about. The organization of the noon hour lunch and of organized play under the direction of the teacher-these and many other things owe their institution in numberless schools to the efforts of the School Improvement League.

Public meetings of the leagues in the form of entertainments and exhibitions given to raise funds for carrying forward the various lines of work set for them to do have made a strong appeal to the interest and encouragement of parents and friends of the children of the league. In matters in which the action of the school authorities have been involved parental and local influences have been crystallized in the interest of the school. Broader, more intelligent and more liberal policies of education and of educational needs and a wider view and greater respect for the rights of others have resulted from the closer acquaintances with the local school and its needs.

The leagues have had a potent influence on teachers. To successfully direct the league's operations has required thought, study and reading along lines new to many and consequently a large intellectual and professional growth has been encouraged. The many new ways in which teachers have been brought into close relations with the parents of their pupils have served to give them increased importance in public estimation and have served to bring them and their work under more intelligent and kindly consideration. They have been enabled to realize the accession of parental confidence and have increased their powers by securing a stronger hold upon the respect, confidence and good will of those served by the school. From all of these things has resulted an increased power of control within and without the school.

But the ultimate purpose of all agencies acting upon schools is the largest good to the children in them. For this reason they are given prominence in the membership and work of the league. For this reason also much of the work of the league is made to hold close relation to the regular work of the school and many of the means employed in helping the league to secure needed funds are distinctly educational in character. The improvements secured through the work of the league are improvements of the type that directly affect the school environment and exert a direct educational force upon the children. In the preparation for regular and special league exercises the children secure a knowledge of history,

biography and literature which the school through its routine program would find it difficult to give. In the business meetings of the league the children acquire a knowledge of and practice in methods of procedure common in deliberative bodies that may prove useful to them in after life. As they take part in the discussions which necessarily arise in determining the work to be done by the league they acquire the power to think and express thought in a consecutive and orderly way and they gain the power of self-command. By attending public meetings in which they take so active a part they learn to respect the requirement that such meetings demand courteous and orderly behavior and respect for the opinions of others. If the league had no other duties to perform than this direct and positive educational function, they would do for the children a very important and much needed work.

To the communities which they serve the leagues have been an ever increasing power for good. More than any other agency the School Improvement League of Maine has successfully made the school a real community center in many localities. Through the improvement of the school building and its surroundings has resulted the improvement of the farm building and its surroundings. To the wholesome influence of the league may be traced an improved bit of road, a better tilled field, a more active interest in canning farm products, and many other things. The inspiration and help of the league cannot be contained within the four walls of the schoolroom.

The entire plan is simple and practical. Its results are direct and desirable. It does not demand an involved piece of machinery for its operation. Started in a small way it is capable of expansion to an agency strong in its power for school improvement,

SCHOOL CREDIT FOR HOME WORK

BY L. R. ALDERMAN, B.A.,

Superintendent of Schools, Portland, Oregon.

When I was a young high school principal in McMinnville, Oregon, I found in my class a girl whom I shall call Mary. She was a healthy, happy-go-lucky, careless girl, who did very little work at school and still less at home. She spent her after-school hours on the streets, and in going to the post office and to see the train come in. I wondered what kind of a mother Mary had and what kind of a home she had. I wished that I might talk with Mary's mother, but as I had no solution for the Mary problem I did not go to see her. One day as I was going home, the teacher with whom I was walking said to me, "There is the mother of your Mary." I turned back and crossed the street that I might see Mary's mother. A glimpse at her told me the whole story. She looked weary, overworked, discouraged. I did not speak to her, for I had nothing to say.

After she had passed by I found myself growing indignant, and then thoughtful; then I became excited, for I felt that I was in the presence of a real problem that had not been solved. Maybe I could find the solution! I knew that the working out of it was worth while. Here was Mary, missing her life's opportunity by her hard-hearted indifference to her mother; and here was I, supposed to be helping Mary, but limited by tradition to helping her with such things as quadric equations, the Punic wars, and the nebular hypothesis! What was I to do?

ASSIGNMENT OF REAL WORK

By the next morning I had worked out a plan. Before we took up our books I asked the girls in the algebra class, "How many of you helped with the housework this morning before coming to school?" Some hands were raised, but not Mary's. "How many of you helped make any of the clothes you are wearing?" Hands again, but not Mary's. "How many of you know how to make bread?" Some hands, but still not Mary's. "Now," I said, "I shall assign as usual ten problems for you to report upon at this hour tomorrow,

but five of them are to be from the algebra book and five outside of the book. The five outside of the book, for the girls, are to be:

1. Helping get supper.

2. Helping with the kitchen work after supper.

3. Preparing breakfast.

4. Helping with the kitchen work after breakfast.

5. Putting a bedroom into order.

I thought if the boys remained at home they might at least be exposed to their lessons, so I told the boys that they would be credited with three for remaining at home all the evening, and with two more for bringing in wood and doing their regular chores.

At this announcement the class showed the enthusiasm that always comes with anything new in school, but they also showed signs of an awakening conviction that the things asked of them were really worth while. The look on their faces, from that day forward, gave me the feeling that I had struck something vital. It was as if I were handling wires that had connection with a great dynamo.

The next day I asked those who had done the problems in home helping to raise their hands. Every hand went up, amid much enthusiasm. Then I asked for those who had done the algebra problems, and again all raised their hands. As I looked my approval all hands came down, that is, all hands but Mary's. "What is the matter with your hand, Mary?" I asked. "I worked five problems in advance," she said with sparkling eyes. "I worked all that you gave me, and five more from the book."

CLASSROOM CREDITS FOR HOME WORK

Since that day I have been a firm believer in giving children credit at school for work done at home. We did not work home problems every day that year, but at various times the children were assigned lessons like the one mentioned, and scarcely a day passed that we did not talk over home tasks, and listen to the boys and girls as they told what each had achieved. The idea that washing dishes and caring for chickens was of equal importance with algebra and general history, and that credit and honor would fequently be given for home work, proved a stimulus to all the children, and especially to Mary. She had gained something-a constructive frame of mind-a habit of success. She became three times as good a worker at school, ten times as good a worker at home and

a hundred times happier girl both at school and home. Needless to say her mother was happy as her heavy household cares were in part assumed by her healthy daughter. When graduation time came Mary's mother spoke to me, and she made no attempt to conceal her pride. "Mary is such a good girl," she said.

The next fall I became county superintendent and encouraged home work through a "school fair" where every year the children of the county exhibit their handiwork and garden products.

THE SPREAD OF THE MOVEMENT

It was not until I had begun teaching in the University of Oregon that it occurred to me to set forth my plan of giving classroom credit for home work, for the consideration of other teachers and of parents. I wrote a short article on the subject, and had it published in most of the Oregon papers in June, 1910. A year later the idea began to bear fruit; three home-credit schools were established in the winter of 1911-1912, soon to be followed by others. I quote from the article:

How can the school help the home? How can it help the home establish habits in the children of systematic performance of home duties so that they will be efficient and joyful home helpers? One way is for the school to take into account home industrial work and honor it. It is my conviction, based upon careful and continuous observation, that the school can greatly increase the interest the child will take in home industrial work by making it a subject of consideration at school. A teacher talked of sewing, and the girls sewed. She talked of ironing, and they wanted to learn to iron neatly. She talked of working with tools, and both girls and boys made bird houses, kites, and other things of interest.

The school can help make better home-builders. It can help by industrial work done in the school. The plan I have in mind will cost no money, will take but little school time, and can be put into operation in every part of the state at once. It will create a demand for expert instruction later on. It is to give school credit for industrial work done at home. The mother and father are to be recognized as teachers, and the school teacher put into the position of one who cares about the habits and tastes of the whole child. Then the teacher and the parents will have much in common. Every home has the equipment for industrial work and has some one who uses it with more or less skill.

The school has made so many demands on the home that the parents have in some cases felt that all the time of the child must be given to the school. But an important thing that the child needs along with school work is established habits of home-making. In my opinion it will be a great thing for the child

to want to help his parents do the task that needs to be done and to want to do it in the best possible way. The reason why so many country boys are now lead