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. 1. What is the present status with respect to State-wide educational study and planning activities in your State? Undertaken and completed-In process-Projected for the future A continuing process. The inquiry form came back from 3 States with none of the items in this section (IV) checked. One of these States did, however, file a statement indicating that a survey had been completed. The distribution of responses to this question is interesting from the point of view of attitudes toward the problem of State-wide study and planning. These were distributed as follows: 2. Are recommendations for legislative action on educational matters in your State based upon findings resulting from cooperations and researches involving participation by professional groups within the State? There were 31 affirmative responses to this question (2) with one qualified, "questionable somewhat." There were 2 negative responses and 3 blanks. 3. Describe briefly any activities carried on in your State in this whole area (IV) which in your judgment have been valuable and effective in developing a broader understanding of educational problems and wider participation by all parties concerned in their study and implementation. Among the statements filed in response to this invitation 3 were concerned with procedures related to question 2 above. These illustrate a number of different approaches and are reproduced here: COLORADO The Colorado Education Association works with members of the Legislature with reference to bills which concern education and which are introduced in the legislative session. MINNESOTA During each of the last several sessions of the Legislature the State Department has proposed a series of legislative bills. These have been introduced to the Legislature as committee bills, sponsored by the education committees of the House and Senate. Joint committees have been established by the Minnesota Council of School Executives, the State Department of Education, and the Minnesota Education Association. The research for legislative action has been largely conducted by the State Department of Education. The Minnesota Education Association has also conducted studies relative to such questions as teachers' salaries, school district indebtedness, taxation, etc. These have been conducted in cooperation with the Department of Education. The present interim committee on education is utilizing research studies made by a wide variety of groups and individuals. RHODE ISLAND Legislation is being prepared for submittal at this session of the Legislature. Work has been carried on by a group of teachers and public school officials, including school committee members as advisory assistants to the Commission. A series of meetings, etc., proposed throughout the State for education of citizenry previous to legislative presentation of educational bills. The entire educational law for the purpose of revision has been in the process of study for the entire year. The Commission's work is to be continued and projected into the future. The Commission was appointed by one Governor and endorsed by a new Governor of a different administration, and recommendations included in his inaugural. The remaining statements filed in response to this question (3) referred to, and in some cases described, a considerable variety of study and planning activities involving wide participations. These are sampled here: CONNECTICUT Previously cited, p. 108. DELAWARE Two types of educational problems have been thus studied (1) financing education and budgetary procedures and (2) problems involved in the records for a retirement system. The latter, however, has been worked out by a public commission employed for that purpose. One of the most influential educational movements in Delaware is that carried on by the Delaware Citizens Association which sponsors the State P. T. A. It is not specifically concerned with administrative problems aside from that of financing. It publishes four times a year the Delaware Educational Journal, but this is likewise devoted to general educational problems and deals with administrative problems incidentally. The State Department cooperates with all these agencies, a member of the Department acting as editor of the School Journal. Arrangements are now being made for a conference and a study which will constitute a follow-up program of the White House Conference on Children in a Democracy. GEORGIA For the next three years, a committee consisting of approximately fifty people, including representatives from lay groups, public schools, and privately and publicly supported colleges, will be studying through committees and conferences a State-wide program for the education of teachers. This study has been made possible through the sponsorship of the National |