ance at the summer sessions of the leading universities of the United States, but the effects of such training were clearly manifest in the reports of testing work undertaken individually and under the direction of the Indiana University Bureau of Research. All concerned are to be complimented on the start made in this field of work.

The addresses of Dr. S. A. Courtis, director of the Department of Educational Research, Detroit, and Dr. Leonard P. Ayres, director of the Division of Education of the Russell Sage Foundation, New York, were of espcial interest and value. The forme discussed "Supervisory Control by Means of Objective Standards," "Limitation of Training," and "Educational Diagnosis." The latter discussed "Making Education Definite."

"The Measurement of Educational Processes and Products," and "A Survey of School Surveys."

The spirit of these conferences conferences seems to be that scientific investigation, supported by actual data, shall constitute the working basis of means and methods to be employed in the schools. No matter what some teacher or teachers may think about a situation, but what are the facts and by what means have they been tested? No more of off-hand guessing as to attainment in this or that subject, or an impression of the teacher as to the mental ability of the boys and girls, but the application of some test for this ability, reached through some method of testing that may give a reasonably fair and accurate measure, for example, such as the Binet-Simon.

tests.

A SUGGESTION. Superintendent Lamson, of Jasper county, makes the suggestion that if more teachers would secure state license, including music, adjustments between counties having too many teachers and those having too few could be more readily made, and to the convenience and satisfaction of all. From experience we think the suggestion a very good one.

TRAINING OF TEACHERS FOR THE PRACTICAL ARTS SUBJECTS.

The second annual conference for the consideration of this training for the teaching in the regular public schools was held in the office of the

Department of Public Instruction, April 6. Superintendent Greathouse, chairman. R. J. Leonard, of Indiana University, was elected secretary. The following were present: W. E. Stone, P. A. Reid and J. G. Collicott, Members of State Board of Education; C. A. Greathouse, W. F. Book, Z. M. Smith, Adelaide S. Baylor, of the State Department of Public Instruction; Mabel T. Wellman, R. J. Leonard, Indiana University; M. L. Laubach, State Normal; L. L. Summers, M. D. Kelly, H. T. Blodgett, Muncie Normal Institute; R. F. Ratcliff, C. E. Miller, Maud Campbell, J. W. Laird, Central Normal College; A. Jones, Marion Normal; E. A. Hanley, Franklin College; W. P. Dearing, W. B. Anderson, Oakland City College; Elsie Marshall, Paul H. Brown, Earlham College; Ruth Patterson, Eliza A. Blaker, Elizabeth Downhour, Anna L. Fern, Indianapolis Teachers' College; Otho Winger, Manchester Col

lege; E. Jordon, Butler College; H. K. Brown, Florence Swan, H. F. Black, Valparaiso College; Jonathan Rigdon, Winona College; W. A. Millis, Hanover College.

The general feeling of those present seemed to be that the course outlines presented for discussion should be more definite and concrete, in order that teachers of the various classes and subjects would know exactly the preparation required, and that those pursuing a course at one institution should receive credit for the work covered upon entering another institution.

ROSCOE A. CHASE.

By Mrs. Mame Kleineschmidt, Ply

mouth.

Roscoe A. Chase, who died at Ply

mouth, Indiana, March 9, was one of

Indiana's pioneer educators, whose original methods of school management were often discussed in the educational journals of this and other

states.

In 1870, at the age of twenty-two, he was made Superintendent of the Plymouth Schools and remained in charge until 1903, a period of thirtythree years. When he took control of these schools, they enrolled scarcely a hundred pupils, while twice that number were enrolled in the two private schools, because of the lack of discipline in the public schools. At the end of six months, Mr. Chase had so improved conditions that his enrollment was doubled.

He immediately organized a high school, whose first class was graduated in 1876.

Many times he received offers from

larger places, twice being appointed principal of Chicago schools, but his life was so wrapped up in the schools he had virtually created that he refused one and all.

So great was the confidence of the people in his ability that he was given perfect freedom in handling the schools, which he brought into national prominence, by his original methods.

From 1885 the Plymouth schools were visited by educators from all over the country, and one teacher recalls a week in which school superintendents from seven states were visitors.

was

Long before such a device placed upon the market, he originated and brought into use signal system, which regulated times

an automatic

of intermissions and dismissals; mak

ing with his own hands the controlling clock, and himself wiring the buildings.

He believed in individual instruction, holding that each pupil should be handled in the manner which best suited his temperament.

He observed that in many cases, teachers, in trying to bring the slower pupils up to a grade standard, were giving most of their time to them, thereby neglecting the brighter and more alert pupils. This, he considered unfair, and it was never permitted in his schools.

Thoroughness and drill in primary and intermediate work he held essential, and with this end in view, he placed many subjects higher up in the curriculum than they were placed in other schools. Technical grammar was taught in the High School, as was

physiology, which followed a course in chemistry.

To attain the degree of accuracy which he required, he personally conducted the examinations and graded the papers of all pupils from the first grade through the High School. To one not acquainted with his methods, and knowing that in later years the schools enrolled as high as eight hundred pupils, this would seem well nigh impossible. But his system of examinations reduced the labor to a minimum, he being able to give one in a very few minutes instead of taking at least a quarter of a day, as is usually done. To do this, his own High School recitations, there being often six a day, were heard after the grade pupils were dismissed.

Mr. Chase seemed to have an instinctive knowledge of methods of instruction, and with a few words of explanation he smoothed the way for many a teacher having trouble with methods.

Foreign languages were never taught in his school, since he considered that they were not necessary to the successful education of most people. Himself a fine Latin and Greek scholar, he never urged these subjects upon his pupils. He always strongly advocated that the public schools were maintained for the mass of the people, and not for the favored few.

During the Marshall County Teachers' Institute of August, 1912, it was noted and commented upon by the teachers that many of the theories advanced by the instructors and specialists employed for that occasion, as being adopted by progressive educators of today, were almost identical with those advocated and followed by

Mr. Chase in his schools fifteen to twenty years previously. One idea particularly emphasized was that the public school is not essentially a "feeder" for the colleges and universities, but an educational institution complete in itself.

In the selection of his teachers he chose personality, rather than scholarship or normal training. Having become satisfied of their ability, he placed few restrictions upon them, allowing much freedom in methods of instruction. He gave them a carefully planned course of study, and held them responsible only for results. He insisted upon teachers and pupils keeping busy throughout the entire school day. No teacher was required to follow a prescribed program, but was permitted to take advantage of the mood of the school.

To his teachers he gave much credit for his success, and since his retirement spoke frequently of his deep appreciation of their loyalty, and of their earnest efforts to carry out his ideas.

He was a tireless worker and never saved himself. No sacrifice was too great for him to make if it promoted the success of the school system.

He spent at least eleven months of each of the thirty-three years at the school building. His office light burned night after night, and passersby often noted his familiar figure bending over his desk until long after midnight.

Such a strenuous life broke him down early, and for more than four years he had been an invalid.

He never lost interest in schools, and to the last knew what was going on in the educational world.

He was not in sympathy with the present day views on vocational education, and deplored the tendency to depart from the so-called liberal education. Vocational education, he characterized as teaching a few "tricks" which might fit one to hold a somewhat better "dead-end" position. He maintained that a liberal education trained the mind so that it could master the problems of life without the help of "tricks."

A very short time before his death, in discussing school questions with a former co-worker, he said, "If after my many failures and successes, I have any message to leave to teachers, it is this: First, put yourself in the child's place, and then remember that 'the letter killeth, but the spirit maketh alive.""

CAN YOU BEAT THIS RECORD? The rural school one mile south of Kentland, Newton county, known the county over as "Number Ten," closed Friday, April twenty-third, with one of the highest. if not the highest record of attendance in the state. The school has an enrollment of twenty

five pupils, the majority of whom live. over a mile and a half from school. Twenty-one of the twenty-five pupils have never been absent a minute during the entire term of eight months, and the per cent. of attendance stands 99.7+. Samuel E. Molter, of Kentland, has taught the school for four years, and each year the per cent. of attendance has been above 99. Mr. Molter has given eighty-two Honor Rolls for attendance during his period as teacher, only withholding two during the four years. He has also given seven solid gold medals to pupils having five consecutive Honor Rolls. One boy has a perfect attendance for five years; another one-half day's absence in seven years. The school has not had a single case of tardiness for three and a half years. The school has also made a record in another line. Each year Newton county holds a spelling contest to which the three best spellers in each township are sent. Number Ten forged to to the front the first year by sending all three contestants. They have the township contest each year except the third, when they lost first but won second and third.

won