Accredited Secondary Schools in the United States. Bulletin 1928, No. 26
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BUREAU OF EDUCATION BULLETIN, 1928, No. 26 ACCREDITED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN THE UNITED STATES PREPARED IN THE DIVISION OF STATISTICS FRANK M. PHILLIPS CHIEF W ADDITIONAL COPIES OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE PROCURED FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS U.S.GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D. C. AT 20 CENTS PER COPY i L 111 .A6 1928 no.26-29 Bulletin (United States. Bureau of Education) Bulletin CONTENTS Page Letter of transmittal_ v Accredited secondary school defined_ 2 Unit defined_ 2 Variations in requirements of accrediting agencies_ 3 Methods of accrediting___ 4 Divisions of the bulletin_x 7 Part I.—State lists_ 8 Part II.—Lists of schools accredited by various associations-__ 110 Commission of the Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools of the Southern States_ 110 Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools of the Middle States and Maryland___ 117 New England College Entrance Certificate Board_ 121 North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools_ 127 Northwest Association of Secondary and Higher Schools_ 141 in • -Hi ■: ' .= LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C., October 26, 1928. Sir: Secondary education continues to grow and expand. The number of high-school graduates increases from year to year, and the percentage of these graduates who go to higher institutions is still on the increase. It is imperative that a list of those secondary schools that do a standard quantity and quality of work be accessible to students who wish to do secondary school work and to those insti¬ tutions to whom secondary school graduates apply for admission. The work of inspecting and of approving these secondary schools is done by agents of State departments of education, by representatives of State universities, and by certain regional accrediting associations. Upon five previous occasions the Bureau of Education has published in bulletin form lists of secondary schools approved by these agencies. Any revised list is accurate and complete only at the time it is com¬ piled because new high schools are being organized at the rate of two each day, and the work of approving these schools is never finished. Our last compilation was made in 1925. The Commissioner of Education therefore asked Dr. Frank M. Phillips, Chief of the Divi¬ sion of Statistics, to direct the preparation of a new bulletin. I recommend that it be published as a bulletin of the Bureau of Educa¬ tion under the usual title of “ Accredited Secondary Schools in the United States.” Respectfully submitted. L. A. Kalbach, Acting Commissioner. The Secretary of the Interior. v •> ACCREDITED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN THE UNITED STATES The American high school continues to grow, but there is evidence that the rate of growth has been slowing up for the past four or five years. In 1910 the public high school enrolled 915,061 pupils; the private high school, 117,400; preparatory departments of colleges, 66,042; and secondary departments of teacher-training institutions, 12,890; making 1,111,393 in all. In 1926, these enrollments were 3,757,466; 295,625; 55,632; and 23,402, respectively, with a total of 4,132,125. These figures do not include junior high school pupils below the traditional first year of the regular high-school work. The 1926 enrollments are from 21,700 public high schools, 2,500 private high schools, 386 preparatory departments of colleges, and 125 secondary departments of teacher-training schools. Many of the new high schools are junior schools. The junior organization generally takes one or two of the upper grades of the elementary school, and one or more of the early high school years, and unites them into a single group with a course of study that makes the change from the elementary work to secondary work less abrupt. During the past 25 years the number of junior high schools has increased from less than a dozen to 1,109 with 1,949 other schools having junior departments. More than 1,000,000 pupils are enrolled in these junior high schools and in junior departments of junior- senior high schools of which number 676,064 are below the first regular high-school year. In recent years almost 50 per cent of the high-school graduates attend college or some other institution of learning after graduation. A large majority of these enter an institution that stipulates gradua¬ tion from an accredited school as one of the entrance requirements. This bulletin, similar in arrangement, content, and design to those published in 1913, 1915, 1916, 1922, and 1925, is intended to meet the needs not only of such students, but of officers charged with the control of secondary schools and higher institutions, and State examining and certifying boards as well. 1 2 ACCREDITED SECONDARY SCHOOLS ACCREDITED SECONDARY SCHOOL DEFINED “An accredited secondary school,” as the term is used in this bul¬ letin, is a school which is equipped to prepare students for colleges requiring 15 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. In the majority of the schools in Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia, and in a few cities in other States, high-school courses are based upon seven years of elementary training. In all other places these 15 units represent secondary work above the standard eight-grade elementary school course. As a general rule the curriculum of an accredited school represents four years of 36 or more weeks each; at least three teachers give their whole time to high-school work,1 and the school keeps up an adequate library and laboratory equipment. 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 was formerly composed of representa¬ tives 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 Association of Col¬ leges and Secondary Schools of the Southern States, the New England Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools, the Association of American Colleges, the Association of Urban Universities, the Car¬ negie 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 secondary school, con¬ stituting 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 4-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 4-vear basis can, nevertheless, estimate their work in terms of this unit. 1 Exceptions are certain schools in the lists of Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, and Nebraska which do not conform in every particular to the definition but are approved by the State officials. Also see table on university admission requirements. INTRODUCTION 3 A 4-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 and institutions as forming an acceptable part of the college preparatory course varies greatly; for example, the University of Illinois has the following requirements for admission to the general liberal-arts course: English composition and literature, 3 units; algebra, 1 unit; plane geometry, 1 unit; foreign languages, 2 units; general electives, 4 units; and special electives, 4 units, making a total of 15 units. The general electives include from 1 to 4 units in Latin, Greek, French, German, and Spanish, from 1 to 3 units in Italian, and an additional unit in English. One unit is allowed in trigonometry, Yl unit in solid geometry, and Y to 1 unit in ad¬ vanced algebra. One unit is allowed in Greek and Roman history, 1 in medieval and modern history, 3^ to 1 in English history, to 1 in American history, to 1 in civics, and Yi to 1 in economics and economic history. One to 2 units are allowed in chemistry and the same in physics, and Yi to 1 in each of the following sciences: Com¬ mercial geography, physiography, physiology, zoology, and botany. The special electives include astronomy, Yi unit; geology, Yi to 1 unit; agriculture, 1 to 3 units; bookkeeping, 1 unit; business law, Y unit; commercial arithmetic, Y unit; domestic science, 1 to 3 units; art drawing, Y to 1 unit; mechanical drawing, Y to 1 unit; manual training or farm mechanics, 1 to 2 units; other foreign lan¬ guages, 1 to 2 units; general science, Y to 1 unit; music, 1 to 2 units; shorthand and typewriting when taken together, 1 to 2 units; and typewriting alone (double periods), 1 unit. Chicago University has but one specific requirement, that of 3 units of English. The others, to make 15, may be selected from groups. All State universities specify 15 or more units. Only two require 16 units for admission. The requirements of each voluntary accrediting agency are briefly stated at the head of the list of schools which it accredits.