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 graduate and credited to the School as an instructional division:
Undergraduates
Freshmen 81
Sophomores 96
Juniors 486
Seniors 620
Special 158
Total1,441
Graduates
M.A. level1,569
Ph.D. level 517
Total2,086
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 statewide 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, lay 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 pre-student teaching experiences in urban classrooms has 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 statewide 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 oncampus 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 Graduate School established the Doctor of Education degree 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, one incumbent taught all professional courses. 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.
The University of Michigan, an Encyclopedic Survey Supplement, Pages 109 - 113.
