Number of counties reporting industrial training in schools... Number of schools reported with school gardens. Number of counties reporting individual drinking cups in schools... 16 62 17 5 The above table clearly sets forth the wide range of activities in which the state supervisor is the guiding spirit. He is the pivot around which revolve all these campaigns for new levies and increased taxation, for consolidation and transportation, for expert supervising teachers and for general school betterment. It is to him that we look for the solution of the rural-school problem. V THE RELATION OF THE COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT TO THE SCHOOL DIRECTORS AND TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION U. J. HOFFMAN State Supervisor of Country and Village Schools, Springfield, Illinois It is the purpose of this article to give one method of co-operation of school officers in bringing about progress in one phase of their work. To try to cover the whole subject would require more space than can be allotted to this topic. In Illinois the duties of both the county superintendent of schools and the superintendent of public instruction are advisory rather than directory. The theory of the system is that the school is a local institution. Its control is in local officials elected by the people of the district. The revenue is derived largely from local taxes levied by the local officers. The state's contribution is less than 5 per cent of the expenditures. There are 10,638 districts maintaining one-room schools. The number of directors who administer the affairs of these districts is 31,914. A single county with 251 schools has 753 directors. The county superintendent, having to visit these schools at least once a year and having to supervise these teachers, is a very busy man if he tries to do his duty. He cannot possibly do all that is expected of him with the assistance which is given him. His duty to be the official advisor and constant assistant of school officers has had to be done only when these officers called upon him for advice and assistance. The directors have come to recognize the county superintendent as the supervisor of the work of the school. The course of study, the organization of the school, the methods of teaching, the examination and promotion of pupils have been turned over to him, although the statute puts these things in the directors' hands. The greatest deficiency in the one-room schools of Illinois is found in the housing and the equipment. As a general rule, these are worse than they were thirty years ago, although the school work is much better now than it was then. The superintendent of public instruction is made by law the supervisor of all the common schools of the state and is to advise and assist the county superintendents, addressing to them, from time to time, circular letters relating to the best manner of conducting schools, constructing schoolhouses, and furnishing the same. When the present superintendent, Francis G. Blair, entered upon the duties of the office, he saw clearly that the improvement of the physical conditions of the one-room school and the creation of a more active desire for better schools presented a fruitful field of effort for the Department of Public Instruction and the county superintendent. Instead of relying wholly upon circular letters, he determined to send a man out into the field to inspect the schools and to confer personally with the county superintendent, teachers, and the local directors. He did not wait for the legislature to supply him with additional help, but so divided the office work that one man was left free to go into the field. The legislature soon appropriated additional funds and there are now two supervisors of country and village schools devoting all their time to this work and they are out in the field while schools are in session. THE ILLINOIS PLAN OF CO-OPERATION BETWEEN STATE SUPERINTENDENT, COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT, AND SCHOOL DIRECTORS A pamphlet was prepared which contains chapters on the needs of the one-room schools: lighting, heating, ventilation, seating, library, apparatus, decoration; the schoolhouse, plans and specifications for a modern house, also specifications for remodeling old houses; school officers, their duties and powers; the teacher, the work peculiar to a country teacher; the organization of a one-room school. These topics are treated in great detail. The requirements for a standard school are set forth as follows: REQUIREMENTS FOR A STANDARD SCHOOL 1. Ample playground. YARD AND OUTBUILDINGS 2. Good approaches to the house. 3. Two well-kept, widely separated outhouses. 4. Convenient fuel-house. THE SCHOOLHOUSE 1. House well built, in good repair, and painted. 2. Good foundation. 3. Well lighted. 4. Attractive interior decorations. 5. Good blackboards, some suitable for small children. 6. Heated with jacketed stove in corner, or a room heater and ventilator in corner, or basement furnace which brings clean air in through the furnace and removes foul air from room. 7. Floor and interior clean and tidy. FURNISHINGS AND SUPPLIES 1. Desks suitable for children of all ages, properly placed. 2. Good teacher's desk. 3. Good bookcase. 4. A good collection of juvenile books suitable as aids to school work as well as general reading. Pupils' Reading Circle organized. 5. Set of good maps, a globe, dictionaries, sanitary water supply. I. School well organized. THE ORGANIZATION 2. Classification and daily register well kept. 3. Definite program of study. 4. Program of recitation. 5. Attendance regular. 6. At least seven months school. 7. Discipline good. THE TEACHER 1. Education: The equivalent of a high-school course. 2. Must receive at least $360 per annum. 3. Ranked by the county superintendent as a good or superior teacher. 4. Must read Teachers' Reading Circle books and attend institutes and meetings. A diploma is offered to the school which meets these requirements and a plate is placed above the front door on the outside, bearing the words "Standard School," which can be read by those passing along the road. The state supervisor and the county superintendent visit the school usually by automobile, the directors having been invited to be present. The school is inspected and everything that is right is pointed out. If there are deficiencies, they are noted and suggestions given as to what would be satisfactory. If the improvements have not been influenced by the pamphlet which has been sent to the directors, the deficiencies usually are: heated with a bare stove in the middle of the room, desks too large for the children or so placed that the children are uncomfortable. If there is a library, it is composed of books far beyond the children and not at all related to their daily lives or school work. There may be no maps, globes, and minor supplies. The walls may need decorating or outhouses and yard may need attention. Directors are told how a stove may be jacketed or, what is better, a room furnace installed; what desks are needed and how they should be placed; the kind of books that should be in the library. The teacher must be superior, good, or at least fair. The county superintendent's judgment is relied upon, as only a half-hour can be spent at a school. Ten schools a day is the usual number visited. As nearly as may be all parts of the county are visited in the two or three days the supervisor can spend in a county. The newspapers give the visit wide publicity and a great interest is aroused among the people, teachers, and children, especially if several schools are approved. The county superintendent and teachers as well as the children of the schools not standardized exert themselves to get the improvements needed so that their schools may also be recognized by the state superintendent as up to what they should be. The people generally learn that the standard schools are decidedly better and ask why their children may not be as well provided for. The improvement idea is contagious and when once started reaches every school. Many schools are improved which do not reach the standard at once, but will reach it as soon as the money can be procured. After the visit of the supervisor, the county superintendent checks up schools and recommends them for diplomas. When interest has once been aroused he has great influence with boards of directors in getting the right things done. He invites them to meet him at the school. They go to see him in his office. He holds meetings of directors either at the county seat or more locally. He reports to them in writing the needs of their school to meet the standard set by the state. Teachers become ambitious to have their schools standardized. Good teachers refuse to accept a school when the equipment is not up to the standard. The plate appeals to the directors and the people. It is a careless community that is not reached when these signs begin to appear on other schoolhouses than their own. |