I
ILLUSTRATIVE HOME CREDIT PLANS
Upon the demonstration of the success of the home credit plan in the Spring Valley School I began to hear of other Oregon schools that had taken it up and were carrying it on successfully. During the school year 1913-14, three hundred and twenty-five teachers in Oregon and in Washington were giving school credit for home work, while the scheme had been adopted by some schools in other States.
For the aid of those who may contemplate its use, the outlines of several plans that have been instituted are printed here, together with excerpts of letters we have received, and cards made out by pupils. These reports come from teachers who have used the scheme successfully in various forms. The daily report plans are given first, and the letters are arranged according to the frequency of the report from the home to the school.
It will be noted that some teachers use a card that is supposed to last for a whole year, being returned to the teacher monthly as school cards are often returned to the parent monthly; others have cards that are marked daily, and last for only a week. Some teachers use a contest plan of awards like Mr. O'Reilly's; others add credits to the average obtained in school subjects; and others do both. The first user of the parent-signed report, Mr. O'Reilly, used no cards, but had the children write little notes with lists of their labors every day for their parents to sign. A bulletin from the Kansas Agricultural College suggests that pupils should furnish the reports themselves over their own signatures.[4] The only record of failure we have was in a school where monthly report cards were used, and no definite scheme of duties was laid down,—merely so many minutes of unspecified labor. I find that children are more interested when their performance of particular duties is recorded.
I should never advise the wholesale adoption of any one plan, but I would suggest that superintendents and teachers adapt plans to the needs of their districts. Several schools have been reported where an enthusiastic principal has put the plan into operation throughout his school, regardless of the ideas of his teachers. I find that teachers never feel inspiration in a work that they do not want to undertake. Therefore, it would be my suggestion that under no circumstances should a teacher be asked to use home credits unless she herself desires it.
DAILY REPORTS
The following is the method which Mr. A. I. O'Reilly originated at the Spring Valley School, in 1911-12:—
Rules of the Contest