SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION STATE OF CALIFORNIA BULLETIN No. 1-B 487 HNtA The Organization of Junior High Schools FEBRUARY, 1922 CALIFORNIA STATE PRINTING OFFICE. SACKAMKNTO. 1922 PREFACE. The junior high school is coming to be accepted as the solution of the problem of making the work of the seventh and eighth grades more vital and worth while. It also helps to solve the problem of articulating the work of the elementary and high schools. The movement to estab- lish junior high schools in California was started in 1908 and has been gaining ground steadily. In 1915, a law recognizing the intermediate school course and providing for the establishment of such course was passed. In 1921, a new law changed the name of the intermediate course to junior high school, which it defined to be an organization of the seventh, eighth and ninth grades or of the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth grades. However, many legal administrative questions concern- ing the organization of the junior high school have been asked. It is in order to meet these questions and to encourage the organization of junior high schools that this bulletin has been prepared. Superintendent of Public Instruction. JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS. What is a Junior High School? Tin- term "junior high school" is defined in California as a school embracing the seventh, eighth and ninth grades, or the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth grades, organized under the high school board in accord- ance with the provisions of law. Course of Study. "The course of study for each high school shall be prepared under the direction of the high school board having control thereof, and shall In- subject to the approval of the state board of education. * * * ; the course for junior high schools (shall be designed) to fit the needs of pupils of the seventh, eighth and ninth, or of the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth grades; * * *." (Section 1750 of the Political Code.) Field of the Junior High School. The functions of the junior high school are set forth briefly in the Report of the National Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education as follows: "In the junior period, emphasis should be placed upon the attempt to help the pupil explore his own aptitudes and to make at least provisional choice of the kinds of work to which he will devote himself. In the senior high school, emphasis should be given to training in the fields thus chosen. This distinction lies at the basis of the organization of junior and senior high schools. "In the junior high school (intermediate school), there should be the gradual introduction of departmental instruction, some choice of subjects under guidance, promotion by subjects, prevocational courses and a social organization that calls forth initiative and develops the sense of personal responsibility for the welfare of the group." The California law permits of the organization of junior high schools that will realize the aims so ably set forth in the report quoted above. How established in City High School Districts. A junior high school may be established in any city or district high school by the adoption of a resolution substantially as follows: "lie it resolved, by the high school board of high school district, that a junior high school embracing the seventh, eighth and ninth years (or the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth years) be and the same is hereby established in this hiirh school district ; that from and after 192__. all pupils who have completed the sixth grade of the elementary school shall be admitted to such junior high school ; and that the course of study for said junior high school shall be as follows: (Insert couise of study.) How Established in Union High School Districts. The junior high school may be established by the high school board of a union high school district "in either' of the following ways : (1) By action of trustees. Any elector of the union high school district may circulate a state- ment or declaration among the trustees of the elementary schools of the union high school district substantially as follows: To the high school board of union high school district: We, the undersigned trustees of the elementary school districts com- prising the union high school district, hereby signify our approval of the organization by your honorable board, of a junior high school to which pupils who have completed the sixth grade of the elementary school shall be admitted. Signed : Trustees of _ _ district. Trustees of district. Trustees of district, Trustees of _ __ district. State of California, ) > ss. County of , ) I do solemnly swear that I am a qualified elector of union high school district, and that the above statement or declaration of approval was presented by me to the trustees whose names appear thereon and that the signatures to said statement or declaration are genuine. Subscribed and sworn before me, at , this day of , 19 If a majority of the board of trustees in a majority of the elementary school districts shall sign the statement or declaration, a junior high school or schools may be established by "the high school board, upon the filing of such statement or declaration with the clerk of the high school board. The same resolution suggested above for the establish- ment of the junior high school by a city high school board should be adopted, but the following preamble should immediately precede such resolution : "Whereas, a majority of the boards of trustees of the elementary school districts comprising union high school district have approved the organization of a junior high school in this union high school district as provided by law; therefore, be it, Resolved, etc." (2) By election. An Ic.-tinn in the high school district may be called upon petition of ;i majority of the heads of families or a majority of the electors residing in each of the elementary school districts comprising the union high school district asking for the organization of a junior high school. The petition should be addressed to the county superintendent of schools, who, if he finds the names sufficient, shall within twenty days after receiving the petition call an election in the high school (list rid for the determination of the question. The ballots used at such election shall contain the words "Junior high school Yes" and "Junior high school No." If a majority of the electors voting at the election shall vote in favor of the junior high school, the county superin- tendent shall certify the fact to the high school board, which shall there- upon proceed to establish such school. The same resolution suggested above for the establishment of a junior high school by a city high school board should be adopted, but the following preamble should immediately precede such resolution: "Whereas, the county superintendent of schools of county has certified to this board that at an election held in union high school district on the day of 192 , a -majority of the qualified electors voting thereat, voted in favor of the organization of a junior high school in said high school district; therefore, be it, Resolved, etc." Attendance in the Junior High School. The attendance of pupils in the seventh and eighth years (the first two years of the junior high school) can not be counted as a part of the high school attendance. Such attendance "shall be kept separate and shall be credited to the elementary school district in which said pupils reside." The junior high school principal in a union high school district should append to his annual report to the county superintendent of schools, a statement of the average daily attendance to be credited to each elementary school district comprising the union. Any elementary school district in a union high school district main- taining a junior high school may abandon its seventh and eighth grades, but can not be compelled to do so. Financing the Junior High School. Section 1617 of the Political Code provides that an elementary school board shall pay the high school board maintaining a junior high school, for the education of its seventh and eighth grade pupils, "a tuition charge which shall be agreed upon by the board of trustees and the high school board." The tuition charge may range from nothing to "the average net cost per pupil for educating pupils in the first six grades of the elementary school district wherein they reside." It depends on the agreement. In most high school districts maintaining junior high schools, most, and sometimes all, of the expense of the junior high school is borne by the high school board. The law provides that the high school board may include in the high school budget the estimated expenses 6 for maintaining the junior high school and a tax may be levied on the high school district sufficient to raise the expenses of both the high and junior high schools. (Section 1750.) Junior High School Teachers. The organization of the junior high school need not result in the dismissal of the elementary school teachers now teaching in the seventh and eighth grades. As a matter of fact they are as a rule the best teachers that can be found for these grades, whether under the elemen- tary or junior high school organization. The holder of an elementary school certificate or life diploma may teach in the first two years (seventh and eighth grades), of any junior high school. (See section 1771 of the Political Code.) However, if the holder of a regular elementary school certificate wishes to teach in the third year of the junior high school (ninth year), she must obtain a junior high school certificate. Regulations governing the issuance of the junior high school credential may be obtained upon application to the State Board of Education. j(See Bulletin 10- J. H.) The holder of a special elementary credential in music, drawing, manual training, home economics, etc., may teach the subjects named in her certificate in the seventh, eighth and ninth years of the junior high school without the general junior high school certificate. The holder of a regular high school certificate may teach any subject in any year of the junior high school. The holder of a special high school certificate may teach the subjects named in her certificate in any year of the junior high school without the general junior high school certificate. In the future the general high school credential and general junior high school credential will name the subjects in which the holder has made special preparation for teaching. This does not imply that the credential is limited to the subjects named but is merely for the purpose of notifying supervisory officers of the specialties of the holder of the credential. SOUTHERN BRANCH UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY LOS ANGELES, CALIF. 18874 6-22 1M I III I A 000015285