Survey of Changes in Function of the College-Controlled Laboratory School from 1948 to 1958

The trend toward more practical and functional education for both elementary-school and secondary-school children and their teachers has produced renewed attention to the function of the college-controlled laboratory school. As defined by Caswell, this institution is

. . . a school largely or entirely under the control of the college, located on or near the college campus, organized for the specific purpose of preparing teachers, with staff and facilities designed to serve this purpose.

The use of the laboratory school in present-day teacher education is not understood or accepted by many educators or lay people. In many places its present value is questioned, and this feeling has increased since the advent of full-time student teaching in the public schools.

There is a need to determine whether the college-controlled laboratory school has a special and important function in the present-day education of teachers; if, in many instances, the laboratory school can make a more adequate and necessary contribution to teacher education than in the past.

This study attempted, within limitations, to focus attention on the changes in function of the college-controlled laboratory school in such a way as to help others understand its present position in teacher education.