The School of Education of the University of Michigan, established by the Board of Regents in May, 1921 (R.P., 1920-23, p. 189), is a direct outgrowth of the chair of the Science and the Art of Teaching which had been a part of the Department of Literature, Science, and the Arts since 1879.
Even before Michigan was admitted to the Union in 1837 the movement seeking to make teaching a profession was progressing. In the convention which drafted the first constitution John D. Pierce, who later became Michigan’s first superintendent of public instruction, espoused high standards of education as fundamental to the state’s development and prosperity. As state superintendent he endeavored to have a teacher-training department incorporated into the plan for the University. In this he failed. Nevertheless, some sort of pedagogical work was provided in the branches which were created as preparatory to the University itself. This work, however, was designed for rural school teachers only and was abandoned when the branches disappeared during the next decade.
John Pierce’s successor, Superintendent Franklin Sawyer, in referring to the branches stated that “the art of teaching, though well understood, is not adequately taught… A model school … would afford all the aid that a young man or a young woman could want to perfect him or her in the practice as well as [the] theory of teaching …” (Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1841-42, p. 54).
With the continued agitation of successive superintendents of public instruction for the professional training of teachers, it was gradually recognized that some qualifications in addition to scholarship were necessary for the certification of teachers. As a result a bill was introduced in the legislature in 1849 establishing the Michigan State Normal College at Ypsilanti. The schoolmen were not yet satisfied, for they desired pedagogical training dealing not only with methods of teaching but also with the practical problems of school organization, administration, and management.
President Tappan’s report to the Board of Regents in 1856 pointed out for the first time the University’s responsibility to supply the state with competent teachers. He said: “The highest institutions are necessary to … raise up Instructors of the proper qualifications, [and] to define the principles and methods of education …” (R.P., 1837-64, p. 655). As a result of this report the Catalogue for 1858-59 (p. 38) announced a teacher’s course in ancient languages “for the benefit of those who may wish to prepare themselves for teaching in Union and High Schools.”
In 1860 John Milton Gregory, then superintendent of public instruction, claimed that many schools were in the hands of teachers ignorant of the first principles of the art and the science of teaching, and in 1861, 1862, and 1863 without payment he gave a course of lectures to the senior class at the University on the principles and the philosophy of education, the proper organization and administration of schools, and methods of teaching the different branches of knowledge. In 1871 The Michigan Teacher expressed concern over the fact that graduates of the University entering the field of teaching began their work “wholly unprepared, in theory and practice, so far as the equipment of the University goes in such preparation.” The University student publication, The Chronicle, for March 9, 1872, proposed that “the professor in charge of each branch in which this instruction is needed is best qualified to give it… This instruction should be given in every department of study in which preparation is required for admission to the University.”
President James Burrill Angell lent his influence to the movement and in 1874 wrote:
It cannot be doubted that some instruction in Pedagogics would be very helpful to our Senior class. Many of them are called directly from the University to the management of large schools… The whole work of organizing schools, the management of primary and grammar schools, the art of teaching and governing a school, — of all this it is desirable that they know something before they go to their new duties. Experience alone can thoroughly train them. But some familiar lectures on these topics would be of essential service to them.
(R.P., 1870-76, p. 390.)
It was not until 1879 that the Board of Regents finally approved his recommendations. In that year it was resolved “that in accordance with the recommendation of the Faculty of the Department of Literature, Science, and the Arts, a chair of ‘the Science and the Art of Teaching,’ be and is hereby established in the University” (R.P., 1876-81, pp. 388-89), and William Harold Payne (A.M. hon. ‘72, LL.D. hon. ‘88, Litt.D. Western University of Pennsylvania ‘97) was appointed to the position.
Professor Payne was born at Farmington, Ontario County, New York, May 12, 1836. He received his early education in the common schools, the Macedon Academy, and the New York Conference Seminary at Charlotteville. He began his career as a teacher in the country schools and later served as school principal in Victor, New York, and in Three Rivers and Niles, Michigan. In 1866 he became head of the Union Seminary in Ypsilanti, then the leading preparatory school of the state. From 1869 to 1879 he was superintendent of public schools at Adrian, Michigan, where for ten years his reputation had grown as an administrator and writer on educational subjects. From the time of his appointment until he resigned in 1888, Payne served as the sole member of his department. He left the University to accept the chancellorship of the University of Nashville and the presidency of Peabody Normal School (R.P., 1886-91, p. 193).
Burke Aaron Hinsdale (A.M. hon. Williams ‘71, Ph.D. Ohio State ‘88, LL.D. ibid. ‘92), who succeeded Payne, was born at Wadsworth, Medina County, Ohio, March 31, 1837. He was educated in the district schools and at Western Reserve Collegiate Institute, afterward Hiram College. Here he met James A. Garfield, who was about four years his senior, with whom he formed a close and enduring friendship. He became a minister and preached regularly for some years, serving at Solon and at East Cleveland. On the opening of Alliance College in 1868 he was appointed to the chair of history, political economy, and governmental science. He resigned at the end of the first year to accept the chair of philosophy, history, and Biblical literature at Hiram College. He became president of the college in 1870 and served until 1882. On the nomination of General Garfield for the presidency in 1880, Hinsdale took an active part in the campaign and prepared The Republican Textbook. He became superintendent of the Cleveland public schools in 1882 and in 1888 followed Payne in the chair of the science and the art of teaching at the University of Michigan. He figured importantly in the life of the University and was well known for his research work and authorship.
On Professor Hinsdale’s death in 1900, Professor Payne was recalled to the University. He entered upon his duties in September, 1901, and taught until his death in 1907.
Meantime, in 1899 Allen S. Whitney had been added to the staff as Junior Professor of the Science and the Art of Teaching and Inspector of Schools, and the department became directly responsible for the visitation, inspection, and accreditation of high schools. Shortly thereafter, three others were added to the department: Lewis B. Alger (Ph.B. ‘97, A.M. Columbia ‘01), who remained only two years, resigning in 1905 to enter upon a business career; Theodore de Laguna (California ‘96, Ph.D. Cornell ‘01), who likewise soon resigned to accept a position at Bryn Mawr College; and Calvin O. Davis (‘95, Ph.D. Harvard ‘10), who remained on the staff. On the death of Professor Payne in 1907, Whitney became head of the department.
Allen Sisson Whitney (‘85, Ed.D. hon. ‘39, LL.D. Syracuse ‘21) was born in 1858 at Mount Clemens, Michigan, where he received his early education in the public schools. Before serving on the staff of the University he had been superintendent of schools at Mount Clemens and at Saginaw, East Side. His title was changed in 1902 to Professor of Pedagogy and Inspector of Schools and in 1905 to Professor of Education and Inspector of Schools.
Between 1907 and 1921 the department grew in personnel, in curriculum offerings, and in state-wide service. In 1921, when the School of Education became a separate unit, Professor Whitney was made Acting Dean. In 1923 he became the first Dean and continued to head the work of teacher-training until his retirement from active service in 1928. Although Dean Whitney’s resignation did not take effect until June, 1929, during his leave of absence preparatory to retirement, an executive committee consisting of Professors J. B. Edmonson, Raleigh Schorling, and George E. Myers was appointed to carry on the administrative work of the School. Dean Whitney was succeeded by James Bartlett Edmonson (‘06, Ph.D. Chicago ‘25) in 1929.
Professor Edmonson was born at Parkersburg, Iowa, in 1882. He served as teacher and principal in the Michigan public schools from 1906 until 1914, when he became Inspector of High Schools and Professor of Secondary Education at the University of Michigan. From 1927 to 1929 he was Director of the Division of University Inspection of High Schools and in 1929 he became Dean of the School of Education.
Teacher training. — President Angell began the advocacy of teacher-training work almost at the outset of his career. Under his leadership the faculty in 1874 voted to grant a teacher’s diploma to such graduating students as showed “special fitness for teaching certain branches.” The next year the faculty voted to make the teacher’s diploma a “certificate of qualification for teaching,” provided the candidate sustained a satisfactory special examination in the subject matter he desired to teach. Later, the examination feature was found impracticable, but the diploma itself, although it had no legal value, continued to be granted until 1921. In 1879, as previously stated, a chair of the science and the art of teaching was finally established.
The University in 1870 had opened its doors to women students, and a year later it began the accrediting of high schools after inspection and recommendation by a committee of the faculty. Both these steps naturally did much to enhance the development of teacher training.
Much of Professor Payne’s influence upon teacher-training came as a result of his numerous pedagogical writings. Nevertheless, the organizational work which he did for the new department was also of far-reaching significance. He believed firmly that professional education should consist essentially of principles and not of rule-of-thumb procedures. In particular, he held that a foundation of history, philosophy, and science was the best basis upon which to build a career as teacher. Hence these subjects, applied to education, became the essence of the new curriculum.
In formulating his objectives for the new department, Professor Payne laid down certain statements which have ever since been utilized in presenting the aims of the School. They are:
1. To fit university students for the higher positions in public school service.
2. To promote the study of educational science.
3. To teach the history of education and of educational systems and doctrines.
4. To secure to teaching the rights, prerogatives, and advantages of a profession.
To give a more perfect unity to our state educational system by bringing the secondary schools into closer relation with the University.
Burke A. Hinsdale was a profound scholar. In educational matters he was known throughout the nation by reason of his public addresses and his writings. He likewise had an administrative mind. Through his influence the state legislature in 1891 authorized the Regents to issue a teacher’s certificate, valid legally for life, to any student who received from the University both a degree and a teacher’s diploma. It was also through Professor Hinsdale that the office of inspector of high schools was created and attached to the Department of Education.
During the period from 1899 to 1921, teacher-training work expanded slowly but continuously. In 1900 the staff consisted of but two men — Professors Hinsdale and Whitney; in 1940, including teachers in the University High School and Elementary School, it numbered seventy-one full-time and part time members.
Under Professor Whitney’s leadership emphasis was placed more and more on the practical aspects of the profession. To this end persistent efforts were made to provide experience for students in classroom observation and directed teaching. From 1911 these facilities were furnished in the Ann Arbor city schools through co-operation with its Board of Education (R.P., 1910-14, pp. 134-36). This arrangement did not prove wholly satisfactory, however, and renewed efforts were made to establish a high school and an elementary school. Although for many years this hope was deferred, in 1922 the legislature appropriated $525,000 for a high-school building, which was opened to students in the fall of 1924. In 1927 the legislature appropriated $800,000 for a University Elementary School, and this building was first occupied in 1930.
Meanwhile, other expansions were taking place. In 1913 the Regents approved the introduction of teachers’ courses in industrial education, drawing, commercial branches, and physical education, and appropriated the sum of $500 for laboratory work in education. In 1917 vocational education, in accordance with the provisions of the Smith-Hughes Act of the federal government, was incorporated into the work of the department; the Regents in 1921 authorized a four-year curriculum in physical education, athletics, and school health, which was likewise placed under the administration of the School; and in 1922 the curriculum in public health nursing was added.
Organizational changes. — From 1879 to 1921 the professional training of teachers was carried forward in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, and the general plan of administering the work remained virtually unmodified, although the name of the unit had been officially changed to the Department of Education as early as 1908. The responsibility for inspecting and accrediting high schools, however, and the immediate direction of the teacher placement bureau were shifted to the department, and these additions caused some slight adjustment of procedures.
With the establishment of the new School in 1921, much additional administrative machinery was thought to be desirable. The scientific movement in education had developed rapidly after 1910. In consequence, the department (and later the School) introduced various courses dealing with educational psychology, tests and measurements, and educational statistics. Similarly, the courses in school administration, school supervision, instructional methods, vocational guidance, and physical training were expanded notably. As a result the work of the School began to be listed under seven departmental headings, indicated first by Roman numerals and later by letters of the alphabet. By 1926-27 these were listed as A. The History and Principles of Education; B. Educational Administration and Supervision; C. Educational Psychology, Mental Measurements, and Statistics; D. The Teaching of Special Subjects, including Directed Teaching; E. Vocational Education and Vocational Guidance; F. Physical Education, Athletics, and School Health; and G. Public Health Nursing.
Each department has a chairman elected by his colleagues for a term of three years, and these individuals organized and administered the departmental work.
The three general officers of the School are the Dean, the Secretary, and the Recorder. Several committees have shared administrative responsibilities with these officers. The standing committees have been Advisory and Administrative, Graduate Work, the Library, and Student Activities. Among the more important special committees are the Friendship Committee, the Committee on Candidacy for the Teacher’s Certificate, and the Editorial Board of the School of Education Bulletin. Other organizational units of the School are the Bureau of Educational Reference and Research and the two laboratory schools.
Housing quarters. — For years after the appointment of Professor Payne in 1879 all courses in Education were conducted in University Hall. Later, the offices and the work of the department were moved to Tappan Hall. With the completion of the University Elementary School in 1930 the administrative offices of the School of Education were transferred to that building. In addition, several rooms in the Elementary School were set aside for classwork for University students.
The original building plans for the School of Education included three units — the high school, the elementary school, and another to be built on the site of the present playground of the high school. This third unit was to have been devoted solely to the offices, laboratories, libraries, and classrooms of the School.
Course offerings. — During the first year of Payne’s incumbency he offered only two courses: a practical course dealing with the problems of school management and supervision and a theoretical one dealing with the history and philosophy of education. The next year, in 1880, these courses were expanded somewhat, and they were still further differentiated a year or two later. But after eight years the department listed only seven courses.
Since Professor Payne’s time the processes of course differentiation and addition have gone steadily forward. Table I lists developments in the curriculum from 1921 to 1940.
TABLE I
Course Offerings
GroupingsCourses
19211939
A. History and Principles 812
B. Educational Administration and Supervision 1244
C. Educational Psychology, Mental Measurements, and Statistics836
D. Special Methods 935
E. Vocational Education 721
F. Physical Education and School Health 56
G. Public Health Nursing 19
Total 44 223
These courses were not all offered each semester of every year, and many of them were scheduled for the summer session only, when the wide range of educational interests among the hundreds of graduate students who come from all parts of the country seems to make an extensive program of work both justifiable and desirable. Nevertheless, it is a long road from the two courses offered in 1879 to the 223 listed in 1939-40.
Graduation and teacher’s certificate requirements. — As early as 1858, as already mentioned, so-called teachers courses in subject matter fields were instituted at the University, and in 1874 a teacher’s diploma was authorized. Six years later, one year after Payne took up his duties on the campus, the requirements for this diploma were that a student should complete “one of the courses in the Science and the Art of Teaching, and some one other course of study with reference to preparation for teaching” and should by special examination show such marked proficiency as to qualify him to give instruction. This teacher’s diploma had no legal value; it served merely as the University’s special recommendation of a candidate to school authorities.
When Professor Hinsdale succeeded Professor Payne in 1888, he sought to have legal certification status accorded the professional work done on the campus. As a result of his efforts the state legislature in 1891 empowered the University Board of Regents to issue such a certificate to all students receiving the teacher’s diploma. Hence, from that time until 1921, students who met the specified requirements received simultaneously three credentials: a diploma of graduation, a special teacher’s diploma, and a legal teacher’s certificate. The latter entitled the holder to teach in any public school in Michigan throughout his lifetime.
Immediately following the authorization of a teacher’s certificate the University set the number of hours of professional work needed to secure it at eleven. When the School of Education was established in 1921, the entire responsibility for teacher training and certification was turned over to it. Since that date many changes have been initiated. The more significant of these are as follows.
At the very outset of its existence the School set standards that were specific and definite. It prescribed that all candidates for the teacher’s certificate (the special teacher’s diploma having been abolished) should complete one course in educational psychology, one in secondary education, and one in teaching methods. The following year (1922) the eleven-hour minimum was raised to fifteen hours. Three years later an introductory course in general psychology was made a prerequisite to all work in education.
In 1927 a number of other far-reaching changes in graduation and certification standards were made: the total of hours required for graduation was set at 124 rather than at 120 as previously, with 25 per cent more honor points than hours of credit; new regulations were imposed respecting the student’s academic preparation, a major of at least twenty-five hours and a minor of at least fifteen hours being prescribed for all; and the required work in education was made to consist of five three-hour courses selected from five definitely described fields. These five fields were:
Educational Psychology
Introduction to Secondary Education
A choice of
a. Introduction to Experimental Education
b. Educational and Mental Measurements
c. Psychology of Elementary School Subjects
A choice of
a. History of Education
Philosophy of Education
A methods course in one’s major or minor field.
In this same year the Announcement first carried the following statement: “He [the candidate for a certificate] must give evidence of good health, distinctive moral character and personality, and pronounced teaching aptitudes and interests.” This paragraph, slightly reworded, has continued to appear in the printed standards.
In 1928 and 1929 other significant changes in requirements were adopted. Educational Psychology (C1) was increased from a three-hour to a four-hour course and was made to include some laboratory experience. History of Education (A1) and Introduction to Secondary Education (B20) were each reduced from three hours to two hours. Directed Teaching (D100), which had been offered without credit during the years 1924-26 and for one hour of credit in 1926, was now made a two-hour course and was definitely prescribed for all. It became a four-hour course in 1932, and after 1938, under the provisions of the new state code, it carried five hours of credit.
Meanwhile, in order to accommodate certain graduate and other students who had not pursued educational courses in the regular order, a Correlated Course in education was established in 1929-30. This course was organized with units covering the work in all the prescribed areas and took the entire time of a student for one semester. After spending six weeks in classroom instruction, students were placed for another six weeks in various city school systems throughout the country in order to devote their time to observation and directed teaching. On the completion of this period the students returned to Ann Arbor and continued classwork for the remainder of the semester. The Correlated Course in 1940 carried seventeen hours of credit.
In 1929 the requirements were again overhauled. Departmental fields were classified under two headings: List A, which included those types of work for which directed teaching was available in the University High School, and List B, including those types of work for which facilities for directed teaching were not available. A student was required to select a major or a minor from List A; he was privileged to select the second field of specialization from List B. Simultaneously, five group or interdepartmental fields of work were recognized — biology, English-rhetoric, general science, physical science, and social studies. A student was privileged to select both his major and his minor from these larger divisions, but the required hours consisted of thirty-two to thirty-eight for a major and twenty-one to twenty-five for a minor. The same courses might be counted doubly, however; that is, toward satisfying the major and the minor simultaneously.
During 1929 and 1930 two new special curriculums leading to the teacher’s certificate were established: a curriculum for teachers of commercial subjects and a curriculum for teachers of art and design. In 1937 the old curriculum in vocational education was reorganized so as to provide a curriculum for teachers of industrial arts in junior and senior high schools. In 1940, therefore, the School of Education provided six special curriculums.
Since 1930 qualifying and comprehensive examinations have constituted two formal requirements for students seeking the teacher’s certificate. The first of these, which is to be taken before admission to the course in directed teaching, tests the student’s knowledge of the subject matter in his academic major or minor; the second, which is to be taken just before graduation, tests the student’s mastery of certain professional matters.
The University Elementary School was not designed to give training to the typical undergraduate student; on the contrary it was meant to serve primarily as an experimental school where educators might carry forward systematic studies in child development. Yet, for students who already had had considerable pedagogical work (including directed teaching) at other institutions, an undergraduate program in elementary school training was provided, which required a minimum of one hundred hours of credit in academic work. The number of individuals enrolling for the work on the undergraduate level was small. This was due in part to the fact that the old University certificate permitted the holder to teach in any grade he might choose — in high school or elementary school. There was, consequently, no necessity for a prospective elementary teacher to tread an unusual path.
A new certification code went into effect in Michigan on July 1, 1939. Under it, all blanket certificates were abolished. Henceforth, students in training prepared themselves for one definite type of school work — elementary, secondary, or junior college. To qualify for elementary- and secondary-school certificates they were required to have had directed teaching on a corresponding level. Up to this time the teacher-training program of the School of Education was on the secondary level only. Because of student interest and the need for elementary school teachers, a training program was arranged with the teachers colleges of the state — and with various other institutions. The School of Education developed a plan whereby students were, under certain conditions, permitted to spend one semester of their senior year in these institutions in order to secure the specific training for elementary school work not available at the University. For students granted this privilege the usual residence requirements were waived, and an elementary school certificate was awarded upon graduation.
In 1932 another notable change in graduation and certification requirements went into effect. Since 1927 the two sets of standards had been identical: both graduation and certification had required 124 hours of credit and 25 per cent more honor points than hours of credit. The two goals were separated in 1932, and an individual could graduate without being certificated. Graduation thus rested upon the basis of 124 hours of credit and 124 honor points, or a C average; certification rested upon the completion of 124 hours of credit, or, on the new basis of marking, 25 per cent more points than hours. Also in 1932, the prescribed number of hours in education was raised from fifteen to seventeen. Both for graduation and for certification at least seventeen hours in professional training were required for all.
In 1934 course A1 (History of Education) and course B20 (Introduction to Secondary Education) — each previously a two-hour course — were abolished, and their instructional materials were organized into a single three-hour course, A10, Education in the United States. The prescribed certificate standards were set as follows: A10, Education in the United States, three hours; C1, Educational Psychology, four hours; D, Special Methods in major or minor, three hours; D100, Directed Observation and Teaching, four or five hours; and an elective in education, two or three hours.
In 1937, by law, all teacher-certificating powers in Michigan were vested exclusively in the State Board of Education. Thus, at that time the University lost the function it had exercised in this respect since 1891. The State Board immediately drafted a regulation whereby teacher training institutions were to continue to recommend candidates for the certificate on substantially the old conditions. Hence, the School of Education retained the substance, if not the form, of certification authority for University students. Effective also under the state code was the requirement that all teachers must be trained in at least three academic fields — a major and two minors (rather than a major and one minor). The recommendation for elementary school teachers was four minors, as previously, although a major and two minors in strictly elementary school subjects were a permissible minimum. The certificate for junior college teaching was based on a master’s degree.
In 1937 all candidates for a teacher’s certificate were required to make formal application to the Recorder for such credentials. The Recorder thereupon checked all records and, if correct, certified the candidate to the State Board, which granted the legal certificate. In order also to guard against the certification of individuals who were deemed unfit to become teachers by reason of physical, mental, or moral defects or other inadequacies, a Teacher’s Certificate Candidacy Committee was appointed. The functions of this committee were to make careful investigation into all cases called to their attention by the faculty and, if evidence warranted, to discourage, or if need be, to block further efforts to secure a certificate.
Students. — In the first year of Dr. Payne’s incumbency seventy-one students pursued courses in education. Undergraduate enrollment in the first year of the School totaled 215, and fifty-eight degrees were granted. Later enrollment figures are given in Table II.
According to Dean Whitney, in the summer session of 1900 there were twenty-five elections in education; in 1920, 717 elections; in 1929, 1,989 elections. The outstanding change in recent years has been the fact that the School of Education, particularly in the summer session, has become predominantly a
TABLE II
Undergraduate Enrollments in the School of Education and Degrees Granted
YearEnrollmentDegrees Granted
Summer SessionAcademic YearTotal
1923-24350301 651 108
1928-295264761,002 204
1933-34158*256 414 98
1938-39367496 863 111
School serving the needs of advanced students. A master’s degree is demanded of teachers and administrative officers in many school systems, and thus it seems that the trend toward graduate study will continue. The number of students electing courses in education is listed in Table III. The figures include individuals who are enrolled in various schools and colleges on the campus. Course elections are listed in Table IV.
Table V gives the number of teacher’s certificates issued through the University. Here exact records extend farther back than they do for some of the other data. One hundred and twenty-five such certificates were granted in 1904; in 1939 the total was 272. As will be observed, the highest number ever issued was 522
TABLE III
Students Electing Courses in Education
YearSummer SessionAcademic YearTotal
School of EducationOther SchoolsTotalSchool of EducationOther SchoolsTotal
1932-332788931,171304520*824 1,995
1934-35194622816272547819 1,635
1936-373281,0161,3444898181,3072,651
1938-393678251,1924961,9062,4023,594
TABLE IV
Student Course Elections in Education
YearSummer SessionAcademic YearTotal
First SemesterSecond Semester
1928-29*1,7593,3681,789 *6,916
1930-311,9331,475*2,0485,456
1932-331,5421,4921,4264,440
1934-351,4761,1321,2253,833
1936-372,4921,5311,4835,407
1938-393,4301,789*1,666*6,885*
in the year 1927. Again the effect of the elevation of standards both in the state and in the University is evident. Time was when teachers in both elementary and high schools in Michigan were certificated on only two years of normal school or collegiate training. During the 1920’s and 1930’s this situation changed. Hence, many individuals who met standards under the older conditions found it desirable, if not absolutely necessary, to secure college degrees. The teacher’s certificate was a natural accompaniment of the degrees.
Graduate work. — Many of the staff of the School of Education are members of the Graduate School faculty. Consequently, much of the instructional work
Page 1083
TABLE V
Teacher’s Certificates Issued
YearNumber of Certificates
189232
189755
190178
1905132
1910122
1916203
1921274
1922302
1928384
1934213
1939272
of these teachers is on a graduate level, and the courses which they offer carry graduate credit. Indeed, of the total offerings of the School, a very considerable part is of graduate character. The Announcement of the School of Education for 1939-40 listed a total of 223 courses. Of these, sixty-two were designed solely for undergraduates, and eighty-eight were open to both undergraduates and graduates; seventy-five were open only to graduate students. When the plan for utilizing the several teachers colleges of the state for graduate centers went into operation in 1938 the number of course offerings, as well as the number of graduate students in education, increased notably.
Two special aspects of the School’s graduate work deserve special mention. These are the late afternoon and Saturday classes held on the campus and designed primarily for part-time students, and the Field Course in Education.
The custom of providing late afternoon and Saturday classes for part-time students began in 1925. At the outset there were only eleven of these courses, and they were only fairly well attended. In 1939-40 forty-nine such courses were listed. Of these, twenty-five were scheduled for the first semester and twenty-four for the second semester; during the first semester they carried a total of 596 course elections. Generally speaking, these late afternoon and Saturday classes have been elected by superintendents, principals, and high-school teachers regularly engaged in educational work in cities and towns situated within a radius of approximately a hundred miles of Ann Arbor. Most of these individuals have been graduate students seeking advanced degrees.
The Field Course in Education was first instituted in 1933. It was a University extension course organized and conducted in a collective manner by the faculty of the School of Education. It sought to meet the needs of teachers in service who desired to continue University studies during the regular academic year, but who resided at such distances from Ann Arbor as to make attendance at Saturday classes extremely difficult, if not impossible. The Field Course met in conveniently located centers throughout the state but was open for credit only to graduate students. The total annual enrollment by 1940 had reached 500.
TABLE VI
Graduate Students and Graduate Degrees in Education, 1921-39
YearStudents in Summer SessionStudents in Academic YearTotal StudentsAdvanced Degrees Granted in Education
1921-22......10919
1923-241424819042
1928-2935918754681
1933-34360205565110
1938-391,3726702,042280
Each semester the School of Education has offered courses in the University of Michigan Center for Graduate Study in Detroit. During the first semester of 1939-40, the School conducted nine courses in the Center.
Table VI records the development of graduate work in education from 1921 to 1939.
The staff. — During the twenty years from 1879 to 1899 all professional courses in education were taught by one incumbent. In 1899 the staff numbered two; in 1905, four; in 1910, six; in 1920, ten; in 1930, fifty-one; and in 1940, seventy-one. It should, however, be pointed out that the figures for 1930 and 1940 include both full-time and part-time instructors. The chief general causes of this phenomenal growth have been the great expansion of instructional materials of an educational sort produced by the development of the scientific movement in education, the successive steps taken by state and University authorities looking to the elevation of teaching standards on all levels of instruction, and the notable influx of college and university students generally — a condition which in many instances made inevitable the multiplying of class sections. But more particularly the main cause for the increase in the number of faculty members of the School of Education from 1921 to 1940 was the introduction of many physical training and public health courses given by the School. Nevertheless, even if such types of work were omitted and comparisons made solely on a basis similar to that known to Professor Payne sixty years ago, the figures would still be impressive. If only those who devoted their entire instructional time to courses in the history, philosophy, psychology, and administration of education and to methodologies relating to academic subjects solely were included, the group would number twenty-two. On the average, more than one member was added to the pedagogical staff of the School each year from 1879 to 1940.
In addition to the staff members mentioned elsewhere in this account, the following also have served the School for extended periods of time. Stuart A. Courtis (Columbia ‘19, Ph.D. Michigan ‘25), Professor of Education, Francis D. Curtis (Oregon ‘11, Ph.D. Columbia ‘24), Professor of Secondary Education and of the Teaching of Science, Harlan C. Koch (Ohio University [Athens] ‘19, Ph.D. Ohio State ‘26), Professor of Education and Assistant Director of the Bureau of Co-operation with Educational Institutions, Howard Y. McClusky (Park ‘21, Ph.D. Chicago ‘29, LL.D. Park ‘41), Professor of Educational Psychology, Mental Measurements, and Statistics, and Assistant to the Vice-President in charge of University relations in the field of adult education, David E. Mattern (Bush Conservatory of Music ‘11, A.B. Cornell ‘15, A.M. Michigan ‘35), Professor of Music Education in the School of Music and in the School of Education, Arthur B. Moehlman (‘12, Ph.D. ‘23), Professor of School Administration and Supervision, Clarence D. Thorpe (Ellsworth ‘11, Ph.D. Michigan ‘25), Professor of English and of the Teaching of English, William Clark Trow (Colgate ‘15, Ph.D. Columbia ‘23), Professor of Educational Psychology, Charles C. Fries (Bucknell ‘09, Ph.D. Michigan ‘22), Clifford Woody (Indiana ‘08, Ph.D. Columbia ‘16), Professor of Education, Director of the Bureau of Educational Reference and Research and Graduate Adviser to the Teachers Colleges, George L. Jackson (‘06, Ph.D. Columbia ‘09), Professor of the History of Education; George C. Kyte (California ‘15, Ed.D. ibid. ‘22), Professor of Elementary Education and Supervision, George C. Carrothers (Indiana ‘09, Ph.D. Columbia ‘24), Professor of Education and Director of the Bureau of Co-operation with Educational Institutions, and Warren R. Good (Virginia ‘26, M.A. Michigan ‘42), Instructor in Educational Psychology and Secretary of the Editorial Board, School of Education.
The laboratory schools. — When the University High School was opened in 1924 it had a faculty of sixteen members and a pupil enrollment of 127. In 1940 the numbers were twenty-nine and three hundred, respectively. The school not only has served as a laboratory for the scientific study of secondary school problems but also has furnished facilities for observational work and directed teaching to approximately one hundred University students each semester. Furthermore, the head of each of the departments of instruction within this school is a member of the faculty of the School of Education, conducts the special methods courses for candidates majoring or minoring in his field, and supervises the directed teaching work of his students. In this way, therefore, a continuing tie up and correlation of theory and practice is assured.
The University Elementary School, which was completed in 1930, organized its work slowly year by year until it finally became articulated with the seventh grade of the high school in 1937. The chief purpose of this school is educational research and the study of child development. No directed teaching for the typical undergraduate is permitted, although advanced students with teaching experience are enabled to conduct experimental classwork. The school in 1940 had a staff of eighteen (together with seven assistants) and enrolled 131 children.
Thus, the two laboratory schools taken together provide instructional facilities ranging from prekindergarten work through the twelfth grade. The two units, however, differ decidedly from each other in motives. The one emphasizes research, the other the practical training of secondary school teachers.
Publications. — Annually or biennially the School of Education issues an Announcement describing its organization and its course offerings, and usually also several Supplementary Announcements giving details relating to particular kinds of problems. The School of Education Bulletin, established in 1929, is a monthly publication which is intended to serve as an agency of stimulation and information both for members of the faculty and for schoolmen and educators generally. Most issues contain one or two editorials on topics of current interest, one or more brief articles relating to educational problems, and certain news items and book reviews. The School sponsors a series of Educational Monographs or studies prepared under the direction of members of the faculty. To 1940 only one such monograph had appeared, but others were in prospect. The one published study, Verbal Influences on Children’s Behavior, is by Dr. Marguerite W. Johnson. Several members of the staff have been editors or contributing editors of educational magazines.
Co-operative activities. — Besides its more or less independently conducted activities the School of Education has entered into co-operative arrangements with a number of other agencies which are carrying forward certain types of related work. Some of these undertakings are with units on the campus.
Co-operative arrangements with the University Hospital School have been effected whereby the instructional aspects of the work done there are placed under the supervision of a member of the faculty of the School of Education. Opportunities have also been given for certain students to carry forward their directed teaching assignments in connection with the Hospital School.
Arrangements have been established with the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, of Battle Creek, whereby the foundation’s summer camps for children have been utilized by the School of Education for the scientific study of children’s traits and behavior. Similarly, co-operative arrangements have also been made with this foundation whereby systematic studies of specific problems have been carried forward.
Members of the staff have served as advisers to the officials of various school systems and other public and private institutions, such as Southern Michigan Prison at Jackson, the State Public School at Coldwater, the military schools at Howe, Indiana, and Culver, Indiana, and the schools of Detroit, Dearborn, Flint, Saginaw, Jackson, and other cities in Michigan.
Student teaching facilities have been made available in a number of high schools throughout the country to selected seniors and others interested in types of work not obtainable in the University High School. Further, in several instances teaching internships covering an entire school year have been secured for graduates. Under the conditions imposed the student has usually been permitted to devote part-time to paid instructional service and part-time to study for an advanced degree in the University or in some other institution. Through an agreement with the Merrill-Palmer School of Detroit, students interested especially in primary work may spend one semester of their senior year in attendance at the Merrill-Palmer School and may have the credit earned there accepted as full residence credit toward a degree and a teacher’s certificate in the School of Education.
Arrangements have also been made with the four state teachers’ colleges of Michigan, and with certain other teacher-training institutions in the nation whereby a student seeking to prepare himself for the state elementary school certificate may, on petition to the School of Education, be granted the privilege of spending one semester of his senior year as an enrollee in one of these institutions and of receiving residence credit in the School of Education for the work done. This privilege was authorized because the School of Education has been unable to provide adequate facilities for directed teaching and other course work relating to the elementary school.
Some of the graduate work formerly conducted by the School of Education for teachers of physically and mentally handicapped children has been expanded through co-operation with the Michigan State Normal College at Ypsilanti.
The School also co-operates with the sponsors of summer camps — both those conducted under the supervision of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and the one sponsored by the University of Michigan at Patterson Lake, Michigan. At these camps training has been given to advanced students seeking to become counselors or teachers.
State services. — Annually, the Bureau of Educational Reference and Research has lent its facilities for conducting local surveys, evaluating instructional work, and aiding in carrying forward school testing programs to numerous school systems of the state. The Bureau has also co-operated with the Michigan High School Principals Association in conducting a state-wide testing program in Michigan secondary schools.
Each year the School has sponsored a series of special conferences for teachers. These conferences have included an educational conference relating to problems of administration and supervision; a teacher-training conference treating the problem of better preparation of classroom teachers, a beginning teachers’ conference designed especially for the benefit of recent graduates who are in their first year of teaching, a book-week conference providing a display of recently published textbooks and discussions relating to them, and a reading conference dealing with reading difficulties. Teachers from all parts of Michigan have attended these conferences.
In connection with the summer session, a clinic dealing especially with the problems of reading and arithmetic has been provided for dull-normal high-school children; a program of preprimary and early elementary schoolwork has been offered to meet the needs of families residing in Ann Arbor during the summer and to provide facilities for observation and research; courses relating to the problems of atypical children and to camping activities have also been given.
Each year the staff of the School of Education has offered a wide range of University extension courses and extension lectures in various centers in the state. For a number of years the School has sponsored or jointly sponsored in Ann Arbor an annual meeting of the Michigan Congress of Parents and Teachers.
Through its Department of Vocational Education the School has offered courses annually for the inservice training of Smith-Hughes teachers, has participated in surveys relating to vocational training needs, and has prepared and distributed numerous bulletins and other instructional materials for teachers in the trades.
Almost constantly through its Department of Physical Education and School Health the School has contributed to the athletic, recreational, and health needs of Michigan by the dissemination of bulletins and leaflets, by supplying officials for competitive games, and by giving advice respecting controversial matters.
Annually, a member of the School’s staff has assisted the University’s Bureau of Co-operation with Educational Institutions in forwarding the work of high-school inspection and in otherwise seeking to develop and maintain cordial inter-institutional relationship throughout the state.
Calvin O. Davis
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Announcement, School of Education, Univ. Mich., 1921-40.
Calendar, Univ. Mich., 1871-1914.
Catalogue …, Univ. Mich., 1844-71, 1914-23.
The Chronicle, Vol. III, No. 12 (1872): 136-37.
Hinsdale, Burke A.History of the University of Michigan. Ed. by Isaac N. Demmon. Ann Arbor: Univ. Mich., 1906.
Laws, Ordinances, By-laws and Regulations …, University of Michigan. Detroit, 1861.
President’s Report, Univ. Mich., 1853-1909, 1920-40.
Proceedings of the Board of Regents …, 1864-1940.
Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State of Michigan, 1841-42, 1860-64.
Shaw, Wilfred B.The University of Michigan. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Howe, 1920.
Ten Brook, Andrew. American State Universities; Their Origin and Progress. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke and Co., 1875.
University of Michigan Regents’ Proceedings …, 1837-64. Ed. by Isaac N. Demmon. Ann Arbor: Univ. Mich., 1915.
University of Michigan School of Education Bulletin, Vols. I-II (1929-40).
Whitney, Allen S.Training of Teachers at the University of Michigan. Ann Arbor: George Wahr, 1931. Pp. 107, 186.
The University of Michigan, an encyclopedic survey ... Wilfred B. Shaw, editor, Volume II, Part VI, pp. 1073-1086.
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
The 1940 Encyclopedic Survey described the early beginnings of the School of Education. The present account, overlapping at points, describes the subsequent growth of instructional programs, certificates, degrees, courses, faculty, agencies, research, and facilities.
Enrollment pattern. — The services of the School of Education are rendered through undergraduate enrollments within the School, through registration within the Graduate School, and through courses elected by students enrolled in the various schools and colleges. The following figures for Term I, 1970-71, illustrate the pattern for students enrolled as undergraduates and graduates and credited to the School as an instructional division:
Undergraduates
Freshman 81
Sophomores 96
Juniors 486
Seniors 620
Special 158
Total 1,441
Graduates
M.A. level 1,569
Ph.D. level517
Total 2,086
Total undergraduates and graduates3,527
Undergraduate Admissions and Certification for Teaching. — Freshmen and sophomores are admitted to the School of Education only when electing to pursue the physical education curriculum. Similar admission of students with an interest in vocational and industrial education was discontinued in 1967. Students with junior and senior standing may apply for admission from other schools and colleges as well as from other units of the University.
In 1937, by law, all teacher-certificating powers in Michigan were vested exclusively in the State Board of Education. By a regulation the State Board continued the practice of having the teacher training institutions recommend candidates as before. The School of Education is the recommending agency for certificates for teaching for students enrolled in the various schools and colleges. A new certification code went into effect on July 1, 1939. Under it, blanket certificates were abolished and the students prepared themselves for either elementary or secondary teaching. They were required to have directed teaching on a corresponding level. In subsequent years many committees worked on proposals for revision and strengthening of the code. Regional and state-wide hearings were held. The 1967 code which emerged under auspices of the State Board embodied general agreements. The new code provided again for programs to be approved by the State Board, laid greater emphasis on laboratory and student teaching experience, strengthened majors and minors, and increased the credit hours required beyond the provisional certificate in order to obtain a continuing certificate. The new code also permitted experimental variations in teacher education programs with the approval of the State Board.
The general picture of the award of certificates for teaching is one of rapid increase from 247 elementary and secondary certificates in 1939-40 to 1,480 in 1969-70. The nineteen elementary certificates in 1939-40 represented a shift from a policy under which the School of Education did not prepare elementary teachers. Subsequent growth of the new program was rapid.
The increase in certificates produced new demands for student teaching facilities. At first the University High School was the chief location. In a recent typical term, however, student teachers were placed in 140 buildings located in 27 school districts with 655 different supervising teachers. To meet new needs the number of student teaching and prestudent teaching experiences in urban classrooms have been significantly increased. Special attention has been given to recruiting larger numbers from minority groups.
The University Committee on Teacher Education and Certification provides an all-University advisory function for consideration of problems in the preparation of teachers. It has been particularly active when state-wide proposals for changes in the certification code have been under review. It is appointed through the office of the Vice-President for Academic Affairs. It is composed of approximately twenty-one members who represent the schools and colleges of the University and specialized interests in the broad area of the preparation of teachers. The chairmanship of the Committee rotates between the Dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, the Dean of the Graduate School, and the Dean of the School of Education. The Committee is “ad hoc” in character in the sense that it was created by an executive officer on the recommendation of interested schools and colleges and does not exist as an agency described in the By laws of the Regents. Its powers are thus educational and advisory in character, rather than legislative. Matters requiring legislation go through the machinery of the various schools and colleges. The School of Education offers the professional courses and makes the recommendations for certificates to the State Board of Education, regardless of the school or college of registration.
Bachelor degrees. — Degrees awarded are a common measure of institutional growth. They are a deceptive measure of instructional productivity in the case of the School of Education, since students for the most part transfer to the School at the beginning of the junior year from other schools and colleges. Large numbers retain their enrollment in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts while qualifying for certificates.
The rapid growth in the award of bachelor degrees is shown by the increase from 114 in 1939-40 to 536 in 1969-70, with some decline during the war years. It will be noted that while 536 degrees were granted in 1969-70, there were 1,480 certificates recommended in the same period.
Master degrees. — The growth of the master’s degrees (M.A. and M.S.) in education from the first one in 1891 to a total of 17,248 for the period to 1970 is significant. A plan was made in 1938 for cooperation on graduate programs with the state teachers colleges (now state universities), through which a student could take much of the required work for the master’s degree at the cooperating institution, with the required on campus work at the University of Michigan, and thereby receive the degree from the University. The cooperating institutions withdrew from this arrangement when they acquired university status and offered programs on their own. A drop in the rate of growth was experienced in the years of World War II.
Currently most master’s degrees are based on a pattern involving 30 hours of credit. Upon application, selected students are permitted to take 24 credit hours and to prepare an acceptable thesis. At least 50 percent of the courses are in professional education. One-third are in cognate courses selected either to strengthen the student’s grasp of the content of his teaching field or to increase his familiarity with the social sciences as a background of understanding of social process. A frequent distribution is one-third required education courses, one-third education electives, and one-third cognates.
Specialist in Education (Ed.S.). — This degree is designed to provide an organized sequence for various types of education positions requiring more preparation than the master’s degree but for which the doctor’s degree, with its heavy research emphasis, is not necessary. The Ed.S. degree is a two-year program and requires a minimum of 54 credit hours beyond the bachelor’s degree distributed as follows: (a) 16 hours in education in the area of specialization, including 6 hours of supervised internship or field experience, (b) 16 hours of cognate work in fields closely related to the area of specialization in education, (c) 6 hours devoted to a research report or field of study, and (d) 16 hours of supplementary education and cognate courses.
Four persons qualified for the new degree in 1960-61, and the numbers have grown gradually to 33 in 1968-69 and 31 in 1969-70 with a total of 198 for the period.
Doctor of Education Degree (Ed.D.). — The Doctor of Education degree was established by the Graduate School in 1938 to meet the needs of those who are primarily interested in the theoretical and social bases of educational practice and its modification and improvement. It seeks to emphasize the broad cultural and professional preparation and development of the student, the mastery of educational subject matter in specialized fields, and the constructive solution of difficult practical problems. There are some technical differences between the Ed.D. and the Ph.D. in requirements for courses and on the nature of the dissertation. The differences have become less with the passage of time and the Ed.D. has not been used as much at Michigan as had been anticipated.
Doctor of Philosophy Degree (Ph.D.). — The program for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in education is arranged to meet the needs of those who wish to obtain a thorough knowledge of educational theory and practice and to contribute to the field through original research. The dissertation for the Ph.D., providing as it does an opportunity for the candidate to do original research and make a contribution to the field of education, is the most significant part of the requirements. The dissertation normally requires at least one full year of work. It is expected that proper techniques will be employed, and that primary data will be obtained and interpreted in the light of previous work in the field.
The Doctor of Philosophy program has had a spectacular recent growth. The production of 124 degrees in 1969-70 is about 50 percent higher than that for 1968-69. Back of the growth of doctoral recipients was the expansion of higher education and the increased support of students by grants from the government and foundations.
Faculty members. — Increased size and new functions created a need for more staff members. In the twenty years from 1879 to 1899, all professional courses were taught by one incumbent. From 1899 to 1940, the staff grew from two to 71. The 1970-71 Announcement lists 153 faculty members grouped by rank as follows: Professors (59), Associate Professors (24), Assistant Professors (15), Instructors (16), and Lecturers (39).
The figures for 1970-71 include both full and part-time faculty members but exclude teaching fellows and assistants. Many staff members have joint appointments with other schools and colleges. Successful efforts have been made to recruit outstanding members of minority groups.
Course Offerings. — Two courses were offered in 1879. One was concerned with school management and supervision and the other with the history and philosophy of education. By 1921-22 the number had increased to 44 and by 1939-40 to 223. The tremendous subsequent growth in specialized programs and in the number of students is reflected in the Announcement of the School of Education for 1970-71. Five hundred and nineteen courses are listed, but it should be noted that not all of the courses are offered each term.
STATE SERVICES
The School of Education has accepted off-campus services to professional personnel and school systems as an important aspect of its work. Such services are contributed in part through formal organization and in part through informal activities of the faculty. Formal arrangements have been made through the Bureau of School Services, the University Extension Service, and the Metropolitan Detroit Bureau of School Studies.
Bureau of School Services. — The Bureau of School Services was organized officially in 1948 and was designed to replace the former Bureau of Cooperation with Educational Institutions. From its inception until July 1970, the Bureau of School Services was not a part of any school or college or other unit on campus. It was responsible, through a Director, to an Executive Committee appointed by the Board of Regents. The Director reported directly to a vice-president. Effective July 1, 1970, the Bureau was placed in the School of Education and the Director reports to the Assistant Dean for Services and Institutional Relations. There is a University Advisory Committee, chaired by the Dean of the School of Education and composed of the Deans of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, Engineering, and Music, and the Administrative Dean of the Office of the Vice-President for Academic Affairs.
The Bureau arranges for consultation services, school surveys, and conferences. It conducts an accreditation program for high schools in Michigan and maintains a close relationship with the accrediting program of the North Central Association. It provides a headquarters for nine organizations. It maintains liaison with school districts and the State Department of Education. The Bureau is designed to give some coordination and facilitation to services of the entire University to schools and agencies.
University Extension Services. — The School of Education conducts courses off-campus to improve services of individuals to school systems, for personal growth, to meet the requirements of post baccalaureate instruction for the conversion of provisional certificates to continuing certificates, and to facilitate the acquisition of credits toward graduate degrees, particularly the master’s. The courses are offered regularly through the Graduate Centers and may be scheduled in neighboring cities. One hundred and ninety-three courses in education were offered in Extension during the Fall and Winter terms, and the Spring half-term in 1969-70.
Classes were held in 19 Michigan cities: Alpena, Ann Arbor, Jackson, Big Rapids, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Dearborn, Detroit, Farmington, Flint, Grand Haven, Grand Rapids, Mt. Clemens, Muskegon, Pontiac, Port Huron, Saginaw, Walled Lake, and Ypsilanti.
A total of 70 regular faculty members, 35 members of the supplementary faculty, and a number of persons in team-taught courses, participated.
Metropolitan Detroit Bureau of School Studies. — The Bureau grew out of a series of discussions in the Superintendents’ Conference of the metropolitan area of Detroit. A Committee was formed, including representatives of school systems and the Deans of Education at the University of Michigan and Wayne University. The report of that Committee was adopted to start the Bureau on December 11, 1946. The purposes as stated in the current By laws are as follows:
The Metropolitan Detroit Bureau of School Studies, Inc. is a public nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation established to conduct responsible research relating to matters of concern to member schools, to cooperate with other agencies engaged in educational research, and to cooperatively develop instructional programs and school system personnel through curriculum studies and inservice professional programs.
Sixty-four school systems currently hold active memberships in the Bureau and pay a service charge. Officers are a chairman, a vice-chairman, and a secretary-treasurer. An Executive Board includes representatives of school systems and of Eastern Michigan University, Wayne University, and The University of Michigan. In the early days The University of Michigan supplied quarters in the Rackham Building in Detroit. Wayne University now supplies office space on its campus. Wayne and Michigan assist in paying the costs of the Director of the Bureau and arrange academic appointments.
The Bureau conducts and publishes studies of finance and personnel, holds conferences, and provides services to assist member districts in solving their common problems. There is a current emphasis on management studies, such as collective negotiations, budgeting, contracts, and student activism.
Center for the Study of Higher Education. — The activities of the Center consist principally of postdoctoral programs, doctoral programs, inservice training, research and publications, and professional consultation. All are directed to the improvement of leadership in higher education of all types.
The Center was founded in 1957 when a grant was made to The University of Michigan by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. In 1962 a further award was made for five additional years. The program for which the money was given, however, was a continuation of one started in 1950 with the appointment of a Professor of Higher Education.
The Center was also to some extent an outgrowth of the University Committee on College Relations. This Committee was established in 1950 as a means through which to contribute to the solution of the problems of higher education in the state. It was this committee that formulated the plans for the Center and authorized the name. The members of the committee became simultaneously members of the University Advisory Committee to the Center for the Study of Higher Education.
In 1956 the program in higher education became designated by the School of Education as the Department of Higher Education. Under the 1971 reorganization, former activities as a department are under the Division of Higher, Occupational, and Continuing Education. The Center retains its identity but reports through the Dean of School of Education rather than directly to the Vice-President for Academic Affairs.
Initially the University made special additions to the budget of the School of Education for faculty, secretarial, and travel expenses for the new program. It made available funds for field work and for conferences of the colleges and universities of the state. Funds were received from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation for the enlargement of programs directed at the improvement of junior-community colleges.
International Education. — From the beginning, education at Michigan has maintained a lively interest in international education. While the instruction of foreign students and the exchange of professorships have long been features of the activities in Ann Arbor, greater emphasis has been developed since World War II.
During the war, the School of Education provided instruction in education to army civil affairs personnel who had been selected for service in Italy, France, Germany, and Japan. In the years just after the war, scores of educators from allied, defeated, and developing nations came to the School for training in educational specialties.
Almost every year since 1950, faculty members and undergraduate and graduate students have studied abroad: (a) through summer session courses in Mexico, Canada, Japan, and England; (b) through semester courses mainly at the University of Sheffield and later at the University of Keele and the University of Edinburgh; (c) in individual Ph.D. programs which took advanced students to every continent and to more than a score of countries; (d) faculty research projects in Russia and Lebanon through the aid of the U.S. Office of Education and the Ford Foundation, respectively; (e) through graduate student and faculty training and research projects in India, largely in Baroda, since 1962, through grants from the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Office of Education, and the Ford Foundation. One Agency for International Development (AID) Training Program in vocational education has been conducted in Mexico.
In these years more than forty dissertations have been produced in Comparative Education, of which twenty have been published in the Comparative Educational Series, concerning education in England, Jamaica, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Somaliland, Thailand, Brazil, LeVant, Japan, Ceylon, Germany, and Canada, as well as several in relation to international organizations such as UNESCO.
Research and Development. — Staff members of the School of Education carry on activities to improve instruction and services and to advance knowledge. Opportunities for achieving these purposes are, in varying amounts, built into general fund budgets. In recent years, grants and contracts have provided financial aid from outside funds for greater emphasis and more rapid progress. The first year of substantial aids was 1962-63 with $600,000 budgeted. This increased to $1.5 million in 1967-68, to $1.8 million in 1968-69, and to almost $2.5 million in 1970-71.
The contracts have assisted the preparation of investigators on the doctoral level in psychology and education, institutional research, historical research, and social science education. Programs in special education have provided fellowships for teachers and prospective teachers of the mentally retarded, the emotionally disturbed, the crippled, and the disadvantaged. Other areas receiving financial support from outside sources included educational leadership, higher education, international education, physical education, inquiry, school psychology, child development, and urban education.
The staff of the Office of Research Services assist faculty and students in the design of research and use of machines. Among sophisticated data-processing equipment is a terminal, connected to the University’s complex time-sharing computer. Other equipment includes card-punching and sorting machines and a variety of calculators.
The growth of programs has created a necessity for more administrative time. This need was recognized in 1970-71 by the appointment of an Assistant Dean for Research.
Publications. — A School of Education Bulletin, started in October 1929, consisted of short articles by faculty members and a section on news and notes. It appeared eight times a year until, in 1964, it was terminated because of rising costs among other things. Because of a need for increased communication within the School the Innovator was designed. It has a wide circulation among staff, students, alumni, and friends of the School. The Newsletter was launched in September 1969. It is issued eight months of the year, with additional supplementary numbers of special interest to alumni. Each issue has an editorial “From the Dean.” The major official publication is the Announcement of the School of Education, usually published each year, which gives comprehensive information on admissions, requirements for graduation, degrees, and certificates, and description of courses. For many years the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate studies published lists of individual faculty publications. This is now being done by the Office of Research Administration.
Student Participation. — The School of Education welcomes the participation of students in the improvement of programs. In the early days this was often spasmodic and without formal provisions for representation and responsibility. The Undergraduate Student Advisory Committee was unusually active in 1949-50. An Education School Council was a vigorous and enthusiastic adjunct in 1954-55. Representatives of the student body have worked with the Undergraduate Committees, and student officers were welcomed at faculty meetings. A new organization, Students for Educational Innovation (SEI), has provided active leadership. SEI has made surveys, sponsored conferences, provided advisory services, and facilitated increased communication. Provisions are made in the new bylaws, adopted in November 1970, for student membership on all major committees and activities. This includes representation on the Executive Committee, which required action by the Regents. Anonymous evaluation of courses each term by students are summarized, and a confidential report returned to the instructor for the improvement of instruction.
Closing the University School. — The Board of Regents voted in March 1963 to close grades 10, 11, and 12 of the University School under a cooperative plan with the Ann Arbor Public Schools. Action was postponed because of delays in construction of the new Huron High School. It was finally decided to close these grades in June 1968, even though the new building would not be ready. This was made possible by operating two schools at Pioneer High School with the organization of two shifts. Huron High School on North Campus was to be ready for occupancy in the fall of 1969. Plans were prepared for the subsequent phasing out of the elementary grades and junior high school.
The External Review Committee, after studying the operation of the School of Education, recommended that the decision to close the University School be implemented as soon as practicable. Strong support for continuation was given from many quarters. The need for space, however, the high cost of maintaining the School and legislative reluctance to finance laboratory schools were critical factors in the decision to close. The University School continued as an active center for research in the transitional period of closing operations.
Evolution of Organization. — In 1940-41 a Self-Survey Committee was created to study ways in which the School might improve its services. Under the resulting policies the general management of the School rested as before with the faculty and the dean, and was coordinated through an administrative committee, elected at large, with provisions for rotation of membership. Policies for specific functions were developed through five committees: Graduate Programs and Activities, Undergraduate Programs and Activities, Library and Publications, Placement, and State Services.
In 1950-51, the Board of Regents appropriated funds for a study of the School by an outside committee in anticipation of the pending retirement of Dean James B. Edmonson. A committee of the faculty worked during 1951-52 on problems of organization and the appointment of a new dean. The work of the School was also reviewed by an Intervisitation Committee appointed by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. On February 9, 1952, Dean Edmonson started his retirement furlough and Willard C. Olson, Director of Research in Child Development and Professor of Education and Psychology, was appointed his successor, beginning his new duties immediately.
A committee on Structural Organization and Bylaws presented an extensive report which was adopted as a general guide in June 1956. The implementation of the bylaws was completed by the Executive Committee and became effective July 1, 1957. The new structure consisted of an Undergraduate Unit and a Graduate Unit, each with its own committee and chairman. The areas for departmental organization were: Social Foundations; Psychological Foundations and Processes; Curriculum, Instruction, and Administration; Guidance and Counseling; Vocational Education and Practical Arts; Physical Education; Higher Education; and Adult Education. Agencies performing special services were organized under the Office of Student Personnel, a Committee on Educational Research, and a Committee on Institutional Relations.
The new internal bylaws provided for an Appraisal Committee on a five-year rhythm for periodic review. In the fall of 1962 a revised bylaw enlarged and strengthened the Committee on Educational Research. A new bylaw also gave formal status to the Office of Research Services.
The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) sent a visiting team to the University on March 2-5, 1965, representing components of the professional programs. This team consulted with members of the School faculty and with other colleges, with executive officers of the University, with officials and teachers in the public schools, and with undergraduate and graduate students. NCATE accredited the programs for elementary and secondary teachers and school service personnel, and including teachers of special and handicapped students, with the doctor’s degree the highest to be approved. Accreditation was for a ten-year period starting September 1, 1963.
The next Appraisal Committee in the five-year cycle began its work in the fall of 1966 and by April of 1967 an extensive document reflecting all concerns was prepared as a basis for interaction in discussion sessions. The following year, in preparation for the functioning of the Dean’s Selection Committee, the Appraisal Committee prepared a working paper entitled “The School of Education in the Seventies: A Statement of Objectives.” The final report of this committee was made in February 1969 for faculty consideration.
In the fall of 1968, the Academy for Educational Development was asked by the University to form a panel of educators to study the School and to make recommendations on the goals and objectives of the School as well as the specific action which should be taken by the School and the University. This report was delivered on March 10, 1969. Recommendations were made as to the sustained and mutually supportive School-University relations, the provision of adequate physical facilities and personnel resources, and the development of teacher education programs which are less tied to state certification requirements and are more concerned with providing a foundation for career-long development as inquiring scholar-teachers. The report recommended an accelerated schedule for action on the resolution to close the balance of the University School.
On July 1, 1970, Dean Olson retired and Mr. Wilbur Cohen, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in the federal government, became Dean-Designate on a part-time basis in the late months of 1968-69 and Dean on July 1, 1969.
The new bylaws (November 1970) provide for a Dean, an Associate Dean, and three Assistant Deans, with the Dean as the executive officer. The three assistant deans serve as chairmen of the three committees for administrative functions: Instructional Affairs, Services and Institutional Relations, and Scholarly Research Activities. A fourth group, described as Institutional Studies, is headed by a director, elected by the Dean and the Executive Committee. The faculty is organized into four divisions: Teacher Education; Behavioral and Social Foundations; Educational Specialists; and Higher, Occupational, and Continuing Education. Each division is organized on a program basis and has its own chairman and a joint Faculty-Student Executive Committee.
Remodeling. — The final closing of the remaining operations of the University School provided an opportunity for a renovation of space and adaptation to major needs in the School of Education. The renovation was accomplished for the most part in 1970 and 1971. The specific goals were: to provide proximity of administration and instructional functions; to concentrate most programs in the main building, to reduce scattered operations in other buildings, and to abandon the use of rental space; to provide private office space for most faculty members of professorial rank in convenient relationship to others in the same division and to supportive services; to provide functional space on the first floor for service units; to provide an Educational Media Center to coordinate instructional materials, audio-visual equipment and services, graphics laboratories, and experimental and automated instructional and research training facilities. Preliminary provisions have been made for originating closed-circuit television programs from a central studio and sending them to the classrooms. Provisions also have been made for improving facilities for training in guidance and counseling, for a modern science laboratory, for classrooms equipped for use of audio-visual aids, and for a student-faculty lounge.
Willard C. Olson
The University of Michigan, An Encyclopedic Survey ... Wilfred B. Shaw, editor, Volume VI, pp. 109-122.
