George Peabody College for Teachers, Harvard University, Kansas State Teachers College (Pittsburgh), Temple University, and University of Nebraska.

6. Have specifications been developed at your institution for good administration?

7. Do you make use of such specifications in the development of curricular and guidance procedures?

In the responses to these two questions there was some evidence of confusion with respect to the meaning of the question. This is reflected in the number of qualifying statements filed and the number of times the questions were passed. To question 6 there were 21 affirmative responses (4 qualified), 37 negative replies, and 4 passed. There were 23 affirmative responses to question 7 (2 qualified), 29 negative replies, and 10 passed.

Among the qualifying statements filed with the returns on these questions, the following reflects a point of view which merits consideration:

The implications of this statement are that there are certain distinctive qualities which distinguish the good administrator in any situation or which distinguish the good administrator from other good educational leaders. This Department has taken the position that: a. Administrative positions are so varied that no one set of qualities can be set up to apply to good administration generally. b. Evidences of abilities or lack of abilities of individual students should become sufficiently evident to members of the Department staff so that individual students interested in administrative work or a specific administrative position can be advised and assisted in relation to their fitness for such work.

Two observations are offered here with regard to the positions taken in this statement. It is of course true, as stated in "a," that administrative positions do vary, but these variations on analysis may prove to be, largely, variations in degree with respect to demands made upon certain qualities and procedures which do apply to good school administration generally. Something more than rationalization is needed to explain away the desirability and the necessity of at least attempting to identify such qualities, skills, techniques, and procedures which do apply to good school administration generally, regardless of the extent or degree to which they may apply to specific situations or positions; this should be done, if for no other reason than that the concept of preparation for specific types of positions may not be carried too far in application in the direction of intensive specialization. The position taken under "b" would apply with particular pertinence in situations where close contacts with students and staff are possible and encouraged. There is an assumption implicit here, however, which may or may not be valid, namely, that staff members have, in all cases, a frame of reference as to what constitutes good

administration against which to project evidences of abilities or lack of abilities, assuming also that these can be identified and that their relative importance is thoroughly understood. Here certainly an objective approach to the setting up of what have been called "specifications for good administration," in this discussion, would be helpful in making the procedures relied upon in this institution most effective. In closing the discussion of the returns on questions 4 to 7, these final observations are offered. It may well be that responses to this series of questions reflect a situation which tends to reveal itself in a number of ways through responses on all questions in this section, devoted to selection and guidance procedures. Reference is made to the fact that there appears to be very little use made generally of objectively developed standards and measures in the implementation of selective and guidance policies in the institutions represented in this study. Certainly the impression is inescapable that most of what is being done is in a very early experimental stage. Respondents, on the whole, have been less vocal, less sure of themselves, in dealing with questions raised under Selection and Guidance, than they have with respect to any other total area included in this inquiry. There are problems here which must be solved and it is encouraging to note that a number of institutions are undertaking their solution realistically and earnestly.

8. Do you give recognition to the demonstrated competence of the student to plan his own program of study and activity as a criterion for admission to candidacy for advanced degrees? Responses to this question indicate clearly that this practice is general, especially at the doctorate level. There were 46 affirmative responses, 13 negative replies and 3 passes. There were a few qualifying or amplifying comments offered of which the following are typical:

We allow competent students an enormous amount of electives in their work toward the doctorate but there is no official recognition granted to the student having such competence, nor are students refused admission to candidacy for advanced degrees. . . because they are willing to take the regular program suggested for a particular type of position.

This is taken into account in judging the student's qualifications for advanced work.

This is becoming progressively truer each year.

9. Does your institution accept some responsibility for maintaining close contacts with former students from the point of view of aiding them in overcoming the difficulties of the job?

a. Describe briefly any procedures which you have developed for maintaining such close contacts with former students. Here again the question relates to a practice which seems to be general but with variations in scope and intensity. Fifty of the 62

respondents (more than 80 percent) replied in the affirmative. There were 46 descriptive statements filed of which the following are offered as particularly suggestive:

BALL STATE TEACHERS COLLEGE

It is the responsibility of the Secretary of Placement (Secretary of Committee Recommendations) to maintain close contacts with former students. He is assisted in this not only by his committee but by faculty members, particularly heads of departments. Annually and sometimes semi-annually inquiries go out relative to all former graduates in teaching positions to ascertain from them what problems they are meeting in their fields. Also inquiries are made of employers of these graduates to ascertain what deficiencies are to be found in the products of this College. Staff members, on routine visits to the field, are regularly required to make personal contacts with former students, graduates, and other professional persons. UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

We attempt to maintain contacts with former students through the supervision of our fifth-year students who are serving an internship in the Cincinnati Public Schools under contract with the Board of Education, through visits in the schools of the area served by the University of Cincinnati, correspondence, the programs, and activities of the local chapter of Phi Delta Kappa, the discussion programs of the Cincinnati Schoolmasters Club, the activities of the Cincinnati Elementary Principals Club, our graduate seminar program which includes a number of administrative officers of the Cincinnati area, and other courses attended by part-time students who are full-time administrative or supervisory officers.

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

All graduates are assisted after their period of training. The College has developed facilities of one faculty member giving his full time to work in the field and in addition arrangements have been made so that approximately one-third of the time of all other faculty members is available for field contacts. During the campus training students are informed regarding the field contact possibilities and are encouraged to ask for assistance in their problems when back on the job. The result is a constant stream of requests for assistance which are followed up by members of the faculty through first hand contact on the field. We know of no more valuable and important phase

of assistance than this.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

These procedures are of three sorts:

1. Every graduate is followed, after a few months on his job, by a questionnaire to the employing official, which seeks to discover the former student's weaknesses and points of strength.

2. Follow-up letters and questionnaires are regularly sent to all former students, to facilitate the School's assistance to them both in their professional advancement and in the solution of practical immediate problems in their present positions.

3. Personal visitation wherever geography permits is made by an administrative officer of the School. During these visits, the information gained from both questionnaires as well as from observation of the situation is used for the immediate personal and professional guidance of the student.

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

The College of Education of the University of Minnesota has a definite budget allotment each year which permits faculty members to visit former students. Contacts are also maintained through files kept by individual faculty members, through correspondence, and through short courses given at the University of Minnesota Continuation Center in various fields in which school administrators are interested. The University of Minnesota has also maintained for many years a Schoolmen's Week during which approximately a thousand dollars is spent to bring to the campus outstanding scientists in the field of school administration. This is one of the outstanding activities of the institution along the line about which you inquire. SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY

Our extension work is not very great in amount, but what we do is aimed to assist administrators in their task of directing their staff in the direction of better curricula and better procedures. Our professors in elementary, secondary education, and supervision organize the teachers of the school systems under the direction and with the help of the superintendent, and they spend anywhere from a few weeks to an entire year in studying their content and procedures.

In addition to the above, we bring to the University on numerous occasions, the superintendents and principals in our area for conferences on their problems. A number of these conferences are for small, selected groups and extend over a period of two or three days.

YALE UNIVERSITY

Former students who have received their Ph. D. from the Department are invited, several times in the year, to attend Post-doctoral Seminars at which time a scholarly study is presented, either by a former student or a faculty member.

Personal correspondence with staff members on field problems is encouraged. Also conferences with those nearby.

The annual meeting of the A. A. S. A. is used for former students who are present to meet with members of the staff in attendance.

The faculty scatters pretty widely for summer sessions, enabling former students in different parts of the United States to confer with staff members. (Faculty members in 1940 were located at the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Oklahoma, University of Colorado, University of California, and University of Southern Caifornia.)

10. Describe briefly any activities which you have undertaken in this area (III) which have been of constructive value to you in the development of selective guidance procedures.

In addition to statements previously sampled there were included, five sets of documents of particular interest and value to all concerned. with the problem of making selective guidance procedures more objective and systematic.

Syracuse University, generally credited with being one of the first universities to employ systematic methods of selecting students for the profession of teaching, submitted a report describing the universi

ty's methods and presenting data relative to their effectiveness." The university's conclusions, quoted in part, are presented here:

1. On the basis of direct comparison students admitted to preparation for teaching through the selection system as described, are markedly superior in intelligence . . . in English . . . and in knowledge of current events . . . The bases of comparison were other students from our own university and students from other liberal arts colleges and universities who had used the same tests.

2. In about 80 percent of the cases of refusals, a constellation of factors operates. Undesirable personality operated alone in 9 percent of the cases, and in combination with other factors in 36 percent of the cases. Evaluation of this factor represents the combined judgment of four members of the Enrollment Committee, the Dean of Men, and the Dean of Women, and is based on individual interviews and significant data on extra-curricular participation. Scholarship operated in 8 percent of the cases as a single factor and in 58 percent of the cases in combination with other factors. Speech operated alone in only 2 percent of the cases, and in combination with other factors, in 3 percent of the cases. 3. As judged by the standards of those who discount the quality of teachers, students who survive the selection procedure represent the best, single, large, undergraduate group on the campus..

4. The product of the selection program is generally superior as judged by immediate standards. The next step should be an evaluation of the end products of selection through a study of teacher effectiveness in the field over a period of years.

The University of Wisconsin submitted the First Annual Report of the School of Education Personnel Committee. Attached thereto were samples of Student Data Booklets and individual report forms. The University of Florida provided a document addressed to staff members by a General Directing Committee for the work of graduate students in education. The University of Wyoming, College of Education, submitted a copy of the student cumulative record card together with descriptive statements and forms covering the significant aspects of a comprehensive guidance program. Columbia University provided copies of documents and forms related to guidance procedures in their Advanced School of Education.

Troyer, Maurice E. The selection of students for the profession of teaching. Journal of Educational Research, 35: 581-93, April 1940.