STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, SALEM. J. ASBURY PITMAN, PRINCIPAL. 1 These instructors also teach and supervise in the practice school. 2 Including the English of the commercial department. Absent on leave. Substitute, Sallimae Morrill Dennett. CHANGES IN THE FACULTY. The following changes in the faculty have occurred during the year: Mr. William C. Moore, instructor in geography, who had been absent on leave for the purpose of post-graduate study, resigned to become professor of education at Mount Holyoke College. He was succeeded by Mr. Sumner W. Cushing, his substitute during his absence. Mr. Cushing is a graduate of the Bridgewater Normal School and of Harvard College. He has also studied at Brown University and has pursued the study of his special subject abroad. Mr. Charles E. Newell, instructor in manual training, has accepted the position of supervisor of drawing at Springfield; and Mr. Frederick W. Ried, formerly teacher of manual arts at Lancaster and Leominster, has been chosen to succeed him. Mr. Ried is a graduate of the Normal Art School. Mr. Arthur J. Meredith, of the Atlantic City high school, has been placed at the head of the commercial department. Mr. Meredith is a graduate of Wesleyan University and of Comer's Commercial School. He has also pursued pedagogical courses at Harvard University. Miss Mary L. Smith, of the Ithaca high school, has been chosen to give the instruction in stenography and typewriting. She is a graduate of the State Normal University at Ypsilanti, Mich., and of the University of Michigan. Miss Bertina Dyer, a graduate of the Bridgewater Normal School, has been placed in charge of the model rural school. She brings to the work the successful experience of several years in schools of a similar character and in the Perkins Institution for the Blind. Miss Mildred M. Moses, of the Morse School, Somerville, has been appointed to teach in the first grade in the Bertram School. Her professional training was received under the direction of the Chicago Kindergarten Association. Miss Mabel L. Hobbs, of the fourth grade in the practice school, is absent on leave and is taking an advanced course of study at the Teachers' College. Miss Sallimae M. Dennett, a graduate of this school and recently a teacher at Jacob Tome Institute, has been engaged as substitute for the year. THE RURAL SCHOOL. In April, arrangements were carried into effect for the joint maintenance of the Farms School, in Marblehead, as a model ungraded school. The school is ideal in its location and in its environment, the building is modern, and the membership is such as to make it a typical rural school. At present there are 40 pupils, corresponding in their ages to the children in the first six classes in the graded schools of the town. Each member of the senior class in the normal school is expected to spend one week in observation and practice in this school. This experience is valuable to all, but especially so to those to whom conditions in rural schools are wholly unfamiliar, and whose professional work will begin in schools of similar character. THE COMMERCIAL DEPARTMENT. The most important event of the year has been the establishment of a department for the training of teachers of commercial branches. The equipment is such as to combine the atmosphere of the business office with that of the school. The instructors who have been selected to direct the work of this department have had the benefit of both college and professional training and of experience in business offices. The regular course of instruction covers a period of two years, and includes all the subjects. usually taught in commercial schools and commercial departments of high schools, as well as courses in psychology, pedagogy and history of education. The course also includes, either as elective or as required subjects, some instruction in common with students in the regular elementary course. A special elective course of one year is open to advanced students. Through an arrangement with the Salem Commercial School, opportunity is here afforded for observation; and the school committee of the city of Salem has permitted the use of the commercial department of the high school for both observation and practice in teaching. These privileges have been granted without expense to the State. The opening of this department has been met with a most gratifying response. There are now enrolled 62 students, 40 of whom are pursuing the full course. The membership in the advanced course includes graduates of colleges and normal schools and of private commercial schools, many of whom have had experience in business offices or as teachers in elementary and high schools. LECTURES AND ENTERTAINMENTS. The following lectures and musical entertainments have been important contributions to the general course of instruction:— The Rural School, Hon. Payson Smith. Beethoven Program, - Miss Pearl Brice, violinist; Miss Myra Winslow, pianist. Abraham Lincoln, - Rev. Alexander Blackburn, D.D. The Use and the Abuse of the Ideal,- Mr. E. Harlow Russell. The Function of the School in Training for Right Conduct, -Margaret E. Schallenberger. Japan and the Japanese, - Prof. Edward S. Morse. Household Arts of Japan, — Prof. Edward S. Morse. The Rural School, - Mr. Grenville T. Fletcher. Interpretative Reading: The Rivals, Mr. Henry Lawrence Southwick. Memorial Day Address, James H. Wolff, Esq. - Graduation Address: The Training of Purpose, Mr. Joseph Lee. Music and Verse in the Public School, Mrs. Jessie L. Gaynor; Mrs. Alice C. D. Riley. Illustrative Sketching, Mr. Frederic L. Burnham. Loyalty, Mrs. Ella Lyman Cabot. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. The following gifts to the school are gratefully acknowledged: valuable books, from Dr. James L. Hill and Mr. Frederick W. Ried; copper jardiniere, stand and plant, from the junior class of 1907-08; an imported photograph of the Laocoön group, from Hon. Robert S. Rantoul; and five photogravures, Hope, by Burne-Jones; The Passage, by Corot; A Halt in the Desert, by Schreyer; The Temple of Castor and Pollux; The Parthenon, for the principal's office, from the class of 1908. IMPROVEMENT OF THE GROUNDS. Under the direction of a landscape architect, the improvement of the grounds has been carried steadily forward, as funds would permit, until the work is now practically complete. The result is not only to the advantage of all directly connected with the school, but is a source of satisfaction to the residents of that part of the city in which the school is located. The architect's plan included suitable provisions for a large and wellequipped playground. The equipment, including simple apparatus for an out-door gymnasium, has afforded the motive for much of the work in manual training performed by the boys of the eighth grade in the practice school during the past year. DR. RICHARD EDWARDS. Dr. Richard Edwards, principal of the school from its opening in 1854 until September, 1857, passed away at his home in Bloomington, Ill., March 7, 1908. As founder of the St. Louis Normal School, in 1857, principal of the Illinois State Normal University, 1857-62, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction in Illinois, 1887-91, he rendered conspicuous service to the cause of education in the west. His interest in this school was life-long, and his presence and words at the semicentennial celebration, in 1904, were an inspiration to his listeners. STATISTICS. 1. The whole number of students in attendance for the year ending July 1, 1908, was 170. Of these, 94 came from Essex County, 64 from Middlesex County, 3 from Suffolk County, 1 from Barnstable County. From the State of New Hampshire there were 5; from Vermont, 2; from Maine, 1. Since the school was established in 1854 there have been 5,531 students enrolled, of whom 2,992 have been graduated from regular courses, and 51 have received certificates for work done as special students. For the full period of fifty-four years, 55 per cent. of those who entered have received diplomas or certificates, and 85.7 per cent. of those entering during the past three years have successfully completed their courses. 2. The number of new students admitted to the school during the year was 90, of whom 4 were special students. Among them there were 9 who had had experience in teaching. Of the new students, 16 came from Cambridge; 13 from Salem; 7 from Malden; 5 each from Peabody, Lynn and Beverly; 3 each from Newburyport, Amesbury, Melrose and Danvers; 2 each from Reading, Somerville, Revere, Swampscott and Everett; 1 each from Wakefield, Chelsea, Gloucester, Topsfield, Pigeon Cove, Hamilton, Haverhill, Ipswich, Medford, Grove |