Peninsula Enterprise

U. S. Bureau Of Education

THREE OTHERS PASS HER IN TWO YEARS

Fourth in Number of High School Graduates Continuing Education

Virginia's school system is ranked as forty-second in a classification of the school system of all the States made by Dr. Frank M. Phillips, chief of the statistical division of the United States Bureau of Education.

Furthermore, Virginia let three other States pass her in the course of two years, as when the last classification was made the Virginia public schools were ranked as thirty-ninth among the States.

But methods of classification differ, and in the second method Virginia ranks thirty-eighth, having advanced from the rank of thirty-ninth in this classification between the years of 1922 and 1924, the last for which statistics are available.

In one important classification, however, Virginia ranks very high. She is fourth among the States in the number of her high school graduates continuing their education in the next year after graduation from high school, being excelled in this respect by North Carolina, Louisiana and South Carolina, in order named.

As all these States rank low in the percentage of the total enrollment which is in high school, however, it cannot be said that a larger proportion of the total number of children in these States receive higher education than in other States.

Dr. Phillips explained that his findings were based on a survey made by use of the "index number method."

Items taken into consideration in reaching the conclusions, he said, were the percentage of school population from 5 to 17 years of age, inclusive, in daily attendance; average days attended by each child 5 to 17 years of age, inclusive; average number of days on which schools were in session; percentage of the total enrollment in high schools; ratio of boys and girls in high school average expenditure per teacher employed and expenditures per teacher for salaries.

In the second method of classification, Virginia has the following rank in the nine items considered in addition to the proportion of high school graduates continuing their education; Fourteenth in the ratio of students taking teachers training courses to the total number of teachers employed; thirty-seventh in the average number of days attended by each student enrolled; thirty-ninth in the average number of days schools were in session; fortieth in the percentage of enrollment in high school number of children in average daily school; forty-first in the percentage of illiteracy among persons of ten years and among persons of ten years and over, in the ratio of the attendance to the total number of children of the ages 5-17 year, inclusive, and in the average salary of teachers, principals and supervisors, and forty-second in the total cost, excluding salaries, per pupil in average daily attendance and in the total amount expended per child of school age.

Under the "index number" system of classification, the following index numbers were arrived at for Virginia, 100 being the ideal figure in each case; Percentage of school population, 5-17 years of age, inclusive, in daily attendance, 58.13; average days attended by each child 5-17 years of age, inclusive, 46.50; average number of days schools were in session, 80; percentage high school enrollment is of total enrollment, 24.45; ratio of the boys to the girls in high school, 78.81; average expenditure per child attending 28.06; average expenditure per child of school age, 16.30; average expenditure per teacher employed, 29.62; expenditures per pupil for purposes other than teacher's salaries, 22.27; expenditures per pupil for purposes 35.74.

The index number for the Virginia school system, based on these itemized index numbers is 42.09 which is 17.42 lower than in the index number for the United States.