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over education to assure that the State funds apportioned for education are so used that the best possible results may be obtained. The State department of education should not burden itself with the details of county and local management. These should be left to county and district authorities. County management and a certain amount of local district management is desirable also, because it promotes county local interest and initiative. The State superintendent should have a sufficient number of assistants to keep in close touch with the whole system and to render aid when needed; also authority to require reports, collect data, and generally to enforce the laws in regard to education.

At present Colorado has a smaller force in the department of education than any other State with so large a school population. The legal powers conferred on the State superintendent are very general and give little real authority. The law states: "He shall have general supervision over the county superintendents and the public schools." In practice no State superintendent has attempted to exercise actual supervision, either over the superintendents or the schools. In fact, school authorities do not feel that the State superintendent has any jurisdiction over them; even county superintendents quite generally seem to feel that the authority of the State superintendent over them is limited to requiring annual reports. Even these annual reports are obtained with difficulty, although the law states that they must be submitted on or before the first Tuesday of each September with data for the preceding school year. In practice few superintendents submit reports at the time designated. The majority of the reports are not submitted until the State superintendent has made several requests for them. Even then many of them are very inaccurate. The reports submitted by the 63 county superintendents for the school year 1914-15 were examined and all summaries, averages, financial balances, etc., were correct on only seven reports. Even the school census figures in the reports of 26 superintendents did not agree with figures submitted by the same superintendents earlier in the year in certified reports used as a basis for the apportionment of State funds.

(3) CERTIFICATION OF TEACHERS.

The State board of examiners seems to have no functions that could not be performed better by the State superintendent of public instruction and the reorganized State board of education, and should, therefore, be abolished. Under the present system the board examines the credentials of candidates for State certificates and makes recommendations to the State board of education for the issuance of certificates. The kinds of State certificates are as follows:

(1) State temporary certificates, valid for five years, issued to graduates of approved colleges who have taken at least one-sixth of their college work in educational subjects.

(2) State diplomas, to candidates with the foregoing qualifications who have had two years of teaching experience.

(3) Certificates giving the right to instruct in normal institutes. (4) Honorary State diplomas, to persons who have rendered "eminent service in the educational work of the State" for a period of not less than six years.

(5) Honorary State diplomas, to teachers who possess the "requisite scholarship and culture and whose eminent professional ability" has been established by not less than two years' successful teaching in the public schools of the State.

Each board makes its own interpretation of what constitutes "eminent service" and "requisite scholarship and eminent professional ability." There is no standard.

The number of State diplomas issued in the four biennial periods since the law for State certificates was passed is as follows:

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County superintendents issue three grades of certificates, all on examinations prepared by the State department, but given, corrected, and rated by the county superintendents. The grade of certificate depends upon the rating given in the examination. Diplomas from the two-year course in the State normal school and from the two and four year courses in the teachers' college are legal life certificates. A certified copy of such diplomas must be filed in the office of the county superintendent of schools in the counties where graduates are teaching.

The entire system of awarding teachers' certificates should be revised. Best results would come, probably, if all certificates were issued by the State department of education, under regulations of the State board of education. The kinds of certificates to be issued and the requirements for each should be fixed by the State board under general State legislation. No State legislature should attempt to fix standards in a matter of this sort further than to require a definite amount of education, both general and professional, as a

prerequisite for teaching in the State. It is recommended that the legislature give the reorganized board of education full control of certification, with the proviso that after a certain date, say July 1, 1918, all teachers entering the profession for the first time be required to have as a minimum an educational equivalent of four years in a standard high school and six weeks of professional work in a summer school of recognized standing; after July 1, 1920, the equivalent of four years in a standard high school and one year in a standard normal school; after July 1, 1922, the equivalent of four years in a standard high school and two years in a normal school or in a college department of education. Similar legislation in other States has been very successful in raising the educational qualifications of the teaching force. That it is needed in Colorado is evident from the data relative to the teachers given later. The diplomas of the State teachers' college and the State normal school should be recognized as teaching certificates, valid for two years if recorded with the State board, renewable by the board on evidence of successful teaching experience and of having completed a professional reading course fixed by the board. Certain certificates now issued, such as State certificates "for eminent service" and county certificates of the third grade, serve no desirable purpose and should be abolished.

As time goes on certificates should be issued almost wholly on credentials of education or of education and teaching experience, as the examination method as usually conducted is unreliable. If some certificates must continue to be granted through the examination method, the whole matter of preparing questions, correcting papers, and issuing certificates should be taken care of in the State department. When county superintendents correct the papers, as at present, there is no uniformity; the grading is largely a matter of personal opinion. The unfairness of the present method is shown by the following grades given by seven county superintendents on the same papers. The papers were exact copies of those written by a candidate in the August, 1916, examinations.

TABLE 7.-Grades given by seven county superintendents to four examination papers written by one candidate for a first-grade teaching certificate.

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Below is a table showing the seven superintendents arranged under each of the four headings in the order of their ratings from lowest to highest. For instance, Supt. E gave the lowest rating in United States history; Supt. G gave the highest rating in the same subject. It will be noted that no superintendent gave uniformly high, low, or medium ratings. This becomes particularly evident if lines be drawn connecting the four A's, the four D's, and the four G's.

TABLE 8.-Superintendents arranged from lowest to highest according to ratings given examination.

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To handle the work of issuing certificates a division of certification should be established in the State department. In connection with this a teachers' employment bureau should be established. Such bureaus are conducted successfully in several States, notably Massachusetts and Minnesota. The records required for certification and those for employment agencies are practically identical. With this agency teachers from Colorado, or other States desiring positions in the State, might register. The agency should also have on file lists of persons available for institutes, teachers' conventions, directors' associations, parent-teacher associations, and similar organizations. The fees now charged for certificates would make such a division selfsupporting.

(4) VOCATIONAL EDUCATION.

Special State aid is recommended to encourage vocational education in trades, industries, agriculture, and housekeeping in schools below college grade. Schools receiving such assistance would appeal to a large number of the boys and girls between 14 and 18 years of age now out of school because they lack interest in the present curriculum, also to those who desire to prepare more specifically for industrial life. These schools should be supervised by the State department in cooperation with local authorities. State funds might properly be used also to assist in employing industrial supervisors as

1 See Report on Vocational Education in Denver School Survey, 1916.

assistants to county superintendents. Experience in other States shows that the movement for vocational training progresses most rapidly and effectively when aided and supervised by the State and that little progress is made without it except in some larger cities.

(5) LOCAL MANAGEMENT.

The establishment of the county unit for local administration is recommended. There should be a county board of education with duties similar to those of the present city school boards, whose executive officer should be a county superintendent of schools, appointed by the board. The appointment of county superintendents requires a constitutional amendment, and even if favorable action is taken by the legislature of 1917 and the amendment carried at the next general election following, the plan can not become effective until January, 1921. But the county unit plan for administration and taxation can become effective for the school year of 1917-18 if the legislature in 1917 passes the law for its adoption.

Colorado is now organized for rural school administration on what is known as the district basis. This is a system which developed in colonial times in the East and was adopted by practically all of the States in the early days of settlement. As the population increased and additional functions were added to the schools, the defects of the system became apparent. It has now been abandoned in all States but three east of the Mississippi River and in six States west of the river. Movements are on foot in every State having the district system to substitute a larger unit. The county is now the unit of organization in 17 States, and the principal unit of taxation for the support of schools in six others. This system has been successful wherever tried and no State trying it has ever returned to the township or district system.

(6) THE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.

The county board should be composed of five or seven members elected at large from the entire county, for terms of six or eight years, with not more than one-third of the terms expiring any biennium. Not more than two members should be residents of independent city districts (i. e., of districts employing superintendents giving their whole time to administration and supervision). This board should have general administrative authority over the schools of the county, with powers and duties similar to those now exercised by boards in first-class districts. It should, within the provisions, of law on these subjects, determine the amount of money necessary

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