%mm&: THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY 370 I€6e v.ie-24 fefc Return this book on or before the Latest Date stamped below. University of Illinois Library S l!)83 MAY 2 4 1 S3 L161— H41 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://www.archive.org/details/announcementsofb12univ UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS BULLETIN Issued Weekly Vol. XX . September 11, 1922 No. 2 [Entered as second-class matter December 1 1, 1912, at the post office at Urbana, Illinois under the act of August 24, 1012. Acceptance for mailing at the special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized July 31,1918.] EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH CIRCULAR NO. 12 BUREAU OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH COLLEGE OF EDUCATION Announcements of the Bureau of Educational Research for 1922-23 PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA 370 I7», ^ -I 1 Announcements of the Bureau of Educational Research For 1922-23 Additions to staff. Two important additions have been made to the staff of the Bureau of Educational Research. Dr. C. W. Odell, who for the past two years has conducted an investigation of "Uses of Intelligence Tests as a Basis of School Organization and Instruction" and who received his doctor's degree from the Univer- sity of Illinois last June, will take over many of the duties and responsibilities formerly carried by the assistant director. Miss Ruth Streitz has been employed for the purpose of conducting research with reference to the handling of exceptional children, both dull and bright, and for rendering assistance in connection with such children to the schools of the state. Miss Streitz, because of her varied ex- perience with public schools and of her training, is especially fitted for this work. She has taught in the kindergarten and in the high school, and has served as Director of Attendance and Welfare in the public schools of Madison, Wisconsin. During the past year she has been doing graduate work at the University of Chicago and has had some contact with the child study department of the Chicago Public Schools. The addition of these two persons to its staff will enable the Bureau of Educational Research to increase materially its activities during the coming year. Proposed projects. Our plans at present for the coming school year include the following projects. As the work of the year de- velops, these projects may be modified in any way that seems wise or additional projects may be organized. However, this enumeration will serve to acquaint the school people of the state with our pro- posed activities for the coming year. Project I. Investigation of the study habits of high school pupils. This investigation was begun last year and the cooperation of over thirteen hundred teachers secured. The data which they furnished have resulted already in the publication of Bulletin No. 7, entitled "Types of Learning Required of Pupils in the Seventh and Eighth Grades and in the High School." A series of five diagnostic 3 542255 study tests has been published and will form the basis of some ex- perimental work during the coming school year. A second bulletin relating to the types of questions which teachers ask pupils has been prepared and will be published at an early date. The Director of the Bureau of Educational Research will be glad to hear from any superintendent or principal who is interested in cooperating with him in the continuation of this investigation. Project II. Collection of difficulties encountered in teach- ing and methods of overcoming these difficulties. This project was initiated also during the past school year. A number of reports have been received from teachers and superintendents specifying particular difficulties which teachers encounter. Some progress has been made in collecting definite methods and devices for overcoming these difficulties. This investigation will be continued during the present school year. It is hoped that shortly preliminary reports may be issued for several of the subjects taught in the elementary school. Project III. Investigations relating to exceptional children. As indicated above, Miss Streitz has been employed for the specific purpose of conducting research with reference to the handling of exceptional children, both dull and bright, and for giving assistance to the schools of the state in connection with such children. At the present time it is not possible to announce the specific investigations which will be undertaken. However, an attempt will be made to ascertain what provisions have been made for such children in the schools of the state. The Director of the Bureau of Educational Research will be glad to receive suggestions from any one who is interested in any particular problem in this field. Project IV. Specifications for self surveys. During the past year some preliminary work was done toward the preparation of detailed specifications which would enable a superintendent and his corps of teachers to conduct a partial or complete survey of his school system with a limited amount of assistance from the outside. The preliminary work has indicated that such specifications would make a real contribution. It is now planned to continue this work and it is hoped that these specifications will be in such form that they may be given a tryout by the middle of the present school year. A more detailed announcement of this project will be made at a later date. 4 Project V. An investigation of written examinations set by teachers or other school officials. During the past year the Bureau collected a large number of sets of examination questions from both high schools and elementary schools. A bulletin entitled "Written Examinations and Their Improvement" has been prepared and will come from the press at an early date. This bulletin, however, does not present the results of research but rather summarizes the arguments for and against written examinations and gives certain suggestions for their improvement. A detailed analysis of the examinations collected is being made and other research is being carried on with reference to their reliability and other characteristics. Since written examinations, either at the close of a semester or at intervals during the semester, have been, and probably always will be, the most fre- quently used type of instrument for measuring the achievements of pupils, it is important that we should know more about them and that we should endeavor to improve them as much as possible. Forthcoming bulletins. During the past year five bulletins were prepared for publication. Four of them have been received from the printer and distributed. The fifth will be ready for mailing shortly. The following bulletins are nearing completion and will be sent to the printer at an early date: Odell, C. W. The Use of Intelligence Tests as a Basis of School Organization and Instruction. Monroe, W. S. and Foster, I. O. Status of the Social Sciences in the High Schools of the North Central Associa- tion. Monroe, W. S. and Carter, R. E. Types of Questions Asked by Teachers in the Seventh and Eighth Grades and in the High School. Monroe, Walter S. The Effect of Dividing Classes into Sections for the Purpose of Instruction. Visitation of schools. During the past year the Director of the Bureau of Educational Research visited a number of school systems for the purpose of discovering methods and devices for overcoming difficulties reported by teachers. In addition to observing some of the class room work of the system, the Director, in a few instances, was invited to address a group of the local teachers. He was glad to do this and to render services in other ways. With the additions 5 to our staff for the coming year it is hoped that it will be possible to increase materially the number of visits to the schools of the state. The Director will be glad to hear from superintendents and from principals who would welcome such visits. He is particularly anxious to get in touch with those schools, both elementary and secondary, which are doing unusual things or which are doing ordi- nary things unusually well. He would also like to hear from super- intendents and principals who would be interested in organizing some experimental work during the coming year. On the occasions of such visits the Director, or any other member of the staff, will be glad to render such services as he is able. When a visit to a school system is directly connected with some research project of the Bureau of Educational Research the school will not be asked to defray any of the expenses of such a visitation. Service to school systems of the state. Early in the present calendar year a letter was addressed to the city superintendents asking for an indication of their interest in certain types of service which the Bureau might render to the schools of the state. The outstanding characteristic of the responses was the almost unani- mous desire for assistance in dealing with exceptional children. Largely as a result of this indication of interest, Miss Streitz was added to our staff. Her work will be planned so that she can accept a limited number of invitations to spend several days, when neces- sary, in a school system for the purpose of administering intelligence and other psychological tests and for giving advice with reference to the handling of exceptional children. A number of school systems in the state are interested also in programs of intelligence and subject-matter testing leading to the reclassification of pupils. Dr. Odell, who has given considerable attention to this sort of work both before and since coming to the University, will be able to devote a portion of his time to visiting those systems which desire his aid in planning and executing such a program. All of the members of the Bureau staff will be available for a limited number of visits in connection with other types of service which may be rendered to the schools of the state. For such services the school system benefited will be expected to defray both traveling and local expenses; there will be no other charge. 6 Educational Research Circulars to be issued in printed form. Last year the Director of the Bureau of Educational Re- search inaugurated the issuing of a series of communications which have borne the title of "Educational Research Circular." Eleven such communications were sent out during the school year. During the coming year the educational research circulars are to be printed and it is hoped that the number issued will be increased. They will be used to bring to the attention of the school people of the state, important articles and other publications in the field of education. They will also be used as a means of treating briefly a variety of questions and topics. Usually an entire issue will be devoted to a single topic. Among the topics to be treated in early numbers are the following: The use of intelligence tests. Difficulties encountered in teaching arithmetic and their remedies. The content of a superintendent's report. Methods of improving teachers in service. The Director of the Bureau of Educational Research will be glad to receive suggestions for topics to be treated in other commu- nications. There will be no regular date of issue but our plans contemplate the publication of a circular every two or three weeks. Our mailing list at present includes the superintendents and principals of high schools in schools having six or more teachers. We shall be glad to add to our mailing list the names of any teachers or persons interested in receiving these circulars. A limited number of addi- tional copies of each circular will be printed and will be furnished to superintendents who wish to secure extra copies for distribution among their teachers. Address all communications to WALTER S. MONROE, Director, Bureau of Educational Research, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois. /I V.