success. Perhaps it may not be out of place, at this point, to turn from the problems of school administration proper and de- vote the remainder of this chapter to a description of the professional preparation which a young man, desiring to prepare for school superintendency work, should make to- day; the type of professional experience he should acquire; and the kind of personal qualities he ought to expect to bring to the work. The following may be taken to represent a minimum professional preparation, if any large future suc- cess is to be expected. Education and training. In the first place a good college education may be considered as an absolute essential for future work, and at least a year of graduate study, doing advanced work in the study of educational problems, is practically a necessity now. Men of large grasp and ability should not stop here, but, after a few years of practical ex- perience, should go on and obtain their Ph.D. degree. The exact nature of the preliminary preparation is perhaps less important than that it should be good, and that it should challenge the best efforts of the student, awaken worthy ambitions, and stimulate the development of a high ideal of service. The preparation should be broad, and should early open up to the student permanent interests in fields of music and art, literature, history, science, and human welfare. These he needs for breadth and under- 134 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION standing. His future success as the head of a school system will to a rather large degree depend upon his intelHgent understanding of the scientific and industrial world about him, his broad human sympathies, and his ability to meet people of culture and refinement on their own plane. In addition to this preliminary and general preparation the student needs to superimpose a technical preparation in educational theory, and a practical preparation in actual school practice. As early as the sophomore year, certainly not later than the junior, a brief introductory course on the place, purpose, and nature of public education, and an intro- duction to educational theory can be taken with advantage. In the junior and senior years this should be followed with courses which give a good general introduction to the differ- ent fields of educational theory, history, administration, and practice. The graduate year should be devoted largely to advanced courses, and to the careful working-out of some special problem in educational theory or practice. What is desired is a good introduction to the different fields and to the literature of education, and some practice in the methods by which educational problems are solved. The years of apprenticeship. All of this is merely prelim- inary, however. On top of this the candidate must now spend his apprenticeship and period of preliminary practice in his profession.^ The five or six years which he now spends in teaching or in serving as a school principal ought to be years when he more than doubles the effectiveness of his general and professional collegiate preparation. If necessary to avoid falling into a rut, or getting a poor or one-sided ex- perience, he should move about during this period. If salary 1 This period of apprenticeship, which we may assume to be spent in a school principalship, involves the mastery of most of the details of school organization and administration as applied to a single school. This work will form the subject-matter of another book of this series, on The Organi' zation and Administration of a School. THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS 135 does not seem large enough to cover both married life and study, he should for a time resolutely put marriage aside. During these years he should save as much time as pos- sible for careful reading and study along the lines of his future profession. Above all, during these years, he should gradually crystallize for himself a working educational phi- losophy, to guide him in his future work and to vitalize all of his later procedure. He must seize intelligent hold of the conception that education stands for the higher evolution of both the individual and the race, and must relegate to their proper place in the educational scheme all of the details of organization, administration, and instruction. Without such a guiding conception administrative work soon becomes dull and fruitless routine. Learning and working. He should now accumulate a good working library along the line of his major interests. He should keep closely in touch, too, with all advancements and important experiments in his field, and with what other workers elsewhere are doing. He should welcome new school tasks, making himself as professionally useful as possible, and taking a deep personal satisfaction in doing difficult things. He should give himself good practice in developing an ability to speak well and easily, and to write clearly and convincingly. He should mix some with practical men of affairs, from whom he can learn much that will be very useful to him later on. If the opportunity offers to join a dis- cussion club, especially if composed of men older and more mature than himself, he should embrace the chance. He may even lead in the formation of such a club himself. He should read biography, and study and try to imitate the best traits of the successful men he has come to know, both in literature and real life. Often some old doctor, or banker, or lawyer in the community will prove worthy of some close personal study. 136 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION He should, during this period, keep himself free from all practices, entanglements, clubs, and especially local social obligations, which are wasteful of time and energy and have in them little that is of permanent profit. He must, during these years, willingly accept work and burdens which lead toward his desired goal, and resolutely reject those which do not. He should know and remember that the habit of hard and faithful work is one that is established but slowly, that it requires close watching of one's pole star to establish it, and that it is not fully established in most men until they are somewhere near thirty or thirty-five years of age. He should also know and remember that it takes about thirty-five or forty years of hard and faithful work to get ready to do something really large in life. Rightly used, a half-dozen years after graduation can be spent, with great future advantage, in subordinate positions in the practical field. Dangerous pitfalls. It is during these years, however, that many a promising young man goes to pieces, so far as any large later usefulness in educational work is concerned. His college training gave him some feeling of mastery; he was trained there to do difficult things with some ease. When he goes to some smaller community he soon finds it unnecessary to work as he has done before. He also lacks the constant stimulus to sustained effort. Excepting a few lawyers and a few doctors, he is already one of the best educated men in the small city. His position, perhaps a principalship, gives him at once a special standing in the community. The people naturally look up to him as a man of more than ordinary training and importance. On the streets the men call him ** Professor,'* and pretty grade teachers and women with marriageable daughters seek him out, and flatter his van- ity. His daily work in superintending women and children, who usually accept his pronouncements as law, perhaps THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS 137 gives him an added importance in his own eyes. The presi- dency of societies or clubs adds further to his local impor- tance. He soon finds, when he speaks to mother's meetings and at church affairs, and often even to fellow teachers, that he does not need to think carefully or to have anything of real value to say. He begins to feel his local importance; he begins to take life easily at least twenty years before he has earned the right; he ceases to read and study the prob- lems of his work; he falls in with the local social life; and he gradually loses sight of the more distant goal he once set out to reach. Spoiled by too easy, too small, and too early successes, in a decade or less his possible usefulness for large work elsewhere has about reached the vanishing point. Personal qualities necessary. While good training and ex- perience are of fundamental importance to the man who wishes to prepare for educational leadership, certain per- sonal qualities must be added to both if any large success is to be achieved. The man who would be a superintendent of schools — the educational leader of a city — must be clean, both in person and mind; he must be temperate, both in speech and act; he must be honest and square, and able to look men straight in the eye; and he must be possessed of a high sense of personal honor. He needs a good time-sense to enable him to save time and to transact business with dis- patch, and a good sense of proportion to enable him to see things in their proper place and relationship. He must have the manners and courtesy of a gentleman, without being flabby or weak. He must not be affected by a desire to stand in the community limelight, or to talk unnecessarily about his own accompHshments. He must avoid oracularism, the solemnity and dignity of an owl, and the not uncommon tendency to lay down the law. A good sense of humor will be 138 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION found a means of saving grace here, and will many times keep him from taking himself too seriously. He must be alert, and able to get things done. This de- mands a good understanding of common human nature, some personal force, and some genuine political skill. He must know when and how to speak, but especially when and how to keep silent. He must know when and how to take the public into his confidence, and when not to tell what he desires or intends to do. He must know how to accept suc- cess without vainglory, and defeat without being embittered. He must keep a level head, so as not to be carried away by some new community enthusiasm, by some clever political trick, or by the great discovery of some wild-eyed reformer. He must, by all means, avoid developing a " grouch " over the situation which confronts him, for a man with that atti- tude of mind never inspires confidence, and is always rela- tively ineffective. The qualities of leadership. He must learn to lead by rea- son of his larger knowledge and his contagious enthusiasm, rather than to drive by reason of his superior power. The powers and prerogatives which are guaranteed him by law he must know how to use wisely, and he should be able to wm new powers and prerogatives from the board largely by rea- son of his ability to use them well. He must constantly re- member that he represents the whole community and not any part or fraction of it, and he must deal equal justice to all. As the representative of the whole community he will be wise not to ally himself at all closely with any faction, or division, or party in it. He must, out of his larger knowledge, see clearly what art the attainable goals of the school system, and how best and how fast to attempt to reach them. From his larger knowl- edge, too, he must frequently reach up out of the routine of school supervision and executive duties into the higher levels THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS 139 of educational statesmanship. As a statesman, too, he must know how to take advantage of time and opportunity to carry his educational policy into effect. By conferences, public and private, with leading citizens; by talks to parents at meetings at the schools; by taking the leaders among the teachers into his confidence; by dealing frankly and honestly with the press and the public; by his own written and spoken word, especially in his annual printed reports, and by inciting others to write and speak; and by tact and diplomacy in dealing with the members of his board, he must try to develop such a pubHc opinion that the recommendations which he makes will go through with- out serious opposition, and be readily accepted by the people of the community. He must remember, though, that Rome was not built in a day; that it takes a long period of educa- tion to accomplish any really fundamental reform; and that it is usually not necessary to rush important matters to an immediate consideration. It is now that the value of the long years of careful prepa- ration becomes apparent. It is often said that only the man who is master of his calling, who overruns its mere outHnes and knows more about the details of his work than any one else with whom he must work, is safe. Out of his large knowl- edge of the details and processes of school work, gained in the years of apprenticeship in his calling, and out of the guid- ing educational philosophy which he has slowly built up for himseK, he can see ends among the means and hope amid the discouragements, and be able to steer such a course amid the obstacles and trials and misunderstandings of city school control as will bring a well-thought-out educa- tional policy slowly but surely into reality. To such a man larger and larger opportunities keep constantly opening up ahead. 140 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. Is the statement that the superintendent of city schools is, potentially, if not actually, the most important officer in the employ of the people of a municipality, one that can be defended? Illustrate it. 2. Illustrate the statement that around the superintendent the schools revolve, and it is he who makes or mars the system. 3. Are the ages at which important superintendencies may be expected materially different from the age at which a lawyer, doctor, or engineer begins to achieve large success in his profession? 4. Why are breadth of knowledge, human sympathy, and gentlemanly instincts so important in a superintendent of schools? 5. Would you say that a good working educational philosophy is a founda- tion stone for successful administrative work? Illustrate. Why is ad- ministrative work likely soon to become dull and fruitless routine with- out such? Illustrate. 6. During the principalship or practical-training period, would you ad- vise a young man: (a) To join an Elks lodge or other fraternal order? (b) To accept the presidency of a current-events club? (c) To accept the secretaryship of a local historical society? Why? 7. What would be a good rule for a young man to make regarding speak- ing in public? 8. What is the importance to an executive of (a) a good time-sense? (6) a good sense of proportion? (c) a good sense of humor? 9. Illustrate what you understand to be meant by the statement that the superintendent represents the whole community, and hence should not ally himself at all closely with any faction or division or party in it. 10. What do you understand to be meant by educational statesmanship? Illustrate. SELECTED REFERENCES Bardeen, C. W. Teaching as a Business. Bardeen, Syracuse, N.Y. A bright and witty description of the characteristics and personality of the common type of school man. Should be read by all. Butler, N. M. "Problems of Educational Administration"; in Educational Review, vol. 32, pp. 515-24. (December, 1906.) The fundamental problems of educational statesmanship. Gary, C. P. "Team Play between City Superintendent and City" ; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1913, pp. 111-16. Good general article on need for larger equipment and insight on the part of school superintendents. Chancellor, W. E. Our Schools ; Their Administration and Supervision. D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, 1904. Chapter XIII, on the educational policy of the community, and Chapter XIV, on education for supervision, contain many concrete illustrations and much that is suggestive. THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS 141 Gorton, Charles E. "The Superintendent in Small Cities"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1900, pp. 222-29. A good statement of the work and possible usefulness of a superintendent of schools in a smaller city. Gove, Aaron. "The Trail of the Superintendent"; in Proceedings of Na- tional Education Association, 1900, pp. 214-22. The origin, growth, and problems of city school supervision. Jones, L. H. "The Politician and the Public Schools "; in Atlantic Monthly, vol. 77, pp. 810-22. (June, 1896.) An excellent description of the work of a superintendent who held his place because he was master of his calling. McAndrew, William. "The Plague of Personality"; in School Review, vol. 22, pp. 315-25. (May, 1914.) Good on the defects of school men. Maxwell, William H. "The Superintendent as a Man of Affairs"; in Pro- ceedings of National Education Association, 1904, pp. 259-64. A very good article on the superintendent as an educational statesman. Seerley, H. H. "City Supervision"; in Education, vol. xv, pp. 518-25. (May, 1895.) The professional superintendent, his work, personality, management, relationships, and the people and the schools. Thwing, Charles F. "A New Profession"; in Educational Review, vol. 15, pp. 26-33. (January, 1898.) The opportunities for usefulness of a city superintendent of schools. Vance, William McK. "How shall the Superintendent Measure his Own Efficiency?" In Proceedings of National Education Association, 1914, pp. 279-83. A good article on the essential qualities, and how to discover and improve personal defects. CHAPTER XI THREEFOLD NATURE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT'S WORK Three types of service. In some of our cities the superin- tendent began largely as a teacher and a leader of teachers, and such continues to be a more or less important part of his work. In other cities, and most commonly, he began as the executive officer of the board of education, and such in some places he still remains. A later development, but without dropping these earlier functions, has been his evolution from a teacher and an executive into an organizer and a director for the schools. All three of these phases of the superintendent's work exist in every city, large or small, though in somewhat differing proportions in different cities. Under the first we speak of him as a supervisor, under the second as an executive and an administrator, and under the third as an organizer and a formulator and director of an educational policy. The last easily rises into educational statesmanship, and may develop into statesmanship of a high order. The smaller the school system the more the duties of a supervisor and leader of teachers are prominent, yet even in a small city school system a superintendent should have be- fore him a clearly defined educational policy for the com- munity, which he works slowly to bring into realization.^ As 1 "If the superintendent is not known outside of the schoolhouses, much of the influence he should exert in the community is lost. He ought to be a leader, or at least one of the leaders of thought in his community, and a maker of public opinion." C. E. Gorton, in Proceedings of National Educa- tion Association, 1900, p. 229. THE SUPERINTENDENT'S WORK 143 the school system grows, or as the superintendent goes to larger cities to work, the executive functions are likely to crowd in upon him and absorb much of his time. These are so easy to take up and so hard to drop that he must always watch that mere executive duties do not monopolize too large a share of his time and energy. In the larger school systems the supervisory aspects pass largely to subordinates, while the larger problems of organization, administration, and policy come to absorb most of the superintendent's time and effort. Time for the larger problems. Often the larger success of a superintendent will he in his not trying to do too much of any one thing. In a general way it may be said that a superintendent is worth most to a city when he keeps himself most free from detail work or routine service of any kind, and saves his time and energy for thinking and advising on the larger problems of the organization and administration of the schools. The modern superintendent must be more than a teacher of teachers, and more than merely the executive officer of the board of education. He must be a man of affairs, possessed of good common and business sense, and good at getting work out of other people, but keeping him- seK as free as possible from routine service so as to have time to observe, to study, to think, to plan, to advise, to guide, and to lead. Large knowledge, broad sympathies, a clearly conceived educational policy, patience, perseverance, fore- sight, sound judgment, good perspective, and executive power are the qualities now in demand in any city where the problems are large enough to demand the full time of a su- perintendent of schools. To keep free time for this larger thinking is one of the marks of professional grasp and of executive skill. Loss of balance and perspective. To keep this balance in his work and perspective on his problems seems to be one 144 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION of the greatest difficulties superintendents have to contend with. On all sides one sees superintendents who have lost all balance in their work, and who, as a result, do much less thinking on the larger problems of the schools than they should. Superintendent A, for example, spends so much time on his mail and on school statistics that he really gets little else done; Superintendent B is so occupied with bills and sup- plies, and the general routine work of a business clerk, that he can scarcely find time to think; Superintendent C has become virtually a superintendent of buildings, and the edu- cational aspect of his school system has been lost sight of; Superintendent D is so much a teacher of teachers that he has taken over many of the functions of the school principals, and neglects the board and its problems, with the result that they run the schools and he has but little authority in any matter; Superintendent E spends so much time on the board and the politicians that he is seldom seen in the schools; while Superintendent F has become a mere clerk for the board of education, running its errands and executing its decrees, and has lost sight both of his teachers and of the larger problems of the community which supports the schools. Any such one-sided development of a superintendent de- prives the city employing him of the largest services; inevi- tably results in an inferior grade of educational work and a lowered tone in the whole school system; and must ulti- mately result in a change in superintendent for the best mterests of the community concerned. Between the three aspects of his work the superintendent of city schools must strive to preserve a proper balance. At times he must be a supervisor, or a teacher of teachers; at other times he must be an executive of the board of education; and at still other times he must be an organizer and a leader. THE SUPERINTENDENT'S WORK 145 Let us now consider this threefold nature of the superin- tendent's work, doing so in the reverse of the order of devel- opment. 1. The superintendent as an organizer One of the first duties of a new superintendent should be to make, as it were, a hasty mental survey of the schools and the community he is to serve, to discover their peculiar edu- cational needs, and to see how fully the school system in existence ministers to these needs. Out of such a survey, and out of his knowledge and experience, he must then plan a more or less definite educational policy to be followed in the administration and development of the schools. The details of this policy he may find it wise to keep to himself, and he may need to change it from time to time. A policy for development. Such a policy of development may include many things, — the school plant, the courses of study, new types of schools or instruction to be provided, the classification of pupils, textbooks, apparatus, and supplies, the work of teachers or principals, the selection and pay of such, playgrounds, public school extension, and the general educational policy to be pursued in the administration of the school system. In all such matters the superintendent should take the initiative, and he must use his best judgment as to what points to press and what ones to hold in abeyance for more propitious days. He will be wise, too, if he unfolds the details of his policy to his board and to the people only about as rapidly as it can be comprehended and approved. For many of his more important ideas and plans a period of education of both his board and the community must be expected and provided for, and the more carefully this is done the less will be the friction occasioned when the proposal is made or the plan carried into effect. To neglect this important part of the 146 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION process may result in the defeat of many meritorious and progressive proposals. To merely think out what is needed and then send a written communication to the board re- questing such a measure often shows relatively poor organ- izing skill in important matters, and is very likely to result in a refusal to grant the request. Persistence in such a course is likely to develop a habit on the part of the board of refusing the superintendent's requests, and such a habit is not good either for the authority of the superintendent or for the wel- fare of the schools under his control. Educating a board. The writer once asked a superintend- ent who had held his position for nearly a quarter of a cen- tury, and who was noted for his ability to carry his board of education with him, what was the secret of his fine control. His answer can best be understood by reference to the following sketch, which he drew on a piece of paper as he answered. M Fig. 11. ILLUSTRATING THE PROCESS OF EDUCATING A SCHOOL BOARD I spend much time [said he] in familiarizing my board with the needs of the schools, and the reasons for the recommendations I desire to make. Sometimes this is done by taking board members with me for a day in the schools, sometimes it is done over a dinner table, and sometimes it is done by a quiet personal talk at their places of business or at my office. Members are thus made cogni- THE SUPERINTENDENT'S WORK 147 zant of the needs of the schools and of the reasons for action before I make a formal recommendation to the board as a body. Through my annual printed reports, too, I try to educate both the board and the people, so that new measures, when approved, do not seem so very new to the community. Let us assume now [he continued] that the general level of my board of education, in its conception of what the school system should do and be, is represented by the level A. My conception at this same time is represented by the level H. Now, if I asked them to move at once up to my level, they not only would not do it, but it might awaken suspicions in their minds as to the soundness of my judgment and as to where I was leading them. I accordingly begin a process of education, at first to get them to move to the level B, but plainly tell them that, if they do, they must be prepared to move almost at once to C, which follows as a natural corollary of the move to B. I also tell them plainly that it will cost about so much, and show them that our finances will afford it. The board considers the proposal reasonable and proper, and before long approves of my recommendation in the matter. Not only do they approve of it but, thoroughly understanding it, they defend it for me before the public, if defense should become necessary. I now let them alone for a while, because the step to the next level, D, is something of an advance, and requires a reasonably long period of education. Still more, as E and F follow as natural corol- laries after D, I really have to educate them up nearly to F before proposing D. In course of time, however, I get D, together with EandF. About this time an election comes along, and half my board is new. The general average conception of the board is now back at D or C. Some, even, do not understand up to A. This is of course no time to propose new things, so the older members of my board and I start in on a process of educating up the new ones to the aver- age level we had attained before they came among us. In time, however, they come to understand, the level F is restored once more, and it soon seems possible to make the short advance to G. A little later, seeing that this was accepted by the people in good spirit, we make the next step to H. This whole process from A to H may have taken a number of years, — say three, or four, or five. But now my ideas as to what 148 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION the schools ought to do and to be have advanced to O, and I now see the need of more education and larger leadership. And so the process goes on and on, and will continue to go on through all time. Importance of such service. It is by means of such careful work as this that the superintendent must show his skill as an organizer and director of the educational affairs of a city.^ It is primarily the business of a superintendent to think and to propose, and primarily the business of a board to sit in judgment on his proposals. A wise superintendent will wel- come and value the honest criticism of the broad-minded members of the board with which he is associated. These men see the proposal much as the community will see it, and often from quite a different angle from that at which the superintendent views it. A board can be of real service here in pointing out errors in policies and mistakes in judgment, and if the superintendent can answer their objections and thoroughly convince them of the desirability and feasibility of what he proposes, he has secured able advocates when it comes to dealing with the public later on. Such work requires time, the results are often discourag- ingly slow in coming, but it is fruitful service when dealing with the representatives of the public. It is in such work that a superintendent of schools often renders his most useful service to a community, and the importance of eliminating routine work and of keeping time free for observing and thinking can hardly be over -emphasized in speaking to 1 "As chief administrator of the system, the superintendent has a policy, or a general plan of administration. There is something to be accomplished ; there must be careful, well-formulated plans for its accomplishment. These are not simply present-tense plans but rather a policy which looks far into the future, regardless of the short tenure of his contact. He must plan as though for a life-tenure; it is only by means of such plans that he can avoid time service. He has in his mind's eye the growth and development of five years, of ten years, of substantial progress; an ideal, if you please, toward which he strives; an ideal which year by year is to become school life and school atmosphere." (Superintendent M. G. Clark, in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1913, p. 304.) THE SUPERINTENDENT'S WORK 149 young men about to go into the work. If the superintendent is to' render valuable service as an organizer and director for a school system, he must develop and slowly carry out a thoroughly sound and constructive policy for the improve- ment of educational conditions in the community he serves. 2. The superintendent as executive As the executive officer of the board of education and the chief executive of the school system, the superintendent plays a somewhat different role. Both by the law and by the rules and regulations of the board he has little authority, except in matters in which the board has seen fit to dele- gate authority to him, yet he will not be of much force as a superintendent unless he can come to exercise rather large powers.^ Proper personal and official relations. The relations of the superintendent with the board and its committees call for alertness, diplomacy, respect for authority, good judgment, practical business sense, frankness combined with courtesy, and courage and conviction at times when courage and con- viction are the proper characteristics to exhibit. At differ- ent times he will be director, advisor, petitioner, and serv- itor. He will obtain little power for any length of time by 1 "The superintendent is the executive agent of the school committee, chosen to see that their decisions are carried out and that the school ma- chine runs smoothly and effectively; but, if he is worthy of confidence, he will find his greatest opportunity in guiding by his advice the counsels of the school committee. This influence on the school policy of a community is what makes him an important official and differentiates him from a mere clerk. He should not be officious, neither should he be afraid to give his opinion; he should not attempt to overawe his employers, but he should realize that they expect him to advocate the best things. He should keep the committee informed on all matters, realizing that the more complete his influence the greater will be the power lodged in him. A school com- mittee will usually allow a worthy superintendent to do almost anything he wishes, provided he first asks their permission." (C. A. Brodeur [see ref- erences], p. 558.) 150 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION driving, nor will he obtain much if any power by sitting still and looking down his nose. The public admires courage and firmness, when the grounds for such are good, but even more it dislikes mere aggressiveness and an arbitrary assumption of authority. Between these two extremes, sometimes near to one and sometimes near to the other, the superintendent must steer his course.^ The danger of the young man is over- aggressiveness; the danger of the old man is passive accept- ance. In his relations with his board as its executive officer he must avoid over-zeal and personal feeling in the matter of his recommendations. He should familiarize the members with the needs of the schools and the reasons for his recommenda- tions, but he would better see them turned down than to lobby or set up combinations to carry them through. Still less should he lobby to elect or defeat members, or to carry or defeat committee reports. In all such matters he will do well to stand on the wisdom of his recommendations and the honesty of his purposes, and, if necessary, accept defeat. Perhaps, after all, he is not all-wise, and the judgment of his board may be better than his. In any case, he should refuse to accept opposition as per- sonal, even though it may be so. Neither should he harbor grudges, or keep up fights after the time for fighting is past. Any man of business capacity cares little as to whether 1 Superintendent Blodgett (see references) gives seven rules for the guidance of a superintendent in dealing with situations, as follows: — 1. Know your exact relations to every feature of your work. 2. Get close to the heart of every situation. 3. Take a tenable position on all debatable questions, and speak plainly without being pugnacious. 4. Be loyal to the decisions of those in authority. 5. Have fixed places of responsibility and have that responsibility met. 6. Magnify and dignify the office of school principal and supervisor. 7. With your full corps of workers establish relations founded on cor- dial frankness, plain speech, and sympathy. THE SUPERINTENDENT'S WORK 151 people agree with him on matters of policy or procedure, if they are honest and fair about it, so far as personal friendship is concerned. Often a superintendent may have a sincere admirer in some lawyer or doctor or banker on his board who may feel that he must oppose certain of the superintendent's plans. This is a common experience of managers in the busi- ness world, and there is no reason why superintendents of schools should be exceptions in such matters.^ Mutual trust and confidence. In his relations with his board the superintendent should strive, by his acts, to de- velop a feeling of mutual trust and confidence. Usually this is not hard to do with any board which has the good of the schools at heart. Between the superintendent and his board it is important that there exist the most complete and sat- isfactory understanding. Such should exist from the first. Each should trust the other, and should counsel together on all important matters. The superintendent should watch carefully that no act of his shall tend to destroy this good understanding. One important means by which the superintendent may establish such confidence is to show that he understands thoroughly the details of his work. He must be able to ad- vise the board intelligently, and be willing to assume and to distribute responsibility. He must know intimately the de- tails of questions likely to come before his board, and be able to give simple reasons why things should or should not be done. On many matters he must decide and act himself, and 1 "The difference between the attitude of the manager in private life and the manager of a school system, under such circumstances, is very pronounced. There are but few corporations or firms which would not in- stantly accept the resignation of a manager if he showed petulance or irrita- tion, or if he gave the board its choice of alternatives — i.e., Either pass my request or accept my resignation." (F. A. Fitzpatrick, in Educational Review, p. 2o0, October, 1899.) 152 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION without bothering the board. On questions of policy he will need to consult his board carefully, but to be continually bringing up matters of detail for a ruling or a decision is an almost sure way to lose the confidence of a businesslike board. To say to a board, when his opinion is asked, that it can decide the matter as well as he can, or when questioned about the schools to reply that he does not know, and leave the board without information or to find out for itself, is shortsighted and foolish. Once train a board in this way and it will soon be deciding important matters and taking important action without consulting the superintendent at all.i Appealing to the communily. If, as sometimes happens, a board does not have the best interests of the schools at heart, and the superintendent, after personal conferences and the use of all reasonable diplomacy, is unable to stop action clearly against the best interests of the schools, then he should remember that he represents the community, as well as the school board; that his authority with them in such matters is really joint; and that the people expect and have a right to know his individual opinion on important issues. In such cases he should not hesitate to present his point of view freely and positively, in open board meeting, and should refuse to be smothered up in a secret session or by committee action. The stronger the confidence which the community has come to have in his good sense, honesty of purpose, fair- ness, and sound judgment, the heartier will be their sup- port of him should he ever find it necessary to take such ac- 1 It may be said that a superintendent should never shirk any proper responsibility or decline any proper power which a board offers to give him; even though the matter be a very unimportant one, and one which the board members could decide as well as he. The assumption of power and responsibility, relieving members, and the using of such power and re- sponsibility wisely and well, creates confidence and leads to larger and larger grants. The man who can and is willing to do things is the man who will find plenty of things to do. THE SUPERINTENDENT'S WORK 153 tion.^ His deep conviction as to what is best for the schools must guide him in such matters, but he must not sacrifice his independence or yield his written or unwritten rights on really fundamental questions of policy or procedure. Relations with the community. One of the most impor- tant assets of a superintendent in the prosecution of any and all phases of his work is the confidence of the better ele- ments of the community in his fairness, sound judgment, and professional knowledge. He should know his community and be able to feel its pulse and express its wants, and the community should know him and believe in his integrity and honesty of purpose. This contact, fortunately, he has many opportunities to establish, and the more important of these opportunities he should embrace. ^ As the head of the school system of the community he holds a position of particular local prominence, and his work as an administrator brings him into daily contact with parents and citizens. Every contact is an opportunity to leave a good impression, and to add something to the strength of his control of the schools. With perhaps seventy-five per cent of 1 "While theoretically the city superintendent is but the executive officer of the board of education, practically, wherever his lot is cast, he is the chief power. Boards of education often are composed of members who are ac- tively and persistently engaged in other interests. They are not consulted, and ought not to be consulted, in the detailed management of the schools. It is seldom that difficulties occur in the superintendent's life that have their rise in the board of education. The board is but a reflex representative of the people; seldom independent or beyond the influence of public opinion, even when public opinion is rash and unreliable. It follows from this that the administration of a given superintendent depends little upon the board of education, but upon the character of the schools on the one side and the opinion of the people on the other. (J. M. Greenwood, in Educational Re- view, vol. 18, p. 375, November, 1899.) 2 In addition to the few means mentioned here, the annual printed re- port covering the work of the schools should not be forgotten. This is referred to more at length in Chapter XXVI. Rightly used, the annual report can be made of very large importance in the education of a com- munity. 154 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION those whom he meets from day to day in his official capacity it will be their only meeting, so that it is important that the impression made as to his personality, education, tact, and good judgment be as favorable as possible. If well used, this daily contact may prove a source of much community strength; if not, it will ultimately prove his undoing. So far as is possible every conference with a parent or a citizen, either at the superintendent's office or elsewhere, should add something to the community respect for the superintendent and the community belief in the system of public instruction which he represents. To this end the superintendent must not be arbitrary, impatient, unreason- able, personally aggrieved, or any of a number of other things which superintendents too frequently are and do. A pleasant word, a promise to investigate, absence of personal pique, consideration for the other's point of view, and a certain democratic simplicity and directness, frequently make friends of those who came only to complain.^ The work of the schools, particularly the many little special occasions, also offer opportunities for the superintendent to add to the community's good opinion of their schools. A few well-chosen words, not too long, and not about " my policies " or ** my ideas," but of a character designed to give the community a higher appreciation of the importance of what the teachers are doing and the work of the schools in the community, can be made of much value in developing community support for future educational policies. What the superintendent has to say must be simple, straightfor- ward, constructive, and well expressed. To apologize to an ^ "The superintendent should be large enough in spirit to be above petty quarrels and jealousies, fair enough to work with others even when no per- sonal gain is the result, sympathetic enough to see matters from the point of view of teachers, pupils, and parents, and democratic enough to recognize the just claims of all with whom he has to do." (C. A. Brodeur [see ref- erence], p. 558.) THE SUPERINTENDENT'S WORK 155 audience for not being prepared, or to scold them for their shortcomings, are two things which should be studiously- avoided. The conservatism and ofttimes the ignorance of a community he must himself accept as perfectly natural, and without complaining about it. People are by nature con- servative, and it is not only the duty but also the oppor- tunity of the superuitendent to educate them up to the larger needs of their schools.^ S. The superintendent as swperviscyr The third phase of the superintendent's work is that which brings him into close relations with special supervisors, principals, teachers, and pupils. All of the other types of work are in a sense preliminary to this third function, though, as school systems grow larger and larger, the superintendent must, of necessity, delegate more and more of this work to subordinates. Still, however large the school system may become, the knowledge and influence of the superintendent must reach down through all of the complicated machinery of school organization and administration and vitalize the work of the teachers in the schools. His broader professional knowledge and his larger insight into educational needs must, in some way, find expression in the daily work of teachers ^ "A well-regulated school system, managed by professional educators, is always ahead of the community at large in both method and outlook. Now, unless school needs and school aims are understood by the people, a gulf widens between them which is finally bridged only by criticisms and protests signed 'taxpayer.' The superintendent should lend a hand to any undertaking which dignifies his office, or which seeks to establish points of contact between the schools and the public they serve. If there be parents' meetings, he had better attend; if there be mothers' clubs, he had better speak when asked; if the Sunday-School teachers wish an address, he had better give it; if some one asks the rather dubious question 'What do you do anyway? ' he had better explain himself in simple, indisputable terms, so that mothers and fathers shall grow to feel that no community should be without him." (Alice E. Reynolds, in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1904, p. 270.) 156 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION and pupils if his highest mission as a superintendent is to be fulfilled. This phase of the superintendent's labors so clearly belongs to his services as the head of the instructional work of the schools that further consideration of it is deferred to Chapter XIII. Dangers faced by the superintendent. In carrying on his work, in its threefold aspect, the superintendent of schools faces certain dangers, other than those so far pointed out. He must not lose confidence in himself, for out of confi- dence in himseK come almost all his other powers. Such con- fidence, if it is of the right kind, comes largely from a sense of mastery of the details of his calling. The world always steps aside to let a man pass who knows where he is going, but it often crushes the man who does not know whither he is bound. He must not repose too much confidence in other people. To trust subordinates and friends wisely, but not too much, is something he must learn. Sustained by the justice of his cause, and guided by an educational philoso- phy that gives point and direction to his administrative labors, he must not take as personal the criticisms, reverses, and even the humiliations of which he must expect and ac- cept his full share. He must not underestimate to himself the value of his services, nor must he expect the people to ap- preciate fully what he is doing for them. A superintendent of schools works distinctly for the next generation; without becoming egotistical or autocratic, his own personal sense of the importance of his work must be his own greatest reward. • He must avoid, too, almost above all else, a low physical tone due to overwork, wasted energy, fretting over condi- tions he cannot help, or other causes, for no executive can do his best work when he is in poor physical condition. His exercise, his food, his sleep, and his leisure he must guard THE SUPERINTENDENT'S WORK 157 carefully, for out of these, as it were, come his balance, his perspective, his insight, his reliabihty, and his reserve force for the emergencies of his daily work. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. Explain how educational organization may evolve into educational statesmanship. Illustrate. 2. In what way does a clearly defined educational policy serve to trans- form the details of administration from routine to constructive serv- ice? ,3. Illustrate how a superintendent may become so busy with administra- tive details that he may have no time left for real constructive service. 4. Why is a man who actually works less likely to be worth more? 5. Why should a superintendent not tell his plans too much in advance? 8. What should be a superintendent's relations with the local newspapers? 7. Should a superintendent take complaints and criticism as personal and feel hurt? Illustrate. 8. Illustrate your conception of the process of educating a board and a committee to understand the need of (a) a class for the oral instruction of deaf children; (6) a class for subnormal children; (c) a class for supernormal children; (d) the establishment of an intermediate school, to include the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades, to be taught by the depart- mental plan, with specially selected teachers; assuming that no such schools exist in your vicinity, and that the board and the people are unfamiliar with these educational ideas. 9. For Fig. 11 make out a series of moves to correspond mth the dif- ferent letters, preserving the proportion and relative sequence of the steps as explained, such as might exist in the plans of a superintendent for the development of his school system. 10. Illustrate how a superintendent can utilize opportunities to educate the community in connection with school happenings and events. What kind of topics should he talk about? 11. Illustrate how a superintendent's daily contact with people may (a) add strength to his position and control of the schools; (6) prove his ultimate undoing. 12. Distinguish between "feeling the community's pulse" for construc- tive work, and "keeping one's ear to the ground" to know what to do. 13. Illustrate, by concrete cases, the sentence, "At different times the superintendent wall be director, advisor, petitioner, and servitor," in his relations with his board. 14. Explain the basis for the statement that the longer a superintendent 158 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION has been in a position the more details he should settle without con- sulting his board. On what assumption is such a statement based? 15. Give three illustrations for each of the three main phases of a superin- tendent's activity, namely, as organizer, as administrator, and as executive. 16. After six days of work for the schools, should a superintendent refuse to teach a Sunday-School class on Sunday? 17. What kind of topics might a superintendent talk on, and what kind of a speech should he make, in addressing (a) a parents' meeting? (6) a mothers' club? (c) a Sunday-School-teacher group? (d) a Chamber-of-Commerce luncheon? 18. Suppose that you are a city superintendent of schools, and that you are present at a meeting called to consider a proposal to build a new school. An objector, in the course of a talk, says that the superintendent is responsible for the proposition, is an unnecessary official, and says, in closing, that he would like to know "What he does, anyway?" How would you answer him? SELECTED REFERENCES Blodgett, A. B. "The Most Effective Use of the Superintendent's Time"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1903, pp. 224-28. An excellent article on the work of a superintendent. How to save time, and how to fix responsibility and get work done. Brodeur, C. A. "School Supervision"; in Report of U.S. Commissioner of Education, 1902, vol. i, pp. 556-60. A good brief outline of the superintendent's work and the possibilities of his position* Chancellor, W. E. Our Schools; Their Administration and Supervision. D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, 1904. Chapter III, Part II, on the affairs of the superintendent, and Chapter V on the superintendent, contain many concrete illustrations and much that is suggestive. Denfield, R. E. "The Superintendent as an Organizer and an Executive"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1900, pp. 287-96. An excellent article, contrasting these two phases of a superintendent's work, and offering many practical suggestions. DeWeese, T. A. "Two Years' Progress in the Chicago Schools"; in Edu- cational Review, vol. 24, pp. 325-37. (November, 1902.) An excellent article on tactful cooperation between the board of education and the superintendent of schools. Fitzpatrick, F. A. "Minor Problems of the School Superintendent"; in Educational Review, vol. 18, pp. 234-51. (October, 1899.) An excellent article. Describes many of the common mistakes of school superintend- ents which ultimately result in their undoing. THE SUPEKINTENDENT'S WORK 159 Gorton, C. E. "The Superintendent in Small Cities"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1900, pp. 222-29. A good general article on the superintendent's work and influence. Greenwood, J. M. "The Superintendent and the Board of Education"; in Educational Review, vol. 18, pp. 363-77. (November, 1899.) A good general article on the establishment and maintenance of proper relationships. Symposium. "City School Supervision"; five articles in Educational Re-' view, as follows: — I. Gove, Aaron, vol. n, pp. 256-61. (October, 1891.) II. Greenwood, J. M., vol. ii, pp. 362-65. (November, 1891.) III. Balliet, T. M.. vol. n, pp. 482-86. (December, 1891.) IV. Tarbell, H. S., vol. iii, pp. 65-69. (January, 1892.) V. Harris, W. T., vol. iii, pp. 167-72. (February, 1892.) Five good articles. The last is in the nature of a summary and an amplification of the preceding four. White, E. E. "The Authority of the School Superintendent"; in Pro- ceedings of National Education Association, 1899, pp. 314-20. A general article on the growth of the powers of the superintendent, and on present CHAPTER XII CITY SCHOOL DEPARTMENT ORGANIZATION Size and distribution of cities. There were, in 1918, 2401 cities and towns of over 2500 inhabitants in the United States, which made statistical returns to the United States Commissioner of Education. A tabulation of these returns shows the following distribution of the cities as to size, to- gether with the number of superintendents and assistant superintendents of schools for such, by groups, together with the number of special supervisors and school princi- pals employed, the number of different schools maintained in each group of cities, and the totals for each of the items: — Number of such cities reporting Number employed (1918) Size of cities (Estimaie for 1918) Superintend- ents and assistant su- perintendents Special supervisors School principala Over 100,000 30,000 to 100,000 10,000 to 30,000 5,000 to 10,000 2,500 to 5,000 51 141 420 627 1162 220 177 447 627 1041 3988 1812 1555 772 720 4501 3306 4302 4124 5013 Totals 2401 2512 8847 21,246 Calculating averages for these same groups of cities, we get the following average distribution of superintendents, assistant superintendents, special supervisors, and school principals combined, based on both the number of teachers employed and the number of pupils in average daily at- tendance for each group. SCHOOL DEPARTMENT ORGANIZATION 161 Total number of supervisory officers employed Total number of teachers employed Ratio of supervisory officers to Size of cities {Estimate for 1918) Teachers employed Pupils in average daily attendance Over 100,000 30,000 to 100,000 10,000 to 30,000 5,000 to 10,000 2,500 to 5,000 8,709 5,295 6,304 5,523 6,774 99,412 42,245 40,495 28,991 30,239 1 to 11 1 to 8 1 to 6 1 to 5 1 to 4 1 to 303 1 to 159 1 to 168 1 to 140 1 to 116 Totals 32,605 241,382 1 to 8 1 to 211 From the above tables we see that the 2401 special-type large school districts which we know as city school dis- tricts — out of a total of somewhere between 300,000 and 350,000 school districts of all kinds in the United States — employed approximately an average of 15 supervisory offi- cers of all kinds for each city. These 2401 cities also em- ployed 39 per cent of all the teachers in the public schools of the United States, and enrolled approximately 29 per cent of all the pupils enrolled in public day schools. The special character of the problems of organization and admin- istration in the city school districts will be apparent from these tables. The 51 cities which had in 1918 over 100,000 inhabitants have an even more special character. Though constituting a little more than 2 per cent of the total number of cities, these 51 nevertheless employed over 24 per cent of the supervisory officers and 40 per cent of the teachers employed in the 2401 cities, and enrolled 43 per cent of the pupils enrolled in city public day schools. The small city school system. It will be seen from the tables just given, too, that nearly three-fourths (74.5 per cent) of the cities of the United States had less than 10,000 inhabitants in 1918, and that 2209 of the 2401 (92.0 per cent) had less than 30,000 inhabitants. It is in these smaller 162 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION and often rapidly growing cities that the problems of organ- ization and administration have to be solved by the largest number of superintendents, and often under conditions which are far from ideal. It will be seen also that the superintend- ents in these smaller cities have to work with the least help, and must, of necessity, be superintendents of a somewhat general and undifferentiated type. All of the administrative problems that in a large city are divided among a number of supervisory officers, in so far as these problems touch a small city, must here be handled by the superintendent and the board of education acting almost alone. The board, in such cities, is usually in much more intimate touch with the schools than is the case in the larger cities, and attempts to handle many problems which in larger and better organized cities are left to executive officers. The superintendent, too, is supposed to be more of a teacher and a leader of teachers than is the case in the larger cities. Still, all phases of the problems of organization and ad- ministration and supervision, in the course of time, come to the door of the superintendent of these smaller cities, and in many ways it requires as high a degree of professional and political skill to be a successful superintendent in a small city as in a larger one. The chief difference lies in that the problems are smaller in scale, and that the people are not so critical if the superintendent is unprogressive or incompetent, while the demand for real educational statesmanship is much less prominent. The personal and political conditions, on the other hand, and the educational conservatism of the people may be much more marked and much more trying to a man who knows than in a larger city. The comprehensive type of superintendent. Since almost every type of problem in organization, administration, and supervision will, in time, present itself to the superintendent in a smaller city for solution, he must of necessity be an all- SCHOOL DEPARTMENT ORGANIZATION 163 round man, conversant with the different phases of his work, and able to do many things rapidly and well. Good general and professional training, and good experience in an elemen- tary-school principalship, will prove of much value to a young school superintendent at such a time. At one time he must be an organizer and planner for the development of the system, often looking into the future be- yond the vision of the teachers, the board, or the people. At another time he must be an expert on school organiza- tion, bringing to teachers, principals, the board, and the people the best experience of other cities. At another time he must be an expert on the making and administration of a course of study, slowly educating those associated with him up to his larger point of view. At another time he must be an expert investigator and tester of the work of the schools, and the progress of the pupils therein. At another time he must be an expert on the details of schoolhouse con- struction, and on the proper care and maintenance of the school plant. At another time he must be an expert on play- grounds and playground work. At another time he must be the real authority back of the attendance officer, adminis- tering the law, and protecting the educational rights of the children. At another time he must be protecting these same rights in the employment, dismissal, or safeguarding from injustice of teachers. At another time he is again voicing the need of the children, or protecting them along the line of health control. At another time he is a business man, look- ing after purchases, budgets, and the larger problems of ed- ucational finance. At another time he is a petitioner before the board, asking for some improvement in conditions, some new grant of power, or some change in ruling, and following this he is the servant of the board, seeing that its decisions are carried out. At another time he is an administrator, looking after the hundred and one little details of, daily 164 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION school administration, — dictating letters, meeting people, smoothing out difficulties, eliminating friction, and adding to the confidence of the people in their schools. At other times he is a supervisor of teachers, directing them, inspir- ing them to larger service, and extending helpful supervi- sion to them. Dangers of such a position. Such a superintendent, if he is a real superintendent, lives a busy life, and the constant danger he faces, aside from exhaustion from overwork or worry, is that of losing his balance and perspective amid the many problems of his work. To do so means to become a onesided superintendent — an office clerk, a purchasing and business agent, a building superintendent, an office ad- ministrator, or merely a supervisor of instruction. Of all the one-sided developments, that of becoming a mere supervisor of instruction is the least dangerous, because in a small city this is the most important of all his services. It is easy in a small city school system, where there is little professional competition and the community stand- ards for success are low, to develop into an office man, pick- ing up easy routine work and neglecting more important functions, and later become a political superintendent, with ultimate loss of position ahead. A board of education and a community have a right to demand that their superintend- ent shall be a student of educational administration and problems, and that he shall keep himself informed as to progress elsewhere; ^ and the superintendent, in turn, has 1 A new superintendent in a city of about 20,000 inhabitants was asked by the board of education if he desired to suggest any changes in their printed rules and regulations. Among a number of suggestions he offered the following, which was heartily approved by the board: — *' Sec. 23. The superintendent of schools shall be expected to be a student of educational theory and practice, and shall be expected to acquaint him- self with progress being made elsewhere, in order that the board of educa- tion and the teachers in the schools may be advised as to the best methods and plans for improving the education of the children in the schools. To SCHOOL DEPARTMENT ORGANIZATION 165 a right to demand of his board enough freedom from routine and other service to enable him to have some free time for reading, study, and visitation, that he may keep abreast of progress in theory and practice.^ Organization in a small city. The scheme of organization in a small city is exceedingly simple. The people, under the provisions of the state law, elect the school board as their representatives, and the school board and its committees virtually conduct the schools. The power and the authority which a superintendent has legally, under most of our pres- ent-day laws, is usually very small. By knowing his work, and by the exercise of tact, courtesy, and good judgment, a superintendent can often come to exercise, usually by tacit consent, rather large powers in the organization and admin- istration of the schools. When he leaves, his successor prob- ably will have to prove himself and to establish a similar degree of confidence in his ability and good judgment be- fore he can succeed to the powers exercised by the former man. A young man should expect to do this; it is good train- ing for him to do it. The place of the superintendent in the scheme. The proper scheme of organization in a small city is represented by Figure 12. Acting in conjunction with the board and its committees, the superintendent manages and directs the schools. He acts as the secretary and executive officer of the board of education, executes its decisions, acts as its rep- resentative before the schools, the people of the community this end the superintendent shall be permitted, in his discretion, to set aside time for personal study, and may also, in his discretion, absent himself from the city for not to exceed three days at any one time for the purpose of ob- serving school organization and instruction in other cities." ^ A number of our cities now pay a part or all of the expenses of their superintendent, in addition to giving him leave of absence for six weeks on full pay, for attendance at summer sessions of the larger universities. This is a good investment for a city to make; the gain in knowledge, interest, and professional enthusiasm on the part of the superintendent more than com- pensates for the small extra outlay. 166 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION and the State, and keeps the board and the people of the community informed as to needs and conditions. Under a proper form of organization, as shown by the lines, the board and its committees act only through him, and mem- bers of the school department communicate officially with members of the board only through his office. ^ His office force consists of a good business and office clerk, and a stenographer. The clerk looks after office matters in his absence, makes purchases, fills requisitions, checks up bills, distributes books and supplies to the schools, attends to most of the routine correspondence, takes charge of the minutes, and notifies all parties concerned of the official actions of the board of education. The stenographer, in ad- dition to handling the official mail, mimeographs circulars, files documents, answers the telephone, and does necessary messenger service. With his school principals and the two special supervisors, the superintendent must supervise the work of the schools. In a city system of fifty to seventy-five teachers this will naturally form a very important part of his services, and in such a system he should strive to become an expert at such work. He must look after the proper education and 1 The following may be taken to represent the school system shown in Figure 12: — Employees 1 superintendent of schools. 1 supervisor of primary work. 1 supervisor of drawing, 1 high-school principal. 4 elementary-school principals. 9 high-school teachers. 28 elementary-school teachers. 2 kindergarten teachers. 1 manual-training teacher. 1 cooking teacher, 1 ungraded-room teacher. 50 Scope of system 1 high school. 2 medium-sized elementary schools with a kindergarten in each. 2 smaller elementary schools. 1 manual-training center. 1 cooking-center, in one of the larger buildings. 1 ungraded room, in one of the larger buildings. Office force 1 office and business clerk. 1 attendance officer. 1 stenographer. SCHOOL DEPARTMENT ORGANIZATION 167 inspiration of his principals and teachers, the coordination of the work of the schools, the administration of the course of study, the educational development of the school system. I People of the State represented in the Legislature Jusiness Committee of the Board State Superintendent of. Public Instruction [County Superintendent of Schools Educational Committee of the Board Fig. 12. PLAN OF EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZAllON FOR A SMALL CITY SCHOOL SYSTEM, AND SHOWING PROPER RELATIONSHIPS This plan would apply to a city school system emplopng from about 40 to about 100 teachers the work of special teachers, and the work of the attendance officer. While doing this he must not lose sight of the other aspects of his work and the other problems of his schools. Expansion as the city grows. As the city supervised grows 168 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION in size, the school system expands, more and more teachers are employed, and new schools and new types of schools are organized, the administrative organization must, of neces- sity, be changed and expanded to enable the board and the superintendent to handle properly the work of the larger school system. Committee action should now decrease in amount and in importance, the dependence on executive officers should increase, and the delegated authority of the superintendent and of the heads of the large administrative departments should be materially increased. With the in- crease of the educational and business work, executive offi- cers should replace committees, and the latter should tend to disappear altogether. In all medium-sized and large cities, standing committees of the board of education should be prohibited by law, as such serve chiefly to obstruct the proper work of the board's executive officers. All that the usual standing committees now do could be done better and done more expeditiously by the regularly employed executive officers of the board. It will be noticed that in Figure 13 standing committees of the board are indicated as having but a doubtful place in the organization, while in Figure 14 they are not to be found at all. The business and office clerk will gradually evolve into a school-board clerk or a business manager, and will be given oversight now not only of all business and clerical matters previously attended to, but also oversight of the janitors, architects, contractors, engineers, plumbers, and workmen of various types employed about the school plant. He will also keep all accounts and attend to all financial details for the school district. His office force will increase, and the superintendent will now need an intelligent, dependable stenographer and office secretary to attend to his mail, see his callers, take charge of his office during his absence, and attend to many of the details of his work. SCHOOL DEPARTMENT ORGANIZATION 169 On the educational side the number of special supervisors will increase, the attendance department will become better organized, and a health supervisor and a school nurse or two will be added to the special corps. ^ The number of school buildings will increase, and some of the principalships will evolve into quite responsible positions. Certain special- type schools, such as a day school for the oral instruction of the deaf, a parental school, classes for over-age and back- ward children, and perhaps a vocational day or evening school, will be added. Perhaps a central intermediate school will be organized, to cover the work of the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades, and organized on the departmental rather than on the grade-room plan. 1 The following may be taken to represent the school system shown in Figure 13: — Scope of system 1 superintendent of schools. 1 high school. 1 assistant superintendent, for the study of 1 intermediate school. / work and product. (Virtually an effi- 4 large elementary schools, ciency expert.) 2 medium-sized elementary schools. 1 supervisor of primary work. (Virtually an 2 small elementary schools. assistant superintendent of schools.) 8 kindergarten classes. 1 health supervisor. 2 manual training, cooking, and sewing 5 special supervisors. (Drawing, music and buildings, in connection with the inter- expression, constructional activities, mediate and the high school, home-life activities, and play activities.) 6 ungraded rooms, one in connection with 1 high-school principal. ^ each larger elementary-school building. 1 intermediate-school principal. 1 class for the oral instruction of the deaf. 6 elementary-school principals, who do not 1 parental school. teach. 1 day vocational school. 2 elementary-school principals, who teach. 25 high-school teachers. Office force 20 intermediate-school teachers. j ^I^.j, ^^^ business manager. 95 elementary-school teachers. g attendance officers. 8 kmdergarten teachers. 1 bookkeeper. 4 manual-traimng teachers. 3 stenographers and clerks. 4 cooking teachers. 1 ^^^^^^ (^^^i^g ^ ^^^^ janitor). 4 sewmg teachers. 2 school nurses. 4 playground teachers. 6 ungraded-room teachers. Architects and engineers employed as 2 parental-school teachers. needed 1 oral-deaf teacher. 6 vocational-school teachers. 200 8 170 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Proper administrative organization for the larger city. The business and educational organization will now become more complicated, and as properly carried out is represented by the drawing (Figure 13) inserted here. As before, the lines and position indicate the direction of authority, and the central position of the superintendent of schools for the city will again be apparent. A man of larger grasp will now be required. The old superintendent, who has grown up with the system, unless he has more than kept pace with it, may need to be super- seded by some one better able to handle the larger educa- tional problems. The man in command now must be one who can quickly sort out essentials from non-essentials, and one who can think and act quickly and relatively accurately. He must be able to exercise a supervisory oversight over many things, without getting lost in the details of any one matter. More than before it is the business of the superin- tendent to think and to plan, and, even more than before, must he know what ought to be done and be able to state clearly and convincingly the reasons for his proposals. More real leadership is now required than in the smaller school system. A larger vision, too, is now demanded. There will still be plenty of routine service to be looked after, but, to a degree, routine previously handled must now be passed down to subordinates, the superintendent merely exercising supervisory oversight to see that the routine is properly looked after, while he applies his energy and best thinking to the larger problems of educational leadership which more and more confront him as the community grows. Guaranteed powers. Whether the school system is small, as in a city of 5000 inhabitants, employing approximately 40 teachers; or medium-sized, as in a city of 20,000 inhabi- tants, employing from 110 to 125 teachers; or a still larger city of 40,000 population, employing from 225 to 250 teachers, andmg committeeB SCHOOL DEPARTMENT ORGANIZATION 171 the rights, duties, and privileges which should be attached to the office of city superintendent of schools should be approximately the same. These should include the follow- ing:— 1. The guaranteed right to attend any meeting of the board of education or any committee thereof, except when his own tenure or salary are under consideration, with the right to speak on any question, but without a vote. This gives the superintendent a legal right to be present whenever school matters of any kind are being considered, and the legal right to be heard. His good judgment must now guide him as to how much and how often to speak, remembering that it is very easy to talk too much, and that a superintendent who does so will soon make himself obnoxious and defeat his own ends. 2. The board should be primarily a legislative body, and the superintendent its recognized executive officer. The board should legislate, and the superintendent should execute. This means that the board should act through him, or through others, nominally at least, under his oversight and control, and not independent of him. To the end that this be the case, such a division of functions should be specified in the rules and regulations of the board, or better still in the school laws of the State. Of course, there will be superintendents who are failures as executives, and among such the mortaHty, under such a law, would naturally increase, but superintendents who know how to handle executive work will be enabled to carry forward their executive functions, without continually struggling with boards and board members to obtain or retain what should be the superintendent's natural powers and duties. 3. The superintendent, in addition to being the chief executive officer of the board, with supervisory oversight of all depart- ments, should also be the recognized head of the educational department of the school system. As such, he should be given full charge of the making and changing of the courses of study, of the supervision of the instruction in the schools, the 172 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION promotion and assignment of pupils, and of the selection of books and apparatus for carrying on such instruction, the board being asked to approve only when new types of instruc- tion are to be added, new expenditures are involved, or new contracts need to be signed. In no case should the board take any action on such matters except on the prior recommenda- tion of the superintendent of schools. 4. The initiative in all matters relating to the appointment, assignment, transfer, promotion, suspension, or dismissal of teachers, principals, or special supervisors should rest with the superintendent of schools, the board approving or disapprov- ing of his recommendations, but without the power of sub- stituting other names or initiating new appointments. 5. In the appointment, assignment, transfer, or dismissal of janitors, the superintendent should have a similar authority, acting, in the larger school systems, in conjunction with the school clerk or business manager, under whose supervision the janitors, in certain aspects of their work, may be in partic- ular assigned. 6. In the matter of reports required, records to be kept, and blank forms to be used, the power of initiative should in gen- eral rest with the superintendent, but with power resting with the board to request additional information as to the work of the schools. 7. The superintendent, on his own initiative, should be given the right to order expenditures for the schools, up to a certain limited amount in any calendar month, the amount varying with the size of the system, and without previous specific authorization by the board. The reasons for these guaranteed powers will be discussed in subsequent chapters. Educational organization in the large city. As the city school system increases in size with the growth of the city, coming to employ three or four hundred or more teachers, the need for a further expansion and differentiation of the educational organization will arise, with the result that a larger and a more highly specialized system will be devel- oped. As before, the superintendent of schools should re- main the nominal head of the entire organization, exercising SCHOOL DEPARTMENT ORGANIZATION 173 supervisory oversight of all departments, though with special control of the educational department. The form of organization for a large city school system is shown by Figure 14, inserted here. The need for still larger grasp and insight and administrative skill will be apparent if such an organization is to be properly coordinated, and effective educational work secured all along the line. Real educational statesmanship and leadership of a high order are now necessary qualities for the superintendent with such an educational organization to direct. Central position of the educational department. In all of the diagrams showing proper relationships, it will be noticed, the educational department has been given the central posi« tion, and a straight line leads from the superintendent of schools direct to the pupils in the schools. On each side of the educational department certain officers or departments are shown, and these handle certain parts of the city's edu- cational business and are related, more or less directly, to the educational department. This is as it should be. The educational department came first, and all of the other officers and departments have been created since for the one purpose of enabling the educational department to render a larger community service. The building department, the business department, the attend- ance department, the health department, the library depart- ment, and any other department which may be created exist primarily to aid the educational department in fulfilling bet- ter the work for which the schools were established; and the one important reason why the superintendent of schools, in addition to being indicated as the executive head of the educational department, is also given general oversight and coordinating power over all of the other departments as the executive head of the entire school system, is that he may preserve this relationship, and prevent any department from 174 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION aggrandizing itself at the expense of the best interests of the children in the schools. Buildings, for example, are neces- sary, and so are supplies and equipment, but buildings are erected to enable teachers to teach children in them, and supplies and equipment are furnished to facilitate the work of instruction. In planning the buildings and selecting the supplies and equipment the needs of the educational de- partment must be paramount. Both building and supplies departments exist only to serve, though the head of each of these occasionally forgets this fact and seems to imagine that the educational department has been created to afford work for him. Executive heads of departments. The city superintend- ent of schools, it will also be seen from the different draw- ings showing proper relationships, has in each case been given general coordinating oversight in all departments, in addition to being the head of the educational department. He is, as it were, the prime minister, who at the same time holds a cabinet portfolio. This primacy is essential for effective service and the preservation of proper official rela- tionships. In practice, each head of a department in a large and well-organized school system will conduct the affairs of his department, and without interference on the part of the superintendent, but in cases of friction or conflict of au- thority the superintendent should be the coordinating head. The work of the different departments so overlap that this is a virtual necessity, and in cities where such coordination does not exist friction and conflict oc ' ^ time to time, or almost all the time, with the ine\ "^at the efficiency of the schools is materially In addition to the guaranteed powei ji the superinteuu ents, previously enumerated, each head of a department should also be guaranteed certain powers within his own department. These we shall indicate when we consider the i > 2' Fro. 15. AN INCORRECT FORM 01 EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION ThiB lorm of organization waa found in a city of 'J50,000 employing approximately llW'' \ «" and flupervisory ofBcera. The heavV linea leading to the School Clerk indicate the preponderating influence of this ofBcial in school f««» '■ (Tom the Repurl o,f the Porlland Schoo, Surreu) SCHOOL DEPARTMENT ORGANIZATION 175 work of each of these departments, which will be the subject matter of the subsequent chapters of Part II of this volume. Faulty educational organization. In closing this chapter on city school department organization we wish to produce, for purposes of discussion, two improper forms of educational organization existing in two of our larger American cities. Under the form of educational organization shown in Fig. 15 the school clerk, if at all capable and vigorous, is almost certain to become the head of the school system and to dom- inate the whole situation. Under the form of organization shown in Figure 16 the superintendent and the board are likely to be in continual conflict, because, with the popular- election basis of tenure, it is good city politics for the super- intendent publicly to " put the board in the hole " as often as good opportunities offer. Under such a form of educational organization the teaching force, due to lack of leadership and lack of centralized authority, is likely to be profession- ally unprogressive; the board of education, not being able to control the superintendent, is almost certain to develop into a duplicate and conflicting inexpert board of superin- tendents; the school buildings are likely to be constructed and repaired in a costly and an unintelligent manner by the board of public works; and the funds for the conduct of the school department are likely to represent what is left after other city patronage departments have had what they want. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. Why is good experience as a principal of an elementary school better preparation for city superintendence than the principalship of a high school? 2. Why is a school system in which the superintendent of schools is only a good average member of the teaching force likely to be an unprogressive system? 3. Why may such a condition please certain communities better than to have a well-informed man in the position? List up the different one-sided developments which a superintendent of schools in a small city may easily come to represent, and classify them 176 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION in the order of their danger to the superintendent's future growth and larger usefulness. 5. In cities that you know, how far does the superintendent exercise con- trol of functions by law given to the board? 6. Why may a superintendent, who was a good superintendent when the city was small, not be a good man for the place after the city has experi- enced a very rapid increase in population? 7. Suppose that the superintendent of schools has not the professional knowledge, the good judgment, or the force of character which would enable him to use the "guaranteed powers" wisely; what should a board of education do in such a case? 8. Should the head of a business department determine the kind of school supplies to be purchased? TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT 1. List up, in two columns, the guaranteed legal powers of a superintendent of schools and the legal functions of a board of education, in your State. 2. Draw up a set of school-board rules and regulations which will give to the superintendent of schools all of the "guaranteed powers" mentioned under this paragraph heading. 3. Make a drawing, similar to those given in this chapter, to show the form of educational organization in some city with which you are acquainted. If the form of organization is not a satisfactory one, make a second draw- ing, showing a desirable form of organization for the city to adopt. 4. Reconstruct the educational organization shown in Figure 15, by mak- ing a new and rearranged drawing, so as to give this city a proper educa- tional organization. 5. Similarly, rearrange Figure 16, so as to insure a proper educational organ- ization for this city. 6. Investigate the peculiar form of educational organization now in use at Schenectady, New York, and reduce it to a diagram showing relation- ships. SELECTED REFERENCES Chamberlain, A. F. "The Growth of Responsibility and Enlargement of Power of the City Superintendent of Schools." Pubs. Univ. Cal., Edu- cation, vol. Ill, no. 4. Section VI, pp. 414-25, covers in a general way the form of organization. Moore, E. C. How New York City Administers its Schools. World Book Co., Yonkers-on-Hudson, N. Y., 1913. Chapters VII and VIII deal with board organization, and the necessity for having one responsible head. Portland, Ore. Report of the Survey of the Public School System. (1913.) 44 pp. Reprinted by World Book Co., Yonkers, 1915. Chapter II deals with the administrative organization of the school district, and the relationships which exist and those which should exist. CHAPTER XIII ORGANIZATION OF THE EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT The superintendent as a department head. In addition to being the executive head of the whole school system of the city, the superintendent should be, in particular, the execu- tive head of the educational department of the system. Such is his proper place in the educational organization, and not as the head of the business and clerical department or of the school buildings and repair department. The work of these departments he must necessarily be in touch with, but if these are the only departments he knows how to manage and direct intimately he should be made head of one or the other, or in a small city of the two combined, or dropped al- together, and a new superintendent of schools for the city should be obtained to head the educational department. A superintendent of schools should be primarily an educa- tional leader, and, while he must of necessity handle many matters in many different fields, he should in particular stand out as the head of the educational department of the school system. As the executive head of the whole school system he must oversee and coordinate all phases of the work of the school department, and must discuss many questions of policy and procedure with his department heads, and with the board and its committees. Often he must abide by the decisions of the board, even though such do not coincide with his views as to what should be done. As executive head of the edu- cational department of the school system, however, he oc- cupies a somewhat different r61e. Here he should be espe- 178 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION cially expert; here, after all, should be his major interest; and here he should be able to work, unimpeded by the board or its committees.^ When new undertakings are to be begun, new types of schools are to be established, or additional funds are needed, the board will, of course, need to be con- sulted and to give its sanction, but in the detailed work of this department, and especially in all of those matters which relate to courses of study and the supervision of instruction, the superintendent should be allowed to work without inter- ference. In almost all matters his judgment as to what should be done, and how it should be done, should prevail. When the board loses confidence in his judgment in such matters it should secure a new superintendent, rather than attempt to do the work itself. He gives character to the department. The educational department proper, as will be seen from the diagrams in the preceding chapter, includes assistant superintendents, spe- cial supervisors, principals, regular and special teachers, and teachers in special-type schools. This department includes by far the largest number of employees in any department, — a larger number, in fact, than in all of the other depart- ments of the school system combined. It is the central de- partment in the school system — the department for the advancement of which all of the others exist. 1 "The superintendent ought to be the educational adviser of the board of education, and his counsel ought to command the same respect on their part as that of a city solicitor on a question of law, or that of the city phy- sician on a question of sanitation or public health. He ought to be held strictly responsible for his advice, just as they are, and for the action of the board based upon it. He and not the school board ought to be held responsi- ble by the public for the course of study and the methods of teaching in the schools. If his advice and judgment are found to be untrustworthy, the school board, instead of retaining him and making him simply their clerk and agent, and assuming the responsibility themselves which properly be- longs to him as an expert, ought to dismiss him and secure a person whose judgment they can trust." (T. M. Balliett, in Educational Review, vol. ii, p. 484.) THE EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT 179 It is primarily the task of the superintendent to give tone and character to this department. His view must cover the school system as a whole, and its many relations to the com- plex life of the community which maintains it. He must keep thinking of what the schools should be doing for each boy and girl in them, and how best this may be done. Out of his clearer vision as to purposes, his more mature judgment as to ways and means, and his enthusiasm as to what it is pos- sible to do, he should give a definite trend to the thinking of every one, from assistant superintendent to grade teacher, who has to do with the instruction of children in the schools. The attitude he takes toward the school problems, his pro- fessional interest, his conception as to the nature and pur- pose of school supervision, his energy or lack of it, his friend- liness and frankness, and his ability to lead professionally and to ofier helpful and constructive criticism, will all be important elements in developing a professional esprit de corps in all those below him who work on the problem of instruction. It is as a leader of thought and an inspirer of high professional ideals that he can render his largest serv- ice. By being such he transforms his principals and super- visors from routine workers and inspectors into professional leaders, and his teachers from slaves of a system and a course of study into those whose labors are directed by a clear vision and a large purpose. Sensitiveness of teachers to leadership. So sensitive is a body of teachers to the influence of intelligent and con- structive leadership that a superintendent who knows his community and thinks in terms of its needs, who knows ed- ucational theory and can apply it in practice, who is deeply interested in the work of the educational department, who can impart vision to and instil an ambition to excel in his supervisors and principals, and who can approach teachers in a friendly and a helpful spirit, can do almost anything 180 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION within reason in developing an enthusiasm for service in a teaching force in any city of small or moderate size. ^ On the other hand, the superintendent who is essentially an office superintendent, who from his office chair promul- gates and enforces a uniformity throughout the school sys- tem, who inspects rather than supervises, and who controls by rules and regulations rather than by developing initiative and strength on the part of those under him, will in time de- velop a school system so uniform that progress will become difficult, a supervisory force which lacks initiative and keeps close to old and well-established paths, and a teaching force wanting in personal strength and professional enthusiasm. One type of superintendent produces a live school system; the other a dead one. Regulations " from the office " and the enforcement of the letter of the law kill; it is the spirit and the personal touch which give life. Chara'bteristics of a good supervisory organization. A good supervisory organization is almost always a product of intelligent and helpful leadership at the top. Under such, a positive premium is placed on the development of those per- sonal and professional qualities, on the part of all subordi- nates down the line, which serve to give individual strength and character to and to develop self-reliance in a teaching force. A judicious use of personal liberty in action is en- couraged, and individual thinking and personal growth are stimulated by the placing of responsibility and by the en- couragement of individual initiative. A premium is placed on personal efficiency, and on being and keeping better than the average of the mass. The adaptation of school work to needs and to capacity, intelligent departure from the ordi- nary procedure, and the substitution of thought and in- ^ The larger a city becomes the harder, of course, it is for a superintend- ent to do this, and the more he must depend upon subordinates. In a large city a superintendent tends to be removed from personal touch with his teachers and personal contact with their problems. THE EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT 181 telligence for mechanical routine are not only permitted, but distinctly approved and rewarded. On the other hand, the man or woman who merely drifts along, doing little think- ing, handling details in a typical routine manner, taking few chances, doing only what is required, and fearful of the envy of associates or the criticism of superiors, is made to feel supervisory disapproval and a pressure to improve and to keep professionally alive. Responsibility of all for successful work. Every higher supervisory officer, too, should be made to feel that he (or she) is a part of a live directive organization, with a mission for helpful and constructive service, and in large part re- sponsible for the proper carrying-out of the common edu- cational policy of the superintendent and themselves. Every principal, too, should be made to understand clearly that he must keep alive professionally and awake and busy, and that he is not only directly responsible for the success of the ad- ministrative policy in his particular school, but that he is also in part responsible for the general success of such policy throughout the whole educational organization as well. Any attempt at the monopolization of success, any unwillingness to share ideas with others, or any evidence of selfishness in permitting other schools to take advantage of his best con- tributions, should be frowned upon, and the man should be made to feel the importance of the common cause by impart- ing to him a larger ideal of professional service. In the work- ing-out of special room-problems, every teacher, also, should be made to feel that her individuality is appealed to. Should her plans not be approved by the principal, who ought to be prominent in such stimulation of individual initiative, it should be done in such a manner as will encourage rather than discourage further efforts in this direction. A weak supervisory organization. On the other hand, that is a weak supervisory organization where all is mechanically 182 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION laid out; where the supervisor's chief duty is not to supervise but to see that the work is being carried out as directed; where principals are clerks and statisticians, rather than professional leaders; and where teachers are so discouraged from any attempts at individuality by those above them in authority that they come to feel that to lift a head above the average of the mass is only to display a target for those above to hit. No surer recipe could be given for killing pro- fessional interest and enthusiasm, for changing live teachers into dead ones, or for driving teachers together into unions to pry up wages, shorten the hours of labor, and protect one another from the criticism of supervisory officers and of the board of education. Too much activity on the part of the school board or its committees in matters which it should not attempt to handle; too little responsibility for results placed with the superintendent, and placed by him in turn with his subor- dinates; an office-chair superintendent, or a superintendent whose chief interest is in some other branch of the service than the educational; a weak but well-meaning superintend- ent, who lacks technical preparation and any guiding edu- cational philosophy for the conduct of the schools; a strong and vigorous superintendent, but who lacks the same pro- fessional preparation and philosophy, and who rules with so strong a hand that no one under him is allowed much liberty in thought or action; a superintendent whose conception of educational administration is that of clockwork, machinery, inspections, and uniform output, and who runs the educa- tional department much as he would run a factory; — any one of these conditions will not only fail to develop strength and individuality on the part of those who do the real work of the schools, but will crush out what of these qualities the workers may possess. Just as a strong and capable parent, by deciding every- THE EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT 18S thing for a child, and directing all of his important actions, may crush his individuality and initiative and leave him weak-willed, so over-direction by supervisory officers may produce the same result in a teaching force. The teachers become dependent upon authority, want everything which they are to do definitely laid out, and in time become me- chanical workers devoid of all professional interest and en- thusiasm. On the other hand, just as a good teacher tries, as rapidly as possible, to make himself unnecessary to the pupil by training him to think and act for himself, and by showing him where and how to get information and how to secure results, so a good supervisory organization tries to make itself unnecessary, in many matters, by training teachers to act independently and to think for themselves. Personnel of the supervisory organization. In a small city, such, for example, as is provided for in the educational organization shown in Figure 12, the organization will of necessity be quite simple, and the large proportion of the superintendent's time and thinking must of necessity be given to the work of the educational department. He and his principals must represent the supervisory organization, and together must carry out the community educational policy. At most, such a superintendent can hope to have only a few special supervisors, and these perhaps for only part time. The salaries, probably, will be quite moderate, and the character of the principals and supervisors only mediocre, so far as training, experience, and educational in- sight are concerned. Such a situation demands that the superintendent furnish most of the vision and inspiration necessary to lead to effective work. In a sense he must con- duct a normal school, with his supervisors, principals, and teachers as the students, showing them what is to be done, why it should be done, and how best to do it. In a medium-sized city, such as is provided for in the 184. PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION educational organization shown in Figure 13, a larger and presumably a better supervisory corps will be available. A woman assistant superintendent for primary work, another assistant who can help in directing the administration of the courses of instruction and in testing results, a half-dozen special supervisors, and a number of presumably better- trained school principals, will now constitute the supervisory corps. In a still larger city, such as is provided for in the edu- cational organization shown in Figure 14, that is a city of 80,000 or 90,000 inhabitants or upwards, the staff would consist of one or more assistant superintendents, a number of supervisors of special subjects, and a still larger corps of presumably still better-trained and more-experienced school principals, now supervising a number of different types of schools. To coordinate, direct, and keep this staff up to his own high conceptions for the educational service, and through them to reach down to the children for whom the schools after all exist, is the peculiar task and the large opportunity of the superintendent of schools as the executive head of the educational department. Let us now examine the peculiar characteristics of each main group of such a supervisory organization. Assistant superintendent and supervisor. The assist- ant superintendent, except in a somewhat rudimentary form, will not exist except in the larger cities, — cities from 40,000 to 50,000 and more. Special supervisors exist in most of the smaller cities and often, in their duties, shade into assistant superintendents. This is especially true of the supervisors of primary and upper-grade work. These officers constitute the superintendent's cabinet for the administration. of the department of education, and the character of this cabinet is of fundamental importance to him. Upon their educational insight, largeness of vision, THE EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT 185 ability in administration, discretion, tact, personal loyalty, and frankness in cabinet discussions must depend, to a large degree, his success or failure in the administration of the schools. They are not merely deputy administrators, but in a special sense they are his counselors and advisers, and the representatives of the superintendent and his educational policy before the teachers and the public. They act through his authority and in his name, and they must be able and willing to assume their proper share of the responsibility for the successful administration of the schools. Cabinet solidarity. This educational cabinet, too, must be a constructive cabinet, one which will discuss plans freely and frankly with the superintendent, be discreet enough not to talk outside about matters still under consideration, and able to carry into realization plans once decided upon. This calls for a body of men and women who can develop cabinet solidarity, who have sufficient insight and training to sense the purpose of what is proposed, sufficient enthusiasm for an ideal to enable them to enter fully into the plans and policy and ideals of a superintendent, and that personal force which will enable them to carry to the teachers in the service that fire and enthusiasm which carries plans into realities and unites a teaching force behind the purposes of the system. Such a cabinet is of large service in guiding the system, sensing the feeling of the teaching staff or of the community, removing misunderstandings, and averting storms. Any system of educational administration that is worth much will tend to outrun the understanding of the community, and oft times also that of the teaching force. Misunderstandings, personal enmity, and political attack must be expected to appear from time to time. Most often such troubles are due to a simple lack of understanding of what is proposed, but sometimes they arise from the unwillingness of certain 186 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION teachers to work, the desire of some politically inclined prin- cipal " to put the superintendent in wrong " with the com- munity, or the pure charlatanism of some editor or politician in the community. Progress calls for continuous education, and, while the attacks may be exasperating, explanation of purposes to teachers, and the continuous education of the public to understand what the schools are trying to do, are among the surest means for warding off or minimizing the effect of such attacks. In sensing and reporting the feeling of the teaching staff, and in explaining plans both before teachers and the community, the members of the superin- tendent's cabinet have an important part to play. The man or woman who lies down in the harness and refuses to pull at such moments is not worthy of a place in a supervisory corps. The personal equation. The importance of proper selec- tions for such positions can hardly be overestimated, and is seldom appreciated by boards of education. The individual equation is a very important element here. Men or women who will not or cannot cooperate, who lack personality and enthusiasm, who cannot bear responsibility easily and well, or who do not have broad views as to educational purposes or processes, should neither be selected nor retained in such positions. The real basis of the efficiency of the supervisor lies, after all, in the largeness of his conception of the func- tion of public education in a democratic society; in the ideals he has for his part in the work; in his judgment of values in dealing with teachers; in his knowledge of the community need for what he is supervising; in his good common sense and practical ability, as shown in his dealings with situa- tions and people; in his courtesy, fairness, and gentlemanly ways; and in his ability to impart to others his own high ideals as to work and his own enthusiasm for helpful service. A superintendent, though, if he is the type of a superin- THE EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT 187 tendent he should be, can hardly expect his associates to see things at first from quite as large or as mature a point of view as he does. It must then be one of his important functions to think out and to unfold his ideas and plans to them; to stim- ulate their thinking on and frank criticism of them; and to awaken in them something of his larger conception as to educational service. A superintendent who can measure up to such a standard, and who can extend such helpful lead- ership to those associated with him, can in time develop a strong and forceful administrative corps and a good sup- porting body of teachers, because under such leadership all those who are useful members of the organization come to feel that they are working toward reasonable and attainable goals. Relations of superintendent and assistant. An assistant superintendent bears a peculiarly confidential relation to a superintendent of schools. A primary supervisor in a small school system occupies much the same position to the super- intendent. Each must be the superintendent's " right-hand man." As such an assistant's time is given more to schoolroom visitation than the superintendent's can be, he comes to be in closer touch with the teachers, and to have a bird's-eye view of the whole situation. His opinion on many matters can be of much value to his superior. Seeing teachers in all parts of the school system, he forms a much truer estimate of their worth and effectiveness than do school principals, and an important part of his work should be the discovery of talent and capacity and the advising of the superintend- ent as to the placing of such qualities so as to result in the greatest advantage to the school system.^ 1 "His time is spent in the schoolrooms, — observing, listening, judg- ing, encouraging, praising, suggesting, correcting. Using data thus gained, he should be ready to consult with the superintendent at any time, and to 188 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION He should be able to sense the superintendent's policy and to adapt and elaborate it as special needs may require, and without continually bothering the superintendent for in- structions as to details. In particular he should strive to economize the superintendent's time by being willing to take a temporary assignment of a part of his responsibility and authority; by directing him as to where he can most quickly see the best in instruction or the particular needs of the schools; by giving him notes as to conditions, progress, or needs for use in teachers' or principals' meetings; and by not taking too much of his time himself. To be ready for a con- ference when a conference is desired, to be able to talk to the point and not too long, and to know when to leave, are valu- able characteristics in one who has to deal with a busy man. He must also be able and willing to draw conclusions, to state his evidence, to shoulder responsibility, and, if occasion demands, to stand behind his guns.^ Such a relationship calls for a degree of intelligence, courage, loyalty, and savoir- faire which is not especially abundant in this world. The special supervisors. In by far the large majority of our cities, as has been pointed out, the cabinet organization will be very small and very simple. A few special supervisors for special branches of instruction, with perhaps a primary report skillful teachers who deserve recognition and promotion; misplaced teachers who should be transferred to other grades or other sections of the city; incompetent teachers, with a statement of their specific defects; crying evils which should be rectified as soon as discovered; questionable practices which need to be considered and modified; special courses which merit ex- tension; sources of strength and weakness in the schools as a whole." (Alice E. Reynolds, in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1904, p. 265.) 1 "The all important attribute of an assistant in his relation to tb superintendent is an absolutely candid frankness. The man who dehven an ambiguous opinion, who hesitates to express a conviction, or who dis- likes to be quoted when an issue is at stake, will prove a poor sailing mate in rough weather." (Alice E. Reynolds, in Proceedings of National Edu- cation Association, 1904, p. 266.) THE EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT 189 supervisor added in the medium-sized cities, will constitute the usual supervisory staff. In all of the smaller cities, how- ever, the school principals can and should be included as a part of the cabinet group for the consideration of plans and procedure. It will be well, in any case, for the special supervisors, — penmanship, drawing, music, cooking, sewing, man- ual-training, school-gardening, playgrounds, — if they are thrown into somewhat close contact with the principals and the primary supervisor. One of the important matters which superintendents of schools should look after, in the admin- istration of the educational department, is that of prevent- ing a narrow specialization in the work of his special super- visors. In a twentieth-century American school system it is important that a supervisor's view as to his own respon- sibility be broad. The mere specialist, who thinks of little else than proficiency in his own special subject of instruc- tion, is of relatively little worth. His enthusiasm for his own subject is of course valuable, but if it serves to obscure his vision of the larger interests of the school system as a whole it is not a healthful enthusiasm. A superintendent should see that his specialists, while encouraged to do good work in their respective lines, nevertheless keep their subjects sub- servient to the larger purposes which the schools as a whole are attempting to carry forward. This breadth of view, in the smaller city organizations, he must usually develop in them. The instruction in each special subject should con- tribute something toward enabling boys and girls to fill efficiently the spheres of life possible for them, as well as impart mere technical and measurable ability in subject matter.^ ^ "It is the business of a general superintendent of schools jealously to defend a general liberal education for children against the inevitable at- tacks of special supervisors, who so naturally try to monopolize most of 190 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION The school principals. Whatever other supervisory oflS- cers may or may not exist for the purpose of coordinating and improving the administration of a school system, the unit of supervision is naturally the individual school,^ and the principals of the schools become the instruments through which such supervisory control is exercised. We are not likely to overestimate the importance of the oflSce of school principal. As the superintendent of schools gives tone and character to the whole school system, so the school principal gives tone and character to the school imder his control. "As is the principal, so is the school," is per- haps a truer statement than the similar one referring to the teacher. In the administration of a school system the office of school principal should be magnified. ^ Whatever can be done to add strength and dignity and responsibility to the the general teachers' time and energy in teaching and worrying about their special subjects. If he expects special supervisors to be strong in their special fields, he must be equally so in the general field." (M. C. Potter, in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1913, p. 297.) ^ In a few cities, notably Indianapolis and Baltimore, a group system for principalships is in use. Under this plan, one central school containing the upper grades, and sometimes the lower as well, has three or four surround- ing primary schools, containing only the lower grades, attached to the central school for purposes of supervision. The four or five schools thus form a group, often designated by a letter, and the sixty to seventy-five teachers are under a supervisory principal, who in consequence partakes a little of the nature of an assistant superintendent. A good description of such a plan may be found in the Report of the Commission appointed to study the public schools of Baltimore, pp. 49-53. 2 "I would make the position of school principal one place of fixed and definite responsibility, and I would magnify and dignify that position and oflBce. I would have him feel the responsibility of the place he occupies. I would do my work with his school through him. I would have every- thing pertaining to his school pass through his hands, both to and from. Questions and complaints, whether of parents, teachers, or pupils, should be answered, adjusted, and settled either by him or in his presence. I would have all parties, however, and particularly the principal, understand that an appeal from all decisions was always in order, provided the prin- cipal be first served with notice of such appeal." (A. B. Blodgett, in Pra" ceedings of National Education Association, 1903, p. 226.) THE EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT 191 office should be done, with the view to making each principal feel that his work is large and important, and that he must keep constantly growing if he is to continue to measure up to the demands of the position.^ The knowledge, insight, skill, and qualities for helpful leadership of the principal of the school practically de- termine the ideals and standards of achievements of both teachers and pupils within the school. The best of super- visor^'' organization cannot make a strong school where the principal is weak and inefficient, while a strong and capable principal can develop a strong school even in cities where the general supervisory organization is notoriously weak and ineffective and the professional interest of the teachers notoriously low. The mere fact that helpful supervision is so predominantly personal in its nature and methods gives to the office of school principal a large potential impor- tance. ^ The term "potential importance" is used advisedly, be- cause, taken generally over the United States, perhaps the weakest place in our city organization and administration to-day is found in the principalship of our elementary schools. Few who hold such positions have had any training for the work, and many have come to their position without any special fitness for the service. Many principals give their time almost entirely to administrative duties and do little supervisory work, though the latter ought to be their most important function. Of those who do supervisory work, many fail to make their supervision helpfully con- structive to the teachers supervised. Often the principals are not wholly, or even largely to ^ In the figures given in the preceding chapter (Figs. 11-13) note how the hnes of authority converge to and radiate from the principal. ^ The second book of this series on school administration is devoted en- tirely to the work of a principal in the administration of a school, and sets forth much more in detail the importance of this office. 192 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION blame for such a condition. Too often the principal is given almost no authority to vary anything, or to depart in any way from the rigid uniformity prescribed for all from above. Under such conditions the supervision easily degenerates into inspection, and the principal stands in the school, not as the helpful leader and inspirer of his teachers, but as the representative of a system imposed upon all by those in authority above. He keeps the records, times the teachers, manages the fire drills, carries the keys to the supply-room, and hands out the chalk to the teachers. Even good prin- cipals gradually lose their energy and their capacity for usefulness under such an administrative organization. ^ Increasing their effectiveness. It should be one of the purposes of a good supervisory organization to break up such a condition. The superintendent in almost any Ameri- can school system probably will need to spend much time and effort on the professional education of his principals. It is important that he do this. He must build up in them good educational conceptions, give them something of his own vision and insight, develop in them ideals and stand- ards for work, and awaken a desire on their part to excel. This will involve the breaking up of rigidity and uniformity in the school system, the placing of responsibility with them for results rather than the following of a uniform plan, the development among the principals of a guiding philosophy and a theory of supervision, and the weeding out of those who will not devote themselves to a serious study of the problems which concern their work and their school. At the principals' meetings, which should be relatively frequent, the general policy should be outlined in a series of straightforward and candid talks. The best results in the schools of his own or of other school systems should be pre- ^ See the Portland School Survey, chap, in, and chap, viii, subdiv. 6, for a good illustration of the deadening effects of such a system. THE EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT 193 sented. The difference between oflBce-chair administration and clerical perfection on the one hand, and helpful and constructive supervision on the other, should be clearly set forth. The means by which administrative efficiency is at- tained should be presented, and common defects in schoo/ administration and supervision pointed out.^ The more ex- perienced and sagacious of the principals should be asked to explain their methods and plans of work, that the young, cranky, and unwise ones may be benefited by such a pre- sentation. Ideals and standards for work should be formu- lated, and ways and means of extending helpful supervision to teachers set forth. Underlying pixrposes of the supervisory organization. While the superintendent and his assistants must of neces- sity guide and direct and prevent waste in instruction, the difference between helpful supervision and mere inspection should ever be kept prominently in mind. Supervision should mean help, encouragement, and support rather than inspection and criticism. Money spent on supervisors whose chief work lies in enforcing the obedience of all to uniform rules and regulations, checking-up and percenting the school work done to see if it tallies with the course of study laid down, manipulating the details and the red tape of the ad- ministrative machinery, and tracking down violators of the prescribed rules, is money wasted, and its effect on a teach- ing force is positively bad. Instead, the underlying purpose of supervision is to break up any such tendencies, to extend liberty of action so far as liberty can be shown to be used intelligently, to place a premium on initiative and individuality, and to infuse a teaching force with such concepts of the purpose and means and ends of education as will lift their work above sordid 1 The Salt Lake City School Survey Report, chap, in, describes a good example of such service with a body of school principals. 194 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION details and make it seem to them truly great and worth while. With such a guiding conception means become less important than ends, and the careful following of regula- tions of less moment than the exercise of an intelligent individuality. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. Should a board of education, on its own initiative, ever — (a) Order a study taught in a certain grade? (b) Order a study taken out of a certain grade? (c) Order the character of the instruction changed? (d) Order a certain form of patriotism taught? (e) Forbid the observance of an event or a birthday in the schools? 2. Should a committee of the board, or individual members of it, ever — (a) In visiting a school, openly criticise the work of a teacher? (&) Find fault with a principal as to his conduct of the school? (c) Give directions that anything should or should not be done? 3. Should a board, by rules and regulations, ever require — (a) All cases of discipline to be reported to it? (&) That its permission be asked to enable teachers or schools to hold exhibits of their work or meetings with parents? (c) That principals of schools be required to secure its permission before inviting any person to speak to the pupils of the school? 4. Should a superintendent of schools feel it necessary to ask the approval of the board, or a committee of it — (a) To permit a teacher to vary from the adopted course of study? (6) To authorize an educational experiment in connection with the instruction of some class, or school? (c) To give permission to the teachers to entertain the parents of the children at the school? (d) To close a school thirty minutes early to hold a teachers' meeting? 5. Should a board ever require that teachers and principals should not enroll in study courses during the months the schools are in session? 6. Point out some of the means of professional leadership which may be used by a superintendent of schools. 7. Suppose a board finds that the superintendent of schools does not really know what to do in educational matters, cannot lead, and has no cour- age or executive force, and still has two years of his term to serve. What should the board do in such a case? 8. Why is a good woman supervisor of primary work one of the most de- sirable assistants a superintendent can add to his force? 9. If you were a superintendent of a small city and could have $3000 a year for special supervisors, how would you spend it to get the maxi- mum educational returns for the money invested? THE EDUCATIONAL DEPAETMENT 195 10. Three small cities, located near one another along a trolley line, can afford only about $2000 a year each for special supervision. What is the best plan you can suggest to enable each to get the maximum benefits from such an expenditure? 11. Suppose you were called to the superintendency in a city which for a long time had had a weak supervisory organization, and teachers, prin- cipals, supervisors, board of education, and the community were not acquainted with any better way: how would you go at it to institute a strong supervisory organization? 12. Distinguish between an administrative organization and a supervisor] organization; between administration and supervision. 13. Why is a system of fines, as described in the Report of the Portland School Survey, not conducive to the development of a strong supervis- ory organization? 14. Illustrate types of service of the members of the supervisory staff in educating the teachers and the public, so as to ward off criticism and prepare the way for further progress. 15. What would you do, in an administrative way, to increase the impor- tance of the office of school principal? 16. What would you do if you wanted to train your principals to render helpful supervisory service? Outline your plan. 17. What would you do when you find that half of your principals cannot shoulder responsibility, or render any supervisory service of value? 18. Many writers object to the term assistant superintendent, and propose inspector instead. Does this term express the purpose of such a super- visory officer? What would be a still better term to use? 19. Fourteen recommendations for reform are given at the close of chapter ni of the Report of the Portland School Survey. After reading this chap- ter, discuss the desirability and feasibility of each of the first thirteen recommendations . TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT 1. What are the chief duties and functions and services of assistant super- intendents, in cities of moderate size which have such officials. 2. What are the chief duties and functions of a supervisor of primary work in cities employing such a person? 3. How does the group system of schools, with a supervisory principal for each group, as in Baltimore or Indianapolis, seem to compare in edu- cational efficiency with the principal-for-each-school plan? Which plan is the more expensive for a city to follow? 4. Make out a list of a half dozen topics of a kind such as a superintendent might need or desire to discuss with his "cabinet," in a city large enough to have such, aside from the principals. 5. Do the same for the principals' meetings in such a city. 196 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATIOlSf 6. Do the same, for a small city, where one special supervisor and a few principals constitute the entire supervisory staff. 7. Do the same for meetings of the special supervisors, in which the super- intendent's underlying purpose will be to broaden their conceptions of the educational purpose. SELECTED REFERENCES Allen, J. G. "The Supervisory Work of Principals "; in School Review, vol. I, pp. 291-96. (May, 1893.) A very good article on the work and personality of a school principal. Chancellor, W. E. Our Schools; Their Administration and Supervision. 434 pp. D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, 1904. Chapter IV, pp. 104-32, is a very good and readable chapter on the organization and work of the supervisory oflBcers. Chicago, 111. Report of the Chicago Educational Commission. (1899.) 248 pp. Univ. Chic. Press. Article III, pp. 32-57, on the system of supervision, deals with the work of super- intendent, assistants, and principals, and the powers they should be given to insure effective work. Clark, M. G. (Same topic as Hunter.) Proceedings of National Education Association, 1913, pp. 303-07. Very good on the characteristics of superintendent and supervisors. Davidson, P. E. "The Professional Training of School Officers"; in Edu- cational Review, vol. 46, pp. 473-91. (December, 1913.) Describes the proper professional equipment of a school principal, and analyzes his work and duties. A good article. Elliott, E. C. City School Supervision. 250 pp. 1914. World Book Co., Yonkers. (Part of the New York City School Survey Report.) Chapters IV and V deal with the school as the unit of supervision, and the work of the district superintendents. A somewhat detailed analysis of administrative and supervisory conditions in New York City. Farrington, F. E. "The Equipment of the School Supervisor"; in Edu- cational Review, vol. 35, pp. 41-51. (January, 1908.) A very good article on the training and qualifications needed for a principal or a supervisor. Hunter, Fr. M. "How can Supervisors and Assistant Superintendents render the Most Efficient Service in their Relations to Principals and Teachers?" in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1913, pp. 300-03. Very good on the place of the superintendent in such service. Kendall, C. N. "The Management of Special Departments"; in Procedings of National Education Association, 1904, pp. 271-76. Good on the mutual relations of superintendent and special supervisors, and the organization of special supervision. THE EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT 197 Kennedy, J. "The Function of Supervision"; in Educational Review, vol. I, pp. 465-69. (May, 1891.) A very good article on the characteristics of good school supervision. McMurry, F. M. Elementary School Standards. 218 pp. World Book Co., Yonkers, 1913. (Part of the New York City School Survey Report.) Part III, chapters 12-16, sets up standards for supervision and draws conclusions as to the character of supervision existing. Nelson, B. E. "How can the Ward School Principal be of Most Service?" in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1909, pp. 324-26. Good on the administrative and supervisory work of a principal. Portland, Ore. Report of the Survey of the Public School System. (1913.) 441 pp. Reprinted by World Book Co., Yonkers, 1915. Chapter III, on the system of supervision, describes a weak supervisory organiza- tion. The necessary changes are listed at the end in a series of recommendations. Potter, M. C. "The Relation of Supervisory Assistant to the Superintend- ent"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1913, pp. 296- 99. A good paper, followed by a good short talk on the same topic by J. J. Keyes. Potter, M. C. "Qualifications and Functions of the Ward-School Prin- cipal"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1909, pp. 322-24. A very good article on his personal qualities and work. Reynolds, Alice E. " The Assistant to the Superintendent, — his Functions and Methods of Work"; in Proceedings of National Education Associa- tion, 1904, pp. 264-71. A very good article. Salt Lake City, Utah. Report of a Survey of the School System. (1915.) 324 pp. Chapter III, on the administration of the educational department, describes a good supervisory system. CHAPTER XIV THE TEACHING CORPS I. Selection and Tenure In addition to superintendents, special supervisors, and principals, the educational department also includes that large body of persons who give instruction in the different schools and are known collectively as the teaching corps. The selection, assignment, designation for retention, and further training of these constitutes, where he is permitted to exercise such functions, an important part of the work of a superintendent of schools. 1. The selection of teacliers The selection of teachers. Every school system needs a few additional teachers each year to replace those who re- sign, are removed, or die; to meet the natural growth of the city; and to provide for new types of instruction added. Even in cities where population is practically stationary a few new teachers will be needed each year, while in a rap- idly growing city the annual selections may run into scores or even hundreds. ^ To see that only the best available ma- terial is selected for the vacant and new positions is an important duty, often neglected, resting upon the city schooA authorities. In some cities the new teachers are selected largely by 1 In the Portland Survey Report (chap, iv), statistics were given showing the number of teachers needed for the preceding thirteen years, and the statement was made that at that time (1913) about one hundred new teachers were required to meet the needs of this city of approximately 250,000 inhabitants. SELECTION AND TENURE OF TEACHERS 199 the superintendent of schools, his selections being approved by the board of education; in other cities the city board of education makes all the selections, sometimes without even consulting the superintendent about the matter; but in most of our cities the selections are, in large part, the work of the superintendent and board acting together, each trying to do what is best for the schools. The early method. In the earlier days of our educational work, when there were but few trained teachers anywhere, when school supervision was in its beginnings, and when the demands made upon the schools were comparatively simple, the selection of teachers by boards of education answered the needs of the situation fairly well. The passing of a simple written examination, given by an examining committee or by the county superintendent, and the issuance of a teach- er's certificate, answered all demands on the scholastic and professional side. On the personal side, which was the important one, the members of the teachers' committee of the school board, as well as the other board members, were visited by the differ- ent applicants and importuned by their friends; the per- sonality and special needs of the applicant were given due consideration; and, consciously or unconsciously, the per- sonal friendships, church relationships, and party affiliation of male relatives all played their part in determining who were to be selected by the board. The teachers' committee finally made its selections, formally reported the list to the full board for approval, and the board either adopted, or modified and then adopted, their report. The schools being regarded in large part as a local undertaking, and the theory that any one could teach who could govern being the chief pedagogical belief of the time, it followed that outsiders were seldom selected, and that the bright and attractive graduate of the last class in the local school system, the 200 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION daughter of the estimable citizen, the young lady who needed to help her widowed mother, or the widow or the deserted wife of a former local resident, were the natural persons selected to share the public bounty and to teach the children of the community in the schools. Where the schools had been taken possession of by the local politicians, some local boss, instead, had to be seen, and he dictated all the appointments made by the board. Defects of this method. This earlier method has per- sisted, in whole or in part, in many of our American cities, but it is now being rapidly replaced by one more likely to result in the selection of a better type of teachers for the schools. There are two main defects in this earlier method. In the first place, boards of laymen are not specially com- petent persons to make such selections. However honest they may be, they are more or less unconsciously influenced by local considerations which have nothing to do with the fitness of the candidate for the position of teacher. Personal appearance of the candidate and sympathy for her counts with them far too much; professional merit and adaptability to the work of instruction, for which they have no standards for judging, count for far too Httle. Professional preparation and success are not appraised at their full worth, and hence their possession is not especially encouraged in applicants. The result is that not only are improper persons often selected for teaching positions, but the educational and pro- fessional standards of those individuals in the community who decide to take up teaching are seriously influenced by such bases for selection. This lowers the professional tone and tends to keep down the professional compensation of those already in the school system. The professional ideals and the conception of professional competency on the part of the teaching force are not stimulated, and the task of the superintendent in improving the instruction in the schools SELECTION AND TENUKE OF TEACHERS 201 is, as a result, made much more difficult than is necessary. Ultimately the children in the schools and the community as a whole pay the price of the school board's attempt to exercise such a professional function as the selection of the teachers for the schools. In the second place, the range of selection is usually much too narrow. Boards of education almost always wait for applicants, and then select from those who apply. The local candidate has the inside track under such a plan, can bring plenty of local pressure to bear, and usually secures the position. This tends to keep the home schools for the home girls, when as a matter of fact the home girls are not the equal of girls equally well prepared from the outside, unless they have gone away from home for their training. It is an important part of the training and life experience of a young person to go away from home, to get new ideas from others and to be influenced in new ways, and to come in contact with new people and gain new points of view. In no line of professional work is this more important than in teaching. Importance of guarding appointments. Few more impor- tant duties rest upon a superintendent and a board than that of guarding carefully the entrance to the position of teacher in the public schools. It is much better to keep out unprepared and improper persons in the beginning than to try to dismiss them later on, while the damage they do in the schools is prevented. Even at the best the superintend- ent and his supervisory officers will have enough to do to train the newcomers and those already in the system to new work, and to educate them to larger ideals, without having the task made unnecessarily difficult by the addition to the system of those who have no real place there. Just how far a superintendent can go in guarding this entrance to the work will vary much in different communi- ties. In some the salaries paid will be so low that trained 202 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION teachers from the outside cannot often be attracted to the service, and the home girls accordingly come to expect the vacant positions as soon as they have finished the high- school course. In other communities the salaries may be high enough, but the community ideals for public education are low, and the board of education has never attempted to change conditions by setting standards which ought to have been enforced. In still other communities good salaries and good educational and professional standards, strictly en- forced, make the work of selecting new teachers an easy matter. Fundamental principles of action. One of the first steps in improving conditions surrounding the selection and re- tention of teachers is to get rather clearly in the minds of the board and the community generally certain fundamental principles of action which relate to the work of the schools. These may be stated briefly, as follows : — 1. Schools have been ordered established by the State for the education of the children of the State, and each child in the community is entitled to as good an education and as good teachers as the community can afford. 2. Only the best education within the means of the community should be provided, and this can be the case only when the teachers and supervisors employed are the best it is possible to obtain with the money at hand. 3. The schools exist, in no sense, to afford places for teachers. No one is entitled by right to a teacher's position, except od the one basis of being the best-prepared and the most profes sionally in earnest teacher available. In no way should the schools be made local family affairs, or used for local chari- table, political, social, or religious purposes. 4. The question of where a teacher comes from is absolutely irrelevant. " Home girls" have no prior claim to the teaching positions, and, if they desire to teach in the schools, they should be required to make a preparation the equal of that ol the best of the applicants from elsewhere. 5. Teachers within the system must keep th^nselves profes SELECTION AND TENURE OF TEACHERS 203 sionally alive and render good community service as a condi- tion to the retention of their places. 6. While any one may file an application for a position, the board should reserve the right of passing over ail applicants, and of inviting specially competent teachers from elsewhere to fill positions, even though such have filed no formal applications. 7. The continual selection of teachers who have had little or no educational experience outside of the city or of the immediate community tends to result in an inbreeding process which is inimical to the best interests of the children in the schools. A certain percentage of new blood from time to time is desirable, and should be drawn into the system from abroad. To establish such principles of action may require time and tact and community education, but their final estab- lishment is of fundamental importance to the welfare of the schools. Standards which should prevail. Another step in im- proving the conditions surrounding the selection of teachers is to get certain definite standards of competency formu- lated and adopted by the board of education. Such give both the board and the superintendent a foundation to stand upon, and eliminate the most poorly prepared of the applicants. The standards which ought to prevail generally in city school systems may be stated, briefly, as follows : — 1. No one should be considered for a position as a teacher in a kindergarten or of a special subject or type of instruction who has not been graduated from a four-year high school, or equivalent institution, and in addition presents evidence of having made satisfactory special preparation, as certified to by diplomas or other credentials. 2. No one should be considered for a position in an elementary school who has not been graduated from a four-year high school, of equivalent institution, and, in addition, been grad- uated from a normal school. A year of teaching experience in some other place would be a still further advantage. 3. No one should be considered for a position in an intermediate school who has not, in addition to the requirements for an elementary-school position, had at least two years of work in 204 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION a college or university, or, in lieu of the above, been graduated from a college and had either practice-teaching, or one year of classroom experience. 4. No one should be considered for a position in a high school who has not been graduated from a college or university of standing, and who has not made special preparation to teach the line of educational work for which the candidate applies. 5. Before final election each candidate must file with the super- intendent of schools : — (a) Evidence of the possession of a valid teacher's certificate of the proper grade, or credentials which will entitle the candidate to such.^ (b) A certificate from the health supervisor of the city schools, if there be such an oflicer employed, and from a local phy- sician designated and paid by the board of education, in case no health supervisor is employed, stating that the candidate has been examined by him and found to be free from defects of hearing or contagious disease, and of suf- ficiently sound bodily vigor to undertake the work of in- struction in the schools. ^ 6. The superintendent should also be satisfied that the appli- cant is of high personal character, free from bad habits, and likely to exert a good influence over pupils. In a small city, in which the above principles of action and standards for the employment of teachers prevail, the snper- iatendent will not find the selection of good teachers and ^ In some cities the superintendent of schools is, or forms a part of, the examining committee which certifies all teachers for the schools of the city. As a certificate to teach is academic in its nature, being based on the satis- factory completion of certain training or the satisfactory passing of certain examinations, it should be considered largely as a state authorization of employment and the payment of school funds to the holder. This is essen- tially a state or county function, and should be so handled. The employing and certificating functions should be separate, and the superintendent should not be subjected to the double local and personal pressure to cer- tificate as well as to employ. 2 In the case of persons so distant as to make such a requirement before election an unnecessary hardship, this requirement might be temporarily waived and the candidate elected, subject to such an examination before beginning work, A certificate from a health director in another city might also, in special cases, be accepted. SELECTION AND TENURE OF TEACHERS 205 principals a difficult matter if the salary schedule is the equal of that of surrounding cities. If the salary schedule is much lower, or if low standards as to employment are the rule, he will have continual difficulty in securing the kind of teachers he wants. One of his important services, then, in the education of his board and the community will be to try to bring about better conditions surrounding entrance to and pay for the work of instruction. Methods of selecting teachers. The usual method by which the teacher problem is handled in most of our smaller cities is that by which the board of education, working largely through a committee on teachers, works in cooper- ation with the superintendent of schools in the selection and retention of teachers. If the superintendent is a man of good judgment, — fair, honest, and knows what he wants, — he can have his way in most cases. Honest and well-meaning boards tend to depend upon his judgment, and to follow his advice. In the smaller cities this is often not a bad plan to follow, the superintendent gradually building up his strength until the board virtually turns such matters over to him to handle. The chief difficulty with the method lies in the fact that boards change rapidly, and the power of the superintendent one year may be entirely replaced by committee control a few years later. The matter is of such fundamental im- portance to the successful conduct of the schools that the superintendent should be guaranteed certain legal rights in the matter of the nomination of teachers. No one can be more interested in securing the best teachers available than is the superintendent of schools; no one knows the needs of positions better than he; no one is likely to be able to discriminate better as to preparation, professional attitude, and adaptability than is he; and no one is less likely to engage in nepotism or politics or to be 206 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION influenced by pull than he. He will from time to time make some mistakes, to be sure, but he will make a much smaller number than will teachers' committees or boards of educa- tion. Of almost equal importance with good selections, in the case of new teachers, will be the maintenance of as high professional standards as the salary schedule will permit, and the effect on the teachers in the schools of this concen- tration of authority in professional hands. Right rules of action. The board, as a representative of the people in the control of the schools, should have the right to approve or disapprove of the superintendent's selec- tions, though without the right of initiating substitute ap- pointments themselves. The following principles of action covering the matter represent conditions which ought to prevail: — 1. The superintendent of schools should nominate all teachers, principals, supervisors, and assistant superintendents, in writing, to the board of education for election or for promo- tion. In the case of elementary-school teachers the election should be to a position in the schools, all assignments to posi- tions being left to the superintendent. 2. The board may either confirm or disapprove his nominations, but should have no power of substituting other names of its own choice.^ 8. In case any nomination is disapproved, the superintendent should then nominate a new person for the position. 4. The board should be permitted to elect, without such nomina- tion, only in case the superintendent refuses to make a nomi- nation. 5. The members of the board of education should refer all ap- plicants to the superintendent of schools, and refuse to dis- cuss positions with them. To this end the board should an- ^ In the Report of the Chicago Educational Commission (p. 45), it was recommended that the superintendent make all appointments, promotions, transfers, and dismissals of teachers, reporting each action to the board of education, and that his action "shall stand as final, unless disapproved by a majority vote of all the members thereof, not later than the second meet- ing after the report is made." SELECTION AND TENURE OF TEACHERS 207 nounce that, by rule, it has given the power of nomination to the superintendent, and that the members do not desire ap- pUcants or their friends to visit them on the matter. 6. In a city where a competitive examination sj'stem is in use. the board should refuse to see applicants or their friends in- dividually, and should announce that the attempt so to visit them will be regarded as unprofessional conduct, and will prejudice the applicant's chances of securing a position. Bases for selecting teachers. It is well for the superin- tendent of schools to have some system of rating applicants, by which he can defend his selections should they be called in question. Certain elements should enter into the forma- tion of judgments, and such should be given proper weight. These should include : — 1. Professional preparation and experience. A low grade being given for the minimum preparation and experience required by the rules, or for too much experience under poor conditions, and increasing for larger preparation and valuable experience, up to a certain maximum grade. (For example, to 25.) 2. Evidence as to professional success. No general letters of rec- ommendation to be considered. Candidates to submit names of persons engaged in educational work who can speak as to their training and teaching success. From these, or others, confidential letters to be obtained, and the evidence rated. This rating may also be based, wholly or in part, on seeing the candidate at work in a schoohoom. (For example, to 40.) 3. Personality and adaptability to the work of instruction. Based on a personal interview. (For example, to 25.) 4. Physical examination by the health supervisor, or by a de- signated physician. (For example, to 10.) A combination of these ratings should show something as to the relative rank of the candidates. The competitive examination. In large school systems, where the number of applicants and vacancies are both large, a fifth element is often introduced, namely, a com- petitive professional examination,^ and this, too, is given 1 This examination is not for purposes of certification, but is profes- sional in its nature. To enter it the candidate should hold or have creden- 208 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION its proper rating. The ratings earned under each of the five heads are then added together and the candidate is given a ranking number which places him or her for the purpose of election to a teaching position.^ When such a competitive system is put into use the following principles of action should prevail : — 1. On the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the board should elect, from those highest on the list, and without unnecessary delay, a number equal to or nearly equal to the estimated number of new teachers needed at the beginning of the following year. 2. Further selections should be made, in each case, from the three remaining highest on the list. 3. For satisfactory cause the board may, on recommendation of the superintendent, subsequently remove any name from the numbered list. 4. Position on the list automatically to end after one, one and a half, or two years, as may be most desirable. In giving such competitive examination the written test should involve enough questions and enough choice to give a candidate a chance to show what professional conceptions he or she has, and the personal examination should be long enough and intimate enough to enable the authorities to measure the candidate properly. ^ tials for a legal certificate, valid in the city for the kind of position for which application is made. The examination should offer the candidate the choice of a certain number of questions, say five, to be selected from a Ust of say ten, and dealing more or less directly with the problems of in- struction in the schools. 1 For example, suppose a candidate's average for all points was 87.3 per cent, and this placed the candidate No. 62 for an elementary-school position, out of 85 candidates. Suppose also that the city needed from 60 to 70 teachers a year, about 40 to 45 in September, and the remainder during the year. Such a candidate would better hold her present position until January, and then could hardly expect more than a call to the sub- stitute list. A candidate whose number was 20 could expect election to a position at once. 2 The personal examination need not necessarily be taken at the same time as the other tests, but might be given at any time. In a large city SELECTION AND TENURE OF TEACHERS 209 Electing applicants vs. hunting teachers. One of the best features of the competitive-exammation plan is that teachers from the outside are placed on a plane of equality with the home girls in the matter of securing positions. Personal merit now counts instead of personal pull, and the result under such a system, if the salary schedule warrants, is to draw into the city the best teachers in that part of the State. Where the superintendent has full power to nominate all teachers, and makes an effort to search out good teachers elsewhere, the entrance is almost equally easy to compe- tent teachers from the outside.^ This is as it should be. A city has so much money to spend for teachers to teach its children, and it should spend this money so as to get the best educational results. To es- tablish a good salary schedule and then limit competition to home girls, is to waste money. If good salaries are to be paid the market should be wide, and the offerings should be looked over carefully. This involves the hunting of teachers, instead of sitting down and waiting for appli- a special examination board, consisting of two assistant superintendents and three principals, might be created to meet candidates any Saturday morning, during certain months. The average rating of the five could be filed as the personal examination rating. ^ Superintendent Carr, in an address before the National Education Association {Proceedings, 1905, p. 183), laid down the following rules for increasing the efficiency of our public school work: — 1. Create a greater public desire for good teaching by demonstrating the difference between the counterfeit and the genuine article. 2. Break down the Chinese walls which seem to surround many towns and cities, and employ good teachers wherever they may be found. 3. Eliminate politics, nepotism, favoritism, and the whole brood of like isms from the management of school affairs. 4. Magnify the office of teacher. 5. Make the tenure of office for good teachers absolutely secure; ab- solutely insecure for poor ones. 6. Promote for efficiency; dismiss for inefficiency. 7. Protect professional teachers from ruinous competition with non- professionals. 8. Pay teachers in proportion to the service rendered. aiO PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION cants. It should be made one of the superintendent's func- tions to hunt up good teachers, investigate them, and be ready to nominate them to the board, as needed. Most school boards are reluctant to give the superintendent such authority, though few things that they could do would do so much for the improvement of the schools. Some day, when school supervision becomes more of an expert service than it is to-day, the right of nominating all teachers for appointment will be given to superintendents by general state law.^ The tendencies in this direction are already clearly marked. 2. The tenure of teachers The usual plan. It was customary once to engage teachers for only a single term, the school year being divided into two or three terms. In a few scattered localities this plan is still followed, but in most communities the yearly election is the plan most commonly in use. Not only has election for a full year been authorized, but, so thoroughly has the annual conception as to schools been established, our state laws have also commonly forbidden contracts extending be- yond the close of the official school year.^ Still more, school- board rules not infrequently require all teachers to file an- nual written application for the retention of their positions, and each spring the formal annual election of teachers for the ensuing twelve months is the chief educational event of the year. Some of the most disgraceful occurrences associ- ated with the administration of public education in our ^ Quite a number of our cities have changed their rules so as to pro- vide for this; a number of bills to this effect have been introduced into recent legislatures; and Ohio has so provided for its cities by general state law. 2 In a few States a longer tenure is now permitted. In Massachusetts, for example, teachers who have served one year in a town or city may be elected "at the pleasure of the school committee." SELECTION AND TENURE OF TEACHERS 211 cities have taken place in connection with these annual elections of teachers.^ Each year the teaching force is overhauled by the board of education, formal conferences are held between the board or its teachers' committee and the principals of the schools, written charges are filed, formal hearings in special cases are sometimes held, teachers are kept in a condition of worry for weeks, and the board finally, after a great show of ac- tivity, drops a small number of teachers from the schools, and elects others to their places. Not infrequently much injustice is done. Sometimes the first notice a teacher has that her work has not been satis- factory is when she reads in the morning paper that some one else has been elected to the position she has held. Teachers, too, are sometimes dropped over the protest of the principal and the superintendent. More commonly, however, the injustice is the other way, teachers being re- tained who have been recommended for dismissal by both principal and superintendent, and others being elected whom the superintendent has opposed. In the annual scramble for places the interests of the children, for whom the school exists, are at times almost forgotten. Under such conditions the teachers soon recognize that their principal and superintendent are powerless to protect them, the best teachers go elsewhere or leave the work for some more attractive form of employment, while those who remain are rendered timid, and often hesitate to do their duty for fear of giving offence to some person of influence. The result is a condition of unrest in the school system which is not good for the schools. If we add to the above conditions a system of supervision which is inspectional rather than ^ See Miss Salmon's article for many concrete cases. Also see an article in the Educational Review (vol. 25, pp. 538-39), entitled "What ought not to be possible." 212 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION professionally helpful, is characterized by a lack of leadership and inspiration to effort, and a rigid, somewhat uniform, and sometimes senseless series of requirements for all, we get a situation which serves to keep teachers in a state of nervous tension which is most irritating. The uncertain tenure of teachers. Compared with em- ployees in other lines of work, the school teacher, under the annual-election plan, is not accorded the tenure of position given to street- or steam-railway employees, general business employees, policemen, firemen, or government clerks. None of these have to apply over and over for positions which they have been filling acceptably, nor run the chance of annual election with its attendant accidents and surprises. So long as these persons render efficient service they retain their places, and when they cease to do so they are first warned, and then perhaps transferred to a less important position, and finally dropped. Even the itinerant Methodist minister is treated better than are teachers in some of our cities. As a legal fact, every teacher, principal, and super- visor is automatically out of a position at the close of every school year, and the burden rests upon them to see that the school board reemploys them, instead of the burden resting upon the school board, as it ought, to dismiss those it does not want to retain, and explain their reasons for doing so. This condition is in part a tradition from early times, and in part the result of a board of rapidly changing laymen attempting to exercise professional functions. They have not the professional insight to enable them to see far enough to plan and to carry out a consistent educational policy for the schools; they lack standards for professional compe- tency; they are too subject to pressure; and in their official actions they are usually vacillating and uncertain. It is not an uncommon thing for a board of education, after much talk about the importance of efficient service, to drop SELECTION AND TENURE OF TEACHERS 213 twenty to thirty teachers, and then later, when the relatives, friends, and newspapers begin a defense of those dropped, to reinstate all those for whom the greatest pressure has been exerted. True, a good superintendent, vested with power, would in some cities at first remove more teachers than the board does, but this would be because the board has for long elected persons not fitted to the service, and has not insisted on the maintenance of professional standards by those in service. True, also, that in many cities teachers need give little thought to the matter of retaining their positions, reelection being a mere formality, and every satisfactory teacher knowing that retention is certain. Where such con- ditions prevail there has usually been a long period of com- munity and school-board education as to the purpose of public education, and the politician has been replaced by the superintendent in the selection and retention of teachers. The life-tenure movement. The result has been that the teachers in a number of our cities have gone to the legislature and secured laws giving them virtual life tenure. In large part the teachers have been driven to this by the incompe- tence and injustice of school boards in handling the matter of appointments, but the desire to escape from the pressure for personal improvement has also been an actuating motive with some. There is usually a provision in these laws that teachers may still be dismissed, after a public trial, for im- morality, incompetency, or insubordination, but practically no teachers are so dismissed in cities having this life-tenure plan. Formal written charges must be filed, notices of trial served, and the person charged may be represented by at- torneys. Nominally it is a trial of the teacher against whom charges have been filed, but in reality it is always the super- intendent and the principal who are put on trial. Often the publicity and the personalities of the trial leave 214 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION the teachers and the pubHc in no good frame of mind toward the schools, and the damage done by the public trial and the newspaper notoriety is often not repaired for months to come. Any attorney, without difficulty, can create a bad situation for the superintendent and the board at such a trial. Parents, whose sympathies have been worked upon, are summoned in numbers to testify for the teacher; the superintendent and the principal who testify against the teacher are bullied and grilled; and the board, in its efforts to protect witnesses against a browbeating lawyer and to bring the hearing to a conclusion, can be led into technical errors during the trial, and on these an appeal to the courts can be based, in case the board dismisses the teacher, with the practical certainty that the courts will regard the pre- ponderance of common evidence and the technical flaws as more important than the professional evidence submitted and the interests of the children in the schools. The almost certain result is a legal reinstatement, with full back pay. The result on the schools is thoroughly vicious.^ Effect of life tenure on the schools. That all teachers who are reasonably efficient at the time such a law is enacted will continue to be so ten or fifteen years in the future, any one who has had much to do with teachers or who under- stands human nature knows will not be the case. Most teach- ers keep themselves alive -and growing, even under adverse conditions, but there are others who render their best service when under the influence of a constant but gentle spur. Such is only human nature, and teachers are no exceptions to this rule. For certain teachers, one of the surest means for producing inefficiency is to take away this constant 1 San Francisco forms a splendid illustration of this situation. There the courts reinstated teachers, dismissed after trial, with such regularity that both the board and the superintendent have practically given up all attempts at bringing charges against teachers. SELECTION AND TENURE OF TEACHERS 215 incentive to growth, activity, and personal endeavor by granting them life-tenure after a somewhat limited service. The effect is also demoralizing to other teachers in the schools. From the ease with which teachers can secure life- tenure legislation from legislatures one would think that the popular conception of schools is that they exist chiefly to provide positions for teachers. If our purpose is to develop a self-satisfied and an unpro- gressive teaching force, to ruin our American public schools, and eventually to turn education, for those who can afford it, over to the private and parochial schools to handle, leav- ing public schools to minister to the needs only of the poorer and more ignorant classes, then life-tenure laws for teachers and principals is one of the surest means for doing this. So large and so important a public business as education — where personal growth is so necessary to meet changing needs — cannot be successfully conducted on such a basis of employment. Life tenure for all efficient teachers there should be, but it should come as a deserved reward for faith- ful and efficient service, and not as a guaranteed legislative right to all. A middle ground. Between these two extremes lies a middle groimd which is just both to teachers and to the schools, and that is indefinite tenure. When a new teacher enters the service of the city, in any capacity, he or she should be under observation for two or three years, varying somewhat with different teachers and different positions, and during this time there should be annual reappointments, on the recommendation of the superintendent. After this pro- bationary period has been successfully passed, the teacher should then either be reelected for some long period, say four or five years, or placed on indefinite tenure. Under the former the position would be guaranteed for the period stated, subject to reconsideration at the end of each such 216 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION period; under the latter the annual elections would cease for all time, the teacher being merely continued in the service from year to year without any action on either side, and un- til such time as the board, for cause, and upon the recom- mendation of the superintendent, should see fit to terminate the contract. This right to terminate the contract for cause is an impor- tant right, and should not be denied to school authorities. To deny it is to say that the teachers' places are more im- portant than the educational rights of the children. No superintendent who is wise will desire to dismiss many teachers or principals. If a teacher or principal will cooper- ate it is easier to educate them than to dismiss them, and far more pleasant. If superintendents were given legal con- trol of the selection and designation for retention of all teachers, so that boards of education and their committees were deprived of all powers in the matter except the ap- proval or the disapproval of the superintendent's recommen- dations, the question of the dismissal of teachers would, in most communities, occupy a less important position. Still, good teachers do not always continue to be good, and an occasional removal will need to be made for the welfare of the service.^ Terminating the contract. The notice of dismissal should in itself be given under certain definite conditions which are just to both sides. In the first place, no teacher should be ^ "The removing power is of more importance than the appointing power. Appointees must be tested. There is no official power of divination in the choice of subordinates. Failures are conspicuous in every business, public and private, large and small, in making the first choice. Personal elements are often more potent than mental ability. Scholarship is not everything. Certification may cover, but not eradicate, sins. Therefore, whether this appointing power remains where it is now so jealously guarded, or is subjected to various experiments, the ultimate reform must take care of the removing power, as to which oiu" school systems are lamentably wettk." (J. C. Hendrix, in Educational Review, vol. 3, p. 262.) SELECTION AND TENURE OF TEACHERS 217 liable to a termination of contract for failure to render sat- isfactory services who has not been notified of the deficien- cies, and given an opportunity and reasonable assistance to remedy them. If improvement does not result, sufficient to warrant the retention of the teacher, the superintendent should then recommend that written notice be served on the teacher, for specified reasons, to the effect that the board desires to terminate the contract with the teacher to take effect at the close of the school year. If the board ap- proves the notice should be given to the teacher, and not later than the last day the schools are in session during the school year, and when so served the contract with such teacher terminates at the end of such school year. For the sufficiency of the reasons for terminating the contract the superintendent and the board should be the sole judge, without the meddling of lawyers or the interference of the courts. Teachers not so notified continue in service from year to year.^ This middle ground is equally just to both sides. The usual condition is not just to teachers, who have spent years in making preparation for a lifework of service, and the life-tenure plan is not just to taxpayers or to the chil- dren in the schools. The latter certainly have rights as well as the teachers. The middle ground gives practically life tenure to every worthy teacher and school officer, but merely reserves to the board of control for the schools, acting on the recommendation of their chief executive officer, and only after helpful advice has failed to bring the desired im- provement, the right quietly to remove from the schools those who should not be there. To say that a school board 1 Teachers who do not desire to retain their positions should, in turn, notify the superintendent in writing not later than a certain date, to be sure of proper release. In general, though, most school superintendents are always willing to release a teacher who is offered a better position else- where, as soon as the position left can be properly filled. 218 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION has such power by trial, under the Kfe-tenure laws, is to cherish a delusion. The machinery of such action is of course provided, but the difficulties in the way are such that it can seldom if ever be carried to a successful con- clusion. In addition, the notoriety and the bitterness en- gendered by such public trials is demoralizing to the schools, and should be avoided by both sides in the interests of the children and the good name of the schools. Supervisory officers and tenure. Principals of schools, supervisors of special subjects, and assistant superintendents of schools should be given the same tenure as teachers, — that is, indefinite tenure. Any efficient supervisory officer will have no difficulty in maintaining his position under such tenure. When we pass to the superintendent of schools, however, the conditions of tenure, in the interests of efficient service, should be somewhat different. A superintendent stands for a different quality of service from that rendered by a teacher, and to a large degree from that rendered by, a principal or a special supervisor. It is primarily his business to plan and to lead. At times he must direct, at times he must show backbone in resisting improper plans and people, and occasionally he must put his back against the wall and fight. He ought not to be a pugnacious individual, but he will not be true to the interests he serves if he is not willing to stand firmly for right principles of action in school affairs. A superintendent in a modern city must belong to the vertebrate, and not to the jelly-fish, class. To enable him to stand by his guns when submission or retreat would be shameful, he needs protection from flank attacks, so that those who would indirectly beat him ^^own in his efforts to protect the educational interests of the children under his care may be made to fight him in the open and face to face. The two flank movements usually made by boards of SELECTION AND TENUEE OF TEACHERS 219 education, in the process of reducing a superintendent to submission, are to attack his tenure of office and his salary. To prevent this, a superintendent of schools, after possibly a trial period of one year, should be elected for certain definite periods and covering a reasonably long time, — four or five years are perhaps the most desirable terms, — and during such term of office the board of education should not be permitted to dismiss him except for serious cause, ^ and then only by a practically unanimous vote (four fifths or five sevenths, for example). Neither should the board be permitted to reduce his salary at all during his term of office. This gives the superintendent freedom from attack along these lines for a certain definite period of time, during which he can plan and carry out a definite educational policy. No better method for reducing a superintendent to subjec- tion could be devised than an annual reelection, along with the teachers, or a longer tenure coupled with an annual salary determination, and it is the method employed by boards of education all over the United States to enable them to retain their control of the schools. Under the plan suggested above, at the end of such a four- or five-year period, the superin- tendent should expect the results of his work to justify his actions and should be willing to have his services reviewed and reappraised. In a position where so much depends upon the efficiency of the individual, and where efficiency at forty may so easily change to inefficiency at fifty or fifty- five, a periodical review of a superintendent's services is very desirable. Life tenure for superintendents would be an even more serious mistake than for teachers. ^ It is perhaps desirable to give a board of education the right to remove a superintendent, after trial, for immorality, incompetency, or willful neglect of duty, the deposed superintendent having, in turn, the right to appeal the decision to the chief school officer of the State, who should pass on the sufficiency of the evidence and should have power to reinstate a su- perintendent unjustly (Msmissed. 220 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Assistant superintendents. As was pointed out in Chap- ter XIII, assistant superintendents bear a particularly con- fidential relation to the superintendent. Upon their loyalty, efficiency, and thorough cooperation much of a superin- tendent's success depends. They represent his cabinet, and he should have large powers of choice in their selection. To elect a new superintendent, to represent a new educational policy, and then to weight him down with a body of assistant superintendents who represent an old and displaced regime or an antiquated conception of education, is something like tying a millstone around his neck and then expecting him to swim. In the interests of efficient service an assistant superintendent should be on the same indefinite tenure as previously described for teachers, so far at least as the assistant superintendency is concerned, being subject to re- assignment to a subordinate supervisory position, on the recommendation of the superintendent, at the close of any school year, if in the judgment of the superintendent the assistant is not satisfactory for the type of service desired. A progressive and capable superintendent cannot carry out a progressive educational policy if his chief lieutenants are weak, reactionary, or disloyal, and permanency of tenure should not be expected in such positions. Assignment of the teaching staff. In all elections of mem- bers of the teaching corps the election should be to the educational department, and not to a specific position, unless the superintendent should desire so to specify in recom- mending the election. In any case all assignments to posi tion, and all transfers from position to position if the same do not involve a change in salary, should be wholly in the hands of the superintendent of schools. He should know or be able to find out, and better than any one else, the peculiar demands of the different positions and the peculiar strength or weakness of individuals, and he should be able to effect SELECTION AND TENURE OF TEACHERS 221 a nicety of adjustment of teachers and principals to posi- tions such as no board of education or teachers' committee can. All promotions within the staff should also be made by the board, on his recommendation. Also on his recom- mendation, and for proper reasons, the board should have the right to transfer teachers or supervisory officers to less responsible positions, and carrying a smaller salary than that previously paid.^ QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. How are teachers selected in cities that you know? 2. Should the application blank, which candidates are asked to fill out for the city educational authorities, ask for the religious affiliation or church preference of the candidate? Why? 3. Why do low standards in the selection of teachers tend to lower the professional tone of a teaching force? 4. Do such also tend to keep down wages? 5. Why is selection from the list of appHcants likely to be less desirable than the hunting of teachers? 6. What would you think of a superintendent having a form of letter, which he sends to good teachers elsewhere, inviting them to make application for a position in his city? 7. Why is a low salary schedule nearly always associated with low pro- fessional standards in the teaching force? Under what conditions might such not be the case? 8. Do a high salary schedule and an efficient teaching force go together? Why? 9. Assume that you have just been elected superintendent of schools in a community where the standards for selection and retention of teachers have always been low. What steps would you take, and about how long would you expect it to take you, to educate the board and community up to proper principles of action: — ^ No business corporation could pay dividends if it adhered to the prin- ciple, followed by most of our schools, of always paying a teacher or a principal the highest salary they have worked up to in the school system, regardless of the service rendered. Only the very poorest, the dishonest, or the profligate are discharged by most corporations, but men are fre- quently transferred to positions carrying less responsibility and salary, and others are put in their places. The efficient are promoted and the inefficient are reduced. Such a plan applied to teachers would enable a superintendent to retain some teachers whom otherwise he ought to displace entirely. 222 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION (a) If the community is poor and can pay only relatively small salaries? (6) If the community can afford good salaries? 10. Is the daughter of a large taxpayer any more entitled to a position than the daughter of one who pays little or no taxes? 11. Assuming that "home girls" have no more right to positions than girls from the outside, are there good reasons for choosing such if they are the equal in training of outside teachers? 12. In quite a large city, do you think it desirable to select all teachers for the elementary schools from those educated and trained in the city? 13. Why is a physical examination and a health certificate a desirable requirement on the part of teachers? Should janitors also be required to comply with such a requirement? 14. Would it also be desirable to require teachers in service to take such an examination either (a) periodically, or (b) on request? Should teachers and other employees of the school department have the privilege of such an examination, at their own request, from the school health officer? 15. Would the recommendation of the Chicago Educational Commission as to the power of the superintendent to appoint and report, and the board to veto, be a better plan than the board's approval or disap- proval of the superintendent's nomination, in the case of teachers, principals, supervisors, etc., in (a) a large city? (6) a smaller city? 16. Compare college presidents and city superintendents in the matter of the selection and appointment of teachers. Compare college teachers with public-school teachers in the matter of tenure. 17. Why is it desirable that candidates for positions should not visit school-board members? If the school board or its teachers' com- mittee desire to see candidates, how should it be done? 18. Do you know any cities where such standards of action in the matter of the selection of teachers prevail? 19. In how small a city, and under what conditions, would you think it desirable to introduce the competitive examination for applicants for teachers' positions? 20. What are some of the disadvantages of a competitive examination, on fixed dates, in all but the largest school systems? 21. Would the competitive examination idea be applicable to high-school or special teachers? Why? 22. Does the argument for indefinite tenure for teachers appeal to you as sound? If not, why not? 23. Is it desirable to reinstate a teacher who has once been dismissed? 24. Why, after a teacher has proved his or her efficiency by five years of useful service, is it unsafe to assume that such person will be an effi- cient teacher after a lapse of fifteen years? 25. What reasons do you see for so many promising superintendents de- clining in efficiency after they have passed fifty years of age? SELECTION AND TENURE OF TEACHERS 223 26. What consultative rights, in the matter of the selection, assignment, or transfer of teachers, should be accorded to — (a) The principal of an elementary school? (6) The principal of a high school? (c) The head of a department in a high school? TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT 1. Draw up a form of application blank for candidates to fill out who apply for a position in your city, indicating in such what you would desire to have them give you. 2. Draw up a form of inquiry blank such as you would like to use in looking up their references, and writing to others about their training and success. 3. Assume that the board of education employing you has begun to think of the desirability of ttirning over to you the duty of sorting out and nominating all teachers for election, and has asked you to make a report to the board, setting forth the arguments for the pro- posal and against the present plan. Draw up such a report, in the proper form, and show on what basis you would propose to sort out and nominate teachers. 4. Assuming that you have been superintendent at the city of X for some years, that the board of education and the community have come to have confidence in your judgment, fairness, and professional skill, and that the board has finally become convinced of the desira- bility of revising its rules relating to the employment and tenure of teachers so as to bring them into harmony with your recommenda- tions, which we will assume to be those of this chapter. The board, by resolution, directs you to so revise that division of the rules and regulations and to submit your revision to them for approval. Draw up such a re^'ision. 5. Make up a form which you would use in grading the probable eflB- ciency of applicants for positions in your city. 6. Look up and report upon the estimated efficiency of the competitive- examination system for the selection of teachers as worked out in such cities as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Albany, Lowell, or New York City. SELECTED REFERENCES Ballou, F. W. The Appointment of Teachers in Cities. 202 pp. Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1915. A critical and constructive study. A constructive plan for appointing teachers 13 appended. Blewett, Ben. "The Merit System in St. 'Louis"; in Proceedings of Na- tional Education Association, 1905, pp. 241-44. Basis of appointment, and reports on the efficiency of teachers and principab as a basis for retention. 9SA PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Chicago, 111. Report of the Educational Commission. (1899.) Chapter IV is good on the examination, appointment, and promotion of teachers. Draper, A. S. "The Crucial Test of the Public Schools"; in his American Education, part i, chap. vi. An excellent article on the difficulties and the dangers of the teacher problem ia large cities. Draper, A. S. Necessary Basis of the Teacher's Tenure. 41 pp. Bardeeii» Syracuse, 1912. An address given before the New York State Teachers' Association. Draper, A. S. "The Teacher and the Position"; in his American Education, part IV, chap. vi. Also in Educational Review, vol. 20, pp. 30-43. (June, 1900.) A good statement as to contracts, tenure, and the mutual obligaflons of board and teacher. Dutton, S. T. " The Expediency of importing Teachers of Approved Merit from without a Town or City"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1904, pp. 322-26. A very readable article. Dutton, S. T., and Snedden, D. S. The Administration of Public Education in the United States. (2d ed., 1912.) Chapter XV, on the teaching staff, contains a number of statements of fact bearing on the subject-matter of this chapter. Eliot, Chas. W. "The Teacher's Tenure of OflSce"; in his Educational B&» form, pp. 49-58. A brief but clear statement on the subject. Hendrix, J. C. "The Best Method of appointing Public School Teachers"; in Educational Review, vol. 3, pp. 260-64. (March, 1892.) A good article by the then president of the Brooklyn Board of Education. Hunt, W. A. "The Relation of the School Board and the Teachers"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1900, pp. 625-31. A statement of an ex-president of the Minnesota Association of School Boards. Monroe, Paul {editor). Cyclopedia of Education. See articles on "Certification of Teachers"; "Teachers, Appointment of"; and "Tenure of Teachers"; for good brief statements as to existing practices. Portland, Ore. Report of the Survey of the Public School System. (1913.) 441 pp. Reprinted by World Book Co., Yonkers, 1915. Chapter IV, on the election and tenure of teachers, gives a number of good illus- trations which back up the argument of this chapter. Rafter, A. L. "The Merit System of Rating and Rerating Teachers in Boston"; in Educational Review, vol. 40, pp. 193-200. (September, 1910.) Describes the system in use, and points out its advantages. Salmon, Lucy M. "Civil-Service Reform Principles in Education"; in Educational Review, vol. 25, pp. 348-55. Contains many illustrations of mismanagement by boards, especially with reference to teachers' positions. CHAPTER XV THE TEACHING CORPS II. Training and Supervision Whatever plan or plans are employed in selecting teachers, and whatever demands as to training and experi- ence are made of candidates for positions, teachers entering the force need to be stimulated to increase their prepara- tion, and the classroom work which they do needs helpful professional supervision. These two features of the teach- ing problem will form the subject-matter of this chapter. i. The training of teachers Leavening the teaching corps. The corps of teachers with which a school system starts each year ought, taken as a whole, to be an improvement over the corps of the preceding year, but this desirable condition cannot be unless the new teachers entering the force rank higher in training, teaching skill, and personal culture than the average of the teachers pre\dously in service. Whatever plan is devised for selecting teachers, it is important that the incoming teachers should contribute something to the leavening of the whole corps. A superintendent ought, each year, to be able to feel that, in consequence of the good selections made, the teachers entering his schools are an improvement over those of pre- vious years in education, training, and teaching skill. Such a condition materially lightens the duties of the supervisory corps, because the constant introduction of such a stream of new teachers brings new ideas, new enthusiasm, and new standards of educational and professional preparation to all. 226 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Professional standards for entrance. To this end, as was pointed out in the last chapter, good standards for academic and professional preparation should be established by the rules and be insisted upon for all. For present-day city school work, graduation from a good high school, with a good two-year normal-school course in addition, is not too high a standard to insist upon from elementary-school teachers, and at least one year of teaching experience else-- where would add still further to the teacher's equipment for satisfactory service. Also graduation from a good college or university, with special preparation ip. some line or lines of secondary-school instruction and some professional study in addition, is not too much to demand of teachers for the high school. With the recent multiplication of good normal schools in our different American States, the increase in the number of colleges offering both academic and professional education, and the increasing percentage of trained teachers, it has become relatively easy for a city, which has anything like a satisfactory salary schedule, to make and to enforce such academic and professional demands. As was stated also in the last chapter, it is an important part of the education of the candidate to have gone away from home for this professional preparation and early class^ room experience. It is a valuable element in the train- ing of any one to go away from home, to come in contact with people of different ideas and ideals, to. learn new ways and new methods of doing things, and to have one's horizon enlarged by rubbing up against people who look at things somewhat differently from the home people. The home girl who has had such an experience will contribute much more to the strength of the school system when she enters it than the one who has never had such an experience. The local training-school. As a means for insuring that the new teachers entering the elementary schools shall have TRAINING AND SUPERVISION 227 had some professional training for the work, a number of our cities have estabhshed a local city normal school, or training- course, where the high-school graduates who desire to teach in the elementary schools of the city may first be given some professional preparation for the work of instruction. Most of these teachers' courses were established twenty oi thirty years ago, when salaries were lower, normal schools were weaker, and trained teachers were much less common than is the case to-day; and many of the courses have consisted very largely of practical work, being more in the nature of apprentice schools, with only a small amount of time given to theoretical instruction. Within recent years, due in large part to the development of state normal schools and the increase in the number of trained teachers, there has been a tendency to abandon such com'ses in the smaller cities, and materially to improve those in the larger ones. If home girls only or very largely must be taken for ele- mentary-school teachers, due either to a low salary schedule or to peculiar local conceptions as to the filling of places, the training given in such schools or classes, and the observation and assistance work in the schools, do much to offset the disadvantages occasioned by such an unsatisfactory basis of selection. In the smaller cities such courses are often de- fended on the ground that they are far better than nothing, and that without such a course all the new teachers would enter the service without any professional training what- ever. Limitations to such training. All such plans for securing a trained teaching force are, however, subject to a number of limitations which make it difficult for any except the largest cities to provide anything like an adequate professional preparation for the work of teaching. In the first place, no city of less than 200,000 to 250,000 228 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION inhabitants^ can afford to provide the material equipment or the staff necessary for such a school. This equipment and staff should be at least the equal for the work attempted of that provided in the better state normal schools. The equipment should be good, both in building and teaching material; the teaching staff should be able, in part drawn from outside the city, and especially selected with reference to the city's problems; and the instruction offered should be such as to attract the best, rather than the poorest, of the high-school graduates. No city of less than 200,000 popula- tion has a yearly demand for a sufficient number of teachers ^ to warrant the expense of preparing them, if the preparation is properly made.^ Most cities would find it far better, and cheaper as well if the amount of money spent on the training is what must be spent to get the right kind of results,^ to abandon all attempts to train their own teachers, increase * There were, in 1910, but fifty cities in the United States which had 100,000 inhabitants, but twenty-eight which had 200,000, and but nineteen which had 250,000. 2 Such a city will ordinarily need from forty to fifty new elementary- school teachers each year, while a city of 100,000 will not ordinarily need over twenty to twenty-five new elementary-school teachers yearly. From two to four per cent will represent displacements and resignations, while growth and development of the system will be represented by not over two per cent in a city whose population is about stationary, and from six to eight per cent in a growing city. Perhaps from three to ten per cent, vary- ing with the city, will represent the yearly demands for new elementary- school teachers. ^ One trouble with many of these courses — most of them in fact — is that they give an inadequate preparation and are too easy to get through. The practice work is often so overemphasized that it becomes apprentice- ship training, rather than thoughtful preparation for teaching, and the teachers turned out lack, in consequence, any fundamental philosophy for their work on which they can grow later. ^ A city training-school ought to be as well equipped for its work as is a city high school, and ought to cost about as much to maintain. It ought to be, too, distinctively a leader in the city's educational system, setting standards, initiating new plans, trying out experiments, stimulating personal improvement, and giving tone to the whole school system of the city. TRAINING AND SUPERVISION 229 their salary schedules, and try to attract to their service the best- trained teachers in the State. Effect of such courses on the school system. In the second place, such courses result in an inbreeding which is harmful to the school system. If the training-class turns out enough graduates to fill all vacancies, new teachers from the out- side have practically no chance to get in. The city having provided a training-school, the high-school graduates of the city having completed the course, and the city having placed its approval on them by graduating them, they and their friends naturally expect that they will be given positions in the schools. 1 Even when the number graduated is not suffi- cient to fill all the vacancies, the training-class serves to establish the idea that home girls are to have the home places, and other home girls, lacking the regular training, are usu- ally put in to supply the deficiency, on the theory that the training-school teachers, in their rounds with the appren- tices, will look after them also. Sometimes the presence of a training course opens the way to a most disreputable type of petty local politics. ^ The result of the process is an inbreeding which in time saps the vigor and strength of the school system. The pro- 1 Ayres, in his Springfield (Illinois) Survey, states that there the implied obligation, after thirty-two years' existence of the teachers' training-school, had become so clearly recognized that the school board placed those finish- ing the one-year training-course on the substitute list, at a low salary, until vacancies occurred. {The Public Schools of Springfield, p. 65.) 2 "Many a local training-school is an open door to inefficiency, and furnishes the petty politician an opportunity for putting into practice his pet theory of doing the thing that benefits the community. What he really does is to benefit a class at the expense of the entire community. ... If there is a local training-school the pressure of local politics is likely to be so strong that a very large percentage of local people who wish to teach will be admitted to the school, and will be allowed to remain there until they graduate, and then secure positions, irrespective of their ability to do the highest grade of work. This condition of affairs is true in many cities in various parts of the United States to-day." (W. F. Gordy, in Proceedingi of National Education Association, 1906, p. 125.) 230 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION spective teachers, often taught by training-teachers them- selves inferior in grasp and technical preparation to those holding similar positions in the state normal schools, re- ceive, to begin with, an inferior training. All, too, are trained alike; all learn to do the same thing in the same way; all get the same working conceptions of the educational pro- cess. As a result, the teachers in the city system gain little by professional contact with one another, and lacking con- tact with teachers who have learned other ways of doing things and have different conceptions and ideals, the result is a uniformity throughout the school system ^ which may de- light the heart of an office-chair superintendent who loves uniform procedure, but which is deadening to the real life of a school system. One of the most important steps in increasing the efficiency of such a school system is to stop this exclusion of outside ideas and experiences by abolishing the training-class, spending the money the class has cost on increased salaries, and beginning to invite into the system successful teachers who represent a different type of training and who can bring in new methods, ideas, and ideals. Even in a large school system, where a city normal school can be maintained to the best advantage, teachers from other school systems ought to be brought in continually, because of the new ideas and differing experiences they can bring. Training vs. attracting teachers. Some of our city school systems, in contrast with such a procedure, make a deliber- ate attempt to hunt out promising teachers elsewhere and invite them to make application for positions. In our best- 1 Ayres says that in Springfield his staff could tell a training-class grad- uate by merely seeing her conduct a recitation. (The Public Schools of Springfield, Illinois, p. 64.) In the Portland (Oregon) Survey it was reported that "it was the feeHng of the members of the survey staff, who inquired at all into the matter, that the poorest teachers seen in the schools were the products of this high-school training and pupil-teacher system." {Report of the Survey of the Public School System, p. 58.3 TRAINING AND SUPERVISION 231 managed school systems superintendents feel authorized to look up teachers in other places, and nominate them to the boards for appointment. The cities which handle the selec- tion of teachers best give large authority to their superin- tendents in such matters, putting the selection of teachers with them on much the same basis that college and univer- sity boards of trustees place the selection of their professors with the president of the institution. The result is that, if the salary standards and supervisory conditions warrant, such a city can draw to it the best of the normal and uni- versity graduates, within a wide radius, getting all the ad- vantages that come from a variety of training and teaching experience. Cities that can offer conditions which will appeal to teachers elsewhere are extremely short-sighted to attempt to train their own teachers, and in consequence cut off the possibility of employing better teachers than they can pos- sibly train. Training of teachers in service. Teaching is a calling which demands continual growth on the part of those engaged in it. The advance of our schools is so rapid that teachers who do not continue to increase their capacity for service in time cease to be of large usefulness to the system. To insure this continual growth calls for continual personal training, and not only should a certain amount of such training be expected of and required of teachers, but certain definite premiums should be placed on the efforts of teachers who voluntarily do more than is required.^ 1 "The principles and practices, the theory and the art of education, are constantly undergoiag, in common with all other phases oi civilization, modification and development. Likewise the field of education ia which instruction is given, and the habits which education seeks to form, are always changing. It is necessary, therefore, if the institution of education is to render its full service to humanity, if the public schools are to perform their full duty in the promotion of civilization, that every teacher, in so far as in his power lies, shall keep abreast of this development and change. No matter what the initial equipment of a teacher may be, he should 232 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Personal growth, outside of that connected with the mere technique of instruction, seems to be exceedingly painful to the ordinary teacher. The normal-school gradu- ate, who might be expected to have a desire to continue study, often feels that her entire preparation has been made. In school systems where the home-product idea of appoint- ment prevails, it is often hard to induce teachers to under- take independent reading or study. Yet the remarkably rapid progress of educational theory and practice in this country cannot but mean that those who will not keep growing soon become relatively inefficient public servants.^ The training that produced a satisfactory teacher for 1890 or 1900, or even for 1910, will not suffice for a teacher for 1915 be progressively efficient during his entire period of service. This means not that he should grow merely in those ways which are inseparably con- nected with his own individual experience, but rather that he should profit by the experience of the race in so far as it affects his own work." (H. Up- degraff, in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1911, p. 434.) 1 Superintendent Van Sickle classifies teachers in service, who are more or less in need of further training, into the following groups (see Proceedings of National Education Association, 1911, p. 437, for details as to each group) : — 1. Superior teachers, who need no other stimulation than their own ideals of excellence. 2. Teachers possessing a good degree of executive ability and adequate scholarship of the book-learning variety, but who resist change be- cause they honestly believe the old ways are better. 3. Teachers lacking adequate scholarship or practical skill, or both, self-conscious and timid, because unacquainted with standards of work and valid guiding principles, desirous of avoiding observation, and doing their work in a more or less perfunctory and fortuitous manner. 4. Teachers lacking adequate scholarship or practical skill, or both, but not conscious of this lack and therefore unaware of any need for assistance. 5. Teachers yet in the early stages of their service. Such usually have had some professional training, and from it have gained a profes- sional attitude. Supervision should try to get these teachers into class 1, and prevent their developing the characteristics of class 2, 3, or 4. Teachers in classes 1, 2, and 5 are willing to have their work seen and valued by competent and trusted supervisors. TRAINING AND SUPERVISION 233 or 1920. The teacher must know more, and her ideals for public service must have expanded along with her years of service. Teachers are in no way exempt from the same con- ditions which produce inefficiency in other professional workers. Teachers' meetings. The welfare of the schools demands periodical meetings with teachers, and such are everywhere recognized as an essential element in preserving the unity of a system of schools. These meetings are needed for con- sidering together the educational policy of the school system, for the discussion of certain phases of school work and the progress of instruction, somewhat for administrative and supervisory purposes, and for inspirational purposes. These different purposes call for school-building meetings, meet- ings of principals and supervisors, grade meetings, meetings of the teachers of special types of schools, and general meet- ings of all the teachers. A superintendent could well afford to devote two afternoons a week and one Saturday morning a month to such purposes. A few days a year could also be devoted to a general institute of all the teachers, where new ideas and new inspiration are imparted to the teaching force by carefully selected persons from the outside.^ The planning and direction of these different meetings will require much care and thought, but will well repay the effort spent upon them. A year's work should be outlined for each, and even a two- or three-year cycle may be planned. Each meeting should have some definite purpose, and the teachers who attend should be made to feel that the meetings are worth their time. If the superintendent 1 Miss Harris, a supervisor at Rochester, New York, describes {Proceed- ings of National Education Association, 1906, p. 120) a plan followed at Rochester by means of which five one-day teachers' institutes are held with the teachers of each grade each year, using the state teachers' insti- tute time, and reducing the teachers' meetings after school to a minimum. Such a plan is more applicable to a large city than to a small one. 234 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION is the master of his problem he will find in these meetings his own largest inspiration to effort, and he will reap returns from them in the increased ease of supervision and the more wholesome attitude of his teaching force toward their work which will well repay him for the time and energy they de- mand. If his school system is not too large he can, in this way, conduct a form of normal school with his teachers, enlarging their outlook, increasing their technical prepara- tion, keeping them in touch with the best educational prog- ress elsewhere, inspiring them to new efforts, and develop- ing in them new ambitions to excel. Reading-circle work. As an adjunct to or as a part of the meetings with teachers and principals, there should be some definite professional reading each year. This is one of the most effective agencies for promoting the growth of teachers in the service. The effect on a teaching force of a careful study each year of a few good books, pertinent to the work they are doing, is cumulative, and the result over a five- or ten-year period is certain to be large. The habit it tends to establish with teachers is no small part of the benefit derived from such a practice. It is certainly not unreasonable to expect grade and high- school teachers to read and discuss two good well-selected books of a professional nature each year, relating more or less directly to their work, nor to expect principals of schools to read at least half a dozen good books and some magazine articles bearing on their administrative problems. These need to be well selected, should not be the same for all in the service, should not be too difficult nor too far afield, and some options may well be allowed. Outlines for study, with pertinent and suggestive questions for thought and discussion, add to the value of such work. State reading-circles in this country have rendered a very important service in awakening a professional attitude on TRAINING AND SUPERVISION 235 the part of teachers, and the principle of the state reading- circle idea should be carried over into our city school admin- istration. It offers a superintendent an effective means for advancing the professional knowledge and enlarging the professional insight of teachers in service. Thousands of teachers in our States have been led to read and study professional books through the state reading-circle who would never otherwise have done so, and many teachers of little or no professional training have been stimulated to undertake a course of study in some professional school.^ The idea has made much less headway in our cities, particu- larly in the larger cities, but it could be and should be ap- plied to the needs of teachers there.^ It stimulates thinking on the problems of instruction, deepens professional insight as to the means and purposes of education, increases the effectiveness of supervision, and tends to develop a pro- fessional attitude toward the work of teaching. Leaves of absence for study. The carrying along each year of certain professional study with teachers also serves another purpose, in that it tends to stimulate in them a ^ The author has stated elsewhere his belief that the chief reason why so many men from the State of Indiana have become professional leaders in education, and why so many Indiana students are found each year in the leading summer schools, is that for thirty years the teachers of the whole State have been engaged in the study of professional books under the direction of the state reading-circle board. 2 For example, the whole field of health work in the schools has opened up so recently that only the most recent graduates of the best normal schools know anything about child hygiene or health work, yet such study is far more important in the equipment of a teacher than methods of teaching arithmetic. Within the past five years teaching how to study, and how to handle disciplinary cases, has assumed new importance. The idea of adapting work to individual needs and guiding students toward life-careers, all recent, is of much importance to upper-grade teachers. Few school principals know much about the supervision or testing of teaching, or even of the hygiene of their school plant. These are only a few of the many lines along which profitable reading and study could be conducted, in part in connection with teachers' and principals' meetings. 236 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION desire to undertake further academic or professional prepa- ration. To require teachers to carry on private study irr academic subjects and to pass examinations on such, while engaged in teaching, is of somewhat doubtful value. It may be and often is done at the expense of the instruction in the schools. To stimulate in teachers a desire to attend summer sessions and to take a year's leave of absence for travel or professional study is different in its results, and is likely to have the most favorable consequences for both teachers and the schools.^ Many superintendents, who must be regarded as authori- ties, contend that, after a certain number of years of service, most teachers reach a plane where they cease to make any substantial improvement without further study and train- ing. This point is usually placed at about the seventh or eighth year of teaching service. At this point these super- intendents contend that it is of great advantage to teachers to stop and spend a year in further professional study, and to this end a few city school systems have recently pro- vided for sabbatical leaves of absence for teachers, for pur- poses of travel or study.^ Such leaves are common in col- leges and universities, where professors are entitled to one year in seven free from teaching for purposes of travel or study, the institution paying them part of their salaries * A few cities, notably Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Pittsburg, have special funds from which grants may be made to meritorious teachers to enable them to travel or study. The Indianapolis fund, though small, has rendered a very important service in developing a professional spirit among the teachers. (See Blaich, L. R., " The Gregg Scholarships in IndianapoHs " ; in Elementary-School Teacher, vol. 12, pp. 461-62, June, 1912.) 2 Boston, Cambridge, Brookline, Gloucester, and Newton, Massachu- setts, and New Rochelle and Rochester, New York, are examples of cities which have made a beginning in the matter. In Boston, Newton, and Rochester one year on half -pay after seven years of service is granted, for travel or study; in Cambridge, one-third pay after ten years of service. (See article by Belcher, K. F., in Educational Review, vol. 45, pp. 471-84, May, 1913.) TKAINING AND SUPERVISION 237 while absent, usually one half. Such leaves, without pay, are also usually granted to professors at any time. These leaves of absence are granted by the colleges or universities on the theory that their gain from the plan, due to the increased efficiency of the service rendered after the professor's return, is worth more than the extra cost. If the theory that a teacher's efficiency reaches a point of dimin- ishing returns after a certain number of years of service is sound, and there is much reason to think that it is, the same principle of leaves applied to' public-school teachers ought to prove of much value to the schools. In any case, additional professional study along lines tending to increase classroom efficiency should be stimu- lated, and leaves of absence for full years should be granted to teachers, on the recommendation of the superintendent of schools. The common practice of boards of education of refusing to grant leaves of absence to teachers for further study has no educational foundation upon which to rest, and is based solely on the job-conception of the position of teacher in the schools. In the next chapter the value of such additional study in estimating salary rewards will be considered.^ 2. The supervision of teachers. Deficient supervision. In some of om- cities, it must be admitted, no problems involving the continuous education of the teaching corps, nicety of educational adjustment, nor a high degree of efficiency in the art of instruction, come in to disturb the even tenor of the educational administra- tion. A seK-satisfied and relatively stationary city of 10,000 1 This topic is touched on but briefly here. In another book in this series. The Administration of a School, the supervisory work of a school principal, which in a large city does not differ materially from that of a superintendent of schools in a small city, will be treated in some detail and the principles underiying helpful supervision will be set forth. 238 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION to 30,000 inhabitants, which has long been flattered by the assurance that "its schools are among the best in the land," is very likely to produce such a condition of affairs. The school board, assisted more or less by the superintendent of schools, employs the teachers and the principals and assigns them to their positions, and each teacher and each school sinks or swims according to its own ability. New and un- trained teachers are turned over to the principal of the school to develop, while normal-school graduates are re- garded as a finished product. The high school is left almost entirely to its principal, to manage as he sees fit. The super- intendent is a business superintendent, a building super- intendent, or an office man, who contrives to keep busy on easy work. He pays little attention to educational prob- lems, and when he visits teachers his visits are for social purposes rather than for real supervisory service. Down to about a certain level teachers or principals can drop without being questioned, if they are able to keep out of trouble and are loyal to authority; below that level, or if trouble- some, they are dropped, usually without much or any warning. The school system in a way slides along; home girls are awarded the places; teachers who know that things are not what they should be either leave or learn to say nothing; there is no attempt to educate the public on school matters; private and parochial schools flourish; the school board is satisfied; and the taxpayers make no complaint. Such a condition serves only to show how few people there are in such communities who possess any educational standards by which they can say that the school system is not what it ought to be. For a time, and often for a long time, a super- intendent can carry out such a bluff, but sooner or later he ought and must give way to some one who can introduce a real educational administration, and who can raise the TRAINING AND SUPERVISION 239 schools, and along with the schools the community con- ception of education, from mediocrity or less to a plane of real efficiency. Supervision of the wrong type. A somewhat higher type of supervisory oversight, but one thoroughly wrong in prin- ciple and disastrous in its results, is one in which the super- intendent is interested and efficient, but along wrong lines of action. The result is the production of a school system in which rigid uniformity is prescribed and enforced for all. The usual characteristics of such a supervisory system are a rigid and uniform course of study, usually based on definite page requirements in certain textbooks, an attempt to force all pupils through an identical course of instruction, uniform regulations as to methods of instruction and programs for work, and periodical general examinations of all classes, on questions based on the course of study and made out at the central office. The supervision then consists largeli ot b - spection to see that the teachers are following" > and are making proper progress; while th^ ^,a and tabula lloii .>: 'ht rusu^ts of the exammatio. . x the chart- ng of schools and.4eackeis as to efficiency based on the r.^uiU oi such periodical tests, come in as an important part of the supervisory service. Teachers under such a system become teachers of facts and textbooks rather than of children, while the ability to discipline and to cram in information sufficiently well to make it stick until the examination period is over, together come to constitute the chief essentials of the science of education demanded of the teachers. A teaching force, under such a system of so-called supervision, naturally ceases to grow professionally or to be professionally inter- ested in the problems of their work. Under such a system of supervision a superintendent rules by reason of the weight of his authority and the general lack of professional stand- 240 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTKATION ards on the part of his teachers and principals, rather than because of the support and backing which comes to him from the teaching corps due to the helpfulness extended to them by intelligent supervision. Need for helpful supervision. If the schools in any city are to render good service, there must be plenty of close, personal, and helpful supervision of the instructing corps. A superintendent of schools in a small city, and a super- visory corps in a large city, in addition to providing properly for the growth and development of the teachers in the school system by continuing their training, as has been indicated in the first part of this chapter, must also spend much time in helping them to improve themselves in the art of teaching. Composed, as the teaching forces in our American cities are, of so many women teachers who possess but the required minimum of professional training and who expect or hope to remain in the service but a short time, the supervision of instruction attains with us an importance which it does not have in countries where teaching repre- sents more of a life-career. Even the reasonably well- trained normal-school graduate requires much help at first to adjust herself properly to the work of a city school sys- tem, and to enable her, in the course of four or five years, to reach a maximum of efficiency with a minimum of mis- takes and struggle. The teacher with no professional train- ing naturally needs much more personal attention. Purpose of all supervision. The purpose of all super- vision should be constructive. The supervisor who goes about as an inspector, a detective, or a judge, will not render services of much value. He will never see the best work of any teacher, and the more the teacher is in need of assistance the poorer the quality of the work she will do beneath his critical eye. Neither is the dictator of much real assistance to teachers. Helpful leadership, rather than TRAINING AND SUPERVISION 241 dictation or criticism, is what teachers need. Mere criticism is deadening in its effect. Encouragement, suggestion, and practical demonstrations, with criticism only to serve as a basis for constructive help, should represent the super- visor's chief efforts.^ Kindliness, consideration, and helpful- ness are necessary to win the confidence of teachers, and unless teachers can feel that the supervisor is a friend inter- ested in their success, instead of a critical representative of the board or of the central office, helpful relations are not likely to be established between them. The purpose of supervision, too, is to establish a unity of effort throughout the schools, so that the part of each one in the education of children may be as effective as possible. Unity, however, does not mean uniformity, though this mistaken conception is commonly held. The object in all attempts to unify processes and procedure is to mitigate the evils of the graded system of instruction. This can best be done by securing a unity of purpose all along the line. Unity of purpose and cooperation in plan are what is de- sired. Sometimes, ofttimes, this unity calls for cooperation in carrying forward the ordinary daily work of the school — sometimes it centers about the educational policy which is to pervade the system. Means to this end. The supervisor must first of all try to establish good personal relations with the supervised. This will be done more easily if criticism is withheld at first, with a view to drawing out the teacher's best, which can * Mere criticism is easy and cheap, and represents a low order of scien- tific ability. There are many people in this world, of reasonably good train- ing, too, who are essentially destructive critics. They can see what is the matter, but they cannot offer any constructive plan. Such people may have their place in the world, but it is not in school supervision. Con- structive criticism represents a much higher order of ability and is harder to give, but constructive criticism is the only kind that 's of much value in school supervision. 342 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION then be commended. The teacher can thus be made to feel that she has the supervisor's sympathetic cooperation in the work she is trying to do. When things seem to go wrong or to be wrong, personal help to the teacher in her lesson planning, questioning, study assignments, seat work, time economies, and individual cases will do much to add to her confidence in the supervision. If the teaching needs im- provement, suggestions as to better ways or methods should be given, rather than criticism of what was done; while for the supervisor to take the class and teach it, with the teacher as observer and critic, will often prove a very valuable means of rendering aid. To tell a teacher that her work is unsatisfactory, because the results are unsatisfactory, is easy and cheap. Almost any person with a little teaching experience could become that kind of a supervisor. Under such a line of attack the schools would soon be relieved of a great many promising young people. Such work merely exchanges one untrained person for another untrained person, while a feeling as to the injustice of such supervision pervades the teaching force. Helpful and friendly relationships can never be established by such a type of supervisory service. After all, while larger knowledge is important and necessary to the supervisor in dealing with immature or untrained teachers, it is kindly, sympathetic human nature, rather than larger knowledge, which will prove to be the essential requisite. A cold, aus- tere, unsympathetic supervisor, whose chief stock in trade is criticism, whatever his knowledge, will never succeed in obtaining good results in guiding and helping teachers. Such personalities have no real place in a supervisory corps. Distribution of time and effort. A supervisor, be he su- perintendent or assistant, should learn his system or group so as to supervise most economically and most helpfully. Unless he is a piece of mechanism, a supervisor will not TRAINING AND SUPERVISION 243 distribute his time equally among all of his schools or all of his teachers. Some need more help than others; others need in large part to be let alone. To some teachers a super- visor goes to give help; to many for a friendly greeting or a word of encouragement; and to a few to obtain standards as to accomplishment and inspiration. The weak teacher he needs to help, and to strengthen by suggestion or ex- ample. Many capable teachers he needs to keep profes- sionally alive by a form of criticism which consists of sug- gesting possibilities of further achievement of which the teacher had not been aware. The especially capable teacher often strengthens the supervisor. What is true as to the superintendent and the assistant superintendent is equally true of the special supervisor and the school principal. Each should be allowed some liberty in choosing how and where to work. To work by order and by the calendar among teachers, without regard to their varying degrees of efficiency, is not working in the most effective manner, and is not the best use of a super- visor's time. To find and to improve the weak spots in the system or the school ought to be an important purpose of a supervisor. Demonstration teaching. An important means in the im- provement of teachers is directed visitation and demonstra- tion lessons. New teachers or teachers in need of help can be sent, or, better still, taken by the supervisor to visit the class work of certain teachers who have been selected because of their proficiency in certain types of instruction. After seeing certain lessons a conference can be held, with the teacher visited as the leader, and the how and why of the lesson examined and explained. A few days of such visitation, from time to time, by teachers in small groups and with definite purposes in mind, with the resulting con- ferences, will do much to show new or weak teachers ways 244 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION of securing results which will materially improve the quality of their instruction. In some cities a few specially capable teachers have been selected and designated as training-teachers, paid a little ex- tra for the service, and charged with helping teachers along certain lines of work. After a visit to a teacher, the latter may return the visit to see the training-teacher at work in her own schoolroom. A good superintendent, with a primary supervisor, good school principals, and a number of such training-teachers, can supervise quite a large teaching corps. Such supervision and assistance often seems more helpful to teachers than that given by regular supervisors^ perhaps largely because it comes from one nearer to them in the service, and from one engaged in the daily practicfc of what she is trying to supervise. Placing for effective work. Still another important means of extending helpful supervision consists in the proper placing of teachers, so that the maximum personal ef- ficiency may be obtained from each teacher. Anything less is not getting maximum returns for the money expended, and is fair neither to the taxpayer nor to the teacher con- cerned. The control of the placing and transfer of teachers should Idc wholly in the hands of the superintendent. No board of education or committee of the board has the technical knowledge or is close enough to the problem to be able to handle such situations with any degree of skill. Teacher A, now in a sixth-grade room, will do better in primary work; teacher B, now in third grade, seems better adapted to teaching the adolescent and is tried in the eighth grade; teacher C lacks the scholarship for the upper grades, but has the large personal sympathy and ability to take pains needed for lower grade work; teacher D is prop- erly located as to position, but needs a less trying class until she gets better command of her work and more self- TRAINING AND SUPERVISION 245 confidence. So it goes throughout the teaching force. The supervisory study of every teacher should involve proper placing, as well as the development of teaching technique. The preceding paragraphs sketch very briefly something of the work of the superintendent as supervisor, referred to in Chapter XI. The service is important and well repays effort, though economy demands, as a school system grows, that the superintendent spend his larger efforts in training his assistants, supervisors, and school principals to render a satisfactory grade of supervisory service. A professional teaching force, satisfied that the superintendent and his assistants are making an earnest effort to help them to succeed in their work, forms a strong bulwark for a super- intendent in times of popular agitation or political trouble. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. Why is it desirable that new teachers should rank higher in ability than the average of a teaching force? ^ 2. Would it be desirable to require home girls, who have been graduated from a normal school or university, to obtain some experience else- where before entering the home schools, or not? S. What would be some of the serious defects and limitations of a train- ing-school for teachers in a city of 100,000 population or less? 4. Why does the training which sufficed to produce a satisfactory teacher in 1890 or 1900 fail to produce a satisfactory teacher for 1915? 5. The Report of the Commission to study the school system of Balti- more (p. 55) showed that the length of service of the teaching force at the time (1911) was as follows: — Entered service of the city prior to 1860 5 Entered service of the city between 1860 and 1869 52 Entered service of the city between 1870 and 1879 137 Entered service of the city between 1880 and 1889 292 Entered service of the city between 1890 and 1899 535 Entered service of the city between 1900 and 1905 329 Entered service of the city between 1905 and 1911 438 1788 Point out the need for further training of such a teaching force, and the efiect on the instructing corps of a lack of it. 6. What reason can you see for teachers reaching a somewhat stationaiy plane after seven or eight years of teaching service? 246 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 7. What type of subjects could be taken up advantageously in a general meeting of (a) Primary teachers? (6) Seventh- and eighth-grade teachers? (c) High-school teachers? (d) Elementary-school principals? 8. Contrast, in influence on the work of the schools, academic study while teaching, and study in summer sessions or on leave of absence at regular sessions of normal schools or colleges. 9. What reason can you see for the common statement that it takes four or five years to make a good teacher out of even a normal-school graduate? 10. Can you see any reason why a board of education should refuse a leave of absence to a teacheu who wishes to use it for purposes of study? 11. Do you think that sabbatical leaves for teachers, on half pay, would be a good thing for the schools? Would the results compensate the schools proportionally to the extra cost for such leaves? 12. Why is a self-satisfied and relatively stationary city more likely to have a poor supervisory organization than a rapidly growing one? 13. Is it easier to succeed in a city having a supervisory organization based on uniform courses, rigid requirements, and general examina- tions, than in one having a flexible and highly eflBcient organization? Why? 14. Give some types of — (a) Helpful supervision. (6) Negative supervision. (c) Destructive supervision. 15. What do you understand by the statement that " the purpose of super- vision is to establish unity of effort throughout the school system"? 16. How could you make your classroom supervision contribute to the training of teachers in service? 17. Would a rule of a school board requiring all principals to teach some particular class one period each day be a desirable rule? Why? 18. Why is the fining of teachers or principals for violations of rules and regulations an undesirable practice? 19. Is the rule that when a woman marries her position is automatically vacated a desirable rule? Why? 20. Is the rule that teachers must reside in the city where they teach a legitimate requirement? Why? TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT 1. Ascertain the exact nature of the training for teaching given in the city training-schools of three typical cities of different size, and the character of the teaching force and teaching equipment of each. TRAINING AND SUPERVISION 247 2. Calculate the cost for maintaining a city training-school in a city of 50,000 inhabitants: — (a) On the usual basis of maintenance. (6) On a proper basis of maintenance. How much would this increase yearly salaries, if spent in this manner instead? 3. Outline a plan for a year's work with school principals, directed toward the improvement of some phase of the educational service. 4. Compile a list of books or reports to be read by teachers and princi- pals, and discussed in some of the teachers' meetings, as follows : — (a) Two books for teachers in the first three grades. (6) Two books for teachers in grades four to six. (c) Two books for teachers in the iutermediate-school (grades 7 to 9 inclusive). (d) One book for all teachers in high schools. (e) Five books for principals in elementary schools. State your reason for including each book, and also how you would direct the reading and handle the discussion of it. 5. Outline a plan for your first general teachers' meeting, to be held at the beginning of the school year. 6. Formulate certain standards for judging the eflBciency of classroom instruction. 7. Look up and report on the administration and results derived from funds, used to help teachers in service to secure better training: — (a) The Gregg bequest and other funds in Indianapolis. (6) The Schmidlapp fund in Cincinnati. (c) The $250,000 fund in Pittsburg. (d) Any other similar funds of which you may know. SELECTED REFERENCES Allen, J. G. "The Supervisory Work of Principals"; in School Review, vol. I, pp. 291-96. (May, 1893.) A good article on the principal as supervisor. Arnold, Sarah L. "The Duties and Privileges of a Supervisor"; in Proceed' ings of National Education Association, 1898, pp. 228-36, Good on how to extend helpful service to teachers. Ayres, L. P. The Public Schools of Springfield, Illinois. Chapter VI, on the teaching force, describes the results arising from the mainte- nance of a city training-school. Belcher, K. F. "The Sabbatical Year for the Public School Teacher"; in Educational Review, vol. 45, pp. 471-84. (May, 1913.) A good presentation of the plans, experience, and cost in the seven cities at that time having such plans. Brooks, Sarah L. "Supervision as viewed by the Supervised"; in Proceed- 248 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION ings of National Education Association^ 1897, pp. 225-33; good general discussion of, pp. 233-38. Deals with details and relationships. Butte, Montana. Report of a Survey of the Public School System. (1914.) Chapter II, dealing with the quality of instruction, and Chapter V, on the super- vision of instruction, contain good statements as to the purpose of supervision and the proper relations of supervisor and teachers. Dutton, S. T., and Snedden, D. S. The Administration of Public Education in the United States. Parts 1 and 2 of Chapter XVI deal with teachers' institutes, meetings, and reading circles, presenting many facts relating to such activities. Gordy, W. F. "The Local Training-School as an Agency for the Trainmg of Teachers"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1906, pp. 124-26. Advantages and disadvantages. Discussion by seven superintendents. Nine reasons why Utica abandoned its training-school. Crreenwood, J. M. "How to judge a School"; in Educational Review, vol. 17, pp. 324-45. (April, 1899.) An excellent article on helpful supervision and how to give it. Harris, Ada V. S. " Influence of the Supervisor " ; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1906, pp. 117-21. A very sensible article on the supervisor, the art of being helpful, and on teachers' meetings. Harvey, L. D. "Two Opportunities for Improvement in the Administra- tion of Grade-School Systems"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1900, pp. 203-10. Deals with the supervision of instruction as it relates to the course of study, and examinations as tests. Jenkins, Frances. "Adjusting the Normal-School Graduate to the City System"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1913, pp. 448-52. A very good description of certain types of training for teachers in service. Kendall, C.N. " The Management of Special Departments "; m Proceedings of National Education Association, 1904, pp. 271-76. A good article on special supervisors, and their place in the supervisory work. Manny, F. A. City Training-Schools for Teachers. 165 pp. Bulletin no. 47, 1914, U.S. Bureau of Education. An important report describing teachers' training-schools in the larger cities, their services and defects, training of teachers in service, training classes in smaller cities, and the general problem of training teachers for city service vs. attracting teachers from the outside. Maxwell, Wm. H. "The Duties of Principals"; in his A Quarter-Century of Public School Development, pp. 16-24. A good study of the work of a school principal. TRAINING AND SUPERVISION 249 Portland, Oregon. Report of the Survey of the Public School System. (1913.) 441 pp. Reprinted by World Book Co., Yonkers, 1915. Chapter III, on the system of supervision, and Chapter VIII, describing the system of instruction found, describe a wrong type of supervisory effort. Reynolds, Alice E. "The Assistant to the Superintendent; his Functions iind Methods of Work"; in Proceedings of National Education Associa- tion, 1904, pp. 264r-71. A very good article. Ruediger, C. R. Agencies for the Improvement of Teachers in Service* 157 pp. Bulletin no. 3, 1911, U.S. Bureau of Education. A valuable document, covering all of the different means employed. Salt Lake City, Utah. Report of a Survey of the School System. 324 pp. 1915. Chapter V, on the system of supervision, describes the means by which a poorly- paid and largely locally-selected body of teachers have been developed into a fairly satisfactory teaching corps. Tietrick, R. B. "How secure More Effective Supervision?" in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1914, pp. 286-88. A good general statement as to means and ends. Updegraff, H. "The Improvement of Teachers in Service in City Schools"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1911, pp. 433-41; discussion, pp. 441-45. A good paper on the different means and incentives used in the improvement of teachers in service. Warriner, E. C. "Unity gained from School Supervision"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1911, pp. 311-16. Good on the work of supervising instruction. CHAPTER XVI THE TEACHING CORPS III. Pay and Promotion Low standards and compensation. The present low com- pensation for the work of teaching, not only in our cities but in town and rural schools as well, is largely a result of the low standards for entering the work and the job-concep- tion of teaching which have so long prevailed. The great mass of the public has no real conception as to what proper training for and adaptability to the work of teaching mean, and does not take particularly kindly to proposals to raise the requirements for admission to the work. The public generally fears that higher standards may mean higher taxes for schools, and desires to keep teaching on as nearly a competitive basis as is possible. Teachers also often feel so sympathetic for some poor friend who wants to teach and who may be cut out by higher standards, or are so fearful that such may mean closer supervision and more work for them, that they, too, are quite willing to let conditions remain about as they are. To our superintendents of schools, backed by a few of the more progressive teachers, has fallen almost the entire burden of pushing up the requirements for entering on the work of instructing in the schools. Practically all attempts to demand larger academic and professional preparation for preliminary certification, or increased knowledge and efficiency for higher-grade certificates and for the retention of or advance in positions, have been most bitterly opposed PAY AND PROMOTION OF TEACHERS 251 by teachers and would-be teachers and their friends among the general public. A stiff legislative fight can always be provoked by a pro- posal materially to increase the standards for the certifica- tion of teachers throughout a State. The sympathy of the public goes out largely to "the poor teacher," instead of to the children under the poor teacher. The legislation fails, or is considerably modified in form, and the poor teacher retains her position, while more of her type are certificated to compete for positions, drive the best teachers out of the work, and keep down the compensation and the public esti- mation of all. The result is seen in the low standards for certification prevailing in practically all of our States; the general absence of any graded system of certification, based on increased knowledge and professional success; and the necessity many of our cities still feel themselves under to quarantine against the pressure for positions, from the poorer teachers of the State, by retaining their own certifi- cating machinery. 1 Adequate pay necessary. Higher pay and higher stan- dards are practically inseparable, and higher pay must, in most cases, precede or accompany an increase in require- ments. In many of our American cities the increase in preparation demanded, and the increase in the cost of liv- ing, have together outrun the increases in pay. The first step, in many communities, to retain even present stan- dards of preparation and efficiency, to say nothing of any increase in standards, lies in the direction of a general in- crease in salary for all teachers. After this has been done, * The certification of teachers ought to be a state function, with general recognition of certificates throughout the State, and interstate recognition for those holding certificates of the higher grades. This involves a better system of certification than most of our States now have, with the higher grades of certificates based on adequate evidence of increased preparation and professional skill. 252 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION additional grants, based on increased professional prepa- ration and teaching efficiency, can be talked of. If good teachers are to be obtained to fill vacancies, and those now in the force are to continue to render good service, all must be paid enough to enable them to live as persons of culture and refinement should. An examination of the recently published Report on Teachers' Salaries and Salary Schedules of the Commission on the Emergency in Education of the National Education Association^ reveals, despite recent salary advances, a rather pitiful situation in many of our American cities. From $300 to $1200 a year for elementary-school teachers, with the median at $886; $550 to $1500, for intermediate-school teachers, with the median at $1047; and from $600 to $2000 for secondary-school teachers, with the median at $1242, were the common ranges in cities of from 25,000 to 50,000 inhabitants, as late as 1919. While there have been a num- ber of small increases since 1919, there have also been some decreases, with the result that the levels of to-day probably do not stand much above the medians for 1919. Such sal- aries are shamefully low, compared with the wages paid in trades, business, private service, and other city offices and work. It is difficult to insist on adequate standards on such a pay basis. What such pay is worth. How low such salaries are can perhaps be understood better by turning such yearly pay into a daily-wage table. There are twelve months and three hundred and thirteen working days in a year, for which almost all other forms of service are paid. That the teacher works only ten months and two hundred days a year is, in part, necessitated by the nerve-trying character of teaching, * Teachers^ Salaries and Salary Schedules in the United States in 1918-19. 169 pp. National Education Association, Bulletin No. 6, Commission Se- ries. Washington, 1919. PAY AND PROMOTION OF TEACHERS 253 and in part by the requirements of children and parents. The teacher must live the whole year round. Such a wage standard gives the following results per working day: — $300 a year equals $ .96 $1200 a year equals $3.84 400 (« 1.27 1300 4.15 500 C( 1.59 1400 4.46 600 C( 1.92 1500 4.79. 700 « 2.23 1600 5.12 800 (( 2.56 1700 •« 5.43 900 it 2.87 1800 5.74 1000 t 3.18 1900 6.05 1100 t 3.51 2000 " 6.36 Carpenters, machinists, plumbers, lathers, plasterers, bakers, telegraph operators, wiremen, structural iron work- ers, blacksmiths, printers, bricklayers, hod-carriers, en- ginemen, trainmen, motormen, clerks in city oflSces, poUcemen, firemen, chauffeurs, dressmakers, milliners, and nurses are paid better than are teachers, at the an- nual salaries usually paid, though the education and pro- fessional preparation required for such services, except in the case of nurses, is not comparable with that required of teachers. No marked advance in raising the standards for entering the work, or in paying teachers on the basis of eflficiency, is possible under such salary schedules. Reasonable salary demands. When the American bill for education is compared with the bill for tobacco, drink, candy and soda-water, or amusements, and the importance of education in unifying our people and in saving and ad- vancing the best interests of the race are remembered, such salaries as are now paid elementary-, intermediate-, and secondary-school teachers in many of our cities — in practi- cally all of the cities of some of our States — are little less than disgraceful. Considering the importance of the serv- ice and the cost of training and living, a beginning salary 254 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION of $900 to $1000, and increasing automatically up to at least $1200 for elementary-school teachers; a beginning sal- ary of $1000 to $1200, and increasing automatically up to $1400 to $1500 for intermediate-school teachers; and a begin- ning salary of $1200 to $1400 and increasing automatically up to $1800 to $2000 for secondary-school teachers, is cer- SALARY IN HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS 1 2 3 4 S 6 7 8 9 10 II 12 13 If 15 16 17 18 19 20 Fig. 16. TEACHERS' SALARIES AND PAY IN THE TRADES COMPARED (From Evenden's Teachers' Salaries and Salary Schedules, p 110.) Teachers' Salaries an average of salaries paid in 1918-19 to teachers in cities of the North Central Division of States; wages of workmen an average of the union scale, same year, for Chicago and Cleveland. PAY AND PROMOTION OF TEACHERS 255 tainly not an unreasonable amount for any American city to pay. Many cities should pay more; some much more. Automatic increases. The usual city salary schedule pro- vides for some such annual increments, advancing slowly until the maximum salary is reached, though both the minimum and the maximum are in most cases below the figures given above. Keeping in mind the principle that beginning teachers tend to improve in efficiency for a period of years and then to reach a plane of little additional progress, it can be seen that the plan of making a series of small salary increases, based on years in the service, has, for a time, much merit. The beginning salary for beginning teachers should not be too large, but still large enough to attract to teaching the kind of persons desired, and then should increase automati- cally, if the teacher is retained, up to a certain maximum common for all teachers in that branch of the educational service. This maximum salary should represent a respec- table living wage, and should be reached about the time the plane of maximum efficiency without additional study is reached. Increases in salary beyond this common maximum should also be possible, but such increases should be de- pendent upon increased professional training and demon- strated efficiency in the service. Rewards for growth and efficient service. Just how to pay to elementary-school teachers such additional grants for increased professional usefulness has been and still is one of our most difficult administrative problems. So far as secondary-school teachers are concerned it has been relatively easy, and has been accepted as proper and just by them. By the creation of such positions as heads of departments, sub-heads, and teachers, — or heads of de- partments, instructors, and assistants, — a graded salary schedule can be worked out which can be used, in combi- 256 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION nation with promotions, to reward efficient teachers and to hold in check those who are least deserving. In the case of elementary-school teachers, however, there has been a marked tendency for them, as a class, to object to any discriminations between teachers on any basis involving the question of the personal efficiency of individuals. In some cities which have introduced such a plan it has produced discontent; and in some cases a tendency to unionize, to antagonize the administration, and to ostracize those teachers who take the efficiency tests has developed. That all teachers who have been at work long enough to be regarded as experienced teachers are of equal, or even of ^^^ ■*--^^**-*"*^*w ^^- V^v ^^V^ / / \/\ ^». f r / ^ ^ . / / / \ V \ / / / \ \ \ f / / ^ \ t / / \ \ \ / / X N V \ \ / yy \\ \ ^^ n P? X E3 i ntt 14. Sense of Justice A a n. Socicl and Professional Equipmmt— IS a XI X □ 4. Undentanding of children c ?< S. School and commuftity interest jg 6. Ability to meet and interest parents. . ;< a 7. Interest In lives of pupils. K C3 1 Q 9. Professional interest and growth JO. Daily prepatation 11. Use of English X ^. School Management— '' I. Care o( light, heat, and ventilation. . a X X K 4. Discipline (governing skilO - X IV. Technique of Teaching— 1 De&niteness and clearness o( afan rt <^ □ X Q X d M S. Skill in questioning D D 3 ^ ■ ?c D to Attention to individual needs . . X v. Results^ « a Growth of pupils in subject-matter,, ,. 1^ - 4 <;nrint A^v^}nr,m^T,t at niinilq X ^ s S Moral Influence ^ a I [ L _ 1 [ [ [ , 1 L I L \ Fig. 17x. A TEACHER-EFFICIENCY SCORE CARD [Reprinted from J. B. Sears' Classroom Organization and Control, p. 254. Superintendent D ; Principal X ; Supervisor O. This card shows the rating of a good teacher by three supervisory ofHcers, and is in effect a consolidated score. Another plan of using the card would be for each to indicate rating by dots, and then to connect the dots by lines, using different colored ink for each rating. PAY AND PROMOTION OF TEACHERS 267 also in harmony with one of the fundamental principles which should control in the construction of a salary sched- ule, namely, that it should be such as to stimulate industry,- encourage individual improvement, and reward exceptional merit. With the increasing demands of superintendents generally for more money for teachers' salaries, the public may be expected, in turn, to begin to demand that super- intendents and school boards produce evidence that the money which Jias been given them has been so used as to secure the most efficient service. - , Type plans for estimating efficiency. A number of cities have introducecl some forrh of efficiency estimates, and have evolved schedule forms for' scoring the efficiency of their teachers. Maryland and Indiana require such schedule forms to be filed yearly for all teachers in the State, such being known as the teacher's success grades, and the salaries paid must be based, in part, on the success grades granted.^ These forms are of two types, the one for confidential use, and the other for open use with teachers. The Decatur,^ Illinois,^ form represents a good type of those intended for confidential markings, for the use of the superintendent of schools. With it an attempt has been made to estimate and evaluate teachers on : — 1. Physical aspect of school. 6. Attitude toward pupils. 2. Teacher's personality. 7. Discipline and control. S. Adaptability. 8. Teaching skill. 4. Loyalty to school policies 9. Professional interests. 5. Spirit of cooperation. 10. General impression. * In the author's State and County Educational Reorganization, Appendix F, will be found a copy of the Indiana forms, together with a form devised by Professor E. C. Elliott, formerly of the University of Wisconsin. A number of other forms are now in use in different cities. ^ See Ruediger's Agencies for the Improvement of Teachers in Service, pp. 139-41. Ruediger also reproduces forms used in Kansas City, Missouri; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Washington, D.C. Salt Lake City, Utah, and Sacramento, California, have also evolved good forms. 267a PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Three different persons usually scored each teacher, and the , markings were combined by the superintendent as a com- posite estimate. Professor Elliott, then at the University of Wisconsin, at- tempted, on the other hand, to devise a form by means of which teachers may measure their own efficiency, and over which supervisors may confer with teachers in an effort not only to scale them, but especially in an effort to help them. His form is not primarily intended as a score card for the use of inspectors. As to its use, he lays down the following general propositions:^ 1. Does not the general betterment of educational achievement finally depend upon (a) the analysis of the complex teaching process into its essential, constituent elements j and (6) the recognition and possession by teachers of the qualities and capacities upon which these elements are grounded? 2. Is it not possible to devise and to apply to the teaching proc- ess impersonal, objecitive standards of value whereby the relative worth and efficiency of teachers may be determined more justly and with greater precision than under the pre- vailing practices? 3. As fundamental conditions for the cumulative improvement of teaching, and for the greater effectiveness of school organ- ization, should not teachers (a) be encouraged and trained to determine their own professional worth in accordance with standards mutually agreed upon by teachers and supervisors; {b) receive the benefits of direct, constructive criticism, and the stimulation of continuous, skillful, personal, non-interfer- ing supervision; and (c) claim exemption ftom snap measure- ments of their merit based upon casual visitation and inter- mittent inspection, and from the unsupported, arbitrary judgment of superiors? 4. Does not the economical improvement of the products of public education require that the conditions and results of the teacher's work be tested by methods of an objective, quantitative character rather than by the judgments of a subjective, qualitative nature? ^ Provisional plan for the Measurement of Merit of Teachers, p. 1. PAY AND PROMOTION OF TEACHERS 267b Rochester, New York, is representative of what may be called a third plan, in that all judgments as to the prepara- tion and efficiency of teachers, made by the first of the above methods, are further combined with tests, made at inter- vals and using standard test forms, as to the results of classroom instruction, and these are further combined with promotion records and other data collected by the bureau of efficiency of the school department. The principle fol- lowed here is that a combination of three different kinds of measures is far more reliable than one alone. With the per- fection of intelligence-measuring scales, and their some- what general introduction into school work for diagnostic purposes, and with the more general provision for efficiency experts and clinical psychologists in connection with school systems, this method is likely to be adopted somewhat gener- ally by cities interested in obtaining the best results in their schools. It possesses certain obvious advantages over the or- dinary personal-judgment plan for rating teaching efficiency. Incentives to growth. In any line of work the intensity of the desire for personal improvement is in direct propor- tion to the stimulus it receives. A physician, a lawyer, or an engineer who lacks in professional knowledge finds him- self unable to undertake important cases, and increases his professional equipment in order that he may do better work and command larger pay. These professions being on a competitive basis, what a man can earn in them depends upon what he can convince others that he is worth. Teach- ing, on the other hand, is virtually a state monopoly, into which competitive conditions enter but slightly. All begin at about the same level, often all are advanced in pay at about the same rate, and usually all reach the maximum salary very early in their teaching career. A teacher is no exception to the rule that most people do their best work when under a constant stimulus to profes- 267c PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION sional activity. This stimulus, too, needs to be kept up for a rather long period of time, until the habit of keeping professionally active has been well established. A salary schedule, based only in part on years of service, and with additional rewards for growth and efficiency after the common maximum has been reached, offers one of the best means for providing the proper stimulus for further profes- sional growth. The institution of a salary schedule for ele- mentary-school teachers as well as for secondary-school teachers, based in part upon merit, may not be particularly easy of accomplishment, but it seems probable that in time the public will demand its institution as evidence that the money it grants for annual maintenance is wisely expended. 5. Salaries based on training and service. Within recent years, with the marked increase in the num- ber of normal-trained and college educated teachers entering the work of our city schools, and with the marked increase in the cost of living, there has been a tendency toward the introduction of a type of salary schedule which places rec- ognition on training and experience as the two main factors to be considered. Applied to a school system as a whole, such a plan would also abolish salary differences, given equal training and experience, between teachers in the dif- ferent parts of a school system. Theoretically this might be desirable, as a large degree of flexibility which will permit of the adjustment of teachers to position is a desideratum, but practically, in most school systems and in the present stage of teacher training and conditions of city finance, the plan offers certain practical difficulties of a very formidable type. A salary schedule constructed on this combined basis would, in its simplest form, be somewhat as follows, assume ing increments of $150 for each year of additional scholar^ ship and $60 for each year of added service as a teacher: — ^ PAY AND PROMOTION OF TEACHERS 267d Years of approved training beyond completion of a four-year high school course Beginning salary in school system, for all teachers Uniform yearly incre- ment for service Years this payable for Maximum salary attainable Graduate of high school only $850 1000 1150 1300 1450 1600 1750 1900 $60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 $1450 1600 One year's additional training Two years' additional training 1750 Three years' additional training 1900 Four years' additional training (A.B) Five years' additional training (A.M) Six years' additional training 2050 2200 2350 Seven years' additional training (Ph.D) 2500 Cities might begin only with two-year normal- trained teachers, in which case the schedule would begin with $1150, on the third line. In the simple form above given it will be seen that this type of salary schedule eliminates all questions of merit and efficiency. This type of salary schedule could, though, easily be com- bined with some form of an efficiency rating. One plan would be to institute one or two "halts" in the automatic increases, as described on pages 260-61. These might come at the end of the third or fourth year, and the end of the seventh year. Teachers attaining a rating equivalent to "good" would pass the first "halt," but only teachers rated as "very good" would be advanced beyond the second "halt." Another plan would be to use an efficiency rating for all teachers, in conjunction with the above plan, there being an annual classification of teachers before awarding the auto- matic increases. For example, on the basis of combined supervisory ratings all teachers might be classified into the following groups: (a) Teachers who are entirely satisfactory. (6) Teachers whose work is not entirely satisfactory, but who have made an earnest effort to improve and who give pro- mise sufficient to warrant their retention. 568 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION (c) Teachers whose work and attitude are so unsatisfactory and whose promise is so small as not to warrant their retention. Teachers in group (a) would be given the automatic advances without question; those in group (b) might or might not receive such, as seemed best to the superin- tendent, board, or a committee in charge; while group (c) would not be advanced in salary even should circumstances compel their temporary retention. 6. Essential features of a good salary schedule. Summarizing the preceding discussion, the essential fea- tures of a good salary schedule for teachers may then be stated to be about as follows : — 1. A high enough beginning salary to enable the city to secure well-trained and well-educated teachers for the service. 2. Small automatic annual salary increases for a period of years, say five to seven years, during which time the teacher is gaining competency and reaching a point beyond which in- crease in teaching eflSciency is usually small without further professional preparation. This common maximum should represent a living wage for a person with the habits, in- stincts, and training of a teacher. S. Provision whereby experienced teachers from elsewhere may be taken into the system, and started at some point in the scale above that of beginning teachers. 4. Further salary increases, beyond the common maximum, to progressive and capable teachers, the basis for such payments being so arranged as to stimulate industry, encourage in- dividual improvement, and reward exceptional merit. 5. Such an arrangement of salaries as will permit of the assign- ment of every teacher to that position or kind of work which he or she can do best, without first considering the salary of the position to which the teacher is to be assigned. 6. Special salaries may, however, be attached to positions call- ing for special capacity, such as demonstration teachers, or teachers of unruly or incorrigible pupils, to which speciallv capable teachers may be assigned. 7. Grades in the elementary-school service, analogous to those commonly found in the secondary-school service, could with entire propriety be created, with automatic increases in sal- PAY AND PROMOTION OF TEACHERS 269 ary within the grade until the maximum for the grade has been reached. 8. For promotion from one grade to another, after the proba- tionary grade, evidence of professional growth and high classroom efficiency should, in general, be required. 9. For such evidence, private study with local promotional examinations, or approved summer-school or other collegiate study, may be accepted for professional growth; the high classroom efficiency should be determined by as large a combination of tests of different types, given by different individuals, as is feasible. Better results will probably be obtained if the results of all scoring and tests are open to the inspection of the teacher concerned. 10. The maxima attainable for teachers who remain in the work and make teaching a professional career should be relatively large, — from two to two and a half times the beginning salary for the same class of work; but such maxima should not be attainable under about fifteen to eighteen years of service, nor without proper evidence of professional pro- ficiency. Those who make teaching a temporary employ- ment should not advance much beyond the common maxi- mum for all teachers. 11. There should also be provision for a pension system, or for the placing of teachers in subordinate teaching or clerical posi- tions, and at lower pay, who, by reason of age, have outlived their usefulness as classroom teachers, so that those who have rendered faithful service but who, due to age or disease, are no longer efficient, can be retired for the good of the schools. Of the two plans the pension system is preferable, though the other has a certain usefulness. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. What advantage does a city, located in a low-salary and low-standard State, have in the retention of its own certificating machinery? If salaries and standards were high, what advantage would there be in dispensing with it? 2. Is it safe to institute a payment-on-merit plan when the general level of salaries is quite low? Why? 3. What would be reasonable minima and common maxima for elemen- tary-school and high-school teachers in city systems in your State? 4. How do you account for the greater sensitiveness of elementary- school teachers to discrimination between teachers on the basis of efiBciency than is the case with high-school teachers? 270 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 5. Why is it desirable to postpone the highest possible maximum salary for quite a number of years? 6. Assuming that you thought it wise to give additional salary grants for further study, how much would you add to the yearly salary of a teacher who attended: — (a) A summer session in a state normal school? (6) A summer session in a university? (c) Spent a year in further study, after some years of teaching? 7. What restrictions would you throw around such grants? 8. Would such a plan of grading and appointing and paying teachers as is described on page 261 be good ? Would it be feasible? 9. How do you account for the large success of promotional examina- tions in Kansas City, and the bitter opposition to the plan in Balti- more? 10. Is the promotional-examination idea capable of correlation with the reading-circle idea, as set forth in the previous chapter? 11. What changes or additions would you make in the statement of the essential features of a good salary schedule? 12. Why is it difficult to raise the salaries of teachers in a city up to the level of salaries paid in other branches of the city service ? TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT 1. Compare the plans and forms used for measuring classroom efficiency in the five cities described by Ruediger (pp. 139-46), and state which is the best, and why. Is the EUiott form an improvement over these ? 2. Of the promotional examination plans described by Ruediger (pp. 117-39), which do you consider the best, and why? (See also Proceed- ings of National Education Association, 1905, pp. 241-53, for a further description of plans in use.) 3. Assume that you are in a city employing one hundred and fifty teachers, and already paying relatively good salaries, and that you could have additional funds for advancing salaries, if distributed on a basis of merit. Draw up a plan which will be as fair as possible to both teachers and taxpayers, and which will place the maximum emphasis on training and efficiency in classroom work. 4. Should salaries be based on position, disregarding the sex of the incumbant? (This topic to involve an examination and review of the recent discussion as to equal salaries for men and women.) 5. What are the equities involved in the matter of teachers' pensions, and what is the best form of a pension system for teachers in the public schools? 6. Test up the salary schedule of any city you know by the state- ment of essential features, as given on pages 268-69. PAY AND PROMOTION OF TEACHERS 271 SELECTED REFERENCES Bobbitt, J. F. "Results of Plans to measure Efficiency in Teaching"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1915. A general discussion of the problem. Boyce, A. C. "A Method for guiding and controlling the Judging of Teaching Efficiency"; in School Review Monographs, no. vi, 1915, pp. 71-82. Discusses the general problem and illustrates, by a series of graphs, how teachers' qualities may be rated and scored. A valuable document. Boykin, J. C, and King, R. The Tangible Rewards of Teaching. 465 pp. Bulletin no. 16, 1914, U.S. Bureau of Education. Best source for detailed statistical data as to salaries paid to the several classes of teachers and school officers in the United States. Continued, for cities and towns having from 2500 to 5000 inhabitants, in Bui. no. 31, 1915. Butte, Montana. Report of a Survey of the School System. (1914.) Chapter VHI deals with the need for further training and salary schedules. Chancellor, W. E. Our Schools; Their Administration and Supervision. Chapter XVI, on salaries, tenure, and certification, is a discussion of the reasons why good salaries should be paid. Clark, J. B. "The Salaries of Teachers"; in Columbia University Quar- terly, vol. I, pp. 111-22. (1899.) Review of, in Educational Review, vol. 17, pp. 413-14. (April, 1899.) An excellent article. Declares that the question of salaries is purely economic, and concludes that to raise salaries one must raise the standard of teaching. Cooley, E. G. "The Basis of grading Teachers' Salaries"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1907, pp. 94-101. A good statement of the reasons for insisting on an efficiency basis in paying public school teachers. Cotton, F. A. "How can the Present Efficiency of the Schools be main- tained ? " In Cubberley and Elliott's State and County School Admin- istration, vol. II, Source Book, pp. 607-12. The MacmiUan Co., N.Y., 1915. An address before the state teachers' association. Holds that to increase salaries without advancing qualifications is not wise. Cubberley, E. P. State and County Educational Reorganization. The Mac- miUan Co., N.Y., 1914. See Appendix F for the Elliott and Indiana success-grade forms for estimating the efficiency of teachers. Davidson, W. M., and Blewett, Ben. "How to measure the Efficiency of Teachers"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1913^ pp. 286-92. Two excellent papers on the rating of teachers and the merit system for salary advances. 272 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Dutton, S. T., and Snedden, D. S. The Administration of Public Education in the United States. Chapter XV, on the Teaching Staff, deals with salaries, pensions, and teachers' organizations. Elliott, E. C. "How shall the Merit of Teachers be tested and re- corded?" In Educational Administration and Supervision, vol. 1, pp. 291-99, Also in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1915. Discusses the changing responsibilities of the superintendent, and how to meet the change. Elliott, E. C. City School Supervision. World Book Co., N.Y., 1914. Chapter IX describes in some detail the methods and standards employed in rating teaching efficiency in New York City, and Chapter X describes the methods employed, giving blanks used, in a number of other cities. Good documentary chapters. Green, C. C. "The Promotion of Teachers on the Basis of Merit and Efficiency"; in School and Society, vol. i, pp. 705-09 (May 15, 1915). Also in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1915. A good discussion, with outline of a plan. Greenwood, J. M. "Experience in helping Teachers professionally"; in Educational Review, vol. 30, pp. 464-73. (December, 1905.) Describes the introduction of promotional examinations for salary increases in Kansas City, and the results on the teaching force. Lowry, CD. The Relation of Superintendents and Principals to the Train' ing and Professional Improvement of their Teachers. Seventh Year-Book of the National Society for the Scientific Study of Education, Part i. 66 pp. 1908. States the problem, and then finds the solution in the promotional examination. Describes plans in use in a number of cities. McAndrew, Wm. "Where Education breaks down"; in Educational Re- view, vol. 33, pp. 11-23. (January, 1907.) A very good article on the salary question. Need for salaries that will make teach- ing more attractive to the best men and women. McAndrew, Wm. "Some Suggestions on School Salaries"; in Educational Review, vol. 27, pp. 375-83. (April, 1904.) A good sensible article on the question. Maxwell, Wm. H. "Teachers' Salaries"; in A Quarter of a Century of Public School Development, pp. 238-57. Good extracts from his annual reports, dealing with questions of salary schedules and bases for paying men and women. Monroe, Paul. Cyclopedia of Education. See articles on " Teachers, Promotion of," and " Teachers, Salaries of," for good brief statements as to existing conditions and practices. Portland, Oregon. Report of the Survey of the Public School System. (1913.) 441 pp. Reprinted by World Book Co., Yonkers, New York, 1915. Chapter V, on the salaries of teachers, considers the possibilities of a partial merit basis, and suggests certain plans capable of local application. PAY AND PROMOTION OF TEACHERS 273 Ruediger, W. C. Agencies for the Improvement of Teachers in Service. 157 pp. Bulletin no. 3, 1911, U.S. Bureau of Education. Good information relating to promotional examinations and plans for measuring the efficiency of teachers. Salt Lake City, Utah. Report of a Survey of the School System. 324 pp. 1915. Chapter IV deals with the salary schedule, and the distribution of salaries in the city. Small, W. H. "Should Teachers be required to present from Time to Time Evidences of Increased Scholarship?" If so, of what nature? In Proceedings of National Education Association, 1904, pp. 326-30. Favors incentives but not requirements. Discussion by Van Sickle (pp. 330-32), explaining Baltimore plan and giving a list of thesis topics used by teachers there. Van Sickle, J. H. *' What should be the Basis for the Promotion of Teachers and the Increase of Teachers' Salaries?" In Proceedings of National Education Association, 1906, pp. 177-83. A good presentation of the promotional plan for teachers' salaries as adopted in Baltimore. Van Sickle, J. H. "Outlines of Methods of appointing and advancing Teachers in Various Cities, with Discussion " ; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1905, pp. 244-53. Brief descriptions of plans then used by Baltimore, Denver, Omaha, Chicago, Kansas City, Lowell, Newark, and New York City, with discussions. ** Teachers' Rating Card in use at Omaha " ; in Elementary School Journal, vol. XX, pp. 723-24. (June, 1920.) A rating card worked out by the teachers themselves. CHAPTER XVII THE COURSES OF INSTRUCTION I. Construction and Types The superintendent and the courses of study. Whatever else the superintendent may be, the real and final test of his worth and efficiency lies in the knowledge he possesses as to means and purposes in the education of children; and, as a result of such knowledge, the influence he can exert on the instruction given in the schools through the making, moulding, and administering of the different courses^ of study. Organizer he must at times be, and administrator he must daily be, but his work in organizing and admin- istering are, after all, merely contributory to his larger success as the educational leader of the school system, and, in a sense, the educational leader of his community as well. In the construction and adaptation of the courses of in- struction, and in the interpretation of means and ends in educational procedure, the real measure of his competence for the position of superintendent of schools is to be found. Here, if anywhere, he should be, par excellence, the expert; here his knowledge as a specialist in educational matters should stand forth distinctly; here should be evident that 1 The expression "courses of study" is used throughout this chapter instead of the more commonly used "course of study," for the reason that the author conceives of each subject, such as reading and hterature, his- tory, geography, natm-e study and elementary science, household arts, etc., as being of such a nature that courses of study in each should be prepared. He also conceives of courses of study as being best arranged when a teacher is presented with a series of longitudinal views of the tool materials, instead of a horizontal cross-section of her particular segments of the different studies. TYPES OF COURSES OF STUDY 275 large professional insight which makes him the natural leader of all his subordinates in the educational department; here he can render the services of which the schools stand most in need. All organization and administration should be contributory to this important end.^ For such conspicuous educational service the superin- tendent must be master of his calling. If he is not, he cannot expect to exert much really helpful influence on the work of the schools. Mastery, though, comes, in part, from years of practical experience, but also, in part, from careful professional study and preparation. To mould the thought of his principals and teachers calls for large educa- tional insight and pedagogical knowledge, and these are a resultant of study and thought, tested by school experience. It is now that the years of preparatory study and work in minor executive positions, the importance of which has been emphasized in an earlier chapter, ^ will become apparent. The superintendent's guiding hand. While stimulating principals and teachers to activity in arranging subject- matter and materials, and in adapting the course of in- struction to the needs of the pupils, the superintendent's larger insight into individual and community needs and educational processes should make his judgment worth more than that of his subordinates in the final determi- ^ "It is not easy to keep a clear perspective of values among the various details that press for attention in the routine of school administration. An active superintendent finds it easy to assume duties akin to those of a clerk of supplies or purchasing agent; to become a gatherer of statistics; to supervise buildings and grounds, with incidental attention to repairs and janitors; to select sites and superintend the construction of buildings; to find himself performing mere clerical duties; these and other details lose him to the real purpose for which he, officially, exists, which is: to raise the standard of teaching and to improve the quality of instruction in the schools." (Superintendent Elson, in Proceedings of National Education Asso- ciation, 1904, p. 188.) 2 Chap. X. 276 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION nations as to means and ends. His assistants may know more than he as to what is possible in their particular classes, or lines of work, but he should be in closer touch than they with procedure elsewhere, and he should see better than they the needs of the child and of the school system as a whole. He is, also, by the very nature of his work, in closer touch than they with the conditions and needs of the community served by the schools. While work- ing with teachers and principals in the construction and continual modification of the courses of instruction for the schools, it must be primarily the function of the superin- tendent to "throw into relief certain organizing and unify- ing principles which must ever form the light of guidance to teachers, thereby lifting them out of the fragmentary one-year view of both subject-matter and child-life, — which school classification imposes, — and giving them glimpses of the unity and wholeness of both, which are essential to any adequate perspective of educational values or of the educative process as a whole." ^ It is such profes- sional leadership which serves to illuminate and vitalize the details of schoolroom procedure. In the small city the superintendent of schools will nat- urally be closer to his teachers in the administration of a course of study than can be the case in a large city. In the former he will need to do much of the planning, can personally assist individual teachers in adapting and modi- fying the courses to meet local or temporary situations, and can closely supervise the teachers in carrying out the work decided upon. In the large city he must work largely through assistant superintendents, special supervisors, and principals. Yet in both cases "greatest good will come if he seeks constantly to raise the ideals of teachers, giving freedom to use their ability to realize these ideals, stimu- * Elson supra, p. 189. TYPES OF COURSES OF STUDY 277 lating initiative in every way in principals and teachers, — by relying in the details of their work, both in matter and method, largely on their judgment; by enabling them to feel that they are true factors in the life of the school; by stimulating a sense of personal and professional responsi- bility and self-esteem; consequently, by framing the course of study on broad lines which may secure a healthy unity, but avoid the pitfalls of deadly uniformity; by encouraging discussion, and personal and professional research; by judi- ciously commending success; by tactful criticism; by free recognition of merit and the elimination of manifest incom- petency. To this may be added the inspiration of his own example, and occasional messages from aggressive col- leagues." ^ The construction of courses of study. One of the quickest means for determining the ideals and purposes which act- uate a school system is to examine the courses of study pre- scribed for the schools. From such an examination the real character of the ideals of the administration as to the pur- poses of education can quickly be told. Not only can one tell how the courses have been constructed, but also what pedagogical conceptions underlie the work. In general, and disregarding minor variations, courses of study group themselves about two main types, though with many courses lying in between and shading more or less into one or the other. These two types may be desig- nated as (1) the information or knowledge type, and (2) the development type. 1. Information or knowledge courses. The pedagogical conceptions as to the purpose of education which lies back of the construction of this type of courses of study are that it is the mission of the school to pass * Elson, supra, p. 191. 278 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADME^STRATION on the accumulated knowledge of the past to the next gen« eration, that the mere process of acquiring such knowledge gives good mental discipline, and that knowledge is synony- mous with power. Facts, often of no particular importance in themselves, are taught, memorized, and tested for, to be forgotten as soon as the school-grade need for them has passed. Tool studies, as opposed to content studies and constructional activities, are greatly overemphasized, and are made ends in themselves. Years of a child's life are often spent in learning supposed uses of a tool for which there is no use outside of the schoolroom itself; weeks, months, and even years are spent in drilling on problems of a type no man in practical life ever solves, and which can be of no use to any one except a school teacher. Arithmetic and formal grammar are greatly overem- phasized in such courses; reading is taught as an end in itself, instead of as a tool to unlock biography, history, and literature, and to lead to pleasure and enjoyment; the com- position work is dull, formal, and unproductive; geography is book geography, while the world before the eyes of teacher and children remains unread and almost unknown; drawing and music are formal; science is minimized, and used largely as a disciplinary study; and any real enrich- ment of the courses of instruction is wanting. Grade in- struction continues throughout the eighth grade, and the secondary-school courses also are bookish, somewhat limited in scope, and uniform for all types of students. Bookish and abstract work dominates the courses of instruction, to the serious injury of that large minority of children, if not actual majority, who must be educated largely through contact with concrete things. Dependence upon textbooks. Such courses of study also usually reveal a large dependence upon textbooks, with little or no supplementary or collateral material supplied. TYPES OF COURSES OF STUDY 279 Often such courses are carefully subdivided into parts, and the pages in the specified textbooks which are to be taught, in each segment of the course, are enumerated. Often the courses of study depend so thoroughly upon the adopted textbooks that they are very brief, and consist almost en- tirely of a specification of certain pages in certain books, ^ giving to teachers no other directions or suggestions than are contained in such books. Such a plan naturally gives little liberty to principals or teachers, and hence relieves them of all responsibility in the matter of the adaptation or development of the work. The courses are handed down from above as finished products, and criticism of the courses is usually not especially welcomed by those who prepared them. The result is that both principals and teachers feel 1 The following extract from the courses of study found in one of our American cities illustrates well such courses of instruction: — SEVENTH B GRADE PART FORTY Reading Cry's Fifth Reader, pages 97 to 142. Arithmetic Smith's Practical Arithmetic, pages 202 to 216. Language Buehler's Grammar, pages 81 to 95 inclusive. Geography Natural School Geography, pages 124 to 137, to end of China. Map Drawing, Humboldt Geographical Notebook, pages 15 to 32, inclusive. Spelling Reed's Word Lessons, pages 115 to 127 inclusive. Writing Outlook writing system. No. 6. Dravnng Prang's Textbook of Art Education, Book VI. Music New Educational 3d Music Reader. Physiology Krohn's Graded Lessons in Physiology and Hygiene, chaps, X, XI, XII. Similar descriptions are given for each of the fifty-four parts into which the nine years of elementary-school instruction are divided. See chapter viii, Portland Report, for a description of the workings of such a course of instruction in the schools, and the effect on all concerned. 280 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION that they are relieved of any responsibility for what they contain, or their educational result; the instruction tends to become formal and routine and perfunctory in type; and the teaching force tends slowly to go to sleep, so far as thinking about what they are doing is concerned.^ The administration of such courses. Such courses are also characterized by an almost deadening uniformity, and the work of each teacher and school is usually carefully checked up by supervisors who act as inspectors, and by pe- riodical written tests sent out from the central office. The administration of the courses of study becomes the running of a machine. So much work is laid out to be done, and the proof of the doing of it is to be found in the reports of progress and the quarterly or half-yearly written tests. Anticipation of the examinations dominates the work of instruction; fact reviews are frequent; teachers keep lists of the questions for years preceding, and carefully coach their pupils on the points it is thought may be asked for; and the standing of the schools and teachers is in large part determined by the promotional records. The almost inevitable result is that both teachers and pupils lose sight of the real aims in school work and the purposes of educa- 1 "Neither by example nor by precept do such outlines suggest to teachers and principals any thought of the function of each of the pre- scribed subjects as means of education; any consideration of the relative importance for Portland children, not to mention different groups of Portland children, of the numerous topics treated in textbooks designed for use throughout the country ; any correlation in the treatment of closely related subjects; any adaptation of method to the educative ends sought through the use of this textbook material. On the contrary, whether so intended or not, the one all-dominating suggestion of the published course of study for. the elementary schools is that so many pages of certain text- books are to be learned, and at a certain time and in a certain order. This suggestion, reinforced by the system of uniform city examinations from the fourth grade on, and by supervisory inspection, has become the chief guiding purpose in the work of teachers, above the primary grades; it could scarcely be otherwise." (Superintendent Spaulding, in the Portland School Survey Report, chap, viii.) TYPES OF COURSES OF STUDY 281 tion; the important ends of instruction are subordinated to the cramming of facts; the real abihties of teachers and children are in no way measured by the results; the retard- ation and elimination of pupils in the system is high; and the paralyzing effect of such an administration of instruc- tion extends through all branches of the school system and is evidenced in the character of the final output of the schools. Such a knowledge conception of educational aims and purposes also carries uniformity for all as a natural corol- lary. If knowledge is the important thing, and the courses of study represent the knowledge which it has been decided should be taught, then the insistence upon the acquirement of the knowledge follows quite naturally. The kind, amount, and order of the subject-matter to be learned, by all pupils in all parts of the city, and regardless of age, past experience, future prospects, or physical or mental condition, is uni- formly laid down for all . If apothecaries' measure and bank discount in arithmetic, participles and the subjunctive mood in grammar, the geography of Africa and Asia in geo- graphy, and algebra and the Merchant of Venice in high- school work are necessary for one, it naturally follows that they should be required of all. Hence promotions depend upon mastery of such require- ments, and children entering from other school systems, where the requirements have not been quite the same, natur- ally are set back and required to bring up the back work. If the geography of Africa and longitude and time are re- quired in the sixth grade, and a boy enters from elsewhere who has finished the sixth grade but who has not had these subjects, he is held back until he has made up the work in which he is found deficient. If completion of the grammar- school course is a prerequisite for admission to the high school, and a girl of twenty who stopped school at the end 282 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION of the seventh grade and who is now soon to be married, de- sires to enter for a year's work in the domestic science and household arts course, she naturally finds herself unable to do so. Even children in day schools for the deaf, in parental schools, and in schools for those of low mental capacity, often find it necessary to follow the regularly ordained line of instruction. Effect on the instructing body. The knowledge theory dominates everything; the supervision becomes inspection; the chief educational function of the central office is to say what is to be done and to test the results; the principals become keepers of records and handers-out of chalk and supplies; and the teachers do their part in a passive and routine manner, thinking little as to the educational signifi- cance of what they do, and without interest in educational procedure, so long as their pupils pass and they are let alone by the inspecting authorities. The preparation of such courses of study requires but little thought. To be sure, the knowledge theory underlies their construction, but they could nevertheless be prepared by mathematically dividing off the pages of the textbooks, or by copying what had been prepared elsewhere. The effect of such courses on the schools is as bad as their preparation is easy, and the promulgation and administration of such a type of courses of instruction for the schools is one of the best recipes that can be given for producing an unthinking and professionally inactive body of principals and teachers. There may be an appearance of smooth-running machinery and an absence of friction, but such quiet activity is due rather to the professional death on all sides than to the quiet hum of a professionally interested teaching body. TYPES OF COURSES OF STUDY 283 2. The development type of courses. Entirely different conceptions as to the nature and pur- pose of education underlie the preparation of this type of courses of study. Instead of being fixed and finished pro- ducts, this type of courses remain living and developing things. Instead of facts being conceived as important in themselves, they are regarded as of no real importance until they have been put to use. Knowledge is conceived of as life experience and inner conviction, and not as the memo- rization of the accumulated knowledge of the past, — as a tool to do something with, and not as a finished product in itself. The whole conception of the school is, in consequence, changed from that of a place where children prepare for life, by learning certain traditional things, to a place where chil- dren live life, and are daily brought in contact with such real life experiences as will best prepare them for the harder problems of life which lie just ahead. The children in the community who present themselves for education, and not the more or less traditional subject-matter of instruction, are regarded as the real educational problem. Of course, under such a working conception, nothing can remain very fixed or very final. The principal and teacher in such a school system. The principals and teachers in a school system where the courses of instruction have been worked out on a basis of such modern educational conceptions, naturally occupy quite a different position from that of principals and teachers in city school systems which follow the other and older type of courses of study. It now becomes the business of all to think over and study the problems of instruction, with a view to adapting and adjusting the school work to the needs and capacities of the pupils to be instructed. The chief purpose of the school principals, in so far as their work with 284 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION teachers relates to instruction, and the chief purpose of the teachers in the classrooms with the children, now becomes that of acting as stimuli to thinking over the problems at hand. The principal proposes methods of procedure to his teachers, and these are considered and tried out. The teachers propose problems to their pupils, and guide them in thinking, studying, and examining them. In each case the solving is the real thing; not the memorizing of some one else's solution. In a way, both principals and teachers stand as stimuli to individual activity, as whetstones upon which those stim- ulated may bring their thinking to a keener edge, and as critics by whose help young people may develop their ability to reason accurately and well. The purpose of instruction is changed from the memorization of facts, to that of fitting pupils for personal responsibilities; from that of accumulat- ing information, to that of training young people to stand on their own feet; from that of transmitting to them the inherited knowledge of the past, to that of preparing them for social efficiency in the life of to-morrow. Mere drill — often meaningless and unintelligent drill — is largely replaced by lessons involving appreciation and ex- pression; problems that prepare for efficient participation in the work of democratic government are emphasized, and training in solving them is given; and the social relation- ships of the classroom and the school are directed toward the preparation of socially efficient men and women. The teacher's main duty becomes that of guiding and directing the normal processes of thought and action on the part of pupils, of extending their appreciation into new directions, of widening the horizon of their ambitions, and of stimu- lating the development of larger and better ideals for life and for service. TYPES OF COURSES OF STUDY 285 The final test for all such work naturally cannot be the term or the quarterly written examination, but must be the judgment of principal and teacher as to whether the pupil has developed sufficiently, under such a course of training, as to be ready to attempt the problems which will meet him in the next grade ahead. Such courses growing courses. As was said above, noth- ing can be very fixed or very final in the courses of instruc- tion in a school system actuated by such conceptions as to the purposes for which it exists. There will, of course, be certain constants in instruction, which will be more or less generally required of all normal children. Certain alternatives also will be proposed, from which schools or teachers may choose. Certain optionals will also be included, which may be taken up or omitted, as the needs of the classes or of the brighter pupils may seem to require. The courses, though, will be regarded as dynamic rather than static, in the sense that year by year they will be sub- ject to change to meet changing needs, or to bring them more into harmony with the results of the best experience, either within or without the city. The needs of the com- munity and of society are ever changing and growing, while the needs of children vary much, and the adaptation of schools, teaching, and subject-matter to meet these chang- ing needs is one of the most important problems connected with the supervision of instruction. Cooperation of all needed. Such a task is too large for one man, even in a small city, though one man, or in a large city a few men, must in a way oversee and guide and in the end decide upon the work. While the task calls for good leader- ship, it calls even more for the united efforts of all principals and teachers, and all should be made to feel that the adjust- ment and the adaptation of the courses of instruction to the needs of pupils under their charge is in a way their problem. 286 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION This demands flexibility in place of the usual rigidity, and the acceptance, as preparation for the next grade ahead, of whatever type of educational experience has seemed most useful to the child or group in the grade below. It also de- mands that a teaching force be guided by the right kind of educational conceptions and standards of measurement, that they may, in consequence, work along intelligent lines. Changes in the course of study, changes in the types of schools, changes in organization within individual schools or individual classrooms, and changes in the immediate aims and methods of instruction should be possible at any time, if, by so doing, the work of the schools may be adapted better to the ever-changing needs of groups of pupils and elements in the community. Variations between schools. The idea that all children in a city should pursue the same courses of study goes back to the knowledge conception of educational work, and is inde- fensible on any modern standpoint as to the nature and purpose of public education. To require all of the children of a State to follow the same courses, is, to put it mildly, a still greater educational blunder. In any modern city diverse elements collect together in different parts, and these have different economic, social, and moral standards. The chil- dren vary not only from group to group, but within the dif- ferent groups as well. One school may be composed largely of the children of recently arrived Italians, another of the children of recently arrived Scandinavians and Russian Jews, another of substantial Germans, another of middle- class Americans of different racial stocks, and another of wealthy professional and business men. Not only the needs, but the possibilities in instruction will vary much in the different schools, while some children in each will equal the best and some the poorest to be found in any other school. The emphasis in instruction will need to be placed some- TYPES OF COURSES OF STUDY 287 what differently in the different schools if the best educa- tional results are to be obtained. Even the schools, as wholes, may be allowed to develop along somewhat different lines. ^ Better to meet such individual differences in the upper grades of the elementary school, a differentiation in courses for pupils of different types and destinies is very desirable. In the next chapter this will be considered more at length. Experimental rooms or schools. A superintendent of schools ought to have no hesitancy in permitting teachers or schools to try new experiments in instruction, under regu- lated conditions. On the contrary, he ought to encourage such experimentation. Connected with every school system there ought to be a few experimental rooms. Even if the results prove no better than the methods then in use, or even prove unsatisfactory, the effect of such experimenta- tion on the teaching force is good. It keeps principals and teachers thinking, and tends to prevent the oncoming of that mental crystallization which seems to settle gradually over so many principals and teachers like the hardening of a plaster cast. Under the direction of superintendent and principals a few of the more reliable teachers should try new experiments in instruction. If these turn out well, it is then easy to introduce them into the schools; if not, they can be let alone. Growth comes from such an open-minded attitude toward new methods and ideas, and not from standing still, repeat- ing the same operations and following the same methods day after day and year after year.^ 1 The city of Indianapolis is a good case in point. The principals and teachers there have been allowed to develop their schools along some- what different lines, and to give to each an individuality. 2 The introduction of departmental instruction, domestic science, kin- dergartens, vocational work, the substitution of German or Spanish in the seventh and eighth grades for English grammar, the omission of arith- 288 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Study of local problems and needs. Too little study of the results of the instruction given or of local needs and community problems, on the part of many of our city school systems, is evidenced when a close study is made of the courses of instruction outlined for use in the schools,^ and of the statistical tables published showing the classifi- cation of pupils in the schools. The result is that our schools too often fail to satisfy the needs of either the children or of the community, and, in turn, fail to receive the community support which should be their due. The consequence is a school system satisfying, to only a limited extent, the educa- tional needs of the children; often providing but little spe- cialization of work; and often with many children in the grades who are unable to make proper progress under the type of instruction provided. The study of such a condition at once leads to efforts at the differentiation of instruction. Our schools, also, too often exist as a thing apart and by themselves, instead of closely correlating their educa- tional service to the needs of the community served. Our Y.M.C.A.'s are often far more successful in this respect metic from the first and second grades, larger emphasis on science, con- structional activities in some of the lower grades, parallel courses of different types, and minimum and maximmn courses for different children in the same class or grade, all these are examples of the more common types of experiments. The organization of a school in the city after the Gary plan of instruction is a type of an experiment on a larger scale. 1 The writer has, for years, made his course in city school administra- tion culminate in a school survey of some city by each student in the class. The report is worked up from all available and obtainable data, — school reports, courses of study, board rules and regulations, teacher- data, salary-schedules, the state school law, city charters, chamber of commerce literature, United States Census data, commerce and labor data, financial statistics, etc., — and, while some of the conclusions might be modified by a close study made on the ground, the results are neverthe- less indicative of the city's educational position. One prominent fact brought out in most of these surveys is the lack of relation of the courses of instruction to community needs and problems. Most of the pubUc school surveys which have been made point to a similar condition of affairs. (See in particular, the surveys of Portland and Butte.) TYPES OF COURSES OF STUDY 289 than are the public schools. A close study of the social and economic position of a city^ will not only reveal many un- satisfied educational needs, but will enable the school au- thorities to so shape and so redirect the instruction as not only to make the schools render a much larger community service, but, at the same time, to prepare pupils better for real success and happiness in life. It is from such larger community service that larger community support, both moral and financial, must ultimately come. In the following chapter we shall point our how some of these needs have been met by adaptations and adjust- ments tending to break up the mass idea of instruction. Economy of time in education. One of the important lines for future study and experimentation in our public school systems lies along the direction of effecting an economy of time in instruction. This will call for eliminations in subject- matter and for the shortening-up of the work of instruction, so as to get pupils into the higher work at an earlier date. Much subject-matter of little real use is still taught in many of our schools, and in many school systems, particularly in the eastern part of the United States, nine years are still given to the elementary-school course of study. This means an age of nineteen years, at a normal rate of progress, when a student completes the high school, whereas at this age a capable student ought to be through his second year of college. The two questions of desirable eliminations in subject-matter, and the shortening of the schooling period, especially for the most capable children, will be questions of large importance in the near future. ^ ^ For an example of this, see the Portland School Survey, chaps, vi and VII. See also the Springfield Survey Report, the Butte Survey Report, or the Salt Lake City Survey Report. 2 The nine-year elementary-school course was once common. To-day eight years is the length of time usually required, but many school systems have further shortened the period to seven years. See articles by Green- wood, Judd, and Judson on this point. 290 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION In both elementary and secondary education there are many opportunities for the elimination of waste in instruc- tion, and for the economy of time in passing pupils along. In part this calls for eliminations ^ in courses, in part for the introduction of new types of educational tools, and in part for adjustments and differentiations in instruction to meet individual and community needs. This latter phase of the question will be considered more at length in the following chapter. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. Would efficiency in other lines excuse a superintendent of schools from not knowing much about courses of study? 2. How far is it desirable to have teachers and principals assist in the preparation and modification of courses of study? 3. Suppose the courses so prepared are old-style and reactionary, what should the superintendent do? 4. After courses of study have been adopted and printed, should a super- intendent refuse to allow of a modification? Is it desirable to allow of modifications, for certain teachers or schools, that are not allowed generally? 5. Why is an examination of the printed courses of study the best single index as to the character of the school system maintained? What would be a second good index? 6. Contrast the educational theory underlying knowledge-type courses of study and development-type courses of study? Why is uniformity the natural corollary of the former? 7. What do you understand to be meant by tool and by content studies? By "fads" in courses of study? 8. In what kind of a school system will the so-called "fads" receive most attention? 9. Why is the public so slow to appreciate the value of the newer studies ? 10. State the objections to courses of study based upon pages in text- books. 1 See Jessup's "Economy of Time in Arithmetic," in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1914, pp. 209-22, for a good example of possible eliminations. Also see the four reports on language and grammar, arithmetic, reading, and history and geography, and a fifth paper de- scribing some typical progressive experiments, in the "Report of the Com- mittee on Economy of Time in Education," in the Proceedings of National Education Association, for 1915. TYPES OF COURSES OF STUDY 291 11. What do you think of the idea of allomng different- type courses in different parts of a city? 12. Should a girl who cannot get the work in arithmetic, or a boy who cannot get the work in grammar, be allowed to go on into the next grade? 13. Should the same courses of study be followed in special-type schools as in the regular schools? 14. Should lessons and work leading to appreciation and expression be made of as much importance as lessons and work whose aim is drill? What is the place and importance of drill in education? 15. What about the argument, in cities where there is much changing of residence, that courses should be uniform in all schools so as to facilitate transfers of pupils from school to school? 16. Why do schoolmasters so commonly think of children in terms of courses of study, instead of courses of study in terms of children? 17. Will a school system closely adapted to local needs cost more to run than a traditional school? Why? Why will such a school, however, be supported better by the people, if they understand what is being done? 18. Do you think that the common argument that American boys waste time, and do not progress in school as fast as they should, is well founded? 19. Why have continental European school systems had a decided ad- vantage over American school systems in the matter of a more rapid advance of their pupils? 20. Do the arguments for a seven-year elementary-school course of study appeal to you as good? TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT 1. Suppose that you have just been elected superintendent of schools in another city, the schools of which are in need of many changes. In particular the courses of study need a general overhauling. Draw up an outline of the facts concerning the city, the people, and their needs you would think it desirable to know to guide you in reorgan- izing the instruction in the schools, 2. Take a course of study used in some city school system in your vicinity, and point out the re\dsions which would save time without impairing the value of the instruction given. SELECTED REFERENCES t. Construction and types. Butte, Montana. Report of a Survey of the School System. (1914.) Chapter III, on the courses of study, describes courses which represent the knowl* edge conception of education, and points out desirable changes. Chancellor, W. E. Our Schools ; Their Administration and Supervision. Chapter XII is a brief statement of courses of iDstruction, from the point of view of outgoing and incoming studies. 292 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Dewey, John. "The Situation as regards the Course of Study"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1901, pp. 332-48. Also in Educational Review, vol. 22, pp. 26-49. A good statement of the obstacles to progress, and the need of substituting some better plan for the tentative and empirical experimentation which has characterized progress during the nineteenth century. Draper, A. S. American Education, pp. 119-36. In a chapter entitled "Demands upon the Schools," something of the purposes and problems in instruction in a democratic school system are set forth. Dutton, S. T., and Snedden, D. S. The Administration of Public Educa- tion in the United States. Chapter XVIII, on the elementary-school course of study, is a theoretical treatment of the problems involved in the construction of courses, and their cont«^nt and form. Elson, W. H. "The Superintendent's Influence on the Course of Study"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1904, pp. 188-94. An excellent article on the superintendent's duties in the matter and methods of the course of study. Holds that here is the crowning issue in school administration, to which aU else is incidental and contributory. Elson, W. H., and Bachman, F. P. "Different Courses for Elementary Schools"; in Educational Review, vol. 39, pp. 357-64. (April, 1910.) Different social and intellectual needs demand different types of instruction. Lee, Joseph. "The Need to dream"; in Proceedings of National Educor Hon Association, 1913, pp. 159-69. A very readable article on the kindergarten, music, literature, and imaginative work as important elements in the training of children. McMurry, Frank. "The Uniform Minimum Curriculum with Uniform Examinations"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1913, pp. 131-43. Good discussion, pp. 143-48. ' Examines the proposal, and condemns it as contrary to all modern educational theory. A strong and readable article. McMurry, Frank. Elementary School Standards. World Book Co., New York, 1913. Chapter VIII presents the standards for judging the value of courses of study, and Chapter IX applies the standards to each of the subjects of the elementary-school course. Chapter IX contains much suggestive material. Portland, Oregon. Report of the Survey of the Public School System. (1913.) 441 pp. Reprinted by World Book Co., Yonkers, New York, 1915. Part II, "Instructional Needs," which covers half of the report, describes the knowledge-conception courses of study found there, shows what are the educational needs of such a community, and outlines an educational program calculated to meet the needs of such a city. Salt Lake City, Utah. Report of a Survey of the School System. (1915.) 324 pp. Chapter VI, on the printed courses of study, and chapter VII, on the instruction and supervision as seen, describe conditions in a city where the development con- ception of education prevails. TYPES OF COURSES OF STUDY 293 Wolfe, L. E. "The Many-Book vs. the Few-Book Course of Study"; in Educational Review, vol. 45, pp. 146-54. (February, 1913.) Believes that the use of a large number of textbooks of a new type, directed more toward preparation for social efficiency, would give better educational results. Economy of time. Baker, James H., Chairman. Economy of Time in Education. 106 pp. Bulletin no. 38, 1913, U.S. Bureau of Education. Good bibliography. An important report, by a committee of the Council of the National Education Association. Deals with the question as it relates to both elementary and secondary education, and in the light of the underlying principles involved. Eliot, C. W. "Shortening and enriching the Grammar-School Course"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1892, pp. 617-25. Also in his Educational Reform, pp. 253-69. An important early document, forecasting much of the change that has since taken place. Greenwood, J. M. "Shorter Time in Elementary Schools"; in Educa- tional Review, vol. 24, pp. 375-90. (November, 1902.) Facts as to conditions in Kansas City. Thinks a seven-year course as good as an eight-year. Gives some data. Judd, C. H. "A Seven-Year Elementary School"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1913, pp. 225-34. Describes the progressive changes and eliminations which have led to the aboli- tion of the eighth grade in the University of Chicago school. Judd, C. H. "The Meaning of Secondary Education"; in School Re- view, vol. 21, pp. 11-26. (January, 1913.) On the need of reorganization to prevent waste. Judson, H. P. 1. "Waste in Elementary Curricula"; in School Review, vol. 20, pp. 433-41. (September, 1912.) 2. "Economy in Education," 76id., vol. 21, pp. 441-45. (Septem- ber, 1913.) Two good articles on waste in elementary and secondary education, and the need for its elimination. Weet, H. S. "Shortening the Course of Study"; in Proceedings of Na- tional Education Association, 1914, pp. 269-72. A very good statement of the problems presenting themselves for solution. Wilson, H. B., Chairman. "Report of the Committee on Economy of Time in Education"; in Proceedings of National Education Asso- ciation, 1914, pp. 206-43. A preliminary report of the chairman, and three individual reports. The first, a study of "Economy of Time in Arithmetic," by W. A. Jessup, is an especially sug- gestive study, showing types of eliminations which may be made. See also 1915 volume of Proceedings for further studies. CHAPTER XVIII THE COURSES OF INSTRUCTION II. Adjustments and Differentiations The different attempts to adjust and differentiate instruc- tion, to meet special and individual needs, group themselves around four main topics which will form the subject-matter of this chapter, namely, (1) The study of retardation and acceleration; (2) promotional plans; (3) differentiations in school work; (4) fundamental reorganizations. We shall consider these in the above order. 1. Retardation and acceleration The average course of study. Courses of study in our cities are usually constructed to meet the needs of the so- called "average child," and children of average capacity usually do reasonably well under them. For some of the children, though, some or all of the work is too difficult, or is wholly unsuited to their needs, and as a result they fail to make proper progress, while for others the work is too easy, and in consequence they learn habits of idleness by not being worked nearer to their capacities. Many a college loafer belongs to this latter class. To meet the needs of these different classes of children certain adjustments and differentiations in courses of study are desirable, in order that each child of school age in the community may find work in the schools suited to his powers. The following figure shows the condition existing in a city ^ 1 From data obtained from a survey of the schools of Owatonna, Minne- sota, by Superintendent W. B. Thornburgh, and published in an article ADJUSTMENTS AND DIFFERENTIATIONS 295 where the courses of study and the promotional plans have been adjusted to meet the needs of the great mass of pupils. The figure shows that the courses of study are also well balanced between the needs of the gifted and the slow, as practically the same percentage of accelerated and retarded pupils are found in the schools. This represents what may be said to be an average, and a tolerably satisfactory con- dition. In an average school of 400 pupils in such a school system, 281 will be advancing regularly with theu- grade. Retarded, 15.2^ Normal Rate of Progress Accelerated, Fig. 18. PROMOTIONAL RESULTS IN A CITY FOLLOWING A COURSE OF STUDY ADJUSTED TO THE AVERAGE CAPACITY OF THE PUPILS 58 will be ahead of their regular grade, and 61 will be more or less retarded, due to one cause or another. A poorly adjusted course of study. Figure 19 shows a condition in a city ^ where the courses of study, or the pro- motional examinations, or both, have not been so adjusted as to permit of the normal progress of a large percentage of the pupils in the schools. Here one child in four is not able to advance with his class, some being two, three, and four years behind their proper age grade, while but eight chil- dren in a thousand are one year ahead of their regular grade. entitled "Is your Course adjusted to the Capacity of your Pupils.?" In School Education, vol, 34, p. 5. (December, 1914.) 1 From data given in Table 17 of the Report of the Survey of the Public School System of Portland. This table included only those one or more years behind or ahead. If half years had been taken a little more favorable showing would have been made for the accelerated pupils, but a less favor- able one would have resulted for the retarded group. 29G PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION This city also requires nine years to complete the elemen- tary-school courses of study. Such a condition as is shown in the second figure is not uncommon in our American cities,^ though perhaps less common than was the case a few years ago. If the conception as to the need of adjusting the courses of study to meet the ever-varying needs of the pupils, as was stated in the preceding chapter, is a correct one, and modern educational theory certainly sustains it, then there is need. Fig. 19. PROMOTIONAL RESULTS IN A CITY FOLLOWING A KNOW- LEDGE-TYPE COURSE OF STUDY, AND WITH QUARTERLY PRO- MOTIONAL EXAMINATIONS in practically all school systems, for a much more careful study of the age distribution of pupils in the schools, with a view to a better adjustment of the courses of instruction to the needs of pupils. The results of non-promotion. The result is a great human waste. In school systems having such conditions as are shown in Figure 19, hundreds of boys and girls are not where they ought to be, and are not doing what they ought to be doing. Boys and girls are in the elementary * The Report of the Survey of the School System of Butte, chap, r, and the Report of a Survey of the School System of Salt Lake City, chap, ix, both contain much excellent data relating to the age and grade classification of pupils in cities having much more than the normal amount of retarda- tion. Bachman and Ayres (see Bibliography) also give much valuable data. ADJUSTMENTS AND DIFFERENTIATIONS 297 school, studying the puzzles of arithmetic and the technicali- ties of English grammar, when they ought to be in the high school or in a vocational school, studying something better suited to their needs and more likely to awaken their inter- est and enthusiasm. Boys and girls are failing of promo- tion because of written term examinations or courses of I HIIIIII II III IV VI VII VIII Over Age Normal Age Under Age FiQ. 20. RETARDATION AND ACCELERATION IN THE GRADES (From the Study of Over- Age and Progress in the Public Schools of Dayton, Ohio.) Note the increasing retardation up to the sixth grade, after wliich the com- pulsory-attendance exemption at fourteen years of age bea'ins to reduce the number of over-age pupils in school. In the last two years the brighter pupils who remain (the eighth grade enrollment was only half of that of the fourth grade) make a better showing. study unsuited to their needs and capacities, and are being prepared to become failures in life. They remain in the lower grades, instead of passing on up, congesting these grades and interfering with the regular instruction of normal pupils; too large for their seats; often unfit associates for the smaller children; usually accomplishing little; and usually being prepared to join the ranks of the inefficient and the unsuc- cessful. . 298 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION When the end of the compulsory school age comes, and the compulsory school law no longer holds them, those who have failed to make a success of their school work usually leave school. If one charts the distribution of pupils, by grades, in any school system which has not made a strong effort to adjust its instruction to child needs, a marked downward tendency will be noted in the curve at the close of the compulsory school period. When it is considered with what a meager equipment these young people leave the schools, and what a poor preparation they have for in- telligent citizenship or for any really effective service, the bad results of such a situation become evident. The effect of such conditions. The effect of such condi- tions on the children is very bad. The mental effect of failure is large and tends to destroy self-confidence, whereas the schools ought to be training pupils for success in life. A boy who has twice failed of promotion has probably been prepared to become a failure in life. The effect of failure on girls is equally depressing. Whenever any large degree of non-promotion or over-age is detected, the causes^ for such conditions should receive careful attention on the part of the principal and superin- tendent. Unless such officers carefully study their age- and grade-distribution tables, they seldom realize the extent to which retardation exists in their own schools. Age- and ^ Among the more common causes of over-ageness in the schools are: — 1. Lack of previous educational opportunities. 2. Lack of use of EngHsh speech. 3. Mental backwardness, which in time will cure itself. 4. Not been "reached" by teachers. 5. Mental deficiency, which will not cure itself. 6. Malnutrition, physical defects, or disease. 7. Bad home conditions. 8. Uniform promotional examinations, and a knowledge-conception of the teaching process. 9. School not suited to pupil's needs. ADJUSTMENTS AND DIFFERENTIATIONS 299 grade-distribution tables should be scrutinized with care, and the different schools should be studied and compared with other schools. Sometimes such study will reveal slow schools, sometimes it will reveal the need of "speeding-up" the whole school system. The following table, compiled from data given by Ayres, shows the effects of different annual promotion rates in a school system, assuming that deaths and withdrawals are balanced by new pupils entering : — Promotion rate Years required for child to complete eight grades Failures among each 1000 chil- dren in eight years Number of chil- dren in each 1000 failing in eight years Children one year or more above normal age for grades 100 8.00 99 8.08 70 68 3.4 98 8.16 140 132 6.7 97 8.24 210 192 9.9 96 " 8.33 280 249 12.9 95 8.42 350 .302 15.9 94 8.50 420 352 18.7 93 8.60 490 398 21.4 92 8.69 560 442 24.0 91 8.78 630 483 26.4 90 8.89 700 522 28.8 89 8.98 770 558 31.1 88 9.09 840 591 33.3 87 9.19 910 623 35.4 86 9.30 980 652 37.4 85 9.41 1050 679 39.4 84 9.52 1120 705 41.2 83 9.63 1190 729 43.0 82 9.75 1260 751 44.8 81 9.87 1330 771 46.4 80 10.00 1400 790 48.0 The super-normal child. The presence of large numbers of over-age pupils in a room, who consume time and effort on the part of the teacher, is not fair to other children. Especially to the boy or girl of large capacity, who, rather 300 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION than the slower one, deserves special attention, is the effect bad. These children of super-normal ability should receive special instruction, be given work up to their capac- ities, and be pushed along into the high school as rapidly as their maturity will warrant. While the average child needs good attention, for such will form the great bulk of our citizenship, and the child of less than normal ability needs special instruction in special classes, as much for the welfare of other children as his own, the really important child in the schools — the one most worth while to the future state — is the boy or girl who is decidedly quicker, brighter, and surer than the average. We have for a long time based our instruction on the needs of the "average child," and we have recently begun to direct some attention to the needs of the child mentally below normal, but so far but little attention has been given to the needs of the super- normal child, — the child who represents the best asset of public education. It is from this class of children we must draw our leaders for the future. 2. Promotional plans More frequent promotions. The earliest and most com- mon attempts to remedy the conditions arising from courses of study not being fully adjusted to individual needs have been along the line of increasing the flexibility of the promo- tional machinery, thus tending to break up the so-called *' lock-step" in the public schools. Under the annual-pro- motion plan the child who fails of promotion at the end of any year must repeat the grade. This is wasteful of both the school's time and the child's time, and often has a most discouraging effect on the pupil. Similarly, a bright pupil cannot easily go forward under an annual system, because a whole year must be jumped by so doing. In all of our better school systems, even in small cities. ADJUSTMENTS AND DIFFERENTIATIONS 301 annual promotion has now been replaced by semiannual pro- motions/ the grade being divided into two sections, half a year apart. In some of our larger city school systems, where large buildings permit of such subdivisions, each grade is subdivided into four sections, thus insuring classes only ten weeks apart, so that failure to advance or the ability to ad- vance more rapidly requires a loss or an advance of but one fourth of a year, instead of a whole year.^ The semiannual promotion plan is now perhaps the most common of all plans, while the quarterly promotion plan, if coupled with the maintenance of an ungraded room in each building, permits of a very flexible promotional scheme, under which, if prop- erly handled, pupils may advance at almost any rate. The chief difficulty with the quarterly promotion plan is that it is not possible in small buildings, or in a small school system. The Batavia plan. Under any of these plans, however, some pupils will fail to make progress with the group, though the quarterly promotional plan naturally presents the fewest objections in this respect. The Batavia plan, of which much has been said in recent years, is an attempt to overcome this difficulty, while retaining the semiannual promotion plan for all. Figure 21 illustrates the idea. The plan has been in use for many years at Batavia, New York, and it was worked out there originally not so much as a promotional plan as a device to make use of a number of very large classrooms. The plan was finally extended to include both elementary ^ See Report of the Baltimore Commission, pp. 89-90, for a brief state* ment as to the advantages of the two-class plan of instruction. For a much fuller discussion of the development of more flexible promotional plans, see extracts from the Annual Reports of Superintendent W. T. Harris, of St. Louis, between 1869 and 1875, reproduced in Report of the U.S. Com- missioner of Education, 1898-99, i, 302-30. The discussions reproduced here are important. 2 St. Louis has been a pioneer in the establishment and operation of such a quarterly plan. 302 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION and high schools. In classes of fifty children or less, it was provided that one half of the teacher's time should be free from class work, and be devoted to helping the pupils in their studies. When classes exceeded fifty, a second teacher was put in to assist, recitation work and assisting pupils going on simultaneously. A decrease in the amount of class recitation work and an increase in the amount of pupil assistance and directed study are the essential features of the plan.^ Figure 21 shows how even progress for all pupils Feb. Mar. Apr. May X June Fig. 21. THE B ATA VI A PLAN Showing a half-year's progress for all pupils under this plan. The coaching of the slow pupils by the assistant teacher makes this equality of progress possible. is maintained. The plan tends to very materially decrease retardation and non-promotion, and in this lies its great advantage. It probably also tends toward producing aver- age results, and in this neglects the interests of the brighter pupils, though it might be possible to so use the plan as to advance the brighter pupils more rapidly. The so-called North Denver plan represents the reverse of the Batavia idea, the brighter pupils there, rather than the slow ones, being singled out for special help. The Pueblo plan. This plan might be considered as a development of the Batavia plan, except that instead of large classes, small classes and small groups within classes are used. It is also equally applicable to high school work. Under the best of conditions the plan is as represented in * See short descriptive article on, in Monroe's Cyclopedia of Education, vol. I, p. 331. ADJUSTMENTS AND DIFFERENTIATIONS 303 Figure 22. The results here are what are obtained in some of our private schools, where each pupil advances at his own s Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr., May June A B r, D E F G H T J K T, M N ,.., ;■ ■■ O Fig. 22. THE PUEBLO PLAN; INDIVIDUAL PROGRESS Each line represents the progress of a single pupil during a half-year. Pupil A coTered almost a year's work during the time, while the elowest pupil, J, made slightly less than a quarter of a year's progress. speed. As originally used in Pueblo, Colorado,^ the indi- vidual idea was kept prominent. In ordinary use the plan is better represented by Figure 23, which shows a class, say Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May June Pig. 23. THE PUEBLO PLAN; GROUP PROGRESS This shows the plan as used in large schools, the pupils being grouped for administra- tive purposes into a number of groups, and pupils being moved from one group to another as tliey advance or fail to advance. The five different groups made different rates of progress during the half-year here shown. of forty pupils, grouped into B.ve groups progressing at five different rates of speed. These groups naturally are very * See article on, by P. W. Search, in Bibliography. 304 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION fluid, and pupils pass from one to another as their progress or lack of progress indicates as desirable. In this form it is practically the same as the so-called Elizabeth, New Jersey, plan. This plan makes excellent provision for the slow, the average, and the gifted pupil, and for all gradations in be- tween them, but it requires gradual introduction, a rather superior body of teachers, relatively small classes, and good supervision to secure good results under it. Under this plan non-promotion is practically eliminated. The new Cambridge plan. This represents a type of pro- motional plan which is now much more common than for- A Basal ] L 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 Course 1 5 I 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 8 Years B ParaUel 1 2 3 . 4 6 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Course 1 1 1 1 6 Years 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pig. 24. THE NEW CAMBRIDGE PLAN Two parallel elementary-school courses, with one third more work assigned for each year in Course B than in Course A. merly. The essential features of it are the provision of two parallel courses. One is known as the basal or eight-year course, and the other is a parallel course intended specifi- cally for the gifted pupil, making it possible for such to cover the eight years of the elementary-school course in six years. ^ Pupils who cannot progress as fast as the eight-year 1 The plan was introduced in 1910, coincidently with the reduction of the elementary-school course from nine to eight years. Previous to that time, for many years, this city used a plan by which the first three grades were the same for all, with a chance to do the remaining six years in any- where from four to six years, pupils crossing over from one course to another ADJUSTMENTS AND DIFFERENTIATIONS 305 course naturally must fail of promotion, though here, due to each year's work, except the last, being divided into three grades, each failure means the loss of but one-third of a year in time. But two grades are provided in the last year, because promotion to the high school can take place but twice a year. The two courses are so arranged, it will be noticed, that crossing from one to the other may be made at five points Pia. 25. THE PORTLAND PLAN Without gain or loss, and at other points the difference is not great. This permits of a rate of progress through the grades at anywhere from six to eight years. The Portland, Oregon, plan, shown in Figure 25, illustrates the same idea, except that it will be seen that there the readjustment without loss occurs every one and a half years. The idea underlying the North Denver plan is the same at the middle of the grammar-school course. For all the years of trial under the old plan, statistics from the three high schools showed that those who completed the six years of grammar school in four years did best, the five- year pupils next, and the six-year pupils poorest. 306 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION High School Promotion by subjectB. Mtmy coozses of (Iifferent4ype9 Intermediate School PromotiOD by subjects. Academic. Business Household-Arts, and Vocational Courses ^ i i H 2 03 ;S I I l-l 00 ° I a ■S "I to tn Est a a as that underlying the new Cam- bridge and the Portland plans, namely, that of giving special at- tention to the more gifted pupils. The recent spread in the use of such plans is a most encouraging sign for the future of our demo- cratic society. No form of govern- ment is so in need of encouraging its best and developing leaders for its national life as is a gov- ernment such as ours. The blun- dering and waste in governmental affairs with us to-day is, in part, a resultant of the mass education which has been so common in the past. A democracy is greatly in need of leaders, and it is from among the gifted children that leaders must be drawn. Their educational advantages should be of the best. The differentiated-course plan. The fundamental idea underly- ing this plan is that of advancing all normal pupils evenly during the first six years, and then, by a differentiation of courses and promotion by subjects after the sixth year, so to adapt the courses of instruction to the needs of the pupils as to retain and ad- vance regularly as many as pos- sible. ADJUSTMENTS AND DIFFERENTIATIONS 307 The essential features of this plan are shown in Figure 26, which illustrates the plan as followed for some years at Santa Barbara, California. Three parallel courses of instruc- tion are provided for the first six grades, each requiring dif- ferent amounts of work and intended to be suited to the needs of the slow, the average, and the gifted, and so ar- ranged as to tend to eliminate non-promotion and retarda- tion in these elementary-school grades. Course C includes the minimum essentials in the fundamental elementary- school subjects which are to be required of all, while each of the other courses includes larger amounts of work, or a greater enrichment of the instruction, or both. Instead of providing only for the average and the gifted, as in the Cambridge, Portland, and North Denver plans, this plan makes a third group for the slow. Unlike these three plans, though, it makes no definite provision for the more rapid advancement of the gifted. The important features of this plan are the differentiation of courses, the introduc- tion of departmental instruction, and the promotion by subjects in the last two years of the usual grammar-school course. The Baltimore experiment. An important modification of this differentiated-course plan was introduced into the schools of Baltimore by Superintendent Van Sickle. There all pupils advanced along the three lines, as shown by Figiue 26, until the close of the sixth grade. A number of the schools continued grade instruction through the seventh and eighth grades, then promoting to the high school, or the pupils went out into the world at this point. At a number of places in the city, however, central schools, taught by a departmental plan of instruction and with an especially rich curriculum were provided, and to these the gifted children (ordinarily Course A pupils), with the consent of their parents, were sent for better and 308 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRA.TION more rapid instruction. The curriculum for such schools was greatly enriched, and was so arranged that a pupil might complete the grades seven to ten inclusive in three years, thus saving a year of public school life and ena- bling the pupil to enter college at seventeen instead of at eighteen. The Mannheim plan of grading. The Santa Barbara and the Baltimore types of differentiated courses for different classes of pupils correspond closely with the plan followed, since 1899, at Mannheim, a commercial and manufacturing city on the Rhine, in Baden, Germany, and which is shown in the figure on the opposite page. This plan has attracted much attention in Germany. It arose as an attempt to carry the pupils through the grades more rapidly, so that more might finish the highest grade before the close of the com- pulsory school period. The plan in its essentials consists of two systems of smaller-unit special classes, one known as "furthering classes" (B), and the other as "auxiliary classes " (C). These run parallel to the regular classes of the Volksschule (A) , for children who show themselves too slow or too weak to do the work of the A course. About ten per cent of the children in the Volksschule in Mannheim are in these "furthering classes." In addition, two systems of classes for the more gifted are also found, one (P) for those who are to pass to the secondary schools at the age of ten, and the other (Sp.) for those who are to remain in these peoples* schools. The object of these differentiations in courses, as explained by the superintendent of the Mannheim schools, is "to carry for- ward on a level, through the same course of study and within the compulsory school age, from six to fourteen, all children obliged by law to attend the folk-schools." §p.vn vm t t t S\>Pt QJigCiSi' I Pig. 27. CLASS ORGANIZATION OP THE VOLKSSCHULE AT MANNHEIM, GERMANY A. Regular classes, constituting eight grades. Sp rr Language classes for gifted pupils. Sp P=: Preparatory language classes. P == Preparatory classes for pupils wishing to enter the Gjannasium, the Realgymnasium, the Oberrealschide and the Reformschule. B. Furthering classes, constituting five, six, or seven grades, the distinguishing feature of the Mannheim system. L = Leaving or Finishing classes for pupils who will soon reach the limit of compulsory school attendance. Prr Furthering classes for slow pupils. C. Auxiliary classes for mentally defective pupils. A = Auxiliary classes. A P =1 Preparatory class. I = Institution for idiots and imbeciles. >■ Destination of regularly promoted pupils. :> Destination of demoted pupils. The blocks representing the different grades also represent a school year in time. I rr Idiot Asyluni. G = Gymnasium \ Rg z= Realgymnasium ( Higher O = Oberrealschule i Schools. R = Reformschule ' (From a German school report.) 310 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 3. Differentiations in school work New types of schools. In addition to the differentiations in courses shown in Figure 26, which attempt to provide for the needs of the normal pupil, many of our cities have also created new types of schools for the instruction of certain special classes of children who, for one reason or another, are not likely to partake advantageously of the instruction provided in the regular classrooms for ordinary children. The need of such classes is often dictated just as much by reasons of economy in the instruction of normal pupils as by the needs of the special classes taught. A mere enumera^ tion of the more important of these is all that can be attempted here.^ 1. Non-English speaking. For children and youths of normal ability but who, because of foreign birth, have not a com- mand of the English language. Often subdivided on an age basis. 2. Supplementary classes. For "left-overs," who are organized into special classes and taught separately, and are admitted to the high school as such, though they have not completed the elementary-school course. Sometimes called Transfer classes.^ 3. Over-age classes. For those markedly over-age in the grades, to bring up their deficiencies and to adapt the work better to their needs. ^. Ungraded classes. For elementary-school pupils who, for any reason, are at a disadvantage in the grades, or who need extra help to enable them to step forward into a more advanced class. ^ For a more detailed description of the most of these special-type schools, see Van Sickle, Witmer, and Ayres, chap, vii, or the volmne by Holmes. Also see special articles in Monroe's Cyclopedia of Education. The article by Heater describes those schools established in Pittsburg, and that by Christensen those in Salt Lake City. 2 See Bridging the Gap ; the Transfer Class. Harvard -Newton Bulletins, no. III. (1915.) A study of such classes in the Newton, Massachusetts, schools. ADJUSTMENTS AND DIFFERENTIATIONS 311 5. Vacation schools. For tHe education of children during the summer vacation, along somewhat different lines from the regular instruction of the school year, together with special classes for children who desire to make up back work or to move forward more rapidly. 6. Disciplinary classes. For refractory children of either sex, in part to relieve the regular classroom of these troublesome cases, and in part to adjust work and discipline to the needs of such children. 7. Parental schools. For incorrigibles and confirmed truants; for those not capable of being handled in the regular school or in 6. (See pages 367-69 for further description.) 8. Open-air classes. For tubercular and anaemic children. 9. Schools for crippled children. Special instruction in small classes, adapted to the needs and possibilities of crippled children, and without reference to the regular courses of instruction. (See book by Reeves.) 10. Classes for children with special defects. For stammerers and stutterers, to correct speech defects. The teacher may travel from school to school, giving instruction to such children, instead of the children being collected in a special school. 11. Classes for the oral instruction of deaf children. Special small classes with specially trained teachers, to enable such children to learn to speak and to read the lips. 12. Classes for blind children. Special instruction, adapted to the needs and possibilities of blind children. 13. Classes for sub-normal children. Special instruction, suited to the needs and possibilities of children deficient in mental capacity, but capable of sufficient education to make them self-supporting, and of training in habits and physical control. H. Classes for epileptic children. Special part-time classes for educable epileptics. 15. Special classes for gifted children. Usually some form of the Baltimore plan, by which special classes for gifted children are formed, to enable them to progress more rapidly. 16, Industrial classes. ^ A recent development, and one promising 1 The field of industrial and trade education represents a large recent development of public education, which it is not possible to consider in any detail in the space of such a book as this. Leavitt gives many excellent examples of industrial schools, and Snedden states well the argument for such work as a part of the public school system. Cole and Draper are also good on this point. S12 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION much for the future. Either special courses running through the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades, as shown in Figure 26, or special classes for children in certain parts of cities, and substituting industrial work for some of the regular in- struction of the school. Some of these have been organized as part-time industrial schools, and some as continuation schools after the eighth grade. The future is practically cer- tain to see a large development in this type of school. 17. Trade schools. Of secondary grade, for instruction in the fundamentals underlying the practice of the more common trades and occupations for both sexes. 18. Special art schools. Centers where pupils who show special aptitude for drawing may receive special instruction under specially capable teachers. 19. Evening schools. These exist in many cities, and are very useful for extension and industrial instruction and for teach- ing the use of the English tongue to older pupils. 20. Adult instruction. As yet but little developed, but likely in the future to become an important part of our educational service. 21. Home schools. Schools for girls of upper grammar-school age, and designed to give special preparation for home-keeping. These are special schools, in residences, and are in a way a further development of the domestic-science instruction. 22. Neighborhood schools. Schools organized to study and meet the needs of both pupils and parents, considering their hered- ity, experiences, environments, and material and spiritual needs. 1 4. Fundamental reorganizations Reorganizing the upper grades. Figure 26 shows a type of reorganization of the upper grades which has become quite common in the western part of the United States. This consists of abolishing grade instruction in the seventh and eighth grades, and taking the ninth grade out of the high school, and then combining these three grades in a separate building and designating the new school as an 1 For a good description of such a school, see the Report of the Portland School Survey, chap, xi, pp. 274-78. ADJUSTMENTS AND DIFFERENTIATIONS 313 intermediate school or an intermediate high school. A num- ber of more or less different and divergent courses, such as literary, academic, business, manual training, household arts, and pre vocational, are offered; instruction is conducted by the departmental plan; the teachers represent some degree of special preparation, usually being college gradu- ates; the equipment resembles a high school in kind; and promotion is by subject instead of by grade. Marked progress in improving the work in the primary school has been made during the past one or two decades, but the upper grades of the grammar school have usually represented the least progressive part of the whole school system.^ This reorganization of the work of the upper grades attempts not only to remedy this long-standing de- fect, but, by providing for a more natural transition, to reduce the mortality in the first year of the high school as well. Theory of the intermediate school. The theory underlying the intermediate school is that the upper grammar-school grades, if properly taught, require such a degree of prepara- tion that grade instruction cannot be eflBcient; that the grade-teacher system can and does take little account of the gradual differentiation in tastes and capacities and in the future needs of children which takes place after about the age of twelve; that the grade-teacher system makes no real preparation for beginning high-school work, with a resulting heavy mortality in the ninth grade; that the rational time for an important change in the school life is when the pupil is leaving childhood; and that the period of early adolescence calls for a different type of treatment from that provided by the usual grade instruction. The great argument for the intermediate school, however, 1 The article by C. W. Eliot, cited in the references of the preceding chapter, is good on this point. 814 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION lies in the resulting improvement in the quality of instruc- tion and in the adaptations to individual capacities and needs which result from the provision of intermediate-school training.^ It offers to pupils the advantages of departmental school work; it offers the possibility of options, in the matter of both studies and courses; it permits of the adaptation of instruction to the needs of both sexes; it tends to postpone for a year the age of leaving school; and it offers opportuni- ties for the development of a type of vocational work not possible under the present plan of grade-school organiza- tion. ^ A reorganized and expanded school system. This type of reorganization in the upper grades almost of necessity forces a greater expansion in the secondary-school curricu- lum of the city. Wherever introduced there has been a marked gain in numbers, not only in those continuing through the grades, but in those entering the high school as well. New provisions for secondary education usually have had to be made, and, in a number of Western cities, the demand has come for an expansion of the high school up- ward, as well as outward. The city of Los Angeles repre- sents a good example of a city which has experienced the results of such a reorganization of its instruction, and a number of California cities have experienced a similar ex- pansion. The Los Angeles school system is now organized as follows : — 1. Kindergartens — one and a half years. 2. Elementary schools — six years — grade instruction. ^ See the Report of the National Education Association Committee on Economy of Time in Education, Bulletin no. 38, 1913, U.S. Bureau of Education, pp. 23-25, for a good statement of the arguments for a reor- ganization of elementary education after the idea here presented. * Holmes gives a diagram on page 157 of part i of his book, showing the differentiations in the school system of New Britain, Connecticut, and the life career to which the instruction leads, which will be interesting to look up at this point. ADJUSTMENTS AND DIFFERENTIATIONS 315 3. Intermediate schools — three years — departmental instruc- tion — five different courses provided. 4. A number of special-type schools, such as ungraded rooms, over-age classes, disciplinary classes, parental schools, schools for the deaf, classes for sub-normal children, evening schools, and neighborhood schools. 5. Eight high schools, some cosmopolitan and some specialized. High school courses proper cover three years. 6. Junior college work ^ in certain high schools, offering the freshman and sophomore years of instruction for all children in the city. A reorganized and redirected school system. The schools at Newton, Massachusetts, offer an excellent example of a reorganized and redirected school system, the fundamental idea kept in mind here being to offer an education suited to the needs and future prospects of every educable child in the community. Instead of continuing to offer a traditional type of elementary and secondary school instruction, of which those who found it of use to them could partake, the community finally committed itself to the thoroughly sound and thoroughly just principle that every child of school age in the community should be offered an education of a kind that would best suit his educational needs and future pros- pects. Having become committed to the idea of educating prop- erly all boys and girls in the community, the school authori- ties began the establishment of schools, classes, and courses of such a nature that every boy and girl might be provided with an education of such a type as each could use to greatest advantage. The fact that different educational treatment was required to deal successfully with different types of boys and girls, and to prepare for the different voca- tions and professions, it was felt furnished no reasonable ground for discrimination between children, and especially 1 See an interesting article in the School Review, vol. 23, pp. 465-73 (September, 1915), on "The Junior College in California." 316 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION according to the usual plan of saying that those who can be educated the traditional way shall be educated, while those who cannot take that kind of education will have to go without any. The chart showing the school system as it was up to 1905, and the reorganizations effected since that time, explains the reorganization and redirection of this school system.^ Such a reorganization and redirection is in harmony with all sound educational theory as to individual differences, and '99 '00 '01 '02 '03 m '05 «06 '07 »10 '11 '12. ^ y y^ y '-/ V /Y ■^ ^f^ ^ J i££^ y^ '$=' > 9> -OVER ^ :5rpy' \o^ CHob L^ f^ ^. ^ 1-^^y ^ ^,- 'pUP^^ I 6tl J ^' ^^ ' J/' -""''^ y / "■*1 f 80% • 75^ 70 5« 65 !« 60 5; 50^ 45^ 40^ 35^ 30 J« 255? 20^ 15^ 10^ h% 0% Fig. 29. RESULT OF THE REDIRECTION OF THE NEWTON SCHOOLS Showing the percentage of increase each year, compared with 1898, in the number of pupils over fourteen — voluntary attendants — and of pupils between Beven and fourteen — the compulsory school age. The marked gain in increase of voluntary attendants since 1907 is the result of the school policy to educate as many as possible of the youth of the city. The unusual increase of seven- to fourteen-year old pupils in 1912 was due to an influx of 200 children from the Parochial School, few of whom were over fourteen. all political theory as to the rights of individuals to partake of the advantages of public education, and represents one of the most significant attempts so far made to break up the aristocratic theory of education and to substitute in its place ^ C. S. Meek, in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1913, pp. 172-78, describes the reorganization and expansion of the high-school work of Boise, Idaho, and shows a somewhat similar adaptation of school work to local community needs. ADJUSTMENTS AND DIFFERENTIATIONS 317 a truly democratic one. The community efficiency of such a school system is greatly increased by such an expansion of ejffort, and, in consequence, its maintenance costs must ma- terially rise. The Gary plan. A still more fundamental reorganization, or rather a construction along new lines from the bottom upward, is represented by the school system recently built up at Gary, Indiana. This represents one of the most origi- nal pieces of constructive work ever attempted in American education. The essential idea underlying the plan is *' the use of all the educational opportunities of the city, all the time, for all the people, and in a way which reveals to young and old that what they are doing is worth while." The schools run on a four-quarter plan, each quarter of twelve weeks' duration; the school plant is a playground, garden, workshop, social center, library, and a traditional- type school all combined in one; the elementary-school and the high-school work are both given under the same roof; some of the high-school subjects begin as early as the fifth grade; specialization in the instruction and, in consequence, departmental instruction run through the schools; classes in the special outdoor activities and shop work are carried on at the same time as indoor classes, thus doubling the capacity of the school plant; the school day is eight hours long, with the school plant open also all day Saturday; con- tinuation schools and social and recreational centers are conducted in the same plant in the evenings; and play and vocational work are important features of the instruction in all schools. Each school is, in effect, a world in itself, busily engaged in the work and play and government of the world, and so well do such activities and a highly flexible curriculum meet the needs of all classes that the need for most of the promotional machinery and special-type classes and schools is here eliminated. S18 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION The Gary plan calls for good organizations, along lines which school men are not commonly either familiar with or capable of; large executive capacity, imagination, and clear insight into community needs; teachers of a differ- ent type, chiefly in attitude and adaptability; a different type of school plant; and courses of instruction far removed from the knowledge conception of education. Whether or not the Gary idea will, in time, become the common type one cannot now say, but the plan is one with which all school men should become familiar, and one which could be advantageously experimented with in many of our cities. The plan as carried out at Gary certainly represents a type of social service of which few school systems as at present organized are capable. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. Why does a system of term promotions, based on written examina- tions, always tend to increase the retardation in the schools? 2. Which form of written examination will tend to increase the retarda- tion most, one where the questions are made out in each school, or one where the questions are uniform for the entire city? Why? 3. Schoolmasters frequently argue that schools which have a very low percentage of retardation do not maintain standards in making pro- motions. What is the value of this argument? 4. Do you agree with the argument about the importance of caring for the gifted child? If not, why not? 5. Do you see any relation between size of class and retardation? 6. Why has mass education been a natural development of our political theory as to human equality? 7. How large buildings or school system would one need to institute the quarterly promotion plan? 8. Could a half-yearly promotion plan be introduced in any city? 9. What are the chief advantages and disadvantages of the Baltimore plan? Is it inapplicable in most school systems? 10. Why is the Pueblo plan a difficult one to carry out? Is it sound educationally? 11. What are the merits and defects of the Cambridge plan? 12. What are the merits and defects of the differentiated-course plan? 13. What would a promotional rate of ninety per cent mean in a large city school system, having ten thousand elementary-school pupils? ADJUSTMENTS AND DIFFERENTIATIONS 319 14. Would a measure of the effectiveness of a school be the extent to which it eliminates non-promotion? If not, under what conditions would it be a good measure? 15. Are any of the special-type schools enumerated in section 3 of this chapter, in your judgment, not within the proper function of public education? Would you add any others to the Ust; if so, what ones, and why? 16. What is meant by departmental instruction? In what grades do you think such instruction would prove most advantageous? State the arguments for and against the departmental organization for the upper grammar-school grades. 17. Is the intermediate-school organization better than the departmental plan? If so, what is its particiilar poini of advantage? 18. What is the advantage of promotion by subjects, after the sixth grade? 19. What is your judgment, after reading Snedden's address and Bagley's reply, on the distinctions between liberal and vocational education? 20. What is your judgment, after reading Bobbit, Bourne, Burxis, and Snedden, on the Gary plan? 21. How far does the form of organization of instruction described by Brown approach the Pueblo plan? The Gary plan? 22. Do all improvements in the educational system mean the expenditure of more money for education? TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT 1. Get age- and grade-distxibution sheets for a number of school sys- tems, and see what is the percentage of acceleration and retardation in each. 2. Compare the age- and grade-distribution in such cities with the com- pulsory age limits, and see if the attendance curves fall off markedly after the close of the compulsory period. 3. Take two school systems, one of which provides a traditional curric- ulum, and the other of which has a rich and varied curriculum, and make a chart comparing the two, for a number of years, in percent- ages of pupils in school after the close of the compulsory school period. 4. Draw up the promotional scheme that, in your judgment, is best adapted to the needs of a city of 10,000 inhabitants. What types of special schools would you think desirable as an adjunct to such a city system? 5. Assume that you desire to urge upon your board the advisability of introducing, as a part of the city school system, any one of the twenty-two types of special school enumerated under section 3. Draw up a report and recommendation to them for such a school, stating need for, giving the educational argument for such, and esti- mating tlie probable cost. 6. Suppose that the school system does not include kindergartens, ap 320 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION that you desire their introduction. Draw up a report for your board giving the reasons for your recommendation, plans for their intro- duction, and estimates of probable costs. 7. Draw up a report, in a similar manner, favoring a reorganization of the school system to provide for intermediate schools, with differ- entiated courses. 8. Calculate the saving for a school system of four sixteen-room grade buildings, employing four special supervisors and ten special teachers, by reorganizing it according to the plan described by Brown, in the third part of his paper, by means of which departmental instruction and all-teachers-specialists are substituted for the typical grade organization. SELECTED REFERENCES .1. Retardation and promotion. Ayres, L. P. Laggards in the School. 236 pp. Charities Publ. Committee, New York, 1909. A valuable study of retardation and elimination of pupils. Bachman, F. P. Problems in Elementary School Administration. 274 pp. World Book Co., Yonkers, New York, 1915. An important study of intermediate schools, their educational value and economic efficiency; together with a very full discussion of the question of promotion and non-promotion of pupils. An authoritative work on the progress and classification of pupils. Blan, L. B. A Special Study of the Incidence of Retardation. Ill pp. Trs. Col. Contribs. to Educ, no. 40. New York, 1911. A critical review of previous studies, and a detailed study of four New Jersey cities and one district in New York City. Bobbitt, J. F. "The Elimination of Waste in Education"; in Elemen- tary-School Teacher, vol. 12, pp. 259-71. (February, 1912.) Describes the Gary, Indiana, school system, where retardation has been reduced to a minimum by reason of the new type of instruction provided. Dynes, J. J. "Relation of Retardation to Elimination of Students from the High School"; in School Review, vol. 22, pp. 396-406. (June, 1914.) A good study of high-school eliminations, by classes and by subjects. Elson, W. H. "Waste and Efficiency in School Studies"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1912, pp. 335-43. A good article on retardation, promotion, and the elimination of waste, with par- ticular reference to the Cleveland schools. Ewing, E. F. "Retardation and Elimination in Public Schools"; in Educational Review, vol. 46, pp. 252-72. (October, 1913.) A comparative study of two cities, and a good discussion of the problems involved. Faulkner, R. P. "Retardation; its Significance and Requirements"; in Educazional Review, vol. 33, pp. 122-31. (September, 1909.) A good short article on the general prevalence of retardation in the schools of the United States. ADJUSTMENTS AND DIFFERENTIATIONS 321 Greenwood, J. M. " Miring in the Grades and the Promotion of Pupils"; in Educational Review, vol. 36, pp. 139-61. (September, 1908.) A series of tables and statistical data showing conditions in a number of cities. Hartwell, C. H. "Grading and Promotion of Pupils"; in Educational Review, vol. 40, pp. 375-86. (November, 1910.) Also in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1910, pp. 294-300; discussion, pp. 300-06. A very good discussion of the whole subject. Gives a digest of the New York City Teachers' Association's investigation of plans in use. Holmes, W. H. School Organization and the Individual Child. 197 + 211 pp. The Davis Press, Worcester, 1912. Part I describes plans for handling normal children, and Part II, sub-normal chil- dren. An important volume. Holmes, W. H. "Plans of Classification in the Public Schools"; in Pedagogical Seminary, vol. 18, pp. 475-522. (December, 1911.) Describes and compares plans in use in the United States and in Germany. Keyes, C. H. Progress through the Grades of City Schools. 79 pp. Trs. Col. Contribs. to Educ, no. 42, New York, 1911. A study of acceleration and arrest. Phillips, D. E. "The Child vs. Promotion-Machinery"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1912, pp. 349-55. An argument on the child side of the question. Salt Lake City, Utah. Report of the Survey of the School System. 324 pp. 1915. Chapter IX, on the progress of children through the schools, deals with both re- tardation and the means employed to reduce the same. Search, P. W. "Individual Teaching; the Pueblo Plan"; in Educational Review, vol. 7, pp. 154-70. (February, 1894.) Describes the plan as it was followed at Pueblo, Colorado. Sheldon, W. D. "A Neglected Cause of Retardation"; in Educational Review, vol. 40, pp. 121-31. (September, 1910.) Claims that large primary^school classes are responsible for many a retarded child. Spaulding, F. E. "The Unassigned Teacher in the Schools"; in School Review, vol. 15, pp. 201-16. (March, 1907.) Describes the work of such a teacher in the schools of Newton, Mass. Strayer, G. D., and Thorndike, E. L. Educational Administration; Quantitative Studies. 391 pp. Macmillan Co., New York, 1913. Part I reproduces a number of valuable studies of elimination, retardation, and acceleration in school systems, with many statistical tables. Thorndike, E. L. The Elimination of Pupils from School. 60 pp. Bul- letin no. 4, 1907, U.S. Bureau of Education. A statistical study of elimination in American cities, with many diagrams. An im- portant study. U.S. Commissioner of Education. " Classification and Promotion of Pupils"; in Annual Report, 1898-99, i, pp. 302-56. A series of good extracts from official reports, describing the development of the sn PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION short-interval system in St. Louis (1869-74); the Elizabeth, New Jersey plan: tho Seattle plan: the North Denver plan: and the old Cambridge plan. Van Denburg, J. K. Causes of the Elimination of Students in Public Secondary Schools in New York City. 205 pp. Trs. Col. Contribs. to Educ, no. 47, New York, 1911. A statistical study of elimination in one group of schools. Van Sickle, J. H., and Shearer, W. J. "Grading and Promotion with Reference to the Individual Needs of Pupils"; in Proceedings of Na- tional Education Association, 1898, pp. 434-48. Two papers, the first describing the North Denver plan, and the other the Eliza- beth plan. Van Sickle, J. H., Witmer, L., and Ayres, L. P. Provisions for Exceptional Children in Public Schools. 92 pp. Bulletin no. 4, 1911, U.S. Bureau of Education. A very valuable document, classifying exceptional children and describing work done for them in thirty-nine American cities. S. Differentiations and reorganizations. Bonser, Fr. E. " Democratizing Secondary Education by the Six-Three- Three Plan"; in Educational Administration and Supervision, vol. I, pp. 567-76 (November, 1915). A good descriptive article. Brown, S. W. " Some Experiments in Elementary-School Organization"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1913, pp. 458-63. A valuable paper, discussing requirements and flexibility in the elementary-school curriculum: promotion by subjects instead of by grades; and the advantages of de- partmental instruction throughout the elementary school. Bourne, Randolph S. The Gary Schools. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1916. 200pp.; illustrated. A well-rounded description of the work and of the principles of organization, management, and finance which have been worked out by Superintendent Wirt in Gary and in other places under his direction. Bums, W. p. The Public School System of Gary, Indiana. Bulletin no. 18, 1914, U.S. Commissioner of Education, 49 pp.; illustrated. A good and an easily available description of the work at Gary, giving programs, time schedules, building plans, and illustrations of the work done. Christensen, D. H. "Some Adjustments and Changes in the Course of Study and School Organization suggested by the Needs and the Capacities of the Children that vary from the Standards set for Average Pupils"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1912, pp. 335-68. A good description of the work done in the Salt Lake City schools in introducinjf the intermediate school and the ungraded class, and instruction for backward chil- dren. Cole, p. R. Industrial Education in the Elementary School. 64 pp. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1914. Riverside Educational Mono- graph Series. The problem, and the necessary reconstructions in the curriculum and in method. ADJUSTMENTS AND DIFFERENTIATIONS 323 Draper, A. S. "The Adaptation of Schools to Industry and Efficiency "; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1908, pp. 65-78. A good article on elementary-school waste, and the lack of balance and adapta- tion to national needs of elementary-school programs of study. Francis, J. H. "A Reorganization of Our School System"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1913, pp. 368-76. A good brief description of the divisions into which the Los Angeles schools have been reorganized, and the scope and purposes of each. Heeter, S. L. "Differentiation in the Courses of Study for Children between Twelve and Sixteen Years of Age"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1913, pp. 292-96. Describes the new types of schools introduced at Pittsburg, — ungraded room, schools for weak-minded, schools for foreign children, open-air schools, elementary industrial schools, and the short-course high school. Kilpatrick, V. E. Departmental Teaching in Elementary Schools. 130 pp> Macmillan Co., New York, 1908. A good presentation of the arguments for and against, with plans. Leavitt, F. M. Examples of Industrial Education. 330 pp. Ginn & Co., Boston, 1912. A valuable book, giving many examples of industrial work in different parts of the United States. Maxwell, W. H. A Quarter Century of Public School Development. 417 pp. American Book Co., New York, 1912. A series of extracts, from Superintendent Maxwell's published reports, of which the following relate to the subject-matter of this chapter: — 18. Schools for defective children, pp. 203-13. 19. Truant schools, pp. 214-16, 20. Summer schoob and playgrounds, pp. 217-22. 21. Continuation vs. evening schools, pp. 223-25. 23. Departmental teaching in elementary schools, pp. 229-37. Portland, Oregon. Report of the Survey of the Public School System. (1913.) 441 pp. Reprinted by World Book Co., Yonkers, New York, 1915. Part n, "Instructional Needs," outlines a plan for the educational reorganization of the city. Reeves, Edith. Care and Education of Crippled Children in the United States. 252 pp. Survey Associates, Inc., New York, 1914. A carefully prepared and well-illustrated volume on the subject. Snedden, D. Problems of Educational Readjustment. 259 pp. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1914. A series of ten essays relating to instruction, and presenting the spirit of the modern demands on the school. The first, on "New Education and Educational Readjust- ment," and the sixth, on "Differentiated Programs of Study for Older Children ii Elementary Schools," bear in particular on the subject-matter of this chapter. Snedden, D. "Fundamental Distinctions between Liberal and Voca- tional Education"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1914, pp. 150-61. Opposite point of view presented by W. C. Bagley, pp. 161-70. A good presentation of the vocational-education question. Snedden lays dow» thirteen important theses on the question of vocational education. 824 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Snedden, D. "The Gary System; Its Pros and Cons for Other Cities " ; in Educational Administration and Supervision, vol. i, pp. 362-74. (June, 1915.) Also in Proceedings of National Education As- sociation, 1915. Springfield, 111. Survey of the Public Schools. 152 pp. Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 1914. Chapter XIII, on "Vocational Education," and Chapter XIV, on "Educa- tional Extension," are good on the need of an extension of the school's work. Thompson, F. W. " Equalizing Educational Opportunity "; in Educa- tional Administration and SupervisioUt vol. i, pp. 453-64. (Septem- ber, 1915.) A very good general article on needed readjustments in work and expenditures to make our school systems more democratic. Trowbridge, Ada W. The Home School. 98 pp. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1913. A very interesting description of a school for training in home arts, established in connection with the public schools of Providence, R.I. CHAPTER XIX EFFICIENCY EXPERTS: TESTING RESULTS A new movement. Wholly within the past decade one of the most significant movements in all of our educational history has arisen. Almost everything which has been con- sidered in the two preceding chapters is dependent on the further development of this movement. The movement is as yet only in its infancy, but so important is it in terms of the future of administrative service that it bids fair to change, in the course of time, the whole character of school administration. The numerous surveys of city school sys- tems which have been made within the past five years, the frequent discussions of the question of standards in educa- tional meetings, and the labors of many workers in attempt- ing to evolve tentative standards for measurement and units of accomplishment, are all manifestations of this new movement. The movement indicates the growth not only of a professional consciousness as to the need of some quantitative units of measurement, but also, to a limited extent, of a public demand for a more intelligent accounting by school oflScers for the money expended for public educa- tion.^ Meaning of the movement. The significance of this new movement is large, for it means nothing less than the 1 "New York City spent last year nearly $35,000,000 for education, and hardly a dollar of it was spent for measuring results. Are educators sup- posed to be such experts that their methods cannot be improved? Lately we have had a striking demonstration of what experimental science can do by reducing the motions in laying brick and the fatigue in handling pig iron. It can hardly be pretended that scientific efficiency is of less conse- quence in the schools." (Editorial in the Springfield Republican, 1912.) 826 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION ultimate changing of school administration from guesswork to scientific accuracy; the elimination of favoritism and politics completely from the work; the ending forever of the day when a book-publishing company or a personal or political enemy of the superintendent can secure his re- moval, without regard to the efficiency of the school system he has built up; the substitution of professional experts for the old and successful practitioners; and the changing of school supervision from a temporary or a political job, for which little or no technical preparation need be made, to that of a highly skilled piece of professional social engi- neering.^ The movement is of such large potential importance that any young man of to-day who desires to prepare for school administration in the future should by all means thoroughly familiarize himself with the aims and methods of this new phase of administrative service.^ The scientific purpose. The scientific purpose of the movement has been to create some standards of measure- ment and units of accomplishment which may be applied to ^ School administration, in respect to training and professional prepa- ration, has been until quite recently about the most backward of all the learned professions, being in much the same position the army was be- fore the establishment of West Point, the navy before Annapolis, medicine and surgery before the days of medical schools, all constructional and engi- neering undertakings before the establishment of engineering schools, and when an attorney-at-law was a man of some eloquence who had served a certain apprenticeship in a law office and in the justice's court. Our successful city superintendents have been to a very large extent the Israel Putnams and the Paul Joneses of the work. In the past, when each was blazing his own trail, this answered very well; in the future, when we shall have accumulated a common body of scientific knowledge relating to the work, it will not do at all. 2 In another book in this series, dealing with the organization and ad- ministration of a school, it is the intention to go into some detail in the explanation of the type of scientific preparation which should be made, and the nature of the service which may be rendered; here we shall only sketch the work in large outline, and point out its probable future signifi- cance. TESTING RESULTS 327 school systems, to individual schools or classes, or to pupils, to determine the efficiency of the work being done, and of substituting these for that personal opinion which has, in the past, constituted almost the only standard of measure- ment of educational procedure. The efficiency or ineffi- ciency of teachers, principals, and superintendent, and of courses of instruction, have for long been measured by such personal standards, in which the opinions of laymen have often been of quite as much value as the opinions of school men. The importance of the work done in the schools and the value of their output have also been subject to the same standards of personal opinion. The school, too, and not the world outside, has framed the specifications for the training of its graduates, and these have been based wholly on per- sonal opinions as to needs held by schoolmasters. When laymen on school boards have broken in, and have dismissed teachers and superintendents or altered courses of study, the intrusion has naturally been resented without any one being able really to prove that such an intrusion was unjustified. In other words, the school, the most important under- taking of any community, has stood isolated in the com- munity, unable to prove that what it was doing was the best possible, and unable to speak to the community of its accomplishments in a language which the community could easily understand. Instead, we have asked the community to accept on faith our statements that what we are doing is of very great importance, and that we are doing it very well. The result has been an isolation of the school which has defeated some of its best efforts. The actuating purpose of this new movement for the estab- lishment of standards of measurement and units of accom- plishment has been that of removing the school from its isolation in the community; of enabling it to prove the im- portance of what it is doing by making it possible for it to 828 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION speak a language which the community can understand; and of making possible the measurement of its efficiency, or the efficiency of individuals in the school system, in terms of established units and standards. In other words, the pur- pose has been to change school supervision from the ranks of an occupation to that of a profession, — from a job depend- ent upon political and personal favors to a scientific service capable of self-defense in terms of accepted standards and units of accomplishment. The movement for the creation of scientific standards of measurement and units of accom- plishment is a movement of vast importance to the future of the work of school administration, and one which bids fair to change its entire character. In another decade or two we shall probably need to rewrite our books on school ad- ministration in terms of this new scientific development. Measurement by comparison. Up to very recently the only measure of accomplishment we have had, in advance of measurement by personal opinion, has been that of measurement by comparison. To learn something about costs for education we have compared costs for different items in one school system with similar costs in cities of approximately the same size; courses of instruction have been evaluated in terms of work offered and time devoted to the different studies in other cities; enrollment, attend- ance, and promotional averages have been compared with enrollment, attendance, and promotional averages else- where; and the provision of special supervision or the demands made on teachers have been measured in terms of what other similar cities provide or require. Such a plan has many merits, as it serves to place a city among other cities of its class, and the position of a city may then be graphically shown. ^ It represents a marked 1 The Report of the Commission appointed to study the System of Educa- tion in the Public Schools of Baltimore (1911), which was the first of a large TESTING RESULTS S29 advance over the method of judgment by personal opinion, and enables a superintendent or a school system to de- fend its requests or its practices in the light of conditions found or expenditures made in other cities of its class. Whether a city is above or below the average for other cities of its class in any item, or whether its schools or its practices are particularly different, is easily ascertained and easily shov/n. Though not very exact, it is nevertheless a method which will always be useful, for certain rough comparisons, while in the derivation of more accurate standards it will be necessary to make much use of this comparative method. The difficulty with the method is that it compares good, bad, and indifferent, and tends to place the average or median standard so derived in that part of the scale which represents mediocrity, rather than placing it in that part which represents progress. Units or standards for measurement. Within the past decade a number of scientific workers have attempted the establishment of a series of standards of measurement and units of accomplishment, with a view to a better standard- ization of educational procedure and the creation of com- parable units of accomplishment. Enough has already been number of recent school surveys, is a good example of this type of study. The method of comparison was largely used in this report, Baltimore being compared, in a large number of items, with twelve other cities which in 1910 had a total population of 300,000 or more. The excellent Study of Expenses of City Schools Systems, by Updegraff (Bulletin no. 5, 1912, U.S. Bureau of Education), is a study made by this same method of comparison, with an explanation of central tendencies in expenditures. The very valuable studies by Holmes and Jessup, in the Report of the Committee on Economy of Time (H. B. Wilson, Chairman), are two other examples of the use of the comparative method. Still another example of this method is the Report on the Organization^ Scope, and Finances of the City of Oakland, California^ by Cubberley, 48 pp. Board of Education Bulletin no. 8, 1915. 330 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION done to warrant the belief that, in the near future, we shall possess numerous scientifically derived scales of measure- ment which may be applied to a system of schools, to dif- ferent systems, or to parts of a system, and by means of which we may measure the quality of the work being done.^ This does not mean that all children are to be made alike, or that a uniform procedure is to be followed, but rather that all practices and methods are to be tested, and those which do not give good results are to be discarded. It means to substitute demonstrable proof as to the validity of a method or a procedure for the present personal opinion of teachers and school authorities. The work of Courtis^ and Stone^ in measuring arithmeti- cal ability; of Ayres,^ Freeman,^ and Thorndike^ in devising scales for measuring the quality of handwriting; of Thorn- dike^ in evolving a drawing scale; of Hillegas,^ the Harvard- ^ Chapter iv of the Butte School Survey, and chapter rx of the Salt Lake City Survey, both of which deal with the accomphshments of pupils, re- present attempts to measure school systems in terms of these units, and standards. In each case the achievements of pupils in arithmetic, spelling, writing, and composition were measured and compared with results ob- tained elsewhere, and the results were set forth in a series of tables and graphs. 2 Courtis, S. A. Manual of Instructions for giving and scoring the Courtis Standard Tests. 127 pp. Detroit, 1914. ' Stone, C. W. Arithmetical Abilities and Some Factors determining them. 101 pp. 1908. Trs. Col. Contribs. to Educ, no. 19. * Ayres, L. P. Scale for measuring the Handvyriting in Children. Russell Sage Foundation, New York, Publication E 113. Ayers, L. P. Scale for measuring Handwriting of Adults. Russell Sage Foundation, New York, Publication E 138. ^ Freeman, F. N. The Teaching of Handwriting. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1914. 156 pp., and scales. ^ Thomdike, E. L. "Handwriting"; in Teachers College Record, vol. xi. (March, 1910.) ' Thomdike, E. L. "The Measurement of Achievement in Drawing"; in Teachers College Record, vol. xiv. (November, 1913.) 8 Hillegas, M. B. "Standard for measuring the Quality of English Com- position by Young People"; in Teachers College Record, vol. xiii. (Sep- tember, 1912.) TESTING RESULTS 831 Newton^ group, and others in evolving scales for measuring English composition; of Ayres^ and Buckingham^ in pre- paring standard spelling lists; of Jones/ Courtis, ^ Kelly, ^ and Thorndike^ in evolving vocabulary and reading stan- dards; the Binet-Simon tests, as revised by Terman,^ for de- termining mental capacity; the work of Elliott^ and Boyce^° in evolving scales for measuring teaching efficiency; the work of ElHott,ii Hutchinson,i2 Strayer,!^ and Updegraff^^ in studying city school expenses; and the introduction of ^ BalIou,F.W. "Scales for the Measurement of Composition"; Harvard- Newton Bulletin, no. 2. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Sep- tember, 1914. 2 Ayres, L. P. A Measuring Scale for Ability in Spelling. 58 pp. Rus- sell Sage Foundation, New York, 1915. ' Buckingham, B. R. Spelling Ability; Its Measurement and Distribu- tion. 116 pp. 1913. Trs. Col. Contribs. to Educ, no. 59. * Jones, R. G. Standard Vocabularies; in Fourteenth Y ear-Book of the National Society for the Scientific Study of Education, part i, pp. 37-43. ^ Courtis, S. A. Standards in Rates of Reading; Ibid., pp. 44-58. Also Standard Tests in Reading, Writing, and Composition. 8 Kelly, F. J. Silent Reading Tests. Bureau of Educational Measure- ments, Kansas State Normal School, 1915. ' Thomdike, E. L. "Reading Scale"; in Teachers College Record, vol. xv, no. 4. (September, 1914.) 8 Terman, L. M. The Stanford Revision of the Binet-Simon Scale for Measuring Intelligence. (1916.) A Scientific Monograph. Terman, L. M. The Measurement of Intelligence. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1916. A practical guide. * Elliott, E. C. "Provisional Plan for the Measure of Merits of Teach- ers"; in Cubberiey's State and County Educational Reorganization, Appen- dix F. Macmillan Co., 1914 ^° Boyce, A. C. "Methods of Measuring Teaching Efficiency"; in Fourteenth Year-Book of the National Society for the Study of Education, part II. 83 pp. University of Chicago Press, 1915. ^^ Elliott, E. C. Some Fiscal Aspects of Public Education in American Cities. 101 pp. 1905. Trs. Col. Contribs. to Educ, no. 6. ^2 Hutchinson, J. H. School Costs and School Accounting. Trs. Col. Contribs. to Educ, no. 62, 148 pp. 1913. 13 Strayer, G. D. City School Expenditures. 103 pp. 1905. Trs. Col. Contribs. to Educ, no. 5. " Updegraff, H. A Study of Expenses of City School Systems. 96 pp. Bulletin no. 5, 1912, U.S. Bureau of Education. S32 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION cumulative record cards for pupils and uniform methods of accounting^ for school systems, — these mark merely the beginning of the work of formulating standards of measure- ment and perfecting units of accomplishment for educa- tional service. Need for standards as guides. An important underlying purpose in the creation of all such standard scales for meas- uring school work and for comparing the accomplishments of different groups of children is to give both supervisors and teachers something definite at which to aim in the imparting of instruction. Teachers at present too often assign tasks and hear lessons without thought of other quantitative standards than the covering of the course of study and the passage of examina,tion tests, and supervisors too often supervise without any very clear idea as to how best to direct effort to secure maximum educational results. The growth-process in a child, as in a seed, will of course do much to unfold what is latent there, but all quantitative standards so far evolved show wide variations in accom- plishment in supposedly somewhat similar groups. Teach- ing without a measuring stick, and without definite stand- ards of accomplishment for different groups, and trusting to luck and to the growth-process to secure results, is com- parable to the old-time luck-and-chance farming, and there is no reason to suppose that the introduction of carefully formulated and well-tested standards of measurement and units for accomplishment into school work — building standards, janitor-service standards, health standards, men- tal-capacity standards, accomplishment standards in the trifferent subjects, instruction standards, teacher standards, supervision standards — would not do for education what 1 Department of Superintendence, National Education Association. Report of the Committee on Uniform Records and Reports. 46 pp. Bulletin no. 3, 1912, U.S. Bureau of Education. TESTING RESULTS 333 has been done for agriculture as a result of the application of scientific knowledge and methods to farming.^ Importance of such standards. For the teacher such standards and units will mean definiteness. Pupils can be carefully examined, and classified in the group where they can work most advantageously. Each teacher can know definitely what is expected of her, for each type of pupil, and, with definite tasks laid down, she can know at all times whether or not she is accomplishing the things ex- pected of her. The center of educational consciousness, will be shifted for her from school machinery and courses of instruction to the child to be taught. With the scales so far evolved teachers can be taught to test their own work. Records will need to be kept and studied. Many of the results are capable of graphic repre- sentation, and over these graphs pupil and teacher may confer. Often the pupil can chart his own record, or com- pare his own work, and see his own deficiencies. From an examination of the pupil-results, building prin- cipals and supervisors can tell, almost at a glance, whether pupils or rooms are making proper progress; when any group has made all desirable progress and should advance; whether instruction is directed to what are the weak points for the group; where teachers who need help are located, and in what particulars they need help; in what rooms the load and the teacher are not properly adjusted; and what teachers are so inefficient or indifferent or incapable of ^ "For the sake of argument, suppose all of the usual protests against standard tests are conceded. Grant that the tests themselves are not scientifically developed; that they are inaccurate; that judgment in their application is faulty; that the results are not what is claimed; that certain elements in good teaching are immeasurable — granting all of these things and more, the fact still remains that the conclusions reached by such tests are far more accurate than those based upon vague impressions of what ought to be." (Don C. Bliss, in Educational Administration and Super- vision, vol. I, p. 88.) 334 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION COURTK STANDARD TESTS Fig. 30. A COURTIS SCORE CARD IN ARITHMETIC {Reproduced by permission of Mr. S, A . Courtis) In the figure above curves A and B are of two individuals in the same class. From an Indiana school. Note that A is practically normal except in the last test (shown by the fact that the curve is almost a straight line and lies almost wholly within the boundaries of the fourth grade), while B is below grade in every test but one and is I articularly weak on reasoning. Curves C and D are two measirrements of the same child, one in September and the other in June. From a Michigan school. Note the correction of many defects and the balance of the final scores. progress that they should be dropped from the service. For the purpose of vocational guidance of pupils such records will be of great value. The superintendent, too, can use the results to talk to his school board and to his community and can justify both the work and the expense of his schools. Efficiency departments. It will require time to evolve and perfect standards for the general measurement of pupils and the evaluation of the different features of school work, and the cooperation of a number of individuals will be re- quired. Chief among these, after the principals and teach- ers, will be the clinical psychologist, the school nurses and physicians, efficiency experts along different lines, and a competent body of record clerks. TESTING RESULTS 335 The need for careful individual records is not likely to be over-emphasized with a professional body which in the past has kept only mass records, often of a more or less meaningless type. A small staff of clerks will be needed to make tabulations and record data, as any system of meas- urements and standards will be of but little value unless careful and somewhat detailed individual and group records are kept from year to year. What is needed is a series of clear, adequate, incontestable, and accessible records of the educational results from time to time achieved in the schools. The lesson of the business world, from which we have much to learn in the matter of efficiency, is that detailed records more than pay for their cost, and that an accurate knowledge as to manufacturing processes is im- possible without such records. There is need now for the creation of an efficiency bureau or department, either on a small or a large scale, in con- nection with every city school department of any size.^ In time such departments will probably come to be connected with small city and county-unit organizations as well. Since the whole efficiency movement is so recent, and is as yet not very clearly defined, there naturally are but few persons prepared for such service. Such departments will need to be started in the smaller cities by the superintend- ent, with the aid of a clerk, and in the larger cities by finding some young man of good training and imagination, who is interested in the study of difficult educational problems, 1 A number of cities have already created such, among which may be mentioned: — Boston, Department of Educational Investigation and Measurement. New York, Division of Reference and Research. New Orleans, Department of Education and Research. Detroit, Department of Education and Research. Kansas City, Director of Research and Efficiency. Rochester, Bureau of Efficiency. Oakland, Department of Reference and Research. 336 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION and who can be put in charge and left to find his lines of greatest service. In time the work will become more stand- ardized and the duties more definite. Such positions are almost certain to multiply rapidly, and they will offer at- tractive careers to certain types of men. Lines of service; experimental pedagogy. However, some of the lines of service for such efficiency departments are already clearly defined. Part of these lie along the line of business organization, part lie along the lines of special- type educational adjustments, and part lie in the field of experimental pedagogy. These lines include at least the fol- lowing: To study all phases of the process of preparing pupils for life-careers, and for efficient community service; to study the needs of life and the industries, with a view to restating the specifications for the manufacture of the edu- cational output; to study means for increasing the rate of production, and for eliminating the large present waste in manufacture; to test the product at different stages of manufacture, and to advise the workers as to the results of their labors; to test out different methods of procedure, and gradually to eliminate those which do not give good results; to study the costs of production, not so much to cut down costs as to be able to show how the efficiency of the plant may be increased by a proper adjustment or even an in- crease in expenditures; to supply the superintendent with concrete data with which he may deal more intelligently with his board, the public, and the teaching staff; and to organize material for publication in the annual printed re- port of the school department. The clinical psychologist and his work. Any important work in increasing the effectiveness of schoolroom instruc- tion must, almost of necessity, presuppose the adjustment of the load to the pupil, and of the type of work to the pupil's possibilities and probable future needs. To-day we TESTING RESULTS 837 do this very roughly or not at all. The differentiated-course plan of instructing and promoting pupils, as shown in Figure 26, is a step in this direction, as are all of the differentiated types of schools which have been organized by different cities. All of these efforts are valuable, but they go only about so far. There is need, in all school systems of any size, in addi- tion to the efficiency expert or experts so far described, of a clinical psychologist, whose prime function shall be to have charge of the psychological study of all peculiar children, and to oversee the instruction of all children of the retarded or subnormal types. In small cities this work will need to be done as a phase of the service of the efficiency department, and as a part of the work of adjusting teacher and pupil- load. Oftentimes the work comes closely in touch with the work done by the health department, and is occasionally classed as a phase of such service, though it more properly belongs with that department whose chief work lies along the line of experimental pedagogy. In all large cities, say of 200,000 or 250,000 and upward, the cHnical psychologist has a position important enough to warrant the creation of a separate department, coordinate and cooperating with the health department and that part of the efficiency department which deals with the problems of experimental pedagogy. A continuous survey of production. The work described in this chapter is new work, and work of a type with which schoolmasters are as yet but little familiar, but it is work of great future importance, work which will professionalize teaching and supervision, and work destined to do much to increase the value of the public service rendered by our schools. By means of standards and units of the type now being evolved and tested out it is even now possible for a superintendent of schools to make a survey of his school system which will be indicative of its points of strength and 338 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION weakness, and to learn from the results better methods and procedures. In tune it will be possible for any school system to maintain a continuous survey of all of the different phases of its work, through tests made by its corps of effi- ciency experts, and to detect weak points in its work almost as soon as they appear. Every manufacturing establishment that turns out a standard product or series of products of any kind main- tains a force of efficiency experts to study methods of pro- cedure and to measure and test the output of its works. Such men ultimately bring the manufacturing establishment large returns, by introducing improvements in processes and procedure, and in training the workmen to produce a larger and a better output. Our schools are, in a sense, factories in which the raw products (children) are to be shaped and fashioned into products to meet the various demands of life. The specifications for manufacturing come from the demands of twentieth-century civilization, and it is the business of the school to build its pupils according to the specifications laid down. This demands good tools, spe- cialized machinery, continuous measurement of production to see if it is according to specifications, the elimination of waste in manufacture, and a large variety in the output. If it be objected that education is not working with iron and brass and leather, but with human beings where hered- ity and the growth-process modify production, then we can turn to agriculture for a closer analogy. In this field we are now providing expert county agricultural advisers, at large expense, to assist farmers in improving their methods and increasing the value of their output. This is not being done because the farmers have asked for such assistance, — often they have laughed at the idea and ignored the assistance offered, — or because of any philanthropic idea on the part of the National Government, chambers of commerce, or TESTING RESULTS 339 produce exchanges, but solely because such advisers pay for themselves in the increased and better standardized output, or the change in the character of the output which results from the better methods and procedure which the advisers persuade the farmers to adopt. There is no reason to assume that the results arising from expert advice and guidance would be particularly different in the field of popular education. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. Would the development of standards for measurement of instruction enable school officers to give a more intelligent accounting to the public for the money spent on public education? How? 2. What do you understand by the statement that "the school, and not the world outside, has framed the specifications for the training of its graduates"? 3. Explain your conception of what is meant by: (a) the present isolation of the school in the community life; (b) enabling the school to speak a language which the community can understand. 4. Illustrate a good use of the method of comparison. Why does this method give results representing mediocrity rather than progress? 5. The schools of Butte measured high in spelling, very irregular in penmanship, fairly satisfactory to high in the four fundamental oper- ations in arithmetic, and low in reasoning tests and in composition. From this, what would you conclude as to drill work there? 6. Do supervisors have, in their supervision, an advantage over teachers in their teaching, with regard to aim? How and why? 7. Illustrate the use and possibilities of standards in the following matters: — (a) Building standards. (b) Janitor-service standards. (c) Health standards. (d) Mental-capacity standards. (e) Subject-matter standards. (/) Instruction standards. (g) Teacher standards. (k) Supervision standards. 8. Illustrate how the introduction of such standards will benefit: — (a) The classroom teacher. (6) The school principal. (c) The superintendent of schools. 9. Will the general introduction of such standards of accomplishment 340 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION mean uniformity for all, or just the opposite? Why? What will be their effect on uniformity in courses of study? 10. How could a series of student records be made of service to a voca- tional-guidance bureau? 11. Illustrate the service of such a department in helping to organize or to reconstruct: — (a) The work in manual training. (b) The household-arts work. (c) The high-school commercial department. (d) A city industrial school. . 12. Explain what you understand to be the field and chief services, in a city school system, of a clinical psychologist. 13. Is the present movement for part-time industrial schools, in which two sets of students alternate with a week in the shops and a week in the schools, likely to contribute toward a better adaptation of instruction to community needs? 14. Were the transformations in purpose made in the Newton school system, as shown in Figure 28, along lines that an efficiency depart- ment probably would have suggested? 15. In the present struggle for funds in the annual city budget, do the water, sewer, health, fire, and street departments have an advantage over the educational department by reason of the latter's lack of standards for work and units of accomplishment? 16. State the importance of the movement for standards for work and for units of accomplishment as a means of defense of the schools against unjust criticism and attacks. 17. What advantages would such standard records have over per cents in the transference of student records from school to school, or school to college? TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT 1. Examine a few courses of study, of school systems you know, to see how far the courses in (a) domestic science, (b) manual training, and (c) commercial work seem to have been built up from specifications furnished by life conditions, and how far on the basis of what school men think is desirable preparation. 2. Examine the vocational-guidance work done in one or more cities, to find upon what basis it rests. 3. Examine into the business needs of some city you know, and report as to what extent the courses of instruction in the schools prepare pupils to meet such needs. 4. Carefully read Superintendent Spaulding's "Application of the Prin- ciples of Scientific Management," and outhne a study to obtain data for some other problem in the study of schoolroom efficiency. 5. Take a series of records in any school subject, for which standards have been evolved, and score the results. TESTING RESULTS 341 SELECTED REFERENCES Ayres, L. P. "Economy of Time through testing the Course of Study and Tim© Allotment"; in Proceedings of National Education Association^ 1913, pp. 241-46. A brief but suggestive article, dealing with the possibility of applying standards and measurements so as to secure a more economical use of the time of pupils. Ayres, L. P., and Thorndike, E. L. "Measuring Educational Products and Processes" (2 papers); in School Review, vol. 20, pp. 289-309; discussion pp. 310-19. Two Harvard Teachers' Association papers, on the need for measurement of educational products and processes. Ballon, F. W. "The Function of a Department of Educational Investiga- tion and Measurement in a City School System "; in School and Society^ vol. I, pp. 181-90. (February 6, 1915.) Describes in particular the work in Boston. Bliss, D. C. "School Measurements and School Administration"; in Edu- cational Administration and Supervision, vol. i, pp. 79-88. (February, 1915.) Shows the application of standard tests to classes, and points out their at least indicative value. Bobbitt, F. The Supervision of City Schools. Twelfth Year-Booh of the National Society for the Scientific Study of Education, part i. 96 pp. University of Chicago Press, 1913. An excellent discussion of the problem of efficiency measurements and standards. Butte, Montana. Report of a Survey of the School System. 163 pp. 1914. Chapter IV on the achievements of pupils gives the results of a series of tests given the pupils in the schools. Campbell, M. R. "Methods for making Surveys of Public Schools"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1914, pp. 840-43. An article by the associate psychologist of the psychopathic laboratory of the mu- nicipal courts of Chicago, on the types and varieties of children who should be sub-" jected to examination and observation. Courtis, S. A. "Educational Diagnosis"; in Educational Administration and Supervision, vol. i, pp. 89-116. (February, 1915.) A very interesting illustrated article on the use of arithmetical tests and scorings, showing how each teacher may become an educational physician for her pupils. Elson, W. H. "Waste and Efficiency in School Studies"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1912, pp. 335-43. The importance of studying educational waste, with a view to increasing educational efficiency. Hanus, Paul H. "Improving School Systems by Scientific Management"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1913, pp. 247-59. An excellent statement of the principles underlying efficient management of a school system. Indiana University. Conferences on Educational Measurements. Indiana University Bulletins: 1914, 170 pp.; 1915; 221 pp. These contain verbatim reports of the first and second annual conferences on the subject, held at the university, and contain papers, charts, tables, and discussions. 342 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Martin, G. H. "Comparison of Modern Business Methods with Educar tional Methods"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1905, pp. 320-25. A good sensible article, written before standard school tests had been devised. Salt Lake City, Utah. Report of a Survey of the School System. 324 pp. 1915. Chapter VIII, on the efficiency of the instruction, gives the results of a series of tests of the instruction in the schools. Scott, F. N. "Efficiency for Efficiency's Sake"; in School Review, vol. 23, pp. 34-42. (January, 1915.) A sensible criticism of the efficiency movement. Should be read in connection with the article by Bliss. Seashore, C. E. "The Consulting Psychologist"; in Popular Science Monthly, vol. 78, pp. 283-90. (March, 1911.) A good statement. Smith, T. "The Development of Psycho-Clinics in the United States"; in Pedagogical Seminary, vol. 21, pp. 143-53. (March, 1914.) An historical sketch. Spaulding, F. E. "Application of the Principles of Scientific Manage- ment"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1913, pp. 259-79. A sequel to Professor Hanus's paper, showing type studies made in the Newton high schools, with charts and tables. An excellent illustration of how to study the work of a school system. Strayer, G. D., Chairman. Preliminary Report of the Committee on Stand- ards and Tests for Measuring the Efficiency of Schools or Systems of Schools. Bulletin no. 13, 1913. U.S. Bureau of Education, 23 pp. A brief but excellent statement of the fundamental principles involved in testing school efficiency. Contains an excellent bibliography of 339 titles, covering all phases of efficiency measurements. Strayer, G. D., Chairman. Final Report, of above committee; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1915. The following papers are included in this report: — 1. "Aims of Public Education." Ben Blewett. 2. "Results of Tests in Reading." Charles H. Judd. 5. " Measurement of Ability in Reading." E. L. Thorndike. 4. "Efficiency in teaching Grammar." W. H. Maxwell. 6. " Morals in the Public Schools." J. H. Phillips. 6. "Results of Tests in Arithmetic." A. S. Baylor, 7. "Use of Tests and Scales of Measurement in the Administration of Schools." G. D. Strayer. Strayer, G. D., Chairman. A Further Report, of above committee, in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1916. A series of papers, describing briefly the results of scientific measurements made in the school systems of a number of American cities. Wallin, J. E. W. "The New Clinical Psychology and the Psycho-Clinicist"; in Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. ii, pp. 121-32, 191-210. (March and April, 1911.) Work and possibilities, with bibliography. TESTING RESULTS S43 Wilson, H. B., Chairman. Report of the Committee of the Department of Superintendence of the National Education Association on Economy of Time in Education. Fourteenth Year-Book of the National Society for the Study of Education, part i. 152 pp. University of Chicago Press, 1914. A very important document. Many valuable bibliographies are appended to the different chapters. Contains the following studies: — 1. "The Minimum Essentials in Elementary-School Subjects." H, B. Wilson, Chairman. . . „ rr \rj 2. "Time Distribution by Subjects and Grades in Representative Cities. H. W. Holmes. i >» t? i? 3. "Typical Experiments for economizing Time in Elementary Schools. H. Ha, Thompson. 4. Reading: — (a) " Standard Vocabulary." R.G.Jones. (b) " Standards in Rates of Reading." S.A.Courtis. ^^ (c) "Selected Bibliography upon Practical Tests of Reading Ability. W. b. Gray. 5. "Handwriting." F. E. Freeman. 6. "Spelling." H. C. Pryor. 7. "Essentials of Composition and Grammar." J. F. Hosic. 8. "Current Practices and Standards in Arithmetic." W. A. Jessup. 9. "Minimum Essentials in Elementary Geography and History." W. C. Bagley. 10. "The Essentials of Literature." J. F. Hosic. CHAPTER XX THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SUPERVISION Health supervision necessary. As soon as we begin to study questions of efficiency in instruction, in an effort to improve the school output and eliminate waste, we run at once into questions of health, as they relate to both teach- ers and pupils. Even a cursory examination of almost any school will reveal serious defects of ears, eyes, nose, throat, lungs, teeth, glands, heart action, nutrition, and nervous coordination on the part of children. When we consider how much such defects must interfere with the efficiency of the instruction given, the need for some adequate sys- tem of health supervision, if the schools are to obtain good results, becomes apparent.^ School health supervision, now undertaken by many nations, is only another phase of the recent efficiency and conservation movements. No marked economy in school work or increase in the efficiency of instruction is possible if we are to continue to work with poor tools or poor materials. A teacher lacking in health and physical vigor is not likely to prove high in teaching efficiency, and pupils who are suffering from dis- ease or from lack of proper home care or nourishment are in no condition to take any large advantage of the instruc- tion which is provided. It is, in reality, a waste of money ^ "The health supervision of schools is not a passing fad. The conser- vation of the child is a problem which, like that of world peace, is bound to take possession of the minds of all humanitarian people. To the ethical principle of humanitarianism is added the stem counsel of biological laws, which teach us that an elaborate scheme of mental culture which proceeds without regard to the needs of the body is but a house built upon the sands." (Hoag and Terman, Health Work in the Schools, p. 1.) DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SUPERVISION 345 to spend three to five dollars a day on a teacher, and four to eight dollars a day more per room on equipment, upkeep, maintenance, and overhead charges, and neglect entirely the fact that from twenty to sixty per cent of the children in the room are not in that physical condition which will enable them to partake with greatest advantage of the instruction which is being provided. No business would neglect so important a source of waste. If, by the expenditure of a small additional sum, a large portion of this waste could be eliminated, a business corporation would consider it good policy to do so. Results obtained in many American and European cities have clearly demonstrated that a very small added cost — from ten to seventy-five cents per pupil per year, varying somewhat with the kind of health service provided: for a room of forty pupils an additional daily expense of from two to sixteen cents per room — will provide a health service which will increase the value of the instruction offered out of all proportion to its actual cost. Three stages of developm.ent. Health work in the schools presents three clearly defined stages in its development.^ The first was what was known as "medical inspection," the purpose of which was to detect the presence of contagious diseases and prevent their spread in the schools and in the community. In reality such service was merely an extension of the work of the local board of health into the schoolrooms. The work began in Boston, in 1894, as a result of a series of epidemics among school children there. Chicago fol- lowed in 1895, New York City in 1897, and Philadelphia in 1898. From these larger cities the movement spread rapidly to the smaller cities, about ninety cities having pro- vided such service by 1907, three hundred and thirty-seven 1 Epitomized from Hoag and Terman's Health Work in the Schools, chap. II. 346 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION by 1910, and nearly five hundred by 1913. The results ob- tained from such "inspections" have been surprising. The second stage is represented by an extension of the scope of the work to include examinations for non-conta- gious physical defects, such as those of the eye, ear, nose, teeth, heart action, nutrition, and nervous coordination. It was at once seen that many of these defects have an im- portant influence on the child's school progress, and that many of them were easily curable or removable. The result has been that about one-half of our cities, mostly the larger ones, have now undertaken to give their children complete examinations for all kinds of physical defectiveness, and to advise parents as to needs. The third stage passes beyond these two earlier ones, and enters the field of preventative medicine. Its keynote is the cultivation of the health of all, and the prevention of defectiveness in any by the hygienic supervision of all school activities. This third and most important phase of health supervision is as yet only in its beginnings, but in time it is destined to supersede the two earlier forms, and to be extended to include rural schools as well as city schools. Only about four per cent of the school children, statistics show, need to be excluded in any one year on account of contagious diseases, while fifty to sixty per cent of the children suffer from non-contagious physical defects which interfere more or less with educational procedure, and which need to be taken into account by school authorities. All need instruction in personal hygiene to enable them to take proper care of their health. Health thus properly becomes an educational problem, and one not likely to be dealt with in any effective manner except by the educational authori- ties. The problem is how best to conserve the child's native physical vigor and to overcome, as far as possible, his heredi- tary or acquired physical deficiencies, not only that his DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SUPERVISION 347 progress in school may be normal, but that he may develop into a strong and sound human being, knowing how to care for himself. Scope of the work. A system of school health super- vision has a much larger function than the mere detection of disease, though this should, of course, be a part of its work. A much larger field of service, though, lies in the detection of physical defects, in securing the cooperation of the parents in the treatment of these defects, in finding and ameliorating bad home conditions which are interfer- ing with the health and normal school progress of the chil- dren, in cooperating with the school architect and sanitary engineers in securing hygienic conditions in the school plant, in eliminating existing conditions which are unsani- tary or which tend to increase physical defects in school children, in the hygienic supervision of school athletics and playground work, in assisting teachers in hygiene-teaching in the schools, and in examining and advising teachers and janitors as to their personal health. To a large degree the school health service should aim to improve the health of the entire community, making the school a hygienic center as well as an educational one. The work of health supervision in our schools is as yet, generally speaking, only in its beginnings, but that the service will be very materially extended in the future seems practically certain. The argument that it invades the rights of the home is on a par with the arguments against compul- sory school attendance and prescribed courses of study. A generation ago compulsory school attendance was regarded as a meddlesome interference with the rights of parents to do with their children as they saw fit, and a million illiterate adults among us to-day stand as a witness to the value of such a theory. Still more, with the somewhat general ig- norance on health questions on the part of otherwise intelli- 348 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION gent parents, millions of adults stand to-day as physical witnesses of the neglect of parents in health matters. They are not physically what they might have been, and their children are weaker in consequence. The children of to-day represent the racial stock of to-morrow, and to conserve and to improve this racial stock along physical lines is as important a function of the State as to improve it along intellectual lines. We have long recognized the principle with reference to our crops and our live stock, and national and state governments have spent millions in improving grains and stocks and yields, but we have only recently begun to recognize that the same biological principles apply to the rearing of children that apply to the care of trees, grains, horses, cattle, hogs, and dogs. Control of the work. Medical inspection everywhere be- gan as an extension of the work of boards of health, but in something over three fourths of the cities of the United States now supporting health work in the schools the serv- ice has since been placed under the control of the board of education. This must now be regarded as its proper place, because the work is essentially an educational service. Boards of health tend too much to emphasize the mere pre- vention of disease; the interest of teachers and school oflB- cers is not usually enlisted to any great extent by such serv- ice; and the board of health physicians usually do not see the larger educational relationships, and in consequence of this and of their lack of both knowledge and authority they cannot prescribe the adjustments in educational processes which are often necessary to promote the health and growth- needs of the pupils.^ There are, however, some instances 1 "While it is possible for the work to be eflBciently carried on by a board of health, it is extremely unlikely that it will be. The board of health lacks the educational point of view, usually makes the work curative rather than preventative, neglects the so-called 'minor' forms of defec- tiveness, makes the school service a side issue of the public health work, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SUPERVISION 349 of excellent work being carried on in the schools by boards of health, as well as some poor work done by school "health departments." Much depends, of course, upon the man who directs the work and his conceptions as to its nature and scope. Still, notwithstanding exceptions to the statement, there can no longer be any question but that the health supervision of schools in our American cities should be conducted by a health department, organized as a part of the educational system and service of the city. Such a department should be one of the principal depart- ments of a city school system, as is shown in Figure 14. The work represents a new technical field, requires expert direction, and the expertness of the department should be respected in its administration. Only to the superintendent of schools, as the coordinating head of the whole school organization, should the department be subject and re- sponsible.^ Under the director of this department should be the physicians, specialists, and nurses employed, and he should direct their work. He should also have partial super- vision of the work done in the open-air schools, the schools for physical defectives, the playground work, and the health teaching in the schools. The clinical psychologist and the health director should also work in close cooperation. All candidates for positions as teachers or janitors should be examined physically and approved by him before employ- ment, and those in service should have the right to seek the advice of the department in physical matters. and fails to secure the maximum cooperation from teachers and parents." {Portland School Survey Report, chap, xiv, p. 349.) 1 This responsibility to the educational department is important, for in many matters there must be coordination of the work. In case of con- flict an appeal would naturally lie to the board of education. There ought, however, to be little cause for conflict. A medical director -SNnll find that he must work largely through the superintendent, principals, and teachers, and if he is reasonable and helpful and does not meddle too much with the work of instruction, he will secure the hearty cooperation of the mem- bers of the educational department. 350 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Three types of health supervision may be considered as feasible, namely, (1) well-developed departments of school health supervision, with an adequately equipped staff; (2) smaller or partially developed undertakings, using a whole-time or part-time physician, and a few nurses; (3) in still smaller cities, where a nurse and the teachers do all of the health work. The large-city plan. A city of fifty to sixty thousand school children should have at least the following staff : ^ One chief health director, giving his entire time to the work. This person should be a physician who has a special interest in and adaptability for work with school children. One general medical officer. One eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist. One specialist in mental and nervous diseases, who is also experienced in psychological methods. This specialist would be closely associated in his work with the clinical psychologist. One emergency physician. One woman physician, in charge of high-school girls. One dental specialist. From twenty to forty school nurses, who visit rooms, observe pupils and sanitary conditions, make preliminary examinations of pupils, assist in the teaching of hygiene, visit the homes, and follow up cases to see that something is done when recommendations are made for treatment. All physicians and specialists in a city of this size to be full-time workers, this being considered more desirable than part-time service. ^ Adapted from Hoag and Terman's recommendations. They recom- mend a smaller staff of physicians (seven against the usual twelve for a city of such size), and more nurses than are usually found (usual ratio about one for 5000 children; desirable, one for every 1000 to 2000 children, depending somewhat upon social conditions). The nurse is in many ways more useful than the physician, and much cheaper. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SUPERVISION 351 In equipment there will be needed a central oflSce, con- taining a general reception-room, examining-rooms, office, a laboratory equipped with medical and psychological ap- paratus, and a dental and a medical clinic. A nurse's room in each large school-building,^ with some equipment for examinations and simple treatments, is also very desirable. Such a system of health supervision, with an adequate staff of school nurses, will cost from fifty cents to one dollar per year per pupil, depending upon the number of nurses necessary and the salaries paid physicians and nurses. This is about fifteen to thirty per cent of what a city of such size would spend on supervision. By reducing the number of medical officers and specialists to one or two, as would be done in a smaller city, both the total and the per-capita cost may be materially reduced. In some cases it is reduced to as low as fifteen to twenty-five cents per pupil per year. The smaller-city plan. For the smaller city, which does not feel that it can afford any elaborate staff, the plan of a part-time physician and a relatively large number of nurses (one for every thousand to eighteen hundred children, depending somewhat on social conditions and needs), or a staff of school nurses alone, is desirable. In many respects the school nurse excels the physician in detecting disease and defects, awakens less professional jealousy among doctors, gets better response from children and parents, and coop- erates better with teachers and outside organizations. For fully ninety per cent of the usual defects of school children the properly trained school nurse can act as well as the school physician."^ In beginning school health work in a city which 1 In the new Pittsburg buildings, at Gary, and in some other places, a school-physician's room has been provided in each school building, as preferable to a series of central ofBces. ^ See chap, xi of the Salt Lake City Survey Report for interesting statistics as to the effectiveness of the school nurse. 352 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION has heretofore had no such service, the trained school nurse offers the best means of making a start. Beginning with one or two school nurses, more will soon be needed, and the cases they cannot handle will soon demonstrate the need of a part-time school physician. The cost under the nurse-alone plan, or nurses with a part-time consulting physician, is naturally somewhat less than where a full-time medical service, as described above, is maintained, though it will not be markedly so if an ade- quate staff of nurses is provided. The teacher and health service. We have not as yet realized the possibilities for utilizing the teacher in city health service, yet in any school system the effectiveness of any health service established will have to depend largely upon the intelligent cooperation of the teachers in the schools. They more than any one else are with the children, and they more than any one else have opportunities for observing the effects of instruction, nervousness, eye-strain, ear-discharge, deafness, and the first symptoms of conta- gious diseases. Without such cooperation of the teaching force health supervision is doomed either to failure or to an indifferent success. This is an additional reason why the control should rest with the school department, and not with the board of health. The present condition, though, is that teachers know little as to the detection of diseases, common physical de' fects, the hygiene of growth, or preventative medical hy- giene. Even good teachers are usually blind to all but the most common disorders, yet, under the direction of a school nurse or a health director, they can in time acquire marked skill in detecting the symptoms of common physical de- fects. However, unless the teacher's interest is enlisted and she is taught to observe, she is likely to remain blind to defects, leaving all such matters to the school physi- DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SUPERVISION 353 cians to look after while she attends to matters of in- struction. The simplest form of health service consists of training teachers to observe defects, teaching them to read the health index of children, and showing them how to make a health survey of the children in their schools.^ Such work is naturally elementary and preparatory, but it is of much value in training teachers to observe their children, in overcom- ing the common prejudice against physical examinations of children, in educating the public in matters of child hygiene and preventative medicine, and in awakening a community demand for a better system of health supervision. The next step is the employment of the school nurse, and then the school physician. Importance of the service. The development of the health work in connection with public education, during the past decade in particular in this country and during the past two decades in the more important nations of the civilized world, must be regarded as a phase of the important con- servation movement which has recently arisen. We have of late directed new attention to the stoppage of waste, both in our natural and in our human resources. Yet the great problem of national conservation is not so much soils or mines or forests or water-power, important as these may be, but the conservation of our national vitality. As a people we are beginning to see that we live for the generations that are to follow as well as for ourselves of to-day. Evolu- * Hoag and Terman, in their Health Work in the Schools, devote two chapters to showing how this may be done. Chapter v, on "The Health Grading of School Children by Teachers," gives forms and blanks to be used and tells what to look for, while Chapter vi, on "A Demonstration Clinic for Instruction in the Observation of Defects," gives a stenographic report of a clinic held for the instruction of teachers in examining children. These two chapters outline plans for such work in such a way as to make it possible to employ the method in small-town school systems. 354 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION tion and biologic progress within recent years have brought this home to us. The great masses of our people, though, have not as yet clearly conceived the idea, and not infrequently oppose attempts in this direction. Among the mass of our people much ignorance as to health, disease, and hygienic laws still exists. The annual loss to our people through prevent- able diseases and deaths is still appallingly large. To reduce such ignorance and waste is a national duty, and no agency of our society has such opportunities for usefulness in this direction as has the public school. It is, in fact, society's one important agency for improving the health of succeeding generations, and for reducing the present enormous human waste. Even the waste occasioned in its own work by physi- cal defects and disease is sufficient to warrant the expense for the best of health supervision and hygiene teaching. This new work is of large importance, both for the im- provement of society and the increased efficiency in in- struction, and the future is almost certain to see it developed into a very important branch of our public school service.^ QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. Explain the nature of the service to be rendered by a department of health supervision under each of the headings enumerated under "Scope of the work." 2. Maxwell states that health supervision reduces the cost of instruc- 1 "The fundamental method of adjusting the schools to the situation is, first, to get specialized intelligence at work on the problem; second, to study and investigate health needs of pupils and community; third, to study the relation of the school to other health agencies, in order to determine its sup- plemental function; and, fourth, actively and energetically, with state aid and community cooperation, to go forward and make the health knowledge now possessed by the few the actual health practice of the many. Pre- ventative medicine and preventative education must go hand in hand. The goal is economy, efficiency, national vitality, and national happiness." (L. W. Rapeer, in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1913, p. 658.) DEPAETMENT OF HEALTH SUPERVISION 355 tion, and thus saves instead of costs. Does this appeal to you as reasonable? Where would the reductions come in? 3. Any adequate system for health supervision in the schools wdll, almost of necessity, come to involve for some children (a) free dental work, (b) free spectacles, and (c) school feeding. Do these seem to you to be legitimate consequences of free and compulsory education? 4. Are such services to children essentially different from the servicei rendered farmers by national and state agricultural departments? 5. Why is it easier to secure appropriations for improving grains and breeds of cattle and for eliminating diseases among animals than for improving the health of children? TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT 1. Find the per-capita cost for health supervision of different types in different cities. 2. Find the per-capita cost for instruction, maintenance and equipment, and overhead (office and supervision) expenses in some city school system, and show what percentage of additional cost a satisfactory system of health supervision would add. 3. Plan a health service, of different t\'pes, for some city you know, and estimate its total and per-pupil cost. 4. Investigate and report on : — (a) Open-air schools. (6) School feeding. (c) Dental clinics. (d) Work of school nurses. (e) Mortahty rates of children in cities. SELECTED REFERENCES Dresslar, F. B. "Methods and Means of Health Teaching in the United States"; in Report of U.S. Commissioner of Education, 1913, vol. i, pp. 415-34. A good descriptive article on health service, hygiene, and the work of doctors and nurses. Gulick, L., and Ajtcs, L. P. The Medical Inspection of Schools. 224 pp. Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 3d ed., 1913. An excellent book on the administrative side of the question. Gives many blank forms and many data as to the service. Good bibliography. Hines, L. M. "Some Phases of the Health Supervision of Schools"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1914, pp. 663-68. The work to be done and the practical difficulties in the way. A good paper from a superintendent's point of view. Hoag, E. B., and Terman, L. M. Health Work in the Schools. 321 pp. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1914. An excellent book, technically accurate, yet written in a style simple enough to bring S56 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION the work within the comprehension of the teacher and layman. Contains outlines for health supervision, the health grading of school children, and the teaching of hygiene. Maxwell, W. H. "The Necessity for Departments of Health within Boards of Education"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1909, pp. 252-57. Necessity for, influence of, and best form for control of department. Portland, Oregon. Report of the Survey of the Public School System. (1913.) 441 pp. Reprinted by World Book Co., Yonkers, New York, 1915. Chapter XIV on medical inspection, hygiene teaching, physical training, and special schools for defectives gives a good outline for a health service suited to the needs of a city of 30,000 school children. Rapeer, L. W. School Health Administration. 360 pp. Teachers College Publications, New York, 1913. An excellent work on the national health problem; how the problem is being solved in twenty -five cities; and a tentative standard plan for the administration of medical inspection. Rapeer, L. W. "The Administration of Educational Hygiene"; in PrO' ceedings of National Education Association, 1913, pp. 649-58. A good brief statement of the problem, and a plan for handling it. Salt Lake City, Utah. Report of a Survey of the School System. 324 pp. 1915. Chapter XI, on health supervision, describes conditions in a city of 110,000 inhabi- tants, where the work is imder intelligent direction. Springfield, Illinois. Survey of the Public Schools. 153 pp. Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 1914. Chapter X, on Medical Inspection, describes the work carried on in a city of 52,000 inhabitants by one nurse and a dental clinic. Terman, L. M. The Teacher's Health. 133 pp. Houghton Miffin Co., Boston, 1913. An excellent study of the hygiene of an occupation. Terman, L. M. The Hygiene of the School Child. 417 pp. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1913. An excellent book for the teacher. Contains much information relating to growth, physiological differences, malnutrition, physical defects, preventative mental hygiene, and the effects of school life on children, which every teacher ought to know. Good chapter bibliographies. "Wood, T. D. Health and Education. 108 pp. Ninth Year-Booh of the National Society for the Study of Education, part i. University of Chicago Press, 1910. Health examinations; school sanitation; the hygiene of instruction; health instruc- tion; physical education; bibliography. A valuable report. Wood, T. D., and others. The Nurse in Education. 76 pp. Ninth Year- Booh of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part ii. University of Chicago Press, 1910. Chiefly devoted to the educational value of the nurse in the public school. Bibli- ography. CHAPTER XXI THE ATTENDANCE DEPARTMENT The compulsion to attend. A certain form of the ques- tion of school efficiency is involved in the matter of the attendance of children at the instruction which has been provided. After schools have been created for the instruc- tion of the children of a community, they fail of their purpose to the degree to which the children fail to attend. One measure of the efficiency of a school system must be the percentage of the total school population in attendance at instruction; another must be the percentage of those beyond the compulsory school ages who continue to attend. That some compulsion to attend is necessary, in the case of a varying percentage of the children of school age in dif- ferent communities, is a matter of common knowledge. To provide for the application of such compulsion almost all of our States have enacted some form of a compulsory-attend- ance law, and within the past decade a number have ma- terially strengthened their earlier laws on the subject. In most of our States, however, the laws relating to the com- pulsory attendance of children at school are as yet but poorly enforced, and in some States they are virtually a dead letter. In many of our States, too, it is only in the cities and larger towns that any real attempt to enforce compulsory attendance has been made. Differences and difficulties. The different state laws vary much in the age limits for compulsion, the period of attendance at school required each year, the means pro- vided for enforcing the law, the relation of the public schools 858 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION to private and parochial schools with regard to enforce- ment, and the relation of compulsory attendance to child labor in the state. While a few States and cities have made commendable progress in the matter of the compulsory- attendance of children at school, we may be said, as a na- tion, to have made as yet only a good beginning. In part this condition is due to the attitude of our people, many of whom have not as yet seen the necessity for such laws; in part to the desire of parents to get their children at work for the wages they may bring in; in part to the atti- tude of teachers and school principals, who do not want street children brought into their schools; in part to the attitude of the school authorities, who do not want to go to the expense of enforcing the law and, in addition, pro- viding special classes and schools to meet the needs of those brought in; in part to inadequate census records as to chil- dren who ought to be in school and are not; in part to the rather general lack of any relationship between private and public education in the matters of attendance and the character of instruction; in part to inadequate child-labor laws, or the lack of proper enforcement of those existing; and in part to the somewhat general lack of any provision for extension or vocational training for the older pupils who might be induced or who would be compelled to attend. The difl&culties which have been met with in the enforce- ment of attendance laws have indicated three main needs, namely, (1) better means and methods for the enforce- ment of the attendance and child-labor laws; (2) better plans for the registration of children of the compulsory- attendance ages; and (3) the provision of specialized instruc- tion to meet the needs of the new children brought into the schools. The tendency of our states to extend the time of required attendance at school to the sixteenth year, and to require attendance every day the schools are in session. THE ATTENDANCE DEPARTMENT 359 have together given new emphasis to the need for special- ized and differentiated instruction in the schools. The attendance department. In a small city a single attendance officer, employed by the board of education, and working under the direction of the superintendent of schools and in cooperation with principals and teachers, is about the best which now can be provided. The work of this officer will be to receive daily reports by telephone from the schools and other sources as to the non-attendance of children; to visit the homes of such children as are reported absent; to ascertain the reasons for their non-attendance; to take up on the streets children found there during school hours; to receive applications for labor permits, and to issue the same after investigation; to serve notices on parents as to violations of the law; and, in extreme cases, to enter and follow up prosecutions. It is the business of the attendance officer to guard the educational rights of children, and in doing so he represents the superintendent of instruction, the teachers, and the State. The following record of the work of an attendance officer, in a city of approximately fourteen thousand inhabitants, employing one man to attend to the work, and maintaining a parental school, will illustrate the nature of the duties of such an official in a small city : — Number of cases reported to office 267 (a) By principals and teachers 221 (6) By citizens 15 (c) By policemen 31 Number of cases investigated 251 Children kept at home 207 (a) By parents (temporary necessity) 48 (6) By parents (neglect) 89 (c) By sickness 47 (d) By poverty 23 Children wathdra^n and sent to work 14 (a) Compulsory age passed 10 (6) Illegally 4 S60 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Children having left city 9 Children truant unknown to parents 21 Children returned to school 232 Parents of children dealt with 183 (a) Warned 171 (6) Brought before officer 12 Children brought before Juvenile Court 12 (a) Put on probation 10 (6) Sent to State Training School 2 Cases reported to the Associated Charities 23 Labor permits applied for 132 Labor permits issued, after investigation 116 In a larger city the attendance work will naturally re- quire a larger staff, the city being divided into attendance districts for the better prosecution of the work. The posi- tion of the attendance department in the educational or- ganization of a large city is shown in Figure 14. In such a city the attendance officers will cooperate closely with the parental school or schools, the special ungraded rooms for troublesome cases and defective children, the school nurse, the juvenile court, the charity workers, and the private and parochial schools. Offering, as we do, to parents the choice of the kind of school to which they will send their child- Ten, it is only proper that the public school attendance offi- cers should enforce, without charge, attendance at private and parochial schools as well as at public schools. This naturally involves full cooperation between private and parochial schools on the one hand and the public school authorities on the other. The general duties of the different attendance officers, however, may not be particularly different in the larger city from what they are in a smaller one, unless better means for enforcing the compulsory-attendance laws are pro- vided. These better means involve a better plan for coop- eration between all of the different educational agencies of the community, and a better organization of specialized instruction and of special schools. THE ATTENDANCE DEPARTMENT 361 Increased school attendance. As will be seen from the preceding re- port of the work of an attendance officer in a small city, his handling of the cases which were reported to him was quite satisfactory. His ser- vices to the city fully justified his appointment. His presence and his official activity also doubtless kept other children and other parents from doing things which would have resulted in their being reported to him. His work thus has a preventa- tive, as well as a correctional value. It is also safe to say that by reason of his official existence and work both the regularity of attendance of chil- dren enrolled and the total number of children in attendance were ma- terially increased. The increased regularity of attend- ance of children enrolled is of itself an important item, as all studies have shown a close correlation between retardation and dropping from school on the one hand, and irregular at- tendance on the other. 1 As for the increased total attendance, if the state and county school funds had been apportioned to this city wholly, or even partially, on the basis of attendance, instead of on school 01- Absent less than 25 half days Absent more than 25 half days WM Dropping Out nffl Non-promotion mMlil Promotion Fig. 31. EFFECT OF AB- SENCE ON PROMOTION RATE AND DROPPING FROM SCHOOL (From the LSludy of Oner A ge and Prnc/ress in the Public Schools of Dayton, Ohio.) ^ See Ayres, L. P., "Irregular Attendance tlie Cause of Retardation"; in Psychological Clinic^ vol. in, pp. 1-9. (March, 1909.) 36^ PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION census, as is done in a number of our American States, it is probable that this attendance officer would have earned for the city a substantial portion of the salary paid him. The registration of school children. The difficulty with all attendance departments managed according to the plan just given, which is the usual plan, is that the officers work, in a way, in the dark. They take up children found on the streets and investigate absences, but the information collected as to the children who ought to be in school is usually of little value for purposes of enforcing attendance. The usual school census is taken for purposes of the ap- portionment of school fimds, and not for purposes of en- forcing compulsory attendance and child-labor laws. What is called for is the number of children of the legal school age, such as five to eighteen, six to twenty, or seven to fifteen, the legal school ages varying in the different States. Some- times two or three group-ages are collected, such as five to seven, eight to fifteen, and sixteen to eighteen, but again such figures are of little real value. In some States a school census is taken only once in two years; in some other States no school census of any kind is taken. ^ In the absence of any accurate data as to ages, number, or location of the children of school age in a city or district, neither the attendance officers nor the principals can know, with any degree of accuracy, what children should report for school at the beginning of any school year. Neither do they know, usually, what children are attending private or parochial schools instead of the public schools, nor how regularly they attend such schools. The lack of accurate age and residence data, and the somewhat general lack of ^ California is a good case in point. When the State changed the basis for the apportionment of state funds from school census to average daily attendance, it abolished the annual school census as a useless waste of school funds. THE ATTENDANCE DEPARTMENT S63 cooperation between public and private educational agen- cies in the enforcement of attendance laws, are serious defects which need to be remedied. What is needed, as a prerequisite to any adequate enforce- ment of compulsory-attendance and child-labor laws, is an accurate school census. This should be on card forms, so as to be capable of being sorted into any grouping which may seem desirable. There should be a card for each child, containing: ^ (a) Name of child (surname first). (6) Sex of child. (c) Month, day, and year of birth, from which the number of years old, at last birthday, is also to be set down. The authority upon which the age is taken (word of parent; birth certificate; baptismal certificate; passport; etc.,) should also be indicated, to serve as a basis for age and working certificates later on. (d) Country of birth, and nationality of father and mother. (e) Name of parent (father or mother), guardian, or other person standing in parental relation. (f) Abode, including school attendance district; post-ofifice ad- dress; and, if in cities, street, number, and apartment or flat. (g) Physical condition (good; deaf; dumb; blind; crippled). (h) Mental condition (good; otherwise). (^) School attending (public, private, parochial), and name of. (j) Position in school (grade). (k) Reason, if not attending school. (/) If employed, where and how. (m) Vaccination certificate record. All such records should be kept in duplicate, one set at the attendance department office, and the other at the office of the principal of the school attended, be it public, private, or parochial. A continuing school census. After such data have once ^ From the author's State and County Edvcational Reorganization, Sec. 221. See also the Report of the Butte School Survey, chap. x. 364 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION been collected and tabulated, by ages, by schools attended, and by attendance districts, the data should be kept fresh and accurate by means of continuous corrections. A new census need not be taken very often, and not necessarily for the entire city at any one time. To keep a continuing census, by which is meant a constant correction of the data, is much more important. To do this it should be made the legal duty of parents or guardians, and of all public, private, and parochial school authorities, to report at once all changes in residence or in schools, and all new children entering the district or any school in it should be reported at once and cards should be made up for them. By making it the duty of schools, teachers, parents, police, and charity organizations to report changes, and by imposing small fines for violation of the requirement, our States could in time secure from our people data from which reasonably accurate school-census records could be constantly at hand, and from which compulsory-attendance and child-labor laws could be carefully and fully enforced. ^In the larger cities additional means, such as the requirement that moving and express wagons be licensed, and that owners be re- quired to report changes in tenants, would also probably need to be imposed. ^ It is only by some such means that any accurate and con- tinuing census of children of attendance ages can be vigor- ously enforced. Few American States are as yet ready for such general legislation. The beginnings will have to be made by laws authorizing cities to establish such attendance and census departments, and permitting them to enforce such laws within their own boundaries.^ In time we shall in all probability come to a somewhat general state enforce- 1 New York City forms our best example of a city with special school- census powers. The law for this city probably represents as yet our best at- tendance legislation. THE ATTENDANCE DEPARTMENT 365 ment of some such provisions.^ The provision of public edu* cation as a state necessity, without the natural corollary that all within certain ages be required to partake of the advantages provided, is hardly a defensible procedure. The cost of maintaining such a school census will natur- ally be somewhat higher than for taking the present type of school census, but its value will be out of all proportion to the increased cost. Aside from forming a basis for the apportion- ment of school funds, the present form of school census is of little real value for any purpose. It is also commonly taken on sheets, bound in a book or rolled up, and is but little used for attendance purposes. The card form is serviceable. A small force of record clerks will of course be needed to keep the records accurate. Most of the work of house-to-house revision can be accomplished by the attendance officer dur- ing the summer vacation, at no large extra expense. Such a plan for census records also involves the education of many communities up to new and larger conceptions as to the work and purpose of public education. Further obstacles and needs. From the beginning of our attempts to enforce compulsory-education laws it has been found that special adjustments within the schools were necessary to meet the peculiar needs of the new classes brought in from the streets. This has been particularly the ^ Encouragement for this belief is found in the history of compulsory education with us and abroad. The first State to enact a compulsory- attendance law was Massachusetts, in 1852. It was fifteen years before another State attempted such legislation, — Vermont, 1867. By 1885 the District of Columbia and twenty States had enacted such laws, and by 1890 seven more States had done so. By 1908 almost all of the States had enacted some form of compulsory-attendance laws. There has also, within the past fifteen years, been a very marked increase in the requirements of these laws, both in the extension of the age limits for compulsion to attend, and in the extension of the required period from a few weeks to the entire time the schools are in session. Compared with a nation such as Germany, though, we are as yet in the beginnings of compulsion to attend. 366 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION case in communities where compulsory attendance has not been enforced in previous years, and where many truants, incorrigibles, and neglected children of school age are on the streets. To bring these into the ordinary schoolroom often tends to a demoralization of the schoolroom procedure. Such pupils do not profit by the ordinary classroom instruc- tion, and their influence often is positively bad. In the past, unable to handle such pupils, the school has expelled them and turned them loose on the streets. With the recent tendency of our States to insist on these pupils being brought back into school, and the further tendency of our more progressive States to insist upon school attendance until the age of sixteen, and for all the time the schools are in session, the need for some special adjustment of the in- struction to meet the peculiar needs of such children is much more pressing than it used to be.^ The problem of the de- fective, — the deaf, blind, crippled, tubercular, and sub- normal mentally, — as well as the problem of the children of needy, sick, or dependent parents, also calls for special adjustments and consideration. It is soon seen that the logical outcome of any attempt at the general compulsory education of all, up to fifteen or sixteen years of age and for every day the schools are in session, demands the provision of a large number of differ- ent types of educational opportunities, through which every boy and girl in the community may find in the school a type of education suited to his or her peculiar needs. It is along some such lines as were followed in the reorganization ^ "By steadily raising the age of compulsory attendance, the schools have come to contain many children who, having no natural appetite for study, would under the old regime have left school early. Compulsory attendance laws do not create brain capacity nor modify hereditary ten- dencies; they only throw responsibility for doing both upon the schools and create expectancy in the public," (G. H. Martin, in Report of the Massachusetts State Board of Education, 1903-04, p. 98.) THE ATTENDANCE DEPARTMENT 867 effected in the schools at Newton, Massachusetts, as shown in Figure 28, or the Los Angeles reorganization, as described in Chapter XVIII, that our schools must move. Perhaps, in time, the Gary idea may in many places help to solve the difficulties. Otherwise we shall only be forcing children into schools from which they get little of value and where they often become a nuisance, with a resulting increase in retardation, troublesome cases, and corporal punishment, and, in reality, defeat the citizenship ends for which these schools primarily stand. The whole question of compulsory attendance is tied up closely with the problems of flexible promotion, adjustment of instruction to individ- ual needs, provision of special-type schools, reorganization of the work of the upper grades, increasing the opportuni- ties for vocational training, and, as a result, materially in- creasing both the efficiency and the cost of public education. Types of schools needed. In addition to the adjustments and differentiations just indicated, city school systems have need of at least two special types of schools intended prima- rily to deal with difficult cases, and cities of sufficient size should add a third type. The first is the disciplinary class, at least one of which should exist in the smaller cities, and in the larger cities one such room probably could be advantageously organized in connection with every large elementary school. Such classes would of course be ungraded classes, taught by specially capable teachers, and should not attempt to handle over about twenty pupils. To this room or school the principals should have power to commit pupils, their stay in such usually being somewhat brief. The purpose is to handle, in an efficient and orderly manner, and to turn back if possible into the main current of the school, those who have begun to manifest difficulty in fitting into the work of the ordinary school. 368 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION The second type of school is the parental school, to which those who cannot be controlled in the disciplinary classes may be committed for an indeterminate period. Some of these will be regular truants, and some will be of the chroni- cally disobedient and disorderly type. Many of these can be turned back into the ordinary school, but some will not greatly profit there. These schools are of two types, the second of which involves a third. In one, which is perhaps the type most commonly found, the work is heavy; the commitment is formal and usually involves permanent residence at the school until paroled; and the course of instruction is more individual, and em- phasizes military drill, manual work, agricultural work, music, and constructional activities. The hours are long, the theory of the school being to make the truant or incor- rigible want to reinstate himseK or herself in the regular school, while developing in him or her suifficient self-con- trol to enable this to be brought about. The other type of parental school recognizes the pupil as "a highly specialized, poorly organized individual, whose powers of correlation are weak"; imposes few conditions on him; treats him tolerantly and kindly; and aims to discover interests upon which the building of his character may be begun. Those who do not seem to be able to return to the regular school are taken from the parental school, as soon as they have discovered that the world is their friend rather than their enemy, and are sent to a third type of special school. This third type is a central school for peculiar boys and girls. In the Newton school system this school consisted of two special classes, organized in the high school building, no attention being paid in sending pupils there to the ques- tion of graduation from the eighth grade. In Los Angeles a central special school has been provided. Such a class THE ATTENDANCE DEPARTMENT 369 or school should emphasize music, drawing, manual and domestic activities, constructional and prevocational work, dramatics, and group-organization activities. From this school the pupils may in turn be graduated into a regular trade school or a manual arts school, if such exists, though most of the pupils in such classes will pass out into life soon after the end of the period of compulsory school attendance. The instruction for such pupils ought to lead them toward such trades or occupations as they are Hkely to become suc- cessful in, such as carpentry, bricklaying, plastering, plumb- ing, electrical work, printing, automobile repairing, acting as chauffeur, gardening, cooking, sewing, serving, etc. With a few pupils all of these types of speciaKzed in- struction will fail, and such will need to be committed to a state institutional school, for a period of years. The educational opportunity. The educational problem which faces any city to-day is how best to educate all of its boys and girls until they have completed the period of required school attendance. If this is until the boy or girl reaches the age of sixteen, as present tendencies seem to indicate wUl in time come to be the case generally, it should be the ambition, as it is the opportunity, of every commu- nity to get practically every mentally normal boy and girl through the six elementary-school grades and some inter- mediate-school course. This means the completion of the ninth grade work, in some type of school, by practically all. The present "miring in the grades" ought to be eliminated, as completely as is possible, and the "mired- down" pupils pushed on into work which they can do. The big dropping-off at the end of the sixth grade ought also to give way to a rather steady curve onward to the end of the ninth grade. To do this means that a community must realize both its educational responsibilities and its educational opportunities, 370 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION and must provide the types of schools, the differentiations in instruction, and the type of supervision, which will make such a desirable con- dition possible. Flex- ible promotional schemes, differenti- ated courses of study and schools, good health supervision and instruction, vo- cational guidance of youth, and the sup- port of a well-man- aged attendance de- partment, are all means to this end. Every child in the community should be given education long enough and ad- vanced enough to prepare him or her for personal useful- ness and eflaciency in life, and of a type that will prepare him or her to fit into the political, industrial, social, or domestic life of which he or she will ultimately form a unit. The whole aim and purpose of an attendance department in a city school sys- PiO. 32. SHOWING DECLINE IN ATTENDANCE AFTER THE SIXTH GRADE (From the Portland, Oregon, School Survey Report.) The Oregon laws require attendance at school until the end of the fifteenth year of age. The retardation of pupils here was such that many reached this age while in the sixth grade. Tlie dotted line indicates the curve of possible attendance through the ninth school year. THE ATTENDANCE DEPARTMENT 371 tern, and of the special classes and schools which should go along with it, is that it should form another means by which communities may be enabled to attain to this desirable goal for their children. The city school system of to-day, which enrolls but fifty to sixty per cent of a reported school census, and fails to hold fifteen to twenty per cent of the enrollment for haK of the school year, cannot be rated as a very efficient community agency. ^ To change such a condition will in- volve the expenditure of more money for education, but it is probable that, in time, the increased money will be re- turned to the city in the increased civic interest and pro- ductive capacity of its citizens, and in the decreased poverty, criminality, and prostitution found among the members of its population. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. The School Survey of the San Francisco schools, made by the local branch of the Association of Collegiate Alumnae in 1914 (p. 51) showed that 22.9 per cent of all children in the elementary- and high-school grades were in the first grade, 48.3 per cent in the first three grades, and that 80 per cent were in the first six grades. Would this attend- ance seem to indicate that this is an efficiently organized school sys- tem? 2. To what extent and in what communities is the compulsory-attend- ance law of your State enforced? What steps should be taken to secure a better enforcement? 3. What relation do private and parochial schools in your State bear to the state schools in the matter of enforcing attendance and making reports? What relations should exist? 4. Are there any state requirements as to the quality or character of instruction which must be maintained in non-state schools to enable 1 "Only one half of the children who enter the city elementary schools remain to the final elementary-school grade, and only one in ten reaches the final year of the high school. On the average, ten per cent of the children have left school by the time they are thirteen, forty per cent by fourteen, seventy per cent by fifteen, and eighty-five per cent by sixteen. On the average the schools carry their pupils as far as the fifth grade, but in some cities great numbers leave before that grade." (L. P. Ayres, Laggards in the Schools.) 372 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION them to satisfy the requirements of the compulsory-attendance law? If not, would some state approval be justified? 5. Why is it that the years from fourteen to sixteen can be more profit- ably spent at school than at work? 6. Should a state school-fund apportionment law place a money premium on the enforcement of the compulsory-attendance law? How may this be done? 7. Should labor permits be issued by the school department of attend- ance exclusively? Why? 8. Some of our cities use the police force for attendance oflBcers. Is this desirable, or not? Why? 9. Would the class of children brought into the schools by the first real enforcement of a compulsory-attendance law be a more difficult class to deal with than would be found after a dozen years of close enforce- ment? Why? 10. A city of 15,000 inhabitants has a population of school age of 3500. Of these 60 per cent are enrolled in the schools during the year, and the average daily attendance for the year is 75 per cent of the enroll- ment. The term is 200 days, and the state grant of money includes a grant of 3 cents per pupil per day of actual attendance. An attendance officer is now employed, at $50 a month for twelve months, the two summer months to be spent in re-checking the school census. By his presence and work the enrollment is now increased to 65 per cent of the census, and the attendance to 80 per cent of the enrollment. About what percentage of his salary and office expenses has he earned? How many children has he put into the schools? What effect will this work have on the cost of education in the city? 11. In what way has the increase of immigration made compulsory school attendance more necessary with us? 12. In what ways has the break-down of the old apprentice system tended to complicate the educational problem? 13. In what ways has the mere growth of the modern city uicreased the school's responsibility for (a) the physical, (6) the ethical, and (c) the economic welfare of the child, in addition to the former (d) intellec- tual welfare? TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT ^ 1. What plan for checking-up pupils and enforcing attendance is used in the city in your State which best enforces the compulsor^'-attend- ance law? Who issues the child-labor permits, and how are they issued? 2. Outline the type of school census returns you would think desirable for a residential city of 25,000 inhabitants, and for a manufacturing and commercial city of 250,000 inhabitants. 3. Show what changes in the state census forms used in your State are THE ATTENDANCE DEPARTMENT S73 necessary to form a basis for an adequate enforcement of the com- pulsory-attendance law. 4. What type of parochial schools exist in your State? How are they conducted? What is the nature of the instruction? How effective is their work, and about what is their maintenance cost? SELECTED REFERENCES Adams, G. S. "Recent Progress in Training Delinquent Children"; in Report of the U.S. Commissioner of Education, 1913, vol. i, pp. 481-97. On the work of juvenile courts, probation officers, detention homes, and the rela" tion of feeble-mindedness to delinquency. Butte, Montana. Report of a Survey of the School System of Butte. (1914.) Chapter X, on census, records, and reports, contains an excellent discussion of how to take records and use school census data. Contains seven of the best approved forms for city use. Cubberley, E. P. State and County Educational Reorganization 257 pp. Macmillan Co., New York, 1914. Title VI, on the " Oversight of the State," outlines in legal form the plan for taking a continuing school census, and the means provided for enforcing the compulsory- attendance and child-labor laws in the hypothetical State of Osceola. The plans out- lined represent the best of American city procedure. Dutton, S. T., and Snedden, D. The Administration of Public Education in the United States, 2d ed., 614 pp., 1912. Macmillan Co., New York. Chapter XXVII, on compulsory-education and child-labor legislation, is a good general discussion from the standpoint of the State. Giddings, F. H. "The Social and Legal Aspect of Compulsory Education and Child Labor"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1905, pp. 111-13. Shall the State pay needy parents for keeping their children in school? Haney, J. D. Registration of City School Children. 156 pp. Trs, Col. Contribs. to Educ, no. 30. New York, 1910. A study of the school census, comparing methods in European and American cities. Klapper, Paul. " The Bureau of Attendance and Child Welfare of the New York City Public School System "; Educational Review, vol. 50, pp. 369-91. (November, 1915.) Describes the work done, in some detail, and indicates lines for future expansion. Martin, G. H. "Child Labor and Compulsory Education, — the School Aspect"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1905, pp. 103-111. The rights of the child in the matter. Nudd, H. W. A Description of the Bureau of Compulsory Education of the City of Philadelphia. 62 pp., 33 forms. Publication of the Educational Association, New York, 1913. Describes the organization and administration of the Bureau; how the school census is maintained; how attendance is enforced: how employment certificates are issued; and how results are tabulated and recorded. An important document. 374 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Portland, Oregon. Report of a Survey of the Public School System. (1913.) 441 pp. Reprinted by World Book Co., Yonkers, New York, 1915. Chapter XV, on "Census and Attendance," describes the work done in a city of this size, and the defects in the records and plan. Salt Lake City, Utah. Report of a Survey of the School System. 324 pp. 1915. Chapter IX contains much interesting data relating to backward and subnormal children, and methods of handling such. Shaw, A. M. "A Lesson for the Public Schools"; in World's Work for March, 1906. Tells significant story of what parental schools have done in Boston and Chicago. Snedden, D. "Attendance, Compulsory"; in Monroe's Cyclopedia of Edu- cation, vol. II, pp. 285-98. A good article. Digests practices in other countries, and in the dififerent American States. Snedden, D "The Public School and Juvenile Delinquency"; in Educa- tional Review, vol. 33, pp. 374-85. (April, 1907.) An excellent article on the handling of juvenile delinquents, and the place and work of the public schools in the process. Woodward, C. M. "When and Why Pupils leave School; How to Promote Attendance in the Higher Grades"; in Report of the U.S. Commissioner of Education, 1899-1900, vol. ii, pp. 1364-74. A very interesting article on the reasons for the heavy elimination at St, Louis, and the changes and additions necessary to retain pupils better. While these have since been made at St. Louis, with good results, the study offers a good model for use elsewhere. Woodward, C. M. Compulsory School Attendance. 137 pp. Bulletin no. 2» 1914, U.S. Bureau of Education. Contains five articles on compulsory-attendance laws in the United States, in foreign countries, compulsory education in Germany, in the South, and the com-, pulsory-attendance and child-labor laws of Ohio and Massachusetts. Good bibli- ography. CHAPTER XXII BUSINESS AND CLERICAL DEPARTMENT Department organization. A business and clerical de- partment, of some form and scope, is an absolutely neces- sary part of the organization of every city school system of any size. In the small city school systems the entire or- ganization may consist of only an office bookkeeper and clerk, who keeps the books of the school district, under the direction of the superintendent, attends to part of the cor- respondence, issues orders for the necessary school supplies, and assists the superintendent in checking over and approv- ing bUls for presentation to the board of education. This represents the simplest form of organization, and is shown in Figure 12. As the city grows a regular office and office force will need to be organized, the force consisting of a clerk to the board or a business manager, with stenographer and book- keeper, and with oversight of all business and purely cleri- cal matters of the city school district. The work of the school janitors, the purchase and distribution of school supplies, the repair of schoolhouses, and the upkeep of school grounds, naturally fall under the control of this offi- cer, thus leaving the superintendent of schools free to attend to the supervision of instruction and the larger questions of policy and procedure. This condition is shown in Figure 13. As the city grows larger and larger, or as we pass to cities of a larger group, a still more highly organized and special- ized form of business and clerical department will be needed, 376 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION under the charge of a business manager, with a secretary, bookkeepers, purchasing agent, storekeepers, clerks, stenog- raphers, etc. This form of organization is shown in Figure 14. The work here is much more specialized than in the case of the medium-sized city shown in Figure 13, by rea- son of the subdivision of the business and property con- trol into two coordinate departments, one under a business manager and one under a superintendent of school proper- ties, the two working in close cooperation with each other and with the superintendent of schools as the head of all departments. Work of such a department. To the business manager in our larger cities is now entrusted most of the work formerly attempted by the building, supply, repair, grounds, insur- ance, finance, and judiciary committees of the board of education. The business manager, under substantial bonds and his work subject to an annual audit by certified ac- countants, now acts, under rather close direction of the board of education, as its financial agent. He keeps a com- plete set of books, covering all financial transactions of the school department, and an itemized and classified record of all income, expenditures, and appropriations. He ap- proves all contracts, and all bills for materials or services, and draws all warrants on the treasurer of the board for sala- ries, services, materials, work completed, and other items. He is the custodian of all securities, insurance policies, con- tracts, or legal papers of the board, and also acts as the offi- cial secretary of the board and its committees. Where no property department has been organized, he also handles the purchase and distribution of all school supplies, em- ploys and oversees the janitors, and the repair and engineer- ing forces temporarily or permanently employed, oversees the construction and repair of school buildings, and looks after deeds, insurance, and any legal matters relating to the BUSINESS AND CLERICAL DEPARTMENT 377 real estate or the personal property of the school depart- ment. In all matters involving legal procedure he may con- sult with the attorney retained by the school board as the legal adviser of itself and the officers of the school depart- ment. The employment and dismissal of janitors, mechan- ics, day laborers, clerks, and other similar employees in his department naturally rests with him. Purpose of the department. The purpose of the depart- ment is the organization of the business work connected with the schools along good business lines. The board of education here, as in the educational work, gives up the attempt to handle the details of all such matters them- selves, and appoints a business manager to look after the business and clerical affairs of the school department, and along lines that are businesslike and economical of both time and money. As in the educational work, also, the board of education retires, as it should, from the details of man- agement, acts as a board of directors for a large business corporation would act, approves policies and projects, sets limits to expenditures, and holds the business manager ac- countable if anything goes wrong in his department. ^ The position calls for a man of good business ability, but also for a man who has a sympathetic understanding of the needs and purposes of public education. ^ He is there and * "The principles of good corporation organization need to be applied to educational affairs, and boards of school directors need to assume more the position of boards of directors for a large corporation, giving to their executive officers the authority which corporation directors give to their presidents and superintendents. The proper functions of the board of directors are to supply funds, to supervise expenditure, and to determine what additions to the plant or extensions of the business are to be under- taken. So long as the business prospers the board should leave the details of employment and management to the president and heads of departments; when the business ceases to prosper they should either change their busi- ness methods, or change their executive heads." {Portland School Survey Report, chap, ii.) 2 The best business manager is often a school man who has marked S78 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION his department exists not only to relieve the board of edu- cation of care and responsibility in matters of business de- tail, and to secure a better administration of the school busi- ness of the city, but also to serve the best interests of the schools. Misdirection of the business department. It is at this point that some of our business managers in the past have made trouble. A few, here and there, have acted almost as though they thought that the balance of the school system existed to afford business for their office to handle, and they have made their office, instead of that of the superintendent of schools, the central feature in the school system. The superintendent, principals, and teachers have had to con- sider the business office first and the superintendent's office afterward, and in matters over which the business office ought to have little or no control. In city A, for example, the business manager, given control over the school janitors to insure cleanliness and discipline, gradually extended his authority to that of a complete control of the use of the school-buildings out- side of the regular school hours. As a result, if a principal desired to hold a parents' meeting in the evening at his school, if a manual-training teacher desired to give some extra instruction to pupils or teachers on Saturday morning, or if the superintendent of schools desired to hold a meet- ing of the teachers at the high-school assembly room, each had first to secure permission from the business manager before the janitors could permit their use of the building, business sense. By the very nature of the work to be done it is easier to develop business sense in a good school man than educational sense in a business man. It is important that the business manager, whether he be merely a clerk in the office of the superintendent in a small school system or the head of an important department in a large school system, be kept close to the educational management and be made to feel that he is a part of the educational organization. This is sometimes difficult to do with the man whose training has been wholly on the business side. BUSINESS AND CLERICAL DEPARTMENT 379 In city B, the business manager, acting under his au- thority to buy school supplies, determined what and how jiuch the schools needed. In this city, for example, the com- position paper supplied one year was both very poor in quality and deficient in quantity, and all written work of the pupils was slow in speed and slovenly in looks. This was because the business manager, thinking that he knew more about the matter than the superintendent of schools, ignored the request of the latter for a good quality of paper, and supplied a paper three cents per pound cheaper and held down requisitions for supplies. He probably saved two hundred dollars to the school system, but at the expense of slovenly written work, reduced speed in writing, and the vexation of the teaching force. In city C, the business manager bought everything by competitive bidding. If two hundred supplemental third readers, or knives or scissors of a certain kind for certain forms of manual-arts work were asked for, and he could get a different third reader or another kind of knife or scissors for a few cents less each, he purchased the cheaper quality and the schools were forced to accept what he supplied. In city D, the business manager is noted for close econ- omy in those things requisitioned for by the instruction department, and for great liberality — one might even say waste — in those matters for which his department con- trols the expenditures. The school plant and grounds are kept in a high state of perfection, but teachers' salaries are moderate, and library and teaching equipment are low.^ Purpose and position of such departments. All such cases are cases of misdirected energy and zeal. Any business department connected with any educational corporation exists primarily to serve. The school plant does not belong 1 These represent real cases, though it is perhaps best not to name the cities. 380 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION to the business department, but, after it is once constructed, to the educational department; and such relations as the business department maintains to the school plant, such as cleaning, heating, and repairs, are only for the purpose of making the plant more useful to the educational depart- ment. In the matter of the use of the buildings the educa- tional, and not the business department, should control. Even in the matter of repairs and changes, the business department should follow the wishes of the educational department rather than act independently, and with a view to making the largest use of the money available for such purposes. Still more, the amount of money spent on repairs and changes and upkeep should be as small as is possible, consistent with proper maintenance, in order that as large a percentage of the total school budget as is possible may be spent on the actual work of instruction, to facili- tate which is the prime piu'pose for which all else exists. In the matter of supplies, all supplies which relate to the work of instruction should, within the limits of the budget, be as requested by the educational department. If the superintendent of schools is worthy of his place, he will know as much or more about those needs of the schools which must pass through the business department as does the business manager, and the importance of making the superintendent the executive head of the entire school sys- tem, with coordinating power over all departments, sub- ject always to appeal to the board in case of fundamental disagreement, will be apparent. The superintendent, more than any one else connected with the school system, is interested in and responsible for the welfare and the success of the schools in the community, and the executive head of every department in the school system should be under his ultimate authority and control. In most matters, of course, a superintendent fit for his BUSINESS AND CLERICAL DEPARTMENT 381 position will allow department heads large liberty of ac- tion, but in matters where the advice of the superintendent should prevail he should be given authority to see that it does so. It will be conducive to the peace and harmony and progress of the schools if it is clearly stated in the rules and regulations of the board that this is so.^ For this reason the business department has been placed where it is in each of the drawings (Figures 1£, 13, and 14) showing proper relationships. Figure 15 shows a school organization where the business department has outrun all other depart- ments in the school system, the board and its committees working largely through this department, and in many matters the business manager (school clerk) has become the head of the school system. Intelligent expenditures. It is not the work of a busi- ness department to effect economies at the expense of edu- cational efficiency. The work of public education is not primarily a process of saving, but rather one of spend- ing intelligently as much money as a community can af- ford to spend for schools.^ To obtain the best results, each 1 Boards of education usually have as much difficulty in this matter as do business managers, — often more. This is perhaps only natural, as the business work represents the part of school administration which the board members are most capable of understanding. They can understand the business manager's point of view often better than that of the superin- tendent. The business organization is definite, follows well-established forms, and deals with expenditures and economies, while the educational organization is less definite and the economies and expenses it desires are often quite different from those which appeal to the layman. . 2 An important place where plant expenses might be reduced and money saved for educational purposes lies in utilizing student interest and labor. Such a plan requires a close cooperation between the business and educa- tional ends. The work at Gary, Indiana, is an excellent example of this, the pupils there having made much of the equipment in use. (See Burris's description, in Bulletin no. 18, 1914, U.S. Bureau of Education.) Apother excellent example is the work of the pupils in the schools of Boise, Idaho, as described by Superintendent Meek, in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1913, pp. 172-78. 882 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION dollar should be spent intelligently. Economies in one place are effected in order that the expenses in other places may be larger. The only way to make better schools is to spend more money, in a more intelligent way. There is no other way. The savings which will be effected by centralized business control will be chiefly by eliminating the waste occasioned by irresponsible committee management/ with its unintelli- gent control of school funds; by the purchase of materials and supplies at better figures; by the close supervision of contracts, to see that what is called for is obtained; by the holding to responsibility of all who have dealings with the school department; and by keeping always at hand, for ref- erence and for comparative study, a carefully itemized and classified statement of income and expenditures. This last phase of the work of a business department will be referred to again in Chapter XXVI. TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT 1. Look up and report upon the powers and duties of the business manager, or oJEcial with equivalent title, in a few cities having such an officer. 2. Draw up a plan for organizing the business work in (a) a city of 20,000 inhabitants; (6) one of 75,000 inhabitants; and (c) in a city of 250,000 inhabitants or more. 3. Look up the methods used in handling the purchase and distribution of supplies in some city in your vicinity. 4. What forms are usually followed in the ordering of supplies and the auditing and payment of bills for the same? ft. Look up a few city systems of comparable size and calculate what percentage of the total expenditures in each goes for (a) general control; (b) instruction; (c) operation of plant; (d) maintenance of plant; and (e) libraries, health work, playgrounds, and other un- classified items, but not including outlays for new plant or payment on debt. ^ In Oakland, California, the purchasing department did a business of $4-64,895.53 in 1914-15, at a cost of but $4080, and at a saving of from $30,000 to $40,000 over methods formerly in use. BUSINESS AND CLERICAL DEPARTMENT 383 SELECTED REFERENCES Chancellor, W. E. Our City Schools ; Their Direction and Management. 338 pp. D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, 1908. Chapter III, on the business officers and the board, is a good discussion of business management in a large city school system. Chicago, Illinois. Report of the Educational Commission. (1898.) Article II, on the business management of the board of education, is good on the functions of such a department. Monroe, Paul. Cyclopedia of Education. See "Business Management and Manager," vol. i, pp. 474-75. A short article on the work of this office. Moore, E. C. How New York City administers its Schools. 311 pp. World Book Co., Yonkers, New York, 1913. Contains two chapters on buildings and supplies (Chapters XV and XVI), which cover a portion of the work of a business department. Portland, Oregon. Report of a Survey of the Public School System. (1914.) 441 pp. Reprinted by World Book Co., Yonkers, New York, 1915. Chapter II, on the administrative organization, describes the business and educa- tional organization in this city, and gives a number of concrete examples of the results of improper organization. Salt Lake City, Utah. Report of a Survey of the School System. 324 pp. 1915. Chapter 11, on the organization of the school system, deals with the business as w«ll as the educational organization. CHAPTER XXIII THE SCHOOL-PROPERTIES DEPARTMENT The superintendent of school properties. This depart- ment, naturally, is found only in the larger cities, as only in cities of some size will there be sufficient work on the properties of the school department to warrant the employ- ment of a special staff and the creation of a special depart- ment to care for it. In medium-sized cities the business manager or some similar official, or an architect on tempo- rary employment, working in conjunction with the superin- tendent of schools, must look after such work. In the smaller cities the superintendent of schools, together with his busi- ness clerk and one or more board committees, usually handle all work done in connection with the repair and up- keep of the school plant, an architect being employed only for the construction of new buildings which are to be erected. The work is interesting, and sometimes a school superin- tendent becomes so fascinated with such work that he vir- tually becomes a building superintendent and almost forgets that there is more important educational work to be done. The superintendent of properties, or superintendent of buildings as he is frequently designated, represents an im- portant recent development in city educational service. The plan has usually been to select some young man who has had good engineering training, and who has good judg- ment, some imagination, and good executive capacity, and then to put him in charge of the construction, alteration, and upkeep of the school plant. Under his direction will be the architectural, engineering, and mechanical forces em- SCHOOL-PROPERTIES DEPARTMENT 385 ployed, and he will also supervise the carrying out of all contracts for yard work, the construction and repair of buildings, etc. The heating, cleaning, and fumigation of the buildings will also be placed under his direction, and hence to him should also be given power to employ, train, super- vise, and dismiss all school janitors, engineers, mechanics, day-laborers, etc., employed on work which is under hi5 control. Purpose and place of this department. The purpose of this department is to centralize, under one responsible and scientifically trained head, all work connected with the creation and maintenance of the school plant. Naturally, such a department head must work in close cooperation with the superintendent of schools, the health director, the superintendent of playgrounds, and the business manager, and in accordance with plans and estimates approved by the board of education. Instead of members of the board of education attempting to prepare plans for school build- ings, and instead of the superintendent of schools being com- pelled to devote much of his time to building construction and repair, and often to quarrel almost continuously with contractors to secure honest work, the board of education now turns all such expert work over to an expert to handle, reserving to itself only the appointment of the expert, the appropriation of the necessary funds for each constructional undertaking recommended by him and by the superintend- ent of schools, the formal approval of the plans, and the formal awarding of the contracts. The board also retires from the employment of school janitors, mechanics, and workmen, making possible the transformation of janitor work from a political job to a trained and efl&cient service. The superintendent of schools, as the coordinating head of all departments, naturally should approve all large pro- posals and plans of the head of the property department. 386 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION the recourse in the case of a fundamental disagreement be- ing the submission of the matter to the board. As in the case of the business manager, though, a superintendent of schools will leave the superintendent of properties large liberty in all matters of detail; the important point to be looked after being that constructional undertakings are along good edu- cational lines. In all smaller cities no such specialization of executive work can be provided for, and in such places the superin- tendent of schools, usually in conjunction with local archi- tects and builders and committees of the board of educa- tion, must help plan and oversee the work. Responsibility of the superintendent of schools. Whoever does this work, though, must, at least in a general way, over- see what is being done. In a way also he must direct the efforts of those who are doing it. The thousands of con- structional blunders which are in use as school buildings to-day in our cities and towns show the need of more at- tention to the scientific details of schoolhouse planning than has been given to the work by our superintendents in the past. To direct properly the efforts of those who are doing the work requires that the superintendent of schools, as well as the person drawing the plans, should be familiar with good hygienic standards, with the best practices in schoolhouse construction elsewhere, and also be somewhat familiar with tendencies and probable future needs in public education. On the financial side, maintenance costs as well as first costs, and methods of paying for the new equipment, should both be considered. These points, which are generally applicable to all cities, will be touched on very briefly here. A new type of building needed. The time has come, everywhere, when the building of eight-room or twelve- room boxes, with windows regularly punctured in all of the SCHOOL-PROPERTIES DEPARTMENT 387 outside walls, and with the only variation from typical classrooms being an oflSice for the principal, usually on the second floor over the entrance hall, should stop. Such build- ings do not meet the needs of the present in public educa- tion, and will meet the needs of the future still less. With the rapid changes in the character of public education, the need for differentiations in school work, and the tendency of public education to undertake new educational and com- munity services, there is need to-day for the construction in our cities of a new type of school building. Should the Gary idea or some modification of it make important head- way, most of our present school buildings would have to be reconstructed or entirely replaced. To secure such buildings both the superintendent and the architect must be reasonably familiar with the best of our theory and practice in the field of schoolhouse construc- tion and sanitation. If the architect is not, then the duty devolves on the superintendent of seeing that he becomes acquainted with the main facts of such theory, and of in- sisting upon the incorporation of such in his plans. This involves a reasonably satisfactory knowledge of the scien- tific principles ^ which should control with reference to : — 1. The location and orientation of school buildings. 2. The material to be used in construction. 3. Lighting arrangements. 4. Heating and ventilation. 5. Sanitary arrangements and equipment. 6. Schoolhouse conveniences and equipment. 7. Proper apportionment of space to different educational needs. 8. Proper playground and yard space. The new Pittsburg type of building. The city of Pitts- burg offers one of the best examples of the application of ^ No attempt will be made to state what these principles and standards are. For this the student must consult some standard work on schoolhouse hygiene. S88 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION good principles in schoolhouse construction. After investi- gating the recent constructional work done in a number of our cities, and after having examined the Gary plan of instruction and building, the superintendent of buildings there finally worked out a standard form of sixteen-class- room building, such as would, first of all, meet the present and reasonably prospective needs of the city, and at the same time would be capable of conversion, almost without change, into a Gary-type school, should such later be de- cided upon as the desirable type. The instructions to architects, to guide them in the drawing-up and submission of plans for new elementary- school-buildings, cover the present needs for modern elemen- tary-school-building construction so well that we reproduce the schedule of what must be included.^ The architect is left free to submit his own ideas in the matter of the arrangement of rooms and the exterior design, so long as good hygienic standards are met and the building does not go higher than two stories and a basement. A building unit, as here used, is defined as not exceeding one thousand square feet of floor space. Classrooms Kindergarte: Schedule of Rooms 5 16 classrooms, 24' X 32' 6", with cloak-rooms. .16 miits ( 1 migraded room 3 miit r 1 kindergarten room "] J 1 kindergarten wardrobe 1 ii •♦ j 1 kindergarten toilet j * L 1 kindergarten workroom J 1 Program and Details of Construction and Equipment for Grade Schools, prepared by C. L. Woodbridge, superintendent of buildings. Revised edi- tion of February 8, 1914 (64 pp.), 25 of which are drawings of equipment required. A very valuable public document. SCHOOL-PROPERTIES DEPARTMENT Household Economy Indtistrial Training 1 sewing-room 1 wardrobe and locker-room I ^i ^^ 1 fitting-room 1 model bedroom Administration ' I 1 Demonstration room f miit 1 domestic-science room ^ 1 wardrobe and locker-room I , i .. 1 pantry j 1 model dining-room J 1 bench-room 1 1 wardrobe and locker-room r ll miits 1 storage-room J 1 demonstration room f miit " 3 units > 3 units 1 drafting-room 'j 1 wardrobe and locker-room r 1 unit - 1 storage-room J 1 general oflSce 1 private office 1 book storeroom 1 physicians' room 1 teachers' room 1 janitors' supply-room 2 voting-rooms 1 girls' play-room as specified. 1 boys' play-room as specified. 1 assembly room, with seating capacity for 700. 2 paved play-yards, each 11,000 square feet. This may include walks. 2 units 1 imit To the above schedule could be added with advantage a branch-library stack- and reading-room of one and one- quarter units, so as to provide for making the building even more a community center. Some of our city school sys- tems have also included shower-baths, and in a few places, a swimming-pool. A science room and a museum with suit- able equipment, and a special drawing-room, might also be added. Gary also includes a music studio. S90 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Larger use of school-buildings. Such a plan for an ele- mentary-school building at once suggests larger community usefulness for it than the mere seat-work instruction of children for a few hours a day. Such a building could be transformed, as all elementary-school plants should be, into a community-center institution, ministering to the needs of both the children and the adults of the community, both in the daytime and in the evening and for almost the entire year. The branch library should be open the year round, and should be so placed as to be capable of being entered from the outside, and at times when other parts of the build- ing are closed. The assembly hall, also, should be capable of use at any time without opening more than the entrance hall of the building. Both of these rooms naturally should be on the ground floor. The play-rooms and the play-yards should also be capable of use at times when the school- building proper is closed. The same should be true of the shower-baths and swimming-pool. The use of the school plant at other times and for other purposes than day schoolroom instruction may be said to be, as yet, in its beginnings with us, but the idea represents a desirable extension of the work and influence of the school. It means a large increase in the efficiency of the school plant, and much greater community-welfare returns for the money invested in the buildings, grounds, and equipment. The increased use of the plant and the in- creased community service rendered much more than com- pensate for the extra expense involved in extending the usefulness of the school. Evening school work, evening lectures, reading-rooms, vacation schools and children's playgrounds, recreational work for youths and adults, parents* meetings, civic club meetings, and social meet- ings of various kinds, are among the possibilities of a school plant arranged as in the Pittsburg schedule. Should the SGHOOL-PROPERTIES DEPARTMENT 391 future seem to make it desirable to do so, it would be pos- sible, with few additions to the plant, to establish " Gary- type" schools in these new Pittsburg buildings.^ Costs for buildings. The costs for school-buildings and grounds have experienced a marked increase within the past two decades, due in part to better material construc- tion, due in part to the introduction of better hygienic stand- ards, due in part to the introduction of new types of in- struction which have required special rooms and equipment, and due in part to the demand for larger playground space for the children. These developments and additions we now regard as necessities. As a result the expense for buildings is likely to increase rather than grow less in the future, and this increased expense the public must be prepared to meet. The more the school makes itself of service to the community, and the better the community understands what the school is doing, the more willingly will the in- creased expense be met. Payment for by tax or by bonding. There is one phase of the cost of a school-building which ought to be considered much more carefully by our American cities than now seems to be done, and that is the question of paying for the build- ing by tax at the time of construction, or of deferring the payment to some future time by issuing bonds. The prac- 1 The Gary plan (see Bulletin by Bums) in a way arose as a means of facing a school situation created by the very rapid growth of a new city, where every department of the city needed funds for the development of its work. By increasing somewhat the cost of each plant, for larger grounds and for many special rooms, each building was made to care for about twice the ordinary number of pupils, thus materially reducing the initial per-capita cost for the school plant. Each building there is a school, a work- shop, a playground, a city library, and a civic and community center all in one. The plan employed in Boise, Idaho, and described by Meek in Proceedings of the National Education Association, 1913, pp. 172-78, of using pupils to help in construction and in the furnishing of school equipment, besides being highly educative, also tends materially to reduce costs. 392 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION «100,000 $100,000 Bonds Outstanding $172,^ Ori(»inal cost of building Fig. 33. PRINCIPAL AND INTEREST COST FOR A SCHOOL BUILDING This drawing shows the results of building a $100,000 school-building, and pay- ing for it by the issuance of five per cent school bonds, on a five- to twenty-five- year basis. In a city assessed at $25,000,000, it would have cost the taxpayers only forty cents on the one hundred dollars of assessed valuation to have paid for the building in a single year, or twenty cents on the one hundred dollars had the cost been spread over the two-year period covered by the erection of the build- ing. The ultimate tax cost will be sixty-nine cents on the one hundred dollars. tice of deferring payment to the future is becoming more common, and, though still quite limited, has recently shown a marked tendency to increase.^ In some of our cities, due to peculiar conditions, such deferment may be almost a necessity, but the practice is in many ways undesirable, and is often entirely unnecessary where resorted to.^ In ^ Up to 1909 the percentage of school debt to other city debt was but 2.2 per cent, and with a total outstanding school debt for all cities having a population of 30,000 or over of $48,282,260. Since then the school debt has increased faster even than the municipal debt, being 2.6 per cent in 1912, and representing a total of $74,949,343, — an increase in school bonded debt of 52 per cent in three years. Our city school corporations have, however, been more careful in the matter of bonded debt than any other department of our municipalities. Some cities have always paid for their school buildings as erected, and have never issued bonds. See table on "Gross, Funded, and Floating Debts of Cities," in the U.S. Census Bureau's annual publication entitled Financial Statistics of Cities, for a list of cities having no bonded school debt. ^ "The large initial cost for fireproof buildings, and the plan of paying SCHOOL-PROPERTIES DEPARTMENT 393 addition to the larger costs involved, the deferred-payment plan puts a mortgage on the future which is likely to prove hesivy to carry. ^ Especially is this the case with elemen- tary-school-buildings of a type which will require large maintenance costs, and after from twenty -five to thirty-five years must be replaced. Large future educational needs. If we could see anything to indicate that our American cities will, in the near future, reach the end in the development of their school systems, and that, say in twenty -five to forty years from now, they will have all the needed school-buildings constructed, then the plan of deferring payment by issuing bonds and spread- ing the costs over a period of years would not be so objectionable. ^ Those who have studied the problem most, however, can see no such end of the process. On the contrary, with for them all in one year by a tax, is what makes school building in Portland seem so costly. At the present time Portland needs about sixty new class- rooms a year for its elementary schools alone. Soon the number may be seventy, eighty, and perhaps even more. "The large cost, however, is more apparent than real. On the basis of the present assessment of property in the school district, the initial cost for sixty classrooms in fireproof construction will raise the yearly tax rate for schools in the district only about one half mill (5 cents on the $100 of assessed property) ; and a tax of 1| mills (15 cents on the $100) will pay for the sixty fireproof classrooms complete, with no bonds and no future inter- est charges. The rate will probably never exceed this, as increases in values will counterbalance the increased number of classrooms required. In other words, to build and pay for, at once and v^^thout bonds, a large, reinforced-concrete, 22-classroom building, such as the new Failing School, would cost a citizen only about 55 cents for every $1000 of property for which he is assessed, — a trifle more than the cost of four good cigars." (Portland School Survey Report, chap, xii.) 1 What each city should have is the authorization to levy an annual building tax, sufficient to pay for a building in two or three years, and the authority to borrow if needed for temporary purposes. An annual building tax of 1 1 to 2| cents on the $100 would provide for the ordinary building needs of most cities, ^ See also pages 101-03 of Ayres' Report on the Springfield, Illinois, School Survey on the question of bonding for school-buildings. 394 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION the great change which is taking place in our conceptions a» to the nature and place of public education, there is every indication that public education will in time become the greatest business of a city or a state. In a quarter to a half a century from now public education is almost certain to be extended into fields of constructive service which we now but dimly imagine. There is every probability, also, that everything that tends to conserve child life and advance child welfare, and hence the welfare of the race, as well as most of those efforts relating to the improvement of condi- tions surrounding adults and home life, will in time come to be regarded as a legitimate function of our systems of public education. If such should prove to be the case, then those cities will be best able to meet the large edu- cational demands of the future, and in a really large way, which do not handicap themselves too heavily with bonded school debt now. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. A good school-building is sometimes said to be the combined work of an artist, an engineer, a physician and hygiene expert, a school administrator, and an economist. Indicate the place of each in planning and erecting a school-building. 2. Do you think the State should lay do^vn hygienic and constructional standards which all communities should meet, and make provision for state inspection and approval of all plans for new school-buUd- ings and all major alterations in old ones? Should the state over-- sight extend to the architecture ? Why ? 3. Why is it particularly desirable that the head of the property depart- ment should be given the employment, control, and dismissal of the school janitors? In a smaller city where would you place such control? 4. Is it desirable to employ a regular school architect or to throw open competition, under such restrictions as in Pittsburg, to any respon- sible architect anywhere? 5. Is it desirable to have a standard type of school-building, or to eC* courage individuality in the appearance of schools? 6. Should there be manual-training and domestic-science rooms and equipment in each building, or only at certain "centers"? If teachers or pupils have to move, which is tJie better plan? SCHOOL-PROPERTIES DEPARTMENT 305 7. What would you think of having music and drawing studios in the building ? Swimming-pools ? TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT 1. Proper standards as to schoolhouse site, and the location and orienta- tion of a school-building. 2. Size, lighting, and equipment of a standard classroom. 3. School-toilet facilities. 4. School baths. 5. School heating and ventilation. 6. Evening lectures at schoolhouses. 7. Recreational work at schoolhouses. 8. Schools as civic and social centers. 9. Unit costs for school-buildings of different types. 10. The Gary building plans and costs. 11. The sanitary problems of a schoolhouse. 12. Fumigation of books and buildings. 13. Qualifications and duties of a school janitor. SELECTED REFERENCES Bums, W. P. The School System of Gary, Indiana. Bulletin no. 18, 1914, U.S. Commissioner of Education. 49 pp., illustrated. Gives pictiires and plans of buildings, and describes their use. Butte, Montana. Report of a Survey of the School System. (1914.) Chapter IX, on "School Buildings and Equipment," points out the defects and needs of the city, and describes a needed reorganization of the school plant. Chancellor, W. E. Our Schools; Their Direction and Management. 338 pp. D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, 1908. Chapter IV, on "The City School-Building," and Chapter V, on "Needed Equip- ment," offer many good suggestions. Chicago, Illinois. Report of the Educational Commission. (1899.) Chapter XX, on " School-Buildings and Architecture," contains a number of good recommendations as to construction. Curtis, H. S. Education through Play. 359 pp. Macmillan Co., New York, 1915. Contains good chapters on American school playgrounds (Chap, vii), the school playgrounds at Gary (Chap, ix), and the school as a social center (Chap. xv). Dresslar, F. B. School Hygiene. 369 pp. Macmillan Co., New York, 1913. An excellent book on the construction and care of school buildings. Should be in every sui)erintendent's collection. Good bibliographies. Dresslar, F. B. American Schoolhouses. Bulletin no. 5, 1910, U.S. Bureau of Education, 132 pp., 267 plates, and bibliography. A very important document, picturing and describing the best that has been done in American city schoolhouse construction. 396 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Dutton, S. T., and Snedden, D. Administration of Public Education in the United States. Chapters XI and XII, on the details of schoolhouse construction, contains some good suggestions. Eliot, Cbas. W. "A Good Form of Urban School Organization"; in the Report of the U.S. Commissioner of Education, 1903, vol. ii, pp. 1356-62. Outlines the form of organization in St. Louis, and the work of the different de- partments. Hanmer, L. F. " The Schoolhouse Evening Center; — What It Is, What II Cost, and What It Pays "; in Proceedings of National Education As- sociation, 1913, pp. 58-64. Describes an evening in a Massachusetts city, and gives some data as to mainte- nance costs and benefits. Perry, C. A. "Social-Center Ideas in New Elementary-School Archi- tecture"; in American School Board Journal. (April, 1912.) A survey of newer elementary-schoolhouses. Provision for adults as well as children. Perry, C. A. "School as a Social Center"; in Monroe's Cyclopedia of Edu- cation, vol. V, pp. 260-67. A very good summary of the movement in the United States and Europe, with many citations to work attempted in different cities. Perry, C. A. Wider Use of the School Plant. 423 pp. Charities Publication Committee, New York, 1911. A very important work on evening schools, vacation schools and playgrounds, social and recreational centers, public lectures, and a larger use of school-buildings. Portland, Oregon. Report of the Survey of the Public School System. (1913.) 441 pp. Reprinted by World Book Co., Yonkers, New York, 1915. Chapter XII deals largely with the financial aspect of the building and sites prob- lem in a large and rapidly growing city, while Chapter XIII is a good presentation o^ the defects and needs of the school plant from the point of view of good standards in school hygiene. Salt Lake City, Utah. Report of a Survey of the School System. 324 pp. 1915. Chapter X, on the school plant, is a good analysis of the school-building situation. Wirt, W. A. "Utilization of the School Plant"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1912, pp. 492-97. A good article on obtaining higher efficiency by larger use of the school plant. Com- pares costs for Gary with South Chicago parks. The City School as a Community Center. 75 pp. Good biblio- graphy. Tenth Year Book of the National Society for the Study of Education, part i. Univ. Chic. Press, 1911. A valuable document. Describes the public lecture system of New York City and Cleveland, and the Rochester civic and social centers. Also contains articles oa vacation playgrounds, organized athletics, evening recreational centers, the ccn- munity-used school, and home and school associations. CHAPTER XXIV AUXILIARY EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES It is the purpose in this chapter to refer very briefly to three auxiliary educational agencies which seem destined, sooner or later, to become an integral part of our public educational organization. These three agencies are the public library, the public playground, and the school-garden move- ment. Both the library and the playground are now some- what generally under the control of separate boards, and the school-garden movement is largely fostered by individ- uals and societies, but a well-organized twentieth-century school system could direct the work of each more economi- cally and more efficiently than can be done if each is to remain under separate administrative organizations. 1. The public library The public library arose with us as a separate institution^ and still quite generally retains its separate organization. The library board administers the library, and the school board administers the schools. Between the two for a long time there was no attempt at cooperation. The school im- parted instruction, while the library loaned books to mem- bers or to the public which came to borrow. Efforts toward cooperation. The beginning of coopera- tion between the two agencies dates from the attempts made by the free public library of Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1879, to bring about a closer connection between the public library and the public schools of that city. After about fifteen years the idea began to attract the attention of both 898 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION schoolmen and librarians, as each began to see that both were engaged in educational undertakings which would be more productive of results if the two worked in closer cooperation. In 1897 the National Education Association appointed a "Committee on the Relations of Public Li- braries to PubHc Schools," and reports were made on the subject to the meetings of the Association in 1898 ^ and 1899.2 Since that time an earnest effort has been made by many school superintendents and by many public librarians to secure a closer cooperation in educational effort, and much valuable work has been accomplished. Much more still re- mains to be done. The librarian often feels that his efforts at cooperation are not appreciated by the school, and that the school authorities are uninterested and apathetic. This is often true. The school authorities, on the other hand, some- times make the same complaint of the public librarian. The library often lacks an appreciation of the standpoint of the school in the matter of educating the reading public, and the school, on its part, lacks an appreciation of the peculiar community problems which the library tries to solve. On the whole, however, the pubHc librarians have shown a more cooperative spirit than have the schoolmen. Espe- cially is this true with reference to state traveling libraries and county library work on the one hand, and county and town educational authorities on the other. Administrative control. The trouble arises in part from a lack of coordinated effort, due to separate organization and control, and there is every reason to think that a closer administrative organization will in time be effected. The mission of these two community educational agencies is the same, and their object is similar if not identical. Each is ^ See Proceedings of National Education Association, 1898, pp. 1014-28. 2 Ibid., 1899, pp. 452-529. AUXILIARY EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES 399 working in its own way to solve the same problems of com- munity education, the library being a supplemental and continuing agency for what the school begins. There would be little need for the library were it not for the school, and the school fails in part in its mission of education if it fails to get its pupils into working relations with the public library. In a few cities the library and the schools are operated by one board, the board of education being the board of control for both the public library and the public schools.^ In such the librarian is appointed by and is responsible to the board of education, and holds a position somewhat coordinate with that of superintendent of schools. In a few other cities the school department is represented, ex officio^ on the library board by the superintendent of schools or the president of the board of education. In by far the great majority of our cities, though, there is no governmental union, all cooperation being by mutual agreements between the public librarian and the superintendent of schools or other school authorities. As our city school systems become better organized as educational undertakings, and eliminate personal and party politics from their management; as executive heads are appointed and given control of educational functions, with- out continual interference on the part of school boards or members of school boards; as the school gradually organ- izes its instruction, and enlarges the scope of its work; and as school executives come to the work better prepared, and take a larger view of their work; it is probable that there will be much less objection to a closer administrative * Indianapolis forms a good example of this form of organization, the public library there being regarded merely as one of the many educational agencies of the community. In commission-governed cities this is com- monly the condition. In Sacramento one commissioner is in charge of the schools, library, parks, playgrounds, and public morals. 400 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION union of the library and the school than would at present be the case. Our public library boards have been, in the past, much freer from personal and party politics than have our school boards, and until the people are ready to put school organization and administration on a higher basis it is probable that the library will prefer to retain its sep- arate organization. Such being the case, a provision by which the superintendent of schools should be, ex officio, a member of the public library board, with full power to speak and to vote, would be a desirable amendment to in- corporate into the present laws providing for the creation of city library boards. Unity of the work of library and school. The two insti- tutions, library and school, really belong together. With the development of the community-center schoolhouse, with a branch public library in each large school building, a se- lected reference library of some size in each intermediate and high school, and a small room library in each elementary- school classroom, it is desirable, in the interests of effi- ciency and economy, that the library work should be under one organization and control. If the librarian in each ele- mentary, intermediate, and high-school building has had some library training and is officially connected with the central public library, rather than with the school, the re- lations which will be established between the school instruc- tion and permanent library interests are much more likely to become deep and lasting. The library in the future school. It will, without doubt, be one of the missions of the twentieth-century school to direct the outside reading of the child, to cultivate an ap- preciation for good books, and to teach pupils how to use books as tools. The literature teacher in a public school is in a sense a children's librarian, and her classroom should be in reality a small library for special purposes. The school AUXILIARY EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES 401 library enlarges the teacher's possibilities for usefulness, and a close cooperation between the public library and the school enlarges it still more. To-day both school ^nd library are working at the problem, each somewhat independently of the other, with a consequent lack of the highest effectiveness and a certain duplication of effort and expense. In time, as the two institutions come into closer union and coopera- tion; as the library extends its work downward into the schools, and as the schools extend their work upward and outward into the problems of adult education and civic life, the two institutions probably will render more effective community service if placed under one board of control and united as parts of a community educational service.^ 2. The Public Playgrounds The public playground represents a relatively recent ef- fort to organize, along healthful and educational lines, the natural play-activities of children. Probably the first playground organized especially for children was the one provided by the Children's Mission in Boston, in 1886, by placing "three piles of yellow sand" in its yard for the children of the neighborhood to play in. The following year eleven piles, — one in a school-yard, — with matrons to supervise the play, were provided. Two summer play- grounds were established privately in Philadelphia in 1893, a sand garden in Providence in 1894, and a summer play- ground in Chicago in 1897. The first public playground was 1 At Gary, where the school employs specially trained teachers to direct the outside reading of children, who meet each child for a thirty- minute period on alternate days, and where sets of books and classroom libraries are in use, it has been found that "the library maintenance and salary-cost per book circulated and read is about one fourth of a cent, only five per cent of said cost in public libraries. The life of a book circulated in sets, under the direct control of the special teachers, is ten times that of the usual library circulating book." (Superintendent W. A. Wirt, in Pro- ceedings of National Education Association, 1912, p. 494.) 402 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION organized in New York City in 1898. By 1911, 257 cities reported 1543 playgrounds as in operation, and 75 other cities known to have playgrounds did not report. Playground organization. In many of our cities play- ground commissions have been created to provide play facilities for children, and much valuable work has been done. Old parks have been enlarged and their usefulness extended, new ones have been acquired, special municipal playgrounds have been provided and equipped, and play directors have been employed and installed. The influence of the work is seen in the general demand that public schools be provided with larger and better playground facilities. Even more than in the case of library work, separate organization and direction of public playgrounds involves both an unnecessary duplication of effort and a very ma- terial increase in expenses. A municipal playground is expensive both to provide and to maintain, and it is in use but a small fraction of the time, while playgrounds organized as a part of the school plant, and run in connection with the regular day and vacation schools, can be utilized practically all of the time. By organizing play as a part of the regular school curriculum, as is being done now by a few of our city school systems, and then providing regular play teach- ers for the schools, the school playground can be utilized constantly from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, thus providing about ten times the play facilities which can be provided for under the municipal playground plan, and at less cost. Superintendent Wirt, of the Gary, Indiana, schools, in a paper read before the National Education Association, in 1912 {Proceedings, pp. 492-95) compared costs for the two types of playgrounds, as follows : — The city of Chicago has a most elaborate system of recreation parks and field houses. Selecting the eleven most successful parks of the South Side Commission, we may compare the total cost and AUXILIARY EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES 403 use of the eleven parks with the cost and use of the one Gary- school plant. Note that the attendance of the parks is the total, not the average for the eleven parks. Also note that the cost of the school includes the furnishing of complete school facilities for 2700 children, in addition to the social and recreational features. Items Totals j(yr Eleven parks One Gary school Population 800,000 $2,000,000 $440,000 310,000 2,000,000 1,385,000 725,000 270,000 70,000 600.000 520,000 20,000 First cost, less land. $300,000 Annual maintenance . . . $100,000 Annual attendance — Indoor gynmasium 1,000,000 Outdoor gj^mnasium Shower baths 2,000,000 500,000 Swimming-pool 300,000 Assembly halls 1,000,000 Clubrooms 50,000 Reading-rooms 1,000,000 Lunch-rooms 20,000 Importance of directed play. Play is essential to the proper development of all children, and play under good conditions may be said to be a child's fundamental right. The child's physical, intellectual, social, and moral development in part hinges about proper facilities for play. Organized and di- rected play is worth much more than unorganized and un- directed play, and the social and moral conditions surround- ing children during such organized and directed play are much better. If directed play is provided as a regular part of the school curriculum, as it should be in cities, the work can be so arranged as to be not only of value in itself but also of service in the general education of children. If organized in connection with the public school work and correlated with the work in physical training and health teaching, and especially with the vacation school work,^ ^ In the conduct of the summer vacation schools, as at present organized, directed play forms a very important part of the instruction provided. 404 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION it can be made much more effective educationally than can ever be the case when organized separately under a playground commission. It will not only be more effective, but it can also be organized and conducted at less expense. 3. School gardening School gardening has for some time been a feature of public education in European cities, but represents a very recent and as yet but imperfectly accepted idea in our American cities. The first school garden in America prob- ably was the Wild Flower Garden at Roxbury, Massa- chusetts, established by private citizens in 1891. The school gardens established by the National Cash Register Com- pany, at Dayton, Ohio, in 1897, were also among the first in this country. Many cities now have school gardens and school gardening associations; usually fostered by indi- viduals or organizations, and conducted independently of any oflScial connection with the schools. Such organiza- tions are doing for the school children a work of large edu- cational importance, and one that should be done by the schools instead of by private associations and individuals. School gardening and the school. What is accomplished by such organized work is of value, to children of certain types of very great value, but it reaches only a limited number and cannot be so effectively done as it would be if organized as a part of the regular instruction of the schools. School gardening is a legitimate and a very desirable addition to a city school course of study, and should be given a definite place and time. The work in home gardening, too, should Should our cities organize a twelve-months school, as many tendencies seem to indicate as a probable line of future city development, organized play will form a still more important part of school instruction, and the desira- bility of a close connection between school and playground will be empha- sized. The large use of municipal playgrounds now is at times when the regular school is not in session. AUXILIARY EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES 405 be closely connected with the school gardening work. A supervisor of school gardens should be appointed, in cities of thirty to forty thousand inhabitants or over, to plan and direct the work, to secure and look after vacant lots to be used for school gardens, to prepare and issue bulletins on the work for the general information of teachers, parents, and children, and to meet with the teachers responsible for the work in each school. It is in the cities that work in school gardening is of most importance, from an educational and aesthetic point of view. To many city children it is almost the only contact they ever get with nature. To some it is a means of education in which they become deeply interested, and to many it means good and healthful exercise in the fresh air and sunlight. The nature-study value of the observation of how plants germinate, grow, and mature, the lessons in social coopera- tion which gardening can be made to teach, the industrial experience coming from the money value of the products raised, the efforts to excel developed by competition, the withdrawal of children from the games and vices of the street, and the possibilities of carrying through a vacation interest in such work, all are features of the school garden- ing movement which are of much moral as well as educa- tional value. New educational agencies and purposes. The utilization of the library, the playground, and the school garden as educational agencies represents only another phase of the rapidly growing purpose to change our city school systems from mere instructional institutions into constructive child- welfare institutions, — to change the school from a place merely for intellectual training into a place where a child can work and play and grow and live a life that, for him, is as real as any adult life can be. This requires the develop- ment of many new educational activities, the utilization of 406 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION the entire educational equipment of a city in the most effi- cient manner possible, and the provision of those saving and uplifting influences which are especially needed to meet the difficulties and dangers of modern city life. Careful health supervision and instruction, an interigent and con- structive administration of an attendance department, in- structive and competitive school gardening, organized and directed play, and a full utilization of the public library as an educational agency, — these represent the more im- portant of the saving and uplifting influences which should be utilized more fully in the work of public education. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. What form of organization and control is followed for the public libraries in your State? 2. What types of cooperation exist between the public libraries and the schools in your State? 3. What relation do the school libraries bear to the public library col- lections? 4. If the school playground is more economical and more effective edu- cationally, how do you account for the rapid development of muni- cipal, as opposed to the school playgrounds? 5. Why has it usually been easier to secure playground development through a playground commission than through a board of education? 6. In what does the moral and aesthetic value of school gardening consist? 7. What relation does the fuller utilization of the newer educational agencies mentioned in this chapter bear: (a) to the question of the economy of time in education? (&) to the question of a longer school day and week? TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT 1. What is the best type of work being done in your State by the public schools in developing a taste for books and introducing pupils to good literature? 2. Look up and make a report on: (o) Notable work being done in library and school cooperation. (b) Municipal playgrounds. (c) School playgrounds. (d) Vacation schools and vacation-school instruction. (e) The school-gardening movement. AUXILIARY EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES 407 (J) The Gary plan for handling directed play. (g) The course of study in play. SELECTED REFERENCES Chadsey, C. E. "What does Each, the Library and the Public School, con- tribute to the Making of the Educated Man?" In Proceedings of National Education Association, 1909, pp. 860-63. A good short article on library and school cooperation. Curtis, H. S. Education through Play. 359 pp. Macmillan Co., New York; 1915. Contains good chapters on play, playgrounds in Europe and America, the play- grounds of Gary, and play in the curriculum. A good book. Curtis, H. S. The Reorganized School Playground. 28 pp. Bulletin no. 40, 1913, U.S. Bureau of Education. Good directions for equipping and utilizing school yards as playgrounds. Dutton, S. T., and Snedden, D. The Administration of Public Education in the United States. Chapter XXXI, on the widening sphere of public education, presents a good brief summary of many movements for the improvement and extension of the educational service in our cities. Good bibliography at end of chapter. Green, M. L. Among School Gardens. 388 pp.; illustrated. Charities Pub- lication Committee, New York, 1910. A practical guide to the work. Chapter I gives the evolution of the school-garden movement. Good lists of reference books. Jewell, J. R. Agricultural Education. 140 pp., Bulletin no. 2, 1907, U.S. Bureau of Education. Pages 23-46 contain good information relating to school gardens. Monroe, Paul, {editor). Cyclopedia of Education. See articles on "Libraries,** vol. IV, pp. 7-19; "Playgrounds," vol. iv, pp. 728-30; and "Gardens, School," vol. Ill, pp. 10-12. Good short descriptive articles. Perry, C. A. Wider Uses of the School Plant. 423 pp. Charities Publication Committee, New York, 1911. A very important work on evening schools, vacation schools and playgrounds, social and recreation centers, and larger use of schoolhouses. Playground and Recreation Association of America. Proceedings of the Annual Playground Congresses. Contain many good articles. See also the magazine. Playground, issued by this association. Wirt, W. A. "Utilization of a School Plant"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1912, pp. 492-95. A brief description of the full and economical utilizations made at Gary. CHAPTER XXV COSTS, FUNDS, AND ACCOUNTING Constantly increasing costs. It will be evident, from what has been said in the preceding chapters, that an effi- cient school system must cost more money — oftentimes much more money — than does the ordinary city school sys- tem of to-day. Practically every addition made to a school system with a view to increasing its efficiency means the expenditure of additional funds for equipment and main- tenance. In any growing American city the school system is continually calling for increased funds, and in even a relatively stationary city a school system that is trying to keep up with the progress of American education is also continually asking for increased appropriations for equip- ment and maintenance. An expensive school system may not be an efficient school system, but a cheap school system cannot be an efficient school system, viewed from the larger community point of view. The only way to make better schools is to spend, in an intelligent manner, a constantly increasing amount of money on them. If a school system is to run on cheap lines it cannot be highly efficient. Either its teachers or officers will lack in grasp and render inefficient service, or, if these happen to be efficient in spite of the low compensation paid, the system will be inefficient in that it will minister, to only a limited extent, to the larger community needs. A cheap school system. If a cheap system of instruction is desired the school system should not be expanded, the courses of instruction should not be enriched, and no COSTS, FUNDS, AND ACCOUNTING 409 effort should be made to minister to new educational needs. An eight-year elementary-school course, based wholly on textbook instruction; large classes; no kindergartens, man- ual training, or domestic-science instruction; and an old- line book-type of high-school course (languages, history, English, mathematics, and textbook science) is by all means the cheapest type of a school system to provide. Teachers for such instruction cost less; classes can be larger; few if any special supervisors will be needed; there will be but small expense for teaching equipment, and no extra expense in building school-buildings (as in Pittsburg) for rooms for any form of special instruction; large school- grounds will not be needed; and overhead expenses will be reduced to a minimum. A teacher, a classroom, some seats, a stove and some fuel, a few maps and books, and a small expense for paper, pencils, ink, and chalk, represent about the equipment needed for such instruction. The poorer the public schools, too, the larger the number of parents who will patronize the private and the parochial schools, and for the children of such the city will not need to build schools, employ teachers^, or incur any expense whatever. Of course, there should be no attempt to en- force attendance laws in a city maintaining such a school system. Retardation will not be objectionable in such a school system, because the pupils stay down in the grades where the instruction costs less, and a smaller percentage ever enter the high school where the instruction costs more. An examination of census, attendance, and retardation data; salary lists and classified expenditures; and the published courses of study for some of our American cities would seem to indicate that, consciously or unconsciously, a number of our cities are still maintaining such a cheap type of school system. An examination of such items for the present, compared with similar items for a decade ago, however, 410 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION indicate marked progress in the matter of expenditures, and hence in educational consciousness, during the past ten years. The problem of increased funds. The administration of public education cannot be made a money-saving process. If it were it would be best to turn education over entirely to private agencies, and thus save the entire expense. On the contrary, the proper administration of public education with us to-day calls for the intelligent expenditure of as large an amount of public money as a community can af- ford. As new needs arise this amount must be increased and the scope of the school system must be extended. The amount of money expended must also be increased to meet the rising costs for all kinds of service, supplies, and ma- terials, and to satisfy the public demand for a better and more sanitary type of equipment for the schools. The problem which faces the management of every city school system to-day is how to secure, in competition with the increasing demands of all other city departments, the funds needed to meet the constantly expanding needs of the schools. Upon the finance committee of the board of educa- tion, in a general way, and upon the superintendent of schools in particular, rests the burden of proving to the community the needs of the school system in order that the necessary funds may be obtained. The supei;Jntendent of schools who fails to put his shoulders to the collar and pull hard at this point in his work is one who may set the develop- ment of his school system back in a way that it will require his successor years of hard work to bring up. Every city department is pushing for additional appropriations, and unless the school appropriations are separated by law from city council control, the superintendent must push also to retain his proper share. To secure larger funds he must amply prove his larger needs. COSTS, FUNDS, AND ACCOUNTING 411 Funds independent of the council. To protect the schools from being given less than their proper share of funds a num- ber of our States have given to a few or to all of the city school systems in the State the right to determine, usually within certain legal limits, the amount of school funds needed, and to certify the same for levy without interference by any city authority.^ There has been a marked increase in such authorization within the past fifteen years, as well as several recent attempts on the part of city officials to break down such separate authorization. The rather common tendency of city governing authorities is to reduce the school department to a branch of the city government, and then to subordinate the interests of the schools to the in- terests of the patronage departments — fire, police, streets, water, sewers — of the city. The more political the city government the greater is the danger to the schools. In cities operating under a commission form of government the results are likely to be much better than when a city council has to be dealt with. The chief argument for city control of the school tax is that it unifies the taxing power, and gives one central representative body control over all expenditures. If the schools are to be free, why not the parks and the health and the police? The answer must be that the schools are too ^ St. Louis and Kansas City form good examples of cities in which the school boards have been given full power to levy the school tax, up to a limit of sixty cents on the one himdred dollars of valuation. Ohio, Kansas, and California are good examples of States which have given the city school authorities such independence by general statute, the limit being twelve mills in Ohio, twenty mills in Kansas, and thirty mills in Cahfornia. Bard, Moore, and Greenwood (see References) present strong arguments for this method of handling the school-tax levy. Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Toledo, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Duluth, Denver, Omaha, Portland, and Seattle are examples of other cities in which the school-tax levy is in the hands of the school board. Most of the Western States have enacted general laws giving the taxing power to school boards, as have also a number of Southern States. 412 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION important for the future of our national life to trust them to the whims and trades and log-rolling of a political body, elected with no reference to school administration/ and that in but few of our cities has the sense of civic duty been such as to enable the people to place the schools on an equal footing with other city interests when party politics and personal influence are brought to bear.^ Even when thor- oughly honest and actuated by good motives, the members of a city council lack that close touch with educational problems which will enable them to appreciate the large future importance of expenditures for schools, when the school needs come in competition with the pressing and more immediate needs of other city departments. The unity of the city tax-levy is an argument of no importance. No other city department, except possibly the health de- partment,^ represents any large future interest. Even it is not coordinate with the government, the home, and the church, as is the school. The experience of our American cities indicates clearly ^ "It is commonly recognized that education cannot be reduced to the same system of administrative control as can be followed in dealing with health, police, and fire departments of a city, because the school is an institution coordinate in dignity and importance with the government, the church, and the family, and must not be subordinated to any one of them. For its work it requires freedom; and through its necessities it has obtained freedom of thought, freedom of speech, and is now in process of attaining a third form of freedom equally necessary to its undertaking, namely, the freedom of teaching. This means that it itself shall control it? o^vn courses of study, its own methods and conditions of instruction, suffi- cisnt money for its business, and its own expenditure of funds set apart for purposes of education." (E. C. Moore, in How New York City administer-^ its Schools, p. 7S.) 2 See especially H. E. Bard, The City School District, pp. 74-76. ^ Within recent years a tendency to segregate the health department also has been evident, as cities have been found incompetent and unwilling to deal properly with the health problem. A conspicuous example of this is the erection of a State Health Council in New York State, with power to supersede any local health ordinance by a general state regulation. COSTS, FUNDS, AND ACCOUNTING 413 the desirability of removing the tax-determining power for the schools from the control of the city council, and of placing it, within certain legal limits to be fixed by the legislature, with the school authorities for determination. If within the legal limits, the rate decided upon should not be subject to review by any city authority. The results have been uniformly good in those cities where such power has been transferred to the school authorities, and the schools of such cities have, in general, been able to make better progress than in those cities where the school depart- ment still remains a branch of the city government. The rates frequently are higher than under council control, as they usually should be, but they are not higher than the needs of the schools would indicate as desirable or the wealth of the people would indicate as reasonable. Of all money expended by any department of a municipality, that expended for schools is probably the most honestly and the most intelligently expended. The competition for city funds. In those cities and States where no such separation of the tax-determining power for schools has as yet been provided for by law, and the schools are regarded as a part of the municipal govern- ment, the school department must continue to compete with the other departments of the city government for funds. This demands that the school department be not only able to prove its needs, but also able to force the city governing authorities to recognize them. Once the city authorities tended to divide the city taxes between the school system and the other city needs, the other city-department needs — streets, sewers, health, fire, police, parks, library, and general expense — then being relatively small. Within recent years these other city needs have greatly increased in size and importance, due in part to the increasing costs for all kinds of service and material, 414 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION and in part to the more insistent public demands for good parks, streets, sewers, health and fire protection, etc. Each of these other departments is able to offer easily understood statements as to needs, unit-costs, savings effected, benefits extended, etc., to back up their requests for additional funds. The school department also asks yearly for more money, largely on the basis of good intentions and purposes, but Schenectady, N.Y. San Francisco, Cal. Fig. 34. SHOWING THE COMPETITION FOR CITY FUNDS In both cities the school board has nothing to do with the fixing of the tax-rate for schools, and in each the schools have been completely outdistanced in the race for funds by other city departments. Many other cities will show a similar situation. without being able clearly to prove its needs. When an at- tempt is made to do so it not infrequently is made in terms which the ordinary citizen can scarcely comprehend. In part, this condition is inevitable, by reason of the very nature of the school. Often, however, the school department pre- sents no budget worthy of a name,^ and no statement that ^ This is well illustrated by the situation in San Francisco. "One very obvious reason why the schools have failed to receive needed appropriations is that the school authorities have not known how to ask COSTS, FUNDS, AND ACCOUNTING 415 sLows that it knows anything as to the unit costs of its work, or the need for or the effectiveness of expenditures within the school department. It is really not surprising that city councils often emphasize other city departments and give the schools a decreasing percentage of the annual city taxes. ^ for money. They have not seen the relation between school needs which will come next year, and lump sum requests made this year for money, unsupported by statements of fact or proof of need. Lump sums with no details whatsoever are set down opposite all other items than teachers' salaries. . . . "No comparisons are made in the estimate of the board or the superin- tendent of last year's appropriation, or last year's expenditure, with the estimate of expenditures for next year. Nothing in the salary roll indicates how many new teachers are needed because of new enrollment, or new service to be rendered: $96,960 is asked for janitors in elementary schools, and that is all. Nobody can tell how many janitors this will provide, what salaries will be paid, or how many janitors were employed last year. Simi- larly no details whatsoever are given for supphes, nothing in regard to the amount on hand, or the expected consumption next year. Huge lump sums are asked for for the extensions of kindergartens, additions to school build- ings, yard improvements, etc., with absolutely no statement as to how the money asked for will be spent, what the needs are, or how much service will be bought with the money. "The figures may be entirely reasonable and adequate, but the chances are that with so little information, and with the ever-pressing necessity of cutting down all estimates, the appropriating body will suppose that the school estimate is 'swollen' and will *chop' accordingly. "The yearly reports of the financial transactions of the Board of Edu- cation are also utterly inadequate. The financial secretary (business mana- ger) makes only a scanty fist of disbursements. A thoroughly unscientific financial statement is made by the Superintendent's office and included in the annual report. The supplies director makes no report to the public." (School Survey Report on Some Conditions in the Schools of San Francisco, pp. 71, 73. Published by the Collegiate Alumnae of San Francisco, 19i'*.> 1 " Each claimant before city boards of estimate has a specific reform to promote, and presents definite figures to support his position. It is not the schools vs. graft, but the schools vs. street-cleaning, pure water, tenement- house inspection, the prevention of disease, or the reduction of infant mortality. The advocate of pure water or clean streets shows how much the death-rate will be altered by each proposed addition to his share of the budget. Only the teacher is without such figures. What can be expected of this but a curtailment of the school budget? Why, I ask, should New 416 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION A better school budget. To change this condition our school departments must provide a good system of book- keeping and a more accurate means of accounting, with a view to being able to make their requests for funds more in terms of past usefulness, future needs, unit costs, and units of accomplishment. Unless our school authorities introduce more accurate methods in budget-making they can scarcely hope, in these days of rising prices and increas- ing pressure for city funds, to be able to obtain the appro- priations necessary to allow them to meet the constantly expanding needs of a modern city. Unless this situation is faced in a business-like manner our superintendents and school boards are likely to find the burden of proof as to proper use of funds and additional needs, even in cities • where the school board controls the funds, harder and harder to meet each year. All estimates as to needs should be classified by depart- ments, and further subdivided under the main headings used in accounting. The estimates under each heading should also be made on the basis of the actual expenses of the preceding year, for each item; the quantity of each kind of service or supply needed the coming year; and the cost per unit of service or supply. The budget should also state how much is needed to meet continuing needs, how much for automatic increases, and how much to meet enlargements :n tne service of the schools. Any additional information which will enable an appropriating body to reach an intelli- gent conclusion with respect to the adequacy or excessive- ness of the amounts requested, such as comparative costs for a number of years, comparative costs in other comparable ^ York City put its money into schools rather than into subways? Why should it not enlarge playgrounds and parks instead of increasing school facilities? Why should it support inefficient school teachers instead of efficient milk inspectors? " (S.N. Patten, in Educational Review, May, 1911, p. 468.) COSTS, FUNDS, AND ACCOUNTING 417 cities, reasons for increased unit costs, etc., should be pre- sented in support of requests for increased funds. A detailed annual school budget should be prepared, and a detailed annual statement of expenses should also be made to the people of the city. On both of these the superintendent of schools should spend some time in the smaller city, and he should supervise their preparation even in the larger city. Even though prepared by heads of departments, as will be the case in large cities, the superintendent should be familiar with the larger details of the budget and the reasons for each important request. Upon his mastery of the finan- cial details of school administration depends much of his success in dealing with the people, and with the tax-levying body of the city, in all of those matters relating to the financial aspect of the educational problem. The better business man the superintendent is the easier will he be able to handle this phase of the administrative problem. Better accounting methods. Better budget methods in- variably demand better accounting methods, and better accounting methods naturally lead to the preparation of a better annual budget. Up to a very few years ago there were about as many different methods of school accounting as there were city school systems, but within recent years city school systems have quite generally adopted the form for reporting financial statistics prepared by the cooperation of the United States Bureau of Education, the United States Census Office, the Association of School Accounting Officers, and the Committee of the National Council of Education on Uniform Records and Reports. With uni- form financial reports a comparison of costs for different items, and for different parts of a school system, is now pos- sible for the first time. The uniform financial records now in use^ involve the * Copies of the form used in reporting may be obtained from the U.S. Commissioner of Education, Washington, D.C. 418 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION keeping of all school-system costs under the following headings : — 7. Expenses of general control. (Classified for salaries and for other objects.) 1. Board of education and secretary's oflSce. 2. School elections and school census. 3. Operation and maintenance of general offices. 4. Office of superintendent of schools. 5. Enforcement of compulsory-education laws. 6. Other expenses of general control. 7. Total expenses of general control. II. Expenses of instruction. (Classified under day elementary and secondary schools, evening elementary and secon- dary schools, normal schools, schools for the industries, special schools, and special activities.) 1. Salaries of supervisors of grades and subjects. 2. Other expenses of supervisors. 3. Salaries of principals and their clerks. 4. Other expenses of principals. 5. Salaries of teachers. 6. Textbooks. 7. Stationery and supplies used in instruction. 8. Other expenses of instruction. 9. Total expenses of instruction. III. Expenses of operation of the school plant. (Classified as under II.) 1. Wages of janitors and other employees. 2. Fuel. 3. Water. 4. Light and power. 5. Janitors' supplies. 6. Other expenses of operation of plant. 7. Total expenses of operation of plant. IV, Expenses of maintenance of school plant. (Classified as under 11.) 1. Repair of buildings and upkeep of grounds. 2. Repair and replacement of equipment. 3. Insurance. 4. Other expenses of maintenance of school plant. 5. Total expenses of maintenance of school plant. COSTS, FUNDS, AND ACCOUNTING 419 F. Expenses of auxiliary agencies. (Classified as under 11.) 1. Libraries. (a) Salaries. (6) Books. (c) Other expenses. 2. Promotion of health. (a) Salaries. (b) Other expenses. 3. Transportation of pupils. (a) Salaries. (b) Other expenses. 4. Total expenses of auxiliary agencies. VI. Miscellaneous expenses. (Classified as under 11.) 1. Payments to private schools. 2. Payments to schools of other civil divisions. 3. Care of children in institutions. 4. Pensions. 5. Rent. 6. Other miscellaneous expenses. 7. Total miscellaneous expenses. VII. Outlays. (Classified as under II.) 1. Land. 2. New buildings. 3. Alteration of old buildings. 4. Equipment of new buildings and grounds. 5. Equipment of old buildings, exclusive of replacements. 6. Total for outlays. VIII. Other payments. 1. Redemption of bonds. 2. Redemption of short-term loans. 3. Payment of warrants and orders of preceding year. 4. Payments to sinking funds. 5. Payments of interest. 6. Miscellaneous payments, including trust funds, text- books to be sold to pupils, etc. 7. Total other payments. Income receipts are also carefully classified. School accounts and unit costs. With the above classi- fication of expenditures for a city school system it is pos- sible to tell the total and the per-capita costs for any item 420 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION of school expenditure, and in any type of school — such as elementary, high, industrial, special — in the system, and separately for day and evening schools. By a further classification of expenditures so as to show costs for all items for each individual school in the school system, it is possible to compare costs within the system, and to detect wastes and to perfect economies.^ With such a system of bookkeeping it is possible, at any time, to determine the per-pupil cost of any form of instruction, the per-room cost for any form of service or supply, and the per-building cost for any item of maintenance or upkeep, and to check wastes wherever found. It is also possible to determine the most effective and the most economical units of organiza- tion and administration for the schools. Such a system of bookkeeping every city should install, and from such finan- cial records a clear accounting should be made to the com- munity each year in the annual school report. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. City A has increased in population only two per cent in a decade, and its school expenses but five per cent. Would this seem to indicate an efficiently conducted school system? 2. In two cities of practically the same size, C and M, the school expenses in C represent thirty-one cents out of each dollar of city expenses, and in M but nineteen and a half cents. What would this seem to in- dicate as to the efficiency of the two systems? 3. If the scope of the school systems in the two cities given above is practically the same, how would you account for the difference in percentage of expenditures? 4. In what way does the school-building problem complicate the ques- tion of school support more now than it used to do? ^ For example, such figures might show that the cost for fuel in two similar buildings was 20 per cent more in one than in the other; that the cost for pupil supplies in elementary-school-buildings ran from 95 cents to $1.05 except m two, where the figures were 55 cents and $1.89 respectively; and that the yearly per-capita cost of instruction was $5.50 more in a four- room building than in a ten-room building. The unit costs for different types of instruction could be worked out from such data. COSTS, FUNDS, AND ACCOUNTING 421 5. With all city departments increasing their demands, how can our cities meet the problem? Can or should the school take a subordinate place in the matter of needed appropriations? Why? 6. Is it a good thing for a school system to have to prove its needs: (a) to the community? (6) to a city council? 7. What are the advantages and disadvantages of (a) unified control of all funds? (b) separate control by the school board of the school funds? 8. What advantages do other city departments have over the school department in the matter of proving their needs? 9. Why is the problem of funds gettmg more difficult, in most of our cities, for the school department? 10. What can a superintendent do, in his work with the community, which will prepare the way for an acceptance of the school budget by the city council? TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT 1. Assume that the city school system described under the heading "A cheap school system" (page 408) is located in a city of 20,000 popula- tion, and that the school's share of the city taxes is eighteen cents on each dollar. Assume now that a new management takes control, and in five years develops a good and an efficient school system. Esti- mate the increased cost, and the percentage of the city taxes now needed. 2. Outline a plan by which the above increase in the school's share of the city taxes might be obtained, against the competition of the other city departments. 3. Outline a good form of budget for a small school system. 4. Look up and report on the methods used and the Umitations imposed in levying the school tax in the cities mentioned in footnote 1, page 411. 5. Do the same for such States as give control of school tax levies to all cities by general law. 6. From what sources do the city schools of your State receive their revenue, what percentage comes from each source, and has the in- crease in revenues and the growth of the schools kept pace over a decade or a decade and a half? SELECTED REFERENCES Bard, H. E. The City School District. 118 pp. Trs. Col. Contribs. to Educ, no. 28, New York, 1909. A very useful study. From page 65 on is devoted to revenue, tax levies, expen- ditures, and accounting. Good bibliography. Bobbitt, J. F. " High School Costs "; in School Review, vol. 23, pp. 505-34. (October, 1915.) A comparative study of costs in a number of high schools, illustrated by tables and drawings. 422 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Butte, Montana. Report of a Survey of the School System. (1914.) Chapter XI, on " Costs and Financial Records," includes forms for use in a book- keeping plan, and points out the need of better records for the school system. Dutton, S. T., and Snedden, D. Administration of Public Education in the United States. Chapter XXIX, on financial statistics, is a good supplementary chapter. Hutchinson, J. H. School Costs and School Accounting. 148 pp. Trs. Col. Contribs. to Educ, New York, 1914. A valuable study of costs and accounting, with ledger forms for use. Monroe, Paul (editor). Cyclopedia of Education. See article, "Budget, School," in vol. i, pp. 461-64. A general statement of the problems involved. Moore, E. C. How New York City administers its Schools. 311 pp. World Book Co., Yonkers, New York, 1913. Chapter V, on the "Relation of School Appropriations to Growth"; Chapter VI, on the "Need of freeing the Board of Education from the Control of the City in Mat- ters of Finance"; Chapter IX, on "Reporting on Costs"; and Chapter XI, on "How Estimates are prepared," are good on the conditions existing in a large city-governed school department. National Education Association Committee. Final Report of the Com- mittee on Uniform Records and Reports. 51 pp. Made as a report to the National Council, in 1912. Printed separately by the National Education Association. Contains standard forms for accounting. Portland, Oregon. Report of the Survey of the Public School System. (1913.) 441 pp. Reprinted by World Book Co., Yonkers, New York, 1915. Chapter XVII, on " Costs of the System of Education," gives a comparative study of Portland with thirty-six other cities of its class, with reference to costs and the ability to maintain good schools. Rowe, L. S. "Educational Finances; the Financial Relation of the Depart- ment of Education to the City Government " ; in Annals of the Ameri- can Academy of Political Science, vol. xv, pp. 186-203. (March, 1900.) A study of the problem of city control. Thinks it ideal rather than practicable. Illustrates from figures from a number of cities. Salt Lake City, Utah. Report of a Survey of the School System. 324 pp. 1915. Chapter XIII, on the financial problem, establishes a standard for measuring the amount of money which ought to be spent on the schools of the city. Snedden, D., and Allen, W. H. School Reports and School Efficiency. 183 pp. Macmillan Co., New York, 1908. A very useful volume on the collection, tabulation, and publication of school facta CHAPTER XXVI RECORDS AND REPORTS Good records a necessity. From all that has been said so far it will be evident that good and accurate records as to the work of a school system are an increasing necessity. The work of an efficiency bm*eau must be based on good records, and the ability to make accurate statements as to progress and needs and costs makes similar demands for facts. In many of our school systems records are now col- lected which are of little value, in their present form, except for purposes of complying with state requirements, while other records are collected which might be made of value if any one were to work them up and render them useful. In many cases, though, new records need to be devised and new information collected. This new information relates to teachers, to pupils as individuals and as groups, and to the material and cost side of instruction. The nature of the data desired has been indicated somewhat in the preceding chap- ters. The proper collection of such data naturally involves some labor, and still more work to tabulate it and make it ready for use. It is not desirable to put more report work on teachers, though all efficiency records will involve teachers' coopera- tion, nor is it desirable to give principals more office work upon which to spend their time and energy. On the contrary, anything that can be done to take principals away from of- fice work and put them into the work of helpful supervision is very desirable. Since more and better records and re- ports are desirable, however, and since such are necessary for 424 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION efficient community service, an office clerk should be pro- vided the principals in all school buildings of any size, to give out supplies, attend to the telephone, transact much of the business with casual callers, send notes as directed, check up records, fill out and transmit forms, and do the general routine office work of a school. The pressure then should be put upon the principals to get out of their offices and into the schoolrooms, and to extend helpful supervision to their teachers, instead of remaining in their offices and doing this clerical work. Pupil records. A number of forms of pupil records should be kept. One card relating to the school-attendance matters will be necessary, and this should contain such data as is indicated in Chapter XXI. Another will be what is known as a cumulative-record card, and should contain a brief digest of the pupil's age, grade, and progress record during his entire school course.^ These record cards are transmitted from school to school, as the pupil moves about. Another type of pupil records is now in process of being evolved to contain data as to the pupil's educational progress, as deter- mined by tests of various kinds which are made from time to time. The compilation of this pupil data into room, grade, school, and school-system data will require some clerical service, but there is every reason, drawn from the experi- ence of the business world and from the experience of the few cities which have collected and tabulated such informa- tion, to believe that the increased efficiency which will be made possible, and the increased knowledge as to means and ends and values which will result, will more than pay for the labor necessary to secure such data and make it of use. One form of such a card is given in the Preliminary Report of the Com- mittee on Uniform Records and Reports, in Proceedings of NcUional Educa- tion Association, 1911, p. 272. RECORDS AND REPORTS 425 School-system records. Our school authorities are not likely to know too much about what they are doing, or what the work attempted is costing. Such information should be tabulated and charted, and made as useful and intelligible as possible. Much of the material collected will be capable of graphic representation, and the presentation of facts in graphic form will always prove helpful and stimulating. The use of such graphic data in the form of charts, lantern slides, and cuts in printed matter, should prove of much use in educating the public. Few cities now have or use such worked-up data with regard to their schools, though many other city departments prepare and present such graphic evidence as to the effectiveness and usefulness of what they are doing. At public- welfare, public-service, and other municipal ex- hibits, one usually finds much of this graphic work showing what is being done by city park boards, city health boards, water commissions, tenement-house commissioners, milk inspectors, hospital service, charity commissions, and play- ground commissions, but usually little or nothing is shown with reference to the work of the public schools. These departments, boards, and commissions have learned that the best appeal to the public is made through the eye, and ■'che constantly increasing funds voted for these purposes lii our cities is evidence as to the effectiveness of such appeal. It is important that our school officials learn their methods and adopt the same practices. The annual school report. Practically the only means adopted by the schools in the past to inform and enlist the interest of the public has been the issuance of a printed school report. An examination of hundreds of printed school reports shows how painfully inadequate many of those issued are. Too often they are not reports at all, but rather a mechanical record of certain facts relating to the formal 426 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION operation of the school system, and give no evidence of having been prepared for any other purpose. Sometimes they contain but a few pages of report proper, the great bulk being given over to printing a course of study, or the rules and regulations of the school board. Sometimes these re- ports are issued biennially instead of annually, sometimes only occasionally, and not infrequently not at all.^ In some of our States it seems to be the habit for the school authori- ties to publish little or nothing. Probably no greater mistake can be made by a superin- tendent of schools or by a school board than to omit en- tirely the publication of an annual report, covering the work, progress, and need of the schools, and with such charts and interpreted statistical information as may be necessary to prove their progress and performances and needs. No more effective means than an annual printed report ^ can be employed for informing the public as to what is being done, or of stimulating a public interest in seeing that the needs of the schools are provided for. Such should serve as the chief means of communication between the superintendent and the board on the one hand and the pub- lic on the other. In dealing with the council, if the council is the tax-levying power, or with the public if the school board determines the school-tax rate, it can be made to form a most effective bulwark in support of continued requests for larger funds. A policy of rapid expansion and increased expenditure is 1 The habit of publishing a report or not seems to run by states and sections. For the North- Atlantic group of States one can secure annual reports for practically all cities, while for Indiana cities it is difficult to secure any printed reports. An examination of the salaries paid Indiana city superintendents causes one to wonder if there is not a correlation be- tween the low salaries paid and the failure of the superintendents to tell their communities the nature and importance of their services. 2 An annual printed report should be required of all city school systems- by general state law. RECORDS AND REPORTS 427 almost certain to end in disaster for the superintendent who is too busy making progress to take time to tell the people what he is doing, and why.^ Sure and permanent progress is made only when the people understand what is being done, and the reasons for the increased cost. The people need to be stimulated by their school officials to a desire for progress, and inspired with confidence that those who represent them are trustworthy and efficient. Only upon such confidence and cooperation can the work of public education long proceed. Educational progress necessitates that our schools must often take a position in advance of the conceptions as to educational needs of the average intelligence of the com- munity in which the schools are located, and it is important that the school authorities keep the people close to the schools. This means an entirely different thing from keep- ing the schools close to the people. The former calls for leadership and constructive statesmanship; the latter is the cry of the time-server and the man of little competence. Effective presentation of information. A school report, if it is to be read and understood, must present its information in a simple, effective manner. The usual "collection of cold, conventional facts, loosely arranged and presented in a purely formal manner, and without any indication of their vital relationship to the efficiency or growth of the educa- ^ Such an expansion of a school system as was made at Newton, Massa- chusetts, as shown in Figure 28, coupled with the marked increase in school attendance of those beyond the compulsory school ages and the attracting of children from private and parochial schools to the public school, as shown in Figure 29, was not accomplished without a marked increase in the per-cajrita cost for schools. The schools of Newton being maintained wholly by local (town) taxation, the people were compelled to meet this increased cost by means of increased taxation. This they did, and rather willingly, only because the superintendent, in his annual printed reports, showed in detail where every additional dollar went, and the need for such materially-increased exnenditureg. 428 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION tional system," ^ will not bring much cooperation or re- sponse. Neither will it be read. Reports to the people about their schools must deal with children and their edu- cation. In these the people will be interested. The financial accounts are usually fairly well presented, but on the side of the educational accounts our school reports are usually weak. If our people seem to be slow in responding to the increasing and enlarging needs of our schools, it is in part due to the failure of our school authorities to render a proper accounting to the people of their educational stewardship of the children. Upon the preparation of an annual school report a super- intendent may well spend a month or a month and a half of every school year. It is one of his most important duties as superintendent. In a way he should be thinking of what he desires to say to the people as he goes about his work during the year, the final intensive work being merely the organization of the material he wishes to present. It will pay well to take time and pains to prepare a good report, and the money which the board spends in printing it will be money well spent. Enlightening the public. The Committee of the National Education Association on Uniform Records and Reports, in its preliminary report to the Department of Superin- tendence in 1911, closed its report with the following im- portant statement with reference to school reporting: ^ Not only are carefully collected and well-organized statistics vital to the judicious administration of the school, but such data serve as the most effective means of enlightening the public with reference to educational needs and conditions. The growing com- plexity of modern city life militates against parents having to any extent first-hand knowledge of the school. Indeed, the average citizen knows little of the purposes, range of activities, and 1 Elliott, in Report of the Portland School Survey, chap. xvi. 2 Proceedings of National Education Association, 1911, p. 302. RECORDS AND REPORTS 429 methods of modern education. The necessity of systematic effort toward acquainting the public with the problems and needs of the school is now felt on every hand. In such a campaign mere assertion, personal opinion, and per- sonal bias have little weight. The public only takes seriously those presentations of school needs and conditions which are based upon carefully-collected and well-interpreted facts. Only by the use of such data, set forth by means of tables, colored circles, curves, black-hne graphs, or other graphic representations, can the people be made acquainted with the whole work of the school, be made to realize where the school breaks down, be brought to understand the necessity of certain adjustments within the school, be brought to appreciate the propriety of expending such large sums of pubhc money upon education. Only by these means can the public be con' vinced that the modern school, despite its wide range of instruction and activities, is more effective than the school of the past, and is seeking as never before to serve all the children and all the people of the community. SELECTED REFERENCES Dutton, S. T., and Snedden, D. Administration of Public Education in the United States. 2d ed. Chapter XXX, on school records and reports, is a good supplementary chapter. National Education Association Committee. Preliminary Report of the Committee on Uniform Records and Reports; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1911, pp. 271-302. A good report on the need and means for enlightening the public on the work of the schools. National Education Association Committee. Final Report of the Com- mittee on Uniform Records and Reports. Made as a report to the Na- tional Council. 51 pp. Printed separately by the National Education Association. Covers state and city reporting, with many forms recommended for use. Portland, Oregon. Report of the Survey of the Public School System. (1913.) 441 pp. Reprinted by World Book Co., Yonkers, New York, 1915. Chapter XVI is a discussion of the annual report issued, and the forms used by the school department. Snedden, D., and Allen, W. H. School Reports and School Efficiency. 183 pp. Macmillan Co., New York, 1908. A very useful volume on the collection, tabulation, and use of school facts. PART III CITY ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE APPLIED CHAPTER XXVII CITY ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE SUMMARIZED As was stated in Chapter VI to be our purpose, we have now considered, at some length, the principles underlying the proper organization and administration of school sys- tems in our city school districts. The administrative experi- ence of the city school districts has been given, somewhat in detail, and the best principles of action which have been evolved during the past half-century of conflict and progress have been set forth. We have devoted so much of our space to the problems of the city because the best that we have in administrative experience has taken place there, and it is from this city administrative experience that the great lessons as to the proper organization and administration of public education are to be drawn. In forms of organiza- tion, administration, supervision, equipment, and in the ex- tension of educational advantages, it has been the city school district which has been the pioneer. Let us now briefly sum- marize this administrative experience, and then proceed to apply the best results of it to the problems of organization and administration of public education in our counties and in the State. The city an educational unit. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of city school-district organization and adminis- tration is the unity of the work. Instead of being split up, as our counties are, into hundreds of little school districts, with separate boards of control and finance for each little school -building, and with no unity of effort or purpose, the schools of a city school district, however large this city school district may be, are managed as a imit, and with 434 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION all the educational and financial advantages that come from unit control. One small central board and one admin- istrative organization controls all the schools of a city dis- trict, even though that city district may contain a school population as large as is found in some of our States, and may even expend a greater sum for educational purposes. Early in their administrative history, as was pointed out in Chapter VI, our cities abolished their district organiza- tions, consolidated their schools under one board of control, and unified both the educational and the financial manage- ment of their schools. Much of the strength of our city school organizations to-day has come as a result of this wise early action; without this unification any substantial progress would have been impossible.^ Everywhere to-day one finds this unified control, worked out of course more perfectly in some cities than in others, and with a resulting unity in management, finance, and educational purpose which is of much importance in the administration of public education. A small board, com- posed of representative citizens, oversees the administration of the entire school system, though this school system is often much larger and costs much more to maintain than is true for the hundreds of little town and rural school systems, taken together, of the county in which the city is located. Not only are these city school boards small, but, as we have shown, there has been a marked tendency, within recent decades, to reduce their size still further, to change 1 Had Chicago, for example, continued to follow the district system of organization for its schools, which it did up to 1853, when the different district schools of the city were consolidated into one city system and a superintendent of schools was first employed, there would be to-day hun- dreds of school boards in the city trying to do what one school board does now, with all of the attendant crossing of purposes, lack of unity of ef- fort, and waste of funds. That the schools of Chicago would have made the progress they have made under unified control cannot be seriously believed by any one. CITY EXPERIENCE SUMMARIZED 435 their basis of election from wards to that of the city schoo? district as a whole, to reduce the number of board commit- tees or to abolish them entirely, to change these boards from executive into legislative bodies, and to transfer all execu- tive functions to carefully selected and well-paid executive officers. Administrative organization. In a rapidly increasing number of our cities the best principles of corporation con- trol have been worked out and are being put into practice in the educational organization. In such the board of educa- tion for the city acts much as the board of directors for a business corporation, listening to reports as to the progress of the business, approving proposals as to extensions or changes in the nature of the business, deciding lines of policy to be followed, approving the budget for annual maintenance, and serving as a means of communication between the stockholders and the executive officers. The executive officers are employed to discharge execu- tive functions, and to these executive officers are given power and authority commensm-ate with the responsibilities of the positions they hold. The board of education hears re- ports, examines proposals, and legislates, while the executive officers execute the decrees of the board and supervise the details of the work of their administrative departments. Each executive officer, in any good city school organization, has been selected because of supposed competency to manage the work of his department, and without reference to such extraneous considerations as politics, residence, or local popularity; each is sustained in the administration of his department, so long as he shows grasp and competency and renders efficient service; and each is given control of the de- tails of administration within his department, and is ex- pected to know how to handle such as an expert in his special field. The superintendent of schools, as the unifying 436 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION head of all departments and the chief person responsible to the board, oversees in a way the work of all other executive officers, and unifies the work of all about the central purpose for which the schools exist. Diversity as a result of unity. Largely as a result of the unity in organization, administration, and finance, one finds in our city school districts a diversity in the educa- tional facilities provided such as could not possibly be ar- ranged for under any other than a centralized form of educational and financial management. Only as a result of a unification in organization and administration, on a rather large scale, can such specializations in school work be pro- vided. All of the schools being under one board of education and one administrative and supervisory organization, it is possible to concentrate effort and to specialize production, by reason of this large-scale organization, to a degree that would be impossible under small units of organization and administration. In the matter of the scope of the instruction provided, types and classes of schools, differentiations in the courses within the same school and in different schools, specializations in the work to meet varying individual needs, and in the degree of community service which is being ren- dered, our city school districts stand as excellent examples of the higher efficiency and larger service which result from a unification of educational effort on a rather large scale, and the selection of experts to handle the expert func- tions. Only under some form of large-scale educational organization can many of the important supplemental educational advantages, such as proper grading and pro- motion, special instruction and supervision, special-type schools, and health supervision, be provided for at all. Teaching and supervisory organization. In teachers and supervisory officers, too, the city school districts, due largely to the many educational advantages provided as a result CITY EXPERIENCE SUMMARIZED 437 of their large-scale organization and administration, have for long held a decided advantage over the towns and rural districts surrounding them. Not only have the city school districts paid better salaries, but they have also — largely as a result of their graded and specialized instruction, profes- sional supervision, differentiated school work, larger oppor- tunities for growth and promotion, better living conditions, and better tenure — been able to attract the better teachers of the State to their service. The normal schools of the State, too, have for long specialized on preparing their graduates for service in the graded work of the cities, and the colleges and universities have prepared teachers for the secondary schools which the cities have until recently pro- vided almost alone. Grade meetings, local institutes, and professional reading have added to the opportunities for teachers to improve while in the service, and have increased the attractions which have made good teachers everywhere anxious to get into the city districts. So great has been the desire of teachers to get into the schools of the cities that city school authorities have been able to select, and often quite carefully, from among the great rush of those desiring city employment. The unified organization and adminis- tration of the schools of a large unit has been the chief rea- son why the city school districts have been able to extend these attractions to teachers and to supervisory oflBcers. As a result of this large-scale organization and administra- tion, the cities have been able to provide carefully graded instruction, to select teachers for positions and to adjust them to the work to be done, to provide a supervising principal for every small group, to employ special teachers and supervisors for many of the subjects of instruction, and to institute educational leadership often of a high order. Business organization and finance. In business organiza- tion and in matters of finance, our city school districts have 4S8 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION for long enjoyed exceptional advantages. These, too, have been in large part due to their unified organization and administration. Under any district or ward form of organi- zation, some districts or wards would be unable to provide in any satisfactory manner for the education of their children. With the whole city and often extensions beyond the city as a school-district unit, for which educational facilities are provided and upon which taxes are laid by one adminis- trative board, without reference to any other consideration than the needs and wealth of the city district as a unit, a pooling of costs is made possible which results in the pro- vision of uniform educational advantages for all, and with- out undue expense to any portion of the whole. A few mills of tax, levied equally on all the property of the school district, provides good educational advantages and specialized in- struction for all of the children of the large city unit, regard- less of the wealth or lack of it in any portion of the city. In buying supplies and in the erection and maintenance of the school plant, further economies, both in cost price and in the utilization of material and buildings, are pos- sible as a result of the large unit for educational organization and administration. If actual economies in unit costs are not effected, then a better type of supply or building, or more abundant materials for instruction, are provided for the same money. In concentrating business and clerical matters for a large number of schools in one place, marked econo- mies in large-scale purchases may be made, clerical matters can be attended to better, and a better reporting as to costs is possible. Initiative and educational progress. Perhaps, after all, one of the greatest advantages which the large city school districts have enjoyed has been in the high quality of train- ing, leadership, and initiative which the city districts have been able to bring into their service. Men who would not CITY EXPERIENCE SUMMARIZED 439 allow their names to be considered for political candidacy for a county superintendency have been quite willing to enter the city service as a teacher or a principal, and men to whom candidacy for the office of state superintendent of public instruction would offer no attraction have been willing to enter the service of the city as a superintendent. The result has been that for two generations the cities have maintained almost a monopoly of the real leaders in educa- tional administration in this country, with all the advan- tages that accrue to communities from intelligent leader- ship. It is not so much the character and training of the teaching force that tells, though these are important ad- juncts, as it is the quality of leadership at the top. About a superintendent of schools, as has been said before, the schools in a way revolve. What he is by training, insight, initiative, character, and executive skill, the schools usu- ally in time become; what he is not the schools usually plainly show. Any form of educational organization that expects to be strong and to produce good results must keep the way clear for those of merit and capacity to rise to the top, and must place a premium on executive capacity and leadership. The heavy toll paid to-day by our county and state school systems, where a political rather than an educational basis for the selection of leaders prevails, and where a prohibitive protective tariff in the form of a local residence requirement is levied against brains and competency from outside, is as yet only partially appreciated by our people. The unmistak- able administrative experience of our city school systems is that competency and politics seldom go hand in hand. An important element in the strength of our city school districts has been their freedom to go anywhere and to offer any reasonable inducements to draw the type of man or woman desired for some form of special or executive work. 440 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION Clear and unmistakable lessons. The clear and unmis- takable lessons to be drawn from a study of our city school- district administrative experience may be summarized very briefly as follows : — Large units for educational organization, and under small responsible legislative boards for school control; executive officers, carefully selected, retained on the basis of compe- tency and executive skill, and clothed with power commen- surate with their responsibilities; the provision of a special- ized type of instruction, only possible under large units of organization and administration, with many differentia- tions to meet individual and community needs; carefully selected and placed teachers, under good educational super- vision, and organized as a part of a large professional or- ganization; business and clerical organization for large units, centralized under responsible administrative officers, with the elimination of the unintelligent service and waste that comes from small-unit business transactions; large and specialized school-buildings, well adapted to modern educational needs, and under competent care and super- vision; the pooling of both the burdens and the advantages of education on a large scale, and with no excessive burdens or meager educational advantages for any part of the city school district; and, finally, by selecting its experts on a professional rather than a political basis, and with freedom to bargain anywhere for brains and competency, the pro- vision for that leadership and directive insight at the top without which no school system can expect to prosper and develop along strong lines. Having briefly summarized the lessons to be drawn from city -district administrative experience, let us now see in how far such principles may be applied to county and state educational organization. CHAPTER XXVIII APPLICATION TO COUNTY EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION City and county administration contrasted. When we pass from a study of the best principles of educational or- ganization and administration, as represented by our city school-district development, to the conditions existing in the counties of most of our States, the contrast is marked in all that relates to efficient educational organization and administration. In over one half of our States (see map, page 51) the form of organization and administration in use is based on the school district as the administrative unit, and in a number of other states the township or some form of district grouping is in use. Instead of a coimty school system, analogous to a city school system in edu- cational organization and administrative effectiveness, and which by analogy with all other forms of county public business we might expect to be the natural form, we find instead an unnecessarily large number of unnecessarily small administrative units, ^ each under the administrative control of a local board of district trustees, and but loosely bound together in a county educational organization. In many of our States these district boards of trustees possess so much power, and the county superintendent such small power, that the county oversight exists largely in name. Often, too, these local boards of trustees carry on their work with so little unity of purpose and so little conception of ^ By a proper reorganization the schools of almost any rural county which is at all well settled could be taught better, by such a reorganization as is here proposed, and with a saving of from twenty to thirty-five per cent of the present number of teachers. 442 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION the meaning of efficient educational service that the schools are inefficient, limited in scope and outlook, poorly adapted to modern educational needs, poorly taught and still more poorly supervised, and far more costly than there is any reason for their being. District trustee controL Instead of the rural and vil- lage schools of a county being an educational unit, as is the case in the cities, the schools in the counties, with a few exceptions, represent a decentralization in educational ad- ministration which must inevitably result in an inefficient type of educational and community service. Instead of one board of education working at the problem, and pro- ducing a unified educational organization and educational administration for the whole county, we find from ten to twenty different boards in the township-system States, and from thirty to two hundred different boards in the district- system States, each working at the problem in its own way. Between these different boards there is unity of purpose only in so far as it is imposed by the general school laws of the State, and by a very limited type of oversight which the county superintendent of schools is permitted to exercise. Each board works at the problem in about the same lim- ited way, and each produces about the same limited and unsatisfactory educational result. The schools lack in num- bers, interest, and enthusiasm. The teachers are often inexpe- rienced and poorly trained, and the conditions surrounding living in the districts and work in the district schools are not such as to retain for long the services of capable teach- ers. The supervision, in so far as it comes from the county, is clerical and statistical rather than personal and helpful; and in so far as it comes from the trustees is unintelligent to a high degree. The schools are so small and so expensive, and the number of children tributary to each is so small, that no speciaUzation of work is possible within the school. APPLICATION TO COUNTY CONTROL 443 High-school advantages are often entirely lacking, while cooperation for any other form of educational effort, such as district supervision, special teachers and instruction, health supervision, or an agricultural high school, is so dif- ficult of attainment as to be practically impossible. Even the consolidation of districts to form larger consolidated graded schools, concerning the educational advantages of which so much has been written within the past quarter of a century, has been found to be almost impossible of attain- ment in the district-system States, — due largely to the conservation and inertia of these boards of district school trustees and the rural people whom they represent. Financially the districts represent entirely too small a taxing area, and the cost for good rural schools is in conse- quence high. If any large dependence for support is made upon district taxation, the money provided for annual main- tenance is usually so limited that only a poor and inadequate rural school, taught by a cheap teacher and offering a type of education but little suited to rural needs, can be main- tained. The type of school-building erected and maintained by these district trustees is too often only a miserable make- shift, being cheap in construction, with poor lighting ar- rangements, no place for special types of work, and almost no sanitary arrangements. The teaching supplies provided are often inadequate, and under the system of district pur- chasing are far more expensive than they should be. The many educational and financial advantages which the cities enjoy, due to their ability to shift books and teach- ing equipment from room to room and building to building, are entirely lost to our rural schools imder the district sys- tem of organization. Need for a fundamental reorganization. The district system of organization and administration, and to a certain degree the township system as well, is no longer adapted 444 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION to meeting the educational needs of the present and the future. The advantages and disadvantages of both were described more at length in Chapter V, and the absolute inadequacy of the district system in particular, and to a certain extent the township system also, to provide a type of education for rural and village communities suited to modern educational needs was there pointed out. As a sys- tem of school organization the district unit has done its work, and it should be abandoned in favor of a unit more in harmony with modern business methods and one better calculated to serve the educational needs of rural people. Nothing short of a fundamental reorganization and redirec- tion of rural and village education, and along lines dictated by the best of city administrative experience, can transform these schools into the type of educational and social institu- tions demanded by our present-day rural life needs. This, however, can only be accomplished by the appli- cation to the problem of a larger type of administrative organization and experience than that represented by dis- trict or township control. Rural and village education needs to be unified as to organization and administration, expanded in scope, and redirected and differentiated as to purpose, and this can only be accomplished by organizing with larger administrative units, and by placing our rural and village schools under some authority of larger grasp and insight than the district school trustee. The township unit is an improvement over the district unit for organization and maintenance, but for many purposes it is poorly adapted to community or administrative needs. A much better unit is the county, which is used for almost all other forms of public business, and for which a more or less rudimentary form of educational organization already exists everywhere outside of Nevada and the six New England States. In these seven States, and possibly in two or three others, the APPLICATION TO COUNTY CONTROL 445 State seems to be the probable future unit for all large administrative control. Elsewhere the county forms a natural administrative unit. Rudimentary county-unit organizations. When we turn from the district or the township to the county, we find that the beginnings of a county unit for organization and ad- ministration have been made in most of our States by the creation of the office of county superintendent of schools, and in some States a county board of education of some type has also been provided for. The evolution of such an offi- cer and such boards was traced in Chapter IV, and some of the new demands upon them were there stated. These offi- cers and boards represent the beginnings of county-unit or- ganization and administration, but in most of our States, viewed from the standpoint of a good county-unit type of administrative control, they exist as yet as undeveloped and somewhat rudimentary offices and boards. The trouble lies in the fact that the county office so far has been politi- cal rather than educational in character, and that these county boards have not as yet become real governing edu- cational bodies. Perhaps the most serious difficulty is to be found in the conditions which at present surround the county educational office. The county superintendency. In twenty-nine of the forty-one States having a county educational officer he is elected by the people of the county, at popular elections. In eighteen of the twenty -nine States he is elected for but two-year terms, and in two of the eighteen he is by the law or the constitution made ineligible for more than four years in the office. In other words, the county superintendent of schools, a person who by all analogy with city school- district administrative experience ought to enter the work as a life career, and with the idea of becoming a leader in his profession, is by the people of our counties still regarded 446 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION merely as a political officer and clerk, and the old political principle of rotation in office is applied to the position. Instead of each county selecting this officer in the mar- kets of the whole nation, so as to secure trained and experi- enced men for the work, the market is limited to each county, and the prospective superintendent must instead hunt the office by means of a political campaign. He must first become a resident of the county and a voter, must then slowly work up in the party ranks and make acquaintances, in order to get in line for the nomination, and then, if finally suc- cessful, must stump the county against an opponent, paying his political assessments and campaign expenses, — always with the risk of defeat, and all for the sake of a temporary political job. In states where the primary has been intro- duced he must usually win two elections instead of one, and every alternate year must waste about six months of his time and possible educational efficiency. Why trained men go to the cities. It is not surprising that the office of county superintendent does not attract the best men in the teaching profession, and that but little prog- ress in county educational organization and administration along sound lines has so far been made. Good men can sell their services in a better market. The low salaries paid, the expense of securing the office, the public notoriety, the humiliation of defeat, the short tenure of office, the high protective tariff levied against brains and competency from the outside by the local residence requirement, and the in- ability to accomplish much in states where the superintend- ent has the district system to deal with, all tend to keep the best men out of the office. The position of county superin- tendent of schools is one of much potential importance, but not until our counties do as our cities long ago did, and stop electing their superintendents by popular vote, can the office be made much more than a political job offering but APPLICATION TO COUNTY CONTROL 447 temporary employment to the few who are willing to con- sider political candidacy. The clear and unmistakable lesson of our city school dis- tricts in the matter of employing school superintendents, and of all professional work and business enterprise in the matter of securing experts for any type of skilled work, is that thoroughly competent men are seldom secured by the political method. Before our communities can hope to have schools which for country and village children are as good as the cities provide for their children, they must provide some better plan for securing leaders for their educational service. Once take the oflace of county superintendent of schools out of politics, making it appointive instead of elective; once open it up to the competition of the whole country, as high- school principalships and city superintendencies have been; and once base salary, tenure, and promotion on training, competency, and efficient service; and the office of county superintendent of schools will offer a career and an oppor- tunity for constructive rural service for which a man or woman would be warranted in making long and careful preparation. The way out. To provide properly for the administration of rural and village education and to furnish the kind of instruction and supervision children in such schools ought to enjoy, demands that the lessons learned from a study of city school-district administrative experience be applied to the organization and administration of rural and village education. This demands the subordination of the district system, and probably, in part, the township system also; the erection of the county as the unit for school organization and administration, cities under city superintendents of schools being exempted from the county organization; ^ 1 Another plan, tried in a few places, is to have the city board and superintendent include all of the county schools as a part of the city 448 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION and the complete elimination of party politics from the management of the schools. Long ago our cities abolished their districts, began to manage their schools as a unit, and did away with the plan of selecting a superintendent from among the body of the electorate, and not until our counties introduce some such unit system into their educational or- ganization can there be a proper and economical coordina- tion in rural and village educational effort. For the pleasure of electing a horde of unnecessary trustees ^ and voting for another county officer, the people have, as a consequence, an unnecessary number of small, costly, and inefficient rural schools, poorer teachers than is necessary, inadequate and often unsuitable instruction, and supervision that is usually little more than a name. If our rural and village schools are to contribute any- thing worth while to the solution of our pressing rural-life problem and to render any really worthy community ser- vice, rural school administration and supervision must be put on as high a professional plane as is city school admin- istration and supervision. This demands a form of educa- tional organization somewhat analogous to that developed as a result of fifty years of work on the problem of city school organization. That will be one small central county board of education, composed of laymen, to replace the many district boards; the reorganization of the small, scattered, costly, and inefficient rural schools into a much smaller number of efficient, graded, and centrally located community-center schools, with high schools attached or organization. Where the county is small this plan might work fairly sat- isfactorily, though where the city problems are large and important the tendency probably would be to neglect the rural problems. ^ In some of the States of the upper Mississippi Valley, using the district system, from 30,000 to 45,000 district school trustees are elected by the people to control the schools employing but one third that number of teach- ers, and spending less for annual maintenance than is spent in a city such as Boston, which has a board of education of five. [zm Fio. 36. COUNTT-UNTT EDDCATIONAL ORGANIZATION APPLICATION TO COUNTY CONTROL 449 accessible for all, and with instruction better suited to the needs of rural children; and the institution of a form of professional supervision that is as close and as effective as that which our city schools to-day enjoy. Such a plan in- volves a somewhat simple administrative reorganization in each county, and for such we have not only the example of our cities, but also excellent examples in the county-unit school systems of such states as Maryland, Florida, Geor- gia, Louisiana, and Utah.^ Details of a county-unit plan. Good principles of edu- cational organization and administration would indicate approximately the following as a desirable form for county educational reorganization : — I. General control. 1. The consolidation, for purposes of administration, of all schools in a county, outside of cities having city superin- tendents of schools, into one county school district. 2. The election of a county board of education of five rep- resentative citizens, from the county at large and for five-year terms, the first board however to so classify themselves that the term of one shall expire each year thereafter. This board to occupy for the schools of the county approximately the same position as a city board of education does for a city. 3. Each county board of education to seek out and elect a well-trained professional expert to act as a county super- intendent of schools, and to fix his salary. Such officer to enjoy approximately the same tenure, rights, and privi- leges as a city superintendent of schools, and to have ^ In Chapter X of the author's Rural Life and Education, drawings show- ing a number of counties before and after reorganization are given; while in Appendix D of the author's State and County Educational Reorganization, a county containing a city, five towns, and one hundred and three rural districts is shown in one drawing, and in another as reorganized into one city school district and one county-unit school district, the latter subdi- vided into fourteen attendance sub-districts, with a graded consolidated school and a partial or complete high school attached in each. Full sta- tistics as to teachers, costs, and tax rates for this county are also given. 450 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION somewhat analogous administrative and supervisory duties and responsibilities. 4. Each county board of education to hold title to all school property, outside of separately organized city school dis- tricts, with power to purchase, sell, build, repair, and in- sure school property. 5. Each county board of education to act also as the board of control for any county high schools, county vocational schools, county agricultural high schools, and the county library, and to have power to order established such types of special schools as may seem necessary or desirable. 6. Each county board of education to be directed to order a careful educational and social survey of its county, and upon the basis of such to proceed to reorganize the school system of the county by abolishing all unnecessary small schools, substituting therefore a few centrally located and graded consolidated schools, with partial or complete high schools attached, and to transport children to and from these central schools. Each such school and its tributary territory to be known as an attendance subdistrict, the bounds of which may be changed from time to time as in the case of city attendance lines. 7. Each county board of education to have power to appoint, either alone or in cooperation with a city school district, or some adjoining county school district, a school health officer, a school attendance officer, and such other special officers or supervisors as the educational needs of the county school district may seem to require, and to establish or join in the establishment of special-type schools. II. Educational control. 1. Each county school district to be managed as an educa- tional and financial unit by the county board of education and its executive officers. Cities contained within the county, which maintain a full elementary and secondary school system, employing a certain number of teachers (for example, twenty-five) and a city superintendent of schools, may ask for and obtain a separate educational organization, except that all general school laws of the State shall apply, and that the county school tax shall be levied uniformly on all property within the county. 2. On the recommendation of the county superintendent of APPLICATION TO COUNTY CONTROL 451 schools, each county board of education is to appoint all principals and teachers for the different schools of the county, outside of the separately organized city school districts, and to fix and order paid their salaries. 3. On the recommendation of the county superintendent of schools, each county board of education is to approve the courses of study and textbooks to be used in the schools, the unit for the adoption of each being the unit of super- vision. 4. Each county board of education to approve the employ- ment of special teachers and supervisors for the schools, and, on recommendation of the county superintendent of schools, to appoint them, and to fix and order paid their salaries. 5. Each county board of education to have charge of the county library, and all of its branches, to appoint a county librarian and assistant librarians, and to provide for the care and development of the library and the circulation of books. The school libraries would become a part of the county library, and a branch library would be provided for in connection with most of the consolidated schools. ///. Business and Clerical Control. 1. Each county board of education shall appoint a secretary and business manager, who shall act as secretary for the board and shall have charge of the clerical, statistical, and financial work connected with the administration of the schools of the county school district. He is to approve all warrants drawn on the funds of the county, and to prepare the financial and statistical portions of the required annual school report. 2. The secretary of the county board of education to have general charge of all purchases of supplies for the schools and the distribution of the same, and to have general oversight of all janitor service and repair work, except as otherwise provided for by the county board of education. 3. For each consolidated school or small school retained (attendance subdistrict) the county board of education to appoint one local school director, to act as agent of the county board in the attendance subdistrict, and with power to make repairs as directed, see that the necessary supplies are provided, assist the principal or teachers in 452 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION the maintenance of discipline, and act as a means of com- munication between the people whose children attend the school and the county board of education and its execu- tive officers. 4. The secretary of each county board of education to be the custodian of all legal papers belonging to the county school district; to approve all bills and, when such have been ordered paid, to draw warrants for the same; to give all required notices; administer oaths; sign contracts as di- rected by the board; register all teachers' certificates; distribute blank forms and collect and tabulate the sta- tistical returns; keep a complete set of books covering all financial transactions and all funds ; and perform such other clerical and statistical functions as he may be directed to do. 5. Each county board of education to approve an annual budget of expenses for the schools of the county, both for school maintenance and for buildings and repairs, and may order levied, within certain legal limits, a county school district tax to supplement the funds received from the state school tax and the county school tax, the latter to be levied on all property in the county and divided between the city school district and the county school district on some equitable apportionment basis. ^ 6. Each county treasurer to act as treasurer for all city or county school districts in his county, and to pay out all funds on the orders of the proper city or county school district authorities, when approved by the secretary of the county board of education. IV. Powers and duties of the superintendent. In addition to those previously enumerated, the county superintendent of schools is: 1. To act as the executive officer of the county board of education, and to execute, either in person or through subordinates, all educational policies decided upon by it. ^ This greatly simplifies and equalizes taxation. Under such a plan there would be a state tax (or appropriation) for education, a general county school tax levied on all property in the county, and then such city-district or county-district taxes as may be needed to supplement the amounts re- ceived from state and county funds. The inequalities of the present small district taxation would be abolished, and a pooling of effort on a large scale substituted instead. APPLICATION TO COUNTY CONTROL 453 2. To act as the chief educational officer in the county, and as the representative of the state educational authorities. To this end he shall see that the school laws of the State and the rules and regulations of the state board of educa- tion are carried out. 3. To have supervisory control of all schools and libraries under the county board of education, and general super- visory control of all officers in its employ (see Figure 35), with power to outline, direct, and coordinate their work, and, for cause, to recommend their dismissal. 4. To nominate for election, and when elected to assign, transfer, and suspend all teachers and principals, and, for cause, recommend the promotion or dismissal of such. 5. To visit the schools of the county, to advise and assist teachers and principals, to hold teachers' meetings and institutes, to direct the reading circle work in his county, and to labor in every practicable way to improve educa- tional conditions within his county. 6. To act as the agent for the state department of education in the examining and certificating of teachers, and to de- cide, upon appeal to him, all disputes arising within the county as to the interpretation of the school law or the powers and duties of school officers. 7. To oversee the preparation of the courses of study and to approve the same, to study the educational work done in the schools, and to approve for purchase all text and sup- plemental books and all apparatus and supplies. 8. To recommend changes in the distribution or the organiza- tion of the schools, to recommend the establishment of new schools or branch libraries, and to assist in the corre- lation of the work of the schools with that of the libraries, agricultural activities, and other forms of educational service. 9. To prepare and issue an annual printed report showing the work, progress, and needs of the schools of the county. Such a reorganization not easy. To inaugurate such a reorganization will require that the methods of three gen- erations and the selfish interests of individuals and com- munities will need to be overcome. Such a fundamental reorganization, too, cannot be expected to come through the 454 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION voluntary cooperation of district authorities, upon which we have so far placed our chief hope. District authorities are too short-sighted, and know too Httle as to fundamental rural or educational needs. Neither can we expect much assist- ance from the average politically-elected county superin- tendent. The system of which he is a product too often to him seems a sacred system, and, in the district-system States, he is too afraid of the enemies he may make in the districts, and the opportunities he may give an opponent to defeat him for reelection, to render much service looking to any fundamental reorganization of rural education. Steps in the process. The necessary reorganizations are of such a fundamental character that they will have to be superimposed from above, sweeping away from before them the opposition of both county and district school of- ficials. The State, in the exercise of its inherent right to demand constructive reforms, must demand a reorganiza- tion of rural education which will create a system adapted to modern rural educational needs, one under which busi- ness can be transacted in a modern manner, and one under which rapid progress along modern lines will be possible. The steps in the process will, in all probability, be those we have just outlined. The district system of school or- ganization and administration, with its horde of unintelli- gent trustees, will need to be swept aside for a county unit of school organization and administration. The township, as an intermediate stage, might be an improvement over the district, but it is too small, and it is not well adapted to the real needs of the situation. The many boards of dis- trict school trustees should be abolished and a sub-district school director, with very limited powers, substituted to act as an agent and representative of the county board of edu- cation. Lay county boards of education, elected by the people to represent them in matters of educational policy, APPLICATION TO COUNTY CONTROL 455 procedure, and finance, should be provided to select the educational experts who are to organize and direct the new kind of county educational system; while county reorgani- zation commissions will be needed to study and map the counties and to prepare comprehensive reorganization plans, involving the counties as a whole, and providing for second- ary as well as elementary education. After such plans have been approved by state authority, they should be ordered put into operation. Counties which refuse to reorganize their school systems on a proper educational basis, and to provide properly for the needs of their children, should be penalized by a reduction of the apportionment of state funds to no more than would be demanded for the same educational facilities now provided, if regrouped under a proper educational reorganization. After a few years of operation under such a county-unit reorganization, each county would have a much smaller number of community-center consolidated schools, with partial or complete high schools attached, adequate and professional supervision and direction, and a new and effec- tive type of rural education. What now seems so wonderful and so exceptional, when carried through here and there by some energetic and persuasive county superintendent, would then become the rule. The chief right of which the people of the rural districts would be deprived by such an interposition of the State would be the right to continue to mismanage the education of their children. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. "Why is it that cooperation between district trustees is almost im- possible to obtain for any improvement in educational organization? 2. What do you understand to be meant by a redirection of rural edu- cation? 3. What effect does the short tenure of oflace of county superintendents of schools have upon their independence? 456 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 4. What effect does election from among the body of the citizenship have upon the salaries of county superintendents? 5. (Why is it impossible for the district system of organization to provide schools for rural children which will meet present-day rural educa- tional needs? 6. Enumerate the advantages of a county imit in the matter of employ- ing, placing, and paying teachers. 7. The larger cost for a good consolidated school is often urged as an objection. Which is the more expensive, a $1200 school for an aver- age daily attendance of 15, or a $12,000 school for an average daily attendance of 130? TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT 1. Investigate and report on the plan of organization and working of the coimty-unit system in (a) Maryland. (d) Louisiana. (6) Georgia. (e) Alabama, (c) Utah. (/) Tennessee. 2. Find how many district school trustees are needed for the schools in a number of the district-system States. 3. Collect the tax rates for the different school districts in some district- system county, and show the distribution in rates and in per-capita cost for schools in the county. 4. Outhne a survey of some rural county, showing the plan of work and kind of information desired, such as would need to be made for a county educational reorganization commission. (Williams's survey forms a good type.) SELECTED REFERENCES Cubberley, E. P. The Improvement of Rural Schools. 76 pp. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1912. A brief statement of the problem under the headings of "Money," "Organization," and "Supervision." Cubberley, E. P. Rural Life and Education. 367 pp. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1914. Many maps and illustrations. A study of the rural-school problem as a phase of the rural-life problem. Chaptei XIV describes the county-unit system of Baltimore County, Maryland. Cubberley, E. P. State and County Educational Reorganization. 257 pp. Macmillan Co., New York, 1914. The essential'features of a school system organized according to good administrative principles, and stated in the form of a constitution and school code for the hjT)otheti- cal State of Osceola. A legal statement of the rural organization problem. Cubberley, E. P., and Elliott, E. C. State and County School Administra- tion. Vol. I, textbook; vol. ii, source book. Macmillan Co., New York, 1915 and 1916. APPLICATION TO COUNTY CONTROL 457 The source book reproduces (Chapters VII-X) a number of good articles bearing on the district township, and county-unit systems, and the same chapters in the textbook state the principles involved in the proper educational administration of rural and village schools. ^vans, L. B. "The County Unit in Educational Organization in Georgia"; in Educational Review, vol. ii, pp. 369-73. (April, 1896.) Describes the county-unit system as found in Richmond County, Georgia. Knorr, G. W. Consolidated Rural Schools, and the Organization of a County System. 99 pp. Bulletin no. 232, Office of Experimental Stations, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, 1910. An excellent bulletin on consolidation and the county unit. Contains much valuable data as to costs. Monahan, A. C. County-Unit Organization for the Administration of Rural Schools. 5Q pp. Bulletin no. 44, 1914, U.S. Bureau of Education. Describes the units of organization and the existing county-unit systems, and con- tains a good description of the working of the county-unit plan in Utah. Williams, J. H. Proposed Educational Reorganization of San Mateo County, California. Bulletin, 1916, U.S. Bureau of Education. A detailed survey of a rather difficult county, showing how it could be reorganized under a county-unit system with a marked increase in educational efficiency and a decrease in cost. CHAPTER XXIX APPLICATION TO STATE EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION State organization undeveloped. When we pass from an examination of county educational organization to state educational organization, and examine such in the light of the best of our city administrative experience, we also find conditions which, in most of our States, also call for a re- organization and redirection along better administrative lines. In most of our States the office of chief state educa- tional officer is still in a markedly undeveloped condition, is statistical and clerical to a high degree, and the office has for long given evidence of but little of that educational states- manship which is based only on a careful and an intelligent study of educational conditions and administrative needs. The state office, instead of leading the way, too often fol- lows. In but few of our States, too, does the state depart- ment of education or the office of state superintendent of public instruction exercise anything Hke the influence which ought to attach to such a department or officer. The chief state school office. The chief trouble lies not so much with the superintendents themselves as with the political conditions which have produced them and which surround their office. The plan of selecting the chief schooJ officer for a State on a basis of partisan nomination and election, of limiting the choice to citizens of the State, and of rotating the office around among the electorate at fre- quent intervals, has effectively prevented any large de- velopment of the office along sound administrative lines. The plan of nomination and election from among the body APPLICATION TO STATE CONTROL 459 of the electorate tends to bring to the front the old, ambi- tious, and reasonably successful practitioner, but does not, except by rare chance, tend to secure the services of a pro- fessional expert and constructive leader, such as our state school systems are so much in need of to-day. The political method has been discarded in the selection of all of the newer state experts — horticulturist, entomolo- gist, geologist, health experts, sanitary experts, highway engineers, and the various commission experts — and it should be discarded in the educational service also. The chief state educational office can never realize its possibilities nor enlist the services of the best prepared men until it is taken completely out from under the incubus of partisan politics, until this official is clothed with powers commensurate with the responsibilities of the position and freed from all forms of political interference, and until the office is free to seek the man without reference to any other condition than competency properly to fill the position. The clear and unmistakable lesson to be drawn from a study of city school administrative experience is that political nomination and election is not the way to secure competent leadership for so important an educational office. Potential importance of the office. The chief educational office to-day, in most of our States, offers but few attractions to any one who is properly prepared for it, and the result is written over the educational history, legislation, and ad- ministrative organization of most of our American States. While our cities have been making remarkable progress in organization and administration, and have been attracting to their service the best prepared men and women engaged in educational work, the chief state educational office has grown but little in importance, has commanded but little real influence in the State, has been given but limited powers by the legislature, and often has been avoided by the 460 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION best-prepared men in the State. The oflBee, at least poten- tially, as was stated in Chapter III, is a more important office than that of president of the state university of the State; that it is not such actually is a matter of common knowledge. In the light of the best of our city administra- tive experience, in the light of other state experience with scientific experts and commissions, and in the light of the best corporation experience, it is evident that the office cannot hope to become one of large educational importance until it throws off the political incubus under which it still labors in nearly three fourths of our American States. State departments of education. In Chapter III the evo- lution of the chief state educational officer and state boards for educational control were briefly traced, and some of the more important of the newer educational problems facing such officers and boards were stated. Most of the problems are of recent origin, and they are rapidly becoming more important. More and more as the school passes from a mere teaching institution to a constructive agent of democ- racy does the need for constructive leadership become in- creasingly evident. Some of our States are beginning to recognize this need and, within the past decade a number of state educational reorganizations have been made, the general tendency of which has been the development of stronger and better organized state departments of educa- tion. Generally speaking, and taken as a whole, and disregard- ing individual exceptions, the tendency of these recent reorganizations has been to evolve a small appointed state board of education, for general educational control; to con- centrate the different functions of educational control in this body, instead of in a number of state educational boards of various types; to eliminate ex officio boards and officers; to change the state school officer from an inde- APPLICATION TO STATE CONTROL 461 pendently elected official to an executive officer of the state board of education, selected and appointed by it and re- sponsible to it; ^ to provide for the appointment of a num- ber of educational experts, to supervise and administer different divisions of a state educational department; to clothe all of these officers with important powers and duties and responsibilities; and materially to enlarge the powers and duties of this state educational department in the admin- istration and supervision of the school system of the State. In other words, the general tendency has been to apply to state educational organization and administration the fun- damental principles of intelligent organization and adminis- tration so far evolved by our cities in the management of their schools. Controlling principles. An application of the best prin- ciples of city school organization and administration, as well as the best principles of public service and corporation control, would seem to indicate the following as sound principles in the matter of state educational organization: — /. General control. 1. There should be a state board for educational control, con- sisting of a small number of representative citizens of the State, to be appointed by the governor and for relatively long terms. A board of five or seven members, with the term of one expiring each year, represents in many respects a desirable form of organization. 2. In making appointments to such a board the sole basis for appointment should be the ability to serve the schools of the State, and without reference to such extraneous con- siderations as residence, party affiliation, race, sex, reli- gious connections, or occupation. 3. There should be no ex officio members on the board. The ^ In many of our States this is not possible without amending the state constitution, and in a number of the recent state educational reorganiza- tions such a change was not made largely because it was not at the time possible. 462 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION general experience with such members is that they are not usually helpful, and not infrequently they interfere se- riously with efficiency. The governor, as the appointing power, and the superintendent of public instruction or his equivalent, as the executive officer of the board, should in no case be made members of it. 4. Members of the state board should be paid their neces- sary traveling expenses in attending meetings, but should not be paid a per diem for an unlimited number of days or any large yearly honorarium. The position should be a distinct honor and not a political plum. 5. The most important function of the board is the selection of its executive officers, — the commissioner of education,^ the assistant commissioners, secretary, business manager, and statistician. In making all such appointments the board should be free from all restrictions as to residence, party, race, sex, or occupation, their only purpose being to select the best persons obtainable for the money at hand. They should also be as free to determine the quali- fications, fix the salaries, and control the tenure of such officers as are boards of trustees of universities in the matter of their presidents and professors. 6. It should be the prime function of such a board to hear reports and receive recommendations from its executive officers, to determine policy, to direct that work be undertaken, to appropriate funds for specific purposes or undertakings, to stand as a buffer between its experts and criticism of proper actions, to approve a budget of expenditures and to ask the legislature for needed appropriations, and to recommend desirable legislation to the legislature. 7. A clear distinction between what is legislative and hence a function of the board, and what is executive work and hence a function of its executive officers, should at all times be kept in mind. It is primarily the business of the board to legislate; it is primarily the business of the ex- perts it employs to execute what has been decided upon. 1 This title has been substituted for superintendent of public instruction, superintendent of education, secretary of the state board, or other equiva- lent title in all the recent reorganizations where the office has been made appointive by the state board of education. APPLICATION TO STATE CONTROL 463 //. Educational control. 1. Acting through its executive officers the board should study the educational conditions and needs of the State, enforce the use of uniform records and reports, study the effect of the operation of the educational laws, recommend needed changes to the legislature, and so classify and standardize the educational work and institutions of the State as to promote their efficiency, harmonize educational interests, and prevent wasteful duplication of work. 2. Acting through its executive officers the state board should have general oversight and supervision of the administra- tion of the public school system of the State, and should maintain constant studies of its operation with a view to its improvement. In doing so, however, both the board and its executive officers should keep clearly in mind that the prime purpose of state oversight is to improve the service of communities to the children under their control, and that state uniformity and obedience to rules and regula- t tions are of far less importance than the stimulation of local initiative. Unity in essentials and much liberty in details, and the attainment of results rather than the following of any set plan, should be kept clearly in mind as aims in state educational control. S. Acting through an examining division the board should certificate all teachers for the schools of the State, and should standardize the professional, life, normal school, and college diplomas from other States in terms of the standards maintained within the State. 4. In cooperation with the state library, and as a board of control for such, the state board of education should aid in the establishment of county, school, and traveling libraries. 5. In cooperation with other departments of the state govern- ment, the state board should assist in the enforcement of the law^s relating to schools, health, compulsory education, child labor, and child welfare throughout the State. 6. Through a division of special education the board should have supervisory control of the educational departments of all charitable, penal, and reformatory institutions main- tained by the State, with power to make rules and regula- tions concerning the management of the same. 464 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION ///. The chief state school officer. 1. As the chief executive officer of the state system of public instruction and of the state board of education, he should have power to see that the laws relating to education are enforced, and should be able to institute proceedings to give force to laws, or to rules and regulations or decisions made in conformity with law. 2. Acting through a legal division he should have power to settle all controversies arising over any matter within the scope of the powers delegated by law to school authorities, and he should be the final authority in the interpretation of the meaning and intent of the school code, and methods of procedure under it. 3. Acting under his direction should be a number of assist- ants, as heads of divisions, each appointed upon his recom- mendation, as are heads of departments in a university upon the recommendation of the president, and each charged with certain duties and responsibilities. The general scope, organization, and the channels of ad- ministration of such a state educational department are shown in Figure 36. Purpose of such an organization. The prime purpose of such an educational organization is the creation of a state department of education along the lines of the best of our administrative experience, one analogous in authority to our more recent creations in other branches of the state service, and one possessed of a sufficient number of trained workers to be able to evolve and carry out, over a consid- erable period of time, a wise, intelligent, and constructive state educational policy, based on a careful study of condi- tions and needs within and the best of administrative prac- tices without the State. The evolution of such a conscious constructive state educational policy, the awakening of sup- port for it among the leading workers and citizens of the State, and the gradual carrying of it into effect is a service of prime educational importance. Such a guiding state educational policy is seldom evident STATE tOMW ISSIO.\ KROr 1 "*" 1 A-si tant rnnimi si.mc-rs. as Msions in State DL-part ,..nt. £■ S 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 t 1 £■ I f 1 I 1 1 1 1 2 3 1 1 STATE EDUfAtlONAL APPLICATION TO STATE CONTROL 465 except where there has been capable and continuous leader- ship at the top, and it is here that our States have been especially weak. In the study of their educational history there is little evidence, in most of them, of any well-thought- out educational policy carried out over any long period of time.^ Legislation has been remedial and of a patch- work type, rather than constructively reorganizing, and the type of educational statesmanship described in Chapter XI has been conspicuous chiefly by its absence. State administrative problems. There are numerous dis- tinctively state problems in the organization and admin- istration of public education which should challenge the best thinking of the oflacers of a state educational depart- ment. All of these require careful study and years of wise educational direction before much in the line of visible re- sults can be obtained. Some require a careful adjustment of state oversight to local conditions and needs. A mere enumeration of the more important of these is all that can be given here. To each, however, certain fundamental prin- ciples apply, and action taken contrary to these fundamental principles is action which sooner or later will need to be reversed. These special state problems group themselves about the questions of the nature and extent of state oversight and control; the extension of educational advantages; proper ^ Of all our States, Massachusetts certainly stands forth as the one which shows most evidence of having followed, and for the longest time, a somewhat definite policy and plan in dealing with the cities and towns of the State. Much of the educational progress which Massachusetts has made, and made with little or no state aid to serve as a stimulus to action, and often in opposition to the strong conservatism of the towns, has been due to this relatively well-thought-out and consistently followed state edu- cational policy, worked out by the eight carefully selected leaders who have served the State during the nearly eighty years since her state administra- tive history really began. The state board of education in Massachusetts has always appointed its chief executive officer; the State has never relied on the political parties to provide leaders for its school system. 466 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION methods in taxation, and in the apportionment of school funds; the provision of adequate professional supervision for all schools; the best subordinate unit or units for local control; the large social and educational problems surround- ing the rural and the village school ; industrial and vocational training; the material equipment of schools; health and san- itary control; the State and the teacher; the State and the child; and the relation of the State to non-state educational agencies. Each of these major problems in state educational organ- ization and administration deserves special study, and when clear and provable principles of action or standards of re- quirement have been formulated, such should be of much value in guiding state educational authorities in the admin- istrative control of the school system of the State and in their dealings with subordinate administrative units. The State to establish minima. There is a certain de- markation between the powers and duties of the State and the powers and duties of communities which ought to be observed in all educational legislation and all state admin- istrative control. This line of demarkation will vary some- what in the different States, according to the degree of educational progress already made and the peculiar genius of its institutions, and also with the type of subordinate administrative unit involved, but the line nevertheless ex- ists in all. In many matters — such as the kind or kinds of schools which must or may be provided, the length of school term which must be maintained, the nature of the instruction, standards for the certification of teachers, school supervision to be required, sanitary standards to be maintained, equipment to be provided, rates and forms of taxation to be imposed, minimum salaries to be paid, com- pulsion of children to attend, and child-labor laws — it is essentially the duty and business of the State to determine APPLICATION TO STATE CONTROL 467 the minimum standards which will be permitted, and per- haps to classify communities into groups and require dif- ferent minima from each, but leaving to any community the right to exceed these minima if it desires to do so. From time to time, as different educational needs and conditions may seem to require, it is also the business of the State to raise these minima for any or all of the groups, and in doing so the State should always act on the basis of what is best and now possible for the children of the State as a whole, rather than on the basis of what the poorer com- munities can do or provide. Certain communities can and ought to do more than others, and this should be kept clearly in mind by the State. State stimulation vs. state uniformity. The common ten- dency toward an unnecessary state uniformity, which too often follows any centralization of authority and which is so stifling to community acti\^ty, should be carefully avoided by the State. To give large liberty to communities in non-essentials and in the choice of tools by means of which they will carry out the state purpose, and to free the larger and more progressive communities from a uniformity perhaps necessary for small and more backward communi- ties, ought to be an essential featm-e in a wise state educa- tional policy. To keep the school systems of the different city and county units in touch with community needs and expressive of the best community wishes, and at the same time safeguard these school systems from direction by inefficient hands; to protect the schools from local exploitation and neglect, and at the same time preserve them from the deadening rule of a state bureaucracy ; to leave to the city and county school districts as large liberty in matters of courses of study, text- books, and methods of work as is consistent with the secur- ing of the results desired by the State; and to see that the 468 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION local school systems are adequately financed, instead of being subordinated to the more pressing demands of other city departments — these are problems of first importance in the relation of the State to its subordinate educational units. While avoiding bureaucracy and a deadening uni- formity in non-essentials, the State, as the guardian of the educational rights of its future citizenship, must see that local governments and individuals do not override these for local or political or selfish ends. It is of importance that a state department of education be a student of conditions and needs, and that it work constantly to stimulate communities to new and desirable activity. It is easy for state department officials to become inspectors; it is much more difficult for them to rise to the higher levels of leadership. Yet this higher level of leader- ship is what a state department of education, as represented by its state board of education and all of its executive officers, should primarily represent. The State, in so far as it represents the' interests of the education of its children and the improvement of society through pubhc educa- tion, should become an active, energetic agent, working constantly and intelligently for the improvement of edu- cational conditions throughout the State. For too long the State has been rather an interpreter of statutes, a collector of statistics as to what has been done, and a passive tax collector and distributor of funds to the different school districts. A study of the results of half a century of city administrative progress points out clearly the need of a different type of state educational organization to meet the needs of the future of public education in most of our Amer- ban States. APPLICATION TO STATE CONTROL 469 QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 3. What are the actual powers and duties of the chief school officer in your State? 2. What has been the average tenure of such official? The longest tenure? 3. Does the legislative history covering the past quarter-century in your State give evidence of a well-thought-out educational policy? Illus- trate. 4. Enumerate the different bureaus, departments, and commissions in your State, which now employ expert service on the basis of training and competency. 5. Suppose that the president of the state university were elected by pohtical nomination and election, and for two- or four-year terms from among the body of the citizenship, with the usual rotation in office, and that the professors were appointed from among the citizens prominent in the dominant political party. What would be the result on the university? 6. Make a diagram to illustrate the form of state educational organiza- tion in your State, and contrast it with Figure 36. 7. What is the objection to laws requiring the appointment, as members of state boards, of a woman, a representative of labor, or equal di- vision among the two leading political parties? 8. What is the advantage in leaving the state board of education free to fix the salaries of all its experts, instead of fixing them in the law? Is there any reason why the best city administrative experience should not control here? 9. Contrast legislative and executive functions, with reference to state board control. 10. What are the advantages of making the state department of educa- tion a court of final appeal as to the meaning and intent of the school code? 11. Should a state board of education or a state department ever de- termine the courses of study for the schools of the State? Why? 12. Should the choice of textbooks be left to the different units for super- vision in the State (city or county) ? Why? 13. Why is it desirable that the state educational department should be given supervisory oversight of the educational departments of all char- itable, penal, and reformatory institutions in the State? TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT 1. The nature and extent of desirable state oversight and control. 2. To what extent should the State require the extension of educational advantages? S. Best methods for school support, and the extent of desirable state aid. 470 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 4. Best methods for the apportionment of state and county school funds. 5. Nature and extent of state aid for secondary education. 6. Desirability of small subsidies in inaugurating new educational work. 7. Best method of securing professional supervision for rural and town schools, which shall be as close and effective as for city schools. 8. State control of the certification of teachers. 9. Certification of teachers by examination vs. training. 10. Desirability of a special certificate for all supervisors, and nature of the requirements for. 11. Desirable state encouragement of industrial and vocational training. £2. The degree of desirable state oversight of the material equipment of the schools, including school buildings. 13. Same for health and sanitary control. 14. The state normal school and the training of teachers for the State. 15. The high-school teachers' training-class. 16. DesirabiUty of requiring some form of state reading-circle work of all teachers. 17. The State and the teacher, as relates to salary control, tenure, and pensions. 18. The State as the guardian of the educational rights of children. 19. The State and non-state educational agencies. 20. State inspection and control vs. state leadership. 21. Desirable state minima. 22. Dangerous state uniformity. 23. State stimulation to new and desirable educational activity. 24. Contrast the powers and methods of securing progress for the state educational departments of New York and Massachusetts. 25. Draw up a desirable form of state educational organization for your State, and estimate its cost over and above the cost for the present organization. SELECTED REFERENCES Butler, N. M. "Problems of Educational Administration"; in Educational Review, vol. 32, pp. 515-24. (December, 1906.) The larger problems of educational statesmanship- Cubberley, E. P. "Fundamental Problems in Educational Administra- tion"; in Educational Administration and Supervision, vol. i, pp. 3-12. (January, 1915.) States the fundamental administrative problems involved in state and city educa- tional administration. Cubberley, E. P. State and County Educational Reorganization. 257 pp. Macmillan Co., New York, 1914. The essential features of a school system reorganized according to good administra- tive principles, stated in the form of a constitution and school code for the hypotheti- cal State of Osceola. Chapter I outlines the state department of education in detail. APPLICATION TO STATE CONTROL 471 Cubberley, E. P., and Elliott, E. C. State and County School Administra- tion. Vol. I, textbook; vol. ii, source book. Macmillan Co., New York, 1915 and 1916. The source book (Chapters V and XI), contains a number of articles on state educa- tional organization and administration, and the textbook states the principles in- volved in proper state educational organization. Finegan, T. E. "Uniformity of Standards in School Administration"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1913, pp. 122-31. Supremacy of state school board autonomy; independent maintenance; and general state control. A state centralization point of view. Monahan, A. C. Organization of State Departments of Education. 46 pp. Bulletin no. 5, 1915, U.S. Bureau of Education. Describes present state organizations, and enumerates the present state staffs. Monroe, Paul (editor). Cyclopedia of Education. See articles on "State Boards of Education," "State Educational Organization," and "State School Administration," in vol. v, pp. 408-15. States the fundamental principles in organization, and the chief problems in ad- ministrative control. Snedden, D. "Centralized vs. Localized Administration of Public Educa- tion"; in his Problems of Educational Readjustment, pp. 233-59. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1913. Advantages and disadvantages of state centralization, and correctives of its dis- advantages. Webster, W. C. Recent Centralizing Tendencies in State Educational Ad- ministration. 78 pp. Columbia University Studies in History of Economics and Public Law, vol. viii, no. 2. An old but valuable sketch of tendencies. INDEX INDEX Acceleration, 294. Accounting, school, 408; better methods, 417; forms for, uniform, 418. Adjustments in courses of study, 294. Administrative experience, city, sum- marized, 433. Adult instruction, 312. Annual school reports, 425. Art schools, special, 312. Assistant superintendents, 220; and the superintendent, 187. Attendance, effect of increased, on promotion rate, 361; decline after sixth year, 370. Attendance department. The, 357; in a small city, 359; registration of children, 362. Attitude toward schools, early, 3. Auxiliary educational agencies, 397. "Average Child," 294. Baltimore plan, the, 307. Batavia plan, the, 301. Blind, classes for the, 311. Board members, school, types of, 111, 123; rewards for faitliul serv- ice, 125. Boards, school, for school control, 85; special governing, 85; con- tinuous and changing, 110. Boards of education, recent reor- ganizations, 86; tendencies in reorganization, 87; size of, 90; basis of selection, 92; selection by wards vs. at large, 92; advantages of small, 92; appointment v.s. elec- tion, 95; term of office, 97; pay for service, 90; as a body, 109; conmaittee form of control by, 112; in cities, 112, 113; real work of, 119; legislative vs. executive functions of, 119, and superin- tendent, proper relations of, 148. Bonding for school buildings, 391. Budget, a better school, 416. Building costs, 391. Building, school, new type of, needed, 386; Pittsburg type, 387. Bureaucracy, state, dangers of, 63. Business department, work of, 376; purpose of, 377, 379; misdirection of, 378. Business organization of cities, 437. Cabinet solidarity, 185. Cambridge plan, the new, 304. Census, school, 362; continuing, 363. Charity conception, elimination of, 11. Cheap school system, 408. Cities, size and distribution of, 160; why trained men go to, 446. Citizen, the, and schools, 103. City, administrative problems in, prominence of, 60; distinctive contribution of, 60; vs. State, 61; problems of relationship with State, 63; government and schools, 102; administrative experience of, summarized, 433; an educational unit, 433; administrative organ- ization of, 435; supervisory organ- ization of, 436; business organiza- tion and finance, 437; initiative and educational progress in, 438; unmistakable lessons from organ- ization of, 440. City district, an evolution, 56. City school superintendents, first, 58. City school systems, recent rapid growth of, 57; administrative organization of, in small cities, 161, 165; in large cities, 170, 172. Clerical department, 375; work of. 476 INDEX 376; purpose of, 377, 379; misdi- rection of, 378. Clinical psychologist, 336. Commission form of government and schools, 101. Committee action illustrated, 116. Committee form of control, 112. Committee service, time-consuming, 115. Committee system, development of, 79. Committees of school boards, con- fusion in functions of, 118. Community, the, and superintend- ent of schools, 152. Compulsory attendance, 357. Constitutions, early state, 3. Conviction, present, 12. Costs, of school-buildings, 391; school, 408. County boards of control, 40. County educational organization, 35, 441; reorganization, problems and need of, 41, 443. County school administration, 35. County school officer, evolution of, 36; early duties of, 37; new duties of, 38; new demands on, 39. County superintendency, 445. County unit organization, rudimen- tary, 445; details of plan for same, 449. Courses of study, construction of, and types, 274, 277; superintend- ent and, 274; information or knowledge courses, 277; depend- ence upon textbooks, 278; ad- ministration of, 280; develop- ment type of, 283; growing courses, 285; variations between schools, 286; study of local problems and needs, 288; economy of tinie, 289; adjustments and differentiations, 294. Crippled children, schools for, 311. Deaf, oral instruction of, 311. Defects, special schools for children with, 311. Delegated authority, state, 19. Demonstration teaching, 243. Differentiated-course plan, the, 306. Differentiations in courses, 294. Disciplinary classes, 311. District, the city, 55. District officers, 7. District organization, evolution of, 6. District trustee control, 442. District unit, the, 5, 49; bad features of, 50; not necessary, 52. Economy of time in education, 289. Educating a school board, 146. Educational department, central position of, 173. Educational needs, large future, 393. Educational organization, in cities of different size, 165; faulty, 175. Efficiency departments in school systems, 334. Efficiency experts, 325. Efficiency in teaching, salaries based on, 263; type plans for estimating, 265; incentives to growth, 267. Efficiency movement, 325. Elizabeth plan, the, 304. Epileptic children, classes for, 311. Evening schools, 312. Executive functions, differentiations of, 82; vs. legislative functions, 119. Executive heads of departments, 174. Executive officers, selection of, 121, 122. Expenditure, intelligent, 381, Experimental pedagogy, 336. Experimental rooms or schools, 287. Funds, school, 408; independence of city council, 411; problem of increased, 410; competition for 413. Gardening, school, 404. Gary plan, the, 317. Gary-type schools, 388. Gifted children, classes for, 311. Health supervision, 344; stages of work, 345; scope of work, 347; control of, 348; large-city plan. INDEX 477 S50; smaller-city plan, 351; the teacher and, 352; importance of, 353. Home schools, 312. Industrial classes, 311. Intermediate school, theory of, 313. Library, public, 397; coSperation of, with schools, 397; administrative control of, 398; in future school, 400. Los Angeles schools, organization of, 314. Mannheim plan, the, 308. Massachusetts a type in city-school evolution, 74. Measurement by comparison, 328. Measurement of results, 329. Minimum requirements. State to establish, 466. Neighborhood schools, 312. Newton, Massachusetts, schools, reorganization of, 315. Non-English-speaking classes, 310. Non-promotion, results of, 296. North Denver plan, 302. Open-air schools, 311. | Over-age classes, 310. Over-ageness, causes of, 298. Parental schools, 311, 367. Personal equation, the, 186. Pittsburg building plan, 388. Playground, public, 401; costs and use, 403; organization, 412. Portland plan, the, 305. Principals, the school, 190; increasing effectiveness of, 192. Problems, state administrative, 465. Production, continuous survey of, 337. Promotional examinations for teach- ers, 261. Promotional plans, 300. Promotional rates, 299. Property department, school, 384; purpose of, 385. Pueblo plan, the, 302. "Rate-bill," the, 4. Reading-circle work, 234. Records, and reports, 423; good, a necessity, 423; of pupil, 424; of school system, 425. Registration of school-children, 362. Reorganization of upper grades, 312. Reorganizations, fundamental, 312. Report, the annual school, 425; effec- tive presentation in, 427; enlight- ening the public, 428. Retardation, 294. Salaries, of teachers, 250; based on positions, 257; defects of such schedules, 259; additional grants for study, 259; based on grades in service, 260; based on efficiency, 263; type plans for estimating, 265. Salary demands, reasonable, 253. Salary increases, automatic, 254. Salary schedule, essentials of a good, 268. San Francisco, California, school funds in, 414. Santa Barbara plan, the, 306. Schenectady, New York, school funds in, 414. School board, evolution of, 78. School budget, 416. School committee, rise of, 74. School control, present conceptions as to, 83; disadvantages of city, 104. School laws, first, 10. School organization, city and county contrasted, 441. School property department, 384; purpose of, 385. School-building, larger use of, 390; bonding for, 391; principal and interest cost for, 392. School-gardening, 404. Schools, cheap, 408; early, 4; new types of, 310; trade, 312. Standard tests, 330. Standards for measurement, 329; need for, as guides, 332. State, the, educational policy of, 25; establishment of educational min- ima by, 466; problems of relation- 478 INDEX ship of, to city, 63; the unit, in educational control, 14; vs. city, 61. State administrative problems, 465. State authorization and control, 14. State boards of education, 30; types of such boards, 31. State control, advantages of, 22; disadvantages of, 23. State departments of education, 460. State educational organization, 27, 453; good, 33; controlling prin- ciples of, 461; purposes of a good, 464. State educational policy, 25. State officer, chief, 27, 453; poten- tial importance of, 459. State school organizations, early, 9. State school systems, rise of, 8. State sovereignty, recovery of, 20. State stimulation vs. state uniform- ity, 467. Sub-normal, classes for, 311. Superintendent of public instruction, evolution of office, 28; duties of, 29; new demands on, 30. Superintendent of schools, a new profession, 130; importance of, 131; duties of, 132; education and training, 133; apprenticeship, 134; learning and working, 135; pitfalls, dangerous, 136; qualities, personal needed, 137; leadership, quahties of, 138; three types of service, 142; time for larger problems, 143; as an organizer, 145; as an execu- tive, 149; as a supervisor, 155; dangers to be faced, 156; type of, comprehensive, 162; place of in a small city, 165 ; powers, guaranteed, 170; head of educational depart- ment, 177; gives character to de- partment, 178; assistant super- intendent, 187; and special super- visors, 188; courses of study, 274; responsibility for school proper- ties, 386; state, 458; county, 445; Superintendents of schools, assist- ant, 220. Supervision, evolution of profes- sional, 80; dejficient, 237; wrong type, 239; need for helpful, 240; purpose of all, 240. Supervisors, 184. Supervisory officers and tenure, 218. Supervisory organization, charac- teristics of good, 180; personnel of, 183; underlying purposes of, 193. Supplementary classes, 310. Swimming-pools, 390. Teachers, sensitiveness to leader- ship, 178; selection and tenure, 198; guarding appointments, im- portance of, 201; fundamental principles of action in, 202; stand- ards which should prevail, 203; methods of selecting, 205; right rules of action in same, 206; bases for selecting, 207; electing appli- cants vs. hunting, 209; tenure of, usual plan, 210; uncertain terms of, 212; life-tenure movement, 213; effect of life tenure on schools, 214; indefinite tenure, 215; leavening the corps, 225; training and supervision, 225; local training schools for, 226; professional standards for en- trance, 226; training vs. attract- ing, 230; training of, in service, 231; meetings with, 233; reading- circle work, 234; leaves of absence for study, 235; supervision of, 237; placing for effective work, 244; pay and promotion, 250; adequate pay necessary, 251; automatic salary increases, 253; reasonable salary demands, 253; rewarding growth, 255; stimulat- ing industry, 256; health work in the schools, 352. Teaching efficiency, salaries based on, 263; type plans for estimating, 265. Tests of school work, 329. Town, the New England, 44; fea- tures of, 46. Town control, the original, 7. Town school committee, rise of, 74. Town and township organization, 44. Towns, subtraction of powers from, 72. INDEX 479 Township, the, 47; disadvantages of, for administration, 47; not a neces- sary unit, 49. Trade schools, 312. Training schools, local, 226. Transference of powers to larger units, 21. Types of schools, new, 310. Ungraded classes, 310, Unified administrative organization in cities, 436. Uniform financial accounts, 418. Uniformity, state, 467. Unit costs for schools, 419. Units of measurement, 329. Vocation schools, 311. Ward boards of education, 93. Ward system, development of, 79, RIVERSIDE TEXTBOOKS IN EDUCATION General Educational Theory PSYCHOLOGY FOR NORMAL SCHOOLS. By L. A. AvERiLL, Massachusetts State Normal School, Worcester. EXPERIMENTAL EDUCATION. By F. N. Freeman, University of Chicago. HOW CHILDREN LEARN. By F. N. Freeman. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE COMMON BRANCHES. By F. N. Freeman. DISCIPLINE AS A SCHOOL PROBLEM. By A. C. Perky, Jr. AN INTRODUCTION TO EDUCATIONAL SOCIOLOGY. By W. R. Smith, Kansas State Normal School. TRAINING FOR EFFECTIVE STUDY. . By F. W. Thomas, State Normal School, Fresno, California. AN INTRODUCTION TO CHILD PSYCHOLOGY. By C. W. Waddle, Ph.D., Los Angeles State Normal School. History of Education THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION. By E. P. CUBBERLEY. A BRIEF HISTORY OF EDUCATION. By E. P. CUBBERLBV. READINGS IN THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION. By E. P. CUBBERLEY. PUBLIC EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. By E. P. CUBBEELEY. Administration and Supervision of Schools HEALTHFUL SCHOOLS: HOW TO BUILD, EQUIP, AND MAIJf TAIN THEM. By May Ayres, J. F. Williams, M.D., University of Cincinnati, and T. D Wood, A.M., M.D., Teachers College, Columbia University. PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. By E. P. CUBBERLBY. RURAL LIFE AND EDUCATION. By E. P. CUBBEKLEY. HEALTH WORK IN THE SCHOOLS. . By E. B. HoAG, M.D., and L. M. Terman, Leland Stanford Junior University. MEASURING THE RESULTS OF TEACHING. By W. S. MoNROB, University of Illinois. ' 1926 a EDUCATIONAL TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS. By W. S. Monroe, J. C. DkVoss, Kansas State Normal School; and F. J. Kelly, University of Kansas. THE SUPERVISION OF INSTRUCTION. By H. W, NuTT, University of Kansas. STATISTICAL METHODS APPLIED TO EDUCATION. By H. O. RuGG, University of Chicago. CLASSROOM ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL. By J. B, Sears, Leland Stanford Junior University. A HANDBOOK FOR RURAL SCHOOL OFFICERS. By N. D. Showalter, Washington State Normal School. THE HYGIENE OF THE SCHOOL CHILD. By L. M. Terman. THE MEASUREMENT OF INTELLIGENCE. By L. M. Terman. Test Material for the Measurement of Intelligence. Record Booklets for the Measurement of Intelligence. THE INTELLIGENCE OF SCHOOL CHILDREN. By L. M. Terman. Methods of Teaching TEACHING LITERATURE IN THE GRAMMAR GRADES AND HIGH SCHOOL. By Emma M. Bolbnius. HOW TO TEACH THE FUNDAMENTAL SUBJECTS, By C. N. Kendall and G. A. Mirick. HOW TO TEACH THE SPECIAL SUBJECTS. By C. N. Kendall and G. A. Mirick. SILENT AND ORAL READING. By C. R. Stonb. THE TEACHING OF SCIENCE IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. By G. H. Trafton, State Normal School, Mankato, Minnesota. TEACHING IN RURAL SCHOOLS. By T. J. WooFTBR, University of Georgia. Secondary Education THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL. By Thos. H. Briggs, Columbia University. THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL. By Charles Swain Thomas. PRINCIPLES OF SECONDARY EDUCATION. By Alexander Inglis, Harvard University. PROBLEMS OF SECONDARY EDUCATION. By David Snedden, Columbia University. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY iga6b For College Courses in Composition ^ EXPOSITORY WRITING By Mervin James Curl, Formerly Instructor in English^ University qf Illinois. " It is a human textbook. The student feds that a real flesh-and- blood person is cooperating with him, advising him wisely but never condescendingly, hitting the mark without shooting over his head or underestimating his intelligence. Sound doctrine is here success- fully allied to the vital experiences of all sorts and conditions of men ; not only in the text, but in the rich and really workable exercises, and in the illustrative specimens, which show the catholicity of the writer's taste." — Emerson G. Sutcliffe, Ph.D., University of Minnesota^ Department of Rhetoric. THE STUDY Aim PRACTICE OF WRITING ENGLISH By Gerhard R. Lomer, Formerly Instructor in English in the School of Journalism, Columbia University in the City of New York, and Margaret Ashmun, Formerly Instructor tn English in the Uni* versity of Wisconsin. This textbook gives students all the essentials of composition in a concise, well-arranged form. It contains all the necessary facts. The treatment is adequate. Clear examples illustrate the various rules. Practical exercises provide plenty of drill on the particular points that trouble students. SENTENCES AND THINKING By Norman Foerster, Professor of English, University of North Carolina, and J. M. Steadman, Jr., Associate Professor of English, Emory University, A practice book in sentence making. It really presents three books in one: — (i) A Constructive Discussion of Essentials in Composition, (2) A Book of Exercises, and (3) A Manual of Errors. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 1944 ENGLISH FOR COLLEGE COURSES EXPOSITORY WRITING By Mervin J. Curl. Gives freshmen and sophomores something to write about, and helps them in their writing. SENTENCES AND THINKING By Norman Foerster, University of North Carolina, and J. M. Stedman, Jr., Emory University. A practice book in sentence-making for college freshmen. A HANDBOOK OF ORAL READING By Lee Emerson Bassett, Leland Stanford Junior University. 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A textbook for classes in Journalism and in advanced Eng- lish Composition. NEWSPAPER WRITING AND EDITING By Willard G. Bleyer. This fully meets the requirements of courses in Journalism as given in our colleges and universities, and at the same time appeals to practical newspaper men. TYPES OF NEWS WRITING By Willard G. Bleyer. Over two hundred typical stories taken from representative American newspapers are here presented in a form convenient for college classes in Journalism. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 1421 NEW issues IN THE Riverside Literature Series For the Grades Aldrich's Marjorie Daw and Other Stories. No. 265. Antin's At School in the Promised Land. No 245. Austin's Standish of Standish, Dramatized. No. 217. BuRRouGHs's The Wit of a Duck, and Other Papers. No. 259, Irving's Tales from the Alhambra= Adapted by Josephine Brower. No. 260. Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Part I, No. 257. Part II, No. 258. MuiR's The Boyhood of a Naturalist. No. 247, Sharp's Ways of the Woods. No. 266. Wiggin's Bu-ds' Christmas Carol. No. 232. Wiggin's Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. No. 264. Selections for Reading and Memorizing. Grades I-VIII. Seven volumes, Nos. FF-MM inclusive. For High Schools Arnold's Essay on Wordsworth and Selected Lyrics by Words- worth. No. 269. Boswell's The Life of Johnson. Abridged. No. 248. Burroughs's Nature Near Home, and Other Papers. No. 270. Clarke'^ A Treasury of War Poetry, No. 262. Keller's The Story of My Life. No. 253. Liberty, Peace, and Justice, (Documents and Addresses, 1776- 1918.) No. 261. Mills's Being Good to Bears- No. 271. Palmer's Self-Cultivation in English. No. 249. Peabodv's The Piper, No. 263. Richards's High Tide. An Anthology. No. 256. For Colleges Drinkwater's Abraham Lincoln. A Play. No. 268. HowELLs's A Modern Instance. No. 252. Lockwood's English Sonnets. No. 244. RiTTEN house's Tne Little Book of American Poets. No. 255. Rittenhouse's The Little Book of Modern Verse. No. 254, Rittenhouse's Second Book of Modem Verse. No. 267. Shepard's Shakespeare Questions, No. 246. Sheridan's The School for ScandaL No. 250. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Piers the Ploughman, No. 251. Houghton Mifflin Company 1940 FOR COURSES ON THE DRAMA DRAMATIC TECHNIQUE By George Pierce Baker, Harvard University. THE TUDOR DRAMA By C. F. Tucker Brooke, Yale University. An illuminating history of the development of English Drama dur- ing the Tudor Period, from 1485 to the close of the reign of Elizabeth. CHIEF CONTEMPORARY DRAMATISTS, First Series Edited by Thomas H. Dickinson, formerly of the University of Wisconsin. CHIEF CONTEMPORARY DRAMATISTS, Second Series Edited by Thomas H. Dickinson. This book supplements the First Series by making available in a companion volume plays which represent the later tendencies in the drama of Europe and America. CHIEF EUROPEAN DRAMATISTS Edited by Brander Matthews, Columbia University, Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. This volume contains one typical play from each of the master dramatists of Europe, with the exception of the English writers. A STUDY OF THE DRAMA By Brander Matthews. Devoted mainly to an examination of the structural framework which the great dramatists of various epochs have given to their plays; it discusses only incidentally the psychology, the philosophy, and the poetry of these pieces. THE CHIEF ELIZABETHAN DRAMATISTS Edited by W. A. Neilson, President of Smith College, formerly Professor of English Literature in Harvard University. This volume presents typical examples of the work of the most important of Shakespeare's contemporaries, so that, taken with Shakespeare's own works, it affords a view of the development of the English drama through its most brilliant period. A HISTORY OF THE ELIZABETHAN DRAMA By Felix E. Schelling, University of Pennsylvania. 2 vols. SHAKESPEAREAN PLAYHOUSES By Joseph Quincy Adams, Cornell University. A History of English Theatres from the Beginnings to the Restor ation. Fully illustrated. SHAKESPEARE QUESTIONS By Odell Shepard, Trinity College. Riv. Lit. Series. No. 246. An outline for the study of the leading plays. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY PROBLEMS OF CONDUCT BY DURANT DRAKE Professor of Philosophy^ Vassar College An Introductory Survey of Ethics THE Boston Transcript says : ** It is the great merit of Professor Drake's book that it moves always in a concrete sphere of life as we daily live it. It never moralizes, it never lays down obiter dicta^ it simply talks over with us our personal prob- lems precisely as a keen, experienced, and always sympathetic friend might do. Through and through scientific and scholarly, it is never academic in method and matter." PROBLEMS OF RELIGION BY DURANT DRAKE THIS book, like Professor Drake's Problems of Conduct^ represents a course of lectures given for several years to undergraduates of Wesleyan University. Their aim is to give a rapid survey of the field, such that the man who is confused by the chaos of opinions on these matters, and him- self but little able to judge between conflicting statements, may here get his bearings and see his way to stable belief and energetic action. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY, FOR COLLEGE LITERATURE COURSES mSTORY AND CRITICISM BoTTA — Handbook of Universal Literatufc. Grumbine — Stories from Browning. HiNCHMAN AND GuMMERE — Livcs of Great Englisb "Writers from Chaucer to Browning. Matthews — A Sttidy of Versification. Maynadier — The Arthur of the English Pocts» Perry— A Study of Prose Fiction. Perry— A Study of Poetry. Root — The Poetry of Chaucer. SiMONDs — A Student's History of English Literature. SiMONDS — A Student's History of American Literature* Baker — Dramatic Technique* Brooke — The Tudor Drama. Matthews — A Study of the Drama. ScHELLiNG — A History of the Elizabethan Drama. 2 voJs, ANTHOLOGIES POETRY Holt — Leading Engfish Poets from Chaucer to Browning. Neilson and Webster — The Chief British Poets of the F002* teenth and Fifteenth Centuries* Page — The Chief American Poets. Weston — The Chief Middle English Poets. PROSE Aldew — Readings ia English Prose of the Eighteenth Century. ALDEPf — Readings in English Prose of the Nineteenth Century. Part I ; Part II ; Complete, FoERSTER — The Qiief American Prose Writers. THE DRAMA Dickinson — Chkf Contemporary Dramatists, First Series. Dickinson — Chief Contemporary Dramatists, Second Series. Matthews— Chief European Dramatists. Neilson— The C3iief Elkabethan Dramatists (except Shake- speare) to the Close of the Theatres. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANV HOW TO STUDY AND TEACfflNG HOW TO STUDl By F. M. McMURRY Professor of Elementary Education^ Teachers Coliege Columbia University Every teacher, student, and parent should read this book, — perhaps the most fundamentally important educational book that has recently appeared. Some of the questions which are fully and help^ fully answered in the book: Why young people have not been learning to study effectively. The changes necessary to be made in the schools in order that they may learn to study properly. How the large amount of waste in home study can be prevented. How adults should study. To what extent children have the native capacity and experience necessary for fruitful study. What can be done towards teaching even the young' est children to form the right habits of study. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY For College Classes PHILOSOPHY AND ETHICS Cushman's A Beginner's History of Philosophy Drake's Problems of Conduct Drake's Problems of Religion Libby's An Introduction to the History of Science Rand's The Modern Classical Philosophers Rand's The Classical Moralists Sellars's Essentials of Logic PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION Averill's Psychology for Normal Schools Bobbitt's The Curriculum Charters's Teaching the Common Branches Cubberley's The History of Education Cubberley's Readings in the History of Education Cubberley's Rural Life and Education Cubberley's Public Education in the United States Dooley's Principles and Methods of Industrial Education Earhart's Types of Teaching Edman's Human Traits and Their Social Significance Freeman's Experimental Education Freeman's How Children Learn Freeman's The Psychology of the Common Branches Inglis's Principles of Secondary Education Klrkpatrick's The Individual in the Making Langfeld and Allport's Elementary Laboratory Course in Psychology Leake's Industrial Education: Its Problems, Methods, and Dan- gers Leake's Means and Methods of Agricultural Education McMurry's (C. A.) Conflicting Principles in Teaching McMurry's (F. M.) How to Study Nolan's Teaching of Agriculture O'Shea's Social Development and Education Rand's The Classical Psychologists Ruediger's The Principles of Education Smith's An Introduction to Educational Sociology Snedden's Problems of Educational Readjustment Snedden's Problems of Secondary Education Terman's The Hygiene of the School Child Thomas's Training for Effective Study Tyler's Growth and Education Waddle's An Introduction to Child Psychology Warren's Human Psychology Wilson's Motivation of School Work Woodley's The Profession of Teaching HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 1942 University of Connecticut Libraries 39153029129824