What Can and do School Reports Show?
The Psychological Clinic Copyright, 1910, by Lightner Witmer, Editor. Vol. IV. ]STo. 1. March 15, 1910. :Author: Roland P. Falknek, Ph.D.
In a discussion of backward children before the Philadelphia Public Education Association some time since, Dr Luther IT. Gulick scored our educational system for its lack of system, method and measurement. Considered as a great branch of administration into which the public money is so generously poured, we are painfully ignorant of the results achieved. “Would a great business concern,” he said, “spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually, and then never take statistics on its work? Yould such a concern not have the slightest idea at the end of a current year as to what failures it had made; where energy and material were lost; and who lost it? No. Yet that is what all the school boards of this country are doing. We don’t know anything. We imagine, and form opinions, and debate on the best methods, but what we need is facts.”
A somewhat minute study during the past year of the published reports1 of schools in many of our larger cities confirms the essential truth of this arraignment. Even though it is not absolutely true that we know nothing, it is literally true that in some instances we are told nothing. In other cases we are told very little, and in some few cases, where there is much wealth of statistical statement, we are often told things of no importance and are not told many of the things which we ought to know. The question as to how to prepare a school report is not a mere question of form. It is one of substance. The school report can, pursuing the analogy of a business corporation, be regarded as the annual statement of activities and results. Considering how uniform are the ends pursued by public school systems in the various cities of the United States, it might be supposed by the uninitiated that there would be a general consensus of opinion as to what school reports should contain. But there is no such consensus of opinion. There is not a single fact of school administration which is uniformly reported. This wide diversity is much to be deplored, but all efforts to remedy it have thus far been singularly futile.
In the recent work of Drs. Snedden and Allen, on “School Reports and School Efficiency,” Dr Allen recounts the story of how the National Education Association has been preaching, as it were in the wilderness, the doctrine of systematic and uniform school statistics. It may seem passing strange that learned, experienced educators in convention assembled solemnly resolve that certain things ought to be done, and straightway return to their homes and apparently forget all about their wise decision?. The reason is not far to seek. Men cannot logically deny that a certain uniformity of records and presentation is desirable; in a vague, general way they are rather disposed to think it admirable, but this is no spur to action. Uniformity is not an ideal for which anyone will sacrifice either tradition or personal convenience. The entire discussion before the body has hinged upon uninteresting and unstimulating questions of form. It has not touched upon the facts. There has been too little emphasis laid on the betterments which were proposed, and it has not been sufficiently demonstrated that customary forms of statement often give, not only inadequate, but false and distorted ideas of our school systems.
What then should an ideal school report contain? What information ought the public to have? These are questions of primary importance, questions not to be answered lightly. Probably no man can answer them. But if we can gather together some more or less intelligent efforts at exhaustive or practical answers, we can perhaps indulge the hope that in time our administrators of schools will pick out the best, and agree at least upon some essential and indispensable requisites of a good school report. In the work of Drs. Snedden and Allen before cited, which is a very commendable effort to awaken an interest in school reports as the account which the school authorities render to the public at large of their stewardship, there are two interesting attempts to depict what school reports ought to be. Dr W. H. Allen contributes a chapter of questions which school reports ought, in his opinion, to answer. Like all his contributions it is highly suggestive. But since human wisdom is finite, it may be doubted whether it is practical for anyone, and particularly for one who, though a brilliant critic, is not a schoolman, to approach the subWHAT DO SCHOOL REPORTS SHOW? 3 ject in this way. In a matter of this kind, it is experience rather than theory that counts. Nor is the method of putting suggestions in the form of questions wholly praiseworthy. Such questions do not always suggest their own answers, and when they do, they do not always indicate the significance of the answer gien. Rather more effective is Dr David S. Snedden’s account of what the cities are actually doing. Forms of tables upon all conceivable subjects of school administration have been culled from different reports, classified, and brought together under proper heads. To a certain extent these tables speak for themselves, but they speak no very certain language. Practical considerations of space dictated in many cases the omission of the actual figures and the result is as interesting as a book of legal forms. It lacks the human concrete element. It tends to overemphasize the value of elaboration, without any critical attempt to show wherein consists the value in detail. Moreover, such a treatment, while generous to the good things which the reports contain, fails to note the good things which they omit.
It has seemed to the present writer that it would be profitable to examine, not what many cities have partially done, but all that one city has done, to take a single report and point out its excellencies, and by such a concrete example, to show what facts are pertinent in statistical inquiry and just how they elucidate problems of school administration. Naturally we select for such a purpose the report which to our best knowledge and belief embodies the largest number of commendable features. As I cannot claim to know intimately all the reports issued in the United States I shall not claim that that of Springfield, Ohio, which I have selected for illustration, is the best which is issued. It is, however, taken as a whole, the best I know, and I have no doubt the following pages will show the reader that it certainly has unusual merit. Comparisons with other cities will show that it excels many of them. Its discussion will prove at least a partial answer to the question, what can school reports show ? In asking attention to the suggestive figures of this report it should be understood that there is little analysis of them in the report itself. Nearly all the calculations of percentages and other proportions have been made by the writer, and the present paper has not been written for the mere purpose of citing the figures but rather to show how they may be interpreted.
A. School Population.1 One of the first tilings we ask about our schools is how far they meet the local need for education? How many of the children who ought to be in school are actually present? We must first discover how many children there are in the community. This is the function of the school census. We might, in taking the census, ascertain how many of the children enumerated are attending school?and that is perhaps the best method?or we can rely upon the school records to show who, or at least how many, are in school. Springfield, Ohio, chooses the latter course. The report for 1909, from which in the absence of special reference all our figures are drawn, gives us the following information: 4
School population, 6-21 years of age, enumerated in May, 1908 12,215 School population 6-15 years of age at same time 8,273 Total enrolment in public schools (excluding kindergarten) 1908-9.. 6,714 Enrolment of pupils 6-21 years of age in private and parochial schools 1,600 This is more than we often find in our school reports, but is still not satisfying. The census is taken in a previous school year, and the number of pupils in school is not the number at any given time, nor the average number, but the whole number throughout the year. A census of all persons six to twenty-one years of age is of little use unless you expect all those persons to be in school. Nor is it helped a great deal by distinguishing those from six to sixteen inclusive, since children of fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen years of age may be out of school with the sanction of the law while those from eight to thirteen can only be absent in violation of law. More detail is necessary if we are to have an answer to the fundamental question, how many of these children who ought to be in school are in actual attendance ? B. jEnrolment, etc. The question, “How many pupils are there in school?” would seem a very simple one, yet there are many ways of answering it. Springfield, Ohio, gives us four. We learn that (1) the total enrolment was 6714; (2) the average monthly enrolment was 6124; (3) the average daily membership was 5994; (4) the average daily attendance was 5576. Each of these figures has its own significance. The total enrolment might be likened to a hospital record of the whole number of cases treated in a year, while the average attendance corresponds to the hospital record of the average number of beds occupied by patients. Here the analogy ceases. Children who are effective lThis and subsequent paragraphs will be lettered, not In the pride and vainglory of schematic arrangement, but for practical convenience of later reference. WHAT DO SCHOOL REPORTS SHOW? 5
members of the schools are often absent a day or more at a time, and this depresses in the aggregate the average attendance, but they are still members of the schools. How long such absence may continue before they cease to be counted as members depends on local rules. As these vary in different places average membership is an uncertain quantity. The shorter the period in which being out of school changes from “absence” to non-membership, the closer will be the average membership to average attendance. The difference between the two is aptly designated in Springfield as average daily absence. It is only 418 here, indicating a rathei strict rule as to membership. The difference between the average daily membership and the total enrolment (720) is designated as average non-membership. This brings out clearly the fact that in any consideration of a school system which involves the question, what is it doing day in and day out throughout the year, the total enrolment?so often the only figures available is quite inappropriate. The monthly enrolment is based on the same principle as the total, though for a shorter period, as it embraces only pupils actually in school for any length of time during the month. The figure cited is the average of the enrolments for the ten months of the school year. Students of school affairs have not always given due weight to the difference between aggregate figures and daily accomplishment which even these general figures indicate. The Springfield figures enable us to study this important matter with even greater and -more illuminating detail. C. Fluctuations in Enrolment. That the body of school children, while remaining fairly constant in size, is subject to not a little change in the elements which comprise it, is seen in the following table giving the enrolment by months: September, 1908 6215 February 6134 October 62g9 March 6132 November 6266 April 6044 December 6239 May January, 1909 6204 June 5799 Year 6714 It will be noted that the maximum is in October, after w ic declines. The difference between the initial enrolment in ep tember and the total for the year (499) represents the num 0 new pupils who enter the schools after September, while t e l ei ence between the same total and the final, or June, enro men , 915, shows the number who left school during the year. n a aggregate of 6714 pupils there were, therefore, 5300 w ose enro 6 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC. ment extended throughout the year, and 1414 who were present for a part of the year only. D. Causes of Fluctuation. Concerning the 490 new entries we are told in the report merely that 323 were newcomers in the city and that 327 (the figures do not harmonize) had attended school elsewhere part of the time during the school year. We are not told how many had come from private or parochial schools in Springfield, and how many had not previously attended school. On the other hand, there is quite comprehensive information concerning 910 pupils who permanently left school during the year, giving ages and grades of those leaving, the months, and the causes. The causes are noted as follows: Sickness or death 143 Removal from city 491 To go to work 165 Other causes 78 Causes unknown 33 It will be noticed that only in the case of 165 children who went to work have we definite information concerning a final termination of the school life. In the other cases, excepting the few who died, and whose number is not separately stated, there is a possibility of a return to school, if not in Springfield, perhaps elsewhere. While the schools lost 491 by removals from the city, they gained, we are told in the report, only 272 by families coming into it. As our cities generally grow by accretions a contrary showing might have been expected. It might be that Springfield was losing numbers by such changes in its population, but this seems improbable. The explanation may be that when a family moves from one city to another, the older children do not go to school in the new home.
Bccause the withdrawals represent pupils leaving the schools of Springfield only, and not necessarily leaving school altogether, we find them distributed over all grades and over all ages, as shown in the following table:
WHAT DO SCHOOL REPORTS SHOW? Grades. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 High School Totals. Number Enrolled. 947 869 852 790 798 676 575 437 770 6714 Number Withdrawn. 148 92 97 94 90 96 80 60 153 910 Per Cent Withdrawn. 15.6 10.6 11.4 11.9 11.2 14.2 13.9 13.7 19.7 13.5 Ages 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 and over Totals. Number Enrolled 323 654 695 672 637 677 658 647 601 498 310 342 6714 Number Withdrawn 43 90 72 67 69 67 58 69 88 111 99 78 910 Per Cent Withdrawn 13.3 13.7 10.3 10.0 10.8 10.0 8.8 10.7 14.6 22.5 31.9 22.8 13.5
While the withdrawals are 13.5 per cent of the total enro ment this proportion is exceeded in the first grade and above the fifth. We have reflected here in the first case the effect ot sic ness, in the latter cases that of leaving, school for work. y age again the average is exceeded at seven years, and nota y so fourteen and thereafter. Those figures, of course, do not s the entire shrinkage in the higher ages as it is not urmg time but in the summer vacation that so much of it occurs, a comparison of 1908 and 1909 is instructive.
1908 1909 Age XT , , ? , Per cent 13 14 15 16 17 remaining Number Age Number 633 14 601 74.9 586 15 498 85.0 424 16 310 73.1 274 17 212 77.4 151 18 95 62.9
E. Duration of Attendance. We have already seen from the consideration of the average attendance and total enrolment that not all the pupils could have been in attendance throughout the year. We are not left to inference, however, but are given specific information as to how long the pupils were in attendance. The school year was 187 days in length. The number of pupils attending for certain specific periods, follows: present Number Per cent
187 33G 5.0 180-187 1844 27.5 170-180 1670 24.9 160-170 790 11.8 150-160 441 6.5 140-150 271 4.0 130-140 187 2.8 120-130 167 2.5 110-120 ?. 144 2.1 100-110 136 2.0 Less than 100 728 10.9 6,714 100.0
The table shows a not inconsiderable percentage who were present less than 100 days or practically half the time. Those present 170 days and upward, numbered 57.4 per cent and it is probable therefore that about 60 per cent of the pupils were present at least nine-tenths of the school year, though a perfect record of attendance was attained by only 5 per cent of the pupils. In these figures we find reflected not only the irregular attendance of those who were members of the school group throughout the year, but also the changes in the school population due to newcomers and to the withdrawal of pupils. We have here an explanation, occasionally overlooked, of why a portion of the pupils? and sometimes a considerable one?fails of advancement at the annual promotions.
F. The Grades. The number of pupils in the several grades is one of the figures most frequently given in school reports. In the Springfield report we find three statements, based respectively upon total enrolment, average enrolment and the June enrolment. The total enrolment figures are: Per Grade Number cenj High School Number cent 1 947 14.1 1st year 335 5.0 2 869 12.9 2d year 226 3.4 3 852 12.7 3d year 122 1.8 4 790 11.8 4th year 87 1.3 5 798 11.9 6 676 10.1 Total High School. 770 11.5 7 575 8.5 Grand Total .. 6714 100.0 8 437 6.5 Total Elementary.. 5944 88.5 WHAT DO SCHOOL REPORTS SHOW? 9 The characteristic of this table is the uniformity in the several grades. While the first grade is the largest, there is not that concentration of pupils so frequently observed in this grade. The first four grades contain about one-half of the pupils, but the percentage in the upper grades and in the high schools is notably high.
G. Grade Variation. As we have the grades stated in different forms we can glean some information as to the effect of changes in the school population on the several grades. Without going into the details of grades, the following figures by groups may be noted. Grades 1-4. . Grades 5-8. . High School. Totals. Numbers Total 3458 2486 770 6714 Average 3134 2293 697 6124 June 3022 2156 621 5799 Per Cent Total 51.5 37.0 11.5 100.0 Average 51.2 37.5 11.3 100.0 June 52.1 37.2 10.7 100.0
It appears that as the withdrawals, as before noted, were pretty evenly distributed among the grades, so the various grades show much the same proportions at different times. If we were to make a further calculation of the relation of June enrolment to the total enrolment, we should have the following results: Grades 1-4 87.4 per cent Grades 5-8 86.7 High School 80.5
II. Beginners and Grade Survival. The first grade numbered in the aggregate 947 pupils, but of these only 733 were reported as beginners. It is not at all unlikely that the number of beginners represented by the upper grades is even smaller than thisj. It is, however, significant that while the eighth grade numbering 437 pupils is 46.1 per cent of the present first grade, it is 59.6 per cent of the present number of beginners. I- The Ages. The ages of the pupils in school are reported on the basis of the total enrolment. They are:
6 323 11 677 16 310 7 654 12 658 17 212 8 695 13 647 18 95 9 672 14 601 19 30 10 637 15 498 20 and over 5
These figures show that only one-half as many children are in school at the age of six as at seven years of age, but that at the latter age most of the children are in school, as the difference between the numbers at this age and those at eight is comparatively slight. A striking feature of the table is the continuance of pupils in school especially at the age of fourteen years. This can best be seen by some relative figures which compare the ages below eight and above twelve with the average of these ages, as follows: 6 482 15 745 7 979 1G 4G4 8-12 1000 17 317 13 908 IS 142 14 900 19 45 20 and over 7
While as yet no general rule has been worked out as to the retention of pupils in the upper ages, there is frequently a drop of 10 per cent at the age of thirteen, and a further drop of 30 per cent at the age of fourteen. To find nearly three-quarters of the pupils still in the school at the age of fifteen, as in Springfield, is indeed rare.
K. Grades and Ages. The useful table of the ages of the pupils in the several grades, upon which studies in the retardation of pupils can be based, cannot be repeated here for lack of space. Some of its main results may however be noted.
Grade. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Totals. Total Pupils 947 869 852 790 798 676 575 437 5944 Over Age 210 274 353 392 424 373 262 182 2470 Per Cent Over Age 22.2 31.5 41.4 49.5 53.1 55.2 45.6 41.7 41.6
We see here the familiar increase of retardation as the grades advance, with a maximum in the sixth grade and a subsequent diminution. The general retardation in the elementary grades is rather high. The most comprehensive statement of retardation which has yet been made, contained in Mr. Leonard P. Ayres’ book “Laggards in Our Schools,” embraces thirty-three cities. The proportion of retarded pupils varies from 7.5 per cent in Medford, Hass., to 75.8 per cent in the colored schools of Memphis, Tenn. Were Springfield, Ohio, to be added to this list, it would occupy the twenty-sixth place. It is the more unusual that with so much retardation in the lower grades, the proportion of pupils reaching the high school should be so large as it is.
That the decrease in retardation in the upper grades is not due to more rapid progress of some of the pupils but rather to the thinning out of those who are considerably retarded appears in the following table:
Numbers Over Age. Over age: 1 year 2 years… 3 years 4 y’rs and over Totals. .. Grades 137 45 17 11 210 142 76 32 24 274 176 92 57 28 353 181 111 51 49 392 182 134 65 43 424 164 113 69 27 373 144 82 32 4 262 110 53 16 3 182 Total 1236 706 339 189 2470 Per Cent Over Age. Over age: 1 year 2 years…. 3 years y’rs and over Totals … Grades 14.5 4.7 1.8 1.2 22.2 16.3 8.8 3.6 2.8 31.5 20.6 10.8 6.7 3.3 41.4 22.9 14.0 6.4 6.2 49.5 22.8 16.8 8.1 5.4 53.1 24.2 16.8 10.2 4.0 55.2 25.0 14.3 5.6 0.7 45.6 25.2 12.2 3.6 0.7 41.7 Totals 20.8 11.9 5.7 3.2 41.6
This shows us that of all the pupils who are retarded, exactly ?ne half are one year older than the corresponding grades. Somewhat more than one fourth are two years older than their grades, while the remainder are three years or more over the proper ages. But if we follow these items through the grades we find that the children one year behind continue to increase in proportion throughout all the grades. On the other hand the proportion of pupils two years behind and three years behind is greatest in the sixth grade and less thereafter, while those four or more years behind reach their maximum in the fourth grade and almost disappear in the eighth. As showing the falling out in the upper grades a comparison of the fifth and eighth grades is instructive.
12 TEE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC. Normal age and under Above normal: 1 year 2 years 3 years 4 years and more…. Total Total pupils… . 5th Grade 374 182 134 G5 43 424 798 8th Grade 255 110 53 16 3 182 437 Proportion in 8th Grade for 100 in 5th Grade 68.2 60.4 39.5 24.6 7.0 42.9 54.8
It is fair to presume that the fifth grade of a few years ago from which the present eighth grade is derived, had approximately the same distribution of normal and retarded pupils as the present fifth grade. We shall not be far wrong in considering the percentages of the preceding table as representing percentages of survival. In this view of the case we note that of the normal pupils 68.2 per cent reach the eighth grade, but only 4-2.9 per cent of the retarded pupils reach the same point. In making this statement we err somewhat in favor of the retarded children, as a few of those who were in the normal age in the fifth grade would drop into the retarded class before reaching the eighth. The figures suggest tendencies but do not measure them. If we examine the details we see very plainly that the greater the degree of retardation, the smaller is the percentage of survival. L. Repeating Grades. The evidence of retardation drawn from the comparison of ages and grades is for each of the pupils cumulative. It reflects his whole school life. The decrease in the percentage of retardation in the upper grades might at first appear to indicate that in these grades failure did not occur. A useful correction of this impression is given in the figures showingrecent failure. A significant table shows the number of pupils in each grade who are repeating the year’s work. Compared with the total enrolment of each grade it is as follows:
p i Total Number Per cent Enrolment repeating repeating 1 947 186 19.6 2 869 143 16.4 3 852 157 18.4 4 790 108 13.7 5 798 89 11.2 6 676 84 12.4 7 575 25 4.3 8 437 19 4.3 Totals 5944 811 13.6
It is seen that more than one-eighth of all the pupils have been more than one year in the grades where they now are. It also shows that the proportion is largest in the first grade and is high in the first three grades, about the average in the next three grades and very small in the seventh and eighth grades. The decreasing scale as the years progress may indicate a better adaptation of the pupils to the work in which they are engaged. But it is probable that the smaller number in the upper grades is due in some measure to the process of elimination. By a reference to the report of 1908, the following comparison can be made: , Not promoted Repeating grade ?rade June, 1908 1908-09 1 147 186 2 125 143 3 139 157 4 103 108 5 102 89 6 108 84 7 47 25 8 23 19 Total 794 811 The numbers of those not promoted in June, 1908, and those repeating grades in 1908-09 are almost equal, but a comparison of the different grades shows considerable variation. In the first four grades those who have been more than a year in the grade exceed those who were not promoted. This is readily explained. Those not promoted comprise only pupils who were on the register in June, 1908. Pupils who had left temporarily during the year (and the number of such is as we have seen not inconsiderable), are not included in this figure. Some of them returned to school in 1908-09 and had to go back to their old grades, not having qualified for advancement. Then too there is an influx of new pupils from other points. When we reach the fifth grade we note a contrary relation, the number repeating is less than that of the hold-overs, and we can only infer that some of the latter have not returned to school. This discrepancy is particularly large in the seventh grade. In these upper grades there is a contingent which has passed beyond the compulsory age limit, and can exercise the option of leaving school. This table gives further evidence of which children leave school in the upper grades. M. Promotions. The progress of pupils is still further evidenced by the statistics of promotions. The number of promotions compared with the June enrolment was as follows:
June Promoted Enrolment Numbers Per cent 1 811 639 78.8 2 778 664 85.3 3 737 635 86.3 4 696 615 88.4 5 710 597 84.1 6 578 519 89.8 7 487 440 90.3 8 381 354 92.9 Totals 5178 4463 86.2 The percentage of promotion is least in the first grade, highest in the eighth. It improves considerably after the fifth grade. It is pointed out in the report that while the percentage of promotion is 86 on the basis of the June enrolment, it is only 74 per cent of the annual enrolment. There is good reason for each comparison. The first shows that many of those presumably ready for advancement are not in fact fitted for it. The second draws into the comparison pupils who are not present at the promotion period, and being out of school are therefore not ready for advancement. If none of them returned to school the comparison would be without significance. But some of these children do return to the schools and swell the numbers of the retarded children. Some consideration of them therefore- seems to be necessary and this is found in a comparison of the promotions with the total enrolment.
!N”. Nativity and Parentage. A table giving the nativity of pupils and parents found in the report is here reproduced with percentage calculations.
Pupils Parents Place of Birth Number Per cent Number Per cent Springfield 3429 51.0 2035 15.2 Elsewhere in Ohio 2518 37.5 6994 52.1 Eastern States 169 2.5 782 5.8 North Central States 305 4.6 1204 9.0 Southern States 163 2.4 855 6.4 Western States 64 1.0 235 1.8 Canada 5 0.1 74 0.5 Great Britain 8 0.1 155 1.2 Ireland 0 0.0 63 0.5 Germany 5 0.1 481 3.4 Italy 3 0.0 46 0.3 Other countries 26 0.4 158 1.2 Unknown 19 0.3 346 2.6 6714 100.0 13,428 100.0
We have here some suggestive contrasts between the pupils and their parents. Of the former less than 1 per cent were born abroad, of the latter, 7.1 per cent. Again more than half of the children were born in Springfield, but only 15.2 per cent of the parents were natives of the city. Among the children 88.5 per cent are natives of Ohio, but among the parents only 67.3 per cent. In these figures we have an interesting picture of the migrations “which contribute to the building up of our American cities. 0. Occupations of Parents. Another table gives the occupations of parents. It is inspired doubtless by a desire to indicate m some measure the social classes from which pupils are drawn. The facts given are as follows:
High Schools All Schools Elementary Schools No. Percent No. Percent No. Percent ASents 158 2.7 43 5.6 201 3.0 Clerks 287 4.8 60 7.8 347 5.2 Engineers 146 2.5 22 2.9 168 2.5 Farmers 99 1.7 50 6.5 149 2.2 Laborers 1805 30.3 102 13.2 1907 28.4 Manufacturers 67 1.1 26 3.4 93 1.4 Mechanics 1641 27.6 188 24.4 1829 27.2 Merchants 304 5.1 74 9.6 378 5.6 Professionals 178 3.0 71 9.2 249 3.7 Unclassified 1259 21.2 134 17.4 1393 20.8 Total 5944 100.0 770 100.0 6714 100.0
As the public schools of Springfield are without the competition of parochial schools and private schools, and thus represent the entire population of school age, these figures, particularly those of the elementary schools, may represent prevailing occupations in the city. The unclassified are however a large item. The contrast between percentages for the high schools and elementary schools is striking, the occupations which represent in the main the larger incomes being much more numerous in proportion in the high school.
We have thus far dealt with the general aspects of the statistics furnished for the Springfield schools. They are replete with information, and give us on analysis a view of the workings of the school system which is rare in school reports. Many of the items which we have considered are given in detail for the separate schools of the system. They are the annual, monthly average, and June enrolments by grades, the monthly enrolment and per cent of attendance, the duration of attendance, withdrawals by grades, by ages and by month, ages, promotions by grades, the number repeating grades, and the occupation of parents. How far such details have any interest for the people of Springfield is a matter open for discussion. I am in doubt whether their value is sufficient to warrant their publication, but there is no doubt that thej are of no interest outside the city.
One of the distinctions frequently made in school reports is that between boys and girls. The Springfield report is rather sparing of this distinction. It is found only as concerns the annual enrolment by grades, and the withdrawal by schools. We are not disposed to rate this as a blemish of the report. For many of the purposes proposed for school statistics it has little meaning and it always involves a considerable outlay in printing.
Our study has been of the school pupils. There is another side to the schools, the administrative side, which finds expression in tables of receipts and expenditures and calculations of per capita cost. The Springfield report is not very detailed upon these points. It contents itself with a general statement of receipts and expenditures with no attempt to apportion it among the different kinds of schools or to calculate per capita cost. In view of the fact that some of the cities with which we shall compare Springfield give great attention to financial matters, it seems proper to mention that they play a small role in the report, although they do not enter into the plan of the present study which is concerned with the pupils.
The example of Springfield answers in what seems to us a very practical way the question as to what school reports can show. To answer with equal clearness the question what they do show is difficult. A comparison of all school reports with that of Springfield would doubtless be instructive, but the task would be endless. It will answer the purpose to compare a few representative reports. For this purpose, a careful examination has been made of the reports of twenty cities, as follows: f. Population Bank
Cities igoo 1. New York 3.437,202 1 2. Chicago 1,698,575 2 3. Philadelphia 1,293,697 3 4. St. Louis 575,238 4 5. Boston 560,892 5 6. Bridgeport 70,996 54 7. Lynn 68,513 55 8. Oakland 66,960 56 9. Lawrence (Mass.) .. 62,559 57 10. New Bedford 62,442 58 11. Altoona 38,973 97 12. Wheeling 38,878 98 13. Mobile 38,469 99 14. Birmingham 38,415 100 WHAT DO SCHOOL REPORTS SHOW? 17 ? Population Rank ClTIES 1900 1900 15. Little Rock 38,307 101 16. Galveston 37,789 103 17. Tacoma 37,714 104 18. Haverhill 37,175 105 19. Spokane 36,848 106 20. Terre Haute 36,673 107
There has been no premeditation in the choice of these cities other than a selection according to size. It seemed proper in the first place to select cities of about the same size as Springfield. The latter ranked 102 in the cities of the United States in 1900 and we have taken the ten cities nearest in size as a part of the list. To these we have added the five largest cities in the country, and five others which stood midway in the list of cities before reaching Springfield. Of these cities three, Altoona, Galveston, and Mobile, publish no reports whatever. In treating of Springfield, we called attention to fourteen distinct statistical showings lettered A to O. In the cities selected for comparison, we find them represented as follows, using for our comparison the latest report available in the United States Bureau of Education. Corresponding Number of?
tables cities ClTIES 8 1 Philadelphia. 7 3 St. Louis, Lawrence, Haverhill. 6 2 New York, Wheeling. 5 3 Chicago, Boston, Terre Haute. 4 3 New Bedford, Birmingham, Spokane. 3 2 Bridgeport, Lynn. 2 1 Tacoma. 1 2 Oakland, Little Rock. 0 3 Altoona, Galveston, Mobile. If we consider the points in order, we find them represented in the following cities: A. School Census. 1, 3. 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 17, 18, 20. B. Enrolment. All cities having report. C. Fluctuations in enrolment. 3. 12 (and by quarters 4). Causes of fluctuation. 3, 12. 20, and for high schools only 10, 18. E. Duration of attendance, 4, 20. F. The Grades. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12, 14, 18, 19. G. The Grades at different periods. None. H. The Number of beginners. None. I; The Ages. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 18, 19. K. The Ages by grades. 1, 3, 5, 9, 18, 19 (and average age in each grade 10). L. Repeating grades. 3 (and for high school only 18). M. Promotions. 1, 2, 3, 9, 12, 20. N. Nativity. 4 (and for pupils receiving age and work certificates and for evening schools, 2). O. Occupations of Parents. 14.
It will not, of course, be pretended that each one of these showings is equally important, but it is significant that the school census, the enrolment, and the grades, are the only, items represented in at least half of the reports under consideration. But each of the showings has some importance, as our analysis has sought to demonstrate. The comparison of the several cities proves how far we are from having reached any consensus of opinion as to what facts are really vital and important in showing the results of our systems of public schools.
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