more businesslike administration, a study has been made in the city of Richmond, Va.

Before proceeding to this study, information on the following topics is given in order to interpret better the data submitted: The school buildings, the rules and regulations whereby the system is administered, the teaching corps, the course of study and time allotment, the composition of the school enrollment, the grades and the ages for children in the kindergarten, the elementary school, and the high school, and the system of promotion. These facts will be discussed briefly in the order mentioned.

This study has been made entirely in the city of Richmond, which, according to the census of 1910, has a population of 127,628, of whom 46,733 are Negroes. In November, 1914, Richmond adopted by a vote of the electorate the Virginia compulsory school-attendance law. This measure was put in operation September, 1915. The law states

that every parent, guardian, or other person having charge or control of any child between the ages of 8 and 12 years shall be required to send such child to a public school of this Commonwealth for at least 12 weeks in each school year, at least 6 weeks of which shall be consecutive, unless the district school trustees of the district in which such parent, guardian, or other person resides excuse for cause such child, or unless such child be weak in body or mind, or can read and write, or is attending a private school, or lives more than 2 miles by the usually traveled route from the nearest public school or more than 1 mile from the line of an established public free-school wagon route.

While this law is far from what is desired, it is a beginning that will result in better legislation in the near future. In the past the attendance that has been secured has depended almost entirely on the interest aroused by the principal, the teacher, and the parent.

That the teaching force has been able to arouse the interest of the children and to hold them is indicated by the fact that 49 per cent of the school population in 1903 was enrolled and 39 per cent in attendance, while 65.5 per cent was enrolled in 1913 and 52 per cent in attendance. During recent years considerable effort has been made by the teaching force to learn the child's home conditions. If a child leaves school, the teacher immediately inquires the reason. If it is impossible to have this child return to the day school, an effort is made to have him enter the night school.

The efficiency of the teaching force has also increased. Teachers have been constantly taking advantage of summer normal schools, professional reading courses, and, in some cases, more protracted courses at universities.

This improvement is shown from the following data, which give the number of collegiate, normal, professional, special, first-grade,

15.3

13.1

1913

and high-school certificates in force in 1908 and in 1913, respectively, together with the proportion which each class of certificates constituted of the total number of certificates in each of these grades:

Teachers' certificates in 1908 and 1913.

Teachers holding certificates of

Collegiate

Normal

Professional

Special

First Grade

High School

FIG. 1.-Character of teachers' certificates in 1908 and 1913.

specified character.

3.7

26.7

8.2

13.3

72.1

29.6

7.4

2.0

Total.

380

543 100.0

100.0

The relative value of these different certificates is indicated by the order in which they are mentioned. The collegiate and normal, as well as the professional, certificates represent the greatest amount of professional or scholastic training, while the highschool and the first-grade certificates represent the smallest amount of professional or scholastic training. The first three grades of certificates, and even the fourth (special) in some instances, are to be encouraged, while the last two grades of certificates are to be discouraged.

It will be seen from the above figures that 79.5 per cent of all the certificates in force in 1908 were either first-grade or high-school, the corresponding proportions for 1913 being only 31.6 per cent. This change in the character of the certificates in force from 1908 to 1913 is represented graphically in figure 1.

The time allotment (which is shown in Tables 1 and 2 in terms of the

percentages of the total time given to each subject per week from 1903 to 1913) indicates with fair accuracy the changes in the time schedule which controlled the teachers' instruction in the classroom during the past 10 years. The total number of minutes per week given to each grade is shown at the bottom of the tables. The distribution of this time by subjects in the several grades is given in percentages. Therefore these figures indicate not only the distribution of the weekly time allotment by subjects in 1903 and in 1913, but also the changes which have taken place in this distribution in that time.

Some of the changes in the time allotment that have taken place between 1903 and 1913 are significant. For example, 43.2 per cent of the total time available in the 1A grade was devoted in 1903 to reading and literature, while in 1913 the proportion given to reading and literature in this same grade was 29.9 per cent. In the 2A, 2B, 3A, and 3B grades there was a much larger proportion of the total time given to reading and literature in 1913 than in 1903. Marked changes are found also in arithmetic, spelling, penmanship, and other subjects. In general, it would seem that the changes which have been made in the allotment of time to the different subjects indicate an effort to secure more intensive and rational teaching, as well as a distribution of time by subjects better suited to the capacities of the children in the several grades.