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THE LIBRARY

The Ontario Institute

for Studies in Education

Toronto, Canada

, /f /6

— ■ TTb'rary

RIVERSIDE TEXTBOOKS
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EDITED BY ELLWOOD P. CUBBERLEY

PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION
LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY

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PUBLIC SCHOOL
ADMINISTRATION

A STATEMENT OF THE FUNDAMENTAL

PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING THE ORGANIZATION

AND ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC

EDUCATION

ELLWOOD P. CUBBERLEY

PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION
LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR

UNIVERSITY

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO

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Cf)c Bibersitie Sortie

CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS
U . S . A

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

An attempt has been made, in the space of this book,
to state the fundamental principles underlying the proper
organization and administration of public education in the
United States; to state briefly the historical evolution of
the principal administrative ofiicers and problems; and to
point out what seem to be the most probable lines 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 oflScers 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,
super\nsion, and adaptation to needs has taken place there.
By showing the origin and relationship of all 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 proj:)er educational control
for all types of public-school work, — city, count}', 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 vii

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 II 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. Cubberley

CONTENTS

PART I. OUTLINES OF STATE EDUCATIONAL
ORGANIZATION

CHAPTER I. Origin and Development of Schools . . 3

Early attitudes — Schools at first community madcrtakings —
— The district unit — Evolution of district organization —
Early district officers — Rise of state systems — Early state or-
ganizations — The first school laws — The change in attitude —
The present conviction — Questions for discussion.

CHAPTER II. 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 policy — Questions for investigation and discussion.

CHAPTER III. State Educational Organization . . 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 educational 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 towTiship — Disad-
vantages of the township unit — The township imit not funda-
mentally necessary — The school-district imit — 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 55

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 distmctive
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 ^TI. Evolution or City School Organization
AND Adaunistration 71

The original to^\Ti control — Subtracting powers from the
towTis — Rise of the school committee — Two centuries of evo-
lution — Massachusetts a type — Types of development else-
where — The separate school board — DcA'clopment of the w'ard
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 —
Tenn of office, 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 form of con-
trol — Committee control applied to hospital management —
Committee service time-consuming — Committee action illus-

CONTENTS xi

trated — 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.

'i. The superintendent as an executive — Proper personal and
official relations — Mutual trust and confidence — Appealing
to the community — Relations with the commimity.

3. The superintendent as supervisor — Dangers faced by the
superintendent — Questions for discussion — Selected references.

CHAPTER XII. 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
admmistrative 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 XIII. Organization of the Educational

Department 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 — lU'lalions 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 — Tlie competitive examination — Electing
applicants rs. himting teachers

2. The tenure of teachers — The usual plan — The imcertain
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. TR.\INESfG 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 superN-ision of teachers — Deficient super\'ision —
Supervision of the ^Tong t j-pe — Need for helpfid super\-ision

— 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 X^^. The Teaching Corps 250

III. Pat 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 XVH. 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. J

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.

CH.VPTER XVIII. The Courses op Instruction. . . 294

II. Adjustments and Differentiations.

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-coursc 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

anls 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 — Cpntrol of the work — The large-
city plan — The smaller-city plan — The teacher and health
service — Importance of the ser%'ice — Questions for discussion
— Topics for investigation and report — Selected references.

CHAPTER XXI. The Attendance Department . . . 357

The compulsion to attend — Differences and difficulties —
The attendance department — Increased school attendance —
The registration of scliool 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 XXII. 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 organization — Im-
portance of directed play.

3. School gardening — School gardening and the school —
New educational agencies and purposes — Questions for discus-
sion — Topics for investigation and report — Selected refer-
ences.

CHAPTER XXV. Costs, Funds, and Accounting . . 408

Constantly increasing costs — A cheap school system —
The problem of increased funds — Funds independent of the
comicil — The competition for city funds — A better school bud-
get — Better accounting methods — School accomits 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 public — Selected references.

PART III. CITY ADMINISTRATIVE
EXPERIENCE APPLIED

CHAPTER XX\TI. City Administrative Experience
SUMJVIARIZED 433

The city an educational unit — Administrative organization —
Diversity as a result of miity — Teaching and supervisory organ-
ization — Business organization and finance — Initiative and
educational progress — Clear and unmistakable lessons.

CHAPTER XX\TII. Application to County Educational
Organization 441

City and county administration contrasted — District trustee
control — Need for a fundamental reorganization — Rudimen-
tary county-imit organizations — The coimty superintendency
— Why trained men go to the cities — The way out — Details
of a county-unit plan: (1) General control — (2) Educational
Control — (S) Business and clerical control — (4 ) Powers and
duties of the superintendent — Such a reorganization not easy —
Steps in the process — • Questions for discussion — Topics for
investigation and report — Selected references.

xvi CONTENTS

CHAPTER XXIX. Application to State Educational

Organization 458

State organization undeveloped — Tlie eliief state school office
— Potential importance of the office — State departments of edu-
cation— Controlling principles: (1) General control — (2) Edu-
cational control • — (.'5) The chief state school officer ■ — Purpose
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 FIGURES

1. Early Organization of School Districts 6

2. Later Organization and Reorganization 7

3. New England Towns and Western Townships compared ... 48

4. Units for School Organization and Administration . . . .51

5. 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 Years (1895-1915) in School-Board Reor-

ganizations 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 Pr >per Relationships . between 172 and 173

15. An Incorrect Form of Educational Organization between 174 and 175

16. An Especially Bad Form of Educational Organization " 174 and 175

17. Tendencies in the Distribution of Teachers under Different Types

of Supervision and Different Salary Schedules .... 256

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

30. A Courti.s 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

36. 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."

"^ See Cubberley and Elliott, State and County School Administration,
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 tlie 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 lived, 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 establishment 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 life 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 public 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 estabhshed
as public 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 5

sippi River trace their origin from some one of these forms of
early community endeavor.^

The district unit. 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. ^\Tier-
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 schoolhouse 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 1817 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 18:25
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.

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;

♦

-TL

1835 I860

PlO. 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 line 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.

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1885

lUlO

FlO. 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
proAading 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 little 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 itself 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 political 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 DE\^LOPMENT 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
pro\aded only to the children of the deserving poor; the
plan of turning education over to the churches and religious
societies, with some aid from the pubhc purse; and the
earher 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 public 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 Illinois dates
from 1825; Baltimore began schools in 1825, and jNIaryland
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 ADlVnNISTRATION

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 183G; 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 establishment 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 accomplished 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 permissiv^e 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 establishment 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 pohtical
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 pubUc'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 estabhshed. 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

12 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 re]>resents 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 liberal 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 uplift 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 been 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 itself 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 tlie creation of
the towns, but the towns rather of the State. The powers of the
State are not derived from the towns, hut 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 towns, — 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 camiot rent, build, or buj^ 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,- 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. ^ 15 jsjew 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.

2. Indiana. In the case of the State ex rel. Clark et al. v.
Haworth ^ the Supreme Court, in deciding the constitu-
tionahty 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. ^ §7 Illinois, 595.

18 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

adopted as lines for the formation of school districts, and tliat city
officers shall perform the duties of school officers, 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 diflferent, 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.

4. 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. = 97 California, 429.

STATE AUTHORIZATION AND CONTROL 19

organization any of the provisions of the city charter, or Hmit the
powers and functions which, as a school district, it has by virtue
of the PoUtical 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-established 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 pubhc 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
itself 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 AD]VnNISTRATION

vidual contracts for the education of their children, and
finally, in 1841, the requirement of even a teacher's certificate
was made optional \\-ith 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 advise as to the establishment of schools and
the carrying out of the laws; state aid began to be granted,
or was increased, and ^^th 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 Ci^^l War, the war itself, and the period of recovery
following the w^ar. After about 1875 or 1880 the movement

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 efificiency 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 wnll 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 turn, 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 all
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 stifling 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 police, 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 the
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 .\DMINISTRATION

States state uniformity, particularly in matters of text-
books, courses of study, and character of instruction, has al-
ready ,ij;one 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. In 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 sanitary standards, forms
and rates of taxation, term for compulsory 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 wall 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 ])ushed 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 libraries,
playgTounds, 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? U 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 natiu^e 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 minimmn 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-
Hshed 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-

«8 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 of
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 practical^ all other features
of pubhc 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 abolished, and the secretary of state
acted ex officio as superintendent of schools until 1854,
when the office of superintendent of public instruction was
created. This official w^as displaced by an appointed com-
missioner of education in 1904. Maryland proxaded for a
superintendent of public instruction in 1826, but in 1828
the office w^as abolished and was not re-created until 1868.
Vermont provided for a rudimentary type of state school
official in 1827, but abolished 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 establish 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 super\'ision 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

so PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

two, ^\'ith the rapidly enlarging conception as to the place
and importance of public education ^vith 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 exliorter and the institute worker have come
to be needed less and less, the student and administrator
more and niore.

State boards of education. Another somewhat common
feature of our state educational organizations is a state board
for educational control, usually knowTi 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 Columbia 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 ^ pro\'ided 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.

1 North Carolina in 1825, which was continued to 183i2, and Vermont
in 1827, but which was abolished in 1835.

STATE EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION 31

By 185% 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 to
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 lie 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 tjT)e, being com-
posed of the governor, the superintendent of pubHc 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 tlie 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 officer 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 l)y
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. ^^Tiat 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.

34 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMDsISTRATION

the State's educational business and i)roblenis in a really
large way. The present v^ery limited 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 ser\ace, 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
eflBciency without interfering with local initiative and im-
pairing local administrative efficiency.

QUESTIONS FOR INVESTIGATION AND DISCUSSION

1. Classify the duties of the chief state school officer in your state under
the headings of (a) Administrative, (b) 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 tj^pe 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 super\nsion 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 imiversity?

CHAPTER IV

COUNTY EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION

The county in school administration. All of oiir 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 Uttle 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 i>urpose, was given up as an educa-
tional iniit 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
e\'ident. 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 ofBcer, 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 out 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 oflBcer; in 1853'a county examiner of teacliers 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 Ci\dl 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 half 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 pubhc 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. UnUke
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 wdll, 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 tyj)e, but this cannot come, in most cases, until there
is a marked change in the nature of the county educational
oflSce. 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 estabhshing schools.^ To
such boards either consultative powers or additional edu-
cational functions have been entrusted, wath 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

^ 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. loMa 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 California, 1 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 rudimentiiry 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. AMiere 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 vdW secure for the rural and small
town schools of the State the best educational administra-
tion and the closest, most effective, and most highly pro-
fessional supervision. The rural-life problem, which has
developed ^\-ithin° 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 which they
are located.^

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 political 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
^\athin the county. Under a good form of county educational
organization the possibilities 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 .%'ou 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 unintelligently 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 subdi\aded 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 peculiarly 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,

^ 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, TO^^'NSHIP, AND DISTRICT 46

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-
\asion each town in Massachusetts, and to a certain extent
in the other New England States as well, separately or in
conjunction ^^^th 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 difiFerent in the
two parts of the country.

- 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 officer.
There are 74 union superintendencies in the State, — 20 of 2 towns each,
25 of 3 towns, 2G 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.

' Supervisor\' I'nion No. 64 (in Essex County), and the city of Newton,
in Massachusetts, illustrate these two tj-pes well.

Union No. 64 is composed of the four towns of Merrimac, Newbury,
Salisbury, and West Newbury. The total population of the foiu- 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 officer, 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 kno\\ii 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 mth 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 to^-n boundaries,
are two of the most important advantages which the New

^ See map on page 51 for dates of the final abandonment of the district
system.

TO^VN, TO^VNSHIP, 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 earlier 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 Mississippi 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.

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.

f'
I

^<i.a'Si^;Xx,f.-^-:;;::^::-Ah.~".

Fio. 3. NEW ENGLAND TOWNS AND WESTERN TOWNSHIPS

COMPARED

I
I

'A,

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-

TO^VN, TOWNSHIP, AND DISTRICT 49

porated town or city from any close connection wnth the
township educational organization. ^ 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 ■s\ath 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 to^Ti 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 'wathin
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-

1 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 AL>MINISTll.\TION

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 officers
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 blind 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

■a!

O
<!

Q
la

o
o

K
o
CO

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 needs 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 itself 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
fa,cilities, 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 little 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
pf view. In fact, it is just such boards which impede pro-

TO^^^, TO^^^^SHIP, 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 little 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 to\\ii, 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 wash 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 ai>plied 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 figiu-e 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 rural or small village district.
It is of course 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 peculiar 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 c^uite 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.

WTiile 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 apphed 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 multipUed, 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 pubhc 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, wnthout 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 le\'ied 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 57

Recent rapid growth of city school systems. It was not,
however, until about 18.50 or 18G0, 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 earlier date, and these were relatively small in size.^

such that six small school districts, each with one small schoolhousc and
one teacher, had been organized within its con6nes. 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
establishment 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
public 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-
intendent 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, offers a good modern
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 pro\'ided 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 mediteval towns.

58 PITBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

Table shmving grouik of cities in the United States

Per cent of total

population in

cities of liOOO

or over.

Number of cities

Year

of SOOO
or over

of 60,000
or over

of 250,000
or over

1790

3.3

4.0

4.9

6.7

8.5
12.5
16.1
20.9
22.6
29.0
32.9
39.7*

141

226

286
447
545
782

109

1800

1810....

1820

1830

1840

1850

I860

1870

1880

1890

1900

1910

* In addition to this percentage add 2.4 per cent for persons living in cities of 2500 or
over and under 8000, and 8.8 per cent for persons living in incorporated places of less than
2500 inhabitants. This leaves 4-1.9 per cent of the population, in 1910, 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-seven city superintendents of schools
employed in the entire United States,^ and with but thirteen

* These twenty-seven cities were, with decades of their first appoint-
ment: —

Buffalo, N.Y.

1837

Chicago, HI.

1854

Louisville, Ky.

1837

Cincinnati, 0.

1850

St. Louis, Mo.

1854

Providence, R.I.

1839

Boston, Mass.

1851

St. Joseph, Mo.

1854

Gloucester, Mass.

1851

Indianapolis, Ind.

1855

Springfield, Mass.
New Orleans, La.

1840

New York City

1851

Worcester, Mass.

1855

1841

San Francisco, Cal.

1852

Milwaukee, Wis.

1859

Rochester, N.Y.

1843

Jersey City, N.J.

1852

Columbus, 0.

1847

Newark, N.J.

1853

Albany, N.Y.

1866

Syracuse, N.Y.

1848

Brooklyn, N.Y.

1853

Kansas City, Mo.

1867

Baltimore, Md.

1849

Cleveland, O.

1853

Washington, D.C.

1869

The Civil War gave a check to the movement for city school supervision.

THE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT

of the thirty-seven States represented. As late as 1860, also,
but sixty-nine of our present cities are regarded as ha\4ng
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 coinparing cities and States in size

City

Population

State

Population

New York City

Chicago

4,766,883
2,185,283
1,549,008
687,029
670,585
560,663
558,485
533,905
423,715
373,857
363,591
347,469
339,075
319,198
207,214
214,744
145,986

Ohio

4.767,121

Tennessee

Arkansas

Maine

2,184,789

Philadelphia

St. Louis

1,574,449
742,371

Boston

Oregon

672,795

Cleveland

South Dakota

North Dakota

Rhode Island

New Hampshire

Utah

583,888

Baltimore

577,056

Pittsburg

542,610

Buffalo

430,572

Milwaukee

373,351

Cincinnati

Montana

376,053

Newark

Vermont

355,956

New Orleans

Idaho

325,594

Los Angeles

New Mexico

Delaware

327,301

Portland (Ore.)

St. Paul

202,322

Arizona

204,354

Worcester. .

Wyoming

149,965

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 Diredory, published by the United States
Commissioner of Education, 1551 superintendents in cities and towns of
over 4000 inhabitants are Usted for 1914-15.

^ From a table prepared by William T. Harris, while United States
Commissioner of Education.

60 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

inhabitants; in 1910 there were fifty such cities, and these
fifty cities contained '■Z'-Z.l per cent of the total popuhition
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 dift'erent and more difii-
cult and the complexity of the school system is far greater.
This may be seen, in part, from the previous comparisons,
based on the United States Census Reports for 1910.

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 establishment of the value of good super-
vision and business organization, and the working-out and
establishment 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 public 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 pf educational charter,

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.

SHOWIiNO
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 corporg^tioii 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 municipalities to subordinate public 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 our 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 limit 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 w^hich 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 to-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 jjrinciples 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.

3. 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 yoiu- 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, antl secondary education.

1-t. 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 band
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 II 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 IV, 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

Cubberlcy, E. P., and Elliott, E. C. State and Couniij 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 sul)divisions, and the relationship of each
to the prol)leiu of proper slate 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 cd., 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 "Legal Basis 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 units, problems of adminis-
tration, and city school systems.

Elliott, E. C. Legal Decisions Relating to Educatio7i. 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 II.

Hollister, H. A. The Administration of 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 th? interest of the State in the
school administration of cities,

PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

Seerlcy, H. H. "The Province of tlic Common People in the Administra-
tion of Public Education"; in Proceedings of National Education Anso-
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, VVm. C. Recent Centralizing Tendencies in State Educational Ad-
viinistration. 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 IG^T. For the full text
of the decree see Paul Monroe, Sources in the History of Education in the
United States.

78 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.i

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 previ-
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 1701-0'2, 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
towTis, 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 functions, 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 to\NTi. 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
protot\-pe of the modern city council as a city-governing body.

' The law commended to "the selectmen in the seuerall townes, not to
admitt or suffer any such to be contynued in the ofBce or the place of teach-
ing, educating or instructing of youth or child, in the coUedge or schooles,
that haue manifested ym selves vnsound in the fayth, or scandelous in
theire Hues, & not giueing 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 i)urposes. Sometimes these com-
mittees were purely special and temporary/ and some-
times they were appointed for definite purj)oses and for
definite periods of time.^ These committees, however, were
appointed by the towns for mere convenience of adminis-
tration, and \\'ithout 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 lieu
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 Fitchbiug, in 1776, gave to a school committee supervisory
power over the teachers employed by the town.

^ 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 ORGzVNIZATION 75

ent towns. ^ Often, however, these new school committees
also inchided the selectmen.^

In 18^26 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 textljooks,
had control of the school-buildings, and made rules ^nd
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 Newbrn-yport
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 committeemen, elected by the
people of the town in the annual town meeting.

3 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
city 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 e7i 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 w^th the
people.

Massachusetts a type. 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-

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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.

T5rpes 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 council; ^ 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.

' Buffalo, from 1839 to 1914.

^ Cleveland's first charter (1836) pro\nded 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 .\X)MINISTRATION

been abandoned, the cities of Pennsylvania being the last
to give it up, and the second is now the ahnost 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 mneteenth 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, a^ 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 w^hich 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 ORG.\NIZATION 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,^ more actuated by special interests than by the

1 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. Philadelphia
and Pittsburg had essentially this plan until 1905.

2 A few examples will illustrate this: —

Boston, in 1818, had a school committee (board) of 2J>. 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, 455 by 1889, 533 by
1900, and 559 by 1905. In that year the number w^as 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.

3
2
1

FlQ. 7. GROWTH OF A PROFESSIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS

Showing the development of administration and the growth of sentiment toward centralization as indi-
cated by the number of articles on the subject in each number of the annual proceedings of the National
Teachers' Association and National Education Association — 1857-1914. (After Chamberlain )

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.

^ 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 bj' tacit understanding, and
sometimes by the requirements of general law.

EVOLUTION OF CITY ORGANIZATION 83

The result has been the evokition of what might be
called a comprehensive type of school superintendent in our
smaller cities, and of a number of executive oiBcers 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 MonMy, 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 Respo?isibility and Enlargement of Power of
the City School Superintendent. 162 pp. Univ. Cal. Pubs.; Education,
vol. HI, no. 4, 1913.
Section 4, pp. 362-395, cover the beginnings and the expansion of the city oflBce.

Hinsdale, B. A. "The American School Superintendent"; in Educational
Revietv, 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.^ Many boards are large; some are small. Some

' Practically all 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.

* Such special charters were quite common once, when some communities
iesired 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
oflBcers clearly defined.

ORG.VNIZATION 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-officio
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 -1 appointed by the mayor.

Baltimore, in 1898, changed from a board of 28 elected along ward lines
and with the mayor a member ez 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.

PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

CITY

Population
1910

SIZ[ OF BOARD
formerly Now

Cbanerc In 20 Tears

Albany

Bridgeport

Spokane

Cambridge

Lowell

Nashville

Grand Rapids

Dayton

Fall River

Omaha

Paterson

Richmond

Scranton

Memphis

Birmingham

New Haven

Syracuse

Worcester

Oakland

Atlanta

Toledo

Columbus

Portland

Denver

St. Paul

Rochester

Liouisville

Providence

Indianapolis

Seattle .

Kansas City

Jersey City

Minneapolis

Los Angeles

Washington

New Orleans

Newark

CiTiGirmafi

Milwaukee

San Fxancisco

Buffalo

Detroit

Pittsburgh

Baltimore

Cleveland,

Boston

St. Louis

Philadelphia

Chicago

New York

100.253
102,054
104,402
104,839
100,294
110,364
112,571
116,577
119,295
124,096
125,600
127,628
129,867
131,105
132,685
133,605
137,249
145,986
150,174
154,839
168,497
181,511
207,214
213,381
214,744
218,149
223,928
224.326
233,650
237,194
248,381
267,779
301,408
319,198
331,069
339,075
347,469
363,591
373,857
416,912
423,715
465,766
533,905
558,485
560,663
670,585
687,029
1,549,008
2,185,283
4,766,883

9.
24
20

9
15

9
22

9
19
24
11
19
15
15

7
20
15
33
11

6
13

9
11
17
32
31
21
12

0
12
30
29

7
24
24
43
21

3
12
5
5
5
9
9
7
9
12
9
9
9
5
5
7
7
30
7

14
5
7
5
5
0
5
' 5
33
5
5
6
9
7
7
9
5
9
7

■■ Present size I I Decrease in 20 years 1 1 Increase in 20 years

Fig. 8. TENDENCIES OF TWENTY YEARS (1895-1915) IN SCHOOL-BOARD

REORGANIZATIONS

As shown by the fifty cities in the United States having over 100,000 inhabitants. 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

^ 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
5, 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 Cincinnati, 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.

3 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 : —

•<us

Population of City

• Size of Board

S
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-offi^io
members ;2 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 businesslike, and the legislative and executive functions clearly dififer-
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.

ORG.INIZATION OF SCHOOL BOARDS

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

Size of

Number of

Board

Cities

■

1
15

■ 8

■

5
C

ST"

HI^H

mmi^^^g

■■■

■■

IHB

Median No. = 6 ?i

Fio. 9. FREQUENCY OF SIZE OF SCHOOL BOARD

As found in the fifty cities in the United States which, in 1910, had a population of
over 100,000 inhabitants.

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,

^ It is often urged that a larger board is needed in a large city than in
a small one, but present practices and tendencies show no such relation-
ship. For example, we find the following: —
City

Dayton, Ohio
Birmingham, Ala.
Worcester, ^lass.
Providence, R.I.
Kansas City, Mo.
Los Angeles, Cal.
Detroit, Mich.
Boston, Mt^s.

ulation.

\910

Area in Sq.

M8.

Size of Board

116,577

16.8

13>?,685

50.0

145,986

38.5

224,326

18.3

248,361

60.0

319,198

107.5

465,766

41.8

670,585

47.5

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 unwaeldy 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

^ 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 \\Titer 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 thej' were wholly unfitted.

PUBLIC SCHOOL AD^HNISTRATION

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 ho])e of securing
an election there, and, when elected, makes the school
board a stepping-stone to the council and higher political

Fio. 10. A CITY OF NINE WARDS

The three wards south of the river contain the poorer classes of the city. These
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 wards 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, G, 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 comnjon 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 ])leas
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 re])resent 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 ojiinion 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.

ORG.\NIZATION OF SCHOOL BOARDS 97

awarding of contracts; and, in case of a bad mayor, the ease
with which the school system may be demoraHzed.

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. i
While there has been some change within recent years
toward longer service and a better distribution of terms,
two-year terms, with half or all expiring at one time, is still
a very common condition of school-board membership in the
United States.

Short terms of office 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 office 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 efficient 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 mthout 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,

^ 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 Citj' 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 is
now followed in San Francisco. 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. xlii,
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-
Hsting the cooj)eration 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 officers.^

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, 2 it is nevertheless as yet a somewhat question-
able proceeding. WTiatever 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 knprove 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 ADME^STRATION

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 pro\asions 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

1 This is discussed again in Chapter XXV, under the head of the tax-
levying power.

^ This is essentially the Houston, Texas, plan. See the article by Horn,
in Educational Review, April, 1909.

ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL BOARDS 103

theiwork 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 law;>^er, the city ofiicial, 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 municipal 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. Lav^^s 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 ser\'ice. This dependence, in so far as
it relates to finances, will be considered further in Chap-
ter XXV.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. WTiy is action by the State in 6xlng, by general law, the size and
method of selection of the board of education justi6ed ?

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 year for 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. 135G-
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?

G. 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. 'Sii-ii) and later comment in the
November issue (pp. -1-29-31).
Chancellor, W. E. Our Schools: their Administration and S ii perv^is^ion.
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
Reriew, 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 Revieiv, 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 system. 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 As.^ociafion, 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, 1!)10, 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 Educaiional Review, vol. xxx\^I, pp. 36£-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.

Mo\vry, 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 ouUine 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 purjjoses,
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 mem-
bers of the board and the superintendent of schools have to
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 })usiness, 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 T\dth them is not their honesty or their general
intelligence or their wallingness 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 exjjerts 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 Membershij)

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, 255 appeared only
once, and 54 only twice in the 112 cities studied.

FUNCTIONS OF SCHOOL BOARDS 113

Committees Membership

6. Janitors and Sanitation. (G) Druggist, (1) machinist, (2) retired

gentleman.

7. Rules and Grievances. (7) Lumberj-ard foreman, (3) grocer,

(4) shoe clerk.

8. Promotions and Graduation. (8) Hotel-keeper, (o) 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.

"VMiile 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 work lies 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 ^\^th 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 pur]30ses 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, tlie 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 BO.IRDS 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 public 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, 2, 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 wathin 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 ire-

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 tlie waiter'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, ii),
illustrates the process very well. The board of five was di\'ided 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 regidar fortnightly meetings, held sixteen special meetings during
the three months between February 20 and May 23, for which tabulations
were made.

- The twenty different 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 BOARDS 117

thousands of dollars in purchasing an adult's library for the
high school, which was of little use for teaching pur])oses,
and books for the grades which were not at all suited to the
needs of the pu})ils.

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 limited 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 finallj'
convinced that half 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 allo^^ng 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 outhning 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.^

^ 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.

^ 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 from
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 w^th
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

1 "The duties of the board of education as fixed by law involve the es-
tablishment and maintenance of a public school system. This implies
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 ADJVUNISTRATION

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
oflBcers 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 -^Tong.^ Even then, in many
cases, the board wall be ^\ase not to act hastily.

In certain strictly professional matters, such as courses
of studj', 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, ad\'i-
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 their 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
so." E. C. Moore, How New York City Administers its Schools, p. 89.

FUNCTIONS OF SCHOOL BOARDS 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 ap})Iy 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 itself 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 nien,^ and the tenure should
be long enough also to offer attractions.^

1 The difference between a salary of $3000 and $4000 for a city of 20,000
inhabitants, is a pcr-capifa 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
of service it should purchase at least twice as efficient a superintendent.

- The usual one-year tenure is most undesirable, and is unattractive to
the 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 commensurate with the importance of the service
the board ex]^ects 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 when 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 exj^ect
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.

Types of board members. To render such intelligent 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 exjjerts 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 exj^erts 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.^

1 Chancellor, in Our Schools; Their Adminisiration 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 list 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 me^i, 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
})oints 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
lialanced, 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 supplies, 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 with
which she is connected." (Hines [see chapter references], p. 998.)

- Chancellor, in Our Schools; Their Administration and Supervision (pp.
12-16 and 61-07), 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 /VDMINISTRATION

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 Avell trained as a physi-
cian or a surgeon?

4. W'hy, when a superintendent of schools objects to board mismanage-
ment and asks for power commensurate AA^th 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
sjTnpathy, 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?

(b) In dictating the kind of paper or pencils which must be bought?

(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. What 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 ^vith 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

Tories FOR INVESTIGATION AND REPORT

1. What powers are guaranteed, by general law, to city superintendents
of schools in your State? In half 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 Sijstem. 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 II 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 Education 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. IS, pp. V>&3~77. (Xoveiuher, 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 \iew"; in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1911, pp.
994-100^.
An excellent statement.

Hunsicker, B. F. "Retro.spective 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 of
boards of education.

Mark, C. W. "The Function of School Boards"; in Proceedings of National
Education Association, 1909, pp. 8;39-42.
The board simply as a board of control for the schools.

Moore, E. C. How New York City Administers its Schools. S'^l 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 ditficulties in the way of efficient administration. The principles stated are appli-
cable to other large cities. A valuable volume.

Portland, Oregon. Report of the Surrey of the Public School System (1913).
418 pp. Reprinted hy the World Book Co., Yonkers, New York, 1915.
Chapter II describes the work done by the board, and lays down fundamental
principles of action. A good example of board over-activity.

Salt Lake City, Utah. Report of the Survey of the Public School System.

2o0 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 life. In pecuniary, 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

^ 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 executive
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 living 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.'-

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 adimnistration 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,

1 The pecuniary rewards may be seen from the follownng statement as to
average salaries for 1912-13, taken from the report on teachers' salaries,
prepared by the National Education Association, and issued by the U.S.
Bureau of Education (Bulletin no. 16, 1914). The maximum salary is
higher now in some of the groups. In many cities the superintendent of
schools is the highest paid official in the city.

Salary of the Superintendent

Size of city

Lowest

Uighcsl

A verage

From 5,000 to 10,000 inhabitants

10 000 to 25,000

$ 400
1200
2000
2400
3300
4000

$3000
4250
5000
5000
7500

10000

$1915

2774

25 000 to 50 000

3019

50 000 to 100 000

3582

100 000 tn 250 000

4422

250 000 and unward

7178

' Here, as elsewhere throughout this book, the masculine form is used,
and 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 /\X)MINISTRAT10N

is not approached by that of any other official in the employ
of a munici])ality. In po])ular estimation the mayor, the
president of the city council, the chief of jiolice, or the head
of the fire dejiartment may occupy more im])ortant posi-
tions, but the far-reaching character of the services of a
callable and energetic superintendent of schools transcends
in importance any of these.

What the schools are in organization, administration, in-
struction, spirit, and })urpose, and the ])osition 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 su})erintendent 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 office. 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 reisresentative of the schools and all for
which the schools stand before the people of the communit3^
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 wilhng
to spend many years in hard and ])ainstaking jjrej^aration.
To be able to obtain a small suj^erintendency 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 sujjerintendency 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 })lace a good college
education may be considered as an absolute essential for
future work, and at least a year of graduate stud3% doing
advanced work in the study of educational problems, is
j)ractically 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 perha])s
less important than that it should be good, and that it
should challenge the best efforts of the student, awaken
worthy am]:)itions, and stimulate the development of a high
ideal of service. The preparation should be broad, and
should early open U]) 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 intelligent
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 will,
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 toj) 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 \vith 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 i)eriod, 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
thirtj'-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 ^\^th some ease. ^Mien 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 la-wyers 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 dail}^ work in su]>erintending 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 l)eing
flabby or weak. He must not be affected by a desire to stand
in the community limelight, or to talk unnecessarily about
his own accomplishments. 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 ^\ill 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 genuuie 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 win
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 are
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 statesmansliip. 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 })rivate, 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 \vith the press and the ])ublic; 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 public 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 outlines
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 proces.ses 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
himself, he can see ends among the means and hope amid
the discouragements, and be able to steer such a course
amid the o})stacles and trials and misunderstandings of
city school control as will l)ring 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?
(b) a good sense of proportion? (e) 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.
Cary, 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 Mottthbj,

vol. 77, pp. 810-22. (June, 1890.)

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 PersonaUty"; 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 SUPERINTENDENTS

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.

AH 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

^ " If the superintendent is not known outside of the schoolhouses, much
of the infliience 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 sii])erintendent 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 lie 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-
self 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
interests 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 as 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 ^s-ise, too, if be 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 ^ill 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 wath 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.

Fio. 11. ILLUSTRATING THE PROCESS OF EDUCATING A SCHOOL BOARD

I spend mucli 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 SUPERINTENDENTS 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 susjjicions 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
E and F.

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 SUPERINTENDENTS WORK 149

young men about to go into the work. If the superintendent
is to render vakiable service as an organizer and director for
a school system, he must develo]) 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 oflScial 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 sthool 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. .\. Brodeur [see ref-
erences], p. 558.)

150 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

driving, nor will he obtain much if any j)ower 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 rejjorts. 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

^ 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 sitiiation.

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 friendshij)
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
boartl the sui)erintendent 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 Hfe
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. 250. October, 1899.)

152 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

without bothcrin<>- the hoard. 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.^

Appealing to the community. 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
^^ew 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 15S

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 puq^ose. 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 pubhc 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 connnunity 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 ex]3ressed. To apologize to an

1 "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 superintendent to educate them up to the
larger needs of their schools,^

3. The superintendent as supervisor

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, how^ever 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
know^ledge and his larger insight into educational needs must,
in some way, find expression in the daily work of teachers

1 "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 oflSce, 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 himself 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 l)y 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 exjiect 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 owti 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 SUPERINTENDENTS WORK 157

carefully, for out of these, as it were, come his balance, his
perspective, his insight, his reliability, and his reserve force
for the emergencies of his daily work.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Explain how educational organization may evolve into educational
statesmanship. lUustrate.

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?

6. 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;

(b) a class for subnormal 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 with 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 will 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 .VDMINISTRATION

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?

{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, ayiyway?" 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 Remetv, 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 SUPERINTENDENTS WORK 159

Gorton, C. E. "The Superintendent in Small C'iLies"; in Proceedings of
National Education Association, 1900, pp. 222-29.
A good general urticle on the superintendent's work and influence.

Greenwood, J. M. "The Superintendent and the Hoard of Education"; in
Educational Revieic, vol. 18. pp. 3G3-77. (November, 1899.)
A good general article on the establishment and maintenance of proper relationships.

Symposium, "(aty School Supervision"; five articles in Educational Re-
view, as folk)ws: —
I. Gove, Aaron, vol. ii, pp. 256-61. (October, 1891.)
II. Greenwood, J. M., vol. ii, pp. 362-65. (November, 1891.)

III. Balliet, T. M.. vol. ii. pp. ^82-86. (December. 1891.)

IV. Tarbell, H. S., vol. iii, pp. 65-69. (January, 1892.)

V. Harris, W. T., vol. in, 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
needs.

CHAPTER XII

CITY SCHOOL DEPARTMENT ORGANIZATION

Size and distribution of cities. There were, in 1913, 1333
cities in the United States, 1239 of which made statistical
reports to the United States Commissioner of Education.
A tabulation of these reports shows the following distribu-
tion of the cities as to size, together with the number of
superintendents and assistant superintendents of schools for
such, the number of supervisory officers other than school
principals employed, and the percentage of all pupils en-
rolled and of all teachers employed found in such city sys-
tems, by groups of cities : —

Number
of cities

Number employed

Percentage, in such
cities, of all

Size of cities
{Census of 1910)

Superintend-
ents and
assistant su-
perintendents

Special
supervisors

Pupils en-
rolled in
public
schools

Teachers

employed

in public

schools

Over 100,000

25,000 to 100,000

10,000 to 25,000

5,000 to 10,000

50
183
409*
691§

400
213
407
647

825

884

1031

939

18.4
8.0
5.9
5.4

14.0

6.8
5.0
4.4

Totals

1333

1667

3649

37.7

30.2

* 35 of these did not make reports; averages calculated for 374 cities.
§ 59 of these did not make reports; averages calculated for 632 cities.

Calculating averages for these same cities, we get the fol-
lowing average distribution of superintendents, supervisory
officers (not including school principals), teachers employed,
and pupils enrolled, for each group of cities : —

SCHOOL DEPARTMENT ORG.VNIZATION 161

Number

of cities

reporting

Average number per city of

Size of cities
{Census uf I'JIO)

Superintend-
ents and
assistant
superintend-
ents

Special
supervisors

Teachers
employed

PupUs
enrolled

Over 100,000

25,000 to 100.000

10,000 to 25,000

5,000 to 10,000

18;$

;574
6.'$2

8.0
1.2—
1.1 —
1.0 +

16.5
4.8 +

2.8 —
1.5 —

1517
203

74
38

62,589
7,442
2,679
1,380

From the above tables we see that, had all of the cities
reported, the 1333 special-type school districts known as
city school districts — out of a total of somewhere between
300,000 and 350,000 school districts of all kinds in the
United States ^ — would be shown to have employed approx-
imately 1750 superintendents and assistant superintend-
ents, 3700 special supervisors, and 31 per cent of all of the
teachers in the public schools of the United States, and to
have enrolled approximately 39 per cent of all of the pupils
enrolled in public day schools. The special character of the
problems of organization and administration in the city
school districts will be apparent from these tables. The 50
cities having over 100,000 inhabitants have an even more
special character. Though constituting a trifle less than
4 per cent of the total number of cities, these 50 neverthe-
less employed nearly one fourth of the supervisory officers
and nearly one half of the teachers employed in all cities, and
enrolled nearly one half 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 more than one half (51.8 per
cent) of the cities of the United States had less than 10,000
inhabitants in 1910, and that 1100 of the 1333 (82.5 per
cent) had less than 25,000 inhabitants. It is in these smaller

162 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTIL\.TION

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 rec{uires 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 ORG.VNIZATION 163

round man, conversant with the different phases of his work,
and al)le 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

1()4 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

school administration, — dictating letters, meeting people,
smoothing ont 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

* 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 enougli freedom from routine
and other service to enable him to have some free time for
reading, study, and visitation, tliat he may keep abreast of
progress in theory and practice.^

Organization in a small city. The scheme of organization
in a small cit}' 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 exjject 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 commmiity

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 entimsiasm 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 Hnes, 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 w^ork. He must look after the proper education and

^ 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.

SJ8 elementary-school teachers.

2 kindergarten teachers.

1 manual-training teacher.

1 cooking teacher.

1 ungraded-room teacher.

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, tlie administration of the course
of study, the educational development of the school system,

Pcopk- of till? State I

i-sentfcl in the L<'cisli<tiii ■■ J

Business
Committee
nf the Boarri

Stnte Stiperintendent of"
ruTilic In^tnirtinn

CcHinty Superintendent
of Rdiools

Educntional

Committee
of the Bonrd

Business and
Office Clerk

Steno^rrnjiher

Kinderirnrten
Teachers

Pupils

Parents

Fig. 12. PLAN OF EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR A SMALL
CITY SCHOOL SYSTEM, AND SHOWING PROPER RELATIONSHIPS

This plan would apply to a city school system employing
from about 40 to about 100 teachers

the work of special teachers, and the work of the attendance
officer. While doing this he mnst 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 DErARTMENT ORGANIZATION

169

On the educational side the niinibcr of special supervnsors
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: —

Employees

1 superintendent of schools.

1 assistant superintendent, for the study of
work and product. (\'irtually an effi-
ciency expert.)

1 super\'isor of primary work. (Virtually an
assistant superintendent of schools.)

1 health supervisor.

5 special supervisors. (Drawing, music and

expression, constructional activities,
home-life activities, and play acti\ities.)
1 high-school principal.

1 intermediate-school principal.

6 elementary-school principals, who do not

teach.

2 elementary-school principals, who teach.
25 high-school teachers.
20 intermediate-school teachers.
95 elementar>'-school teachers.

8 kindergarten teachers.

4 manual-training teachers.

4 cooking teachers.

4 sewing teachers.

2 school nurses.

4 playground teachers.

6 ungraded-room teachers.

2 parental-school teachers.

1 oral-deaf teacher.

6 vocatioDal-scbool teachers.

Scope of system

1 high school.

1 intermediate school.

4 large elementary schools.

2 medium-sized elementary schoob.
2 small elementary schools.

8 kindergarten classes.

2 manual training, cooking, and sewing
buildings, in connection with the inter-
mediate and the high school.

6 ungraded rooms, one in connection with
each larger elementary-school building.

1 class for the oral instruction of the deaf.

1 parental school.

1 day vocational school.

Office force

1 clerk and business manager.

2 attendance officers.
1 bookkeeper.

3 stenographers and clerks.

1 janitor (acting as head janitor).

Architects and engineers employed as
needed.

800

170 PUBLIC SCHOOL ^VDMINISTRATION

Proper administrative organization for the larger city.
The business aiui edueutional organization will now become
more complicated, and as properly carried out is represented
by the drawing (f'igure 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 wall 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 w ho 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 grow^s.

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,

1 1 Board Business ' ■' '
' Committees r

School Clerk, or
Business Manatrer

School
Architect

School
Janitors

School
Nurses

Attendance
Officers

PARENTS

Fig. 13. PLAN OF EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR A MEDIUm|h)
This plan would apply to a city school system employing from about 125 to about 2.50 teac

is small, there is little ne oiaj

People of the State
opresented in the Leprislature

State Superintendent
of Public Instruction

People of the City
School District

Regular
Teachers

Teachers of
Special Subjects

Teachers in
Special-type Schools

ED CITY SCHOOL SYSTEM, AND SHOWING PROPER RELATIONSHIPS

Tlie lines to and from the board committees are dotted, for the reason that, if the board
T any standing committees

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 salarj' are uniler consideration, with the right to
speak on any question, hut 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 sliould 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 mortality, 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 tlie 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 recjuired, 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 exrjjenditures 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

City Board ( ;

Expcutive Officers

Superintendent
of Properties

School
Architect

Draughts-
men
Inspectors
Mechanics

CITY SI PKKIMKX

School
Janitors

rARE^•Ts

ru:

Fig. 14. PLAN OF EDUCATIONAL ORG.^NIZATION FOR A L.\R6! IT

This plan would apply to a city employing 350 to 400 teachers, or upwards The board ormiiiiitt(liii

under the above organization, if< lies

ducation

the Board

«T OF SCHOOLS

SclKiOl

Liljiarians

Sehdol
Nurses

TY SCHOOL SYSTEM, AND SHOWING PROPER RELATIONSHIPS

ave l)eeii omitted entirely lie re, for the reason that the school business will be transacted better,
board has no committees at all

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 SCII(M)L .ADMINISTRATION

agfjrandi/.iiif,' itself at the expense of the })est interests of the
children in the schools, liuildinj^s, for example, are neces-
sary, an(i so are supi)lies and equii>nient, but buildings are
erected to enable teachers to teach children in them, and
supplies and equipment are furnislied 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 occur from time to time,
or almost all the time, with the inevitable result that the
efficiency of the schools is materially impaired.

In addition to the guaranteed powers of the superintend-
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

STATE LEGISLATURE

County Boundary
Board

City Park
Board

Tux-pa^
Schot

BOAKD OF CITY

Board Committees

Building's

Repairs Grounds Insurance

Executive

Office! if

\ THE SCHOOL CLERK/^-

Secretary

Purchasing
Agent

Superintendent
of Properties

School
Janitors

Store Keeper
Deliyery Man

Parks and
Playgrounds

Truant
Officer

Cashier

Draftsmen
Inspectors
Supervisors
Mechanics

Book lei
a ;

Fig. 15. AN INCORRECT FORM

This form of organization was found in a city of 250,000 employing approximately 90C it

the preponderating influence of this official in school CC' I.

of the
strict

State Superintendent
of Piib. Instruction

County Superintendent
of Sciiools

OOL DIRBCTOHS

Librarj' Association
of City

Board Committees

Finance

Supplies

Teachers

SrPEIUNTEXUEXT OF SCUOOLS

Assistant Superintendents

Special Supervisors

School Principals

Regular Teachers

Pupils

Nurses

EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION

fters and supervisory officers. The heavy lines leading to the School Clerk indicate
. (From the Report of the Portland School Survey)

People of the City
electing

Board of Supervisors
C(Mtv {\>uneill

MAYOR

who appoints

Board of
I^^bllc Works

Superintendent
of Schools

Determines

"rate of
school tax

Other City Boards
controlling

Builds and

repairs

school houses

Janitors

School Clerk

Teacher.'

Health
Supervision

Libraries

Office

Assistants

Fio 16 AN ESPECIALLY BAD FORM OF EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION
This form of educational organization has existed in the city of San Francisco since 1900

SCHOOL DEPARTMENT ORGANIZATION 175

work of each of these departments, which will be the sul)ject
matter of the subsequent chai)ters 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
hirger 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 cjuestions 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 role. 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 healtli. 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 suj^erintendent 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 offer 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 tin enlliusiasni 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 Ijecome
difficult, a supervisory force which lacks initiative and keeps
chise to old and well-established ])aths, and a teaching force
wanting in personal strength and j^rofessional 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.

Characteristics 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-
1 Tlie 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 tliemselves. 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

luid 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 183

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 ])rofessional 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 j)erhaps for only
part time. The salaries, probably, will be (luite moderate,
and the character of the princijKils 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 y\J)MINISTRATION

educational organization shown in Figure V3, a larger and
presumal)ly 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 w^ould
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
ofttimes also that of the teaching force. Misunderstandings,
personal enmity, and political attack nuist be expected to
appear from time to time. Most often such trou])les are due
to a simple lack of understanding of what is proposed, but
sometimes they arise from th^ 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, exi)lanation 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.^

* " 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 the
superintendent is an absolutely candid frankness. The man who delivers
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 EDUCATION.VL DEP.UITJNIENT 189

supervisor added in the medium-sized cities, will constitute
the usual supervisory staff. In all of the smaller cities, how-
ever, the school princi])als 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 i>revent-
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 inevitiible at-
tacks of special supervisors, who so naturally try to monopolize most of

190 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

The school principals. Whatever other supervisory offi-
cers may or may not exist for the puri)ose of coordinating
and improving tlie 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 inij^ortance of the
office 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 under
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 systeui the office
of school principal should be magnified." Whatever can be
done to add strength and dignity and responsiljility to the

the general teachers' time and energy in teaching and worr,\ing 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.

^ "I would make the position of school principal one place of fixed and
definite responsibility, and I would magnify and dignify that position and
office. 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 Pro-
ceedings of National Education Association, 1903, p. 226.)

THE EDUCATION/VL DEP^UITMENT 191

office should be done, with the view to making each i)rincii)ul
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 quahties for hel])ful
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-
visory 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 lines of authority converge to and radiate from tlie principal.

2 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 .VDMINISTRATION

blame for such a condition. Too often the ])rincij)al is given
ahnost no authority to vary anything, or to de])art in any
way from the rigid luiiformity 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 sui)ply-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 uj) of rigidity and uniformity
in the school system, the placing of responsibility with them
for results rather than the follo"^ing of a uniform ])lan, 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 office-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 i:»resented, and common defects in school
administration and supervision pointed out.^ The more ex-
perienced and sagacious of the princii)als 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 purposes of the supervisory organization.
While the su]ierintendent 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 suj)ervisors 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 })lace 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, ni, 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?

(<•) Order the character of the instruction changed?

(d) Order a certain form of patriotism taught?

(f) 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?

(b) Find fault with a principal as to his conduct of the school?

3. Should a board, by rules and regulations, ever require —

(a) All cases of discipline to be reported to it?

(b) 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?

(b) To authorize an educational experiment in connection with the
instruction of some class, or school?

((/) 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 DEPARTMENT 195

10. Three small cilios, located near one anollier along a trolley line, ean
afford only about $'^000 a year each for special supervioion. What is the
best [)lan 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 supervisory
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?

11.. 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
jjrepare 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 woukl you do if you wanted to train your principals to render
helpful supervisory service? Outline your plan.

17. W'hat 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
in 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 " caliinet," in a city large enough
tt) have such, aside from the principals.

5. Do the same for the principals' meetings in such a city.

196 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

6. Do tlie saine, for a small city, where one spceial supervisor and a few
prineipals constitute the entire su[)ervisory 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. 10-1-32, is a very good and readable chapter on the organization
and work of the supervisory oiEcers.

Chicago, 111. Report of the Chicago Educational Commission. (1899.) 248
pp. Univ. Chic. Press.

Article III, pp. S'J-ST, 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 RevieiD, 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 Proccdings
of National Education A.-i.<ioriation, 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. "Tlie Function of Supervision"; in Educational Review, vol.
I, pp. 46j-(59. (May, 181)1.)

A very good article on the characteristics of good school supervision.

McMurry, F. M. Elementary School Standards. 218 pp. World Hook Co.,

Yonker.s, 1913. (Part of tlie New York City School Suriry 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. 32i-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 Xational Education Association, 1913, pp. 296-
99.

A good paper, followed by a good short talk on the same topic by J. J. Keycs.

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, .\lice E. "The .\ssistant 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 teachers

The selection of teachers. Every school system needs a
few additional teachers each year to re])lace 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 school
authorities.

In some cities the new teachers are selected largely by

* 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
l)y 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 jiersonal 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 appHcants 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 estimuble 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 lie 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 tyi)e 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 little. 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 ])rofessional 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 TENURE 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 attem])t 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 nmch
too narrow. Boards of education almost always wait for
applicants, and then select from those who a])ply. 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 ui)on 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 keej) 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 commimi-
ties. In some the salaries paid will be so low that trained

202 PUBLIC SCHOOL .VDMINISTRATION

teachers from the outside cannot often be attracted to the
service, and the home girls accordingly come to ex])ect 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 emjjloyed 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 on
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 of
the best of the applicants from elsewhere.

5. Teachers within the system must keep themselves profes-

SELECTION AND TENURE OF TEACHERS 203

sionally alive and render good community service as a condi-
tion to tlie retention of their places.

6. While any one may file an application for a position, the board
should reserve the right of i)assing over all applicants, and of
inviting specially competent teachers from elsewhere to fill
positions, even though such have filed no formal a])plications.

7. The continual selection of teachers who have had little or no
educational exj^erience outside of the city or of the immediate
comnmnity 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-
Ushment 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, or equivalent institution, and, in addition, been grad-
uated from a normal school. A year of teaching experience
in some other place woukl 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 re((uirements for an
elementary-school position, had at least two years of work in

204 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADAONISTRATION

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 tlie 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 officer 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 emijioyment of teachers prevail, the super-
intendent 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.

^ 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

princi})als a difficult matter if the salary schedule is the
equal of that of surrouuding cities. If the salary schedule
is nuich lower, or if low staudards as to employment arc the
rule, he will have continual difficulty in securing the kind of
teachers he wants. One of his imjiortant 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

20G I'LBLIC SCHOOL .VDMINISTRATION

influenced by pull than he. He will from time to time make
some mistakes, to be sure, but he will make a nmeh 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 mthout 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.^

3. 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 TE.VCHERS 207

noiince that, by rule, it has given the power of nomination to
the superintendent, and that the members do not desire ap-
pheants or their friends to visit tliem on the matter.
6. In a city where a comijetitive examination system is in use.
the board shoidd refuse to see applicants or their friends in-
dividually, and should announce that the attempt so to visit
them will be regarded as unjn-ofessional 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 ap])licants,
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, 0 to io.)

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 schoolroom. (For example, 0 to 40.)

3. Personality and adaptability to the work of instruction.
Based on a personal interview. (For example, 0 to 25.)

4. Physical examination by the health supervisor, or by a de-
signated physician. (For example, 0 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 ap])licants 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 ereden-

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 ])laces him or her for the purpose of
election to a teaching position. '^ When such a competitive
system is put into use the following princii)les of action
should i^revail : —

1. On the recommendation of the superintendent of schools the
board should elect, from those liighest 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 he made, in each case, from the
three remaining highest on the list.

3. For satisfactory cause the lioard 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 wTitten 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
list 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 eonii)etitive-exaniiuution i)lan is that teacliers
from the outside are ])hiced on a phme of ec{uality with the
home girls in the matter of securing jjositions. Personal
merit now counts instead of personal j)ull, 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 ]>ower 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 sj)end
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 niontlis. The average rating of the five could be
filed as the personal examination rating.

' Superintendent Carr, in an address before the National Education
Association (Proceed I luj.t, 1905, p. 183), laid <lo\vn 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; di.smiss for inefliciency.

7. Protect professional teachers from ruinous competition with non-
professionals.

8. Pay teachers in proportion to the service rendered.

210 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

cants. It should be made one of the su])crmtendent's func-
tions to hunt u]) 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 exjjert 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.

- In a few States a longer tenure is noAv 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 TENUllE 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 jSIiss Salmon's article for many concrete cases. Also see an
article in the Educational Review (vol. 25, pj). 538-39), entitled "What
ought not to be possible."

212 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADAUNISTRATION

professionally heli)f ul, is characterized by a lack of leadership
and ins])iration 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. Comjjared ^N-ith 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 Avith 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 num]:»er 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 incom])e-
tence and injustice of school boards in handling the matter
of apjiointments, 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 reaHty it is always the super-
intendent and the principal who are put on trial.

Often the publicity and the personahtics of the trial leave

214 PUBLIC SCHOOL iVDMINISTRATION

the teachers and the public 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 gro^vnng, 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

' 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 hfe-tenure after a somewhat Hmited service.
The effect is also demorahzing 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 ground 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 wdth 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, tender 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 tlie latter the annual elections would cease for
all time, the teacher })eing 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 u])on 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 our school systems are lamentably
weak." (J. C. Hendri.x, 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 imjirovement 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

^ 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 ADMINLSTRATION

has such power by trial, under the life-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 down
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 TENURE 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.

1 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 dismissed.

220 PUBLIC SCHOOL .VDMINISTRATION

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 efiicient 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' connnittee
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 arc 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 applicants 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 salarj' 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?
{!>) 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 (6) 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 desii'able 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 la])se 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 riglits, in tlu- inattor of the selection, assignment,
or transfer of teachers, should l)e 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 turning over to you tlie 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 liave 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 Ijecome 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 revision.

5. Make up a form which you would use in grading the probable eflS-
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 Sy.stem in St. Louis"; in Proceedings of Na-
tional Education Association, 1905, pp. 24.1— It.

Basis of appointment, and reports on the efficiency of teachers and principab as
a basis for retention.

224 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

Chicago, 111. Report of the Educational Commissnon. (1899.)

Chapter IV is good on the examination, uppoiutuient, and promotion of teachers.
Draper, A. S. "The ('rueial Test of the Public Schools"; in his American
Education, part i, chap. vi.

An excellent article on the difficulties an<l the dangers of the teacher problem in
larjje cities.

Draper, A. S. Necessary Basis of the Teacher's Tenure. 41 pp. Bardeen,
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 obhgaflons 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 OfBce"; in his Educational Re-
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 Rerieiv, vol. 3, pp. 2(50-64. (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 Sy.stem 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 ex})eri-
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.

1. 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
previously 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 i)rofessional preparation to all.

226 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADAUNISTRATION

Professional standards for entrance. To this end, as was
pointed out in the last cha])ter, 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, wdtli special preparation in 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 or
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 courses 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 pecuHar 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

2^28 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

iuliahitaiits' can alford to ]>rovi(ic the material equij)nient
or the staff necessary for such a school. This equijHnent
and staff should be at least the equal for the work attemj)ted
of that ])rovided in the better state normal schools. The
equipment should be good, both in })uilding 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 exj^ense of jjrejjaring 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

1 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.

^ 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. Trom
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 cit.y. 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, initiatingnewplans, tryingout 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. '^ Even when the number graduated is not suffi-
cient to fill all the vacancies, the training-class serves to
estal)lish 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-

* 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 School,^ of Springfield, p. G5.)

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 ho 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 wi.sh 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 aliility 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 Proceedings
of National FAliication Association, 1!)06, p. 1-25.)

230 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

spective teachers, often taught by training-teachers them-
selves inferior in grasp and technical preparation to those
holding similar ])ositions 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-

' 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 wa.s the feeling 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.)

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 ap})eal
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.^

• "The principles and practices, the theory and the art of education,
are constantly undergoing, in common with all other phases of civilization,
modification and development. Likewise the field of education in 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 .\X)MINISTRATION

Personal growth, outside of tliat 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.)

' 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 perfimctory 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 prof essional 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 19'-20. The teacher must know more, and her ideals for
pnlilic 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 witli 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 i)hases of school work and the
progress of instruction, somewhat for administrative and
supervisory purposes, and for inspirational purposes. These
different puri)oses 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 ins])iration 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
I)lanned. 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, 190(), p. 1'20) 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 niinimuiii,
Such a plan is more applicable to a large city than to a small om-

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

TRMNING AND SUPERVISION 235

the part of teachers, and the princi])le 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.

" 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 import.ance. 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 aljout 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 ADMESTISTRATION

desire to undertake further academic or professional prepa-
ration. To require teachers to cany on private study in
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

1 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 Indianapolis ";
in Elemeniary-School Teacher, vol. 12, pp. 461-62, June, 1912.)

- 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.)

TKUNING AND SUPERMSION 237

while absent, usually one half. Such leaves, without pay,
are also usually granted to professors at any time.

These leaves of a])sence 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 our cities, it must be
admitted, no problems invohang 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 self-satisfied and relatively stationary city of 10,000

' This topic is touched on but briefly here. In another book in this
series, Tlic Administration of a Scliool, 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 underlying 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 afi'airs. 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 :VND 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 Hues
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 largely of in-
spection to see that the teachers are following instructions,
and are making proper progress ; while the examination and
tabulation of the results of the examinations, and the chart-
ing of schools and teachers as to efficiency based on the
results of 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 ADMINISTRATION

ards on the part of his teachers and principals, rather than
because ol" the support and backinjf wliich conies to him
from the, teaching corps due to the heljjfuhiess 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 w^th 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 eti'ect. 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 wliat is de-
sired. Sometimes, ofttimes, this unity calls for coJiperation
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 is of much value
in school supervision.

242 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 SUPEllVISION 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, ^nth
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 practice
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 be 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 teacliing 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?

3. 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 ser\-ice of the city prior to 1860 5

Entered ser\-ice of the city between 1800 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 effect on the instructing corps of a lack of it.

6. What reason can you see for teachers reaching a somewhat stationary
plane after seven or eigiit years of teaching service?

246 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

7. What type of subjects could be taken up advantageously in a general
meeting of

(o) Primary teachers?

(b) Seventh- and eighth-grade 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 teacher 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 efficient organization?
Why?

14. Give some types of —

(a) Helpful supervision.

(b) Negative supervision.

15. What do you imderstand 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 FOE 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.

(b) On a proper basis of maintenance.

How miicli woulii 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.

(rf) One book for all teachers in high schools.

(f) 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 efficiency 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.

(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 Revieiv, 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

ingaof National luhtcatUm Association, 1897, pp. 225-33; good general
discussion of, pp. 233-38.

Deals with details und 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 i 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 Training

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.

Greenwood, 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
Edncation 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"; in Proceedings
of National Education Association, 1904, pp. 271-76.

A good article on special supervisors, and their place in the super\'isory work.

Manny, F. A. City Trai7iing-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 ofihe Surrc;/ of the Public School System. (1913.)

441 pp. Reprinted by World Hook Co., Yonkcrs, 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 As.sistant to the Superintendent; his Functions
and Methods of Work"; in Proceedings of National Education Associa-
tion, 1904, pp. 264-71.
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 As.s-ociation, 1914, pp. 280-88.
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 As.sociafion, 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.

Warrimer, 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.^

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 l)etter
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 })e 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 of the
Committee on Teachers' Salaries of the National Education
Association^ reveals a rather pitiful situation in many of our
American cities. From $400 to $800 a year for elementary-
school teachers, with the median at ^550 to $600, and from
$600 to $1200 for secondary -school teachers, with the me-
dian near $850 or $900, is altogether too common in cities
of from 25,000 to 50,000 inhabitants. Such salaries are
shamefully low, if anything hke adequate standards are to
be insisted on.

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,
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 : —

$400 a year equals $L27 per work

500

1.59

600

1.92

700

2.23

800

2.56

900

2.87

[000

3.18

ing day.

1 The Tangible Rewards of Teaching. Bulletin no. 16, 1914, U.S. Bureau
of Education.

PAY AND PROMOTION OF TEACHERS 253

$1100 a year equals $.'5.,51 per working day.
I'^OO ' " li.Si

1300 " 4.15

1400 " 4.46

1500 " 4.79

Carpenters, machinists, plumbers, lathers, plasterers,
bricklayers, hod-carriers, enginemen, trainmen, motormen,
clerks in city offices, policemen, firemen, chauflFeurs, dress-
makers, milliners, and nurses are ])aid better than are teach-
ers, at the annual salaries usually paid, though the educa-
tion and professional preparation required for such services,
except in the case of nurses, is not comparable with tiiat
required of teachers. No marked advance in raising the
standards for entering the work, or in paying teachers on
the basis of efficiency, 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- and secondary-school
teachers in many of our cities — in practically all of the
cities of some of our States — are little less than disgraceful.
Considering the importance of the service and the cost of
training and living, a beginning salary of $600 to $700, and
increasing automatically to at least $1000 for elementary-
school teachers, and a beginning salary of $800 to $900,
and increasing automatically up to at least $1200 for sec-
ondary-school teachers, is certainly not an unreasonable
amount for any American city to pay. INIany cities should
pay more.^

1 The Los Angeles city schedule, as given in the bulletin, Tangible Re-
wards of Teaching, p. 217. offers a good example of a better condition. By
following the policy of offering a salary which will attract to the city the
best teachers coming to the Southwest, a policy which has been followed

254

PUBLIC SCHOOL i\X)MINISTRATION

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-

there for the past twenty years, the city has developed a school system
noted for its high efficiency. Its salary schedule is stated to be as follows: —

Position

HiRh schools: —

Principals

Vice-principals

Heads of departments

Sub-heads

Teachers

Intermediate schools: —

Principals

Vice-principals

Teachers

Elementary schools: —

Principals, 1 room

Principals, 2-5 rooms

Principals, 6-10 rooms

Principals, 11-17 rooms . . . .

Principals, 18 or more rooms

Teachers

Special teachers

Kindergartens: —

Directors

Assistants

Supervisors: —

Heads

Assistant supervisors

Minimum
yearly
salary

$3000
2400
1800
1560
1200

3000
1920
1200

1200
1260
1380
1680
2100
1200
1200

720
600

2100
1680

Yearly

increase

$60
60
60

60
60
60

60
60

48
48

Years to

reach
maximum

Maximum
yearly
salary

$3600

2160
1800
1560

1560

1320
1620
2400
1560
1440

960
840

2700

PAY AND PROMOTION OF TEACHERS 255

table living wage, and should ])e reached aljout 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 l)een 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-
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
approximately equal ability, every executive officer knows
is not the case.^ A uniform salary schedule assumes that all
of equal rank and experience are approximately of equal
worth, — a condition that is never found to exist. The

' For ten good descriptions of individual teachers, with salaries paid
each, see the Report of the Survey of the Public Schools of PortIa7id, pp. 79-80.

'i56

PUBLIC SCHOOL AI^ILNISTRATION

great bulk of the teachers in any city, where good super-
vision has been the rule and professional preparation and
growth have been emphasized, are good average teachers.
A few will be more or less weak, and a few will be quite
superior.

Stimulating industry and individual improvement. How
many will be of the class known as superior wall depend
greatly on the incentives to become superior teachers which
the salary schedule and the administration of the system
provide. To stimulate industry on the part of teachers, to
encourage indi\adual improvement, and to reward excep-
tional merit, should be characteristics of a good salary sched-
ule as well as of a good system of school supervision. Take
away incentives to growth and rewards for efficient service,
and a teaching force tends to decline rapidly in efficiency.

.»

""■-^ .^x^ —•^

•

^Sw

/ / \ \

r / \ ^

/ s

/
/

/ \

/ V

/ \

\ Xk^

s ^.

V ^
V

■•s^ \^

- ^ ^^^ ^

"^ '*-«' ^

^ \

Tool-

Fair

Average

Good

Su)

veriov

Supervision weak; salaries low

Sllppvvisinn fair; snlnvips nvovajrA

Supervision good; salaries good

Fio. 17. TENDENCIES IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF TEACHERS UNDER
DIFFERENT TYPES OF SUPERVISION AND DIFFERENT SALARY
SCHEDULES

The plans which have been tried to prevent such a decline,
and to apportion rewards on the basis of merit, group them-
selves around: (1) Attaching different salaries to positions,
and promoting from the lower-paid to the higher-paid; (2)

PAY AND PROMOTION OF TEACHERS 257

additional salary grants for evidences of increased scholar-
ship or professional preparation; (3) establishment of grades
in the teaching service, with a different salary schedule for
each, usually involving the passing of some form of a pro-
motional examination; and (4) grading teachers on the basis
of estimated efficiency, usually using some rather elaborate
form or scale. We shall consider each of these in order.

1. Graded salaries based on positions.

Under this plan, which is also usually combined with
automatic increases based on service, different school grades
have different salaries attached to service in them, with
different maximum levels. The plan is illustrated quite
well by the salary schedule for elementary-school teachers
in Washington, D.C., which for 1912-13 was as follows: ^

Teaching position

Beginning
salary

Yearly
increase

Years to reach

maximum

Maximum
for position

Grades 1 and 2

Grades 3 and 4

Grades 5 to 7

$600
650
800
950

$25
25
30
40

11
11
11

$700

900

1100

Grade 8

1350

New London, Connecticut, illustrates the same idea, ex-
cept that all teachers here start at the same minimum and
advance at the same rate, but in the higher grades the
yearly additions keep up for a longer time, and these grades,

Teaching position

Beginning
salary

Yearly
increase

Years to reach
maximum

Maximum
salary

Grades 1 and 2

Grade 3

$400
400
400
400
400
400

$25
25
25
25
25
25

6
8
10
12
13
15

$525
575

Grade 4

625

Grades 5 and 6

Grade 7

675
700

Grade 8

750

1 As given in Tangible Rewards of Teaching, p. 220.

258 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

in consequence, carry a higher maximum salary. The salary
schedule for elementary-school teachers in New London,
in 1912-13, is given in the Table on p. 257. ^

Defects of such schedules. The trouble with all such
graded salary plans is that they are wholly artificial, and
are not based on sound administrative principles.

In part they are based on the old idea that "any one can
teach little children," a conception entirely abandoned by
progressive cities, and forbidden by law in some of our
States.^ They also violate a fundamental principle of a
good salary schedule, namely, that a salary schedule should
be so arranged as to permit of the assignment of every
teacher to that position or kind of work which he or she
can do best, without having first to consider the salary
attached to the position. The greatest degree of flexibility
is desirable to permit of such adjustments of teachers to
position as circumstances may seem to require. The uniform
salary schedule for all teachers in the elementary, inter-
mediate, or high schools of Los Angeles — a condition
possible only where high standards for entrance are insisted
upon — has special advantages in this regard.^ In most

1 As given in Tangible Reivards of Teaching, p. 219.

2 For example, the California School Code, Sec. 1687, provides: "lu
all schools having more than two teachers, beginners shall be taught by
teachers who have had at least two years' experience, or be normal school
graduates; and in cities such teachers shall rank, in point of salary, with
those of the assistant teachers in the highest grade in the grammar schools."

^ There all intermediate and high-school teachers must be college grad-
uates, and many of the elementary-school teachers are college graduates
also, while practically all of the remainder have had a two-years' normal-
school training, in addition to high-school graduation, and some particu-
larly successful experience as a teacher elsewhere. In addition, all teachers
are placed on the eligible list through a competitive examination involving
training, success, personality, a health examination, and a written test.
Such standards enable the city to pay a uniform salary schedule for all
positions, and thus permit of the transfer of a teacher from any branch of
the school system to any other, without first having to consider the salary
the position carries.

PAY AND PROMOTION OF TEACHERS 259

cities such uniformity can be provided for only in each
branch of the school system, — that is, in the elementary-
school, the intermediate-school or the high-school grades.
There are only a few forms of salary grants based on
position which are free from such objection. The designa-
tion of a few superior teachers as special training or demon-
stration teachers, for those in need of special assistance, as
was indicated in Chapter XV; teachers of special classes, de-
manding more than ordinary classroom skill; and teachers
in the upper grades, when a departmental plan of instruction
is in use and extra and special preparation is required for
the service, may with propriety be singled out for such
extra salary grants.

2. Additional salary grants for study.

This is a relatively simple and easy method for granting
salary advances, though it is not extensively used alone.
Under it a uniform salary schedule for all can be followed,
and then additional salary grants can be made for e\ndence
of additional approved study. ^ An example of this method
of handling salary increases ^dll be found in the suggestions
made at the close of Chapter V of the Report of the Survey
of the Public School System of Portland, Oregon. Summer
schools, years of study in colleges and universities, and
travel and study in Europe were all suggested there as bases
for salary increases, beyond a common maximum.

The chief objection to such a plan is that, under ordinary
salary conditions, many of the most promising of the teach-
ers do not feel that they can afford the expense involved in
such study, and they of course receive no additional salary

1 Rochester, for example, in 1913, provided that fifty dollars be added
to the salary of the person who pursues courses in institutions outside of
Rochester, and twenty-five dollars if in institutions within the city, when
approved by the superintendent of schools. Baltimore also offered added
salary for summer-school study.

260 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

grants in consequence. The plan, while rewarding the more
energetic, does not in itself bear any close relation to
schoolroom efficiency.

3. Salary grants based on grades in service.

Salary grants based on the estabhshment of grades in the
teaching service may be divided into two classes : (a) Where
advance from grade to grade is based on estimated class-
room efficiency and the recommendation of the superinten-
dent of schools; and (6) where teachers must present evi-
dence of professional growth, by certain examinations, as a
prerequisite to such promotion in salary.

Promotions on recommendation. The simplest example
of the first is found in the case of high-school teachers. The
beginning teacher enters the work with the rank of assistant
or teacher, is later promoted to the rank of instructor or sub-
head of a department, and still later may be promoted to
the rank and position of head of a department, each of which
grades carries with it certain automatic salary increases.
The Los iVngeles schedule of salaries for high-school teachers
forms a good illustration of this type of promotion. In New
York City, which has an automatic salary schedule covering
a long period of years, and applying to both elementary-
school and secondary-school teachers, two halts are made
in the automatic increases of each. These are so placed as
to divide the period into three approximately equal parts,
and at these halts increases in salaries do not proceed "un-
less and until the service of such teacher shall have been
approved, after inspection and investigation, as fit and
meritorious by a majority of the board of superintendents."

It would be possible to work out a salary schedule for
elementary-school teachers, patterned after that of second-
ary-school teachers, and dividing elementary-school teach-
ers into a number of ranks or classes, with promotion from

PAY AND PROMOTION OF TEACHERS

261

one to the other on the specific recommendation of the
superintendent, such based, in turn, on careful estimates
as to growth and efficiency. Within each rank there would
be automatic increases, but teachers might rest tempo-
rarily or permanently at the maximum of any rank.^ The
following will illustrate such a plan, eighteen years being
required to reach the maximum salary : —

Class

Period of
appointment

Beginning
salary

Yearly
increase

Years to
maximum

Maximum sal-
ary Jur class

1. Probationary
teachers

Annual

$650

$50

$800

2. Three-year
teachers

3 years

850

1000

3. Five-year

teachers

5 years

1050

1300

4. Permanent

teachers

Until

retired

1350

1500

At the end of the period of appointment for classes two and three, teachers may be pro-
moted, given a second appointment in the same class at the maximum salary of this class,
or given notice of a desire on the part of the board of education to terminate the contract.

For promotion from class two to class three, a year of study under direction will ordinarily
be required, but such may be granted in special cases on the basis of superior merit.

Class four reserved for teachers of superior merit only.

Promotional examinations. The second class of advances
by grades requires the passing of some form of promotional
examination, as a prerequisite to promotion from one grade
to another or for eligibility to certain types of positions.
There is no uniformity in procedure in this respect. This
plan has been followed by a number of our larger cities,
notably Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Kansas
City, Lincoln, New York City, Paterson, Saginaw, Spring-

1 That is what takes place in every university. Some men are never pro-
moted beyond the rank of assistant professor; nvAX\y never beyond the
grade of associate professor; though the more energetic and capable can
usually count on reaching the grade and pay of professor by about the age
of forty.

26^2 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

field (Ohio), and Washington.^ The nature of the examina-
tions has varied with the different cities, being more aca-
demic in some and more strictly professional in others. In
Baltimore, for example, where the promotional examina-
tions were simple in nature and closely applicable to the
work of instruction, the first examination was based on the
use of English, and the second on a year's study of some
special schoolroom problem.^ A number of the cities requir-
ing promotional examinations accept summer-school or
extension-class work as satisfying all or part of the exam-
ination requirements.

The promotional examination idea has been accepted
heartily in some cities, while in others it has caused much
bitter feeling. The plan, in so far as it gets teachers inter-
ested in attending summer sessions or extension courses, or
awakens an interest in the study of classroom problems and
leads to reading and study, undoubtedly serves a good pur-
pose. On the other hand, the plan, as sometimes used, is
open to certain objections. Study during the time the
schools are in session, if heavy in amount or unrelated to
school work, may be done at the expense of efficient in-
struction, and undoubtedly is so done in some cases. Again,
percentages obtained in the written examinations do not
necessarily bear any relation to actual or future efficiency
in classroom instruction. In principle, though, the promo-
tional examination is capable of limited application in the
framing of a scheme for promoting teachers on a merit

^ See Ruediger's Agencies for the Improvement of Teachers in Service,
pp. 117-37, for a description of the plans followed in each of these cities.

^ Baltimore has often been cited as a place where promotional examina-
tions failed, but the lack of any marked success there was doubtless due
much more to the very low salaries paid teachers (minimum, $444; maxi-
mum, $700) than to the promotional plan itself. Had there first been a
flat raise of 25 to 30 per cent, and then promotional examinations instituted
for further increases, it is probable that little opposition of consequence
would have been made to the plan.

PAY AND PROMOTION OF TEACHERS 263

basis. Its chief use is as one of a number of bases for esti-
mating growth and professional eflSciency.

^. Salary grants based on efficiency.

This is the most important and at the same time the
most difficult to carry out of all the different plans for pay-
ing teachers somewhat in proportion to their growth and
personal efficiency. It has been tried in a number of places,
but not always with the most satisfactory results. In its
essentials it consists of a carefully formed judgment by a
supervisory officer — often the combined judgment of a
number of supervisory officers — as to each teacher's effi-
ciency for the work required by the schools, and on the
basis of such report, usually filed in writing, salary in-
creases are granted and promotions are made. In principle,
this basis has been used by cities for a long time, but in its
modified development the idea is relatively recent.

Criticism of the plan. If the scoring is done carefully and
with good judgment, and covers a sufficient number of
points, it is likely to produce a very good estimate as to
the relative efiiciency of the teacher. The great trouble
encountered is that the teacher who is marked low usually
feels that she has been marked unfairly, and with some of
the plans in use it is hard to prove that she is wrong. In the
end it tends to fall back largely on the reliability of the
personal judgment of some person or persons, and, in the
present status of the supervision of instruction in our Ameri-
can cities, this is its weak point. It is rather easy for teachers
to claim, and with some degree of truth, that the principal
was not competent, or that the assistant superintendent or
the superintendent was not closely enough in touch with
the work of the teacher to enable either of them to appre-
ciate and evaluate the work which was being done. ^Vhen
boards of education accept the judgment of such officers.

264 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

as they must almost of necessity do, a sense of injustice
often remains which breeds discontent among a teaching
force. It requires the use of a good form of close and capa-
ble supervision, and helpful frankness in dealing with
teachers, to secure good results from such a plan.

Plan right in principle. On the other hand, the plan is
strictly in accord with principles of educational efficiency
and economy. It is notorious that in most of our cities some
of the poorest teachers in the service are those drawing the
largest salaries.^ The number of such may not be large, but
this condition does exist almost everywhere. It is not uncom-
mon for teachers, after some years of growth, or with the
maximum salary attained, to settle down slowly into a sure
and comfortable position, do their work in a more or less
perfunctory manner, and make no further efforts toward
any increase in personal efficiency. The result is, that with
the rapid advance in both the theory and practice of educa-
tion, they are gradually left behind. Such teachers are
almost always surprised and indignant at any questioning
of their efficiency, and are often leaders in efforts to prevent
the introduction of efficiency estimates. To dismiss them, if
they have been a long time in the service, is practically im-
possible, and a salary schedule, based in part on estimated or
calculated efficiency, is about the only way to reach them.

Such a salary schedule has the double purpose of pre-
venting the younger teachers from falling into such a condi-
tion, and the continual stimulation of all teachers to efforts
at personal improvement. The plan is in harmony with all
principles underlying efficiency in the public service, and is
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,

^ See, for example, the ten teachers described in the Portland Report,
previously cited.

PAY AND PROMOTION OF TEACHERS 265

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 has been given them has been so used as to
secure the most efficient service.

Type plans for estimating efSciency. A number of cities
have introduced some form 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 ^vith 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.

3. Adaptability. 8. Teaching skill.

4. Loyalty to school policies. 9. Professional interests.

5. Spirit of cooperation. 10. General impression.

Three different persons usually scored each teacher, and the
markings were combined by the superintendent as a com-
posite estimate.

^ 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, of the University of Wisconsin. The latter has
attracted much attention, and a few studies which have been made to test
the blank have demonstrated its usefulness.

- See Ruediger's Agencies for the Improvement of Teachers in Sennce,
pp. 139-41. Ruediger also reproduces forms used in Kansas City, Missouri;
Lincoln, Nebraska; and \Yashington, D.C. Salt Lake City, Utah, and
Sacramento, California, have also evolved good forms.

266 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

Professor Elliott, of the University of Wisconsin, has 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 tlie complex teaching
process into its essential, constituent elements; and (b) 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 pro-
cess impersonal, objective 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-inter-
fering supervision; and (c) claim exemption from snap
measurements of their merit based upon casual visitation
and intermittent 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?

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
1 Provisional Plan for the Measurement of Merit of Teachers, p. 1.

PAY AND PROMOTION OF TEACHERS 267

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 more
general provision for efficiency experts and clinical psycholo-
gists in connection with school systems, this method is
likely to be adopted somewhat generally by cities inter-
ested in obtaining the best results in their schools. It pos-
sesses certain obvious advantages over the ordinary 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 maxinmm
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-
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

268 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

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.
Essential features of a good salary schedule. Summariz-
ing, then, the essential features of a good salary schedule for
teachers, they may 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 efficiency 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.

3. 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 possible salary increases, beyond the common maxi-
mum, to progressive and capable teachers, the basis for
such payments being so arranged as to stimulate industrj^
encourage individual 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 specially
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 o^^■n 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
eflSciency than is the case with liigh-school teachers?

270 PUBLIC SCHOOL AD^IINISTRATION

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?

(b) A summer session in a university?

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 diflficult 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 Elliott 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 Nafional Edvcation Association, 1905, pp. 2-11-53, 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 es-sential 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 EflSciency"; 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. 4G5 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 4500 to 5000 inhabitants, in Bui. no. 31, 1915.

Butte, Montana. Report of a Surreij of the School System. (1914.)

Chapter VIII 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 Macmillan 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-
millan 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 Adminisiratioyi 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 Siipennsion, 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 ScIimI Supervision. World Book Co., N.Y., 19U.

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.

LowTy, CD. The Relation of Superintendents and Principals to the Train-
ing and Professional Improvement of their Teachers. Seventh Year-Booh
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 Increa.se 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. "OutHnes 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.

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 ejQSciency 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

^ The expression "courses of study" is used throughout this chapter
instead of the more commonly used "coiu-se of study," for the reason that
the author conceives of each subject, such as reading and literature, his-
tory, geography, nature 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-

1 "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. AYhile 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 (l) 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 ADMINISTRATION

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.

A rithmeiic
Smith's Practical Arithmetic, pages 202 to 216.

Language
Buehler's Grammar, pages 81 to 95 inclusive.

Geography
Natural School Geography, pages 12-i 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.

Drawing
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 AD^ONISTRATION

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 haK-y early 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-

^ "Neither by example nor by precept do such outHnes 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 tliis 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 arc subordinated
to the cramming of facts; the real abilities 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 luitil
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 eflScient 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 j&nal 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, luider 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 super\asion 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
Hnes."^ 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 Uke 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.^

* 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.

- The introduction of departmental instruction, domestic science, kin-
dergartens, vocational work, the substitution of Gennan 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 ser\dce 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 maximum courses for different children in the
same class or grade, all these are examples of the more common tj^pes 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.

^ 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 public 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 pubUc 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 nmch 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 Surrey, chaps, vi
and VII. See also the Springfield Survey Report, the Butte Survey Report,
or the Salt Lake City Survey Report.

- 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 j)criod 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 ehmination 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
woidd 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 coroUarj' 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
stuches ?

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, IGl-i, pp. 209-22, for a good example of
possible eliminations. .\lso see the four reports on language and grammar,
arithmetic, reading, and history and geography, and a fifth paper de-
scribing some tj'pical 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 allowing 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. W^hy 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
foimded?

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
\ncinity, and point out the revisions which would save time without
impairing the value of the instruction given.

SELECTED REFERENCES

1. Consfrncfion 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 drsirablo changes.

Chancellor, W. E. Our Schools ; Their Administration and Supervision.
Chapter XII is a brief statement of courses of instruction, 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 oj National Education Association, 1901, i)p. 332-48. Also
in Educational Review, vol. 22, pp. 26-49.

A good statempnt 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 Sneddon, 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 content and form.

Elson, W. H. "The Superintendent's Influence on the Course of
Study"; m 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 all else is incidental and contributory.

Elson, W. H., and Bachman, F. P. "Different Courses for Elementary
Schools"; in Educational Revieu; 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 Educa-
tion 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
E.'caminations " ; 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.

McMujry, 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 FAiucational Review, vol. i5, pp. 146-54. (February, 1913.)

Believes that the use of a large number of te-xtbooks of a new type, directed more
toward preparation for social efficiency, would give better educational results.

2. 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 Proceeding.^ of Natioiial 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, II. P. 1. "Waste in Elementary Curricula"; in School Review,
vol. 20, pp. 433-1-1. (September, 1912.)

2. "Economy in Education," Ibid., 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 ^

' From data obtained from a survey of the schools of Ovvatonna, 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 their grade,

^^^

f '

Retnrrted, l.i.2';

Normal Kate of Prepress, '0A%

Acceleralcd,

Pig. 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 j'our Pupils?" In
School Education, vol. 34, p. 5. (December, 1914.)

^ 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
show-ing would have been made for the accelerated pupils, but a less favor-
able one would have resulted for the retarded group.

296

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 x\merican
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.

Retarded, 24.4!{

Normal Progress, 74.8^

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, i, 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 ha%'ing much more than the normal amount of retarda-
tion. Bachman and Ayres (see Bibliography) also give much valuable data.

ADJUSTJNIENTS AND DIFFERENTLVTIONS 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

nniiiiii

3//A

III

VII

VllI

Over Asje

Normal Age

Under Age ^^

Fig. 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 which the com-
pulsory-attendance exemption at fourteen years of age begins to reduce the
number of over-age pupils in school. In the last two years the brighter pupds
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 ineflficient 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 w^iole 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
100(1 failing in
eight years

Children one year

or more above

normal age for

grades

100

8.00

8.08

3.4

8.16

140

132

6.7

8.24

210

192

9.9

8.33

280

249

12.9

8.42

350

302

15.9

8.50

420

352

18.7

8.60

490

398

21.4

8.09

560

442

24.0

8.78

630

483

26.4

8.89

700

522

28.8

8.98

770

558

31.1

9.09

840

591

33.3

9.19

910

623

35.4

9.30

980

652

37.4

9.41

1050

679

39.4

9.52

1120

705

41.2

9.63

1190

729

43.0

9.75

1260

751

44.8

9.87

1330

771

46.4

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 })cen replaced by semiannual i)ro-
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 })lan is now perhaps the most common of all plans,
while the quarterly promotion plan, if coupled watli 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

1 See Report of the Baltimore Commission, i)p. 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

Oct.

Xnv. Dec.

.Tan.

Feb.

Mar. Apr. May June

Fig. 21. THE BATAVIA PLAN

Showing a half-year's progress for all pupils under this plan. The coaching of the slow
pupils by the assistant teaclier 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 803

Figure 2*2. The results here are what are obtained in some
of our private schools, where each pupil advances at his own

Sept.

Oct.

Nov.

Dec.

Jan.

Feb.

Mar.

Apr.

May

June

-1 , 1 1 1 1

Fig. 22. THE PUEBLO PLAN ; INDIVIDUAL PROGRESS

Eacli line represeuts the progress of a single pupil during a half-year. Pupil A
covered almost a year's work during the time, while the slowest pupil, J, made slightly
less than a quarter of a jear'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

■•■^^^^^^^^'''

Fio. 23. THE PUEBLO PLAN; GROUP PROGRESS

This shows the plan as used in l.irge schools, the pupils being grouped for administra-
tive purposes into a number of groups, and pupils being moved from one group to another
as they 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 five 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 i)rogress indicates as desirable. In this form it is
practically the same as the so-called Elizabeth, New Jersey,
plan.

This plan makes excellent pro\nsion 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-

Basal

Coui-se

1 2

! 3

8 Years

Parallel

Coiirse

6 Tears

Fig. 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. Prexnous 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 sLx 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

Fio. 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 wall 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
subjects,

Uany courses of
different types

Inteimediate
School

■ Promotion by
subjects.

Academic. Business

Household-Arts, and

Vocationa] Courses

i£l

lJ ^

A- pq

W «

tc a

O H

P «

H
H

to «
<>' so

2 -^

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 DIFFERENTL\TIONS 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
Figure 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), wath
the consent of their parents, were sent for better and

308 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

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 T^dthin
the compulsory school age, from six to fourteen, all children
obliged by law to attend the folk-schools."

Sp.vn
Sp.vi

P
P

ffl

a. jh.

■-*-. ^-

Fia. 27.

CLASS ORGANIZATION OF THE VOLKSSCHULE AT
MANNHEIM, GERMANY

A. Regular classes, constituting eight grades.
Sp := Language classes for gifted pupils.
Sp P^ Preparatory language classes.

P =: Preparatory classes for pupils wishing to enter the Gj'tunasium, the
Realgymnasium, the Oberrealschule and the Keformschule.

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.
Fr= Furthering classes for slow pupils.

C. Auxiliary classes for mentally defective pupils.
A =: Auxiliary classes.

A P r= Preparatory class.

I = Institution for idiots and imbeciles.

> Destination of regularly promoted pupils.

5» Destination of demoted pupils.

The blocks representing the different grades also represent a school year in time.

I = Idiot Asylum.
G = GjTunasium \
Rg := Realgymnasium ( Higher
O =: Oberrealschule ( Schools.

(From a German school report.)

R ■=. Reformschule

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 j^artake 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
abiUty but who, because of foreign birth, have not a com-
mand of the English language. Often subdivided on an age
basis.

S. 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.

4. 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 volume by
Holmes. Also see special articles in Monroe's Cyclopedia of Education.
The article by Heeter describes those schools established in Pittsburg, and
that by Christensen those in Salt Lake City.

- See Bridging the Gap ; the Transfer Class. Harvard-Newton Bulletins,
no. in. (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 Hues 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.

14. 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

^ 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.

312 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 tivpe of school.

17. Trade schools. Of secondarj^ grade, for instruction in the
fundamentals underlying the practice of the more common
trades and occupations for both sexes.

IS. 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.

£1. 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.

S2. 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

Jf.. 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 abohshing 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

' 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 prevocational, 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 efficient; 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
hea\y 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.

314 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 A^afional 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.

2 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 speciul-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 w4io 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.

Ha\nng 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

^ 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

1898 '99 '00 '01 '02 '03 '04 '05 '06 '07

'09 '10 '11 '12

../

<i/

^^5>1

[722-

■K'^

toRd'HOO"

.9-^)

T)VER

7-^^^

,V-'cONlP^^

--I

'^■^^

^*-

'pUP*^

j'Bt^

^^-'

~i^'

-'''

/ -

• '

80s
75?
70S
65 S
60S
55 s
50 !«
45?
40 !f
35 S
SOS
25?
20?
15?
10?

Fio. 29. RESULT OF THE REDIRECTION OF THE NEWTON SCHOOLS

Showing the percentage of increase each year, compared with 1898, in tlie
number of pupils over fourteen — voluntary attendants — and of pupils between
seven 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.

J'hysician
.Dentist

- -*■ -^Teacher
--■''VKngineer

Hccorator
Artist
Designer
Kiigraver
Illustrator
Lithogiaplier
Sculptor
Sign Tainter
Craftswork

FIRST VEAR

■<

a KUfDEEOARTEX

Silversmith
Jeweler
Printer

Nursery Attendant
Professional Housekeepej
Catering
Nursing
Cooking
Sewing
Millinery
Dressmaking
Seamstress
Salesmanship
Home-Making

UcaBBtgued Teachers
for hiittvldual help

This diagram represents the Newton school
system as it h;is bet- ii developed since 190"). Tliia
development has been inspired and directed by
tlie idea that "it is the function of the school to
edncate every boy and every pirl, to eliminate
none, to accept all. It fits work and method to
individual needs, and strives to send children out
of school just as individually diverse as nature
designed theui to be, and as the diversity of serv-
ice which awaits them requires "

ADJUSTMENTS AND DIFFERENTIATIONS 317

a truly democratic one. The community efficiency of such
a school system is greatly increased by such an expansion of
effort, 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.

318 PUBLIC SCHOOL AD^^NISTRATION

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 tji^e, 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 ser\dce 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. ^Yhich 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. \Yhat is the value of this argument?

4. Do you agree with the argmnent 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 DIFFERENTLVTIONS 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 witiiin the proper function of public
education? Would you add any others to the list; 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 particular poin^ 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, Burris, 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-distribution 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 compulsorj^ 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 tJie probable cost.

6. Suppose that the school system does not include kindergartens, and

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. 23G 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 Renew, 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
Educational Review, vol. 38, pp. 122-31. (September, 1909.)

A good short article on the general prevalence of retardation in the schools of the
United States.

ADJUSTMENTS AND DIFFERENTL\TIONS 321

Greenwood. J. M. "Miring in the Grades and the Promotion of Pupils";
in Educational Review, vol. 3G, pp. 139-61. (September, 1908.)
A series of tables aad 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 D^vis Press, Worcester, 191'2.

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 Xational 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
Reiiew, 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

322 PUBLIC SCHOOL .VDMINISTRATION

short-interval system in St. Louis (1809-74); the Elizabeth, New Jersey plan: the
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. 43-1— 18.

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. -i, 1911, U.S. Bureau
of Education.

A very valuable document, classifying exceptional children and describing work
done for them in thirty-nine American cities.

2. 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. -158-63.

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 MifBin Co., Boston,
1916. 200 pp.; 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.

Burris, 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 bj' 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 introducing
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 MifBin 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. "Tlie Adaptation of Scliools to Industry and Efficiency ";
in Proceedings of National Education Association, 1908, pj). ()5-78.

A good article on elementary-school waste, and the lack of balance and adapta-
tion to national needs of clcnicntary-school programs of study.

Francis, J. H. "A Reorganizulion 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, 1!)13, 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 schools 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.) 441pp. Reprinted by World Book Co., Yonkers, New York,

1915.

Part II, "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 tor Older Children in
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 A.isociation,
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 down
thirteen important theses on the question of vocational education,

324 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 Proceeding's of National Education As-
sociation, 1915.

Springfield, 111. Surrey 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 Supervision, 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 MifBin 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 officers 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

^ "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.)

326 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

1 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 ofBce 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 ^\dthout 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

328 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 stjidy the System of Educa-
tion in the Public Schools of Baltimore (1911), which was the first of a large

TESTING RESULTS 329

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 shown.

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 difficidty 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 UpdegrafI
(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.

3 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 rneasiiring the Handwriting in Children. Russell
Sage Foundation, New York, Publication E 113.

Avers, L. P. Scale for measuring Handicriting of Adults. Russell Sage
Foundation, New York, Publication E 138.

^ Freeman, F. N. The Teaching of Handwriting. Houghton MiflBin
Co., Boston, 1914. 156 pp., and scales.

8 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 otliers in evolving scales for measuring
English composition; of Ayres- and Buckingham^ in })re-
paring standard speUing 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 EUiott,^^ Hutchinson,^' Strayer,^' and Updegraff^'* in
studying city school expenses; and the introduction of

1 Ballou, F. W. " Scales for the Measurement of Composition "; Harvard-
Newton Bulletin, no. 2. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Sep-
tember, IQl-i.

2 Ayres, L. P. A Measuring Scale for Ahility in Spelling. 58 pp. Rus-
sell Sage Foundation, New York, 1915.

' Buckingham, B. R. Spelling Ability; Its Measurement and Distribu-
tion. IIG pp. 1913. Trs. Col. Contribs. to Educ, no. 59.

* Jones, R. G. Standard Vocabularies; in Fourteenth Year-Book of the
National Society for the Scientific Study of Education, part i, pp. S?-^,^.

^ Courtis, S. A. Standards in Rates of Reading; Ibid., pp. 44-58. Also
Standard Tests in Reading, Writing, and Compo.s-ition.

^ Kelly, F. J. Silent Reading Tests. Bureau of Educational Measure-
ments, Kansas State Normal School, 1915.

^ Thorndike, E. L. "Reading Scale"; in Teachers College Record, vol. xv,
no. 4. (September, 1914.)

^ 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, 191G. A practical guide.

9 Elliott, E. C. "Provisional Plan for the Measure of Merits of Teach-
ers"; in Cubberley's State and County Educational Reorganization, Appen-
dix F. Macmillan Co., 1914

1" 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. G.

'^ Hutchinson, J. H. School Costs and School Accounting. Trs. Col.
Contribs. to Educ, no. G2, 148 pp. 1913.

13 Strayer, G. D. City School Expenditures. 103 pp. 1905. Trs. Col.
Contribs. to Educ, no. 5.

i"* Updegraff, H. A Study of Expenses of City School Systems. 9G pp.
Bulletin no. 5, 1912, U.S. Bureau of Education.

332 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 examination 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
different subjects, instruction standards, teacher standards,
supervision standards — would not do for education what

^ 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 ^dll 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 supe^^^sors 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 .VDMINISTRATION

' jr«a««r« f K« ffftH^vy »ftA*»nHr* mAmL »•» thm InrflvMwal abUHw •f **• /'•^

COURTIS STANDARD TESTS

Grade*

Tmu

1. Addition

2. Sublractlon

3. MullipliuHon

4. Diviaion

5. Copying Flgufti

6. Speed Rusoning

Aiiempts

0 10 ' 20 ' >^0 • '40 -* 6

Rlthu
7 fundamenuls

Ancmpu

Rithit
8- Rca»oiung

Ancmpti

Rllhii

Fig. 30. A COURTIS SCORE CARD IN ARITHMETIC

(Reproduced by permission of Mr. S. A. Coiniis)

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 norinal 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
] articularly weak on reasoning.

Curves C and D are two measurements 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
wall 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 wall 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 wnth 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 Tvathout 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 ser\4ce. Such departments ynW
need to be started in the smaller cities by the superintend-
ent, ^*ith 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,

* 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 337

do this very roughly or not at all. The differentiated-course
plan of instructing and promoting ])upils, 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 clinical 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 w^ork
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 time 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 w^th 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) enabhng 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, ^vith regard to aim? How and why?

7. Illustrate the use and possibilities of standards in the following
matters: —

(a) Building standards.

(6) Janitor-service standards.

(d) Mental-capacity standards.

(e) Subject-matter standards.
(/) Instruction standards.

(g) Teacher standards.
(/() Supervision standards.

8. Illustrate how the introduction of such standards will benefit: —

(a) The classroom teacher.

(b) The school principal.

p. 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.

(h) The household-arts work.

(rf) 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 i^ecords 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, (6) 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 outline 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 througli testing the Course of Study and
Time 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 product^ 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 Supernsion of City Schools. Twelfth Year-Book 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 eflSciency 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 t^ystems 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.

M2 PUBLIC SCHOOL AD^HNISTRATION

Martin, G. H. "Comparison of Modern Business Methods with Educa-
tional Methods"; in Proceedings of A'ational 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. "EfBciency for Efficiency's Sake"; in School Review, vol. 23,

pp. 3-i-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-Chnics in the United States";

in Pedagogical Seminary, vol. 21, pp. l-i3-53. (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.

3. "Measurement of Ability in Reading." E. L. Thorndike.

4. "Efficiency in teaching Grammar." W. H. Maxwell.

5. "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 343

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. 19U.

A very important document. Many valuable bibliographies are appended to the
different rhapters. Contains the following studies: —

1. "The Minimum Essentials in Elementary-Sehool Subjects." H. B. Wilson,
Chairman.

2. "Time Distribution by Subjects and Grades in Representative Cities." H. W.
Holmes.

3. "Typical Experiments for economizing Time in Elementary Schools." F. E.
Thompson.

4. Reading: —

(a) "Standard Vocabulary." R. G. Jones.

(6) "Standards in Rates of Reading." S. A. Courtis.

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 efiiciency 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 SUPERMSION 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 development. Health work in the schools
presents three clearly defined stages in its development.^

The first was Avhat 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 ha^^ng pro-
vided such service by 1907, three hundred and thirty-seven

1 Epitomized from Hoag and Terman's Health Jl'ork 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 Ijeen 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 superxasion 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 bj'^ 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 ser\ace 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 wdth 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 ^ntness 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 offi-
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 efficiently 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 SUPERMSION 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, speciaKsts, 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 responsibihty 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. .\ medical director will 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
stUl 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 HEiVLTH SUPERVISION 351

In equipment there will be needed a central office, 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
ir 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 offices.

- See chap, xi of the Salt Lake City Survey Report for interesting
statistics as to the effectiveness of the school nurse.

352 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMLVISTRATION

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 super\asion is doomed either to failure or to an
indifferent success. This is an additional reason why the
control should rest mth 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 HE.VLTH 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 phj'sical 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-

1 Hoag and Terman, in their Health Work- in the Schools, devote two
chapters to showang 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 qf National Education Association, 1913,
p. 658.)

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SUPERMSION 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 will,
almost of necessity, come to involve for some children (a) free dental
work, (6) free spectacles, and (r) school feeding. Do these seem to you
to be legitimate consequences of free and compulsory education?

4. Are such ser\'ices to children essentially different from the ser\'ices
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.vpes, for some city you know, and
estimate its total and per-pupil cost.

4. Investigate and report on : —

(a) Open-air schools.

(b) School feeding.

(d) Work of school nurses.

(e) Mortality 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 Ayrcs, 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 Pha-ses 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. IJealth 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

356 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. II. "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., Yonkcrs, 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 under 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 Mifflin 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,
phj'siological 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-

Book 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
pro\aded. 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 commimities, 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

358 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

to private and parochial schools with regard to enforce-
ment, and the relation of compulsory attendance to child
labor in tlie 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 difficulties 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 pro\aded. The work of
this officer ^^^ll 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

Number of cases investigated 251

Children kept at home 207

(fl) By parents (temporary necessity) 48

(6) By parents (neglect) 89

{(1) By poverty 23

Children withdra^Ti and sent to work 14

(a) Compulsory age passed 10

(b) Illegally 4

360 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

Children having left city 9

Children truant unknowTi 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

(b) 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 yviih 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-
ren, 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

lUH

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 satisfacto^s^ 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
showTi a close correlation between
retardation and dropping from school
on the one hand, and irregular at-
tendance on the other. ^ 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

^ See Aj'Tcs, L. P., "Irregular Attendance the Cause of Retardation";
in Psychological Clinic, vol. iii, pp. 1-9. (March, 1909.)

Absent

less than

251ialf days

Absent
more than
25 half days

^W^ Dropping Out
i^l Non-promotion
III'.!' ' .1 Promotion

Fig. 31. EFFECT OF AB-
SENCE ON PROMOTION
R.\TE AND DROPPING
FROM SCHOOL

(From thP Stiulij of Over Age and
Progress in the Public Schools
of Dayton, Ohio.)

362 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADINHNISTRATION

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 w^th
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 funds, 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 difi^erent 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 age's, 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.

(J) Abode, including school attendance district; post-office 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).

(i) School attending (public, private, parochial), and name of.

(j) Position in school (grade).

(^•) 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 contijiuing school census. After such data have once

1 From the author's State and County Educational 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 w^ill 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-

^ 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 w^ere
necessary to meet the peculiar needs of the new classes
brought in from the streets. This has been particularly the

1 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 18j2. 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 ADI^nNISTRATION

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
Masdachnsetts State Board of Education, 1903-04, p. 98.)

THE ATTENDANCE DEPARTMENT 367

effected in the schools at Newton, Massachusetts, as
shown in Figure 2S, 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 himself or herself in the regular
school, while developing in him or her sufficient 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 puss 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 likely 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 specialized 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 will 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

rupils
2400

'■m'-VTx

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 efficiency
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 w^hole aim and
purpose of an attendance department in a city school sys-

2200

2000

1800

1600

1400

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

EloiiK'Htaiy Schuols

Fio. 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 liere was such that many reached this age
while in the sixth grade. The 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 half 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 Alumnfe 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? W'hat 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, wouhl 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 compulsor^'-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 officers. 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 w ould 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 increased the
school's responsibility for (a) the physical, (b) 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 compulsory-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 373

necessary to form a basis for an adequate enforcement of the com-
pulsory-attendance law.
•1. 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 (he U.S. Commiisioner 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 Siirvey of the School Sy.ttcm of Bxitte. (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, 19U.

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 Admini.stration 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 detiiil, 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 Comprihory 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.

S74 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 Systerti. 324 pp-
191.5.

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 different American
States.

Snedden, D "The Public School and Juvenile Delinquency"; in Educa-
tional Review, vol. 33, pp. 37-i-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-
ogranhy.

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 bills 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, wath 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 speciaHzed 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 ser\nces,
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 fines. 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 fimds, 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 iDUsiness 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 Sjirvey
Report, chap, ii.)

2 The best business manager is often a school man who has marked

378 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

his department exists not only to relieve the board of edu-
cation of care and responsihihty 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 ofiice
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
much 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 %\Titten work, reduced speed in WTiting, 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.

880 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 purpose 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 dra\\nngs (Figures 12, 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.

- .\n 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 ha^^ng made much of the equipment in use. (See Burris's
description, in Bulletin no. 18, 1914, U.S. Bureau of Education.) .\nother
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,

382 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,^ wath 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 ^sath 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 official 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?

5. 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 $164,895.53 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 ayid Management.
338 pp. D. C. Heath & Co., Boston, 1908.

Chapter III, on the business oificers 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. 311pp. 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 II, on the organization of the school system, deals with the business as
well as the educational organization.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE SCHOOL-PROPERTIES DEPARTAIEXT

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 oflBcial, or an architect on tempo-
rary employment, working in conjunction wath the superin-
tendent of schools, must look after such work. In the smaller
cities the superintendent of schools, together -^s-ith his busi-
ness clerk and one or more board committees, usually
handle all work done in connection vnth 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 w^ork 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 rROPERTIES 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 his

control.

Purpose and place of this department. The purpose cf
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 efficient 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 ADMLNISTKVTION

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 to^Tis 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, ^nth the best practices in
schoolhouse construction elsewhere, and also be somewhat
familiar wnth 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
verj' 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-rROPERTIES DEPARTMENT 387

outside walls, and with the only variation from typical
classrooms being an office for the ])rincipal, usually on the
second floor over the entrance hall, should stop. Such build-
ings do not meet the needs of the ])resent 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.

G. 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

1 No attempt w-ill be made to state what these principles and standards
are. For this the student must consult some standard work on schoolhouse
hygiene.

388 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 w^e 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.

Schedule of Rooms

Classrooms

Kindergarten

( 16 classrooms, 24' X 32' 6", with cloak-rooms. .16 units
(. 1 imgraded room 2 unit

{1 kindergarten room "j

1 kindergarten wardrobe I 1 1 >

1 kindergarten toilet j *

1 kindergarten workroom J

^ 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.

SCHOOI^PROPERTIES DEPARTMENT

389

Household
Economy

Industrial
Training

Administration

. Ij units

1 sewing-room

1 wardrobe and locker-roora

1 fitting-room

1 model bedroom

1 Demonstration room 2 unit

1 domestic-science room
1 wardrobe and locker-room
1 pantry
1 model dining-room

■■ I4 units -'

- 3 units

1 bench-room 1

1 wardrobe and locker-room r I5 units

1 storage-room J

1 demonstration room a unit V 3 units

1 drafting-room 1

1 wardrobe and locker-room r 1 unit

, 1 storage-room J

1 general office
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, wdth seating capacity for 700.

2 paved play-yards, each 11,000 square feet. This may
include walks.

2 units

I unit

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.

SdO 1>UBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

Larger use of school-buildings. Such a plan for an ele-
mentary-school l:niilcling 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 commimity- 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
lectm^es, 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

SCHOOL-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-
t;s7)e" schools in these new Pittsburg buildings.^

Costs for buildings. The costs for school-buildings and
groinids 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-

' The G.ary plan (see Bulletin by Burris) 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

Bonds Outstanding

$100,000

?172,,^00

Oricinal cost
of building

Fio. 33. PRINCIPAL AND INTEREST COST FOR A SCHOOL BUILDING

This drawing shows the resiUts of building a $100,000 school-building, and pay-
ing for it by the issuance of live per cent school bonds, on a five- to twenty-live-
year basis. In a city assessed at $'25,(X)0,000, it would liave cost the taxpayers
only forty cents on the one hundred dollars of as-sessed 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 wa.s 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
heavy 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 ])roblem 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 I5 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 without 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."
(Portl.and School Survey Report, chap, xii.)

' 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 anntuil 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 .\yres' Report on the Springfield, Illinois,
School Survey on the question of bonding for school-buildings.

394 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMLNISTllATION

the great change which is taking place in our conceptions as
to the nature and place of pubHc 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 eflPorts 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 h.\giene 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 down hygienic and constructional
standards which all communities should meet, and make provision
for state inspection and approval of all plans for new school-build-
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 en-
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 the 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-toilt't facilities.

4. School baths.

5. School heating and ventilation.
G. Evening lectures at schoolhouses.

7. Recreational work at schoolhouses.

8. Schools as civic and social centers.

9. Unit costs for school-buildings of different tj-pes.

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

Burris, W. P. The School Sijsfem of Gary, Indiana. Bulletin no. 18, 1914,
U.S. Commissioner of Education. 49 pp.. illustrated.
Gives pictures and plans of buildings, and describes their use.
Butte, Montana. Reporf of a Sliirrey of fhe School Sysiem. (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
recommend.itions as to construction.

Curtis, H. S. Education through Play. 359 pp. Macmillan Co., New York,
1915.

Contains good chapters on .\mcrican 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 hook on the construction and care of school buildings. Should be in
every superintendent's collection. Good bibliographies.

Dresslar, F. B. American Schoolhouses. Bidletin no. 5, 1910, U.S. Bureau
of Education. 132 pp., 207 plates, and bibliography.

A very important document, picturing and describing the best that has been done
in American city schoolhouse construction.

39G PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

Dutton, S. T., and Snedden, D. Administration of Pnhiic Education in tlic
United States.

Chapters XI and XII, on the details of sehoolhouse construction, contains some
good suggestions.

Eliot, Chas. 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 Sehoolhouse Evening Center; — What Itl.s, What It
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 of
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 ou
vacation playgrounds, organized athletics, evening recreational centers, the co'n-
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 attem])ts made
by the free public library of Worcester, Massachusetts, in
1879, to bring about a closer connection between the pu])lic
library and the public schools of that city. After about
fifteen years the idea began to attract the attention of both

S98 PLT3LIC SCHOOL .VDMINISTRATION

schoolmen and librarians, as each began to see that both
were engaged in educational undertakings which would be
more producti^•e 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 Public Sclwols," 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
librarv^ 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 Xaiioiial Education Association, 1898, pp. 1014-28.
2 Ibid., 1899, pp. 452-529.

AUXILIARY EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES 399

working in its own way to solve tlie same prol)lems of com-
munity education, the library ]>eing a su])plemental 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 wth 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 l)y 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, vnih-
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 })etter prepared,
and take a larger view of their work; it is probable that
there will be much less objection to a closer administrative

1 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 commis>:ioner is in charge of the
schools, librarj', parks, playgrounds, and public morals.

400 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

union of the library and the school than would at present
be the ease. 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 cociperation between the public library and the school
enlarges it still more. To-day both school and lil)rary 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 hfe,
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 188(5, 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

' 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 road is about one fourth of a c(>nt, 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 Axaociation, 1912, p. 49-1.)

402 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

organized in New York City in 1898. By 1911, 257 cities
reported 154,'} playgrounds as in operation, and 75 other
cities known to have phiygrounds 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 witli tlie cost and nso of the one Gary
school plant. Note that tlie altenilance 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

TotaU/oT

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 gymnasium

1,000,000

Outdoor gymnasium

Shower baths

2,000,000
500,000

Swimming-pool

Assembly halls

Clubrooms

Reading-rooms

300,000

1,000,000

50.000

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,^

1 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 iiuidc 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 exiDcnse.

3. School gardeni?ig

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 official 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 i^rivate associations and individuals.

School gardening and the school. "Wliat 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 40o

be closely connectefl 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 eqiiij^inent 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 intelligent 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 pubHc 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 librarj' 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 tlie
economy of time in education? (b) 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 :

(a) Notable work being done in library and school cooperation.

(b) Municipal playgrounds.

(d) Vacation schools and vacation-school instruction.
(c) The school-gardening movement.

AUXILIARY EDUCATIONAL AGENCIES 407

(/) The Gary plan for handling directed play.
Ig) The course of stuily 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 Pvblic Education in
the United States.

Chapter XXXI, on the widening sphere of public education, presents a good brief
summary of many movement's 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-
Hcation 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, (editm) . 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.
AVirt. 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 ^\^ll be evident, from
what has been said in the preceding chapters, that an effi- j
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 superintendent 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' ji;iven less tiian 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 pf government the
results are likely to be much better than when a city council
has to be dealt \\ath.

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 exj^enditures. If the
schools are to be free, why not the p irks 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 fidl power to levy the school tax, up to a
limit of sixty cents on the one hundred 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 California. IJard,
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 Slates.

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 iVmerican cities indicates clearly

1 "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 its
own courses of study, its own methods and conditions of instruction, suffi-
cient money for its business, and its own expenditure of funds set apart for
purposes of education." (E. C. Moore, in How New York City administers
its Schools, p. 78.)

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
l>e 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
relativelv small. ^Yithin recent vears 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.T. San Francisco, Cal.

Fig. 34. SHOWING THE COMPETITION FOR CITY FUNDS

In both cities the school board has nothinp to do with the fixing of the tax-rate for
schools, and in eacli the schools have been completelv 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 41o

shows 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 expen<liture, 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: $90,960 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 supplies, 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 alisolutely 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 list of disbursements. A thoroughly unscientific
financial statement is made by the Superintendent's office and included in
the annual report. The supi)li('s director makes no report to the piil)lic."
{School Survey Report on Some Com] it ions in the Schools of Sail Francisco,
pp. 71, 73. Published by the Collegiate Alumuie of San Francisco, 1914.)

' "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
in the service of the schools. Any additional information
which will enable an appropriating body to reach an intelli-
gent conchision 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
shoukl 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 j)re])ared, 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 s])end some time in the smaller city, and
he shoidd 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 shoidd 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 re])orts 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 : —

/. Expenses of general control. (Classified for salaries and for
other objects.)

1. Board of education and secretary's office.

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.

//. 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.

///. 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

II.) -

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, .VND ACCOLTNTING 419

V. Expenses nf auxiliary agencies. (Classified as under IT.)

1. Libraries.

(a) Salaries.

(b) Books.

2. Promotion ol" 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 II.)

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 groimds.

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 a})ove 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 in two, where the figures were 55 cents and $1.89 respectively;
and that tlie yearly per-capifa cost of instruction was $5.50 more in a four-
room building than in a ten-room building. The unit costs for different
tj-pes of instruction could be worked out from such data.

COSTS, FUNDS, AND ACCOUNTING 421

5. With all city dopartmonts increasing their demands, how can our
cities meet the problem? ('an 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:
(rt) to the community? (b) to a city council?

7. What are the advantages and disadvantages of («) imified 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 getting 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 limitations 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.

G. 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 dfj/ 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.

Bol)bitt, J. F. " High School Costs "; in School Review, vol. 23, pp. 505-34.
(October, 1915.)

A comparative study of costs in a number of liigh schools, illustrated by laMes and

drawings.

422 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

Butte, Montana. Report of a Survey of the School System, (li)l-i.)

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., anil Suedden, 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. 4G1-G4.

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. 18f)-''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 facts.

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 bureau 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 j^rincipals 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 Reporf of the Com-
mittee on Uniform Records and Reports, in Proceedings of National 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 wdll 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
the constantly increasing funds voted for these purposes
in 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 w^th 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

* 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.

^ 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 Xew'ton, 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 chilch-en from private and parochial schools to the pui>lic school, as
shown in Figure 29, was not accomplished without a marked increase
in the per-capiia cost for schools. The schools of Newton ht-ing 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 expenditures.

428 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

tional system," ^ will not bring much cooperation or re-
sponse. Neither will it be read. Reports to the peoi)le
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 iVND REPORTS 429

methods of modern education. The necessity of systematic effort
toirard acquainting the public icith the problems and needs of the
school is now felt on every hand.

In such a campaign mere assertion, personal oi>inion, and per-
sonal bias have Httle weight. The pubhc 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-line 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 exjjending such large sums of public
money upon education. Only by these means can the public be con-
vinced that the jnodern school, despite its icide 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 Sncdden, 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 Xational

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. Firial 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 flie Surret/ 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, 190S.

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 unit, and with

434 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

all the educational and financial advantages that come
from unit control. One small central boarfl 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 l)e 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 school
district as a whole, to reduce the ninnber 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 commensurate 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 de})artment, and without reference to such
extraneous considerations as politics, residence, or local
po])ularity; each is sustained in the administration of his
department, so long as he shows grasp and comijetency 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 de])artments and the chief person responsi])le 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 dift'erent 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 imder 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 citv school districts have been able to extend
these attractions to teachers and to supervisory officers.

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

438 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 EXl'ERIENCE SUMMARIZED 439

allow their luimes to be considered for political candidacy
for a county superintcndency have been ([uite 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,
wath 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 county
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 l)ettcr, 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, jjoorly 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 speciaHzation 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 ])e 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 under 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 ofiice 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 ofli-
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 oflacer 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 SCH(K)L ADMINISTRATION

merely as a ])olitical officer and clerk, and the old political
principle of rotation in office is ai)plied 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 Uttle 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 ])()litical candidacy.

The clear and unmistakable lesson of our city school dis-
tricts in the matter of employing sch.ool superintendents,
and of all professional work and business enteri)rise 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 office 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 ; ^

' Another plan, tried in a few places, is to have the city board and
superintendent includr 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 aboHshed
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 super\nsion 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.

1 In some of the States of the upper Mississippi \'alley, 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 6ve.

state EdiK

People of Cit}' School District

City Board of Education

CITY SIPKBI>TEX1>E>T
OF SCHOOLS

City Admiuistrative
Deiiartments and Officers

I'riiieipals and
Teachers

]'upils

jm^"

Repair Man

Supply Clerk
and I Mstrihuter

Bookkeeper
( 'lerks

Parents

Fig. 35. COUNTY-UNIT I]

Assistant Superiutendeuts

and

Special Supervisors

County Librarian

Branch
Librarians

Pui)ils

IJITIONAL 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 : —

/. 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 ofiicer to
enjoy approximately the same tenure, rights, and privi-
leges as a city superintendent of schools, and to have

1 Iq 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 sho\\'n 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'eounty board of education to hold title to all school
property, outside of separately organized citj' 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
oflBcer, 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, twentj'-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.

HI. 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 m

452 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMLNISTRATION

the mainteiiHiK'c 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-
ti\e 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
recjuired 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 ofiicer 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 levned 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 autliorities.
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 oi*^
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 metliods 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 little 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, \^ath 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 office 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 proxnde
schools for rural children which will meet present-day rural educa-
tional needs?

6. Enumerate the advantages of a coimty unit 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 county-unit system in

(a) Maryland. (d) Louisiana.

(b) Georgia. (e) Alabama.

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 coimty.

4. Outline 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 tj-pe.)

SELECTED REFERENCES

Cubberley, E. P. The Improvement of Rural ScJiooh. 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. Chapter
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 hypotheti-
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, iinil county-unit systems, and tlie same chapters in the
textbook slate tlie principles involved in the proper educational administration of rural
and village schools.
Evans, L. B. "The County Unit in Educational Organization in Georgia";
in Educational Review, vol. ii, pp. 309-73. (April, 1896.)

Describes the county-unit system as found in Richmond County, Georgia.
Knorr, G. W. Consolidated Rural ScJiools, and the Organization of a Comity
System. 99 pp. Bulletin no. 232, OflBce 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. 56 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 Comity,
California. Bidletin, 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. WTien 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 like 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 vrith the
political conditions which have produced them and which
surround their office. The plan of selecting the chief school
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 ofiice has
grown but little in importance, has commanded but little
real influence in the State, has been given but Hmited
powers by the legislature, and often has been avoided by the

460 PUBLIC SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

best-prepared men in the State. The office, 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 ^"ith 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 : —

I. 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. INIembers 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 j-early 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
9,ppointive by the state board of education.

APPLICATION TO STATE CONTROL 463

//. Educational control.

1. Acting through its executive officers tlie 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-
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.

3. 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 laws 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 pubHc
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

rioveni'o

Biiards (pf

Trustees

for State

Normal Seliooi:

Janitors

and

Employees

Instructors

Students

STATE COMMIs. >

.Ajssistant

Comrni

■^sioners, as He ■

>-^

.^^

■Jl

--I

i—t

—•

''\

State
Librarj-

State
Museum

^,,— -^

County
Boards of Education

COUXTY SUPEEIXTENBKNTS
OF SCHOOLS

County
Librarians

Educational
Departments

Secretary

and
Bus. Mg-r.

County-unit Organization-Fig. 35.

Fig. 36. STATE EDI i'

||3 State

ton

I EDICATIOX

( Divisions in State Department.

Board of

Regents for

the State

University

President

Business
Manager

Professors

Educ'l. Depts.

of Penal and

Reformator\- Insts.

Janitors

and

Employees

Students

City
Boards of Education

CITY SUPERINTENDENTS
OF SCHOOLS

Educational
Departments

Property
Department

City Organization -Figs. 12-14.

■Hal organization

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 Httle 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 officers 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

1 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 supennsion
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-
■W'hat 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 miniiniun 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 imiformity, which too
often follows any centralization of authoritj'' and which is
so stifling to community activity, 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 vnW 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 feature in a wise state educa-
tional policy.

To keep the school systems of the different city and county
luiits in touch with community needs and expressive of the
])est 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 public 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-
ican States.

APPLICATION TO STATE CONTROL 469

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. What are the actual powers and duties of the chief school oflScer in
your State?

2. What has been the average tenure of such oflScial? The longest
tenure?

3. Does the legislative history covering the past quarter-century in your
State give evidence of a well-thought-out educational poUcy? 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
political 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?

3. 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 fmids.

5. Nature and extent of state aid for secondary education.

6. Desirability of small subsidies in inaugurating new educational work.

7. Best metiiotl 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.

12. 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. Desirabihty 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 edurational 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 Reorganizaiion. 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 191G.

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 boanl 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,
^lonroe, 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 rs. 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

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 faithful 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 va. elec-
tion, 95; term of office, 97; pay
for service, 90; as a body, 109;
committee 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.

Convaction, 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-
tarv, 445 ; details of plan for same,
449.

Courses of study, construction of,
and tj-pes, 274, 277; superintend-
ent and, 274; information or
knowledge courses, 277; depend-
ence upon textbooks, 278; ad-
ministration of, 280; develop-
ment tj'pe of, 283; growing courses,
285; variations between schools,
286; study of local problems and
needs, 288; economy of time, 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

350; smaller-city plan, 351; the
teacher and, 35£; importance of,
353.
Home schools, 312.

Industrial classes, 311.
Intermediate school, theory of, 313.

Library, public, 397; cooperation 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.
Ne^xlon, 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; tvpe 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;
estabUshment of educational min-
ima by, 466; problems of relation-

478

INDEX

ship of, to city, 63; the unit, in
educationalVontrol, 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; controUing 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, qualities
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.

Super\nsion, evolution of profes-
sional, 80; deficient, 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 super\nsion, 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; t\'pe 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, id.

Trade schools, SH.

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.

■«

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administration : a statem

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The fi.lVj. Jacteon
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