United States Bureau of Education Accredited
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UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION BULLETIN, 1913, NO. 29 - - WHOLE NUMBER 539 ACCREDITED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN THE UNITED STATES By KENDRIC CHARLES BABCOCK SPECIALIST TN HIGHER EDUCATION BUREAU OF EDUCATION CONTENTS. Park Letter of transmittal 1 5 Introduction 7 Accredited secondary schools in Alabama 12 Arizona 13 Arkansas 13 California 14 Colorado 16 Connecticut , 16 Delaware 'V 17 District of Colunibia I 17 Florida 17. Georgia 18 Idaho. 18 Illinois 19 Indiana 21 Iowa 24 Kansas 27 Kentucky 29 Louisiana 29 Maine *- 31 Maryland ^ 32 Massachusetts '#33 Michigan -7 li 34 Minnesota 36- Mississippi 38 Missouri 39 Montana ,.40 Nebraska 41 Nevada 42 New Hampshire 42 New Jersey 43 New Mexico 45 New York 45 North Dakota 51 Ohio 51 Oklahoma 53 Oregon 53.. Pennsylvania 54 Rhode Island 56 South Carolina Ea. 56 South Dakota 57 Tenneesee 57 Texas Utah gt Vermont Alb 60 Virginia 60 Washinoton 61 West Virginia - c 62 Wisconsin 62 Wyoming 68 0 LETTER OF TR A NSMITTAL. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BUREAU OF EDUCATION, Waghington, D. C., May 1, 1918. Sm: Large numbers of young men and women pow apply for admi, sion to college, normal school, or professional school in other States and sections than those in which they have received their high-school preparation.Many apply for certificates to examining and certify- ing boards which have no direct means'of knowing the standards of the high schools from which the applicants come.Many parents moving or contemplating moving from one State to another wish to know what high schools are accredited by State univerkties and recog- nized by examining and certifying boards.For these and many other reasons there is a demand for such a list of accredited high schools as 'has been prepared by Dr. Kendric C. Babcock, specialist in higher education in this bureau.I therefore recommend that this list, with the accompanying-explanatioris, be published as a bulletin of the Bureau of Education. Respectfully submitted. P. P. cl..txTorr, Commi8sioner. The SECRETAIll OF THE INTERIOR. ACCREDITED 'SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN THE UN4TED STATES. 0 The lists of accredited secondary seljools in the different States which are presented in this bulletin are designed to meet the needs of officers -charged with the admission of new students to secondary schools, dolleges,universities, profession7I schools (especially schools of law and medicine), normal schools, etc., of State examining and certifying hoards, which are concerned with thy status of secondary schools.lne:ated at a distance, and parents who xnay. want to know about thus high schools of atiy particular State or section. The improvembrit during the past two decades in the number, scope, efficiency, and popular estimation of secondary schools of all kinds is unparalleled in the educational history of the United States.From 1890-91 to 1900-1901 the number of secondary schools, both 'paha and private, rose from 4,885 schools, with 309,996 stugerits, to 8,210 schools, with 649,951 students; by 1910,11 these figures had increased to 12,213 schools, with 1,115,326 students.In 1911-12 there were 13,268 schools and 1,246,8t, students.The schools belong to many types, rangieg from those with only the strictly classical curriculum to those which are essentially vocational high schools organized with little or no refertirce to higher education.Amoug them are one-year, two-year, three-year, and forik-year schools.From the one-year, one-teacher rural high school, illactically without equipment, they reach up to great metropolitan highi schools: with buildings, equip- ment, teaching staff, and registratioti rivalingleniversities.In differ- ent sections, and even in the same section of a single State, wide differences appear in strength, stability, soundness of organization, and direction pf effort. - -High schools change with surprising swiftness, even in the older States.What was last year-a registered three-year high school in New York often becomes this year a registered four-year high school. During the past decade a steady stiffening of the requirements for admission has occred. Only the better high schools have been able to keep pace with these change and to meet fully these requirements. Strong new schools spring up in .sections like southern California, Washington, and Oregon.The whole systeth of secondary education of a State way undergo in half a decade a thorough reorranization..and uplift; the State of Virginia offers an example. The movement of families for residence, and of individuals fob edu- - ostional opportunities, from one part of the country to another 1snow t 8 ACCR7I'TBD SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN THE UNITED STATES. an everyday occurrence. A thousand miles counts for very lit tle. When the principals of such schools as the Los Angeles High School in California, or the Central High School of 'Washington, D. C., or the registration officers of institutions like the Tiqiversity of Chicago, the Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia, or the University of Washington, attempt to estimate the standards and standing of sec- ondary schools in Malden, Mass.; Sumter, S. C.; San Antonio, Tex.; or Billings, Mont., large difficulties are fairly sure to arise, especially if such schools do not appear in the lists prepared by organizations like the No Ati CentraLAssociation of Colleges and Secondary Schools. The system of accepting credentials or certificates fiom secondary schools in lieu of written examinations for admission to colleges and universities began with the University of Michigan, in 1871.Except for a small number of univeNitie,s and colleges of the East, the major- ity of universities, colleges, technological. schools, normal schools, professional schools, and State certifying boards have now adopted this system in some form, for full or partial satisfaction of admission requirements. In New York State, which exercises the most thoroughgoing super- s vision of its secondary and higher education, four grades of schools are registered by the State education department as affording suitable facilities for mainteiping approved courses of stated length: Junior (one year), middle (two , :ears), senior (three years), and high schools (four years),Ohio has "accredited schools" (satisfactory four-year schools) and "recognized schools" (doing at least three years of work satisfactorily).South Carblina has class A (four-year curriculum, minimum of 14 units), class B (three-year curriculum, minimum of 12 units), class C (three-year curriculum, minimum of 10 units), class D (three or four year curriculum, with less than 10 units), and class E (with less than two teachers). Two general methods are in use for carrying on the system of accrediting, both of them involving the direct or indirect authority Of the State.In the first, the inspection of the work of the high schools is done through an officer..qr committee of the State university, and the list of acceptable or accredited high schools is published in the catalogue of the university, and thus made available for other institutions within the same State or for institutions in neighboring States.In the second, the inStiettion and rating are done by the State superintendent of public instruction, the State board of educa- tion, or the State education office, 'acting through specially appointed officers.Examples of the former method are the Universities of Michigan,.California, and Texas; of the latter method the States of New York, Ohio, and, Minnesota.Occasionally private institutions in combination, as brbe New England College Entrance Certificate Board, or individually, as the Case' School of Applied Science, lave ACCREDITED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN THE U11TED STATES. 9 carried on their own investigation and accrediting.In some other cases individual institutions supplement the generally accepted list of accredited schools and for reasons varying in soundness admit. students from schools not officially recognized by the State univer- sity or other State agency. B e term "accredited secondary school," in this bulletin, is eant a secondary school which requires for gradLion at least 15 units of secondary work above a standard eight-gragrammar. 'school course and which has been investigated and approved by one of the agencies mentioned above.Some variation from this defun.6 tionhas been accepted in the case of certain oftSouthern States, whose high schools, are organized for the most t upon the seven- year elementary course as a basis.The following authoritative defi- nitiotiof the word "unit" has been made by the National Conference Committee on Standards of Colleges and Secondary Schools, which is made up of representatives of the National Association of State Universitieg, the New England College Entrance Certificate Board, the College Entrance Examination Board, the Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools of the Middle States and Maryland, the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, the Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools of the Southern States, the New England Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and the United States Commissioner of Education:. A unit represents a year's study in any subject in`a secondscy school, constituting approximately a quarter of a full year's work. This statement is designed to afford a standard of measurement far the work done in secondary schools.It takes (1) The four-year high-school course as a basis and assumes that (2) The length of the school year is from 36 to 40 weeks; that (3) A period is from 40 to 60 Minutes in length; and that (4) The study is pursued for four or five periods a week; but under ordinary circumstances a satisfactory year's work in any subject can not be accomplished in less than 120 sixty-minute hours, or their equivalent.Schools organized on any other than a four -year basis can nevertheless estimate their work in terms of this unit.