school deepen when one sees the devotion, the energy, and oftentimes the great natural teaching ability that are displayed by a rural elementary school teacher. Any system of educational administration that is to be successful must provide the means by which these isolated teachers may be visited by experts who can sympathetically, intelligently, and skilfully help them to correct mistakes and to strengthen their own good qualities. This means adequate administrative organization at the top. Finally, agencies must be provided by which the requisite number of trained teachers can be obtained for the elementary schools teachers who shall have had some training not only in arithmetic and in geography and in English, but shall have had a training also in the social point of view from which they must approach their work. The future of Vermont lies in the hands of these teachers, and no single act that the state government can perform is more important than that which seeks to provide the means for training in the right way an adequate supply of teachers for the elementary rural schools. As a practical matter this means that a twenty-two-year-old young woman, paid at present at the low rate of about eight and a half dollars a week, must be fitted for this task, and that her education for the teacher's calling must be had within easy reach of her home. So far, therefore, as the results of this study concern the general public school system of Vermont, they are contained in the recommendation: Establish a competent educational administration; free it from political interference; give it a free hand to work out a course of study that shall meet the people's needs, to train teachers who are able to deal with its life, and to develop those vocational schools which may minister most directly to the opportunities which offer themselves to the Vermont boy and the Vermont girl. CHAPTER XI STATE EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION THE material of this chapter will relate to the State Superintendency, State Boards of Education, and state educational organization. I. EVOLUTION OF THE STATE SUPERINTENDENCY The first chief state school officer provided for was in New York, in 1812. Since then every state in the Union has provided for such an officer. The title of the chief school official is usually State Superintendent of Public Instruction, or Commissioner of Education, the latter term having been adopted in all recent reorganizations. The evolution of the office may be seen from the table on pp. 283-287. II. DUTIES OF THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT The enumerated powers and duties of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction of Oregon are typical for those states in which the office is filled by popular election, and relate chiefly to the common school system. SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION [From Oregon School Laws (1913), Chap. I, pp. 9 ff.] 1. Superintendent of Public Instruction a Distinct Office. The office of Superintendent of Public Instruction in this State is hereby declared to be a separate and distinct office, and the present EVOLUTION, APPOINTMENT, AND TERM OF OFFICE OF THE CHIEF SCHOOL OFFICER OF EACH OF THE STATES EVOLUTION OF THE OFFICE Superintendent of Education, 1854-67; California By people Superintendent of Publ. Instr., since 1870. By people 2 Connecticut Secretary Board of Commissioners for Common Schools, 1839-42;| mon Schools, 1845-49; Principal normal school, ex officio Supt., 1849-65; Secretary State Bd. of Education, since 1865. By board Indef. Delaware State Superintendent of Schools, 1875-87; Florida State Auditor, ex officio Sec. State, 1898-1912; 2 Secretary of State, ex officio, 1845-49; Registrar of Public Lands, ex officio State Supt. of Common Schools, 1850-61; State Supt. of Publ. Instruction, since 1869. By people 4 State School Commissioner, 1870-1911; Illinois Secretary of State, ex officio, 1825-45; Same, ex officio Supt. Common Schools, 1845–54; By people 4 Indiana State Treasurer, ex officio Supt. Common Schools, 1843-51; By people 2 Iowa Territorial Supt. Public Instr., 1841-42; Superintendent of Public Instr., 1847-57; Superintendent of Public Instr., 1864-68; Principal normal school, ex officio Supt., 1868-1902; Secretary State Bd. of Educ., 1837-1909; Territorial Supt. of Publ. Instr., 1849-55; Chancellor State Univ., ex officio Supt., 1860–62; Secretary of State, ex officio Supt., 1862-67; Superintendent of Public Instr., since 1867. Mississippi Superintendent of Publ. Instr., since 1870. Secretary of State, ex officio school commissioner, 1846-1851; State Supt. of Common Schools, 1839-41; New Jersey State Supt. of Public Schools, for 2 counties (Essex and Passaic), By governor 5 Territorial Supt. of Public Schools, 1863-1911; |