Administration of a Program of Continuous Pupil Progress

Abstract

PERHAPS the most important factor in developing a program of continuous pupil progress is the freedom of the teacher to plan his own program within certain well-defined but rather broad limits. The administrators of most large city school systems in America have been guilty of preaching an activity philosophy-a philosophy built on learning through experience-and then imposing administrative and supervisory arrangements that reduce this philosophy to little more than so many pages in a book on modern education. They exhort their teachers to recognize individual differences and to democratize procedures. At the same time they require the teachers to instruct large classes, to group their pupils into grades, to present elaborately detailed content specified for those grades, to test progress in the light of standards of achievement for graded courses of study, to compartmentalize the program on a subject basis with so many minutes allotted to each subject, and to promote once or twice a year the pupils who have made the hurdles of a grade. Under conditions of this sort, though it may not be impossible for a teacher to develop a program of continuous pupil progress, certainly it is difficult. The writer's contention is that, within certain broad limitations defined by social demands, teachers must be free to develop cooperatively a program which will provide for the uninterrupted growth of their pupils. This point of view represents democratic school administration. Furthermore, it assumes a school personnel prepared to accept the responsibilities that are implied. During the past few years there has been a marked tendency in Philadelphia public schools toward wider latitude in interpretation, especially in the adaptation of courses of study to local conditions. Schools are also encouraged to make such modifications as are neces679