CHAPTER I. STATE COMMON-SCHOOL SYSTEMS, 1911-12. The statistics of State common schools presented in this chapter are for the school year ended June, 1912. The other chapters of this volume include statistics of educational institutions one year later. The slow process of collecting common-school returns from county superintendents or other local officials makes it impossible for many State superintendents of public instruction to send consolidated reports to the Bureau of Education within the first six months after the close of the school year. Summaries made up of reports, some for 1913 and some for 1912, would be most unsatisfactory. Tables one year delayed are far more useful. Most State superintendents are now making efforts to overcome the enforced delay in collecting statistical information for their reports. The State school summaries in this chapter relate exclusively to the public elementary and high schools maintained by State and local taxation, including city and village systems. To make The school census age is not the same in all the States. enrollment figures comparable between different systems, it is necessary to use a uniform school age. Years ago this bureau began to use the estimated population 5 to 18 years of age (i. e., 5 to 17, inclusive) as a basis for comparison of school population for the whole country. This estimate is made annually, using the Census Office estimates of total population and the percentage of 5 to 17 population at the last census. The estimated population 5 to 18 (5 to 17, inclusive) for 1912 was 25,167,445, as shown in Table 2 and also in the following synopsis: Estimated school population in 1912-Children 5 to 17 years of age, inclusive, in two groups-Per cent of total population. Each census since 1870 has shown a decrease in the ratio of children of school age to the total population. This is due mainly to the decreasing birth rate, but partly to the addition of an increasing number of foreign-born adults to our population. The following table shows the ratios for five decennial years: Number of children 5 to 18 years of age (5 to 17, inclusive) to every 100 persons of the total population. The number of children of each age can not be given at this time, but the approximate apportionment by certain age groups most useful for comparative purposes in school statistics is given in the following table: Population, by age groups, in 1910 and approximate apportionment for 1912. The population outside of cities and towns of 2,500 inhabitants and over is defined as rural by the Census Bureau. In 1910 this number was 53.7 per cent of the total population. Using the percentages ascertained for that year the distribution of the population in 1912 was approximately as shown in the following table: Estimated population per square mile, and urban and rural population, 1912. Nearly 60 per cent of the school population 5 to 17 years of age, inclusive, will be found in rural communities. The exact distribution for this age group can not be given, but the distribution for the group 6 to 20 was ascertained in. 1910. Using the same ratios the apportionment of the like population in 1912 was approximately as shown in the following table: Urban and rural population 6 to 20 years of age, inclusive, estimated for 1912. It is difficult to make a satisfactory estimate of the number of children enrolled in each grade in the public schools of the United States. Fourteen States reported enrollment, by grades, in 1912. The following table exhibits the enrollment of the first eight grades in these States: Enrollment, by grades, in the public elementary schools of 14 States in 1912. Each geographical division is represented in the above table. By giving each State its proper weight, percentages for the several divisions are derived. These percentages are applied to the entire elementary enrollment for the division, and an approximation of the grade enrollment is reached. The peculiar distribution in Illinois made a readjustment for the North Central Division necessary. The one State reporting for the North Atlantic Division may not furnish correct percentages for that division. |