Consolidation and centralization should be encouraged whenever practicable. Wherever the one-room school is the most practicable-and this is often the case-it should be the best possible one-room school. A good one-room school may be made efficient and is always better than a poor or fair graded school.

No schools, except high schools, are effectively standardized.

All schools should be standardized, and the graduates of lower schools should be eligible for admission to a higher school without State examinations. Institutions should be standardized rather than students or pupils. All standardization should be concerned with the quality as well as with the quantity of work done, and the greatest freedom should be allowed each individual school to develop its individ uality along the line of service to its community.

STATE OF VERMONT.

The report of "the first survey that has ever been made of all of the educational facilities in a State" was published February 15, 1914, by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, in "A Study of Education in Vermont" (Bulletin No. 7, Parts I and II, 214 pp.). This study was made at the request of the educational commission which was authorized by a joint resolution of the Legislature of Vermont November 19, 1912, as follows:

That a commission of nine persons, at least two of whom shall be experts in or engaged in educational work, shall be appointed by the governor to inquire into the entire educational system and condition of this State. This commission shall report at the earliest possible date on the several rights, duties, and obligations of the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, Middlebury College, and Norwich University, with such recommendations as will prevent unnecessary duplication and consequent financial waste.

That as soon as practicable after reporting on the institutions of higher learning hereinbefore referred to, the said commission shall recommend, by bill or otherwise, such reorganization of our public elementary and secondary schools, in adjustment to the entire educational system of the State, as will promote the ends of unity, harmony, economy, and efficiency.

On February 24, 1913, the commission invited the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to conduct the investigations. "Six months to a study in the field and an equal time to the examination and presentation of the records and suggestions" were given under the direction of President Henry S. Pritchett, by 12 members of the staff of the foundation and the following specialists who investigated the topics named:

Edward C. Elliott,. University of Wisconsin-The normal schools and the State system of administration and expenditure; Milo B. Hillegas, Teachers' College, Columbia University-Elementary schools; William S. Learned, Harvard University-Secondary schools (the reports of the last two are signed by each, respectively, and these reports form "the backbone of the educational inquiry"); Edward H. Farrington, University of Wisconsin-The agricultural college; Nathaniel B. Potter, Columbia University-Medical school; George R. Olshausen, United States Bureau of Standards-The three engineering schools; Miss L. E. Stearnes, Wisconsin Free Library-Library facilities in relation to the public schools; and William Leslie, public accountant.-The scope of the system of accounts and financial statements.

The features of the study appear in the topical arrangement of the report, which is as follows:

PART I. METHODS AND RESULTS.

1. The reason for the inquiry; 2. The method of the inquiry; 3. Conclusions and recommendations.

PART II. DESCRIPTION AND DISCUSSION.

1. The State of Vermont; 2. The existing educational system; 3. The elementary schools; 4. The secondary schools; 5. The training of teachers; 6. Vocational schools; 7. Records and accounts; 8. The financial support of the public-school system; 9. The reorganization of the agencies for administration; 10. The Vermont colleges and their relations to the State; 11. The University of Vermont; 12. Middlebury College; 13. Norwich University; 14. The history of Vermont subsidies to higher education; 15. The outlook for higher education in Vermont; 16. Program of reorganization.

It was assumed that all conclusions, recommendations, and proposals for legislation belonged entirely to the educational commission and not to the individuals who were engaged in making the study. In the course of the presentation of the essential facts that were discovered, the study led to certain conclusions, which were resolved in the following recommendations:

1. The recognition by the State of the reorganization of elementary and secondary education, including vocational training, as its immediate and supreme duty.

2. The organization of the office of a commissioner of education upon a basis competent to furnish expert supervision for the public-school system. This involves a small lay board serving without salary, and salaries for educational experts of a character to secure the ablest men and women. The details of this organization are given in Section IX of Part II.

3. The problem of revision of the course of study, the establishment of agencies for training teachers, and other administrative details to be worked out by this board and its experts.

4. The State Agricultural College to receive a larger proportion of the generous annual appropriation to the State from the Federal Government and to be developed along lines calculated to make a fruitful connection between the agricultural college and the industries of farming, dairying, gardening, stock and poultry raising, and fruit culture.

5. Subsidies to higher education should cease, the [three] colleges being given a reasonable time in which to rearrange their budgets.

The report concludes with a suggested program of reorganization which defines general policies, measures for legislative enactment, the administrative policy of the State board of education as regards elementary, secondary, and vocational schools, and supervision, training, and certification of teachers.

PUBLIC SCHOOL 188B, MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY.

On February 21, 1914, the New York Bureau of Municipal Research published a 35-page bulletin containing typical extracts from a report made at the request of Principal Edward Mandel upon the administration and activities of his school for 2,500 boys, Public School 188B, Manhattan.

The data were secured during a 12-day study of this school by Mr. A. N. Farmer, of the training school for public service, aided by 12 students.

Each of the 59 rooms was visited at least twice; 45 hours were spent in actual inspection of classroom work, methods of discipline, and inspection; over 40 hours were spent in questioning the principal and teachers; 75 homes were visited; 25 boys were questioned in detail; 773 special language papers written by seventh and eighth grades were studied; stenographic reports of 18 recitations on all subjects were analyzed; test arithmetic questions were given to 1,480 pupils in grades 5A-8B. A two-day field study of the extra-curriculum activities of teachers was based on interviews with eight teachers and the principal.

Numerous diagrams, sketches, and other devices were used to present the findings, which are arranged under the following headings: How the school is governed; flexible grading and grouping; stretching an “inelastic" curriculum; testing classroom instruction; notes on typical recitations; spelling misfits; peculiar idioms in language papers; how reading was taught; how arithmetic was taught; one geography lesson; pupils needing attention because of nonpromo tion or late entrance; conferences with teachers; parents' meetings; decorations; ungraded classes; extra-curriculum activities; athletics; clubs; after-school jobs for boys; what pupils want to be; home study; discipline; medical examination and treatment; suggestions for improving the physical conditions. The bulletin includes a statement by Principal Mandel for the General Education Board as to how his school used this report.

BUTTE, MONT.

That later surveys would benefit by the experiences of the earlier inquiries is a matter of normal expectancy. This improvement is noticeable in a few of the later studies mentioned above, and especially in the report of a survey of the school system of Butte, Mont., which was submitted to the board of school trustees June 2, 1914. On May 5, 1914, the board adopted the following resolution:

That a survey be made of the schools of school district No. 1, by Dr. George D. Strayer, of Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City; Dr. Ellwood Cubberley, head of the department of education, Leland Stanford University; and Dr. Frank P. Bachman, of New York City, and two assistants. Such survey to commence as soon as practicable, and there is hereby appropriated and set aside from the general fund of the said school district the sum of four thousand ($4,000) dollars to pay the expense of said survey and for the cost of a report from the said persons to the board of education as to the conditions of the said schools.

The two assistants associated with the commission were William T. Bawden, managing editor of Vocational Education, and F. J. Kelly, director of the training school, State Normal College, Emporia, Kans.

1 Now specialist in industrial education, U. S. Bureau of Education.

One of the interesting conditions of the inquiry, the time allowed for which was four weeks, was the following recommendation of the board's committee on teachers and school management:

If such a survey is made of the Butte schools, we hereby resolve to publish the results in full and to abide by the recommendations of the experts, wherever possible. At the beginning of the work of the commission it was also agreed: That it was the purpose of the survey to acquaint the board of school trustees and the citizens of Butte with the conditions as they exist in the public-school system, with respect to the school plant and its equipment, the methods of administration and supervision of the schools, the instruction and courses of study, the training, tenure, and present efficiency of the teaching corps, and the classification, progress, and achievements of children in the school system, together with such recommendations as might seem to them to be justified in the light of the facts which they might be able to collect or observations which they might make.

The method of procedure of the commission included conferences with the superintendent, the board of school trustees, and all teachers of the school system. Careful effort was made "not to express any opinion concerning any individual teacher or other employee of . the board of school trustees."

Further interest of the public in the course of the survey was manifested in the invitation to the commission to attend meetings of the local labor council, the teachers' union, city parents' association, woman's club, and chamber of commerce. The main object of the survey was to suggest "possibilities for improving the opportunities of the children in the public schools of Butte."

Accordingly, all the schools in the city's jurisdiction, except in the rural section, were visited by one or more of the commission. The study is of special interest, because it brings forward an emphasis upon the teaching side of the system and makes definite contributions toward improvements in administrative details.

The report (163 pages, including appendix) covers the following topics:

Introduction.

Part I. The Instructional Problem.-1. The classification and progress of pupils. 2. The quality of instruction. 3. The courses of study. 4. The achievements of pupils. 5. Supervision of instruction. 6. Adaptation of the schools to community needs.

Part II. The Administrative Problem.-7. The administration of the schools. 8. Selection, training, tenure, and salaries of teachers. 9. School buildings and equipment. 10. Census, records, and reports. 11. Costs and financial records. Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations.

Tables and figures aid in presenting the data studied. The report is characterized by the list of eight record and report forms which are. recommended for adoption by the system.

In the absence of adequate records, both financial and statistical, the commission found it impossible to state with any degree of accu

racy the position the Butte schools occupy in comparison with other cities in the United States. Much time was spent in trying to work out such comparisons, but the effort was finally abandoned. With a population of 39,165 in 1910, it was found that only 28.5 per cent were of native parents, while 32.9 per cent were foreign born, and 37.3 per cent were native born with one or both parents foreign born, six-tenths of 1 per cent were negroes. The effects of a large number of non-English-speaking children upon the school system were noted by the commission. The predominant age in Butte is between 25 and 44 years; 15.1 per cent of the whole population is between the ages 5 and 14 years, as compared with 17.4 per cent for the United States. This relatively small proportion of children of school age * should enable Butte to provide much better educational advantages for its children than can be provided by the average city.

*

*

Owing to defects in the school census, it was found that only an approximation could be made of from 75 to 79 per cent of the children between the ages of 6 and 14 years and a few of other ages who were reached by the public schools.

In studying the quality of instruction (Ch. II), the commission fixed the following standards for judging the work of teachers in terms of the social efficiency aim of education. These standards specify "The degree to which certain qualities are developed in children which enable them to contribute to the common good." These are as follows:

1. Sympathy or responsiveness to social needs. 2. Intelligence, or ability to think straight with respect to those issues which involve all members of the community. 3. The habit of acting for the common good.

It was found in the system as a whole that teaching had been overemphasizing drills as a classroom procedure. Instead of developing the abilities of children to express themselves and to think, the teaching had been altogether too much cramming of facts, further evidence of which was found in the nature and importance attached to the stated examinations.

Possibly the greatest need of the school system, from the standpoint of instruction, is to be found in a change in the nature of the examinations and in the work of the teachers which will result in an emphasis on thinking, rather than remembering.

The report is interesting on account of the attempt made to measure the achievements of pupils by an application of some of the more recent standards and scales in spelling, English composition, handwriting, and the fundamental operations in arithmetic. In spelling, the Ayres lists of 10 words each for the second to the eighth grades, inclusive, were utilized. The Ayres average for schools in 22 cities is 70 per cent. The Butte average is 80.3 per cent. These data fur