RECOMMENDATIONS CONCERNING EDUCA- 

 TIONAL CONDITIONS 



By Mr. A. C. Monahan 



Assistant in Rural Education, Inilecl States Bureau of Education 



Organization and Supervision 



The management of the schools of Montgomery County, as in all 

 Maryland counties is centralized in the hands of one board of education. 

 Such a system is known as the ''county system" of organization and is 

 probably the most efficient and economical of all systems for rural schools 

 in the United States. Only four other States are so organized. Under 

 this system is provided the best opportunities to promote the educational 

 interests of the entire county. Under no other form of organization 

 has such rapid development taken place in rural school affairs, except 

 under the township organization as found in New England and in a few 

 other States. The township system, however, has proven especially 

 efficient only in thickly settled sections. Any system to be effective 

 must have at the head of its school affairs a board of education composed 

 of capable persons who will perform their duties for the best interests 

 of the schools and the communities regardless of the demands of poHtical 

 party affiliations. The Montgomery County board is unquestionably 

 composed of capable men and in the management of school affairs it 

 seems to be free from political influence. 



The school system of the county is weak in the amount of supervision 

 given the teacher in her work both in managing the school and in teach- 

 ing. Expert supervision is given by but one person — the county super- 

 intendent — and he must divide his time between work as an agent of 

 the county board in the management of the school affairs of the county 

 and as a supervisor of the teachers and their work. The county in- 

 cludes approximately 521 square miles of territory with 106 separate 

 school buildings distributed quite evenly over the entire county. There 

 are 162 teachers. Under such conditions little personal supervision is 

 possible. The school year is approximately 180 days in length, the 

 school being in session 5>^ hours per day, or a total of 990 hours in the 

 entire year. If the county superintendent could spend this entire 990 

 hours in the schools while classes were reciting, he could give but 9 

 hours to each building during the entire year and but 6 hours to each 

 teacher. In actual practice he cannot probably devote more than one- 

 half of his time to visiting schools and part of this time is consumed in 

 driving from one school to another. 



Contrast this condition with the amount of supervision in the city of 

 Baltimore. In 1910, there were 58 supervisory officers devoting half 



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