Date of Award:

5-1957

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Education

Committee Chair(s)

E. A. Jacobsen

Committee

E. A. Jacobsen

Abstract

Education, always important, is today more essential than ever if we are to perpetuate and improve our democratic way of life. The recognition of the importance of education in our society has resulted in planning at the national, state and local levels.

Various studies have been made to determine the most desirable type of organization for schools in the United States. One survey made by the World Book Company in Tennessee has given some indication that the size of communities was probably related to educational achievement. The data does not prove any causal relation between educational outcome and community size, but it is possible that community size may contain many of the factors that contribute to these differences.1

Clarence C. Martens, reporting in The Elementary School Journal on the educational achievements of eighth grade pupils in one-room rural and graded town schools, reports that in general the academic achievement of town pupils over rural pupils is higher with the town groups. The results of this study showed that pupils who had received all their elementary education in one teacher per grade town schools had higher achievement in relation to their mental ability than did a comparable group of pupils who had received all their elementary education in one room rural schools.

. . . the American people made a wise decision early in their history not only when they allowed forty-eight state systems of education, but also when they retained within the community, close to parental observation, the actual direction and control of the education program.2

Griscom Morgan, in writing on the value of school reorganization, expresses the opinion that local communities have an inherent right to normal human living, or a natural right to autonomous action within the general pattern of national well-being. No matter how fine a plant, how adequate the curriculum, or how high the salaries, unless the school and the community live and work together the school will kill the community by failing to share and nurture the spirit which gave it life. Once family and communities were fundamental and sacred. The school should be an inherent part of the community, for the relationship of children to each other within the community is normally the heart of the community, it is the strongest force drawing parents into relation with each other. 3

The Peabody Survey conducted in the State of Idaho in 1945 revealed many things that could be done to improve the educational structure within the state. The survey group from George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tennessee, worked with P. T. A. groups, the I. E. A., service groups, organizations, parents and patrons from every section of the state to correct the weaknesses in the educational system as revealed by the survey. As a result of this work, the School Reorganization Act was passed by the 1947 State Legislature which organized a plan for the reorganization of schools within the state.

The electors of each school district of the state elect trustees who elect a county reorganization committee. This committee prepares, initiates and submits plans to the State Reorganization Committee. The State Reorganization Committee receives, reviews and approves the plans of the various districts and returns them to the people of the district for their rejection or approval.

Upon the recommendation of the State Committee for Reorganization, a county committee was elected for the purpose of reorganizing the schools of Bear Lake County, Idaho.

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