teachers, and almost uniform testimony from those who employ them, that their instruction and management are highly successful and satisfactory. There is also ample evidence that their success is due to the instruction and training received at the Normal School. They are slowly but surely establishing, in the communities where they teach, a higher standard in the spirit and methods of school-teaching; and this not by unseemly agitation and discussion, but by quietly doing their work as it ought to be done. The school-building has been in use with no considerable alterations or repairs for nearly eight years. It proves to be suited to the needs of the school in almost every particular, and, if it were to be rebuilt to-day, could not be essentially changed in plan for the better. There is now, however, pressing need of some repairs, chiefly of the roof, wood-work, blackboards, and water-closets, estimates for which will be laid before the legislature, and should receive prompt attention. - The school has been favored during the year with addresses and lectures of interest and value as follows: Anniversary address, by Rev. Francis Tiffany of West Newton; "Learning and Knowing," by Mr. Eli A. Hubbard of Springfield; "Political Economy," by Professor William P. Atkinson of Boston; "Drawing in the Public Schools," by Professor Walter Smith of Boston; "The Flora of the Tropics," by Capt. V. P. Parkhurst of East Templeton; "Teaching," by James A. McLellan, LL.D., of Ottawa, Ont.; "Typical Mollusks," by Professor F. G. Sanborn of Andover. The grounds have never been fenced; and a special appropriation for a suitable fence should be recommended by this Board. During the year, the Rev. William Rice, D.D., of Springfield, has resigned as a member of the Board of Education. He has long been a visitor of this school. The teachers unite with me in profound regret that his valuable advice and genial friendship will no longer serve to maintain a school which he truly loved. STATISTICS. 1. Number of pupils belonging to the school during the year: 4. Number of last year's graduates now teaching, 20, or 100 per cent. 5. Number of last year's graduates teaching in Massachusetts, 19, or 95 per cent. The following statements, from school officers having oversight of the graduates of 1880, furnish the best answer I can give to the question, "With what success are they teaching?" (a) "Not above the average." (b) "Such as to make us wish to retain her services as long as we can.' (c) "Much above the average teacher.'" (d) "On the whole, above the average of our teachers." (e) "On the whole, superior to most that have come under our notice." (f) "She is a most conscientious worker, and keeps up a perpetual interest in her school." (g) "She has too little physical energy, but has a sweet disposition that makes her a valuable teacher." (h) "She is always cheerful and prompt at her work. I specially like all I have seen of her." From the full testimony, of which the foregoing extracts give a just notion, it appears that our graduates of 1880 are teaching with good success. The average salaries per month of our graduates, going back only to the class of 1876, the first class graduated here, are as follows: For male graduates, $85.00. For female graduates, $48 05. From such evidence as I have been able to obtain from graduates themselves, and from those who have official charge of their schools, I conclude that the " principles taught in Normal School" furnish the basis and guide of their teaching. |