The great law of the division of labor has called into existence a new class of professional men, whose duty is the supervision of schools and school systems; yet, up to this time, no work, not even the most elementary, has been published on an art whose importance can scarcely be over-estimated.
The present work is offered as a contribution to the practical literature of teaching. Its general scope and purpose are best explained by remarking that it is a record of experience. The plans and suggestions which it embodies were not inspired by mere theories of what ought to be, or of what might be, but are the results which have been reached in the course of a considerable experience in the management of schools. It is not meant by this that all the plans herein contained are original; on the contrary, many of them have come, either by suggestion or adoption, from the current practice in school supervision.
