the difficulties of the job. These contacts, as described, range all the way from very informal contacts made by individual professors, on the initiative, in many cases, of the students themselves, to rather systematic and well organized attempts to follow up the careers of students in the field. Some institutions have staff members assigned to this type of service, devoting, in one instance, full time to it.

Suggestions and implications.-Implicit in proposals for the application of selective procedures is the fact that desire on the part of the student applicant is not sufficient reason for admission to a program of professional preparation. Institutions have the opportunity and the moral responsibility of selecting those who give greatest promise of success as school administrators.

It is also clear that selective techniques and procedures should be continuously applied through the period of graduate education where a terminal degree or certificate is the goal. Institutions should strenuously try to avoid becoming parties, directly or indirectly to the employment of incompetent and unqualified persons in administrative positions.

The major problem in this area of selection and guidance seems to be one of implementation. There appears to be little disagreement with respect to either the importance or the desirability of making programs for the education of school administrators increasingly selective. The guidance function at all levels of education is generally accepted as of major importance, with the self-guidance by the student progressively stressed as he grows in maturity and grasp of the possibilities.

In implementing some aspects of the proposal outlined above, institutions will have to undertake certain studies either individually or cooperatively. Some of these have been well stated by Cocking and Williams.2 They will be included here:

1. Institutions offering programs of education in school administration need be concerned with the number of positions which are maintained and needed by the social order.-An oversupply of professionally trained persons tends to place a grave strain on ethical practice within the profession and often puts a premium upon qualities unrelated to, if not positively undesirable in, performing the functions of professional leadership in an administrative position. It should be relatively easy to make a cooperative study of reasonable expectancy in the matter of potentially available educational administrative positions. An estimate of the ability of various institutions to prepare administrators, a determination of whether it is desirable to control the supply, and decisions with respect to how this control should be implemented would logically follow.

2. If selection of students at entrance to programs of education in school administration is desirable, continuous study should be devoted to the determination of the most acceptable minimum bases.-There is every reason to believe that selection techniques could be cooperatively developed Ibid., p. 88-89.

which would insure more effective utilization of the time and money of the student and of the resources of the university.

3. If guidance is to be effective, cooperative study should de directed to the most effective methods of implementation. Here it is suggested that while many institutions are at work on this problem, more significant results could be achieved if a coordinated attack was made.

4. The development and use of increasingly refined objective standards and measurement techniques in the implementation of selection and guidance policies presents a promising field for continuous and cooperative study.— These must be developed or adapted and used with a full appreciation of the limitations of such instrumentalities. The newly developed teacher examination techniques are illustrative of one kind of measuring device that has possibilities if properly applied. The fact that superintendents of schools are using these examinations as a part of the process of selecting teachers in ever increasing numbers suggests that superintendents themselves might well be subjected to the same types of professional controls that they have, perhaps somewhat eagerly, imposed upon other members of the teaching profession. Institutions preparing administrators could render an important service to employing boards by providing counsel and assistance to them in the discharge of their most important single function, namely, the selection of the administrative staff. An important part of such service would be in encouraging experimentation by lay boards with various types of tests to determine the relative cultural literacy and professional competence of candidates for these positions. College and university credentials and flattering recommendations from faculty members are often more confusing than helpful to lay boards as they attempt to evaluate them. Universities and teachers colleges might more profitably engage themselves in the task of safeguarding intelligent use of such objective techniques, rather than to deplore and resist their use by administrative officers in dealing with their ever pressing problems of personnel.

IV. Demonstration, Observation and Practice Experience in the Education of School Administrators

Conclusions.-The gap between theory and practice in programs for the education of school administrators needs to be very definitely and firmly bridged. Employment experiences previous to or concurrent with the period of training should be carefully evaluated in individual cases before they are accepted as adequately providing for this need. Opportunities for varying kinds of experiences which will assist in the development of skills and the acquisition of knowledge specifically related to important administrative functions should be provided as an important and integral part of the on-going program. These experiences should be carried on under the direction and super✓ vision of experienced and skilled administrators on the campus and in the field.

The present situation.-Approximately one-half of the institutions canvassed seem to accept the proposition that the so-called gap between theory and practice is not adequately provided for in all cases by the fact that students have had or are having experience in administrative positions. A very much smaller number have gone

beyond the point of rendering lip service to this proposition. Analysis of descriptive statements submitted reveal that only 13 institutions make provisions for the actual performance of duties in real situations under the direction of skilled and experienced administrators in the field through internships and other means. An additional 20 institutions report provisions which they feel approximate in some varying degree the kind of experience referred to. Just 7 institutions have made arrangements for internships in the field.

Without offering many descriptions of practice, more than half of the institutions reported provisions 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 to develop skill in working with other people. While a majority of respondents reported that opportunities are provided whereby administrators may equip themselves with standards and techniques for the utilization of community agencies devoted to social and educational services, returns were rather negative with respect to the nature of these opportunities. One institution reported work 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."

Suggestions and implications.-Attention is directed here to the proposals presented in Tyler's provocative paper previously quoted.3 In this paper functional administration is analyzed in terms of a concept of democratic leadership and leads the author to a discussion of elements not usually included in the training program for school administrators. The suggestions made for types of experiences and opportunities for observation and study are particularly applicable in relation to the proposal under discussion here. Institutions may well adopt a similar approach to the problem of adequate provisions for the kind of practice experiences which will contribute most to the knowledge and skill of administrators functioning in a democratic society. The fact that, in spotting neglected areas in programs for the education of school administrators, respondents made frequent mention of inadequacies in opportunities for demonstration, observation, and practice, indicates an awareness of the importance and need for many more such opportunities. It is to be hoped that with the wider development of "clinical" and "workshop" procedures more specific attention may be given to this promisingly fruitful area of activity. V. Content and Organization of Program

Conclusions.-Programs should be expanded beyond the point of providing knowledge and skill in dealing with the specialized technical

Tyler, Ralph W. Training administrative officers for democratic leadership. Proceedings of the Eighth annual conference for administrative officers of public and private schools, 1939. Chicago, Ill., University of Chicago Press. 214 p.

and material aspects of the job of school administration since, basically, the solutions of administrative problems are never acceptable unless those solutions further the educational effectiveness of the school and unless the total effect of administrative action upon the human beings concerned is on the whole helpful and salutary. It is necessary, therefore, for the administrator to understand human beings in terms of how they grow, their varying abilities, their motives, and how physiological, social, and economic factors condition their growth. He should also have command of a considerable body of knowledge essential to an understanding of the basic problems of the school. These knowledges cannot be restricted to fields usually included within the field of education. They must be drawn from other important areas such as sociology, economics, and political science, and should be brought together for educational use to form a significant part of the training program for administration. This expanded content should be so organized and applied educationally as to provide a broad, integrated program in which highly specialized courses will give way to opportunities for broad overviews as well as to provisions for applications of knowledge and skill in particular situations and to specialized problems.

The present situation.-In general the conclusion arrived at by Cocking and Williams that "Programs of school administration present more disagreement than agreement" is borne out by returns in this inquiry. The great majority of institutions reporting apparently still need to define the functions for which they offer education and to develop a complete program which will most nearly guarantee preparation for these functions.

While many schools still cling to a major emphasis on systematic and specialized courses, some have relegated these to a subordinate place and are giving major emphasis to procedures and techniques which place greater responsibility upon students and provide varied opportunities for students to work out problems in field situations. Student participation in field studies, conferences, workshops, clinics, internships, and long-term researches are among the techniques which are coming into wider use. Considerable emphasis is being given in a number of institutions to the matter of adjusting student programs to the needs and interests of each individual student.

Responses to the many specific questions related to content materials were more encouraging than in any other major section of the inquiry. Provisions for the study of the human being, child and adult, were reported by the great majority of institutions. A little more than half reported the use of materials which synthesize the contributions of fields of knowledge related to the study of human beings. Opportunities for observation and study at child development centers and clinics were reported by 45 institutions but in terms

4 Op. cit., p. 79.

of actual use it appears that they are only about 58 percent effective. A high point of 54 affirmative replies was reached in response to the inquiry concerning provisions for the study of the nature of our democracy, the major social, economic, and political problems which confront our society, and the function of education in that democracy. Interestingly enough, 43 institutions reported that a major emphasis is given to problems of education for economic well-being with the implications for vocational education, its content, organization, and administration.

It seems that specially planned refresher and workshop opportunities are the most generally adopted procedures for meeting the needs of practicing administrators who have no interest in or need for degrees. The idea of providing terminal, intermediary programs with a special certificate granted has been accepted and put into operation by two of the institutions reporting. Seventy-eight percent of the doctorate-granting institutions reported that program opportunities particularly directed to meet the needs of this group of nondegree students have been set up in their institutions.

Suggestions and implications.-Implicit throughout these summary statements are certain basic issues which need to be explored and resolved if programs for the education of school administrators are to be generally improved. That there is much need for improvement is obvious. The probabilities are that no other comparable program for professional education in any field presents the picture of confusion in thinking and variation in practice which is revealed in this inquiry and in the Cocking and Williams study. While it is true that many problems related to the professional education of school administrators have not even been identified, it seems equally true that several basic problems wait only upon concerted attack by all groups, agencies, associations, and institutions in any way concerned with these problems. Since an attempt has been made to explore some of these possibilities throughout the pages of this report, that discussion will not be repeated here.

Just one suggestion will be offered that has not been referred to specifically thus far, namely, that steps should be taken to set up studies in evaluation of programs of education in school administration. As pointed out by Cocking and Williams, a very considerable body of experience in the development and application of evaluation techniques has already been built up through evaluation studies in a number of educational programs. There can be no doubt that these experiences would have significance in attempts to evaluate programs for school administration. As agreements are reached with respect to what constitutes a program for administration, surely it is important to know the extent to which the objectives of such a program are achieved. It seems perfectly clear also that such an evaluation