TABLE 1.-Comparative summary of school statistics for the five groups of cities of 2,500 population and over, 1917-18-Continued. Assessed valuation of property (thousands of dollars).. True valuation of property (thousands of dollars).... Ratio of assessed valuation to true property value.. Amount derived from tax on property (dollars).. Average rate of taxation for all school purposes (mills).. 1,305, 250 1,201,500 150,000 2, 179, 080 1,269, 462 1,035, 817 679,775 6,469, 384 848, 012 555, 068 409, 052 4,469, 236 598,346 164, 405 400, 600 1,936, 851 2,427, 727 1, 138, 474 569,898 516, 165 286,398 4,938, 662 165,372,829 57, 969, 281 55, 650,847 32, 965, 858 35,370, 919 347, 329, 734 Revised schedules were used in gathering the statistical data used in this report. They are somewhat similar to those previously employed in collecting data for similar reports, but slight changes were made. This report contains more detailed information than did former reports about school bonds and the means of liquidating them; tax rates, and the assessed valuation of property, night schools, junior high schools, the number of schools maintained, the length of the school term, and the enrollment of pupils by age and grade. This report is inferior to preceding reports in that so many cities could not completely separate expenditures for the different types of schools, such as elementary and secondary schools, that no attempt has been made to do so except in the cost of instruction, as this expression is technically used. In the analysis of school costs, however, dependable figures have been deduced relative to the total cost of elementary and secondary schools in the different groups of cities. HISTORICAL STATISTICS. In other chapters of the Biennial Survey for 1918 an attempt has been made to show increases or decreases in statistical data from year to year and to establish trends. Such analyses are not so valuable, however, for a city school report as for reports from individual schools of the various types. In the first place, the list of cities in each group changes with each decennial census, thereby essentially vitiating comparisons which might be made for longer periods. Second, this report includes statistics of cities having a population less than 5,000 as well as those of the larger municipalities appearing in corresponding preceding reports. Third, the groups of cities in preceding reports are often not the same as those employed herein. Fourth, the influx of the rural population to urban centers tends to exaggerate city school progress when totals are compared for different. years. To eliminate all these factors from consideration for a long period of years would be an endless task, one not yielding sufficient fruit to justify the cost of pruning. Further, it is doubtful if aggregate city school statistics covering a period of years are so valuable as the corresponding statistics for individual cities. In other words, the history of individual city school systems is more valuable than a history of all municipal school systems combined. To give individual histories is likewise beyond the scope of this limited study. This report, as well as preceding similar reports, forms an excellent basis, however, for making such comparative studies for such cities as have submitted consistent reports from year to year. NUMBER OF SCHOOL SYSTEMS. Altogether, 2,401 separate school systems are maintained by cities having a population of 2,500 and over. Of these, 51 are in Group I, 141 in Group II, 420 in Group III, 627 in Group IV, and 1,162 in Group V. From these figures it is seen that 48.4 per cent of the cities are in Group V. The inclusion of this group of cities in this report has just about doubled the amount of work necessary to collect, tabulate, and interpret the data. SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL BUILDINGS. The total number of buildings used for school purposes in 1918 was 20,843. Almost one-fourth of these, or 4,970, are in cities of Group I, 3,334 in Group II, 4,260 in Group III, 3,884 in Group IV, and 4,395 in Group V. So far as school buildings are concerned, they are about equally divided among the five groups of cities. The number of city school buildings (18,974) shown in the report on State school systems was prepared before all city schools had sub-. mitted reports, and is too small by 1,869 buildings. Altogether, there were 276,827 school buildings in the United States in 1918. The number of city school buildings constitutes only 7.5 per cent of the total number of public school buildings in the United States. The total value of these school buildings is 63.5 per cent of the value of all such buildings. The total value of school property in all city school systems is $1,258,933,000, or an average value of $60,401 per school building. The average value of a school building for the whole country is $7,165. The average value of a "rural" school building is only $2,831. This average includes, of course, the buildings in villages having a population under 2,500 and also all rural high-school buildings. The cities in 1918 were asked to report the total number of schools in operation; a high school and an elementary school, although housed in the same building, being counted as separate schools. Omitting kindergartens, altogether 21,260 city schools were reported. This number is only about 2 per cent greater than the number of school buildings reported. This condition implies that separate city school buildings usually house separate schools. In the cities of the first four groups there are 14,134 elementary schools, 1,650 secondary schools, and 453 special schools. The total number of schools of all kinds in the cities of Group V was 5,013, but they were not sufficiently separated into elementary, secondary, and special schools to warrant tabulation in these divisions. The number of secondary schools in the first four groups (1,650) is not essentially different from the number of high schools (1,385) classed as "city" in the high-school chapter of the Biennial Survey. THE TEACHING STAFF. Altogether, 2,512 superintendents and assistant superintendents, 5,071 supervisors, and 8,846 principals are employed in city school systems. These are distributed among the five groups of cities in Table 1. In all the cities 241,382 teachers are employed who give half or more than half of their time to teaching. Of these, 216,319 are women and 25,063 are men. It is seen, therefore, that 10.4 per cent of the teachers in city schools are men. The corresponding percentage in 1910 was only 8.7, and in 1890 only 8.2 per cent. These percentages are considerably lower than the corresponding ones for both urban and rural schools combined-34.5 per cent in 1890, 21.1 per cent in 1910, and 16.1 per cent in 1918. For the whole Nation the proportion of men teachers has decreased, while in city schools the proportion has increased slightly. It is found that 37.1 per cent of the teachers in the country are employed in city public schools. These teachers teach 41.2 per cent of the children. TABLE 2.-Average number of pupils per teacher in all cities of 2,500 population and over, The total number of pupils divided by the total number of teachers gives what is technically known as the "teaching load." The number of superintendents, supervisors, and principals employed does not enter into this average. The average teaching load in all city schools is 35.6. This average, however, does not possess the significance that a bird's-eye view of a graphic distribution conveys. When all groups of cities are combined and distributed according to the average teaching load in each, as pictured in figure 1, it is found that 261 cities have 31 or 32, 242 have 33 or 34, and 251 have 35 or 36 pupils to a teacher. These three groups, representing 39 per cent of all school systems reporting, have a teaching load varying from 31 to 36 pupils. The distribution is very symmetrical-the bars decreasing quite regularly in length on the opposite sides of the three central bars. The variation in the teaching load for the five separate groups of cities is exhibited in the second part of the diagram. The middle. half of the cities has been indicated by the cross-lined area extending FIG. 1.-Distribution of cities according to the average teaching load in all schools, 1917-18. from the first to the third quartiles. The smallest, as well as the largest number of pupils to a teacher, is shown for each group of cities by the top and bottom curves in this diagram. It is especially significant that the middle halves and the medians are practically |