Constructive Tendencies In Rural Education PDF Download

The most conspicuous and pertinent tendency in rural education in the biennium is that toward better understanding of and intelligent accomplishment in the direction of more equitable distribution of school opportunities and school expense burdens. Rural education is still the weak spot in the American educational system. The passing of the biennium marks a decided tendency toward complete emergence of rural education from the realm of sentimental oratory and general promotion to that of statesmanship and professional achievement. This bulletin explores tendencies in five areas: (1) Equitable School Support--toward increasing school revenues from new and old State sources, and toward better methods in the distribution of State funds designed primarily to equalize tax burdens and educational opportunity, and at the same time encourage local effort and initiative; (2) Improvement of the Teacher Staff--reflecting the substantial rise in minimum qualifications demanded for teaching certificates and increased and improved facilities for training rural teachers; (3) Supervision--wherein progress during the biennium has been concerned more with intensive work toward a higher quality of service than an increase in the number of supervisors or the extent of the territory over which supervision is furnished, although substantial improvements have been made in both aspects; (4) Administrative Organization--(a) the movement to provide on a State-wide scale and through legislative action, for an administrative unit large enough to afford more nearly adequate support and a complete educational unit of facilities with professional management, supervision, and teaching staff, and (b) the movement for voluntary centralization of the part of small local units generally known as consolidation; and (5) Secondary Education for Rural Children--which was studied for the first time on a national scale in the Bureau of Education during the biennial period 1922-1924. (Contains 3 tables.) [Best copy available has been provided.].