Chapter 3 Inter-Relationships Between State-Supported TeacherEducation Institutions and Public School Systems Contributary to Professional Growth of School Administrators IN 1933 Dr. Charles H. Judd presented a provocative paper before the American Association of Teachers Colleges on Next Steps in the Improvement of Teacher Training. He demanded He demanded among other things a "new relation to the public school system." During more recent years there has been a general and steady movement in the direction of progressive change in the content and method of teacher education. It has not been so clear that great progress has been made in the development of essentially new relationships between teachereducation institutions and the public schools. In the discussions that followed the presentation of Dr. Judd's paper, Prof. O. G. Brim made this very challenging statement: May I say one thing with reference to the public schools of the State? You may train teachers; you may work until you are black in the face, or bald, but your service is fruitless unless you folks get hold of the school superintendents of the State and develop a new type of administrator. Our school superintendents are trained by our universities and arts colleges, and they are keeping your teachers from doing what you want them to do. Dr. Judd pointed out that there had been "little or no commerce" between teacher-training institutions and the public-school system in the immediate neighborhoods of these institutions. His plea was that "somehow teachers colleges must find a way to overcome their isolation," that these colleges should "assume leadership in the production of new materials for the school curriculum and in the development of new methods of teaching," that for too long teachers colleges have been "satisfied to follow rather than to lead." More recently the Commission on Teacher Education has initiated its program based upon a recognition of the "lag between what we discover and come to believe and what is actually done in practice," offering cooperation with actual groups at work on the problem in getting something done to take up this lag. All reports to date indicate that real progress is being made in the direction of stimulating 2 1 Judd, Charles H. Next steps in the improvement of teacher training. Twelfth yearbook. American association of teachers colleges, 1933. p. 25-31. 'Bigelow, Karl W. Cooperation in the development of teacher education. Eighteenth yearbook. The American association of teachers colleges, 1939. p. 86. new relationships between school systems and institutions concerned with the education of teachers in the States and institutions included in the Commission program. In this inquiry information was sought respecting progress generally in this direction through the following questions: 1. Are supervisory services of teacher-education institutional staff members available to the public school systems in your State? a. If the answer to number 1 above is "Yes," please describe briefly the arrangement in effect. 2. Are the services of administrative personnel in the public schools utilized in the education of teachers in the State supported teacher-education institutions in your State? a. If the answer to number 2 above is "Yes," please describe the nature and extent of such arrangements. 3. Describe briefly any other activities carried on in your State in this whole area (III) which in your judgment have been valuable and effective in developing closer working relationships between State supported teacher-education institutions with the public schools of the State. There were 29 affirmative responses to question 1 and of these 3 offered qualifications such as "to a very limited extent," and "through advisory and conference activities only." Seven States made an unqualified negative response. It is apparent from the statements which are sampled below that in a considerable majority of the States represented progress is being made in terms of the availability and service of teacher-education staff members for cooperative supervisory services to the schools. GEORGIA IOWA A cooperative program of supervision has been worked out between the State school supervisors and the supervisors representing teacher education institutions in the University System. Two supervisors of the University System spend their entire time working with the supervisors of the State Department of Education, making surveys and carrying on other general advisory duties. In addition, the practice teaching program in the state is being carried on at present on an apprenticeship basis, in which supervisors from the teacher-education institutions spend considerable time with the student teachers in an actual teaching situation. All three of the State-supported teacher education institutions: Iowa State Teachers College, Cedar Falls, Iowa; Iowa State College at Ames; and the State University of Iowa, Iowa City, maintain extension services through which personnel is available to the schools of the State with reference to cer tain types of service. Extensive use has been made of this personnel in connection with the State department program of improving instruction in connection with testing services and in addition, the personnel of these various departments are subject to call on the part of the school administrators. Iowa State Teachers College is probably providing the most extensive service with reference to personnel, since they have a staff of five or six people whose full time is devoted to this work. LOUISIANA Instructors in teacher-education institutions are available to the public schools for meetings and conferences as planned and arranged by the State Department of Education or by local parish superintendents. Such services are frequently rendered and they undoubtedly contribute to the growth and better training of school administrators. MICHIGAN We try to arrange continuing consultant relationships between school districts and staff members and teacher educating institutions. A great many of these staff members are brought in through our annual county institutes for teachers. MONTANA In the community in which teacher training institutions are located, definite arrangements are made whereby the staffs of the teacher training institution give the services to the public schools. Members of these staffs participate in educational meetings, parent teacher groups, and frequently give courses in communities throughout the State. PENNSYLVANIA Teachers colleges send staff members to counsel with personnel of school districts. Placement follow-up work; survey and clinical services. TENNESSEE Each State-supported teacher education institution sends into the public schools of the State a high school supervisor and an elementary school supervisor. These supervisors work in the field nine months of the year and at the college the remaining three months. The University of Tennessee also makes available its Education Department for field service upon request. One of the teacher-training institutions invites groups of elementary and high school teachers to attend workshop courses on the campus during the summer. Each group remains on the campus one week. TEXAS Supervisory services of teacher-education institutions are available to public school systems through: (1) State curriculum conferences. (2) Cooperative research projects. (4) Administrative consultants. Responses to question 2 followed practically the same distribution as for question 1, 30 affirmative (of which 4 were qualified) and 6 negative. Only 4 of these negatives came from the States which had replied negatively to question 1. The most common form of utiliza tion of administrators in the education of teachers seems to be through their engagement as instructors at summer sessions. This is reported as common practice in 20 States. Other activities are reported as follows: Participation at conferences in teacher-education institutions (5); teaching extension classes during the school year (3); participation in planning education courses and programs (3); administration of student-teacher programs (3); participation in specialassembly programs (1); and meeting with classes for special discussions (1). The statements submitted in relation to questions raised in this area of inter-relationships between teacher-education institutions and the schools provide evidence that the importance of these closer relationships is recognized in many States. Progress in developing these relationships is uneven but encouraging. Chapter 4 The Study and Implementation of Educational Problems on a State-Wide Basis as a Medium for Effective Participation on the Part of School Administrators THE ANALYSIS of returns thus far has made it clear that professional growth on the part of administrators and teachers is largely conditioned by the extent to which situations and opportunities are provided for them to participate creatively in the study and implementation of problems which are of immediate and pressing importance to them. While these administrators and teachers are concerned primarily, and of necessity, with the continuing improvement of educational services in the local situations in which they are placed, they are also much concerned with the relationship of their efforts to problems of broader significance. A State department of education, therefore, is charged with the obligation to see that local and community efforts and achievements are coordinated and related effectively to the interests and needs of the people of the State as a whole. The question of centralization or decentralization of educational authority or control within a State is not involved here. Interest is centered, rather, upon the operating concept of the role and function of the State department with respect to the study and implementation of educational problems on a State-wide basis. Even in a highly centralized State educational organization from the point of view of statutory authority and control there is ample opportunity for the implementation of that control through cooperative rather than dictatorial means. Surely cooperative means are more to be desired both from the point of view of ultimate soundness and effectiveness of policy and program and from the point of view of their contributions to growth in understanding and professional competence on the part of those who administer and teach. For these reasons it seemed appropriate to conclude this inquiry with questions directed toward these basic questions of State policy and procedure which so directly condition and give character to opportunities for growth in service for the total group of professional personnel within the State. 115 |