The first Normal School for the State of New York was opened at Albany in 1844. There are now eleven such schools in the State, two of which—Albany and Oswego—are entirely professional, while the others provide also for academic work.

Statistics of New York State Normal Schools.

Normal.Academic.
Location. No. Average No. Average
Registered. Attendance. Registered. Attendance.
Last Year. Last Year. Last Year. Last Year.
Albany 375 305
Oswego 382 323
Brockport 370 283 108 61
Cortland 384 312 35 25
Potsdam 490 395 182 134
Fredonia 253 196 67 49
Buffalo 357 295 12 7
Geneseo 535 391 78 65
New Paltz 227 170 26 13
Oneonta 365 304 23 15
Plattsburgh 142 106

The following extracts from the circular issued by the Superintendent of Public Instruction give the principal features common to all the Normal Schools of the State of New York.

“Students will be appointed to the Normal Schools by the Superintendent, upon the recommendation of superintendents and school commissioners. These officers will be relied upon to properly represent to possible candidates the needs of the public schools for well-qualified teachers, and the necessity of professional and technical training on the part of all who intend to teach. No students can be admitted who have not already acquired a substantial elementary education. This can be gained in all of the ordinary schools, and the professional training schools cannot be properly taxed with work which the common schools can perform as well. Through the quality of the work performed, through the attainments and the professional spirit and purpose of graduates, rather than through mere multiplicity of numbers, can the Normal Schools best promote the educational interests of the State. There is room and welcome in the Normal Schools for the graduates of the elementary and secondary schools, and even for those who have made substantial advancement in the elementary course without technical graduation, provided that they give promise of becoming successful teachers, and possess the desire to become such; but there is no room for students who have laid no real foundation for professional training, and who have no well-determined purpose about the matter and no fair conception of the responsibilities and obligations of a teacher’s occupation.

“Appointments will ordinarily follow recommendations, but students will be admitted or retained in Normal Schools only when they show scholarship and other qualities in justification of the appointment.

“The following form of recommendation will be used, and will be supplied from the department or from any of the schools upon application. When filled out it should be mailed to the Superintendent, and when approved it will be by him sent direct to the school. No student can be appointed who is not fully sixteen years of age.

To the Superintendent of Public Instruction:—

I hereby recommend of in the County of aged years, as possessing the health, scholarship, mental ability and moral character requisite for an appointment to the State Normal and Training School at

School Commissioner
District of the County of
Or, Superintendent City of