Accredited Secondary Schools in the United States. Bulletin 1916, No. 20
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BUREAU OF EDUCATION BULLETIN, 1916, No. 20 ACCREDITED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN THE UNITED STATES SAMUEL PAUL CAPEN SPECIALIST IN HIGHER EDUCATION BUREAU OF EDUCATION WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1916 *"■*■ - . ■-■■^■■- ' ' - - - ' _ >ia •;• ••••*•--•. ,-. :~= - c.v - - : , • . v ••. • ‘ ' - . ' ' • - -:;...*- ■ - -v v H m - ;. -- . .' ' " --4' rV'wV'* -w'' A/-O -V ' ^ -v-a 'Ufti _' f - ^3^ ^ DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BUREAU OF EDUCATION BULLETIN, 1916, No. 20 ACCREDITED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN THE UNITED STATES BY SAMUEL PAUL CAPEN SPECIALIST IN HIGHER EDUCATION BUREAU OF EDUCATION WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1916 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education, Washington. Sir: Many students apply for admission to higher institutions in other States and sections than those in which they have received their high-school preparation. Many also seek certificates from ex¬ amining and licensing boards, which have no direct means of know¬ ing the standards of the schools from which the applicants come. The demand for this information led the Bureau of Education, first in the spring of 1913 and again in the autumn of 1914, to undertake the collection and preparation of lists of high schools and academies accredited by State universities, approved by State departments of education, or recognized by examining and certifying boards and by certain other agencies. The demand proved to be even greater than had been anticipated. The first edition of the bulletin was soon exhausted. There have be^n many requests from college and uni¬ versity officers for copies of the second edition. Moreover, changes are made in these lists of accredited schools from year to year. For these reasons, I have requested Dr. S. P. Capen, specialist in higher education in the bureau, once more to revise the pamphlet. The revision is contained in the accompanying manuscript which I rec¬ ommend for publication as a bulletin of the Bureau of Education. Respectfully submitted. P. P. Claxton, Commissioner. The Secretary of the Interior. 5 ACCREDITED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN THE UNITED STATES. The lists of accredited secondary schools which are presented now for the third time in this bulletin are designed to meet the needs of officers charged with the admission of new students to secondary schools, colleges, universities, professional schools (especially schools of law and medicine), normal schools, etc.; of'State examining and certifying boards, which are concerned with the status of secondary schools located at a distance; and of parents who may want to know about the high schools of any particular State or section. The first issue of the bulletin was published in 1913. The intro¬ duction to the second edition, published early in 1915, called attention to the fact that the great annual increase in the number of secondary schools (in 1910-11 there were 12,213; in 1911-12 the number had grown to 13,268; in 1913-14 it had reached 13,714), together with the sudden changes in standing, generally for the better, of many secondary schools in all parts of the country, necessitate frequent revisions of the lists. No new lists have been added in this edition and the arrangement of the bulletin is substantially unchanged. The essential parts of the introductions to the previous issues are reprinted here. ACCREDITED SECONDARY SCHOOL DEFINED. An “accredited secondary school/’ as the term is used in this bulletin, is a school which is equipped to prepare students for colleges requiring at least 14 units for unconditioned admission and which has been investigated or approved for this purpose by one of the following agencies: A State officer of education, a university or college inspector or committee on admissions, an officer or committee of an accrediting association. Except in the case of certain of the Southern States, whose high-school courses are based upon seven years of elementary training, it is understood that these 14 units represent secondary work above the standard eight-grade elementary- school course. It is assumed that the curriculum of an accredited school represents four years of 36 or more weeks each; that at least three teachers give their whole time to high-school work;1 and that the school keeps up an adequate library and laboratory equipment. 1 Exceptions are certain schools in the lists of Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, New Hampshire, and Vermont which have less than three teachers but otherwise conform to the definition and are approved by the State officials. 7 8 ACCREDITED SECONDARY SCHOOLS. UNIT DEFINED. The following authoritative definition of the word “unit” has been made by the National Conference Committee on Standards of Colleges and Secondary Schools, which is composed of representatives of the National Association of State Universities, 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 Secondary Schools of the Southern States, the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, the Carnegie Foundation for the i Advancement of Teaching, and the United States Commissioner of Education: A unit represents a year’s study in any subject in a secondary school, constituting approximately a quarter of a full year’s work. This statement is designed to afford a standard of measurement for 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 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. A four-year secondary-school curriculum should be regarded as representing not more than 16 units of work. VARIATIONS IN REQUIREMENTS OF ACCREDITING AGENCIES. The number of subjects recognized by the various accrediting bodies as forming an acceptable part of the college preparatory course varies greatly; for example, the subjects recognized by the College Entrance Examination Board as permissible in a standard high-school course are: 1 Units. Units. English up to... 3 Spanish. 2 Mathematics up to. 4| History. 4 ] Latin. 4 Science... 6 Greek. 3 Drawing. 2 French. 4 Music. 1 German. 4 On the other hand, there are State universities and privately endowed institutions, like Leland Stanford University, which permit 1 It should be noted, however, that the maximum amount of credit which a high-school student can secure In any single subject in a year is ordinarily one unit. Four units of credit in any given subject would therefore constitute the normal maximum for a high-school course. INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. 9 great enlargement of the range of electives. The University of Minnesota, for example, accepts the following: Units. Units. English.3-4 Vocational subjects (made up of the Mathematics. 2-3J following). £-4 Latin. 2-4 Business arithmetic. \ Greek. 2 Business law. \ French. 1^4 Bookkeeping. 1-2 German. 1-4 Stenography and typewriting.. 1-2 Spanish. 1-4 Freehand drawing. 2 Scandinavian. 1-4 Mechanical drawing. 2 History and social science. \-7 Shop work. 2 Natural science. 1-6 Modeling and wood carving.... 1 Agriculture. 1-4 Domestic art and science up to. 4 Normal-training subjects. 1-3 It will therefore be apparent that the only close correspondence among the requirements of the various institutions mentioned in this pamphlet is the quantitative one. All specify at least 14 units, except the University of South Carolina, which admits with 12. None requires more than 16 units for admission. The requirements of each accrediting agency are briefly stated at the head of the list of schools which each accredits. At the head of each list of schools accredited by a State university or private institution the requirements for admission to the A. B. course are summarized. The schools on the accredited list generally have the privilege of certificating students to other courses as well. To outline the admission requirements for all these cours.es would consume much space and might lead to confusion. The requirements for admission to the A. B. course may in each case be considered fairly typical of the institution’s policy with respect to entrance requirements. METHODS OF ACCREDITING. Two methods are in common use for carrying on the system of accrediting in those States where the State authority embraces agencies for higher education. Under the first the inspection of the work of the high schools is done through an officer or 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 institu¬ tions in neighboring States. Under the second, the inspection and rating are done by the State superintendent of public instruction, the State board of education, or the State education office, acting through specially appointed officers. Examples of the former method are furnished by the Universities of Michigan, California, and Texas; of the latter method, by the States of New York, Ohio, and Minnesota. 10 ACCREDITED SECONDARY SCHOOLS. The requirement of the completion of a standard four-year high- school course representing at least 14 units for admission to college, or as a part of the prescriptiqn for admission to professional schools or to the practice of professions, has produced a group of organiza¬ tions among whose activities are the coordination of standards of secondary education in neighboring States and the compilation of lists of accredited secondary schools.