CHAPTER XXV.

[Containing Tables 96-112.]

NORMAL SCHOOLS.

There were 259 public and private normal schools reporting to this Bureau for the year ending June, 1907. In the regular training courses for teachers in these institutions there were enrolled 70,439 students, as compared with 68,937 students the preceding year and 65,300 in 1905. In 1907 there were 12,541 graduates, as compared with 10,996 in 1906 and 10,360 in 1905.

There was an increase of 8 in the number of public normal schools reporting in 1907, an increase of 2,999 in the number of normal students in these schools, and an increase of 1,519 in the number of graduates, as compared with the preceding year. In these public normal schools there were 3,129 instructors, as compared with 3,059 in 1906.

The private normal schools show a decrease of 13 in the number reporting for 1907. The 70 schools reporting had 8,011 normal students, as compared with the 9,508 reported by 83 schools the preceding year. The 70 schools reported 1,342 graduates, as compared with 1,316 reported by the 83 schools in 1906.

The progress made by the public and private normal. schools in the last seventeen years is indicated in the following table:

The above table shows the present condition of normal schools as compared with 1890. Since that time the growth of public normal schools has been steady from year to year. For a number of years the private normal schools appeared to advance very rapidly. In 1897 there were reported to this Bureau 198 of these schools with 24,181 students. From that date a decline began in the number reporting as private normal schools. Some of the old schools have suspended, some have become private high schools or business schools, while a few have failed to respond to requests for statistics. The quality of the work done by the remaining 70 schools is undoubtedly superior to the average of the work done ten years ago.

In 1907 the 259 public and private normal schools had 70,439 students in training courses for teachers. There were 1,464 other

Schools.

Instructors.

Normal
students.

Normal

graduates.

institutions in which 27,102 students were pursuing courses of study arranged for preparation of teachers. These institutions included 269 universities and colleges with 13,771 normal students, 175 private high schools and academies with 3,398 such students, and 1,020 public high schools in which 9,933 of the students were pursuing training courses for teachers. In the 1,723 institutions mentioned the aggregate number of normal students was 97,541, the number in 1,249 public institutions being 76,572 and the number in 474 private institutions 20,969. These items are set forth in the following table, which makes a comparative showing for the past four years: Students in teachers' training courses reported for four years.

The number of normal graduates reported for 1907 by the 259 public and private normal schools was 12,541, or 17.8 per cent of the number of normal students in these institutions. If the other institutions furnished from their normal students the same proportion of graduates, the number must have been about 4,824, thus increasing the number of trained teachers to be added to the teaching force of the country in 1907-8 to approximately 17,365.

Tables 109 and 110 of this chapter show, by States, the distribution of students training for teaching, according to the classification in the above table.

PUBLIC NORMAL SCHOOLS.

With possibly four exceptions, all the States and Territories have public normal schools supported by taxation, direct or indirect. Tennessee has no State normal school, but an appropriation by the State legislature provides for the tuition of a large number of State students in the Peabody Normal College. Delaware, Nevada, and Wyoming make provision for the professional training of teachers in the State colleges.

The States and municipalities paid for the support of public normal schools $4,666,275 for the school year ending June, 1907. This was an increase of only $22,910 over the preceding year, but was the largest aggregate of public appropriations for support ever made

Appropriations for buildings and improvements for public normal schools aggregated $1,595,693 for the year-an increase of $45,787 over 1906. The two items for support and for buildings and improvements for the year ending June, 1907, aggregate $6,261,968—a figure which is the high-water mark of public expenditure for normal schools for any one year since the States began to provide for the public training of teachers.

The following table, which is a synopsis exhibiting the aggregate of public appropriations for public normal schools for each year since 1889, will illustrate the growth of these institutions in this country: Public appropriations to public normal schools for eighteen years.

Tables 96 to 100 on the following pages summarize the statistics of the 189 public normal schools reporting to this Bureau in 1907, while Table 111 gives in detail such information concerning these schools as could be collected.

The 189 public normal schools had 3,129 teachers engaged in the instruction of students pursuing training courses for teachers-1,233 men and 1,896 women-as shown in Table 96. There were 1,202 teachers wholly in other departments, making the aggregate number of teachers giving instruction in these institutions 4,331, the number of men being 1,514 and the number of women 2,817.

It is shown in Table 97 that there were 62,428 students in the training courses for teachers in the 189 public normal schools-13,551 men and 48,877 women. From these departments there were 11,199 graduates-1,413 men and 9,786 women. In business courses in these schools there were 895 students-361 men and 534 women. In other grades equivalent to high school grades there were 7,472 students-1,596 male and 5,876 female. Table 98 shows that there were 21,367 pupils in the elementary grades-9,096 boys and 12,271 girls. These do not include all the children in model schools. The total enrollment in all departments of the public normal schools was 92,162, the number of males being 24,604 and the females 67,558. In the last column of Table 98 it is shown that there were 48,910 children in the model schools used by these institutions. Many public normal schools have their own model schools, while many others favorably located use certain grades of city schools for practice. teaching.

The financial statistics of 163 of the 189 public normal schools were reported to this Office in 1907. These are shown in Tables 99 and 100. Of the schools reporting, 76 received from public sources

$1,595,693 for permanent equipment, 136 received from public sources $4,666,275 for current expenses, while 110 received $564,390 from students for tuition fees, etc., and 36 received $743,992 for board and other noneducational services.

Table 100 shows that 163 schools had an income of $7,441,229, not including charges for board and lodging. Excluding also receipts for permanent equipment, the working income of these institutions was $5,784,636 for the year 1906-7. The estimated expenditure for salaries for 135 schools was $3,058,565.

The libraries of 173 public normal schools contained 1,094,571 volumes, aggregating in value $1,303,473. The value of buildings, grounds, scientific apparatus, and furniture possessed by 167 of these schools was estimated at $34,747,730.

The annual public appropriations for the support of the public normal schools of each State for the past six years are shown in Table 101, while Table 102 exhibits the appropriations for buildings and improvements for the same period.

PRIVATE NORMAL SCHOOLS.

Tables 103 to 107, inclusive, summarize the statistics of the 70 private normal schools reporting to this Bureau in 1907. These tables are similar in form to Tables 96 to 100 for public normal schools. The total number of teachers employed in the private normal schools was 1,209, only 531 of these being teachers of students who were in teachers' training courses, while 678 were wholly employed in other departments. Of the total enrollment of 25,861 in all departments of private normal schools in 1907, only 8,011 were in departments for the professional training of teachers. Of these 3,163 were men and 4,848 women.

In the business courses of these private normal schools there were 1,845 students-1,170 males and 675 females. There were 5,359 other students in secondary or high school grades-3,344 males and 2,015 females. In the elementary grades there were 10,646 pupils4,986 boys and 5,660 girls.

Of the 70 schools 52 reported incomes aggregating $1,517,290. This did not include charges for board and lodging nor receipts for permanent endowment. The aggregate expenditure for salaries reported by 24 schools was $353,274. The value of grounds, buildings, furniture, and scientific apparatus reported by 53 schools was $6,318,576.

A comparison between public and private normal schools is made in Table 108. In public normal schools the male students comprised only 21.71 per cent of the enrollment, while they comprised 39.48 per cent in the private normal schools. Nearly 18 per cent of the professional students in public normal schools graduated in 1907, while 16.75 per cent of such students graduated from the private normal schools. The statistics of the 70 private normal schools are