progress, because of the lack of adequate statistics. The committee of investigation, appointed by the International Kindergarten Union, has secured fairly complete data concerning the training schools of the present as to character, entrance requirements, length of course, and number of students. By comparing the facts thus obtained with those collected by Miss Clara L. Anderson in 1903 marked progress is observable in certain directions. Neither of these inquiries attempted to secure data concerning the curricula and method of the training schools, however, and no definite information can therefore be given concerning progress along these lines.

A comparison of the statistics of 1903 with those of 1913 shows that the number of institutions that give kindergarten instruction has not been greatly increased during that period, but that there has been a marked change in the character of the institutions. In 1903 there were over 90 training schools that were private or charitable in character and only about 50 that were supported by State or city funds. In 1913 there were fewer than 70 private and charitable training schools and nearly 90 supported by public funds. During the decade 20 of the smaller private schools and 2 or 3 of the larger ones, including Mrs. Putnam's in Chicago and Mrs. Phoebe Hearst's in Washington, have been discontinued. The kindergarten departments in from 15 to 20 of the State or city normal schools have been discontinued likewise. This loss has been fully compensated, however, by the establishment of others of even greater importance. Of the 40 new training schools or departments established, but 12 are private. Among these the most important are the training schools established by the New York Kindergarten Association and the Froebel League in New York City, and the one at South Bend, Ind. Among the most important of the 28 public institutions that have added kindergarten departments are the normal schools of the State of Washington; the Illinois Normal University; the normal school at Montclair, N. J.; the Western Michigan Normal; the normal school at Superior, Wis.; the normal schools at Farmville and Harrisonburg, Va.; and the city training schools of New York and Brooklyn. This list does not include the kindergarten departments in the normal schools that are used for purposes of observation only-about 18 or 20 in all.

The decrease in the number of small private training schools and the increase of those supported by public funds are in themselves a proof that the kindergarten is gaining in favor among school authorities. The kindergartners who have exchanged private for public work have become more vital factors in the progress of the kindergarten because of that fact. No kindergartner can work in a normal school where problems of general education are constantly considered without getting some conception, if only by absorption,

of present-day educational theory and practice, and her views of her own work are thus greatly enlarged. No one worthy of a position in such an institution can help realizing that standards of scholarship prevail in the training of grade teachers that should prevail in the training of kindergartners likewise, but those standards have been ignored in the past in the kindergarten training schools. The increase in public training schools has therefore meant an increase in the number of kindergarten training teachers who have adopted a broader view of kindergarten education and who see the necessity for higher standards.

It has been stated already that no statistics have been collected concerning the curricula and methods of the kindergarten training schools, and, in consequence, no statement based upon figures can be presented to show that improvement has been made along these lines. There is much evidence of such improvement, however. The kindergartners with advanced training have evidently succeeded, as they are increasingly sought by school superintendents and normalschool presidents. The demand for them, in fact, is far in excess of the supply.

From the observation of the work of some of the schools and from reports concerning that of others, it is apparent that courses of kindergarten instruction are under reorganization in many training schools, both public and private, and that the methods have a better. pedagogical basis.

EXTENSION OF KINDERGARTEN ACTIVITY.

The most noticeable evidence of kindergarten advancement is found in increased numbers. On this point, too, the International Union has fairly complete statistics concerning the present status of the kindergarten, but the corresponding statistics of earlier periods are not full enough for thoroughly satisfactory comparisons. A comparison of the statistics of 1913 with those collected in 1903 shows the progress made during a decade as follows: In 1903 there were in the United States over 4,000 kindergartens in about 900 cities and villages. Of this number, nearly 900 were private, 600 charitable, and 2,500 public. Together they enrolled' about 200.000 children. In 1913 there were 8,880 kindergartens reported in 1,105 cities. Of these, nearly 700 are private, 567 charitable, and 7,600 public. The enrollment in the private and charitable kindergartens is not quite 30.000, and that in the public ones 276,000. The total kindergarten enrollment is therefore 306,000.

It is interesting to note the growth in the different groups of States. In New England the kindergarten has but little more than held its own. The number of cities reported as having kindergartens

in 1913 is, in fact, slightly smaller than the number in 1903. This is true also of the number of private and charitable kindergartens. In the public kindergartens there has been a fair increase, howeverfrom 416 to 597. In the group containing New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware the number of cities with kindergartens and the number of private and charitable kindergartens has also decreased, but the number of public kindergartens has risen from 1.432 to 3,613. In the 16 Southern States there is an increase all around. The number of cities has increased from 150 to 173; the number of kindergartens other than public from 260 to 324. The number of public kindergartens has increased more than threefold, having risen from 192 to 681. In the 7 States of the Central West, namely, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa, the growth has been equally marked, with the exception. of the number of kindergartens not public, which has decreased from 380 to 299. The number of cities has risen from 246 to 460, however, and the public kindergartens have more than trebled here also, having increased from 793 to 2,650. In the remaining 15 States-the two Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, and those still farther west-the kindergarten has secured but a slight foothold, excepting in Nebraska, Colorado, and California. Progress has been made there also, though the number of private and charitable kindergartens has decreased from 157 to 125. The number of cities having kindergartens has ri-en from 117 to 145 and the number of public kindergartens from 214 to 508.

The figures for the whole United States furnish evidence of progress that can not be doubted. It is significant that though the number of private and charitable kindergartens has decreased during the decade, the public kindergartens have trebled in number.

It is interesting to note how the States rank in this accounting. In the number of cities having kindergartens. Wisconsin leads with 142: Michigan is second with 128; and New York third, with 92. In the number of kindergartens, New York leads; Ohio is second; and Wisconsin is third. In the number of children enrolled New York again leads; Illinois is second; and Michigan is third.

CAUSES OF GROWTH.

The causes for the progress recorded are complex, but, broadly speaking, they may be reduced to two. The first of these is found in the tendencies of present-day education and the standards of kindergarten work which have been set by public-school authorities. How these have operated to bring about kindergarten progress has already been discussed. The second reason is to be found in the faith of kindergartners in the inherent value of the fundamental doctrines on which their work is based and in their concerted efforts to win

for those doctrines a larger influence in American education. It was to create an agency by means of which that influence might be exerted that the International Kindergarten Union was organized 21 years ago, and it is to the cumulative efforts of that body, in no small degree, that the growth of kindergarten activity has been brought about. The meetings which it has held in the largest cities of the country, the work that has been done by the committees it has appointed, and the cooperation in the direction of kindergarten extension which it has effected with the National Congress of Mothers, the General Federation of Women's Clubs, and the National Education Association-all these have been means to the ends, whose results have become apparent in the past five or more years. It was because the leaders in the International Kindergarten Union saw the need of definite knowledge concerning the status of the kindergarten that the organization appointed a committee of investigation in 1911 to make the inquiry whose results are recorded in this paper. That inquiry was recognized as but a part of a systematic campaign of propagation. It is in such a campaign, which has hardly more than begun, that the National Kindergarten Association, of which more will be said, has rendered invaluable service. Equally vital to the movement has been the work done by the committee on training and supervision. The committee has conducted each year in connection with the meeting of the International Kindergarten Union a conference of training teachers, at which topics of vital importance in the training of kindergartens have been discussed.. These conferences have been devoted largely to reports of studies made during the year of some phase of training work, such as the training school curriculum, the method of teaching a given subject, or the organization of the practice teaching. Sometimes they have been given to a discussion of topics upon which there were legitimate differences of opinion, akin to those of the committee of nineteen. It has been in the training teachers' conferences, arranged by the committee on training, that kindergarten thought and practice have, in great measure, been shaped. During the past five years the International Kindergarten Union leaders have seemed to sense the needs of the kindergarten in a marked degree, and the present growth is in part a result of that fact.

THE NATIONAL KINDERGARTEN ASSOCIATION.

The National Kindergarten Association, which has but recently come into the field, has also done effective work in furthering kindergarten progress. This organization has confined itself chiefly to the awakening of public interest in the kindergarten and to establishing kindergartens where they had not yet been adopted; but it has set many agencies into operation to effect these purposes, and its results

have been far-reaching. The story of its origin is thus told in one of its reports:

The National Kindergarten Association sprang into being as the direct result of the fact that a young mother was unable to find good kindergartens for her little boys in either of two large cities in which they lived in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In 1906, she suggested that a national society was greatly needed to arouse interest in the kindergarten and to help establish good kindergartens after the interest had been awakened. During three years considerable time and thought were expended in investigation, and it was found that such societies existed in other parts of the world, and that there was in the United States a large amount of most important work which could and should be done.

After much preliminary work, two meetings were held in New York City in 1909, and as a result the association was formally organized. The active work of the association began in January, 1910. The admirable work which this association has been able to accomplish for the kindergarten cause has been made possible by contributions from persons in different parts of the country who are interested in kindergarten education and able to give financial assistance. The association assumed in the beginning that such assistance would be willingly given if the value of the kindergarten to the 4,000,000 children between 4 and 6 years of age in the United States could be made clear. The fact that millions of dollars are contributed annually to the colleges of the country justified that assumption. In its anticipations the association has not been disappointed. The contributions received have enabled it to collect much needed information concerning the kindergarten movement and to carry out important lines of work tending to kindergarten propagation. Among these have been: (1) Preparing leaflets containing information about the kindergarten and distributing them at meetings of women's clubs and teachers' associations; (2) furnishing speakers on kindergarten subjects at such meetings without expense to the organizations themselves; (3) sending out loan libraries on kindergarten subjects and exhibits of kindergarten work and materials; and (4) establishing, in a few instances, demonstration kindergartens in strategic localities for short periods. In addition to this, the association has worked with the educational and other authorities of certain States for the enactment of legislation making the establishment of kindergartens possible. The association has already been a large factor in the development of interest in the kindergarten, and the results of its efforts will become increasingly apparent as the years pass.

COOPERATION OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION.

One of the most gratifying occurrences of recent years is the establishment of a division of kindergarten statistics in the bureau of education. This is the outgrowth of the commissioner's conviction