The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1916-09-28
Macdonald Sends Out
Annual School Report


dated schools has just been issued by
N. C. Macdonald. 1t was printed and
bound by the Times-Record, as it has
been for several years past. Free
copies of it will be sent out on request
to Mr.. Macdonald at Valley City as
long as the supply lasts. 1t shows the
great value of standardization (the
grading up to meet modern standards)
of rural schools and their consolida-
ton, as the two chief factors in solv.
ing the rural school problem.
In the report is given list showing
by counties the number of standard
lied (classifed) rural elementary
schools in the state. There are 439
such schools. This represents the very
large increase of 270 over the first
classification made in 1912. In the
total number classified Walsh county
heads the list with SO, Grand Forks is
second with "a and Williams is third
with 70. In the number Of one-room
rural schools classified Grand Forks
county is first with %, Walsh is Sec
: ond with 26, and Williams third with
: FL. In the number Of graded schools
classified Walsh county Is first with
seven. Barnes, Benson and Grand
Forks are second with four each, and
Bottineau, LaMoure and Morton are
third with three each. In the matter
! Of the graded consolidated schools
: classified Bottineau county is first with
! eight, ToWner is second with seven
and LaMoure, McHenry, Nelson, Ran
som and Williams are third with six
, each. On the whole this is a good
showing and when it is known that the
i majority of the other counties have
nearly as good a record, it is an ex-
cellent showing.
This improvement indicated here
has extended tlso to practically
all other one-room schools not CLASH
fed, though not to the same extent, as
is shown by the fact that when COM
pared with five years ago the number
of normal school graduates teaching
in these schools is three times great
err that there is an increase of five in
the actual percent of attendance, that
the term is 20 days longer and that
approximately 10000 more farm boys
of the compulsory school age attend
ed school last year from two or three
months longer in the term. All this
i is highly gratifying, but it is in the
! field Of consolidation that the great
est progress has been made.
In the report is given a list that
shows the number of consolidated
schools by counties. This shows that
there are now 401 consolidated schools
in the state, ISL being open country
! and ESQ town consolidated schools, and
all counties being represented but one.
This represents an increase OF PSI
school in five years, or an average in
crease of over 81 per cent as against
an increase of less than year when
there was no state aid and when there
was no special campaign to further
their growth. The counties of Nc
| Henry and Williams tie for first place
with IS each, Cass is second with II,
and Cavalier, Ramsey and Towner tie
for third place with 16 each. The ma.
jority Of the other counties also make
splendid showing in this respect. 1t
is pointed out that this marvellous
growth shows that consolidation is
long past the experimental stage, and
that while the standard consolidated
school costs more yet the people be-
AlCNC C11dC IL ID WOA Ill IL, d1oO LudC
North Dakota now stands second
among the states of the union in the
number of consolidated schools, and
in proportion to it's population it
heads the list.
Some of the major benefits of con- !
solidation are given in this report. For
instance, it is shown that the high
school enrolment of farm children in
these schools for the past five years
has gone from $50 to 2455, giving an
average increase Of SO per cent per
year as against per cent under the
old system; that these schools have
trebled the number of eighth grade
graduates, have an increase of Is in
the per cent of attendance, and have
in their service some 1000 more we'll
trained teachers, when compared with
the One-rOOm rural schools that they
supplanted.
1t is contended by Inspector Mac
donald, who has had this work in
special charge for the past five years,
that the great need now is for more
state funds to aid these rural schools
and more assistance in the field of
rural school inspection to further this
work; for there is much more to be
done before the rural school is as eff
cient in its field as is the city school
in it's field. For among other things
there are over 1000 consolidated
schools yet to be organized, over 1000
one-room rural schools in great need
of improvement while waiting for con-
solidation, nearly 1000 rural school
teachers to be much better trained
for their work, and over $4,000 farm
boys and girls to be provided with high
school privileges now denied them. He
says that it is now clearly demonstrate
ed that the Improvement of rural
schools, on scale not other wise pos
sible, lies along the lines of Standard
ization (the grading up to meet mod
ern standards) of these rural schools
everywhere and their consolidation
wherever practicable; and that the ex-
tent of Standardization and consolida-
ton depends largely on the amount of
state aid and the effectiveness of a
special educational campaign carried
on by the state. The Inspector sum-
marizes the whole subject by stating
that what is needed is a new deal and
a square deal for the rural school.