TABLE 10.-School census, enrollment, and attendance, 1923-24

The extent to which those enrolled in the schools are in regular daily attendance may be determined for the school year 1923-24 by a comparison of the figures showing the number of days the schools were in session and the average daily attendance for each

pupil enrolled for each of the various States. For the United States as a whole, the average length of the school session is 168.3 days. The average number of days attended by each pupil enrolled is 132.5 days, or 79 per cent of the length of the school term. A loss of approximately one-fifth of the school term is serious not only to the pupils themselves, but to schools and communities as well.

A school census important.—A knowledge of the number of children to be educated is essential to the efficient administration of a school system. In order to get this information it is necessary that the State provide for a complete and accurate counting of all the children of school age residing within its boundaries. The extent to which compulsory education and child labor laws can be enforced depends largely upon the completeness and reliability of the school census. If the census is taken annually, it affords an index to the changing educational needs of the State which arise from the growth, movement, and character of the population.

There is considerable variance in the legal school ages among the several States. The widest range of ages is from 4 to 20 in Wisconsin and 5 to 21 in Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Mexico, and New York. The narrowest range is from 6 to 18 in Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Vermont, and Utah. The most common is 6 to 21, in 23 States. A grouping of the range of ages for free school attendance, with the number of States in each group, is given in Table 11.1 Of the 34 States having a legal school entrance age of 6 years and 2 States with an entrance age of 7, nearly all permit kindergarten education, thus in effect, lowering the entrance age.

The laws of most of the States provide that an enumeration of the children included within the range of ages for free school attendance shall be taken at regular intervals. In a few States the range of ages for the children to be enumerated differs from the range for free school attendance. For example, the laws of California place the range of ages for free school attendance between 6 and 21, and that for the registration of minors at 4 to 17, inclusive. In South Carolina a census is taken annually of children between the ages of 7 and 14. In a majority of the States the laws require that a census be taken annually, in some it is taken biennially. In New Jersey a school census is not mandatory. The laws of that State permit boards of education, if they so desire, to take a school census once in five years.

Important provisions of compulsory education and child labor laws.-Compulsory attendance laws have been enacted for the pur

1 Circular, Bu. of Educ., May 16, 1924.

pose of insuring to all the children of the State a minimum amount of schooling during the period of life when such schooling can be

FIG. 5.-Length of session, and average days attended, 1923-24

most effective. Every State now has a law which requires children between certain age limits to attend school a certain stated time.

Table 11 gives a grouping of the age limits for compulsory attendance, with the number of States in each group. It shows that in 20 States the range of ages is between 7 and 16; and in 10 it is between 8 and 16.

The effectiveness of compulsory education laws depends upon the machinery set up for their enforcement. In some States the laws lose much of their force because of lack of definite responsibility for their enforcement. Compulsory attendance laws are, generally, better enforced in cities than in rural districts. This is because cities, through their divisions of school attendance, have the proper machinery for their enforcement. Experience has proved that compulsory attendance laws in rural districts are more satisfactorily enforced by State and county rather than local district authorities.

TABLE 11.-Ages for free attendance and ages for compulsory attendance

AGES FOR FREE SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

All of the States specify in their laws the minimum annual attendance required of children coming within the range of ages for compulsory attendance. In all but nine of the States the laws specify the minimum education necessary to exempt from compulsory attendance. Groupings of the minimum time required for compulsory school attendance and of the minimum education necessary to secure labor permits, with the number of States in each group, are given in Table 12. The trend during the past few years is to require children to attend school during the entire school period or until the completion of the elementary school course. Attendance for the entire school term means more in some States than in others, because the length of the minimum school term varies from a maximum of 912 months in Connecticut to a minimum of 3 months in Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wyoming. It is 9 months in 6

States; 8 months in 11; 7 in 8; and 6 in 9. There is a tendency constantly to increase the length of term, but a minimum school term of 9 months is a goal yet to be attained in most States. Grouping of the minimum school terms, with the number of States in each group, is given in Table 13.

In all the States compulsory education laws are reenforced by child labor laws. The purpose of such laws is to protect children, who are the future citizens of the State, against parents and guardians who would traffic in the labor of children or wards, and thus deprive them of educational opportunities equal to those enjoyed by other children. Thirty-seven States (including the District of Columbia) require a specified amount of education before a labor permit shall be granted. In 15 States it is the completion of the elementary grades. (See Table 12 for other amounts.) In some States the laws provide that children to whom labor permits have been issued must attend evening and continuation schools.

TABLE 12.-Ages for labor permits-Minimum annual attendance-Minimum education required for labor permits1

1 The Children's Bureau, Department of Labor, has prepared charts giving detailed information regarding the important provisions of compulsory education and child labor laws. As long as the edition lasts, single copies of the charts may be had free upon application to that office in Washington, D. C 2 Includes District of Columbia.

Proficiency in certain subjects in 7 States; ability to read and write in 1