dren are regarded a great reform. He says: "The State appropriates a very handsome sum for the purpose of education, which is increasing yearly, but my acquaintance with the schools has not revealed to me such an advance in their condition as the financial aid given would lead me to expect. Much backwardness is due, in my opinion, to the method of depositing the funds with local school boards. In the selection of district officials the first question is to find those willing to serve. The officers being selected, they regard the office as a sinecure. I find in my visits that no more than 10 per cent of the schools are visited by the commissioner during the year. They regard their duty to consist in fixing the term of school and such salary for teacher as will not consume the school fund, and the employment of a teacher, whom they leave to run the school in his own way until by friction he loses favor with some member of the district and the commissioners are unwilling to risk their popularity in employing him longer. The needs of the school are neglected and terms often very short when large sums are left in the local treasury. The schools are left to such diversified authority and management that it is not only impossible to enforce any systematic improvement, but the present management is ineffective and expensive. We must have local school boards to look after their interests; but would it not be better if the general management and direction of the schools and the handling of the funds were committed to a county school board, the governor appointing the officer or officers? That might effect a uniform progress in the schools and afford a better security and accountability for the funds. The surplus money in the hands of clerks is frequently used in speculation and often the districts have sustained heavy losses. Our system of reporting is expensive to the State, a tedious piece of work to the teacher, and the reports have never met the purpose for which they were intended. As a matter of statistics they are useless unless complete, which they never are. Much of the information called for is useless." A change is recommended in the law for the collection of taxes of colored persons in incorporated districts. The provisions of the law are greatly neglected. The State gives the colored schools of Sussex County $3,000, but their entire tax contributed is only one-third of the levy. It is not remarkable that a system of schools struggling with such inveterate hindrances as these, in obedience to a persistent idea of individual and local independence, should have made only a gradual progress during the decade from 1890 to 1900. In 1898, however, a new school law was passed, which evidently was intended to strengthen greatly the power at the center of the system. It provided for a State board of education consisting of the governor, secretary of state, president of Delaware College, State auditor, and senior member of the county school commissioners, with other experts, which should hold quarterly meetings, four members making a quorum. This body had authority to make laws for its own government, to exercise the powers and perform the duties usually vested in such boards, to prepare examination papers for different classes of teachers covering 12 subjects, to adopt a list of schoolbooks and appoint the method of their distribution, to hear appeals from county school commissioners, to gather statistics on education, report to the general assembly, and suggest changes in the school laws. Their compensation was $5 per day for actual services, the president of the State board being president of Delaware College. The supervision of all county schools was vested in the county school commissioner for each county, this official to be appointed by the governor for three years, the compensation being $5 per day for actual service, not to exceed $30 for the year, traveling expenses not to exceed $25. The districts were still intrusted with large powers in the management of their schools. Yet the general scope of the law showed a decided advance through the State in the direction of uniformity of system, thorough supervision, and holding officials to their duty. In 1899 the law was further improved by a provision for the establishment of graded schools. The biennial report of the State board of education for 1900, consisting of the governor, secretary of state, auditor of accounts, president of Delaware College, school commissioners of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex counties, each of which is given a commission of three persons, reports its own origin in 1898. In this brief space the efforts of the board have been, (1) "to organize and systematize the work of the public schools of the State; (2) to obtain reliable and comprehensive statistics that should be used as a basis of a more intelligent work and fairer and more just distribution of State aid; (3) the selection and adoption of better textbooks." The board recognized the evils of the system, based as it is on extreme local self-government. "The irregular boundaries of the district inclose local prejudice and strife and destroy uniformity and justice. The insufficient school buildings, unequal taxation, location of schoolhouses, unequal salaries of teachers, all make it impossible that taxpayers and children enjoy equal privileges." In order to exhibit these defects the State board compiled complete statistics sufficiently valuable to warrant their publication. "Full statistics will not need to be published oftener than ten years. The present have been obtained at much trouble and expense. A carefully revised and selected list of text-books has been made. The great need of our schools is more money and a more just and equitable distribution of the school dividend." The sum distributed during the year was a school fund amounting to $144,296.50, composed of $44,296.50 income from investments of funds and $100,000 appropriated by general appropriation act. One hundred and fifty dollars was appropriated to each single district in Newcastle County. In Kent and Sussex a different mode of distribution was practiced. Fifty-three of the school districts in Kent County were incorporated districts and 71 in Sussex. It is recommended that the general appropriation by the State be increased to $120,000, so that $164,296.50 can be distributed, giving $25,000 to the city of Wilmington. The board is convinced that the present general school law is the best that the State has ever had. The graded schools established under the act of 1899 and supervised by the State board represent 37 in the three counties. By the law only 150 pupils in each can be admitted at one time, and the graded schools receive $15 per annum for each pupil. It is recommended that the law be made to apply to the Wilmington schools. For several years an excellent summer" school of methods had been conducted in Kent County by Superintendent Tindall, and this plan is recommended as the best substitute for a normal school in Delaware. It is recommended that the school be made permanent by putting at the command of the superintendent an appropriation for the school, to be held at Dover for four weeks during July and August in each year. An appropriation of $1,000 per annum would suffice for the purpose. In contrast with the general lack of efficiency, the result of the system of local control of the schools and the large number of incorporated village systems, we turn with great satisfaction to the report of the schools of the city of Wilmington, which from an early period have gone forward with a steady progress. At the laying of the corner stone of a new high school building on April 20, 1899, Dr. E. G. Shortlidge, president of the board, read a paper concerning the growth of the public schools of Wilmington. Little of the history of the public schools of this city previous to 1852 was in existence. In 1829 under the free school act Wilmington was divided into 10 school districts, against powerful opposition. In only 1 was a school permanently established; in 2 others for short irregular periods. In 1833 a considerable sum of dividends from the income of the school fund suggested a plan to unite the 10 and form one large school, and in this same year this was accomplished. A schoolhouse was built with 2 rooms, 1 for male and 1 for female pupils, which contained 120 seats. The school commenced and was continued to 1852. It was supported against earnest opposition, occasioning much discussion. In 1852 the schools were reconstructed under a special act. The city council appropriated $10,000 annually. New schoolhouses were built and in 1861 there were 8 in use in the city. In 1857 the whole number of pupils in the public schools was 1,800; in 1898, 10,769. In 1859 there were 39 teachers; in 1898, 245. Up to 1859 there was no considerable grammar school for boys. In that year the first high school class was organized, in 1872 numbering 40. In 1898 the enrollment in the high school was 622. Up to the opening of school No. 1 in 1871 no advance beyond ordinary branches with algebra, geometry, natural philosophy, and physiology had been made. In 1898 all the pupils below the high school were taught music, drawing, and other branches usually taught in primary and grammar schools. Girls in the grammar schools were taught sewing, and kindergarten methods were used in the primary schools. In 1901 the faithful superintendent, Mr. David W. Harlan, retired and his place was supplied by Mr. George W. Twitmyer. The board of education at this time consisted of 24 members, representing 12 wards of the city. Miss Mary C. I. Williams was assistant superintendent of schools. The total population of Wilmington in 1900 was 76,508. There were 29 schoolhouses, with 238 schoolrooms, with sittings for 10,862 pupils. A high school for boys and girls was provided. Four grammar schools-one combined high, grammar, and primary, for coloredand 23 primary. The number of teachers in the day schools was 270, 245 being women. The whole number of pupils enrolled was 11,019, the average daily attendance 8,476. The colored schools represented an enrollment of 1,560, with 1,114 the average number. During the twenty-nine years previous to 1901 the number of schoolhouses had increased from 15 to 29; number of sittings from 4,502 to 10,862; whole number of pupils enrolled from 5,920 to 11,019, average attendance from 3,555 to 8,476, and number of teachers from 82 to 270. The total expenditure in 1900 was $189,676.08; cost per capita on total number enrolled, $15.76; on average number attending, $20.48. In 1901 $205,293.27 was paid for new buildings and furniture. The school tax had increased from 34 mills in 1885-86 to 4 mills in 1901. From this $162,792.17 was received from the city council, $22,515.75 from the State fund, $4,369.16 from other sources, making a total of $189,676.08. The new high school building, dedicated in 1901, was regarded as one of the most complete in the country. Manual training had been introduced in the different departments of the schools. An interesting feature of the educational condition of the city was the interest shown in the school system by the New Century Club, composed of the leading ladies of the city. The new superintendent recommends an extension of the ligh school course to four years, with a liberal provision for electives, the addition of sewing into the upper primary grades, the extension of manual training in the form of constructive work in all of the grades below the high school, the establishment of a pedagogical library in connection with the Principal's Round Table Library and the establishment of a nongraded school for the children requiring special care and instruction. The new superintendent pays a deserved tribute to the work of his predecessor, Mr. David W. Harlan: “His devotion to his work, his honesty of purpose, with ability to organize, and his personality can be felt in every department of the schools." CHAPTER X. THE PRESENT STATUS OF THE CERTIFICATION OF TEACHERS IN THE UNITED STATES. By WILLIAM ROBERTS JACKSON, Professor of Education and Principal of Normal School, Nebraska Wesleyan University. [The following chapter has been prepared for this Report by Professor Jackson (formerly State superintendent of public instruction of Nebraska) from data collected by himself, the results being submitted by him to the different State superintendents for criticism. It answers numerous inquiries made to this Office from week to week. The tabular arrangement of the legal provisions is well designed to facilitate reference and afford systematic information on any of the chief particulars concerning the different grades of teachers' certificates in the several States.-Commissioner of Education.] 463 |