Albuquerque morning journal., 1920-05-24
BEST ALL-R0UND
SCHOOL SYSTEM
IS IN MONTANA
California Ranks Second and
Arizona Third; New Mex
leo Stands Thirty-first on.
the List Compiled.

Russell Sage Foundation. The re
port assigns 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
a report by the department of edu-
cation of the foundation. The vol
ume is entitled "An Index Number
. for State School Systems" and the
author Is DR.. Leonard P. Ayres, di-
rector of the foundations depart
ment of education.
Other finding of the report have
that the school system of the Unit
ed States as whole has doubled
in efficiency during the last fifty
years, having an index number or
rating of 26 in 1870 and one of So
at the present time. Since these in
dex numbers are figured on the ba
sis Of 100, the school system of the
country has now an effectiveness
or efficiency of only So per cent,
according to the report.
The figures for the individual
states as given by the foundation
show that during the past thirty
years the west has been coming up
eduCationally while the east has
been going down During this time
the greatest increase among all the
states has been made by Utah
while the state to which is attrib-
uted the greatest falling off in rel
ative standing is Maryland. In the
east the only state that has gained
instead of losing is New Jersey. In
the west the state that has the best
and most consistently high record
is California. Ge ..s
Among the interesting results of
the study is the conclusion that the
school systems of the United States
territorial possessions, such as Ha-
wall, the Canal Zone, and Porto
Rico, have higher ratings than
those of many of the forty y-eight
states. That OF Hawaii is reported
better than those of the majority
of the American states. Ten south
ern states,have records poorer than
that of Porto Rico.
The fundation's educational
measurement is worked out by taxi
ing the official data showing the
number OF children attending
school. the amount of training they
secure, the progress they make. the
amounts expended for buildings
and supplies, the salaries paid their
teachers, and other similar items,
and combining these factors into
a single index number which shows
the general standing or efficiency
of the school system. This method
resembles that used by the federal
government in indeXing the cost of
living and prices for commodities
The foundation states that all
the results are computed from data
furnished by the states themselves
to the federal government. and that
records have been compiled ana
combined by exactly the same
methods for all the different states
and without admitting into results
amy elements of personal Judgment.
The author of the report served
during the war as chief statistical
officer of the army,
The standing of the forty-eight
states. the District of Columbia,
md the three territorial posses
sions is shown in the following ia
Bile:
], Montana, 100 - od'loi mo
7I2: 3. Arizona, 66.2; 4. New Jer-
sey, 65.9. 5. District of Columbia.
64.3: 6. washington, 63.7: Z, Iowa,
t61.9: s, Utah, 6l.4; 8. Massachu-
setts, 61.0; 10, Michigan, col; II,
Connecticut, 59.S; Il. Ohio, 59.7;
10, New York, 594 IA. Colorado.
59.2: Is, North Dakota, sal; 16'
Nevada. SO: II, Indiana, 5S.9; u.
Idaho, 58.6; 10, Minnesota, 5S.4; 20,
oregon, 578; 81, Pennsylvania,
f57.7; %. Nebraska, 571; %, Ha-
wall, $40; "a, Illinois, 56,S; %,
Wyoming, 56.7; 26, Rhode Island,
,b6.3; 27, Kansas, $50; %, Canal
Zone. 55.1: %. South Dakota, So /;
80, New Hampshire 54.4; 81, New
Mexico, $50; 80, Vermont. 51.5; 33
Wisconsin, 51.3; "a, Missouri, 49.6;
IS, Maine, 47.4; 36, Oklahoma,
44.4: 81, Maryland, 43.2 3S, Della
ware. 42.3; SO. Texas, ALL; 40
Florida, 37.S: Al, West virginia.
t97.7: AZ, Porto Rico. 35.S; 4S, Virgin
ia, 35.3 a. Tennessee, 35.1: As, Ken
lucky. $50; AS, Louisiana, 1879;
AZ, Georgia, 32.6; AS, North Caro-
lima, 800; 40, Alabama 3O.6; so,
Arkansas, 9O.3; 81, Mississippi,
800; So, South Carolina, 29.4.
In addition figures are given TO |
show the relative standing of the !
school systems of the states and |
possessions in 1890, 1900, 1910,
1916 and 1918. These indicate that
California has always been at or
near the top of the list. while the |
two Carolinas have in every case |
EVprN
New England state Is shown by the |
figures to be losing ground, while
every state in the far west has !
gained in relative rank during the
period. In the educational race
Iowa has far outstripped Illinois.
while North Dakota has gone rap
idly forward. Nebraska is reported |
having gone forward and Kansas
backward during the period of
twenty eight years. Il
The most notable educational
change that has taken place dur
ing the fifty years covered by the
report, is in the attendance in high
schools. There are now 100 times
as many pupils enrolled in hlgh
schools as there were In 1870. The
The number then was 10000 and
now it is nearly 100000. The
high sct-~o1 attendance has in
creased with great rapidity but the
NV pupils have been mostly girls.
In the matter of teachers salar-
les, the states show most diversified
practices. The lowest average SAL
ary is $25 per month for the state
of North Carolina. while the high
est is $SS in California, both being
based on a year of. twelve months.