This expansion entailed a great increase in expenditure from both rates and taxes ; since, though fees have been generally raised by about 50%. there are few schools on the grant list in which any pupil's fees cover as much as half the cost of his education. The Board's grant was increased from is per pupil over 12 to £7 in 1917, and special grants were made for advanced courses; finally the Act of 1918 repealed the twopenny limit on rate aid to higher education, and also provided that the State contribution should be not less than one-half of the local education authority's approved expenditure.
A great improvement in the salaries of teachers was secured in 1920 by the standing joint committee of representatives of local educational authorities and teachers, con stituted under the chairmanship of Lord Burnham, at the sug gestion of Mr. Fisher. The Teachers' Superannuation Act of 1918 had established a liberal pension system, and though before long contributions were required from the teachers to the cost of pensions, and in 1925 a modification of the salary'agreement became necessary, the position of the teachers is much better than before 1920 in schools of all kinds.
(See also EXAMINATIONS.)—A valu able reform in the examinations affecting secondary schools was initiated by the Board of Education in 1917. The secondary schools had suffered from the number and variety of external ex aminations, many of which had served a useful purpose in stimu lating work, but had become oppressive and confusing. The con sultative committee of the Board had issued a report on the sub ject in 1911; in 1914 the Board issued proposals for the recogni tion of two grades of examinations—one for pupils of 16-17 and another for pupils of 18-19—to be conducted by university ex amining bodies. In 1917 the Secondary Schools Examinations Council, representative of the examining bodies, the local educa tion authorities and the teaching profession was established, and since then the first and second school examination of one or other of eight university examining bodies have gradually become a useful element in the organisation, not only of schools under the Board's control but of secondary schools of every kind. In grant aided schools the Board pays the examination charges for each pupil up to a maximum of £2. In 1926-27, 43,752 pupils in grant-aided schools took a first examination and 6,681 a second.
A second reform was the provision of grants for recognized advanced courses in certain groups of sub jects; the grouping at first conceived on a rather rigid formula, has been greatly modified, and almost any kind of advanced work likely to be done in a secondary school, e.g., in music and art, may now be recognized; but the grant, except for schools taking no aid from local education authorities, has now been merged in the general provision made by the act of 1918. In 1926-27, 479 ad vanced courses were recognised (232 in science and mathematics, 38 in classics, 189 in modern studies, seven in classical with mod ern studies, four in geography, nine in other combinations of subjects).
The relation of the schools to the universities and other places of university rank has be come increasingly important. The first and second school exam inations are gradually simplifying the conditions of entrance to the universities and the professions, and even also to commerce and industry. Most local education authorities interest them selves in finding openings for the pupils leaving their schools. In London, two joint committees of heads of schools and em ployers find employment for a very large number of boys and girls. (See EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY.) In 1920 the Board in stituted a scheme for the award of 20o State scholarships to uni versities for pupils in grant-aided secondary schools ; the scheme was dropped in 2922 and 1923, but revived in 1924. The award is based on the second school examination ; the amount varies with circumstances, but is calculated to finance the whole of the scholar's university course. (R. F. CH.; C. BR.) The chief stages in the development of secondary education in the United States may be best visualized by reference to the main types of secondary schools. (I) The type operative in colonial America was the Latin grammar school, an institution borrowed from contemporary England and continental Europe. Its curricu lum was restricted to the classical languages and literatures, and its chief purpose was to prepare boys for college. There were in this period no secondary schools for girls. (2) At a period near that of the American Revolution there arose a new type of insti tution, the academy. Its curriculum was much broader than that of the Latin grammar school, comprehending both college preparatory and non-college-preparatory subjects. In many in stances, in some areas predominantly, it opened its doors to both sexes. (3) Before the middle of the 19th century there arose another type of institution, the public high school, whose chief distinguishing characteristic was that it afforded free secondary education at public expense. Its curriculum aimed to serve both the college-going and the non-college-going groups. In this respect and in the fact that it was open to students of both sexes it was similar to the academy. Since the opening of the 20th century there has been developing a fourth type of secondary school which may be best described as the extended secondary school. The ex tension has been in two directions—both horizontal (by including an increasing proportion of the population and a wider variety of curriculum content) and vertical. Attention is here directed chiefly to the latter type of extension. School systems are increas ingly extending the secondary-school period downward by adding the last two elementary-school grades through junior high-school organization and upward by adding the junior-college years (see UNIVERSITIES and COLLEGES), that is, the work of the first two college years, often considered to be essentially secondary in character. Many school systems have provided for extension in one or both directions and the number is rapidly increasing.