Historical Perspectives on Supervision

  • Colonial Period

    Inspectors: Methods: "Strick control and close inspection of school facilites" (Sullivan, 2004)
  • Early to middle 19th Century

    Schools were run by local authorites generally with no education background. Ward boards supervised as well.
    Mid-19th century established the beginning of a district system.
  • Late 19th Century

    State controled supervisors, schoolmen, established to shape schools into "organized networks" (Sullivan, 2004).
    Schools were "transformed into streamline, central adminstrative bueraucracies" (Sullivan, 2004)
  • 20th Century

    Adminstrations became more specialized.
    Special Supervisor-females who assited less experinced teachers.
    General Supervisors-males working as vice prinicpals.
    Democratice Supervision
  • Scientific Supervision

    Supervisors develped surveys and obtained data to develop supervision plans.
  • Observations

    The use of classroom observations to aide supervision was implimented.
  • Leadership

    Supervision became more specialized and was developed as leadership in structure of the schools.
  • Clincal Supervision

    The theory of supervision moved to the thoughts that supervisors and teachers "could improve teaching by a perscribed, formal process of cllaboration between the teacher and the supervisor" (Sullivan, 2004)
  • Changing Concepts Model

    The cocept change was to provide teacher empowerment and decision making control.
  • Standards -Based Model

    Standards developed to monitor and increase student and teacher involvement and productivity.