New Specialists Appointed to Office of Education Staff Federal Security Administrator Oscar R. Ewing announces the appointment of two new Office of Education specialists. They are Dr. Clayton D. Hutchins, Specialist for School Finance in the Division of School Administration, and Dr. Marjorie Cecil Johnston, Assistant Specialist in the Division of International Educational Relations. Dr. Hutchins Since 1945 Dr. Hutchins has been Assistant Director of the Research Division of the National Education Association. In this capacity he spent the major part of his time. in studies in the field of school finance. From 1942 to 1945 he served in the Office of Defense Transportation as chief of the school bus section. Prior to that he was auditor in chief for the Ohio State Department of Education, a position which corre sponded to the director of finance in most State departments of education. As auditor in chief, Dr. Hutchins was responsible for the apportionment of State funds to local districts and for providing for these districts consultative services on their finance problems. Preceding his 13 years in the Ohio State Department of Education, he taught in the high school in Grandview Heights, Ohio, for 6 years. Dr. Hutchins holds life memberships in the National Education Association and American Association of School Administrators, and is also a member of Phi Delta Kappa, educational fraternity. ceived his B. A., B. S., M. A., and Ph. D. from Ohio State University, doing his doctoral work in school administration. He re Dr. Hutchins reported for duty on February 1. Dr. Johnston Before coming to the Office of Education, Dr. Johnston held supervisory and teaching positions in the field of foreign languages and international relations. From 1946 to 1949 she was director of the Department of Languages at the American Institute for Foreign Trade. During the summer of 1948 she served as Director of the Inter-American Workshop held in Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico. Working for the Office of Education will not be a new experience for Dr. Johnston. She previously served the Office as Consultant on the Teaching of Spanish from 1942 to 1946. Dr. Johnston also has taught Spanish for several institutions including the Graduate School of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Stephens College, George Washington University, and public schools in Austin and El Paso, Tex. In addition to her teaching experience, Dr. Johnston has written six textbooks and many articles and pamphlets, some in English and some in Spanish. She is a sustaining member of Phi Beta Kappa and a life member of Pi Lambda Theta, of the American Association of Teachers of Span ish and Portuguese, and of the National Education Association. Dr. Johnston also belongs to Sigma Delta Pi (a Spanish professional society), the Modern Language Association of America, Institute Internacional de Literatura Iberoamericana, American Association of University Professors, and the American Educational Research Association. Dr. Johnston, who is familiar with the French, Portuguese, Italian, and German languages, as well as Spanish, received her B. A., M. A., and Ph. D. from the University of Texas. Dr. Johnston reported for duty on January 10. Cartoon from The New Yorker printed in support of the campaign for better education of the Advertising Council, the Citizens Federal Committee on Education, and the National Citizens Commission for the Public Schools. Reprints are available free from The New Yorker, 25 West 43d Street, New York 18, N. Y. Home Economics Education Teaching by Beulah I. Coon, Research Specialist in Home Economics Education ONE OF THE AREAS in which there is still a shortage of secondary school teachers is that of home economics. There are several reasons for this. Many who are prepared for teaching marry instead of accepting a teaching position. Others teach only a few years and then leave teaching for marriage. Other partial causes of the shortage were determined through a Nationwide study of teacher satisfactions. After findings for the Nation as a whole were published,' individual State personnel studied the responses of teachers in their own State sample. The studies revealed that several factors frequently found to be present when teachers were less well satisfied with their jobs could be remedied by cooperative work on the part of supervisors of home economics, school administrators, and teacher training institutions. The first step, therefore, was to put the facts before these groups and enlist their cooperation in improving conditions. State research workers wrote articles summarizing their findings for State teachers association journals, described their study to groups of school administrators and representatives of teacher training institutions and to teachers, and published bulletins for distribution throughout the State revealing their findings and suggesting ways in which conditions could be improved. Inadequate equipment was one of the factors frequently found associated with dissatisfaction. State after State found that 60 to 65 percent of the home economics teachers were working in departments which they said were equipped to teach only foods and/or clothing. For a teacher interested in providing opportunity to study ali phases of homemaking, such limitations in facilities could be very frustrating. It is no wonder they expressed dissatisfaction with the job. Shortage of equipment and 1 Factors Affecting the Satisfactions of Home Economics Teachers. AVA Research Bulletin No. 3, May 1948. American Vocational Association, Washington 5, D. C. of space during the war and postwar period have, no doubt, contributed to keeping departments inadequately equipped. Teachers, however, were not likely to be dissatisfied if plans had been made for improvement of equipment and improvements were being or were soon to be carried out. Such teachers were among the better satisfied ones. The extent to which inadequate equipment was related to dissatisfaction has lead several State Supervisors to work intensively with school administrators and teachers to plan for immediate improvement in their depart ments. Thirty to forty percent of the teachers in different States had no funds or no definite amount of money for operating expenses of the department. As was to be expected, these were likely to be less well satisfied than teachers who had a definite budget allowance for teaching supplies and materials, books and magazines. Setting up pians for assisting teachers to put the department on a businesslike basis with a definite as well as an adequate amount of money for expenses became another important responsibility of supervisors and administrators. The more satisfied teachers were those who reported supervisory assistance from a State, city, county, or district home economics supervisor as well as from a principal or superintendent. Although these better satisfied teachers did not always indicate that supervision was adequate and helpful, those with no supervision were usually the ones who were least well satisfied with teach Another factor related to dissatisfaction with which some States have been working is that of the load of the home economics teachers. In general, teachers' attitude toward load-belief that their load was heavy-seemed to be more closely associated with dissatisfaction with teaching than actual size of load. Some of the factors causing loads to be heavy were teaching 125 or more pupils a day, having no or very few unscheduled periods during the week, more than four different class preparations a day, and an average of time amounting to more than 10 class periods a week in such extraclass activities as banquets, conferences, work with adults, home visiting, school lunch work, bus duty, and other school responsibilities. Two other factors were also associated with a feeling of heavy load-having to make many reports and records and having a poor arrangement of fixed equipment. Programs aimed to lighten loads have included attempting to better balance class and extraclass activities, developing plans for as brief and meaningful records and reports as possible, and trying to arrange equipment so that it is more flexible and convenient. Making a study of factors causing dissatisfaction has helped to point out to supervisors some of the important steps to take in improving teaching conditions and given priority to certain types of supervisory efforts. First Teacher Trainees From Europe First of the European teachers to spend teachertraining periods in the United States under pro ing. This finding has been discussed by of Education, Federal Security Agency, in March. Shown with Commissioner of Education, Earl James McGrath, center, in above photograph, and with representatives of the Division of International Educational Relations, the two teachers are, second from right, Teresa Guedes de Andrade Santos, nursery-kindergarten field, and, extreme right, Arnaldo Rodrigues de Sousa, agricultural education field, Lisbon, Portugal. New Books and Pamphlets Arlington National Cemetery. By T. Sutton Jett. Washington, D. C., Stant Lithograph Service, 1949. 26 p. Illus. 25 cents. (Order from: Lee Mansion or Washington Monument Lodge House, Washington, D. C.) Blueprint for Understanding. The Institute of International Education, Inc., A Thirty Year Review. New York, The Institute, 1949. 48 p. Illus. The Child and His Curriculum. By J. Murray Lee and Dorris May Lee. 2d edi tion. New York, Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1950. 710 p. Illus. $4.50. Child Development Guides for Teachers of 6, 7, and 8-Year-Old Children. Albany, The University of the State of New York, Children Absent From School: A Report and a Program. New York, Citizens' Committee on Children of New York City, Inc. (136 East 57th St.), 1949. 116 p. $1. Community Sports and Athletics: Organization-Administration-Program. By National Recreation Association. New An Evaluation of the Indiana Public Free and Inexpensive Materials on World The Harvard List of Books in Psychology. logists in Harvard University. Cambridge, Recommended Reference Books for the -Susan O. Futterer, Associate Librarian, Selected Theses in Education THESE THESES are on file in the Education collection of the Federal Security Agency Library where they are available upon request by interlibrary loan. Appraising Teacher Effectiveness: A Survey of Evaluation and a Progress Report of an Experiment in Teacher Appraisal. By Dwight E. Beecher. Doctor's, 1947. Syracuse University. 189 p. ms. Describes an instrument for the appraisal of teacher effectiveness in terms of readily observ. able teacher behaviors characteristic of what pupils say they like in teachers, based on pupil opinion and reaction studies involving over 30,000 pupils. Chemistry Usage by Books and Teachers in Home Economics Courses. By James E. Wiser. Doctor's, 1947. George Peabody College for Teachers. 195 p. Analyzes 40 books to determine the amount of chemistry used in home economics courses at the undergraduate college level. Citizenship Education in the Kindergar ten-Primary Grades of the Cincinnati Public Schools. By Luise Reszke. Master's, 1948. University of Cincinnati. 188 p. ms. Concludes that the instructional program in the kindergarten, first, second, and third grades of the Cincinnati public schools offers opportunities for developing cooperation, courtesy, respect for the rights of others, and self-control. The Difference Between Recall and Rec- Describes an experiment conducted with 100 mentally deficient children in classes at a Special Class Center, and with 100 pupils of the same chronological age in the ninth grade of a high school in Boston, Mass. Management of the High School Principal's Office. By William S. Rumbough. Doctor's, 1949. George Washington University. 110 p. ms. Considers 23 management problems, chosen be- -Ruth G. Strawbridge, Federal Security Office of Education MARY D. DAVIS, Specialist for Nursery-Kinder- GERTRUDE M. LEWIS, Specialist for Upper Grades WALTER H. GAUMNITZ, Specialist for Small and JANE FRANSETH, Specialist for Rural Schools HOMER H. KEMPFER, Specialist for General Adult ments Instructional Problems, Elementary WILHELMINA HILL, Specialist for Social Sciences ELSA SCHNEIDER, Assistant Specialist for Health PAUL E. BLACKWOOD, Assistant Specialist for ARNE W. RANDALL, Assistant Specialist for Fine Instructional Problems, Secondary HOWARD R. ANDERSON, Chief. DOROTHY MCCLURE, Specialist for Social Sciences HOWARD H. CUMMINGS, Assistant Specialist for HALENE HATCHER, Assistant Specialist for Geog- FRANK S. STAFFORD, Specialist for Health Instruc- PHILIP G. JOHNSON, Specialist for Science JOHN R. LUDINGTON, Specialist for Industrial Arts Exceptional Children and Youth ELISE MARTENS, Chief, Exceptional Children and ROMAINE P. MACKIE, Specialist for Schools for Attention of Librarians Indexes to Volumes XXX and XXXI of SCHOOL LIFE covering years October 1947-July 1948 and October 1948-June 1949 and March 1949 Supplement are now available. Single copies are free upon request from the Information and Publications Service, Office of Education. They are for the special use of librarians and others who may wish to bind separate volumes. Published each month of the school year, October through June. To order SCHOOL LIFE send your check, money order, or a dollar bill (no stamps) with your subscription request to the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C. SCHOOL LIFE service comes to you at a school-year subscription price of $1.00. Yearly fee to countries in which the frank of the U. S. Government is not recognized is $1.50. A discount of 25 percent is allowed on orders for 100 copies or more sent to one address within the United States. Printing of SCHOOL LIFE has been approved by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget. OSCAR R. EWING......... EARL JAMES MCGRATH RALPH C. M. FLYNT......... GEORGE KERRY SMITH... Federal Security Administrator Commissioner of Education Executive Assistant to the Commissioner Chief, Information and Publications Service JOHN H. LLOYD... Assistant Chief, Information and Publications Service Address all SCHOOL LIFE inquiries to the Chief, Information and Publications Service, Office of Education, Federal Security Agency, Washington 25, D. C. THE Office of Education was established in 1867 "for the purpose of collecting such statistics and facts as shall show the condition and progress of education in the several States and Territories, and of diffusing such information respecting the organization and management of schools and school systems and methods of teaching, as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems, and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country." |