Chapter VIII.

NORMAL-SCHOOL COSTS.

Reliable per capita costs commonly used now in public schools are needed in normal schools.-During the last 15 years the development of a standard technique for measuring per capita costs in elementary schools and high schools has made available each year a body of reliable, precise information concerning expenditures in public schools. School officials find this information of very great value in studying problems of maintenance and expenditure. It is perfectly possible and highly desirable to develop the same type of measurements and technique in State normal schools. Normal-school presidents frequently attempt to make such calculations by using data published in the tables in the reports of the United States Commissioner of Education. The calculations and the comparisons based on these are usually not valid, however, because the original data do not permit of the calculation of reliable comparative conclusions of the type indicated.

Comparative per capita data of 10 Massachusetts schools furnish excellent examples for reliable comparisons.-An excellent beginning in the calculation of comparative unit costs in State normal-school maintenance has been made by Commissioner Snedden, of Massachusetts, with the annual expenditures of the 10 State normal schools of that State. The carrying out of the scheme involves (1) the development of uniform methods of accounting which analyze expenditures into fundamental items which are worth measuring, and (2) the development of uniform, standard methods of measuring attendance in terms of average membership for the year. Both of these items are clearly evident in the Massachusetts tables which are printed in the annual report of the State board of education for 1912-13 (pp. 19 and 192-194) and are reproduced below:

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Massachusetts normal schools-Teachers, admissions, attendance, etc., for the school year ending June, 1913.

Women.

ber, 1913.

Expenditures of Massachusetts State normal schools in 1912-13 for salaries, wages, and labor.

$882.60 $2.45

Other normal schools can parallel Massachusetts data. It is an easy matter for any normal-school official who has some understanding of statistical methods to proceed to secure parallel data for his own school and to work out similar per capita costs. The types of bookkeeping sheets to be used could be devised by reference to the headings of the columns in the Massachusetts tables. Moreover, in view of the general importance of the issues involved, Commissioner Snedden would probably be glad to send sample accounting pages to any normal-school president who desires to develop a parallel accounting system for his own school. In a letter to the authors, Commissioner Snedden states that it is the intention of the department to improve on certain details of the method, and not to publish the data every year.

Special notes on certain items in the tables.-Probably the only items in these tables that need any special explanation are the following: On page 76, under salaries, wages, and labor, the item "general administration" should be explained so as to indicate whether it includes the principal's salary and the salaries of clerks, janitors, librarians, etc. The items "normal school" and "training school" under this general heading may include only salaries paid for instruction. Another item that needs explanation is the item "receipts," in the last column on page 77. This seems to include all receipts by the normal school of funds other than those furnished by the State, excepting fees for room and board.

For comparative purposes other schools should reduce costs to 36 or 40 weeks basis. In comparing the per capita costs in his institution with those in the above tables, any normal-school official must keep in mind that the above per capita costs represent the costs for one student of collegiate grade during one regular academic year of approximately 36 or 40 weeks, not including the summer term. In normal schools where a large number of the students are of highschool rank, this fact should be taken into consideration. In schools where summer terms are maintained and the summer budget is a part of the regular annual budget, these facts must be allowed for.

Chapter IX.

GENERAL COURSES OF STUDY FOR HIGH-SCHOOL GRADUATES.

Differentiated general courses for high-school graduates. The discussion of the courses of study of normal schools is complicated by the fact that some institutions offer so many different courses of study; for example, one excellent institution outlines 13 in its catalogue. This is probably necessary in schools where students are received at any stage of schooling from the first year of high school to the second year of college, and where several courses of study are offered for teachers of special subjects. In normal schools which maintain only two-year courses for high-school graduates there are two standard general courses which most of the students follow, namely, the course for kindergarten-primary teachers and the course for intermediate and grammar-grade teachers. Only these two courses will be discussed in this chapter. Courses for prospective teachers of special subjects will be discussed in Chapter XIII.

Recent differentiation of courses for teachers of lower grades and upper grades. The differentiation of the two-year general courses for high-school graduates into those for teachers of the lower grades and those for teachers of the higher grades is a relatively recent innovation. For a long time in many schools one standard general course was taken by all prospective elementary teachers, regardless of whether they expected to teach in the lower grades or the upper grades. This single course was made up of some work suited to primary teachers, some to upper-grade teachers and some of a general character often not suited to either. For example, the courses in the teaching of reading and handwork usually emphasized the work of the primary grades, the courses in geography and history were especially related to upper-grade work, and the psychology and history of education were not related to either.

More specific aims and training now being emphasized. The differentiation of the two general courses is part of a movement to provide for more definite and specific purposes in normal-school training. The problem of training a teacher for the first three grades of the elementary school becomes a perfectly definite one when carefully studied and analyzed. Two years is a short time in which to prepare a high-school graduate adequately for such work; hence

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