Publication Date

1966

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Pourchot, Leonard L.||Nelson, Robert H.

Degree Name

M.S. Ed. (Master of Education)

Legacy Department

Department of Education

LCSH

School management and organization--Illinois--Du Page County; Junior high schools--Illinois--Du Page County

Abstract

This study was concerned with the ratio of non-teaching personnel to students in grades seven and eight of the DuPage County schools. The purposes of the study were to determine the ratios ©f students to non-teaching personnel as they existed in the DuPage County Schools and to determine the recommended ratios of students to non-teaching personnel for schools containing grades seven and eight. A further purpose was to determine whether the recommendations and assisting practices would differ to any important extent. The means employed in this study were to review the literature to learn the present status of knowledge on the problem and to investigate masters theses and doctoral dissertations on this problem and those that were related to it. Those topics surveyed in the literature were the junior high school, administration of the junior high school, pupil ratio, personnel ratio, and the specific non-teaching personnel positions of principal, assistant principal, supervisor, coordinator, counselor, psychologist, nurse, physician and secretary. When this review was completed, letters were sent to the Illinois Department of Education and to professional organizations of specific non-teaching personnel groups to obtain the most recent recommendations of these organizations for specific non-teaching personnel-pupil ratios. A questionnaire was sent to superintendents and principals involved in the education of students in grades seven and eight of DuPage County schools to obtain information about the existing non-teaching personnel-pupil ratios and to collect the recommended ratios of these superintendents and principals. The data received was tabulated to facilitate comparison between schools of the same size and between recommendations of superintendents and principals. Tables were compiled for the recommendations regarding each non-teaching personnel position. A separate table was compiled to show the existing numbers of non-teaching personnel in DuPage County. The results of the study indicated that there was not general agreement among educators for the proper pupil ratios for all non-teaching personnel. General agreement was found for the need of a full-time principal, an assistant principal, nurse and psychologist. Different ratios were recommended for supervisors, counselors, physicians and secretaries by the authors cited in the review of literature. Requests for in- formation about the problem from professional organisations established that only the American School Counselor Association advocated a personnel-pupil ratio. The Department of Education in Illinois published specific recommended ratios but only for the positions of principal, assistant principal, guidance director and secretary or cleric. A generalized summary of the recommendations of the superintendents and principals in DuPage County included the following: 1. One principal was sufficient for as many as one thousand students. 2. For an enrollment of 750 pupils, a full-time assistant principal was considered necessary by approximately two-thirds of the administrators. 3. For m enrollment of one thousand pupils, part-time supervisors or coordinators were considered necessary by approximately two-thirds of the administrators. 4. One counselor was necessary for each five hundred students. 5. For an enrollment of one thousand students, a part-time psychologist was considered necessary by two-thirds of the administrators. 6. One nurse was necessary for each one thousand students. 7. No school physician was necessary. 8. One secretary was necessary for each four hundred students. When these recommendations were compared to the number of personnel reported as working in DuPage County schools, it could be concluded that generally, the recommendations for the proper ratio of pupils to non-teaching personnel were followed for the positions of principal, psychologist, physician, and secretary. Recommendations for the proper ratio of students to assistant principals, counselors and nurses had not fully been implemented. Data regarding the positions of supervisors and coordinators was not sufficient to lead to a satisfactory conclusion.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.

Extent

ix, 54 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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