concerning the condition and wants of those institutions which are under the care of the Board. Under the head of the Normal School, in his annual report for 1859, the Superintendent expressed an opinion adverse to the establishment of more State Normal Schools, on the grounds mainly, that our present liberally sustained and excellent institution of this class can be made to supply all present demands for a full course of normal education; and that the large and increasing demand for a shorter course of instruction to fit teachers for the Primary Schools, can be more economically furnished otherwise, viz: by establishing teachers' classes in other institutions. In at least twenty of the Colleges and larger Union Schools, teachers' classes have been organized and instructed the past year. To give more efficiency and, thoroughness to this system of normal instruction, it is recommended that the Superintendent of Public Instruction, with the advice and consent of the State Board of Education, be authorized to select such institutions as may be suitably located and otherwise adapted to this service, not exceeding one for each county, and prescribe a course of normal training and instruction for the Teacher's classes to be taught therein. These classes should be annually subjected to a careful examination by the Superintendent or by examiners appointed by him. By issuing series of printed questions at the time of each examination, the Superintendent could easily determine the character of the examination and make it uniform throughout the State. This would act as a strong incentive to the different institutions to do their work well, as no one would wish to fall behind others in the proficiency and success of its class. If, in addition, the authority were granted to the Superintendent to issue State certificates to the teachers who should have satisfactorily completed the prescribed course and should have given evidence of their fitness as teachers, it would furnish a strong inducement to those who wished to teach, to resort first to these classes for instruction. The State certificate would elevate their standing as teachers, and would also give them facilities in securing employment. As the instruction of these classes, in a prescribed course, would necessarily involve some additional expense to the Schools providing it, some compensation should be allowed them for this service. If the amount due the Primary School Fund from the sale of swamp lands, under the law of 1858, could be appropriated to this important department of the Primary School interests, and the annual proceeds, which would not be less than $3,000 a year, appor tioned among the several Schools, it would probably prove sufficient to induce the organization of as many classes as would be desirable to organize for the next two years. In distributing this fund, all abuse might be guarded against by requiring those entering the Teachers' Classes to sign a certificate of their intention to teach, similar to that given by the students of the State Normal School, and by making the final apportionment, or some part thereof, on the basis of the number who shall have satisfactorily completed the course. The best interests and further progress of the Primary Schools will absolute require some more ample means for the profes sional education of teachers. The demand for better qualified teachers is yearly becoming greater and more imperative, and I can devise no plan more economical and efficient than the one proposed above. PRIMARY SCHOOLS. Inspectors' Reports for the School year ending the last Monday of Sept., 1860, have been received from six hundred and forty-eight townships and cities. This is 20 more than reported last year, and 43 more than the year previous. These reports afford the following statistics: No. of Districts entire and fractional,. . . . . 4,094 Whole number that attended School,. No. under 4 years of age that attended School,.. 192,937 2,409 Total amount paid for teachers' wages,.. Proceeds of Primary School fund, apportioned,.. Amount raised by two mill tax,... ..6.2 2,599 5,342 7,941 $467,286 50 108,823 62 259,557 08 Amount raised to build or repair School-houses,.. 301,085 19 rate bill,..... 67,484 88 1,785 $1,505,616 34 124,623 37 Received from fines, &c., for support of libraries, 6,375 77 Whole No. of meetings of Inspectors in 589 towns, 3,425 Amount paid Boards of Inspectors,... $5,680 52 No of visits made the schools in 481 towns,. 4,506 $2,297 10 Amount paid visiting Inspectors,.. Several townships have made no reports. Their reports would somewhat increase the above figures. A great improvement has been made in the fulness and promptness of the reports over those of former years, but they still fail to afford complete and reliable returns under several of the heads. Of the townships reporting, 42 fail to report the two-mill tax; 75 fail to report any library, either township or district; and several fail to report any teachers employed, any values of School property, or any item of Inspectors' services. The gros8 amount of district taxes raised, probably far exceeds the amount reported. The reports show a remarkable increase in several items over the previous year. The number of districts has increased 126. The increase in the number of children between 4 and 18 years of age, is 9,143. The increase in the number attending school, is 9,178. The increase in the average number of months of School is six-tenths, the average length of the Schools last year being 5.6 months, while this year it is 6.2 months. This is certainly a gratifying result. The number of districts reporting no rate bills, and which are therefore put down as free schools, is 1,785, or more than two-fifths of all the districts in the State. The amount of money raised by rate bills is $37,384 32 less than was thus raised in 1859. A much larger deduction may be expected the next year, many of the districts having assessed and collected rate bills on the winter schools, before the amount to be received from the two-mill tax was known. It is to be hoped that this item will soon nearly disappear from our reports. The amount raised to build or repair School-houses was $21,113 92 more than was raised for this purpose in 1859, while the increase in the value of the School property reported was $412,320 04. The amount now reported, $1,505,616 34, is probably a near approximation to the value of the Primary School-houses and sites in the State. The product of the two-mill tax, as reported, was $259,557.08. If to this is added the Primary School Interest money apportioned, the amount will be $367,876 99, or nearly $100,000 less than was paid for teachers' wages during the year. If, however, we deduct from this difference the amounts raised by special tax, and paid to teachers in the cities and large Union School Districts, the result would show that the Primary Schools of the State might be made nearly or quite free, from these two sources, for nearly six months in the year. The amount paid for teachers' wages, $467,286 50, is an increase of $31,965 23 over that paid the previous year. On the whole, the reports exhibit a gratifying growth in our School interests. The relative increase of this year, as compared with that of previous years, will be seen in the following tabular statement of the principal statistics of 1860, and the ten years next preceding : The number of Graded or Union Schools in the State, as reported by the .Inspectors, is ninety-four. Reports from several of these Schools will be found in the Appendix. There have been constructed within the past year, in several of the Union districts, large and beautiful School buildings, at a cost varying from $5,000 to $15,000. us. The Union Schools are the High Schools of our State, and their increasing numbers are both the necessary means and the accurate measure of the progress of higher education among This progress of higher education, marks in turn, the general improvement in common School education and the elevation in its standards. The increased efficiency and success of the common School creates at once the demand for the Union High School. Every facility thould be afforded, by law, to induce the villages and more populous districts to organize graded Schools. It is elsewhere suggested in this report, that the law for graded Schools should be so amended as to permit Districts having 100 Am't raised by For building & |