THE 81st

HE 81st CONGRESS authorized a nationwide survey of public elementary and secondary school facilities pursuant to Title I of Public Law 815. The School Facilities Survey being conducted under this authority is, in fact, a series of State surveys by the State educational agencies in cooperation with the Office of Education and coordinated at the Federal level by the School Housing Section.

To facilitate the gathering of informa tion from the States, the survey was divided into two phases: (1) the first or status phase, and (2) the second or long-range planning phase. Two progress reports on the status phase were published in 1952. The First Progress Report was based on an inventory of public-school facilities in 25 States. The Second Progress Report was based on the needs for additional school facilities in 37 States as of September 1952 and State and local resources available for meeting those needs. The Report of the Status Phase of the School Facilities Survey, issued in December 1953, is based on reports from 43 States. This report absorbs the two progress reports previously published and constitutes a final report on the schoolhousing situation in the United States as revealed by the first or status phase of the School Facilities Survey.

*

The States are continuing the second or long-range phase of the survey to determine the needs for public elementary and secondary school facilities through the school year 1959-60 which are expected to result from such factors as enrollment increases, shifting population, school district reorganization, and normal replacements. The Of fice of Education contemplates the publication of a summary report on the second or long-range phase of the School Facilities Survey in the fall of 1954.

*Report of the Status Phase of the School Facilities Survey, Authorized by Title 1, Public Law 815, 81st Congress. Washington, D. C., U. S. Government Printing Office, 1953. Illus, 140 p. Price 70

cents.

When the data reported by 43 States are projected for all States and Territories' on the basis of relative public-school enrollments, the 1952 nationwide school plant needs include 312,000 instruction rooms (classrooms, laboratories, and shops) to house 8,881,360 pupils at a cost of $10.6 billion. Of this amount, $5.9 billion could be provided from applicable resources, leaving a nationwide deficit of $4.7 billion.

Unless the tempo of school construction is materially increased, the needs for additional school facilities will continue to grow because of future increases in enrollment. It is obvious that financing practices will have to be improved and that new and substantial resources will have to be tapped on a broadened tax base if American boys and girls are to be provided with adequate school facilities.

Thousands of local school districts are now unable to finance urgently needed school construction. There are, however, ways in which the situation could be improved in some States at the local level by

State and/or local action. Even with improvements in the local financing of capital outlay, the provision of adequate schoolhousing will require that States attack the problem on a statewide basis and that a substantial portion of the funds be provided from State sources.

The income payments back of each pupil enrolled in the public schools provide a comparable measure of State ability. The relative ability of the States, thus measured, varies in the ratio of 1 to 5. In 1951, 4 States had income payments of less than $5,000 per pupil enrolled, as compared to 5 States which had income payments of more than $13,000 per pupil enrolled.

The chart shown below is reprinted from the Report. It graphically reveals one phase of the current school situation.

The School Facilities Survey will give the Congress and the American people some basic information which is needed if an objective appraisal is to be made of the problem of providing adequate publicschool facilities.

10%

10.

9%

7%

35%

14-20 rooms

21 rooms and over

Data from 43 States enrolling 20,156,045 pupils

are;

In the field of statistics, it has such familiar reports as the Statistics of State School Systems, which biennially answers questions on how many pupils there are enrolled; how many teachers are employed; how many basic administrative units there the annual expenditure per pupil in the various States; and expenditures for capital outlay, sources of income, and so on. A similar biennial report is available, devoted to city school systems; and still another to higher education.

Annually a detailed report is issued on the number of students enrolled in engineering, and the number of engineering degrees conferred. A special study is being completed this year of the number of Korean veterans studying in higher educational institutions under Public Law 550 (the

*Office of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington, D. C., before the meeting of the American Educational Research Association at Atlantic City, N. J., February 15, 1954.

Korean GI Bill), and their distribution. among the different institutions. And there are other similar statistical reports, too numerous for me to mention at this time.

Administration

In the field of State school administration, a report-prepared cooperatively with the National Council of Chief State School Officers and the Association of School Business Officials of the United States and Canada-has been issued which defines all the items (organizational, personnel, financial, and property) that constitute The Common Core of State Educational Information. The State departments have agreed that annually each State should collect data on all of the items in this "Common Core."

Another study in school administration relates to the experience of 17 States in the reorganization of small local school districts into larger units. There are still at least 50,000 small school districts in the United States (mainly in certain States of the Middle West), as you know, and reorganization remains a persistent problem.

Finance

In the field of finance, a monumental report entitled Expenditures for Education at the Midcentury has just appeared. This report prepared with the generous assistance of State departments of education and a volunteer advisory board-shows graphically the variations which exist from one district to another within each State with respect to expenditure per classroom unit, as well as the differences among the States. It appears that the quality of a child's education varies considerably, depending on the town or State in which his parents live. This study should prove of great assistance to the States in the evaluation and

improvement of their plans for financing education.

A typical project in the field of school law is the comprehensive analysis of legislative enactment designed to affect statewide reorganization of local school administrative units.

The field of school construction is a critical one nowadays. Recently, the School Housing Section of the Office published its report to Congress on the School Facilities Survey, financed partly by the Federal Government and partly by the States. This report is a basic reference work on such matters as the age of school buildings in the various States, the types of school construction, the extent of overcrowding, and the prospective needs for new buildings. Two other studies are: an analysis of fund-raising procedures and State and local tax limitations; and an analysis of the body dimensions of school children, an exact knowledge of which is desired by the manufacturers of school furniture.

Elementary Education

In elementary education, a comprehensive descriptive study is being made of social studies textbooks. Another study is inquiring into the practices of teachertraining institutions. The first phase of this study is a follow-up study of graduates.

In secondary education, a major study is nearing completion on the subject of the adaptation of school administration and instruction to rapid and slow learners. The extent to which desirable practices are, or are not, being followed will be ascertained; and, if resources prove adequate, a detailed study of exceptionally satisfactory schools will be undertaken.

Secondary School Curriculum

In the field of secondary curriculum, two studies have been made of the "core curric

ulum": how many schools use it, where these schools are, and the administrative problems of establishing and continuing a successful core program. A curriculum study in the field of high school mathematics has also been completed.

Also in the field of secondary education, the American Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation is cooperating with the Office of Education in a study of enrollment and teacher-training curriculums in the field of health, education, and recreation.

I am afraid that this long list of research in progress may begin to bore you, but several other important projects should also be mentioned.

Effectiveness of TV

An interesting experimental study is being conducted through Station KUHT, at Houston, Texas, to determine the comparative effectiveness of television versus regular classes in teaching practical nursing for the home. The National Red Cross, the University of Texas, the Educational Testing Service of Princeton, N. J., and the Office of Education are all cooperating in this effort.

In the field of visual education, a descriptive analytic study is being made of the services available to schools through the audio-visual sections of State departments of education.

For Exceptional Children

Thanks to the interest and generosity of the Association for the Aid of Crippled Children, an excellent study is being conducted, with the aid of the Office, on the qualifications and preparation of teachers of exceptional children. The participation of cooperating agencies in this study has been so cordial and active that eventual practical application of the findings from the study seems assured.

The Guidance and Pupil-Personnel Section of the Office has two studies under way: one on the content and method of university preparation of school counselors; the other, on the extent and causation of high-school dropouts.

The Division of Vocational Education in the Office of Education also conducts some research. For example, careful track is kept of the supply and demand for vocational agriculture teachers (at present, the supply is short). The Home Economics

Branch is developing evaluative instruments for use in appraising college and secondary school programs in home economics. The Trade and Industry Branch is making a survey of trade school graduates in the Middle West during the 5-year period that ended in 1952.

The Division of International Education has just completed a study of education in Pakistan. Another inquiry by this Division of the Office seeks to identify the colleges and universities in the United States which give courses in comparative education and in the new field known as area studies.

The Division of Higher Education has numerous research projects under way. One is a study of the costs that students incur in going to college. Another is a study of cooperative, or work-study, education in the United States. Still another study will determine at what stages in their careers students drop out of college, and some of the factors related to their withdrawal.

General Education

With respect to general education, a continuous supply of information is being collected regarding new developments in this field. The current role of liberal education in professional curriculums for pharmacy, engineering, architecture, and forestry is being pictured in a series of bulletins. An entire volume on professional education in the United States, covering all the recog nized professions, is nearing completion. Consultative Services

In many of the fields that I have mentioned, bibliographies of recent studies have been prepared by staff members of the Office. Advisory and consultative services are also extended, on request, to school systems and organizations interested in research.

If you will think back on the variety of projects that I have mentioned, you will recall that the studies range from elementary school through graduate professional training. The fields which are covered include statistics, administration, school finance, school housing, school law, curriculum, teacher preparation, teaching methods, special education, guidance, vocational education, international education, and higher education. All of these studies involve, to some extent, research. The

Some of you may question whether factfinding per se is in fact research. Research, of course, can be variously defined. I think of research as involving the recognition of a problem area; the definition of the prob lem; the design of procedures giving promise of clues or final answers to the problem; the collection of information (by observation, experimentation, interviews, tests, questionnaires, records, or whatever method); the compilation and analysis of the data; the interpretation of the data; and then the rigid checking and testing of these interpretations to be certain of their validity, reliability, and overall soundness. (Parenthetically, it is in this last checking that I fear researchers are frequently lax. It is always a problem in the Office of Education, where the pressure is great, to get studies released.)

Understanding and Solution

Of course, there are all sorts of factfinding, from counting the hairs on a head to making a crucial measurement in a physical experiment. As you know, the prob lems are complex in experimental research in the social sciences. Essential to such research is fact-finding. It is pertinent and basic to the understanding and solution of many problems in American education.

Now, as to the research methods employed at the Office of Education. Of course, such usual techniques are used as questionnaires, field observation, interviews, case studies, historical and legal research, and occasionally, when the subject matter or opportunity is appropriate, actual experimentation.

The Conference

One outstanding feature is emphasis on the understanding and cooperation of other organizations and governmental units. This (Continued on page 90)

EXPENDITURES FOR EDUCATION AT

THE MIDCENTURY,* a new Office of Education report, reveals extreme variations in the amount, and perhaps the quality of the schooling the children of the United States receive. Educators, superintendents, members of boards of education, citizen committees, and legislators alike will find a wealth of information to aid in evaluating and improving the effectiveness of State and local plans for financing education.

Every 10 Years

This report adheres to the Office plan of publishing information on average expenditures per classroom unit at 10-year intervals. Such a plan appeared advisable in view of the usefulness of the two previous reports, which showed expenditures for the years 1929-30 and 1939-40. The 1949-50 study was conducted and the report prepared by Clayton D. Hutchins, Office of Education specialist in school finance, and Albert R. Munse, research assistant. Dr. Eugene S. Lawler, professor of education at Florida State University, was engaged as consultant, and a 6-member Advisory Committee included persons associated with the previous studies.

From figures submitted by State departments of education, the report presents what is believed to be a complete coverage of current expenditures per classroom unit for all of the 63,277 school districts that employed teachers during the 1949-50 school year. Also included are data for each of the 125 operating school districts in the outlying parts of the United States. The report presents a profile chart for the United States and for each State and outlying part of the United States to show the numbers of classroom units supported at various expenditure levels.

*Washington, D. C., U. S. Government Printing Office, 1953. Misc. No. 18. 136 p., including 79 charts and 35 tables. Price 65 cents.

at the Midcentury

The United States in 1949-50 spent a total of $4,143,857,951 for its current expenses applying to classrooms. This is an impressive figure, yet Expenditures for Education at the Midcentury reports that more than $600,000,000 in additional expenditure would have been required to raise all low classrooms up to the national median level of $4,391 per classroom unit.

Expenditures varied from State to State and within each State. The State median expenditures ranged from $1,451 for Mississippi to $7,627 for New York. Some boards of education were able to expend 40 times as much as others. These differences are especially significant when interpreted in association with the presumption that there is a substantial relationship between expenditures for education and the amount and quality of educational services.

iture assured for every child or classroom. Although these programs have been operating for some years, the profile charts show that many classrooms in 1949-50 were still supported at indefensibly low levels.

There are several reasons for the great variations in these expenditures. The three most important appear to be differences in the educational load, in the supply of funds for the support of schools, and in the interests and efforts of the people in planning and financing local educational services.

Those States which have a high birthrate, many small school districts, sparsely populated areas with relatively few children, or a firm compulsory attendance law have the greatest educational load when measured in terms of classroom units. In States with greater densities of population, the corre sponding measure of educational load appears lighter. This same analysis might be applied at the local district level. For over half of the Nation's children who were attending schools during 1949-50 in large (Continued on page 95)

3,506

5,000

338

4,857

3,557

4.916

3,693

4,296

5,337

4,626

5,643

6,323

5,115

4,419

4,380

424

553

256

Education for Salvation and Freedom

During the early days of slavery in America, Christian missionaries were influential in starting the custom of teaching the slaves to read and write. This was particularly true among the French, Spanish, and German settlers. Their main purpose was the propagation of the gospel among the heathen of the new world.

The education of slaves of the English settlers did not advance as rapidly as among other settlers. The reason was an "unwritten law that no. Christian could be held a slave," according to the Special Report of the U.S. Commissioner of Education (1871, p. 352). The dilemma was resolved by "provincial statutes and formal declarations by the Bishop of London to the effect that conversion did not work manumission." Systematic efforts to enlighten the slaves began as early as 1695. By about the middle of the 18th century, it is reported that in Accomack County, Va., "as many as 400 or 500 families were instructing their slaves at home and had their children catechized on Sunday."

Of all the sects interested in enlightening the Negroes, the Quakers were the most effective and earnest. It was they who first registered protest against slavery in Protestant America. They also extended their concept of education to include preparation for citizenship as well as Christianity. Their aggressiveness in implementing this concept, particularly in the northern colonies, coupled with a few slave uprisings in the southern colonies, culminated in the enactment of laws in several States against the teaching of Negroes, either slaves or freedmen.

However, another force which was gathering strength and momentum was destined not only to clash with the opponents of slave enlightenment, but also to challenge the

entire slave system; this was the spirit of freedom which resulted in the American Revolution and finally in the emancipation of the slaves. Many of the Founding Fathers and their associates, including Adams, Wythe, Mason, Washington, Jefferson, Jay, Swan, Hopkins, and Franklin, favored a policy not only of suppressing the slave trade and emancipating the slaves, but also of educating them for a life of freedom.

Some of the revolutionary literature, both in America and from Europe fell into the hands of the slaves and freedmen who had learned to read. In addition, abolitionist literature grew in amount and intensity in its attack on slavery. It was inevitable that the ideas thus disseminated should be eagerly grasped by Negroes, and that literacy-the channel of communicating the ideas—should be eagerly sought. Thus, in spite of laws making the education of Negroes a crime, punishable by the severest penalties, many of them succeeded in securing the rudiments of knowledge.. Much of this was accomplished by stealth and cunning, with the aid of those who had managed to learn, and sometimes with the connivance of white persons, including some slaveholders. So, by the time of Emancipation, it is estimated that about 5 percent of the Negroes were literate.

The first article of this series1 attempted to set forth the present posture of the school segregation issue. In this article, we shall give a brief review of the progress of Negro education from the pre-Civil-War days to the present, with suggestions of its relation to the issue of segregation.

1 Caliver, Ambrose, "Education of Negroes, Segre. gation Issue Before the Supreme Court," SCHOOL LIFE, vol. 36 (February 1954).

Educational Ups and Downs

The beginning of the Civil War was the signal for unleashing the pent-up desire of Negroes for education. Schools followed in the wake of the Union Armies. Northern missionary zeal, enlightened determination of army officers, and eagerness of Negroes to learn, brought about the organization of schools almost immediately after the Union forces established themselves in any territory. The Freedmen's Bureau, established by Congress in 1866, considered education to be one of its major functions. As indicated in the previous article, what the Bureau did with respect to the education of Negroes largely served as a foundation for the public school systems later established in the South.

Public education at that time was not popular even for the whites. It should also be kept in mind that the war had brought poverty, suffering, and disorganization to the entire southern region. The Bureau, therefore, provided a kind of protection and an atmosphere of security, as well as financial assistance for those attempting to enlighten the Negroes. Negroes themselves played an important role in this educational activity and in bringing about the gains achieved. Five States had Negro State superintendents of education.

The report of the Superintendent of the Freedmen's Bureau in 1867 showed that the freedmen were appreciating the value of education and willing, when able, to pay for it; and that in this, as in other matters, they were making rapid strides toward entire self-support.

A sizable group of "moderate" southerners and large plantation owners accepted the facts of the new order. They realized the value of some education for Negroes not only that they might make a more reliable labor force, but also that they might (Continued on page 93)