G.

STATE EXAMINATION

AND

CERTIFICATION OF TEACHERS.

REPORT BY THE

SECRETARY OF THE BOARD.

PLAN ADOPTED DEC. 14, 1894.

OF TEACHERS.

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, Dec. 6, 1894.

To the Board of Education.

I herewith respectfully submit a plan for the State examination and certification of teachers.

In the preparation of this plan the systems of other States have been consulted, the excellent scheme of the city of Boston has been studied, and special attention has been given to existing methods of granting certificates in this State,methods that will continue to be available independently of the plan now proposed. In discussing and perfecting the details. of this plan the agents of the Board have rendered valuable service.

The policy of the State is clearly to encourage, extend and strengthen the professional training of teachers. The present plan is in line with this policy. Being permissive, it readily admits of higher standards than if it were compulsory.

For a full appreciation of the details of this plan it is necessary to keep in mind the following facts and principles:

1. Section 28, chapter 44, of the Public Statutes, makes it the duty of the school committee to ascertain by personal examination the qualifications of candidates for teaching and their capacity for the government of schools.

2. Section 29 of the same chapter makes it the duty of every teacher, before he is allowed to enter upon the discharge of the duties of his office, to obtain from the school committee certificates in duplicate of qualification, one copy to be deposited with the selectmen as a condition precedent to drawing pay, and the other to be retained for reference.

3. Chapter 159 of the Acts of 1891 provides that the diplomas granted by the State normal schools of Massachusetts may be accepted by the school committees of towns and cities in lieu of the personal examination required by section 28 of chapter 44 of the Public Statutes. This practically makes such diplomas permanent certificates of qualifications; if they

are awarded for the completion of the general two years' course, they are presumably for the elementary schools of the Commonwealth. Whether the normal school diploma, under some plan that should increase its value as a witness to competency though it should deprive it of its permanency, should itself rank as a probationary certificate of the Board, is left for further consideration. There are reasons, doubtless, why normal school diplomas and the probationary certificates should have the same significance, validity and duration, but obviously they cannot be made to agree under existing conditions. These diplomas, therefore, constitute a class of certificates distinct from and independent of any that may be granted under the system of State examination and certification of teachers.

4. Chapter 329 of the Acts of 1894, approved April 28, 1894, reads as follows:

SECTION 1. The state board of education shall cause to be held, at such convenient times and places as it may from time to time designate, public examinations of candidates for the position of teacher in the public schools of the Commonwealth. Such examinations shall test the professional as well as the scholastic abilities of candidates, and shall be conducted by such persons and in such manner as the board may from time to time designate. Due notice of the time, place and other conditions of the examinations shall be given in such public manner as the board may determine.

SECT. 2. A certificate of qualification shall be given to all candidates who pass satisfactory examinations in such branches as are required by law to be taught, and who in other respects fulfil the requirements of the board; such certificate shall be either probationary or permanent, and shall indicate the grade of school for which the person named in the certificate is qualified to teach.

SECT. 3. A list of approved candidates shall be kept in the office of the secretary of the board, and copies of the same, with such information as may be desired, shall be sent to school committees upon their request.

SECT. 4. The certificates issued under the provisions of this act may be accepted by school committees in lieu of the personal examination required by section twenty-eight of chapter forty-four of the Public Statutes.

SECT. 5. A sum not exceeding five hundred dollars may be annually expended for the necessary and contingent expenses of carrying out the provisions of this act.

5. By a recent order of the Board of Education (May 3, 1894) the examinations for admission to the normal schools in 1895 and thereafter must cover such high school subjects as may be determined by the Board. Candidates to be eligible to these examinations must be graduates of high schools or must have had an equivalent education. In this connection it is important to note (1) that the towns and cities of the State that maintain high schools of their own include ninety-five per cent. of the population, and (2) that chapter 436 of the Acts of 1894 provides that any town in which a high school is not maintained shall pay for the tuition of any of its qualified children who may attend the high school of another town or city. In other words, free high school tuition is the legal right of every qualified child in the Commonwealth.

An advanced course of two years, suited to the needs of those who wish to become teachers in high schools, has been established in some of the normal schools. Candidates for admission to this course must be graduates of college or must have received the equivalent of a college education. Completion of this advanced course entitles one to a diploma. Persons of high standing in college and exceptional maturity, who give evidence of special aptness to teach, may select from the subjects of this advanced course a special course of one year, for the completion of which an appropriate certificate shall be awarded.

6. The system of examination and certification by State authority is in no way compulsory either upon the towns or upon the teachers. It offers towns and teachers a relief from the necessity of new examinations when teachers change positions; it puts it into the power of towns to adopt higher standards in their examinations; it is expected to stimulate a feeling of professional pride on the part of teachers that shall lead them to improve their preparation for their work.

7. It is important that no regulation shall be adopted that shall discredit the educational policy of the State. This policy is clearly to encourage the professional training of its teachers. With this end in view, it has had in operation for many years five normal schools and one normal art school; it has recently authorized the addition of four new normal schools; and it is now beginning to insist on full high school training or its equivalent, before one can enter upon the normal school