REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BUREAU OF EDUCATION, Washington, D. C., September 1, 1926. SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of this office for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1926, together with recommendations for the extension and improvement of its work, as required by act of Congress approved March 2, 1867. PRELIMINARY STATEMENT Service to public education in the United States is the foundation upon which the United States Bureau of Education rests. It was created "for the purpose of collecting such statistics and facts as shall show the condition and progress of education in the several States and Territories, and of diffusing such information respecting the organization and management of schools and school systems and methods of teaching as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems, and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country." The functions of the Bureau of Education are twofold: I. Nonadministrative functions, which consist of (1) research work and the collecting of information on all matters relating to education in the United States and foreign countries; (2) dissemination of such data; (3) the promotion of education generally. II. Administrative functions, which embrace (1) administration of income accruing from lands under the first Morrill Act and annual appropriations under the second Morrill Act and Nelson amendment; (2) administration of a system of education, support, and medical relief for the natives of Alaska. For the more effective prosecution of these functions, the bureau is organized into two general departments or activities, with the following divisions: (1) Technical activities: (a) Higher education; (b) rural schools; (c) city schools; (d) physical education and school hygiene; (e) service, which comprises adult education, industrial education. commercial education, home-economics education, educational legislation, and foreign education. (2) General service activities: (a) Statistics; (b) editorial; (c) education, medical relief, and reindeer service for the Alaskan natives; (d) library; (e) stenographic; (f) mails and files; (g) messenger service. The functions and activities of the technical staff of the Bureau of Education fall into several classes, as follows: (1) Research and investigation; (2) educational surveys; (3) dissemination of information; and (4) field service. The results of the bureau's studies are made available to school and college administrators and teachers in a variety of ways, including especially bulletins and circulars, which are distributed as soon as they come from the press. At the same time, the members of the bureau, in public addresses or by correspondence, use every opportunity to inform the public on educational matters. In the conduct of surveys members of the bureau's staff have occasion to visit widely separated parts of the country. These studies often require extended absence in the field. At the same time the bureau's specialists conduct frequent educational conferences in various parts of the country. Also, they are called upon, from time to time, to deliver addresses before educational associations, student assemblies, and public gatherings. A large proportion of the travel expenses incident to this service in the field is borne by local, State, and national organizations. The bureau is anxious to render these various forms of field service to all sections of the country on an equal basis. Summarizing all types of field service, I may report that during the fiscal year 21 members of the bureau staff, exclusive of the commissioner, rendered an aggregate of 783 days of field service outside of the District of Columbia in 39 different States. As one feature of this service, 16 members of the staff, exclusive of the commissioner, delivered 123 addresses in 29 different States to audiences aggregating 28,662 persons. It has been the custom in previous annual reports to outline the activities of the bureau under the heads of the different divisions of the office, which often resulted in the overlapping of material. In this report the work of the bureau is, with a few exceptions, presented under topics. In addition to the foregoing I have given some of the outstanding events in the field of public education during the year, which should prove of interest not only to schoolmen but to the general reader. I. REVIEW OF RECENT EVENTS IN PUBLIC EDUCATION STATISTICS OF EDUCATION Data for the school year 1923-24 show 564,363 pupils enrolled in public kindergartens; 54,456 in private kindergartens; 20,898,930 in public elementary schools, including kindergartens; 1,473,145 in private and parochial elementary schools, including kindergartens; 3.389,878 in public high schools; 254,119 in private high schools; 61,858 in preparatory departments of colleges and universities; 35,232 in secondary courses in normal schools; a total of 3,741,087 in secondary schools; 245,669 in teacher-training schools; 664,266, excluding preparatory students, in colleges, universities, and professional schools. Private commercial and business schools report 188,368 students in 1925. If enrollments in industrial schools for delinquents, schools for the deaf, blind, and feeble-minded, as given for 1922, and enrollments in schools for Indians, and for schools in Alaska are included, a total of 27,398,170 is secured. There are approximately 1,000,000 teachers for all of these schools. Including outlays the public elementary schools cost $1,231,554,330 and the public high schools $589,189,606. The private elementary schools are estimated to have cost $86,812,435 and the private high schools $44,145,553. Receipts for colleges under public control amounted to $151,781,079 and for those under private control $189,203,947. Teacher-training institutions expended $22,474,818. If to these amounts there are added the costs of industrial schools, schools for the blind, the deaf, and the feeble-minded for 1922, and for schools for the Indians and for Alaskans, the total is $2,386,889,132. Public elementary and high school property is valued at $3,744,780,714 and private high-school property at $396,616,100. Private elementary school property is estimated to be worth $300,000,000. Teacher-training institutions have property valued at $136,623,958 and colleges and universities at $1,056,929,060, excluding endowments. Teacher-training institutions have endowments and productive funds valued at $12,862,722 and colleges and universities at $814,718,813. The total value of school property as reported above is $6,462,531,367. It is difficult to determine the number of elementary schools, as localities define the school in so many different ways. There were in use in 1924 a total of 263,280 public elementary and high school buildings, of which number 157,034 were one-room schools. There are approximately 22,500 public high schools, 2,500 private high schools, 89 teachers' colleges, 114 State normal schools, 29 city normal schools, and about 67 private normal schools. There are 144 colleges and universities under public control and 769 under private control. The ratio of adults that is, persons 21 years of age and over-to school children, those 5 to 17 years of age, inclusive, is 2.20 for the United States. For the western group of States it is 2.68; for the North Atlantic, 2.52; for the North Central, 2.44; for the South Atlantic, 1.71; and for the South Central, 1.65. A child in the western group has one more adult to support him in school than does a child in the south central group. Per capita wealth and per capita incomes are higher in States having relatively fewer children. This unequal distribution of children, of income, and of wealth is one of the big problems in financing our State educational systems. RURAL EDUCATION There has been relatively little legislation of special interest in the field of rural education during the year, owing to the fact that the majority of legislatures meet in the odd rather than the even numbered years. The time has been used to advantage in many States in preparing the people for a better understanding of such legislative changes as are contemplated to be made by the 1927 legislatures and in making preparatory studies anticipating advanced organization or administration provisions. Particularly noticeable has been the movement on the part of teachers in service and persons preparing for teaching to secure the professional and academic training necessary to comply with new laws requiring certain prerequisites for teaching certificates. In general, the amount of training required increases year by year. Rural-school teachers are affected more by these laws than are those of cities. They are going to summer schools and attending regular courses in large numbers. School officials concerned with the enforcement of the laws are actively engaged in enlarging and improv ing facilities for training prospective teachers and those in service, particularly for observation and practice. Unusual interest has been shown during the year in an effort to give practical help of a professional nature to rural-school superintendents and supervisors. This interest is apparent in three obvious movements: (1) The establishment of "short courses" for superintendents and supervisors in service. These are from three days to two weeks in duration and are provided and promoted by State departments of education and higher institutions of learning. (2) Increased effort on the part of State education officials to provide practical assistance to rural superintendents and supervisors by the assignment of members of the State education department staff to a larger amount of field work with the local superintendents and supervisors to assist them in the solution of local problems; North Dakota, Texas, and Minnesota are examples of States which have shown special interest in these movements during the year. (3) The establishment in higher institutions of courses in rural-school administration and supervision both during regular year and summerschool sessions. These follow in part the demands of newer laws providing for special certificates for supervisory and administrative positions. In the field of rural-teacher preparation there are marked tendencies apparent to discontinue courses designed for the preparation of teachers in schools of secondary grade, as in North Dakota, Oregon, and Oklahoma; to raise entrance requirements to high-school graduation where such courses are continued, as in Wisconsin and North Carolina; to establish new departments in normal schools for the training of rural teachers, as in Arizona and Missouri; to enlarge the staffs in rural-teacher-training departments; to provide more differentiated courses for rural teachers; to provide more adequate observation and practice facilities; and to increase the amount of professional training required for completion of courses. In the field of secondary education the extension of the reorganization movement to rural areas continues. This is indicated by the fact that of a total of 2,458 high schools reorganized, reported to the Bureau of Education for 1924-25, 1,215 are located in places of less than 2,500 total population; 893 of these are of the juniorsenior type. Among the States which report progress in the juniorsenior type of school organization in rural areas are Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and West Virginia. The movements for setting up larger units for administrative organization and for consolidating small schools are making constant and substantial progress. Both elementary and secondary schools are affected through professional management, the enrichment of the curriculum, securing teachers with specialized training, better support, better teachers, and better facilities in general. Progress in consolidation and centralization has been marked more by improvement of internal organization than by new provisions for larger units. There has been more intelligent planning for the reorganization of rural districts, replacing haphazard plans based on enthusiasm more than intelligent care in organization. Better provisions for safe transportation are being made, and as roads improve the type of school busses used improves. Recent changes |