The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1920-05-26
Montana First:
South Car lima Last
Report of Sage Foslnda ton %
State Education Shows
Rank Of States
New York Ma

\
Montana has the best all-rounh pubs
slic school system IA the United States
according to the results of a con1paraY
tive study Of State school systems
made public today by, the Russell
Sage Foundation. The report as
signs second place to the schools OF
California, third place to those of
arizona. fourth to New Jersey and
fifth to. the State OF Washington
These findings are contained in: 2
report by the Department Of Eduea-
ton OF the Foundation. The voluI1e
is entitled, "An Index. Number. fer
State School Systems" and the auth
or is Dr. Leonard 2. Ayress director
iof the Foundations Department of
Education.
| Other findings OF the report are that
the school system OF the United States
as a whole has doubled Ia efficiency
ins the last SO years, having an index
;sor rating of 26 in 1870 and one off 50
i:at the present time. Since these IN
den numbers are figured on the basis isis
Eof3l0e, the school system of the conn
try has not an effectiveness or effi-.
tciency OF only SO per cent, according
to the report .si:E .3ss.s S
The figures for the diyidnal States
as given by the Found ton show Ftfat g.
during the past go years the gFest has
been. coming up edncationally while
the East has been going own. IS Dur
ing this time the. greatest increase
among all the States has been naades4y
Utah while the State to which IS At
tributed the greatest falling OF IN r.
|lative standing is. Maryland. IN the
East only one State that has gained
instead 4of losing, is. New Jersey. In
the West the State that has the best
and most consistently high record Is
California. s,,:t Ssssz $ 3
| Among the interesting results sot
the study is the conclusion that the
school systems of the United States
Territorial possessions. .,snch as HaWait,
the Canal Zone, and Porto Racos have
higher~ratings than those Of Inauy of
the As States. That Of Hawai- is re-
ported tbett ere than those Of the maj
ority of the American States Ten
Sontlrsgn States have records. poorer
than that of Porto Rico. -. - !.
Tae Formulation educational measl
urenentssis worked out by taking the
official data showing the. number of
children lending school the an2unt
.ot aiIling they Secure, fhe psogsAss
.tlley make tha amounts ysSpended
for buildings and supplies. the salaries
paid their teachers. and other salary
items. and combining these factors
into single indeN number which
shows. the, general standing OF effici-
ency OF the school system. This me-
thod resembles that used by the Fed
eral government In indexing the cost
rof living. and prices for mmodities-
The Foundation states that. alk the
results are computed from data furnt
ished by the States themselves to the
Federal government and that the rec
ords haye been compiled and combin-
,ed by exactly the Same methods for
all the different States. and without
admitting into the results any ele-
ments of personal Judgment The aus
thor Of the, report served during the
war as chief statistical officer OF the
army
s. The standing Of the 48 States, the
District Of Columbia. and the three
territorial possessions is shown in the
r-.f >