USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Reading > Town of Reading Massachusetts annual report 1921 > Part 14
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Director of Standards and Guidance
This is the second year of Miss Whittemore's work in checking re- sults for every pupil below the High School and in case satisfactory progress is not being made, seeking the cause and making the necessary adjustments in the pupils' work.
As one result of this careful checking and giving expert assistance, last year over fifty pupils were advanced a year by double promotion or by making up deficiencies and regaining standing after failure of pro- motion. Each pupil costs the town on the average over fifty dollars per year. Advancing fifty pupils one year saves for the town over $2,500,
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besides benefiting the children to a far greater value since it means an extra year of productive work after their school days are over. Careful estimates of the progress of pupils in their classes at present indicate that the failures at the end of this year in June will be less than two per cent, an unprecedented low figure. Miss Whittemore has also test- ed according to grade and age the different classes by the standardized tests in accomplishments in Arithmetic, Spelling, Penmanship, Silent Reading, and occasionally other subjects. She has also used the stand- ard tests of Intelligence to obtain the mental age in comparison with the chronological age. The former divided by the latter gives the in- telligence quotient, commonly designated as the Pupil's I. Q. This is useful as one factor in adjusting the load a particular pupil is required to carry. Other adjustments of individual pupils are made based on considerations of physical and mental health and temperamental reactions to school conditons. Taken as a whole this work is of very great value in promoting the success of individual pupils in their school work and habits of life. It helps the pupils; it saves the town expense. The work is unique in some respects in this state. I know of no one place other than Reading in which all the features of Miss Whittemore's work is being carried out systematically at present.
Health Program in Schools
In my report for 1919 I outlined a Health Program for Reading schools. The progress that has been made in two years in putting this program into successful operation is gratifying. The rapid accomplish- ment of this project has been largely due to the active co-operation of the Health Committee already referred to. Special mention also should be made of two individuals among the many that have made important ยท contributions. Mrs. Clarence C. White as Chairman of the Health Com- mittee has personally directed the work of her committee and much that has been accomplished is due to her wise management and unflag- ging interest. Mrs. W. E. Twombly, Chairman of the local branch of the American Red Cross, took the initiative in organizing the Health Committee and through her efforts funds were provided by the Ameri- can Red Cross for financing the larger part of the activities of the Health Committee. Substantial sums however were contributed from the Christmas Seal Fund of the Massachusetts Anti-Tuberculosis Society, of which Mrs. White is local chairman.
Some of the established features of the Health program in Reading schools are as follows:
1. Medical Inspection by School Physician.
2. Physical Training in Junior High School daily, under a trained in- structor; Organized Games and Play in Elementary schools; Phy- sical Training in the Senior High School for both boys and girls twice weekly under trained instructors. Athletic teams in both the
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Junior High and Senior High Schools for boys and for girls have been better systematized than formerly in respect to healthful rules of play and physical fitness for eligibility.
3. Employment of School Nurse for full time.
(a) Assists school physician in examinations.
(b) Visits schools frequently in routine and specially when called.
(c) Interviews parents to assist in cases requiring medical atten- tion or special home treatment.
(d) Supervises weighing of children and means for correcting un- derweight.
(e) Co-operates in the nutrition problems of the school lunches.
(f) Instructs groups of girls in first aid to the injured, home nursing, and care of a baby.
(g) Manages the School Dental Clinic.
(h) Takes pupils to hospital for treatment and does many other things in the interest of the health of schools and of the gen- eral public.
4. Establishment of a Special Room for Health Activities at the Grou- ard House equipped with hospital bed and other sick room accessor- ies and supplies for teaching Home Nursing and Care of the Baby.
5. Establishment (by the Health Committee previously mentioned) of a School Dental Clinic. Dr. M. E. Brande generously assisted in the planning and installation of the Dental Clinic.
6. Reorganization and extension of the lunches maintained in the schools. Regular noon lunches serving hot drinks are now main- tained at the schools where any considerable number of pupils re- main for the noon hour. The High School maintains a regular cafeteria luncheon where the entire lunch is supplied for teachers and pupils; the Highland School maintains a teachers' full lunch and hot soup, hot cocoa, milk and special dishes and desserts for the children who usually bring their own sandwiches from home; the Centre School serves hot cocoa or soup and milk at the noon lunch ; all the Elementary schools except the Chestnut Hill School serve milk to order at the mid-morning recess. All the lunches are self-supporting. The Anti-Tuberculosis Society has furnished milk free in special cases to underweight children where parents were unable to pay for it.
7. Systematic Health Instruction in all grades: "Health Crusaders" in Elementary Schools, required courses in Hygiene in Junior High School, separate classes for boys and girls in Senior High School.
The work now being done for the children can be improved by securing the co-operation of the parents in a more "complete, standardized, phy- sical and mental examination" as a basis for remedial measures. A cer- tain number of parents, fortunately in the minority, do not accept gra- ciously the services of the School Physician and School Nurse in their
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efforts to be helpful to parents in undertaking remedial measures to improve their children's health. Such resistance, whether active or pass- ive, tends to impair proportionately the beneficial results to be obtained from the health service of the schools.
Repairs
During the war the high cost of labor and materials made it expe- dient to curtail the up-keep of buildings wherever it could be done with- out interfering seriously with the operation of the schools. Consequent- ly the different buildings need considerable attention. A recent inspec- tion by the Committee on School Houses and Property showed clearly that an increased amount should be expended for repairs over a series of years to bring the buildings up to a proper standard.
Agricultural Department
This department continues to function in a most satisfactory man- ner. A full quota of pupils is enrolled and in addition a group of ex- service men have enrolled under an arrangement with the Bureau of Re- habilitation. The report of the Instructor in Agriculture is appended. Your attention is called to the excellent showing in the average earnings per pupil, the largest in the history of the department.
Your attention also is called to the appended reports of the Principal of the Junior High School, the Director of Standards and Guidance, and the School Nurse.
In closing I wish to thank the members of the School Committee, teachers, and others who have co-operated in making the work of this year one of progress in the Reading schools.
Respectfully submitted,
December 31, 1921.
ADELBERT L. SAFFORD.
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REPORT OF INSTRUCTOR IN AGRICULTURE
Mr. Adelbert L. Safford,
Superintendent of Schools.
Dear Sir :- I hand you herewith the annual report of the Agricultur- al Department of the Reading High School for the year ending Decem- ber 31, 1921.
Agriculture is in a transition stage between the old system of self- dependent labor and the modern one of large scientific organization and intensive specialization. As the recent Washington Conference clearly showed, the comic paper farmer is extinct and the gentlemen with cost sheets and statistics at their finger tips are a power in this country. By this I do not mean that the day has arrived when it is no longer true, that "He who by the plow would thrive must either hold the plow or drive." Not by any means, but what I wish to show is that Agricultural Educational has come to be the inherent right of every boy or girl who desires it. And this education should be available to every high school student in the United States.
With the recognition of the government for the necessity of en- couraging agriculture through more liberal financing facilities, and by the enactment of laws and the devising of ways and means to bring this about, it is becoming ever more easy for a young man to own a farm.
It is with the idea of making real farmers and developing expert workers in allied lines that our course is planned.
The average earnings per pupil from project work this year was about $400.00. Practically all of the projects were garden or poultry pro- jects and only a few carrying over from last year.
Under the very able direction of Mr. Boehm the students carried on their usual winter shop work. This lasted about eight weeks. Never has this course been taught so thoroughly and well. Wheelbarrows, lad- ders, hoppers, chicken coops, benches, tables and other project necessi- ties were built. The boys did all the work even the iron work. A far- mer must needs be a good craftsman and this course is for that reason fundamental.
Incubation, brooding and the care of young chicks, followed by rear- ing, culling and finishing for market or production purposes were the chief subjects considered during the spring and summer. Many of the boys have become very expert poultry men.
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Spring pruning on various local places gave good practice to the older boys. A willingness to take hold and do actual work for exper- ience's sake is a factor that is emphasized by the instructor and the stu- dents for the most part respond readily.
The fall term opened with an enrollment of 20, which was soon in- creased to 28 by the addition of students from the Veterans' Bureau Fed- eral Board for Vocational Education. These are men who have served over seas and because of certain and varying injuries to their health must seek their living out of doors. They chose agriculture as a voca- tion and were accordingly sent to us for training.
These men are receiving regular project training with special refer- ence to the kind of farming that they are going to specialize in. Most of them have chosen fruit and poultry.
The department is assisting those who have no land to locate suitable farms and has been fairly successful thus far. These special students put in a full day in and outside of regular classes.
In training these veterans to become self supporting useful citizens the department is doing one of its best pieces of work. The Federal Board has highly recommended the department for the excellence of its work.
Numerous visitors made pilgrimages from distant points to Reading to look over our department and methods. Among those who found our work satisfactory was Prof. Works of Cornell and his class of advanced students in agricultural education.
The fact that several new agricultural departments were added to the fairly large number already established in Massachusetts shows what is in the public mind. We need more trained farmers to produce our food.
I wish to express my thanks to all those who have so readily co- operated in making this year a success and especially do I thank you for your ever ready advice and guiding hand.
Respectfully submitted,
RUDOLPH SUSSMANN.
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REPORT OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Mr. Adelbert L. Safford, Supt. of Schools, Reading, Mass.
Dear Mr. Safford :- Allow me to present to you my second annual report of the Junior High School.
The work of our school has gone on with its usual smoothness this year, without much change in methods, subjects, or teachers. In Sep- tember the school proved to be so large that it was found necessary to secure another teacher, and Mrs. Anna Reck was employed. She came into the school with a thorough knowledge of the work and the place, having served us efficiently many times in the past.
Some new features which were introduced last year into our schedule have proved to be stimulating in a marked degree. Our club work is entered into with great enthusiasm by the pupils, and is just as effective in the development of self-reliance as we had hoped. The social organization of each of the eight groups in our school has been found to be helpful to the smooth movement of classes, and is teaching our boys and girls how to assume community responsibility, and how to direct others in work and games.
We are all greatly impressed with results front our scheme of the socialized recitation. This plan, united with project method of teaching, which is carried on by some of our teachers, is surely developing in our children a greater power in independent study, and an enjoyment of real research which no other methods have yet achieved. Much favorable comment has been made upon these features by several visiting educators from abroad.
In the last few years our school has received some valuable gifts which have not been publicly acknowledged, and we feel that the oppor- tunity to do so is now offered. The class of 1921, which graduated last June, presented to the school a very handsome and valuable clock for our assembly hall. They also secured a second-hand printing press, for use in our industrial plant.
This fall the question arose as to where this press should be set up Then the boys of the manual training classes undertook to partition off a room from the girls' playroom in the basement. Under the direction of Mr. Fancy, our manual director, a very comfortable room was made, well lighted and heated. The place has since been equipped with electric lighting. The entire cost of this work, about fifty dollars, has been paid by the school, without calling upon the school department to finance it.
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The class of 1920 made a remarkable effort to raise money, and presented to the school a set of six hundred lantern slides, costing two hundred seventy dollars. These slides have proved invaluable in the teaching of nature, science, geography and history. An excellent lantern was secured by the school some years ago, and it is in almost daily use in our science room.
Visitors from out of town are always much impressed by the works of art which decorate the walls of our class rooms. It may interest the public to know that more than two thousand dollars have been spent in the purchase of pictures and plaster casts for this decorative scheme. Something less than two hundred dollars of this has been given by individuals. The remainder was secured by the work of teachers and children. None of this expenditure has come from the school funds of the town.
When we returned to school in September, and found our assembly hall in a new dress of grey and ivory, put on during the summer, we realized that most of our plaster casts were too dingy and smoked to look well against the dainty background. Many of them had been in place for twenty-five years. With their usual loyalty and earnestness, our teachers avowed themselves willing to assume the securing of more funds, with which to pay for the cleaning and refinishing. So we secured the expert service of a professional, and the casts have all been restored to their original freshness. The cost of this work, nearly a hundred dollars, is being earned by the teachers and pupils.
We venture with some hesitation to touch upon the topic of our very large classes. This trouble is probably the keenest thorn in the minds of most of our teachers. This year our junior high school numbered two hundred and ninety. Next fall, by the most conservative estimate, there will be three hundred and twenty in the school. Where shall we put them? We have, in which to seat them, only six rooms with cloak rooms, with sufficient ventilation. The number of desks and chairs available is about two hundred ninety. It certainly looks as if we must face a serious problem next fall.
I cannot close this report without calling attention to Reading's good fortune in retaining in the school our very efficient corps of teachers, whose steady, quiet, forceful work through the weeks and months is producing definite results in the boys and girls under their care. Visitors who come to our school looking for teachers are ever ready to recognize their superior merit. We are to be congratulated that so far our "plant" here has proved more attractive to our workers than any other offered them.
Respectfully submitted,
ALICE BARROWS.
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REPORT OF SCHOOL NURSE
Mr. Adelbert L. Safford, Reading, Mass.
Dear Sir :- I herewith submit to you the first annual report of the School Nurse for the year ending December 31, 1921.
Medical inspection has been carried on in Reading since 1909, but it was not until October, 1920, that this work was supplemented by that of the School Nurse. The local Red Cross introduced school nursing at that time and carried the work along until September, 1921, when it was taken over by the town under the direction of the School Committee. Possibly no way of introducing a new service can rival that which is first undertaken by a local organization composed as it is of citizens who have become inter- ested in the work and later form a background of support for the new work. The Reading Red Cross as well as the Tuberculosis Committee have assisted in a great many ways, not only by their co-operation but through them much material relief has been effected. Glasses, tonsil operations, milk for underweight children, and dental work have been paid for by these organizations.
The work of the School Nurse may for analysis be divided roughly into four phases, school visits, home visits, correction of physical defects, and, lastly, but probably most important of all, health education.
The work in the schools includes inspection for the detection of contagions and physical defects, weighing and measuring the children, talks to pupils in class and the introduction of such measures as will stimulate the children to play the game of Good Health. In the matter of physical defects Reading was not found wanting, although a decided improvement has been noted in the number of dental defects and seventy-six tonsil cases have been operated upon this past year.
Closely linked up with the work in the schools is the equally important home visiting. I have made 601 visits to the homes of children, thus bringing a closer connection between the home and the school. While the nurse may be asked to visit any child who is frequently absent, one who has overstayed his exclusion period or where the sanitary home conditions are questionable, the follow-up of physical defects constitutes the greatest number of home visits. In all cases the parents are advised of the defect and urged to have it attended to. Where it is impossible for the parents to do so through lack of time or funds the work is done by me through the various Boston clinics and the Reading Dental Clinic.
During the year I have conducted classes in Home Nursing and Mothercraft and have assisted Miss Lewis with her class in Hygiene in the
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High School. Through the Modern Health Crusade, health posters and games, class room talks, health education has been carried on in the schools.
The mid-morning lunch in four of the schools and the hot noon lunch in the High, Highland, and Centre Schools have facilitated the work among the underweight. The need for more work along nutritional lines, especially among the children 10% or more underweight, is apparent and is something to look forward to in the near future.
The above is an outline of my work as School Nurse, which in itself would be of little use, were it not for the various co-operating agencies at work for the health of the community as their ultimate goal. In closing may I submit a diagram of these agencies and thank you for your interest and co-operation in the health program.
Respectfully submitted,
MABEL M. BROWN, School Nurse.
December 31, 1921.
1
HEALTH WORK IN READING SCHOOLS
SCHOOL NURSE
1
SCHOOL LUNCHES HOT NOON LUNCH IN 3 SCHOOLS MID- MORNING LUNCH IN 4 SCHOOLS
CLINIC WORK READING DENTAL CLINIC HOSPITAL CLINIC IN BOSTON
SCHOOL PHYSICIAN MONTHLY INSPECTION FOR CONTAGION AND PHYSICAL DEFECTS
MONTHLY WEIGHING OF UNDERWEIGHT CHILDREN
V
PHYSICAL TRAINING IN ALL SCHOOLS
FOLLOW UP WORK IN THE HOMES
1
INTENSIVE WORK IN HIGHLANO AND HIGH SCHOOL5
HEALTH WORK
HEALTH EDUCATION MODERN HEALTH CRUSADE CLASSES IN HYGIENE HOME NURSING AND MOTHERCRAFT
PHYSICALS FOR CHILDREN REFERRED BY SCHOOL NURSE
HEALTH TALKS IN SCHOOLS
PHYSICAL EXAM FOR PUPILS ON BALL TEAMS
CLASSES IN HOME NURSING AND MOTHERGRAFT
COOPERATING AGENCIES READING RED CROSS READING TUBERCULOSIS LEAGUE LOCAI + STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH MASS. TUBERCULOSIS LEAGUE CHILD WELFARE ORGANIZATION
1
PARENT TEACHERS ASSOCIATION
ACCOMPANYING CHILDREN TO HOSPITAL CLINICS.
MENTAL-HYCIENE
ACTIVE IN TWO SCHOOLS
DAILY INSPECTION IN CASE OF EPIDEMIC.
WEIGHING AND MEASURING CHILDREN
1
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REPORT ON STANDARDS AND GUIDANCE
.
Mr. A. L. Safford, Supt. of Schools, Reading, Mass.
Dear Sir :- At your request, I herewith submit my second annual report of my work in "Standards and Guidance."
Dr. Payson Smith, State Commissioner of Education, in a recent address declares that the chief concern of the teacher is the interest of the individual child. In so far as I am able,-with the child's interest, the parents' cooperation, and the untiring efforts of the teacher,-I try to meet the needs of the individual boy and girl in our public schools.
My program takes me to each of the following schools each week :- Union St., Center School, Lowell St., Prospect St., Chestnut Hill, High- land, Grades 5 and 6.
In addition to this work, I give personal help daily to individual pupils of the Junior High School,-the equivalent of two periods each day at the time when the grade schools are not in session, average of fifty pupils per week.
Teacher's ratings of the regular work of the grade, combined with personal qualifications, physical health and achievement in certain standard group tests which help to measure the pupil's general ability plus nis skill in the fundamental subjects of reading, arithmetic, spelling and penmanship are a fair criterion for judgment in the promotion and grading of the individual pupil. These records of last year and this year will be kept for a complete developmental record of each pupil as he goes from the first grade of the Primary through to High School work. They will estimate fairly his capacity and the special abilities which may be capitalized for future effort and power whether the pupil continues in school or goes out into the world to seek a vocation.
A permanent yearly record of work is also kept. This is made up from the pupils's classroom work near the close of the year. The pupil selects work from his various daily exercises to file away. These demon- strate as accurately as possible the quality and character of the every day work of the child before he goes to the next grade.
"Beat my own record" is our slogan. The reports of the boys and girls show that they are proud of living up to its meaning. Often when they meet me on the street they tell me how well they succeed in "beating their own record." This is the stamp which I am using, when looking over the pupil's work from week to week and from month to month.
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OWI
MY
RECORD
BEAT
READING PUBLIC SCHOOLS
EXCE
WORK
In June, when our schoo's closed, by means of these records and extra programs of work in individual cases we had been able to give thirty-five (35) double promotions and had saved half as many more for fair and good standing on entrance to the next grade by individual attention in "follow up" work.
In many cases the pupils were over-age for the grade. In some cases home environment, the maturity of the child, and his native ability and capacity justified advancement.
Not one of these boys or girls has failed to do good work in the grade of this year.
When schools opened in September, 1921, I knew the standing of each over-age child in each grade and the factors which had made his progress slow,-moving fiom place to place to be enrolled in many different schools, irregularity of attendance in first grades, attendance at non-public schools, non-English speaking parents. All these facts helped to bring about an indifference toward school and make for slow progress. In September, I also knew just what boys and girls needed guidance and special help at home, from the teacher and from me. The factors here in these cases were weakness in some subject, absence, illness during a part of the year, and first attendance in the Reading schools.
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