Reed, Director of the Extension Division at the

University of Nebraska explained the development of the plan to the University Extension Association in 1932. In his presentation he had the following to say:'

: "In recent years calls have been coming from superintendents of schools for courses that could be used to supplement the programs of the local high schools. The. recognition of individual

differences was causing school authorities to ..try....

to increase their limited range of subjects.

Individual problems of adjustment where students were irregular in their curriculum needed; special attention. School people began using correspondence courses for such purposes.

"It soon ‘became evident that our ordinary correspondence courses were not well adapted to high school age or to school use. In an effort to meet the needs of the small schools that were having difficult problems in making proper

curriculum adjustments, Dr. K. 0. Broady, of the Department of School Administration of the

Teachers College was secured to co-operate ex­

perimentally in developing new types of courses better adapted to students of high school age—

courses with a technique of administration better fitted to classroom conditions. The superintendent of a small high school in northern Nebraska entered into the experiment in 1929-30, and undertook to carry in his school a few modified courses.

"The second year eight schools joined the

experiment. This year (1931-32) some forty schools have been using one or more courses as a part of the movement. It has been necessary to discourage some schools from undertaking the plan because of lack of courses adapted to their needs."

During the school year 1933-34 there were one hundred and twenty-three schools served by the University of

Nebraska. Twice as many registrations were received and

"five times as many individual courses were distributed."

"During the past school year, 1934-35, more than 200 schools were served. Again more than twice as many registrations were received during this year as were received during the entire ; previous school year. In addition to registrations from schools in Nebraska, there were registrations from schools in South Dakota, Kansas, Iowa, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Virginia, Michigan, and

New York." During the first semester of the school year 1935-36, the registrations were almost as great as they were for the entire preceding year.

Over 250 schools were served." 15

5.4

A . A .

University Extension Association, Proceedings. Vol.15, p. 68 ff. (1932)

15. "Supervised Correspondence Study." University Extension : News, University of N e b r a s k a . V o l . 16, No. 25,

February N, 1936.

Director Reed said that the success of the Nebraska plan was made possible through financial assistance from the outside. Quoting from him again:

" By the middle of the first semester of the present school year (1931-32), the drain upon the financial resources of the Extension division was reaching a point that called for a moratorium,

if not for a cancellation of obligation....Then a grant of $5,000 was received from the Carnegie

Corporation and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. This saved the day, and gave to the movement such extension of life as to make possible the determination of at least a few:

features of vital interest to correspondence study.

"When the financial aid was received, Mr. Earl T. Platt, who had co-operated.in the first:experiment, in 1929-30, and who had since been giving part time to the experiment while serving as principal of the Havelock High School, Lincoln, accepted the position of Assistant Director of the University Extension Division, in charge of Supervised Correspondence Study, and on January 1, 1932, began giving full time to the work. Since that time the experiment has been moving forward in a very encouraging manner..,." 16

The entire life of the experiment has been accompanied by a very definite program of improvement in instructional materials. Such improvement is carefully checked against a set of criteria. These are listed on pages 113 to 115 of this study.

Equipment and Mechanical Set-up: In the two hundred and fifty high schools using the Nebraska correspondence courses,.many methods of administering the program have been tried, as far as the physical equipment and mechanical

-Lb. Reed, A.A.. op. clt., p. 69.

set-up are concerned.

In some cases no more equipment is needed than the study hall of the high school, or at most the study hall and the library. In other cases the assembly room may he used instead of a classroom as a place for study. In still other instances, where there are sufficient pupils enrolled in correspondence study, a special room is set aside for their use alone. In such cases there is usually a small library of essential reference books and a teacher’s or supervisor’s file of the correspondence work.

Where equipment for laboratory courses is available, and an instructor responsible for such equipment is avail­

able, the activities of the correspondence students are widened into the science department or the manual arts and industrial arts shops. '

One of the most common laboratory courses offered by correspondence is typewriting. The regular commercial equipment'of the school is used in such instances. Some­

times, as in Chester, Nebraska, all of the typewriting offered is done by correspondence. :

-Under, the Chester plan a small number of typewriters, at a small cost, can be made to serve a large number of students, and can be utilized during the entire day rather 17. Broady, Knute 0. , Platt, Earl 9)., and Moomey, Dean.

nThe Chester Six-Year High School." University of Nebraska Publication, Educational Monographs. No. 7, p. 34. (April, 1935)

than for only a few periods each day.

Supervision; The problem of supervision of supervised correspondence study involves the equipment and mechanical set-up discussed in the preceding paragraphs, the local supervisor, the problems of the students, and the nature of the courses themselves. The courses, their scope and nature, will be treated in a separate section. :

Three common methods of supervision are used under the Nebraska plan by various schools. These methods are

described by H. F. Stone of the University of Nebraska in a paper before the University Extension Association.

"a. In the small high school the most generally accepted procedure is for the student to do his

supervised correspondence work during free periods under the supervision of the study hall or assembly teacher. A variation from the plan consists in

having a definite period during which all supervised correspondence study is carried on in the assembly or study hall under the supervision of the teacher in charge.

”b. Some schools place the pupils under the supervision of the teacher who:is best prepared to supervise the subject for which the pupil is an assembly or study hall without the immediate aid of the supervisor. In the latter case, the student must seek the assistance of the supervisor before or after school.

”c. In the larger schools and in the smaller ones where supervised correspondence study is used relatively extensively a certain teacher is

especially designated as the supervisor. A class­

room (sometimes two adjoining rooms) is set aside

and especially equipped for supervised correspon­

dence study. The supervisor is supplied with desk, files, and other necessary equipment. The pupils often have individual tables or large top desks.

Storage space is built into the room to care for ■:;

the usual array of laboratory equipment which a sizeable department of supervised correspondence study soon accumulates. In these cases the

supervisor is expected to spend his full time for the assigned periods, in supervision. The super­

visor must be acquainted with the different

supervised correspondence centers and with their various courses. He assumes the responsibility for being an expert adviser_in the field of super- vised correspondence study. In this respect he becomes an important factor in the general guidance program of the.school." 18

An understanding of the duties of a supervisor under the Nebraska system can be best obtained, perhaps, by care­

fully examining the instructions which are given to the supervisor at the time a course is undertaken. These instructions are below. ' :