UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA The University of Minnesota in connection with area four, makes use of the facilities of the Twin Cities in provisions for demonstration, observation, and the practice experience in the education of school administrators. Special use is made of a 6-year high school and a 6-year elementary school within three and seven blocks respectively of the education building. Classes in administration visit these schools and a great many graduate students work on individual problems in them, sometimes throughout a period of two years of graduate residence. Administration classes visit the offices of the Minneapolis superintendent of schools in connection with such studies as the work of the attendance department and child accounting generally. They have conferences with supervisors, attendance officers, visiting nurses, and others who work out of the central office. Innumerable problems are worked on by graduate students in school administration in connection with either elementary or secondary schools in the Twin City area. On some types of work in school administration our graduate students are put into a type of apprenticeship to successful administrators. 3. Does your program specifically provide for experiences in participation, by students, in a variety of educational activities with teachers, pupils, parents, and other community members for the express purpose of helping them develop skill in working with other people? This question was inspired by certain passages in a very provocative paper presented at the Eighth Annual Conference for Administrative Officers of Public and Private Schools held at Chicago in 1939, and quoted here in part.3 A third phase of the training program which is essential to democratic leadership is an extensive opportunity during the training period for the administrator to participate in a variety of educational activities with teachers, pupils, parents, and other community members. Undoubtedly, there are several reasons which account for the difficulty some administrators have in working democratically in the school. Among these are three of particular significance. Some administrators have difficulty in the give and take of democratic activity because they lack confidence in their own ability to deal with the problems that are being faced by the staff. . . . It is not necessary that the administrator know more than his teachers in order to have their respect. It is necessary that they recognize that he has a function and that he is sincerely working with them in attempting to attack common problems. . . The second reason for difficulty in the give and take of democratic participation grows out of the fact that some administrators are not interested in the problems which concern the other members of the staff . . . Democratic participation is difficult to build where there is lack of common concern and common interests. The third reason is the sheer lack of skill in working with other people. . . easily brought together and most harmoniously assisted to think and to work together. Tyler, Ralph W.: Training administrative officers for democratic leadership. eighth annual conference for administrative officers of public and private schools. versity of Chicago Press, 1939. p. 70-71. Proceedings of the All of these three difficulties can be largely overcome when administrators are given opportunity, under guidance, to work jointly on common problems with teachers, pupils, parents, and other community members. . . The training of administrators should not be confined to classes, to reading, and to observation but should include opportunities for these various types of participation . . . With a little effort many of our graduate schools could provide opportunities for administrators to work with teachers on curriculum problems, on problems of guidance and evaluation, to meet with parent groups, and to learn through such experiences how democratic processes of this sort can easily be carried on. With these proposals in mind it seemed worth while to inquire whether or not, and to what extent, opportunities for such experiences are available to graduate students in administration. This question elicited 35 affirmative replies of which 5 were qualified by such comments as these; "not fully"-"in part"-"on undergraduate level"— "not a great deal, most of our students have had this." "We do plan to meet individual needs on this basis." Two of the 22 negative replies were elaborated by the following comments: "This is as rare as the dodo bird"-"no, all of our students are experienced." The question was passed by 5 respondents. Altogether more than 50 percent of the institutions claimed that specific provisions are made for these experiences in participation, which is indeed a hopeful indication that programs are not altogether confined to formal course work. There was just a scattering of statements which could be called descriptive of the provisions referred to in this question. One State university reported that, “We are now carrying on a very interesting experiment in this. It is so new that we are not ready to describe it. Many of us are of the opinion that it may have a contribution to make." It is to be hoped that with the wider development of "clinical” and "workshop" procedures more and more specific attention may be given to this important and promisingly fruitful area of activity. 4. Do you provide opportunities for administrators to equip themselves with standards and techniques for utilizing community agencies devoted to social and educational service so that they may know how and when to cooperate, when to withhold cooperation, and when students need protection? This question covers a small, but very important, segment of the field of public relations. As Tyler points out: 4 Some of the basic problems faced by administrators cannot be adequately understood without a comprehension of the material which does not usually fall within the department of education. In the field of sociology, for example, a good deal of material is available regarding the community, regarding social groups, regarding social ideals, and the educational influences of agencies other than the school . . . Such material, if carefully selected, Ibid., p. 69. can make an important contribution to the administrator through the better understanding of his activities. Here he points out implications in other fields such as public administration and the field of political science, and concludes: I am not suggesting that the administrator take a certain number of courses in each of these fields but I am suggesting that a careful selection of material from these several fields and proper organization of the educational use of these materials can provide a significant though frequently neglected part of the training of administrators. It is interesting to note that all descriptive comments made in replies to this question referred to specific course opportunities with one exception and that in no case was there any reference to synthesizing materials from several fields and so organizing them as to make their educational use effective in a program for administrators. Five institutions mentioned public relations courses as meeting the provision described in the question. One respondent indicated that graduate students were given opportunities to participate in the public relations program of the University, the University School, and the public schools. Another respondent referred to the fact that students may take one or more courses in the School of Social Work. Altogether this question brought rather negative results. Two institutions raised the question of whether or not such standards and techniques had ever been developed, and one of these wondered whether or not they had ever been validated. Since the question was asked originally to discover possible answers to such questions as these, the respondents might well be referred to the 34 institutions which gave affirmative replies to the question. Of the 28 remaining respondents, 23 replied in the negative and 5 passed the question. That school administrators must develop standards and techniques in utilizing community agencies devoted to social and educational service is brought sharply into focus by the situation developing in most communities involving a number of youth-serving Federal agencies operating, for the most part, under local sponsorship. The problems created have occupied the attention of a national committee for the last year and this committee has developed some standards and techniques for utilizing and coordinating youth-serving activities and agencies. These are embodied in a report of the committee which is "concerned with educational needs and with principles of Federal and State-local relationships which should guide future long term developments and underlie the planning for the years ahead.” The problem of what should be the policy with respect to cooperation and coordination within communities between the schools and other 'Maxwell, G. L. and Spaulding, Francis T. The relationship of the Federal government to the education of youth of secondary-school age. National association of secondary school principals of the National education association. Washington, D. C., The Association, 1941. 24 p. agencies and programs designed to serve the educational needs of youth is an ever present one. Surely it cannot be dismissed on the ground that to date no generally accepted standards and techniques for dealing with the problem have been developed. As a matter of fact the development of community councils in many parts of the country, an increasing emphasis upon the importance of community surveys, together with a growing recognition of the strategic role of the school as an integral part of the total community effort for better living, in themselves, are evidences of emerging standards and techniques for the best utilization and coordination of all community agencies and activities. As evidence of such emerging standards and techniques it seems pertinent at this point to cite some of the theses or propositions discussed and developed in the committee report referred to above: With a few conspicuous exceptions secondary schools have not provided a well-rounded program to meet the varied needs represented in their enrollment. By creating larger gaps between school and job the depression increased the already existing need for extension of free school opportunities through the 13th and 14th years and for service to out-of-school youth. The experience of the last decade also demonstrates that comprehensive statements of educational aims for youth, whether in or out of school, must be translated from paper into action. While the general goals are the same no matter what the type or size of the community, their application will differ according to community character and resources. A conception of the school job large enough to include out-of-school youth will vitalize the in-school program. It is apparent to the layman and the educator alike, . . . that comprehensive, coordinated youth program such as that outlined in report has not yet been achieved. a this The purpose of this section of the report is to recommend one of the instrumentalities by which it will be possible to achieve such a comprehensive, unified Youth program. This instrumentality is the Community Youth Council . . . Here, surely, are basic problems which will have to be faced with increasing intensity and skill by administrators. Schools and departments of education will have to meet the challenge of providing opportunities for administrators in training to grow in knowledge, resource, and skill in meeting these problems. The University of Buffalo offers the one statement submitted which realistically relates itself to the implications of question 4, as follows: We have two courses in which the element in question is emphasized— "A systematic study of a School System" which includes a study of the local community with an analysis of its resources and liabilities, and "Aspects of the Community Educational Program" which goes into detail with respect to the characteristics of community enterprises and means by which cooperative relationships may be developed by principals and superintendents. 5. Describe briefly any activities which you have undertaken in this area (IV), which in your judgment have been of constructive value to you in developing an effective professional education program for administrators. Only 7 statements were submitted here and these, for the most part, recapitulated statements previously made in amplification of replies to the questions raised in this section of the inquiry. In concluding this analysis of returns related to questions as to specific types of provisions for demonstration, observation, and practice experience in the education of school administrators it appears that such opportunities are not generally available to an extent which could be considered adequate. |