1. National Survey of Secondary Education. Bulletin, 1932, No. 17. Monograph No. 16: Interpreting the Secondary School to the Public
- Author
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United States Department of the Interior, Office of Education (ED) and Farley, Belmont
- Abstract
Because of the extensive and sometimes costly expansions in the educational offering of the rapidly growing secondary schools, the present need for interpretation is probably more insistent at this level of the educational ladder than at any other. It will be helpful to those in charge of secondary education to know what high schools are doing to interpret their work to the public, and how they are doing it. This investigation of programs of interpretation was made to: (1) describe the policies and practices of publicity in a few selected secondary schools; (2) to secure information on the frequency with which these policies and practices are followed in a larger number of secondary schools in which educational interpretation is emphasized; and (3) to estimate the effectiveness of certain programs and mediums of interpretation in use. To describe the policies and practices of publicity in a few selected secondary schools, an investigation was made of the complete interpretation programs of six junior and senior high schools in Denver, Colorado; Cleveland, Ohio; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Kansas City, Missouri. To learn how generally the practices of publicity followed by the six schools studied in detail are employed by schools active in educational interpretation, responses to an inquiry form of approximately 250 items were secured from 160 public junior and senior high schools selected with the assistance of State and city school officials. A rather unusual part of the investigation was concerned with a questionnaire sent to parents in the schools of the four cities. The replies indicated that there was practically no difference between fathers and mothers in their knowledge of what went on in school. This is a surprise to many people who assume that since the mothers attend the parent-teacher meetings much more frequently than the fathers do they are far better informed on the schools their children attend. It was found that the amount of knowledge a parent has of the school seems to be directly proportional to the length of time the child has been in school. This bulletin is divided into five chapters, as follows: (1) The Background and Method of Inquiry; (2) Policies and Practices in Selected Schools of Four Cities; (3) Policies and Practices in 160 Selected Secondary Schools; (4) The Effectiveness of Programs of Interpretation; and (5) Summary and Conclusion. (Contains 5 tables, 28 figures, and 46 footnotes.) [Best copy available has been provided.]
- Published
- 1933