Modern School System Research Articles

The suggestion system

According to a recent editorial in the Journal of the National Education Association, one of the most important developments in American education in the last decade is the increase in the participation of the teacher in the administrative activities of the school.x This increased participation has come about in recognition of the service that teachers can render, and must render, if the school is to be conducted successfully. A modern school system is a co-operative enterprise. Its functioning cannot be delegated to any one person or small group of persons and ignore all other members of the staff. The problems of each teacher are the problems of the system. Success in the enterprise can be ,brought about only when each member of the staff feels that he personally is partly responsible for the smoothness with which the school runs. In the light of this responsibility, teachers should take pride in carrying out the policies of the school. They should recognize that in addition to their classroom duties they have other duties to be executed. They should perform these duties willingly and earnestly, for the success of the school depends upon the cooperation of the staff.

A Tribute to the Modern School System

A Tribute to the Modern School System

The Scientific Method in the Study of Education

The term as applied to education, is at present rather vaguely used. It is applied to a great variety of activities and results, to some of which it clearly does not belong. The methods em ployed in some cases are not always truly scientific and the results ob tained are therefore not wholly reliable. In planning a program for the professional education of those who are to carry on research activities in our public school systems, one of the first things to be considered is that of bringing about, somehow, a change in the present conditions so that research and the results may be more effectively applied in the improvement of education. What is needed in charge of research activities in public school systems are men who possess, in addition to adequate training in the tools, techniques, and methods of research, the necessary qualities of leadership and a professional education and experience that will enable them to see in proper perspective the needs and possibilities of a modern school system. Such men are not likely to be available, however, until through the ad ministrative reorganization of this work the position of director of re search is made more clearly defined as in matters of salary; and pro fessional opportunity will attract men and women of the requisite ability, training, and scholarship. This necessary administrative reorganization is possible. The diffi culty of bringing it about, though real, is by no means insuperable. Essential principles to be followed and the conditions to be met in bring ing about such a reorganization may be briefly stated as follows : (1) Research service should be maintained for every school system, regardless of its size. Scientific study is necessary everywhere in present day education. Mere personal opinion, however expert and experienced, is no longer sufficient. It is impossible to maintain an efficient modern school system without the aid of research arid no American public school, urban or rural, should be without service of this kind. (2) Any city school system that elects to maintain its own bureau of research should establish a bureau only on condition that it is will ing and able to support it to a certain minimum standard of efficiency ; and no bureau of research should be recognized as standard, whose ser 212

One Year of Supervised Study

It has been very gratifying to note the general interest that is being manifested throughout the country in finding some plan of recitation and study that will add to the accomplishment of the dull as well as of the bright pupil. Hearing lessons recited is no longer considered the main function of the teacher. The practice of assigning lessons in a more or less mechanical manner, with little or no knowledge as to how they are to be prepared, is rapidly becoming antiquated in a modern school system. Supervised study offers an excellent opportunity for the intelligent teacher to give a new interest and meaning to our old form of recitation, which often fails to reach the real difficulty of the backward pupil and retards the pupils who are more efficient. The forty-five-minute class period does not provide sufficient time for the development of a recitation that can be satisfactorily combined with any form of supervised study. A ninety-minute period is objectionable from the administrative standpoint because it necessitates an additional teaching force and lengthens the school day beyond the time that is of advantage to the pupils. After careful consideration the Seattle high-school day was made to consist of five sixty-minute recitation-study periods. In the academic subjects not more than the first forty minutes of a period are used for the recitation, and the remainder of the period is spent in supervised study. It is not expected that home study will be eliminated, but rather that it will be directed far better than has been the case heretofore. The two general characteristics usually given for conducting supervised study are, first, to find the source of the difficulty of the pupil who is struggling with the lesson, and secondly, to guide him properly without giving too much assistance. Each pupil's problem