Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-07
ONE PLAN FOR ALL.
Standard Method of Compiling
School Statistics ADOPTED.
AVAILABLE IN EVERY CITY
Report From Meeting Held in Inter-
est of Superintendence.
DETAILS OF SYSTEM OUTLINED
Disbursements and Income Subjects
Of Unl.orm Plan Of Bookkeeping.
Rating Of Pupils.
AVAILABLE IN EVERY CITY
DETAILS OF SYSTEM OUTLINED

Neltner the commissioners OF tie MS
trict. the committees Of Congress on Dis
trict appropriations. nor, indeed. any other
body or individuals will be able TO prop
erly charge extravaganza. lack of eff
cheney or make any other accusation
derogatory to the local public school sys-
tenn in the future. according To a state
ment made today by an official OF the
schools.
A standard method OF compiling statistics
is to be adopted in every city in the United
States. as proposed at the meeting of the
department of superintendent, National
Educational Association, recently held i'm
Mobile. A.a., and attended by several
residents of this city. including three
school Officials.
Recently the school officials have been
charged with conducting the public
eoucationai institutions on an extrava-
CANT basis. Though both the school
chiefs and the board of education adj
mitted that the local school system is
not cheap" one, they denied the
charges OF gross extravaganza. An in
vestigation by the school committees
Of the Board of Trade and the Chamber
of Commerce resulted in vindicatton OF
the local system.
Difficulty in Getting Figures.
However. it is said. it was only with
a great deal OF difficulty that true sta
tistics could be gathered. so that 4
comparison OF costs between this city
and others might be made. The reason
assigned by the school officials is that
each city has a method OF its own in
charging up expenses.
For instance. according 10 some sys-
TENS. teachers of music, drawing ana
physical culture are regarded as super
vfsors. In this city, the officials say.
these teachers are not supervisors. but
are teachers in every respect, since they
have regular classes to instruct the same
as teacher Of a grade school. 1t is
claimed that there is but one supervisor
or each OF these subjects for the white
and colored schools. respectively. Other
examples In which the same point Is
made were given today. On this ac-
count. II Is said, no true comparative
table can be made Of two different cities.
according to the statistics gathered by
the individual cities,
In q similar manner the bureau Of edu-
cation Of the Department of the Interior
experiences difficulty yearly. II is said.
The various manners of recording the
running costs Of the schools and the
cost Of permanent Improvements is said
to cause no end Of trouble.
Report in Two Sections.
The report presented by the committee
on uniform reports and records at the
Mobile meeting was a preliminary one,
and has yet to have several details ar
ranged. At present 1t is divided into two
parts, payments and receipts.
Under payments space is left for the
recording OF the following expenses:
Board OF education and secretary's Of
flee. school elections and school census.
n nd
ices. operation and maintenance of office
buildings, offices in charge of buildings
and supplies, Office of superintendent OF
schools, enforcement of compulsory edu-
cation and truancy laws. salaries of su-
pervisors Of the grades and subjects. 9TH
er expenses of supervisors. salaries Of
principals and their clerks, other expenses
OF principals, salaries of teachers, text
books, stationery and supplies used
in instruction, wages Of Janilors and
power, Janitor's supplies. repair of build
ings and upkeep of grounds, repair and
replacement of equipment, insurance, ex-
penditures for libraries. promotion OF
health. transportation of pupils, payments
to private schools payments to schools
Of other civil divisions, care Of children
In institutions. rent, land, new buildings.
alteration OF old buildings, equipment OF
new buildings and grounds. equipment
Of old buildings, exclusive of replacem ant:
redemption OF bonds, redemption of short
term loans. payments of warrants and
orders Of preceding year payment to
sinking funds and payments Of interest.
Furthermore, space is provided for the
recording Of any expenditures not quail
fled in the form. Some of the expenses
named, it is pointed out. arc not found
i'm this city. A similar form is provided
for the income of the school system.
Plan for Standard Rating.
second form, to provide standard
rating of the efficiency OF the student, was
also reported at the meeting. and is be-
ing considered here by the school heads.
By its means. 1t is said, child moving
from one city to another may he immedi-
ately qualified as to what grade he shall
enter. As the situation is at present, il is
said, the child may be transferred from
one grade to another or be compelled to
take several examinations before he can
be properly located.
DR.. Willard s. Small, principal of the
Eastern High School, spoke on the matter
Of adopting a uniform report and record
system, In the absence of L. G. Powers OF
the census bureau. at the meeting of the
department of superintendent Director
of intermediate Instruction s. e. Kramer
favors the plan.