School of Education Has New Department

The University announced today establishment at the Graduate School of Education of a new section of Educational Administration, with the twofold purpose of providing advanced practical training in problems of public school administration, and of making available the Harvard specialists and research facilities to New England school authorities desiring aid in the solution of their local problems of educational administration.

Plans for the new section were developed in close consultation with Walter F. Downey, Massachusetts Commissioner of Education, and with the Commissioners of Education of the other New England states, as well as other local school authorities.

Correct Administrative Difficulties

The new program is designed to meet the critical administrative and financial problems arising from the extraordinarily rapid growth of the American secondary school system in recent years, President James B. Conant explained in the University announcement.

"Close students of our public school system agree, I think, that there is far more danger of a serious breakdown in this system as a result of inadequate attention to administrative complications, particularly financial complications, than from the supposedly subversive influences said to be at work in our schools," President Conant said.

"Through the new section," he said, "Harvard hopes to make a contribution to the betterment of school administration, both by placing the resources of its School of Education in a consultant or advisory capacity at the disposal of local New England communities as they may request, and also by increasing the practical working knowledge of students on the subject, whether among the Faculty of the School of Education or among those training under them."

Simpson to Lecture

To assist in the operation of the new program Harvard has appointed Alfred D. Simpson, Assistant Commissioner of the New York State Department of Education, as Visiting Lecturer in Education; John F. Sly, Professor of Politics, Princeton University, as Consultant in Public Administration; and Ernest E. Fuller, President of Gila Junior College, Arizona, and former Associate Professor of Education, Brigham Young University, Utah, as Lecturer in Education. All the appointments are for the current academic year. Dr. Sly and Dr. Simpson are both widely known for research, writing, or administrative work in the field of educational finance; Dr. Fuller has had wide experience in education administration and has made special studies of law and education. Dr. Simpson is on leave from the New York Department of Education to permit his participation in the project.

Dr. Sly and Dr. Simpson have collaborated with Dean Francis T. Spaulding, of the Graduate School of Education, in forming plans for the new section of Educational Administration. The three men will act as a committee in charge of the venture during its first year.

Small, Experimental

The new section this year will be largely on an experimental and small-scale basis, it was explained. It will start work immediately with certain communities which have already begun discussions with the Harvard specialists on their local school problems.

"With time and experience it is hoped that the program's worth will be sufficiently demonstrated so that financial resources may be found to extend its scope greatly," President Conant said.

As a preliminary to the new project, the Graduate School of Education and the Graduate School of Public Administration have cooperated in the past two summers in conducting special conferences for school administrators and municipal officials on problems of school financing.

Endorsing the new program, Commissioner Downey said today, "The communities in this section of the country the taxpayers, town officials, and the school executives,--greatly need the help which such a plan will afford at the present time. During this period when educational needs and tax budgets are being thoroughly weighed by many different groups it is essential that clear judgments be formed, with due regard to educational standards, a proper return for each tax dollar spent and vigilant care of the present-day needs of the children in our schools."