A nationwide study (involving about 2,000 special educational leaders) is being conducted on the competencies needed by teachers of exceptional children.

Other Developments

Education for returning veterans.—Under the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (which expired June 30, 1952) more than 2 million young men and women returned to school or college. Under the Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1952 there were 47,767 veterans enrolled in colleges during December 1952.

Important provisions of the 1952 law are the following: A direct stipend to the veteran himself to defray tuition and living costs; an education or training period equal to 111⁄2 times the length of the veteran's active service; Federal funds for States to establish special agencies to approve edu cational institutions where student veterans

may study and receive the Federal stipend; opportunity for the veteran to study in foreign institutions of higher learning.

Fundamental education.-Fundamental education today has two great needs a descriptive statement of its meaning and functions, and a program for training specialists in its field. The UNESCO Panel on Fundamental Education devoted its activities primarily to these problems. The Adult Education Association of the United States of America established a standing committee on literacy and fundamental education, and the Office of Education prepared a graphic outline, "What, How, Where, and Why of Fundamental Education."

Educational exchanges between the United States and other countries.-The Office of Education administers programs for approximately 1,000 teachers and trainees going to and coming from over 50 countries under programs sponsored by the Educational Exchange Service of the Department of State (including the Fulbright program which is under the supervision of the Board of Foreign Scholarships), the Technical Cooperation Administration, and the Mutual Security Agency. Other cooperating agencies, both Government and nonGovernment, administer similar programs for students, trainees, professors, leaders, and research scholars.

Something like 60,000 foreign educational personnel studied, taught, lectured, or did research in the United States during 1952-53. About half of them were stu

dents. The United Nations and UNESCO fellowship programs, the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundations, and other private foundations, to say nothing of hundreds of colleges and universities and civic organizations, all offered grants in varying amounts to support educational exchanges.

Educational TV. Two hundred and forty-four TV channels are now reserved for education under the Federal Communications Commission's Sixth Report and Order of April 1952. The total number of institutions (or groups) applying for these channels has reached 49. One of the 17 groups which have received their licenses is already on the air. This is the University of Houston (Tex.) station, KUHT.

Other educational TV progress is shown in the following facts: Iowa State College has been operating Station WOI-TV on a commercial license, daily, for 3 years. Nearly 100 colleges and universities are putting on programs over nearby commercial stations. Ten institutions televise regular courses for degree credits. More than 65 school systems use TV in the classroom.

Racial differentials and developments.Racial differentials continued to decrease as a result of voluntary actions and court decisions. Litigation this past year shifted from higher education to public-school education. The United States Supreme Court heard arguments of 5 segregation cases in the latter field originating in 4 States and the District of Columbia.

Education of girls and women.-The right of the American child to an education is not limited by sex: State compulsory education laws apply equally to boys and girls; all public elementary schools and the majority of public high schools are coeducational; and most higher educational institutions are also coeducational. In proportion to the disappearance of preju dices against their employment, young women are taking a greater variety of technical and professional courses. Today there is practically no occupation in the United States without at least a few women performing successfully.

A commission on women's education, established in January 1953 by the American Council on Education, a professional nonGovernment organization, is making a comprehensive study of the education of women in the United States. This study will explore women's current and long-range

needs as members of families, as career women, as citizens, and as creators and perpetuators of values. It will also include women in college and faculty positions. Conclusion

The people of the United States during 1952-53 continued to press toward the realization of their commitment to the idea of equal educational opportunity for all according to their talents. Within the framework of State and local control, the educational establishment continues to grow. In the firm belief that every individual is of incalculable worth, educators continued their efforts and, finally, the schools and colleges continued to assist youthful citizens in an understanding of world developments and of the fuller significance of their heritage of democratic freedom.

Radio-TV-Sound Guide

To advance the use of radio, television, and sound reproduction equipment in public and private schools throughout the United States, a joint United States Government-industry committee has published a report on the use of communication media in education, "Teaching with Radio, Audio, Recording, and Television Equipment."

This new booklet, published by the Radio-Television Manufacturers Association, was prepared by a joint committee of the United States Office of Education and Radio-Television Manufacturers Associa

tion.

The booklet covers five important aspects of communications equipment in education. They are: Teaching with radio programs and program recordings, program production and inschool broadcasting, teaching with sound-recording instruments, adminis trative and communication uses of electronic and sound equipment, and television in education.

Dr. Franklin Dunham, Chief of RadioTelevision for the Office of Education, U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, states in an explanatory foreword that "the present booklet is aimed at acquainting teachers with instructional techniques and procedures applicable to the use of all three types of equipment.

"It will serve the classroom teacher as an instructional methods guidebook," he said. "The local supervisor should find it useful, also in inservice training programs.

T

O PROVIDE the most advanced edu

cational system for its citizens, no State may continue in educational isolation. It is, therefore, not enough for school officials to know the most desirable practices only in their own State. They need to know desirable nationwide practices. The 48 educational systems constitute extensive and important experiments in education. To most effectively improve its own system, a State needs to take advantage of the knowledge of advanced practices which prevail in the other 47. It is a saving of time and money not to duplicate costly experiments that have been successfully completed elsewhere. It is to the best interests of a State's educational program to initiate proven practices and to avoid procedures which have been found grossly unsuitable in other States.

Chief State school officers have long recognized the need for information on desirable educational practices and have continuously searched for them. At first it was only natural to take advantage of the educational experience of Europe. The trips made by Horace Mann and Henry Barnard provide evidence of the search conducted abroad for desirable practices.

The greatest source of assistance, however, was other States. Excerpts from the early reports of chief State school officers show how this assistance was procured. The annual report of the State superintend ent of public instruction of Michigan for 1841 relates:

In October last, the superintendent had occasion to visit Massachusetts. While there, he devoted much of his time to a visitation of the schools, and a reexamination of the system. To the highly gifted, accomplished, and indefatigable secretary of the board of education, Hon. Horace Mann, and numerous estimable citizens of Boston, Cambridge, New Bedford, and Lex

ington, he is indebted for many facilities in acquiring the information he sought.

The first annual report of the State superintendent of public instruction of California published in 1852 carried the following passage:

By correspondence during the past year with the superintendents of public instruction and those exercising their functions in other States, there has been donated to this office a number of valuable books relating to the legislation and exposition of the school laws of the sister States. These volumes will greatly aid in the preparation of appropriate school legislation for this State, and are invaluable. . . . A familiarity with what has been written and done for popular education, is essential to be known, in order that we may avail ourselves of the experience of others in making reforms, and improving our own school

system.

These excerpts from the reports of two early State superintendents identify a variety of ways by which a knowledge of current practices was obtained. Early chief State school officers in general traveled widely within their own State and over the Nation to observe and study educational practices. The manner in which they arrived at judgments of desirable practices, the methods they employed to obtain information, and the criteria they used to rationalize their decisions, were characteristic of the times in which they lived. Their search for most desirable practices was conducted by sifting the opinions and judg ments of recognized authorities in other States and by observing recommended prac tices in operation. They formulated final determinations of what constituted desirable practices after a careful examination of the facts available. These determinations set the stage for educational advancement. These early officials also corre

sponded freely with their contemporaries in other States and exchanged reports, school codes, and other published material. A few of these early chief State school officers managed to publish educational journals which provided an avenue for the statewide and nationwide distribution of their findings.

Over the years the need for information on desirable practices has heightened considerably as State departments of education have been faced with new and expanding educational programs. While the methods and techniques followed by early chief State school officers to identify desirable practices are still employed, these have become increasingly inadequate to meet the newer demands. Rapid progress has been made, however, in the development of more appropriate techniques in response to the newer needs.

Currently there are two chief methods in use for determining most desirable practices in State school administration. For purposes of discussion these methods may be identified by the techniques used in each to evaluate current educational practices in the several States. These are: (1) The judgment of a single authority, and (2) the judgment of a group composed of those best qualified to know in the United States. Crucial Step

Except in the case of scientific experimentation, four essential steps are followed in determining most desirable practices in State school administration. In every case, of course, it is understood that there exists a critical problem in State school administration for which there is a recognized need for information about most desirable practices. These steps are:

1. Gathering and compiling data on current practice from all States.

2. Analyzing the data and preparing a statement describing the current practices.

3. Evaluating the different practices.

4. Presenting the most desirable practices.

The key to the difference between the first method and the second method lies in the manner in which the evaluation is made to determine most desirable practices in the United States. In the first, it is the single authority; in the second, it is a group decision of those persons in the United States best equipped to know.

The third step is the crucial one. In the first method a single authority makes the appraisal of current practices and the determination as to which ones are most desirable. This authority may be the chief State school officer who makes the determination for his department, or it may be a member of his staff. On the other hand, the single authority may be a university or college professor, a member of the legis lature, or the representative of an educa tional group or association. Ph. D. candidates use this method frequently when they prepare their doctoral dissertations. Their appraisal is generally based upon a careful analysis of practices supplemented by deci sions arrived at through logical reasoning.

The third step in the second method is performed by a group of persons best qualified to know in the United States. The composition of the group will vary with the problems under consideration. It includes both practitioners and theorists. It includes representatives with opposing points of view and those who carry on different practices in different parts of the country. It may also include members of national associations concerned with particular phases of education. The group of specialists study the current practices revealed in the second step, evaluate the practices, and arrive at a decision. The decision constitutes the composite judgment of the group members.

The National Council of Chief State School Officers was one of the first organizations to recognize the inadequacies of the single authority method for determining most desirable practices in State school administration. It found that supposedly desirable practices which were determined by a single authority were often unsuited to practical application. Particularly was this the case when the authority was a theorist. Too often, also, the practitioner in promoting an opinion as an authority,

was overly influenced by the experience he had in one or a few States. In either case, there existed a feeling that it was difficult, if not impossible, for the single authority to have the experience and the detailed knowledge of conditions essential to make valid evaluations that would apply to every State. This is a significant limitation of the single authority method. No one man could hope to resolve all the problems or to ameliorate all the differences that normally arise in any protracted evaluation of practices involving the work of many people in each of the several States. Then, too, these factors militated against the speedy implementation of the results of the single authority method.

Less Time Lag

Chief State school officers soon recognized the second method as a source of substantial assistance. It eliminated most of the drawbacks which existed in the single authority method. A group of specialists has more varied knowledge and experience to draw upon. Thus, the group is likely to arrive at decisions which are much sounder and more balanced in terms of existing conditions in the field. Such decisions will be accepted to a greater degree throughout the Nation than the decisions made by a single authority. Moreover, the persons who have the responsibility in their States for putting into practice the particular programs under consideration are usually the same persons who share in determining desirable practices. Such a situation facilitates, of course, the incorporation of these practices in the several State systems of education. The growing use of the group decision method has far-reaching implications for the decrease in the time lag that generally occurs between identification of desirable practice and its adoption and use in a State.

More Popular

Although the newer method generally requires a longer time, involves heavier costs on account of travel and conference expenses, and depends considerably for its success on the group membership representation, it is highly favored. It has already demonstrated its effectiveness as a source of strength for State school systems. The method was used advantageously in the

project which culminated in the production of Minimum Standards for School Buses,1 which has had far-reaching implications for pupil transportation in the United States. A project of the National Council on Schoolhouse Construction which resulted in the publication entitled, Guide for Planning School Plants,2 used the newer method. The Study Commission of the National Council of Chief State School Officers, in cooperation with the Office of Education, carried on a project which developed the policy document entitled, The State Department of Education,3 using the newer method, and is using this method almost exclusively in its continuing schedule of studies.

The State educational records and reports project, now being carried on jointly by the State and Territorial departments of education and the Office of Education, is proceeding on the basis of decisions made by a group of those most qualified to know throughout the United States.

Rewarding

Thus far, this method has been particu larly rewarding. Already, the project has developed the fundamental guide for State systems of records and reports entitled, Handbook 1, The Common Core of State Educational Information. Currently, the Office of Education is also participating in another project entitled, "Qualifications and Preparation of Teachers of Exceptional Children." First results of this project, which uses the same method and which promises to be a landmark in the education of exceptional children, are reported in this issue of School Life.

The newer method of group consideration and decision, now tested and proved, will be a strong factor in helping to improve State school administration.

1 National Conference on School Construction. Minimum Standards for School Buses. Washington, National Education Association, 1948 Revised Edition.

2 National Council on Schoolhouse Construction, Re. search and Publications Committee. Guide for Planning School Plants. Nashville, Tenn., The Council, 1953.

3 National Council of Chief State School Officers. The State Department of Education: A statement of some guiding principles for its legal status, its functions, and the organization of its service areas. Washington, The Council. 1952. 4U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. The Common Core of State Educational Information. Washington, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1953. (State Educational Records and Reports Series: Handbook 1, Bulletin 1953, No. 8) 35 cents.

Bridging the Gap Between School and College. A Progress Report on Four Related Projects Supported by the Fund for the Advancement of Education. Prepared by the Research Division of the Fund for the Advancement of Education, in cooperation with the participants. New York, The Fund for the Advancement of Education, 1953. 127 p. (Evaluation Report No. 1.) Free.

Developing the Secondary School Curriculum. Revised Edition. By J. Paul Leonard. New York, Rinehart & Co., Inc., 1953. 582 p. $5.50.

Education for Self-Understanding. The Role of Psychology in the High School Program. By Arthur T. Jersild, Kenneth Helfant, and Associates. New York, Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1953. 54 p. (Horace Mann-Lincoln Institute of School Experimentation Leaflet.) 85¢.

Elementary School Objectives. A report prepared for The Mid-Century Committee on Outcomes in Elementary Education. By Nolan C. Kearney. New York, Russell Sage Foundation, 1953. 189 p. $3.00.

Elementary School Transfer; Problems, Principles, and Recommended Procedures. By O. W. Kopp. New York, Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1953. 83 p. $2.50.

Five Thousand Women College Graduates Report. Findings of a National Survey of the Social and Economic Status of Women Graduates of Liberal Arts Colleges of 19461949. By Robert Shosteck. Washington, D. C., B'nai B'rith Vocational Service Bureau, 1953. 66 p. 75¢.

Flexible Classrooms: Practical Ideas for Modern Schoolrooms. By Russell E. Wilson. Detroit, The Carter Co., 1953. 64 p. Illus. $3.75.

Handcrafts for Elementary Schools. A Handbook of Practical Suggestions for Teachers. By Frank C. Moore, Carl H. Hamburger, and Anna-Laura Kingzett. Boston, D. C. Heath & Co., 1953. 316 p. Illus. $5.

Home Study Blue Book and Directory of Accredited Private Home Study Schools and Courses. Seventeenth Edition. Edited by Homer Kempfer. Washington, D. C., National Home Study Council, 1953. 32 p. Illus. (Address: National Home Study Council, 1420 New York Ave., N. W., Washington, D. C.) Free to high schools, public libraries, counselors, teachers, etc.

The Law of Local Public School Administration. By Madaline Kinter Remmlein. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1953. 271 p. (McGraw-Hill Series in Education). $4.50.

A Job Analysis Technique Applied to Secretarial and Stenographic Positions Employing Persons Trained in Post-HighSchool Secretarial Curriculums to Reveal Curriculum and Guidance Implications. By Sally Berry Maybury. Doctor's, 1952. Boston University. 349 p. ms.

Legal Liability of a Teacher with Respect to Corporal Punishment. By William C. Barrett. Master's, 1953. Western Michigan College of Education. 46 p. ms. The Prognostic Value of the ACE Psychological Examinations and the Iowa English Placement Test in Determining Student Grades in Six Courses in a Teacher-Training Institution. By Margaret E. Lavin. Master's, 1947. University of North Dakota. 103 p. ms.

The School and Personality Develop ment. By Kenneth J. Fletcher. Master's, 1952. Indiana State Teachers College. 107 p. ms.

Statistics in the Secondary School Curriculum. By Alphonsus Lawrence O'Toole. Doctor's, 1952. Harvard University. 310 p. ms.

A Study of the Activities in Behalf of the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing by the Association of the Junior Leagues of America, Inc. By Agnes Best. Master's, 1952. Gallaudet College. 70 p. ms.

A Study of the Formal and Informal Organization of a School Faculty: The Identi fication of the Systems of Interactions and Relationships Among the Staff Members of a School and an Analysis of the Interplay Between These Systems. By Norman J. Harvard UniBoyan. Doctor's, 1951.

versity. 406 p. ms.

A Survey and Analysis of Materials Sent to Parents of the Pre-School-Age Child Before He Enters School in September. By Henry W. DeRusha. Master's, 1950. Boston University. 92 p. ms.

A Survey and Evaluation of the Program of Industrial Arts in the Public Schools of Worcester, Massachusetts. By Edgar Leon Demers. Master's, 1950. Boston University. 149 p. ms.

Travel Experiences of Eighth Grade Siudents. By Walter Dana Gibson. Master's, Boston University. 59 p. ms.

1950.

U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1953