which a labor permit must be obtained from the State labor commissioner. In one State the certificates are issued by the local health officer, to whom a certificate of school attainment is first presented. The principal of the part-time school in one place is empowered to issue employment certificates. In one of the largest cities in the United States the bureau of education, through its employment certificate bureau performs this service. The State industrial commission in another State, and in still another, the permit department, which is a branch of the local attendance department, is the issuing agency.

As regards methods of issuing, procedure varies greatly. A pupil may be required merely to appear in person with a request for a certificate and an age certification, or he may be subject to an elaborate system which provides that the elementary school shall issue an age, a grade, and an attendance certificate, which the pupil must bring to the city attendance department, after which he may secure a job, which he must report to the chief attendance officer, who, if he approves, recommends that an employment certificate be issued, which is finally issued by the factory inspector.

TABLE XXX.-NATURE OF EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATES ISSUED AND PROVISION AS TO THEIR RETURN.

Eleven places issue blanket certificates and do not issue a certificate for each job, while seven places require a new certificate for each new position held. In one city the certificate is issued for a limited period of time, after which it is void, but during that time the occupation may be changed. Another city also limits the length of a certificate to one semester of the school year. One city, which issues a blanket certificate, has visiting teachers and social workers who do not teach but are connected with the visiting teaching department, their work being of such a nature as to enable them to assist in locating any abuses of the blanket certificate. Even in communities where blanket certificates were being issued, part-time

authorities frequently expressed opinion to the effect that a certificate should be issued for each job, and in every case authorities who were requiring a certificate for each job were emphatic in their approval of that method of handling the problem.

One very important question dealt with the return of the certificates when employment was discontinued. Procedure in this matter varied considerably whether the certificate was one issued for a job or was a blanket certificate, although of course where a certificate was issued for each job some method of returning it was

necessary.

Nine systems did not require the return of the certificate, while nine made the return compulsory in some way or other. The two cities which issued limited certificates did not require them to be returned, as they expired automatically. In these cities an examination of physical fitness was not made each time the certificate was issued. In one place the return of the certificate was optional, but the authorities believed it should be compulsory; they believed also that there should be one for each job, and that certificates should be returned by mail. No examination for physical fitness was made in this city since no means had been provided for this work, and naturally where certificates are not returned, an examination. of physical fitness if given at all is given but once.

Of the nine cities which required certificates to be returned, all required that they be returned by mail. One city specified that there should be a physical examination each time the job is changed, and five others were following this method. Two do not require an examination for physical fitness except at the issuing of the first certificate, and one requires no examination at all for physical fitness.

As a general rule, where the certificate is issued for each job, it is issued to the employer, and responsibility for returning the certificate rests upon him. In communities where blanket certificates are issued the certificate is usually issued to the boy, and in a few cases it remains in his possession until he reaches the maximum compulsory age; in many cases, however, it is turned over to the employer, who is obliged to return it by mail.

Procedure in issuing work permits or labor certificates, if properly perfected, will eliminate many serious obstacles in the path of parttime compulsory education. It appears to the writer that several departments are necessarily interested in the issuing of such certificates, and that for this reason there should be some one department, preferably the chief administrative office of the part-time educational system, where all information and all responsibility centralizes. The principal of the day school attended should send a scholarship or grade record to this central office. The health department should

send a certificate of health for the individual pupil. The officer having charge of the inspection of the employment which the prospective pupil proposes to enter should make his report here. The department of vital statistics, or whoever has a record of the child's age, should send that record to this office. With these records on file, if they are satisfactory, the work permit should be issued by the parttime school department and sent to the employer by mail, the pupil carrying only an identification card with a number on it, which identifies him with the work permit which has preceded him. There should also be some penalty which could be enforced upon an employer who neglected to return these work permits to the central office of the school when the pupil discontinued employment; but such a penalty, like all other penalties which have to do with parttime education, should be enforced only after every means of obtaining cooperation and good feeling on the part of the employer has failed to secure a return of the certificates within a reasonable time. A new certificate should be issued for each position, the report of the inspector and of the health office being necessary, together with the return of the original certificate, before the new one is granted. In a one-teacher school or in a city where the director must be the only executive officer this plan still holds, since the additional work which it entails is much more than compensated for by the saving in time and by avoidance of the confusion and irritation which always accompany the handling of these matters by several disjunctive depart

ments.

RECORDS HEALTH AND EDUCATIONAL.

Do health records of the pupils come to the continuation school and do they use health centers provided by the locality?

TABLE XXXI.-ANSWERS TO THE INQUIRY "ARE HEALTH RECORDS SENT TO PART-TIME SCHOOLS?"

In 14 cases no health records of the pupil are sent to the continuation school authorities; in 2 instances the authorities go after them when they are desired; in 1 city provision has been made for health records to be on file the coming year. Several places believe that they should have these records, but for some reason have not provided for obtaining them. In 1 city, where no regular health records

are kept, a voluntary examination is given when desired. One city goes further than this, compelling the boy to take the specifications of the job to a physician, who then examines him for that job. The result of this examination goes to the labor department. The employment certificate division of the public schools receives these records in one instance, the part-time school having access to them when desired. Six part-time systems have records regarding the health of their pupils. In one case the examination and health records are made in the school by a representative of the health department who comes there for that purpose. In still another case the record comes to the school only when the pupil is unfit and has an excuse for not working or not being in school.

Another part-time school officer stated that the health record came only with the first permit and that it was very general and not in sufficient detail to be of great value.

The second question-concerning the use of public health centers— also brought forth a diversity of answers. It was plainly evident that very little attention was being given to the possibility of using public health centers as agencies for promoting the physical welfare of part-time pupils. To this question the answer was almost invariably "no," and this "no" indicated that the part-time authorities were not making any systematic use of health centers. The negative answer was qualified in various ways. In one place the boys were sent to the board of health clinic when it was necessary to get treatments. In another, the regular day school provided a physician, a nurse, a clinic, and a dietitian, services being, it was stated, available for although they were in fact not utilized by part-time pupils. In another, the examining physician referred pupils to a clinic for treatment, but made no report to the part-time school. In still another city a public dental clinic cared for all pupils for a trifling charge. Some effort had also been made in this city to promote health by securing the attendance of pupils at track meets and other athletic events. In one specially favored locality traveling nurses, a dental clinic, the cooperative services of physicians in the city who undertake to look after any case sent in by nurses, and free service of an eye, ear, and throat specialist are all available to part-time pupils. But it is to be noted that the schools here have been obliged to close for want of financial support. In one western city absences from the part-time school are reported to the nurse daily, she being an employee of the health department of the public schools. If sickness is the cause for the absence she assumes responsibility. If not the cause, the absence is reported to an attendance officer, who makes his report to a coordinator, who in turn notifies the home and the employer, and may even arrest the boy or cite the parents to appear in court.

Authorities in one or two places stated that they advised the use of health centers, but would not follow the students up. In another community it was admitted that they had not a perfected system. but it was contended that the work was fairly well done through the services of a nurse at the day school and one at the part-time school for girls. Another school had available the services of a small dental clinic of the department of hygiene, and also it might send pupils to day schools which employed regular visiting nurses or doctors. One large city was making use for part-time pupils of clinics, a mercy hospital, and a regular dispensary, but merely in the same way that these institutions would be used in the case of any needy citizen.

It would seem from these statements that even where public school authorities have provided institutions to look after the health of pupils they have not in all cases included part-time pupils as entitled to service. Further, it would appear that in many places the parttime authorities have not made a concerted effort looking to the best use of the opportunities which the city and the schools provide in this line.

It goes without saying that the director or principal of a part-time school should familiarize himself with every educational or public bureau or institution which can serve him and the pupils of his school in keeping up their physical record, and that he should establish with these departments or institutions a systematic cooperative arrangement whereby all possible service can be rendered to those under his charge.

Do records of previous schooling come to the continuation school? TABLE XXXII.—ANSWERS TO THE INQUIRY, “ARE PREVIOUS SCHOOL RECORDS SENT TO THE PART-TIME SCHOOL?”

Eight cities reported in the negative and 12 cities in the affirmative regarding the sending of previous school records to part-time schools. Of the 8 which reported "no," one states that they are obliged to go after the records; another that the records are sent to the labor department, the part-time school assuming that they are all right. In another community records are filled out by the pupils