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Because of the individual authority of each State for its own educational program, practices and policies differ widely among them in many respects. Yet in the midst of differences there are also common elements of development. The U. S. Office of Education, in presenting this series of monographs, has attempted to point out those common elements, to analyze the differences, and to present significant factors in State educational structure. In so doing, it accedes to the requests of a large number of correspondents who are students of State school administration and who have experienced the need for the type of material offered in this series. The report included in the present monograph deals with one of the more recent developments in State educational administration and supervision--namely, that related to the education of exceptional children. Initiated by the State through residential institutions and by local school districts to meet local needs, programs of special education for the handicapped and the gifted have steadily gained ground as essential to the complete functioning of the State's educational system. As a result, one State after another is encouraging a bureau or a division or a section in its State education department designed particularly to look after the educational interests of those who need special adjustments because of a marked deviation from normal physical, mental, or emotional condition. To describe the organization and supervisory functions and activities of such programs is the aim of this bulletin. The first part of this document presents a general survey, which chapters focused on basic legal provisions, organization of State supervisory programs, State supervisory functions and activities, State regulations and standards, and a report on a conference of State directors and supervisors of special education. Part II covers specific State programs in California, Colorado, Virginia, Connecticut, Delaware, Wyoming, Maryland, Kentucky, Minnesota, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. (Contains 3 tables and 79 footnotes.) [Best copy available has been provided.]

There is at the present time a strong movement to include in the school curriculum more preparation for character education. The schools have long recognized their obligations in this respect, but more progress has not been made because they did not know how to bring it about. With the coming of trained psychologists, psychiatrists, and other specialists, the study of problem cases has begun. This report represents the first of a series of research studies in the education of exceptional children to be planned cooperatively by the United States Office of Education and selected school systems. It was with full recognition of all the limitations within the field of research of human behavior that the present study was undertaken. Because, however, the school system in Berkeley, California, which constitutes its background was one of those which seem to offer a happy combination of understanding, cooperation, efficient organization, and expert service, it was hoped that some light might be thrown upon the problem of behavior adjustment through an intensive investigation of the program in operation there and through a continuous study over a period of years of the progress of the children concerned. This report, an account of a pioneer experimental project carried on in a city school system, has two prime purposes. The first is to show, through description of the organization and methods used in a typical city, how the facilities of the city and the city school system may be utilized for coordinated service and for an economical program looking toward the adjustment of behavior problems of school children. Part I of the bulletin presents such a description. It will interest all those who are concerned with the development of clinical facilities in their own communities and with the growth of the program in the country at large. The second purpose is to describe a method of research which has been used in evaluating such services and which seems to throw some light upon the value of the clinical treatment given. Part II is designed to fulfill this purpose. It will be of value primarily to those who are interested in carrying on experimental research in this field, as well as to those who are eager to know the outcomes of such studies without actually engaging in them. As the conception of the importance of mental hygiene grows and as adequate provision for it is increasingly made in our school systems, there is every reason to expect opportunity for further experimentation in this field which will supplement the pioneer effort described in this bulletin. A list of selected references is attached, and an appendix contains selected forms used in the experiment. (Contains 12 tables, 3 figures, and 28 footnotes.) [Best copy available has been provided.]