FIRST GRADE STATE CERTIFICATES.

QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS' EXAMINATION.

PREPARED BY THE STATE BOARD OF EXAMINERS.

NOVEMBER, 1890.

TO SUPERINTENDENTS AND EXAMINERS.

1. Applicants should write answers to correspond with the questions, and give due attention to capitals and punctuation. Answers to questions should be written only.

2.

No communication or reference to books or memoranda permitted during the examination. 3. An applicant who is a stranger to the county superintendent must present satisfactory written testimony of good moral character from two or more persons of respectable standing.

4. The county board of examiners shall hold regular public quarterly examinations of applicants for teachers' certificates, beginning at noon on the last Wednesday of February, May, August, and November.

5. All questions for the quarterly public examinations will be forwarded to each county superintendent, who shall have exclusive charge of said questions until the examination is commenced, and the questions shall not be opened except in the presence of the board of examiners at the time of beginning each public quarterly examination.

6.

7.

Two members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business,

Applicants shall not be admitted to the examination who were absent at its opening.

S. No applicant shall be allowed to leave the room or communicate with any person during the examination except by special permission of the chairman.

9. All applicants shall begin in a given subject at the same time, and no recess shall be taken until the subject is finished.

10. Applicants are required to answer in complete sentences as far as practicable. Full credits will be given only when answers are correct in fact and form.

11. No applicant shall be permitted to have a text-book in his possession during the hours of examination.

12.

All applicants must indorse their papers with their number and the name of the subject and date of examination, and all entries on the record-book kept by the county superintendent for this purpose shall be made on these numbers only. The names of the applicants shall not be entered upon the register until the close of the examination; but shall, with the number and the name, be entered at the beginning of the examination on blank cards, which shall be kept in a sealed envelope till the close of the examination.

13. No member of the board shall communicate to any one the standing of any applicant on any study during the examination.

14. Every applicant receiving his certificate must subscribe to the following: I do hereby certify that prior to this examination I had no knowledge of the questions proposed, and have neither given nor received any aid during the progress of the same.

15. Three grades of certificates may be issued by county boards of examiners. To obtain a certificate of the first grade the applicant must answer at least 90 per cent of all the questions asked him, and shall not fall below 70 per cent in any one branch. For second grade certificates the applicant must answer 50 per cent of all the questions asked, and shall not fall below 60 per cent in any onebranch. For third grade certificates the applicants must answer 70 per cent of all questions asked, and shall not fall below 40 per cent in any one branch. A fee of one dollar is charged for all certificates received at public examinations, which is paid to the county school superintendent, and must be credited to the county institute fund.

16. If, in any case the county superintendent has not been supplied with a sufficient number of lists of quarterly examination questions, he may write the questions upon the black-board or give them orally to the class. The several topics may be taken up in such order as may be determined by the board of examiners. Orthography is generally the first subject given.

17. In spelling recognize both Webster's and Worcester's dictionaries as authorities, and where there are two or more ways of spelling a word, accept either.

18. If an oral examination be given in reading. English grammar or theory and practice of teaching, make due allowance for differences of opinion. The oral examination in grammar should be principally devoted to methods of teaching language lessons in primary and mixed schools. The oral examination in reading should be exclusively on those methods of teaching the art of reading best adapted to the grades in which the applisants intend to teach. The oral examination in theory and practice of teaching should be wholly confined to methods of teaching.