Acting under the authority conferred by the laws of 1890, Chapter 323, giving
the ^Maryland State Teachers' Association power to organize, manage, and direct
a State Teachers' Reading Circle and adopt therefor a course of study in peda-
gogy, general literature, etc., the JMaryland State Teachers' Association has
appointed the following Board of Managers :
Dr. M. Bates Stephens, State Superintendent of Schools, Baltimore, chairman.
Miss Sarah E. Richmond, State Normal School, Towson.
Mr. Samuel M. North, State Supervisor of High Schools.
^Ir. H. H. ^lurphy, State Normal School, Towson.
Mr. ^^'. J. Holloway, Supervisor of Rural Schools, Baltimore.
Mr. Nicholas Orem, County Superintendent of Schools, Easton.
Mr. John Edwards, Assistant Headmaster, Tome Institute.
Mr. David E. Weglein, Principal Western High School, Baltimore.
Miss Hilary PI. Taylor, State Normal School, Towson, secretary.
CERTIFICATES AND TESTIMONIALS.
Certificates, countersigned by the chairman and secretarj^ of the Board of
Managers, are granted to those members who, having completed one year's work,
present satisfactory evidence of having thoroughly and thoughtfully read the
books assigned. This evidence is presented in the form of themes, written in
accordance with requirements issued by the Board, which ma}^ be had upon
application to the Secretary.
Testi}iioiiials, countersigned by the secretary of the State Board of Education
and the secretary of the Board of Managers, are awarded by the State Board of
Education to all members who have satisfactorily completed three years of
Reading Circle work, and who are recommended for this honor by the Board of
Managers.
The State Superintendent, in renewing teachers' certificates, is directed to
assign to these testimonials due weight as evidence of "professional spirit."
MEMBERSHIP.
All teachers of Maryland and all persons above the age of eighteen years
are eligible to membership. An annual membership fee of twenty-five cents is
required in order to meet the necessary expenses of the organization. Its pay-
ment entitles the member to a membership card, to all syllabi and information
relating to the courses that may from time to time be sent out by the secretary,
â– and to a certificate after satisfactory evidence of work done has been presented
to the Board of Managers. Membership cards may be obtained from the county
secretarj- or from Miss Taylor.
158 Annual Report of the State Board of Education
REQUIRED READING FOR 1917-1918.
Pedagogy — Strayer and Norsworthy's "How to Teach," published by The
Macmillan Co., New York. Single copies, postpaid, $1.20; in lots of ten or more
to one address, $1.05, transportation paid.
English — Klapper's "The Teaching of English," published by D. Appleton
& Co., New York. Single copies, postpaid, $1.05; in lots of ten or more, $1.00,
postpaid.
Science — Libby's "History of Science," published by Houghton, Mifflin Co.,
New York. Single copies to any address in Maryland, postpaid, $1.29; or in
quantities of five or more to one address, $1.20 per copy, express unpaid.
History — Johnson's "Union and Democracy," published by Houghton,
Mifflin Co., New York. Single copies, postpaid to any address in Maryland, $1.14;
or in quantities of five or more to one address, $1.08 per copy, express unpaid.
EXTRACTS FROM THE SECRETARY'S FIFTEENTH
ANNUAL REPORT.
The records from 1916-1917 show an enrollment of 939, distributed as
follows :
Allegany County 151 Harford County 19
Anne Arundel County 13 Howard County 15
Baltimore County 1 Kent County 78
Calvert County 3 Montgomery County 115
Carroll County 12 Prince George's County 63
Cecil County 63 St. Mary's County 1
Charles County 12 Somerset County 21
Dorchester County 80 Washington County 10
Frederick County 4 Wicomico County 166
Garrett County 9 Worcester County 93
Total 929
RECEIPTS.
June 30, 1916, balance on hand $893.64
June 30, 1916, to June 30, 1917 272.25
$1,165.89
DISBURSEMENTS.
June 30, 1916, to June 30, 1917 199.65
June 30, 1917, balance on hand 966.24
Sarah E. Richmond,
David E. Weglein,
Auditing Committee.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary H. Taylor, Secretary.
Annuai, Report of the State Board of Education 159
COUNTY TEACHERS INSTITUTES-SCHOOL YEAR 1917-1918.
List of Dates and Places of Meetings for the County Institutes of Maryland.
Counties. Date. Meeting Places.
Allegany September 3-7 Cumberland.
Anne Arundel Summer School In lieu of institute.
Baltimore September 3-14 Towson.
Calvert Summer School In lieu of institute.
Caroline September 3-14 Denton.
Carroll Summer School In lieu of institute.
Cecil ; Summer School In lieu of institute.
Charles Summer School In lieu of institute.
Dorchester September 10-14 Frederick.
Frederick September 3-7 Cambridge.
Garrett September 3-7 Oakland.
Harford September 2)-7 Belair.
Howard Summer School In lieu of institute.
Kent Summer School In lieu of institute.
Montgomery Summer School In lieu of institute.
Prince George's September 3-14 Hyattsville.
Queen Anne's August 27. CentreviUe.
September 7
St. Mary's Summer School In lieu of institute.
*Somerset August 27 Ocean City.
September 7
Talbot September 17-21 Easton.
Washington June 4- July 7 Hagerstown.
*Wicomico August 27.. ^^^^^ (^-^^^
September 7
♦Worcester August 27 ^^^^^ (^j^^.
September 7
^Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester hold joint Institute at Ocean City.
160
Annual Report of the State Board of Education
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31 ins anation and instruction. All this, of
course, means superficial work.
166 Annual Report of the State Board of Education
It is again a pleasure to report that few, if any. of the approved schools will
open next j'ear with a heavier program than the number of teachers justifies.
3. More and better teachers.
Many of the schools are under-staffed according to the unmistakably plain
provisions, not only of the present law, but of the old one, and the Bj'-Laws of
the State Board, as well ; they have always been under-staffed, but have kept
their place on the Approved List, and have received the State aid by virtue of
promising, from year to year, to add to their teaching force. This has been the
most difjficult of all the situations the Supervisor has had to meet; and, but for
the forthright support of the State Superintendent, it is doubtful whether the
County Boards of Education would have promised, as they have almost uniformly
done, to provide the requisite number of teachers. There is, for instance, one
county with four approved high schools, in not one of which has there ever
been as many teachers as the law demands; and even now the County Superin-
tendent is attempting to bargain with the State Superintendent on next year's
teachers, pleading poverty, alleging severity of the requirements, etc., but utterly
and deliberatelj' ignoring the fact that his county does not show, and never has
shown, the local support with which the State expects every county to meet the
State aid extended. In another county, we have a school of 150 in the county
town running with 3 5/7 high school teachers, v/hen the plain requirement of
the law has alwaj^s been that there shall be at least four teachers when the
school has as many as 80 pupils.
Bringing about the emplo3''ment of an adequate number of teachers in each
high school is the most important of the three main lines of work that have
claimed the time and attention of the Supervisor this year. Next year he hopes
to address himself to the actual helpful supervision of the teacher in the class-
room.
Respectfully submitted,
Samuel M. North,
High School Supo-visor.
August 1, 1917.
Dr. M. Bates Stephens,
State Superintendent of Schools,
Baltimore, Maryland.
Dear Sir : — As supplementary to my preliminary report of June
14, 1917, I beg to hand you herewith a tabulation* showins: the fol-
lowing facts regarding the operation of the Approved High Schools
during 1916-1917, certain of which will enable you to determine their
status for 1917-1918 :
1. Approved High Schools by groups, 1916-1917.
2. State aid extended each school, 1916-1917.
3. Number of teachers of regular subjects, including principals, in each
school, 1916-1917.
4. Number of teachers of special subjects, each school, 1916-1917.
*See tables elsewhere in this volume.
Annual, Report of the State Board of Education 167
5. Enrollment of each school, 1916-1917.
6. Average daily attendance of each school, 1916-1917.
7. First Group schools entitled to apply for more State aid than in 1916-
1917.
8. First Group schools entitled to less State aid than in 1916-1917.
9. First Group schools falling into the Second Group.
10. Second Group schools entitled to apply for admission to the First Group.
11. Second Group schools which have failed to meet the requirements for 2
place on the Approved List.
I also invite your attention to the following comparisons. During
the year 1916-1917 high school attendance in the Approved Schools
increased over the attendance for 1915-1916 by 567 pupils ; but of this
increase only five (5) came from the Second Group schools as a group.
562 coming from the First Group schools. Five (5) of the First
Group schools and seventeen (17) of the Second Group schools have
enrolled fewer pupils than during 1915-1916; one (1) of the First
Group schools and five (5) of the Second Group schools have en-
rolled the same number as during 1915-1916; twenty-four (21) of the
First Group schools and twenty (20) of the Second Group schools
have made gains in enrollment over 1915-1916.
It is interesting to note the composition of our high school teaching
force :
Total number of regular teachers, including principals 275
Total number of special teachers 143
Total men, regular teachers 108
Total vifomen, regular teachers 167
Total men, special teachers 55
Total women, special teachers 88
Total 418 418
During the spring of this year the high school certificate exchange
was effected, so that we shall begin the new year with every teacher
certificated ; and, from the best sources available, I believe it to be true
that not fewer than 70 per cent, of the high school teachers of the
State are attending approved summer schools this summer.
Respectfully submitted,
Samukl M. North,
Supervisor of High Shools.
The Gexeral Plan of Supervision.
The supervisor visited each of the seventy-two schools once, spend-
ing a day in each ; a number were visited a second time and a few three
times. Upon these visits he recorded, from first-hand observation, the
168
Annual Report of the State Board of Education
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170 Annuai, Report of the State Board of Education
information required by the comprehensive blank reproduced below ;
visited the teachers in their classrooms ; held individual conferences
with the teachers upon problems of instruction, and with the princi-
pals upon questions of administration ; suggested plans for working
out desired school improvements ; and, in a large number of cases, met
the faculties after school hours, Avhen questions both of immediate
moment to the particular school and of large significance in the high
school field were threshed out. Upon the data recorded in the form
and other information gathered by the supervisor, he made a report
to the State Superintendent of the condition, needs and prospects of
each school ; and the State Superintendent, after reviewing and digest-
in this report, handed to each County Board of Education a formal
letter both embodying his opinions, suggestions and constructive criti-
cism regarding the general high school situation in the given county,
and treating at length, and constructively, the situation and needs of
each of the high schools. In order that the principals should know the
purport of the comment of the State Department upon their respective
schools, the portion of the State Superintendent's formal letter to the
County Board dealing with each high school was sent to the principal
of that school for his guidance.
It was found that the problems, in the main, as indicated above
in the annual report of the Supervisor to the State Superintendent,
clustered about a few points, and the following excerpts from the
formal letters of the State Superintendent to the several County
Boards of Education are appended for the information of those inter-
ested in the manner in which the various situations were handled. For
obvious reasons, names are omitted. It is already known that the
response has, in many cases, been both willing and adequate ; but this
report goes to press too early to procure definite figures from all the
counties. It is planned to present in this place next year a table show-
ing the improvement in the particulars mentioned throughout the high
schools of the State.
EXCERI'TS FROM THE .StATE SUPERINTENDENT'S LETTERS TO COUNTV BoARDS OF
Education Regarding Approved High Schools.
Organization.
"This school, according to the report of the Supervisor, needs department-
alization, which means specialization. Three people are teaching mathematics,
for instance; one of them should be made head of the mathematical work,
should lay it out, prescribe its methods, and stand responsible to the Principal
for its progress. The same is true of English, of science, and of the language
work. Particularly does this stand out in the English work, where one teacher
is handling 120 children and teaching a history subject besides; she should be
Annual Report of the State Board of Education 171
given all the English in the school, and the history handed over to a teacher who
should specialize in it. The same is true of the science and of the foreign
language work."
"... This school's paramount need is such a reorganization as will
enable it to be administered as a high school — i. e., as a school for adolescent
pupils ; as the Supervisor found it, it is, in organization and administration, in
no significant particular different from the grades in the same building. One
teacher, the Principal, handles the third and fourth years in every subject,
except Science and French ; and a teacher similarly handles the first and second
years in every subject except Science. This is practically straight elementary
organization, and necessitates elementary methods of teaching unfitted to children
of high school age. For one thing, it involves preparation in as many as four
different subjects by the teacher every night — a task almost impossible if good
teaching is to be done, as it is too exhausting to the teacher."
'â– . . . This school needs strengthening in organization. There are just
five teachers for 188 pupils, with an undivided first year of 65 ; this large class
cannot bs divided, as it ought to be, because the school is offering 22 units, and,
if we understand the situation correctly, many of the children are' carrying 5
subjects for three years of the course. Now it is quite right that a city school
like this should ofifer 22, or even more units ; but it is not right that it should
do so with only five academic teachers. It could easily and efficientl}^ accom-
plish 17 or 18 units with five teachers ; but if your Board desires to ofifer as
man}' electives as the school is now carrying, you should certainly add a teacher."
"My comment regarding this school is that it is, perhaps, too strongly
academic — i. e., it would better serve its community by strong vocational courses
preparing its boy graduates to do engineering work in the mines. I strongly
commend this suggestion to your Board as in line v/ith the real function of a
public school^, e., to serve, first, its community."
"One or two other points : The manual training in this school ought to
include a strong course in mechanical drawing, a subject now practically
neglected ; this is particularly necessary in this community. On the other hand,
I am informed that some mechanical drawing has been given to girls; this could
be dropped, and the time given to drawing in connection with household art,
dress, design, etc."
"Your departmentalization ought to involve a readjustment of your present
salary schedule. In no school have we noted greater unrest over real or fancied
inequality of salaries, with a consequent difficulty of securing team work. I
think I may venture to say that one of your best teachers, who has over ten
years' experience, is receiving less money than another teacher who is now only
in the first year of her experience ; and this case has, rightly or wrongly, gone a
long way towards fostering the ugly spirit of which I speak. When you de-
partmentalize, yoti give your head of department a maximum salary, and thus
remove grounds for these complaints."
Administration.
"An example in point internally, one which it would seem mandatory for
your Superintendent to investigate, professionally, is the enormous drop from
140 in last year's first-year class to 67 in this year's second-year class. Unless
1 72 Annual REroRT of the State Board of Education
there are reasons of greal weight to account for this loss, your Board, in my
judgment, could well afford to run this defection back to its causes and en-
deavor to prevent its recurrence. A high school that continues to show so
large a first-year loss as this, is not adequately serving its community."
'"'... the school needs a larger departmentalization of its work, with a dis-
tinctly firm letter from your Board to the effect that the work is assigned for
the benefit of the children and not to suit the personal preferences of any
members of the faculty; and the Principal might properly be advised that the
responsibility of administering the school is his responsibility, and that, in case
of doubt, his proper recourse is to the County Superintendent. The Principal
is the only man in any approved school in the State teaching only one period
a day; it would seem that, with this liberal freedom from actual teaching, and
with a departmentalization of the work, your Board may reasonably expect a
stronger professional spirit than is now perceptible, which would be evident in
professional reading, regular faculty meetings and an unmistakable understand-
ing that high school teaching is, in county schools, a full-sized professional
job, demanding constant and undivided work and study. The problem is, again,
one of professional leadership."
"... On the other hand, there are, apparently, several weaknesses in this
school which prevent it from working at the high efficiency which the State
seems to have a reasonable right to expect. Among these are, perhaps, a lack
of courageous handling as a secondary school, which shows itself in the absence
of team work among the faculty as a whole and in their desire for definite
standards in scholarship and discipline. There ought to be no imcertainty, in
the case of a school as large as this one, on disciplinary and instructional ques-
tions., A firm but rational policy ought to govern the school and ought to be
thoroughly understood by every member of )'our faculty, of the student body,
by every patron and by your Board."
Improvement of Equipment.
"I invite your (consideration to the following points:
1. An addition to the present building is imperative.
2. The science apparatus is almost negligible.
3. The school has no library facilities and no community activities
worth mentioning.
4. Every teacher in the school needs rigorous professional training
in method, and should attend summer school for several
' sessions."
"... As conducted this year this school is probably further from measuring
up to the requirements of the State Board than any other school on the Approved
List. There is no vestige of a proper school library, nor are there any periodi-
cals; there is no manual training, no domestic science, nor any commercial
work or agriculture. The apparatus equipment is negligible; and, most unfor-
tunately, the school is on a ten-period day, each period of only 30 minutes —