1939: Carnegie Foundation For The Advancement of Teaching

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, at the close of its fiscal year 1938-39, had resources totaling $26,917,932, of which $21,255,900 was in bonds (par value), $4,646,459 in stocks (cost), and $1,319,503 cash in banks. The endowment funds of the Foundation were valued at $18,296,428. During the year $998,714 was received as income from securities.

For retiring allowances to 913 former teachers and pensions for 583 widows the year's disbursements amounted to $1,963,279. Of this sum, $1,434,873 was for allowances granted on the basis of age, $35,694 for disability allowances, $481,331 for widows' pensions, and $11,380 for allowances awarded on the basis of service. The average disbursement per individual allowance for retirement on the basis of age was about $1,618.

From Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Foundation received for studies and researches during the year a total of $197,900, of which $106,550 was paid out by the Foundation to assist researches conducted under the auspices of other educational institutions and bodies. Since 1924, the cooperative grants made by the Corporation and administered by the Foundation have numbered 114 for 71 projects and totaled $1,087,350. Of these only three projects, involving $25,000 could not be carried out as planned.

In the Division of Educational Enquiry, studies of accrediting agencies have been conducted by Dr. Alfred A. Reed, staff member, some of the results of which may be summarized as follows: The production of mutually independent and competing accredited lists may be carried too far. 'Educational accrediting, appraisal, that is to say, of educational work, is in itself a socially desirable activity, but it is likely to produce its best results when it is coupled with an independent attitude on the part of everybody concerned.... It would be well if the same spirit were displayed both by those who seek the educational guidance which accredited lists provide, and by those who supply the requisite information to accrediting agencies.'

Dr. W. S. Learned has conducted 'An Experiment in Responsible Learning,' setting forth certain new methods and approaches to teaching in three Pennsylvania secondary schools — Altoona High, Cheltenham Township High at Elkins Park, and Radnor Township High at Wayne. The central purpose of the experiment implied ridding these schools of the course-credit system. The experiment was unusually successful in replacing the course 'unit,' the 'credit,' and the teacher's 'mark' as dominating a pupil's mind, with a healthy and controlling interest in the meaning of ideas and in a pupil's ability to use them intelligently.

A study of early graduate schools in the United States was completed by Dr. W. Carson Ryan, Jr., staff associate, involving the Johns Hopkins University, Clark University, and the University of Chicago. In addition, the Foundation cooperated for a second year with the graduate schools of Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, and also with Brown University and the University of Wisconsin graduate schools, in a study looking to the determining of the intellectual equipment of matriculates.

The Foundation awards no scholarships or fellowships of any kind.

Dr. Walter A. Jessup is president of the Foundation, and Howard J. Savage secretary and treasurer. Offices are at 522 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York.