full share of the responsibility for discipline throughout the years of school attendance.

17. The teaching profession itself has a responsibility for (a) conformance to high ethical and professional standards, (b) the disciplining of its own members, when needed, and (c) the elimination of the unqualified, for whatever reasons. To this latter end the first 2 or 3 years of classroom service should be regarded with the utmost care; hand in hand with the improvement of conditions for the successful teacher must go the protection of children from those who fail to justify their continuance in the teaching service. Tenure must not be attained at the expense of good teaching.

18. The employment of teachers should be determined only on the basis of the applicants' suitability for the profession. There should be no discrimination on account of national origin, race, sex, marital status, place of residence, or religious affiliation.

19. To attract into teaching service persons who are adequately prepared, to stimulate the interest of others with aptitude for teaching, and to retain successful teachers for life careers, school administrators, with the support of their school boards, have primary responsibility to see that there are provided :

(a) A truly competitive beginning salary level.

(b) Increased range from beginning to ultimate salary. (c) Fringe benefits comparable to those of other occupations, in addition to adequate salaries.

(d) More adequate assistance with routine tasks not requiring professional skill.

(e) Sincere, understanding support in meeting disciplinary problems.

(f) Reasonable limitation of extracurricular activity, lunchroom, and similar nonprofessional assignments.

(g) Class size conducive to the achievement of established educational goals.

(h) Facilities and equipment appropriate to the subject being taught.

(i) Teaching assignments consonant with the teacher's preparation and professional interest.

(j) Creative policies of school administration, including welldefined personnel policies.

(k) Sound policies of induction into service and stimulation to professional growth throughout the teacher's career.

(7) Opportunities for professional advancement to special, supervisory, and administrative posts.

20. Efforts to improve the status of the teacher-and the teaching profession-should be recognized as a two-way responsibility. Teachers should respond to opportunities for participation in the gamut

of activities which comprise the life of the community. They should not seek to withdraw or to be aloof. They should lend their talents and their efforts in exactly the same way and to the same extent that they expect other responsible citizens to do. The community, in turn, should accept the teacher as a normal, responsible, interested citizen, eligible to assume the same rights and privileges which citizens in general claim for themselves. The improved status of the teacher cannot be attained by proclamation or edict. It springs from a basis of mutual good will, understanding, and appreciation.

21. Both elementary and high schools should strengthen their programs of instruction about the American school system. All children should come to know and understand the vital role of education in the life and progress of a free, competitive society. A study of the organization, objectives, financing, and administration of the schools should be conducted as preparation for intelligent, participating citizenship in the community, the State, and the Nation. A proper place in the curriculum for the study of the American educational system should be recognized as a logical means of discovering and encouraging the interest of elementary and high school students in teaching as an occupation.

22. Much more research should be directed to getting and keeping enough good teachers. Sufficient funds should be provided for the United States Office of Education, and that agency should assume primary responsibility (a) in conducting research directly; (b) in contracting with agencies, professional organizations, and others qualified to do effective research; and (c) in stimulating, encouraging, and coordinating a continuous program of study at all levels of government. Needless duplication or interruption of studies should be avoided, and research findings should be distributed quickly to all interested persons.

Table 1.—Total number of college graduates; total number prepared to teach in elementary school; total number prepared to teach in high school; percent change since 1950

Table 2.-Total number of bachelor's degree graduates, number and percent of total prepared to teach, 1948-55

Chart 1.-Number of bachelor's degree graduates, separately by sex and in total, 1938-48 biennially, and 1949-55 annually

Source: U. S. Office of Education biennial and annual reports on earned degrees conferred.

How Can We Finance Our Schools-Build and Operate

Them?

As has been pointed out in other sections of this report, the American people want and need not only more schools, but better schools. To meet these needs we must spend more money.

Most fiscal experts agree that we have the resources to provide more schools and teachers and to raise minimum standards of education. They also agree that education is an investment, that expenditures for schools raise the economic productivity as well as the cultural level of any people. The question before the Nation, therefore, is, how can we best utilize our resources for our elementary and secondary schools?

Historically, we have assigned to the States primary responsibility for public education. As has been pointed out in the section on school organization, the States have subdivided themselves into a wide variety of administrative units, or school districts, to provide the direct services of our elementary and secondary schools. Every State now assists its school districts in financing the costs of their local schools. In recent years, there has been a general trend toward greater State support, but this still ranges from 86 percent in one State to only 6 percent in another. In the average State, 41 percent of school revenues is derived from State support.

As State support has increased, the local share of the total cost has declined in percentage from 80 percent in 1930 to 56 percent in 1953– 54, but the dollar amount of local support has increased.

From a fiscal viewpoint, the school districts of the Nation divide into four groups as follows:

(1) Those which have neither the legal power nor the economic ability to meet their needs.

(2) Those which have the economic ability but not the legal power to finance their needs.

(3) Those which have the legal power but not the economic ability required.

(4) Those which have both the legal power and the economic ability to finance their needs. This latter group, however, divides betweeen those which have the willingness to support education adequately and those less eager to do so.

The States are similarly restricted in their legal power and economic ability to give financial assistance to their school districts.

There have been many studies of school finance, and as a result, much valuable information is available. There is still difficulty in obtaining reliable current information because reports from some of the States, and consequently from the Office of Education, tend to lag from 1 to 2 years. Furthermore, there is difficulty in obtaining complete and comparable information from some States. In spite of this situation, there is sufficient reliable information to permit significant conclusions to be drawn concerning trends, present conditions, and needs.

Range in Local Ability and Effort

There are thousands of children in school systems which can afford only meager educational opportunities, and other thousands in systems with reasonably adequate support. This is due largely to the wide range in ability and willingness to support schools. In most smalldistrict States the most wealthy districts have several hundred times the per capita ability of the least wealthy districts to provide an educational program.

Reorganization of districts in a number of States has helped to reduce the range in ability of local school systems to support schools. Even in large-district States, some districts have from 8 to 10 or more times the ability of others. This means that there are some districts in every State which cannot provide a satisfactory educational program with a reasonable tax effort. While most States have provided some form of financial assistance as a means of alleviating this problem, a number of States are providing such limited assistance that they have made little progress toward a solution. As a result, the people in a number of the less wealthy districts have had to make a very high tax effort to support the schools, and even then some have not been able to provide an adequate program.

The problem of determining the ability of the various local school systems to support their schools is complicated by variations in assessment practices. The evidence indicates that only a few States have an effective plan for equalizing assessments. In many States the property in one county or district may be assessed at 3 or 4 times the ratio used in another. What appears to be a high effort in some districts because of a high tax rate, may not actually be an adequate effort because the assessments in relation to true value are so low. Tax rates are not an accurate gage of tax effort. They have meaning only when related to the proportion of true value at which property is assessed. Even when data are available which can be used in determining equalized value of property, it is evident that in most States there are still extremely wide variations in the ability and effort of local school systems to support schools.