Milford chronicle., 1932-02-12
DEL. SCHOOLS RANKED
10TH AMONG STATES
[COnfinned from First Page]


30th.
Last May, Frank NJ. Phillips, late
of the office of education, Washing
ton, d. c., assembled data for the
school year 1929-1930 from the for
ty-eight states and the District of
Columbia, and calculated the index
number of each state on each of the
ten items previously used by Ayres.
Since the studies of 1920 and 1880
used the same items in the same
way, it is possible to see how Del
aware has advanced educationally
during the decade. The figures re-
Gently released by Phillips showed
that New York ranked first, with an
index number of 89.77. This is 81
per cent higher than the index of
the United States as a whole, which
is 65.46.
Delaware, with an index number
of 1870, which is 1872 per cent high
er than the index for the country at
large, has advanced from 32nd pO-
sition in 1920 to 10th place among
the states in 1880. (Figures recent
ly released by the Department of
Public Instruction in Dover, give
the Ayres index of the State as 104.
This index does not correspond with
that given in this article since it
was calculated upon the purchasing
power Of the dollar in 1880 and not
upon that of the dollar in 1920, as is
the case with the index of Phillips).
The states which are above Della
ware in order of rank are New York,
District of Columbia, Nevada, Cali
fornia, New Jersey, Illinois, Ohio,
Washington and Massachusetts.
Georgia ranks lowest. Some of the
states and their ranks
are New Jersey, 5th; Pennsylvania, |
21st; Maryland, 9th, and Virginia
43rd.
Objections may be raised to a sys-
tenn of making comparisons between
states having a large city pOpula-
ton and those whose population is
mostly rural. The District of Col
umbia for example is chiefly the
City of Washington, while Nevada
has more than 80 per cent of her
outside of cities and also
a density of less than l per cent per
square mile. Accordingly, the vari-
lus states have been grouped to-
gether with reference to the density
If population. In 1920, Delaware
vas one of 10 states in the group of
states with from so to 60 per cent
lrban population. Among these 19
states Delaware ranked 14th. In
$50 there were IL states in this
,rOup Among these II states Della
ware was second, being only sur
Dassed by Washington, whose index
vas 1898 as compared with Della
vare's 1870.
A comparison of the index num- .
er of each item in 1920 and 1880
hows that educational progress as
measured by these items has not
cen confined to one or two of the !
EN- points used. With the exception :
f the item which has to do with the !
verage number of days the schools !
,ere in session and which remains
pprOXimately the same since 1920,
ach item has shown an increase in \
s index number. The smallest in
reases are in the items which deal
18th the ratio of the number of
Oys and girls in the high schools
nd the item which has to do with f.
le expenditure per teacher for sal n
ries. In these two cases the in -
ease is six points. The largest in 6
'ease was in the item called ok n
snditure for pupil for purposes v
her than teachers salaries" Here q
Ie increase was forty-three points, n
lie to the fact that during the past a
w years considerable amounts II
i've been expended for ntw school r,
lildings. Due to this fact also the ci
her three items, which have to do ST
it'll expenditures, have increased nj
When once the build
g program is completed, these e
Ems will rapidly show decreases. W
nong the items which deal with az
tendance and enrolment the one m
lich shows the greatest increase is ia
c holding power of the upper hi
AIDES. In this item the increase nj
Is twenty-five points. in
Since five of the points upon ID
lich the states are ranked deal to
tn the costs of the schools, some m
We criticized Ayres ten points bi
on the ground that no sound ar ce
ment may be put forth to justify eg
. ranking of an educational sys- us
II high Just because it costs more. ra
though Delaware's school eXpend- av
res have increased, yet the other sa
ties also show increase, a major wi
of which are larger than those tn
own by this State. This would ed
AN that the jump in rank from IA
I'd in 1920 to 10th in 1880 has not be
an entirely due to increase costs mi
to the other items used in MAX rel
!, the comparison.