The Supervision of Instruction

Abstract

SUPERVISION OF ITS SCHOOLS by the state had its inception in the tenth amendment to the federal Constitution, the grants of land made for educational purposes, and the creation of the chief state school officer, the first of which was provided in New York State in 1812. The increasing scope of state participation in the support and administration of schools has led to an expansion of supervisory activities by state departments of education. The growth of such departments and the scope and nature of their supervisory functions and activities were studied during 1939 by representatives from the U. S. Office of Education and presented in a series of eight bulletins (8, 10, 15, 22, 26, 27, 28, 34) carrying the subtitle Studies of State Departments of Education. In making this study representatives from the U. S. Office of Education worked in teams of from two to seven persons; they spent several days in the state offices of the respective states seeking accurate and comprehensive data, gathering all available printed or mimeographed documents, and securing from each member of the department an oral statement of his duties, activities, and problems. Preceding this program of visitation and again preceding the compilation of the reports, committees of chief state school officers met in Washington with members of the Office of Education staff to assist in the drafting of plans and later in the formulation of conclusions. The general summary by Cook (10) of supervision of instruction as a function of state departments of education showed the following: (a) In 1939 there were 381 nonvocational state supervisors and 370 vocational supervisors in the forty-eight states. (b) Instructional supervision was a well-established function of state departments thruout the country. (c) All states assume some (most of them significant) responsibilities in leadership, in developing a professional staff, in supplying classroom materials, and the like. (d) Staff members assigned to instructional supervision have been increasing in number. (e) The supervisory procedures followed are based on accepted professional standards, including those especially adapted to the promotion of newer teaching practices. (f) General educational objectives as well as the supervisory procedures for realizing them are notably similar for the different states. (g) Especially notable is the progress made toward equitability in the quality of instruction offered within those states organized for supervision on what may be characterized as the state-local plan. (h) There is a promising trend toward state staff organization to secure coordination of functions to provide unified services in the instructional field. (i) There is an expansion of cooperative rela-