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 THE 
 
 North Central Association of 
 Colleges and Secondary Schools 
 
 ITS NATURE, PURPOSES and 
 ACCOMPLISHMENT 
 
 f 
 
 By HORACE A. HOLLISTER 
 
 Reprinted from School and Home Education 
 For February , 1911 
 
 PUBLIC-SCHOOL PUBLISHING CO 
 BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS 
 
THE NORTH CENTRAL ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGES 
 AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 
 
 Its Nature, Purposes and Accomplishments . 
 
 By Horace A. Hoclistkr. 
 
 After fifteen years of active existence, during which time the 
 annual proceedings have been regularly published, it seems that 
 there is still considerable misapprehension as to the nature and 
 function of this organization. To those who are familiar with its 
 workings by participation this lack of generally disseminated infor¬ 
 mation is not remarkable. For while the work of the association 
 has often been intense it has never approached the noisy and, 
 scarcely ever, the spectacular. It is distinctly a working body, 
 dealing consistently with those problems set for itself as first con¬ 
 stituted. 
 
 It is with the feeling that the success of the work which the 
 North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools has 
 been called to undertake depends upon a wider knowledge of this 
 work among those interested in education that this brief resume 
 of its character and work is presented. If any apology is due from 
 the writer for such an undertaking it must be because this work 
 has already been so well done by two of those who have served as 
 presidents of the Association.* But the proceedings of these meet¬ 
 ings are not widely circulated; hence the thought that a still wider 
 publicity is needed. 
 
 In March, 1894, at a meeting of the Michigan Schoolmasters’ 
 Club, a committee was appointed to investigate and report on the 
 condition of secondary school work throughout the United States. 
 In December of the same year a partial report was presented. This 
 resulted in asking the presidents of the University of Michigan, the 
 
 *See President’s address by Q, N. Carman, Proe, 8th session, and P. L,. 
 Harris, Proc. of 10th session. 
 
 2 
 
University of Wisconsin, Northwestern University, and the Uni¬ 
 versity of Chicago to unite with a committee of the Club in issuing 
 a call for a meeting to form an association of schools and colleges 
 of the North Central States. This was done, and the first meeting 
 convened on the 29th of March, 1895, at Northwestern University, 
 for the purpose of establishing a permanent organization. 
 
 There were present at this meeting the representatives of lead¬ 
 ing universities, colleges and schools from Ohio, Michigan, In¬ 
 diana, Illinois, Wisconsin* Iowa and Missouri. A permanent or¬ 
 ganization was provided for, and the first regular meeting of the 
 North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools was 
 set to convene in March, 1896, at the University of Chicago, with 
 President James B. Angell of Michigan University as its first 
 president. 
 
 At the very outset it was proposed to discuss such questions as 
 “What Constitutes a Secondary School?” “What Constitutes a 
 College?” The question of uniform requirements for admission to 
 colleges also found an early hearing. In all these and ensuing dis¬ 
 cussions secondary and college men, have mingled and participated 
 freely. The Association has met annually at about the same time 
 of year. All of the fifteen sessions except two have been held in 
 Chicago. These exceptions are the fifth which met at St Louis in 
 1900, and the seventh which met at Cleveland in 1902. Those who 
 have served as presidents are: President James B. Angell, 1896; 
 President James H. Canfield, 1898; Assistant Superintendent 
 A. F. Nightingale, 1899; President William F. Slocum, 1900; 
 Inspector George B. Aiton, 1901; Chancellor W. S. Chaplin, 1902; 
 Director George N. Carman, 1903; President Andrew S. Draper, 
 1904; Principal F. L. Bliss, 1905; President George E. McLean, 
 1906; Principal E. L. Harris, 1907; President Edmund J. James, 
 1908; Principal E. W. Coy, 1909 ; Dean Calvin M. Woodward, 
 1910; Principal George W. Benton, President elect for 1911. It 
 will be seen that the general policy has been to divide honors be¬ 
 tween the college and secondary men about equally. This has been 
 true of other officers, as well as of all important assignments on 
 programs or committees. 
 
 3 
 
From the beginning there have been represented in the mem¬ 
 bership, both of institutions and individuals, the very best institu¬ 
 tions, secondary and higher, public and private, of the North Cen¬ 
 tral States. Probably no similar organization can, show a group of 
 stronger men and women, of those who have been among the lead¬ 
 ers of the most important educational movement of their time. 
 
 Organized as a working body, the machinery of organization 
 has been kept at a minimum, and petty politics, so often the bane 
 of our American organizations, has, as yet, found no place here. 
 Article II of the constitution as originally adopted reads: “The 
 object of this Association shall be to establish closer relations be¬ 
 tween the colleges and the secondary schools of the North Central 
 States.” This is a plain and definite statement of a purpose 
 which gave rise to the organization at the beginning, and which 
 has been consistently adhered to in all the subsequent work of the 
 Association. 
 
 At first the constitution provided that memberships, both insti¬ 
 tutional and individual, with reference to the two types of insti¬ 
 tutions, be kept as nearly equal in numbers as practicable. Later, 
 as applications for membership increased, it appeared that those 
 from Secondary Schools were much more numerous than those 
 from Colleges and Universities. In 1908, the constitution was 
 amended so as to remove all restriction on the number who might 
 represent the Secondary Schools. At the session of 1910, the mem¬ 
 bership was as follows: Institutional members, Colleges and Uni¬ 
 versities, 57; Secondary Schools, 94. Individual members, Col¬ 
 leges and Universities, 35; Secondary Schools, 26; making a total 
 institutional membership of 151, and 61 of individual members. 
 
 We have said that the original purpose of the Association has 
 been adhered to throughout. If evidence of the correctness of this 
 statement is needed it will readily appear in the record of the things 
 undertaken and accomplished by this organization. Early in its 
 history the Association set its approval upon the elective system in 
 the secondary program, and accepted as its working principle the 
 certificate plan of admission to college as based on inspection of 
 Secondary Schools throughout the North Central group of states. 
 
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Article IV of the Constitution reads thus: “All the decisions 
 of the Association bearing upon the policy and management of 
 higher and secondary institutions are understood to be advisory in 
 their character.” Thus a voluntary association of representatives 
 of the two types of institutions included has undertaken to discuss 
 common interests with the view to eliminating differences, reducing 
 friction, and avoiding the waste from duplication of efforts, with¬ 
 out, in any way interfering with the rights and interests of individ¬ 
 ual institutions or the educational interests and methods of the 
 individual states included in this representation. 
 
 Among the important things which have been undertaken by 
 the Association are, first, to define college entrance requirements; 
 that is, to point out the line of demarkation between colleges and 
 secondary schools. To this end the secondary school has been de¬ 
 fined as extending through four years’ time, or thirty-six weeks, 
 four or five days in each week, devoted to the study of a given 
 subject. 
 
 It early became evident that it would be desirable to have the 
 content of each unit defined also. To this end the Association has 
 provided for the appointment of representative committees who> un¬ 
 dertake to formulate such content definitions for all the subjects 
 presented in a modern secondary school, and also to revise these 
 from time to time. 
 
 To Professor A. S. Whitney, of Michigan University, is due 
 the credit for first urging uniformity of accrediting of secondary 
 schools. A plan for harmonizing state inspections was presented by 
 him at the sixth meeting in 1901. As a result, a committee, of 
 which Dean S. A. Forbes, of the University of Illinois, was chair¬ 
 man, was appointed to formulate a plan. This committee reported 
 later at the same meeting and their report led to the establishment 
 of the Commission of Accredited Schools, since changed to the 
 Commission on Accredited Schools and Colleges. This Commis¬ 
 sion was composed as follows: Six were to be appointed as 
 representing the colleges and six as representing secondary schools, 
 these to be named by the chair. In addition to these each college 
 
 5 
 
or university having membership in the Association whose fresh¬ 
 man class numbers at least fifty is entitled to one delegate repre¬ 
 sentative on the Commission, and an equal number are appointed 
 as representatives of the secondary schools. 
 
 A plan and rules for the joint accrediting of secondary schools 
 was adopted at the next meeting and a Board of Inspectors pro¬ 
 vided for which makes its report directly to the Commission. Thus 
 all rules and recommendations in regard to the accrediting of 
 schools by the North Central Association are first discussed and 
 formulated by this Board, then deliberated upon by the Commission 
 as a whole before presentation for final adoption by the Association. 
 
 It is difficult to see how a better scheme for safeguarding the 
 interests of all concerned in such accrediting could be devised. As 
 a result of the careful and conservative manner in which this work 
 is conducted the lists of schools thus accredited are coming to be 
 recognized by most institutions both East and West. 
 
 More recently the accrediting of such colleges as may seek to 
 be thus recognized has been proposed ; but this has not yet passed 
 beyond the preliminary stages. A committee of three for each 
 state is provided for whose duty it will be to inspect all colleges 
 making application for accrediting and to report to the Commis¬ 
 sion on Accredited Schools and Colleges. As yet no inspections 
 have been made as the State Committees must await a report from 
 a general committee of the Commission appointed to formulate 
 standards for reports from colleges applying for inspection, such 
 reports to be taken as a basis for standardization by the inspect¬ 
 ing committees. 
 
 It should be stated that in all accrediting, both of secondary 
 schools and colleges, it is expected that the institution first express 
 its desire to be accredited. In no other way could Article IV of 
 the Constitution above cited be adhered to. In some of the earlier 
 accrediting of high schools, through lack of familiarity with this 
 article, some accrediting seems to have been done without consult¬ 
 ing the wishes of the schools concerned; but it does not appear 
 that any dissatisfaction has arisen on this account. 
 
 6 
 
Somewhat aside from the general field of action of this As¬ 
 sociation has been the interest which it has taken in interscholastic 
 athletics. Much has been accomplished, through the efforts of 
 committees appointed to investigate conditions in this department 
 of educational work, toward relieving this phase of physical train¬ 
 ing of the evils which have developed in connection with inter- 
 
 ; N scholastic games and meets. 
 
 i One of the most promising fields of activity into which the As¬ 
 
 sociation has entered, rather as an extension of the purposes of its 
 original organization, is its cooperation with other similar organi¬ 
 zations in the United States. For a number of years we have thus 
 been represented in the deliberations of the Commission on Uni¬ 
 form College Entrance Requirements in English, and this altogether 
 to our credit. 
 
 A similar association has been enjoyed with the work of the 
 College Entrance Examination Board. This association with other 
 similar groups culminated, in 1908, in the organization of the Na¬ 
 tional Conference Committee on Standards of Colleges and Sec¬ 
 ondary Schools. Merely to state the membership of this Commit¬ 
 tee will be sufficient to suggest the great significance of this move¬ 
 ment and the far reaching benefits which may result from such a 
 cooperative action. The membership is of delegates from the fol¬ 
 lowing: The New England Association of Colleges and Prepara¬ 
 tory Schools, The New England College Entrance Certificate Board. 
 The Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools of the Mid¬ 
 dle States and Maryland, The College Entrance Examination 
 Board, The North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary 
 Schools, The Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools of 
 the Southern States, The National Association of State Universi¬ 
 ties, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 
 and such other organizations as may be elected to membership. 
 
 Little mention has been made in this brief article of the names 
 of those who have participated in this work. We refrain reluct¬ 
 antly from mentioning the long list of those who have given freely 
 of time and thought for the furthering of the great and good pur- 
 
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31 
 
 353 
 
 557465 
 
 poses for which the North Central Association stands. For fuller 
 details in this respect we must refer the reader to the published 
 proceedings. 
 
 From an organization representine seven states the Association 
 has grown until it now includes fourteen states in its institutional 
 membership, and others are now knocking for admission. 
 
 Naturally people coming together as representatives of some¬ 
 what widely varying interests will hold and seek to maintain opin¬ 
 ions often at variance. Is not the significant thing about it to be 
 found in the fact that we do get together and deliberate, often with 
 warmth, but always, let us believe, with the spirit of conciliation 
 and of mutual betterment? 
 
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