E

ACH YEAR the Office of Education re

ceives numerous requests for a variety of statistical information about the public school system. These requests come from legislators, educational administrators, trade associations, magazines, teachers, students, and the general public. Among the questions most frequently asked are those relating to pupil enrollment, teaching staff, and the adequacy of schoolhousing.

To meet the growing demand for this type of information, the Office of Education conducted the first of a series of annual surveys in the fall of 1954. The data were collected through a brief questionnaire which was mailed to each State and Territorial department of education.

This survey represents an effort of the Office of Education to meet a growing demand for current information. Detailed statistics for the entire school year will continue to be available in the regular periodic surveys.

In this initial survey, some States encountered difficulties in reporting on a uniform basis or did not have exact data readily available. In such cases, estimates were furnished by State departments of education or were developed by the Office of Education. Although the data presented in the adjoining table are by their nature tentative, they may still prove useful to many readers.

The current survey represents one phase of a comprehensive data-collection program for the public school system which has been developed during the past several years and incorporated in Handbook 1, The Common Core of State Educational Information (Office of Education Bulletin 1953, No. 8).

Chapter 11 of Handbook I laid the groundwork for the present survey by providing for an annual fall collection by State departments of education of a "minimum list" of items of information.

Highlights of Survey

Enrollment. In the fall of 1954, 7 out 8 school-age children (5 to 17 years of age, inclusive) were enrolled in full-time public elementary and secondary day schools. Of the total enrollment of 29.5 million, 21.3 million pupils were in elementary schools, and 8.2 million in secondary schools (including junior high schools). It should be noted that these enrollment data, which are compiled in the fall of the year, will not be comparable with the statistics on enrollment given in other publications of the Office of Education, which are cumulative for the whole school year.

Number of classroom teachers.-State departments of education reported a total of 1,066,000 classroom teachers, consisting of 690,000 in elementary schools and 376,000 in secondary schools.

Shortage of qualified teachers.-The individual States set the requirements for teachers for both regular certificates and emergency certificates. The proportion of teachers teaching under substandard credentials varies from State to State. There were over 91,000 such teachers, constituting 8.6 percent of all teachers. Almost fivesixths of the emergency teachers were concentrated in the elementary schools. There were also many teachers holding regular certificates who had met only the minimum State standards of preparation.

Number of instruction rooms to be completed during current fiscal year. It was reported that a total of 60,000 new instruction rooms were scheduled for completion by June 30, 1955. Assuming that the new instruction rooms will be utilized entirely as additional facilities rather than as replacements for obsolete quarters and assuming 30 pupils per classroom, 1.8 million pupils would be provided for.

Pupils in excess of normal capacity.In addition to the data shown in the table, information was requested on the number of public-school pupils in excess of the normal capacity of the accessible publicly owned school plants. Over 2.6 million pupils were reported as in excess of normal capacity, which represented 9 percent of the total enrollment. "Normal capacity" is defined as the number of pupils that can be accommodated for a full day in the instruction rooms of the accessible, publicly owned, permanent school plants according to current State standards regarding the proper number of pupils per classroom. When nonpublicly owned quarters, or makeshift or improvised facilities are used, all pupils housed in such facilities are also considered as in excess of normal capacity. The number of pupils in excess of normal capacity reflects overcrowding, pupils on extra shifts, and in makeshift or temporary quarters; but does not include pupils in unsafe, overage, or educationally unsuitable structures. The "number of pupils in excess of normal capacity" thus provides only a partial measure of schoolhousing shortage. Because there appears to be some question on the comparability of the data submitted by some of the States, individual State figures have been omitted from the table.

IT WAS the year 1951. A visitor in Grand Rapids schools would have noted in classrooms discussions among teachers and children and newspaper clippings on bulletin boards, brochures for the taking in school offices, and in school corridors slogans printed and decorated by boys and girls of all ages. These activities had to do with one thing a proposed bond issue for new school buildings which was to be decided by a vote of the people. This is not the time or the place to describe all that was done or said, but the approval by its citizens of the bond issue was the springboard to the six new elementary school buildings that children in Grand Rapids, Mich., enjoy today.

The School-Park Plan

These schools were built on the schoolpark plan which meant savings to the taxpayer as well as year-round use of school facilities and grounds. Through a joint agreement by the Grand Rapids Board of

Education and the Grand Rapids City Park Department, approved by the City Commission, parcels of land reserved for parks were made available for school building sites. Four of the new schools were built on these sites in newly developed residential areas. The other two schools were built in residential areas where old buildings were no longer usable and space was at a minimum.

There is a cooperative arrangement between the board of education and the park department whereby each has a portion of the site to care for. The board is responsible for all building maintenance at all times. The recreation department provides a paid playground leader for each school during the summer months.

The school-park plan opens the school as a neighborhood center and invites the whole community to use the arts and crafts room, outdoor play shelters, toilet facilities, and storage and equipment facilities during offschool hours and vacation periods. Kitchen and service units are now used extensively

The building is almost ready.

by school and community during the school year. Such an arrangement makes possible the use of the activity areas, game courts, and social areas with their picnic tables and fireplaces (where these are included). Games, ice skating, picnics, community gettogethers are some of the possibilities of fun for all. Playground equipment includes swings, merry-go-rounds, climbing equipment, teeters, built-in sandboxes, and wading pools (on some sites). An especially popular play feature is the great sewer tiles several feet in diameter, painted in bright colors, and cemented to the black top. Children enjoy crawling through these tiles, playing hide and seek, or using them for creative play activities.

Many People Helped in Planning

Each building was carefully planned by members of the administrative staff, by teachers, parents, and by neighborhood committees, and an advisory committee consisting of a supervisor, a principal, and an architect. In addition there was a committee of seven architects representing as many architectural firms, six of them each responsible for one of the elementary buildings, the seventh for a proposed junior high school. Community groups were set up to name each school with the result, in the case of replacements, that the old name was retained. But Brookside, Kent Hills, Madison Park, Mulick Park, Palmer, and Riverside each has a distinctive personality.

Of low contemporary design, each building has been adapted to its site. In size sites range from 2.5 acres to 21.2 acres, but with three of them 14 to 16 acres in extent. Since these are essentially neighborhood schools, their capacity is about 500 children, although each building will permit of additions for up to about 600 children. The planners of these buildings set out

First-graders enjoy many activities.

desirable attitudes, and (4) good habits and moral values.

Basic Facilities Are the Same

There are certain basic facilities in all the buildings. These include self-contained classrooms, a kindergarten, a combination gymnasium and auditorium or a multipurpose room, library, health room, audio

A fourth-grade group studies Michigan.

serving as a welcoming lounge room which can be used by children for informal group experiences such as story telling, or by members of community organizations. Some buildings have inviting seat corners built in for lounges and classrooms. In one of the schools a local garden club has provided plants in "planters" in the lounge, and gives them weekly care. In some of these lounge rooms there are fireplaces that work and that are used by groups of children and of adults. These were paid for by each community through efforts of the Parent Teacher Association. This same group took responsibility for selecting furnishings for the lobby, and selected and paid for furnishings for the teachers' room. The Board of Education itself financed the buying of the furniture for the lobby, and although the Board also financed the purchase of furniture for the teachers' room, the community actually pays for it over a 10-year period. Raising money for such projects has become a real community activity in each school.

Selection of furniture for the teachers' room and the lobby in each school was an educational experience for both teachers. and parents. This was a problem on which the art supervisor gave special help. Usually the furniture in any given building is the product of an individual Grand Rapids furniture manufacturing firm.

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Teacher of the Year

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where phonics will help. Frequently she asks a question which helps the child get the meaning from the context. Those children who have the habit of reading only one word at a time are helped to get the meaning of words in groups and to form the habit of reading by thought units. "Enjoy these two stories," rather than "read" them, is Miss Perry's assignment to the class.

The children seem very much at home in the well-stocked school library which they visit from time to time in small groups. Here they are free to browse and to make their own selections. It is obvious the boys. and girls have been guided and encouraged to select books which they will enjoy. They have a taste for a wide variety of books. With guidance and plenty of books to choose from they can find books that are interesting, stimulating, worth-while, and easy enough to read. Having read an especially interesting one, a child is anxious to acquaint his classmates with the story. He may do this with a brief oral book review or by drawing the characters or a scene from the story to be placed on the bulletin board. Creative drawings of scenes from one popular story are labelled: "I am drawing Bob riding Calico. I cross the range," or "Bob gets on backwards. Bob is so excited," or simply, "Have you read 'Cowboy Boots"?"

Little or no time is lost in changing from one activity to another. Their school day is a full and interesting program with lots of activities they find important to do. Perhaps a few of the children will form a group

nations to learn. They work with flash cards while they are seated around a table.

A child has a question about geography or history or language study, and Miss Perry helps him and the other children to list the sources where he may expect to find information which will answer this and similar questions. Miss Perry knows that it is more important to know where to find facts than merely to try to memorize them. It is good for children to become familiar with many sources of information. The children use encyclopedias, the dictionary, library books, geography and science books by different authors, folders, bulletins, parents, teachers, and adult friends to prove a point, to locate information, to get facts.

Miss Perry provides opportunity for practice to improve skill in reading for those who need it, while those who do not need it work on what is important for them. The children ask the teacher for help when they need it. When necessary, she uses the chalkboard in answering some of their questions. She doesn't hurry a child or make him feel uncomfortable because he needs help, but she makes sure he feels satisfied. As she walks around the room during study periods, she sometimes offers help study periods, she sometimes offers help because she knows each child well and is conscious of his individual difficulties.

The children also have opportunity to improve their ability to read aloud. Sometimes they read in unison. A boy or girl who doesn't like to read aloud because he feels he can't do it well usually forgets himself in reading with others. Reading an especially well-liked story or poem together may result in their forming a choral speaking group, as the class did with a Thanks

Are falling from their tree. Sometimes they write their own invitations to parents for Parent-Teacher Association meetings, creating their own verse.

Miss Perry is resourceful. If extremely inclement weather requires an indoor recess. she is ready with a new game. Perhaps it is a version of "Twenty Questions" which revolves around the pupils themselves and the things they especially like in their classroom.

Miss Perry herself is so enthusiastic about each and every activity in the day's program that her youngsters unfailingly try to match that enthusiasm with their best efforts and she is quick to praise. The children are happy and enthusiastic about going to school because Miss Perry makes them feel she likes and understands them. In return they like her; they feel important to the group; they know they have come to school to learn and very soon they find that they, too, have much to give to others. Children and teacher plan together and work in harmony, each gaining some satisfaction in achievement.

Miss Perry keeps art work and other papers and memos representative of each pupil's progress in his individual folder. Twice each year the Monmouth school schedules individual parent-teacher conferences with every parent. These conferences are scheduled for the late afternoon or evening hours over a two-week period. Parents are always welcome, and many of them do visit the classroom from time to time.

There are many teachers like Miss Perry in the Nation's schools. All of them deserve credit for the contributions they are making to the growth and development of children. and young people. Although the Teacher of the Year project does focus attention upon one teacher's accomplishments, it is believed that they are symbolic of those of many other teachers.