Chapter VI KINDERGARTEN LEGISLATION 1 Among important considerations in school legislation are the laws governing the establishment and support of kindergartens. While the value of kindergarten education is no longer a debatable subject, there has been little standardization of laws governing the establishment of this branch of the public school system. Forty States now have laws especially providing for the establishment of kindergartens. Four more have general laws covering their establishment. In 34 States there is a "permissive" law; in 6 States there is a "mandatory-on-petition" law. In 2 of the "permissive" States there is a mandatory law for certain qualified cities. Laws classified roughly as above vary in the several States, due to their specific wording or to the bearing which related and qualifying laws have upon them. The New Jersey and Wisconsin laws illustrate the two types of laws mentioned, and extracts from them are here reproduced. Permissive law in New Jersey.-The board of education of any school district may establish a kindergarten school or a kindergarten department in any school under its control, and shall admit to such kindergarten school or department any child over the age of 4 and under the age of 7 years who shall be a resident of the district; provided, that no child under the age of 5 years shall be admitted to any public school unless such school shall have a kindergarten depart ment. Every teacher in a kindergarten school or department shall hold a special kindergarten certificate issued by the State board of examiners. The expenses of kindergarten schools or departments shall be paid out of any moneys available for the current expenses of the schools, and in the same manner and under the same restrictions as the expenses of the other schools or departments. TABLE 15.—Some provisions of present kindergarten laws 1 For more detailed information concerning kindergarten legislation, see U. S. Bu. of Educ. Bul., 1925, No. 7. Mandatory-on-petition law in Wisconsin.-The school board or board of education of any school district, however organized, union free high school districts excepted, shall upon petition of the parents or guardians of 25 or more children more than 4 and not more than 6 years of age establish and maintain a kindergarten in charge of a legally qualified kindergarten teacher for the instruction of said children. In case such district maintains two or more school buildings, the parents or guardians heretofore mentioned shall reside not more than 1 mile from the building in which it is proposed to establish the kindergarten. When a kindergarten shall have been established as hereinbefore provided it shall constitute a part of the common public schools of the district and the taxes for maintenance of such kindergarten shall be levied and collected in the same manner as other taxes are levied and collected for the support of the common schools. When a kindergarten shall have been established, it shall not be discontinued unless the enrollment for the preceding year shall have been less than 15. Essentials of a good law for kindergarten education. The following criteria briefly stated may be used for analyzing existing laws or planning for contemplated ones: 1. Is the law state-wide in application? 2. Does it provide support from the general fund? 3. Do parents have a voice in the establishment of kindergartens (mandatory or permissive)? 4. May children enter at 4 or 42 years of age? 5. Does the law include adequate teacher certification requirements? The growing tendency to require identical training and certification for kindergarten and primary teachers is taking the kindergarten out of the "special subjects" classification and placing it where it belongs, as an integral part of the elementary school grades. The growing interest in the education of children 4 years of age and younger in nursery schools forecasts the future necessity of including in legislation certification for teachers of these schools. Chapter VII TEACHING STAFF All States are concerned with providing conditions and regulating qualifications designed to insure, so far as humanly possible, the employment and retention of an adequately prepared teaching staff. Three important considerations enter into the question with which State legislatures are directly concerned and the efficacy of provisions concerning which they are responsible: (1) A scientifically conducted state-wide study of the supply and demand of adequately trained teachers in the State. Such a survey is necessary before any of the following pertinent provisions for supplying "a well-trained teacher in every school in the State" may be intelligently considered. (2) Certification laws which insure that only qualified applicants receive licenses to teach in any (even the smallest or poorest) school. This means that the minimum qualifications for the lowest grade of certificate should be adequate to insure a good standard of academic and professional qualifications on the part of the candidate. (3) Salaries such as are commensurate with the qualifications exacted for certification. This involves the passage of a minimum salary law based on qualifications. (4) Facilities for training teachers furnished by the State, adequate in the sense of supplying a sufficient number of teachers and efficient in the quality of training given, to supply different types of schools. Reasonable standards for teachers.-The generally accepted standards of requirements for teachers in the United States are a general education equivalent to graduation from a standard four-year high school, followed by two years of special teacher training in a college department of education, a teachers college, or a normal school. The two-year professional course should include, besides advanced academic courses, special intensive professional courses, including psychology, principles of education, teaching methods, and the like, as well as ample opportunity for observation in model schools and practice teaching under supervision. The teaching force of the United States as a whole is below this standard. City systems generally have better trained teachers than the country schools. The average is well up to the standard stated above. Teachers in rural schools average below this standard. In many States numbers of teachers are employed who have not completed a high-school course and have had no professional training. This situation usually is found when certification laws, teachers' salaries, and training facilities are inadequate or insufficient. A legislative program designed to secure a high-grade teaching staff.-Adequate legislation providing a comprehensive plan similar to that outlined below will assist in providing the State with a highgrade professional teaching staff: 1. Improve teaching conditions by (a) Establishing reasonable minimum salaries for all teachers. (b) Adopting in principle the single-salary schedule. (c) Scaling all teachers' salaries to the grade of certificate held, thus placing a premium on special preparation. (d) Advocating the adoption of the principle of "indefinite" tenure, which means that a teacher will be retained in a school as TABLE 16.-Number of rural teachers in the United States in 1925 receiving the salaries indicated reported to the Bureau of Education long as acceptable services are rendered that community. A probationary period of one or two years for the beginning teacher may be acquired before the appointment for an indefinite period becomes operative. (e) Providing adequate professional supervision. (f) Granting State bonuses to teachers as rewards for long service in a single school community and to highly efficient teachers continuing service in small rural schools. (g) Establishing liberal retirement funds for teachers. 2. Require higher teaching qualifications by (a) Increasing gradually the entrance requirements of the State normal schools and lengthening their study courses. (6) Eliminating temporary expedients for the training of teachers, such as normal courses given in high schools, as rapidly as the State can provide for taking over and efficiently doing the work of these secondary institutions in standard professional institutions whose sole task is the proper training of teachers to meet adequately the needs of the State. (c) Discontinuing the issue of certificates on examination as soon as the normal schools and other teacher-training institutions have become fully equipped to supply all the professional teachers required. |