15. Wash basin; mirror; paper towels.

16. Combination daily and classification register, schedule of school property, including list of library and textbooks, monthly-report cards.

ORGANIZATION.

1. School classified and recorded in register.

2. Program of study and recitation.

3. Formal tests given; papers on file.

4. Certificates of membership and records of reading in Illinois Pupils' Reading Circle.

5. Provision for instruction in elements of agriculture; manual training; domestic arts. Agriculture and nature study notebooks on file.

THE TEACHER.

1. A high-school graduate and some training at a normal school.

2. Holds first-grade certificate.

3. Salary at least $480 per annum.

4. Reads Teachers' Reading Circle books.

5. Attends county institute and teachers' meetings.

6. Makes all records and reports required by the county superintendent.

7. Ranked by the county superintendent as a superior teacher.

STANDARD OF WORK.

1. The work outlined by the State course of study must be well done. 2. The discipline must make good school work possible and tend to establish sound character.

Should a school

The Alabama plan.—Alabama has adopted a scheme similar to the Illinois plan. Schools there also are approved as "standard" or "superior." They are scored, however, on a percentage basis, a maximum of 20 per cent being allowed on buildings and grounds, 24 per cent on equipment, 26 per cent on "vitalizing agencies," and 30 per cent on administration. It will be noted from the score card reproduced below that special points are offered. Any school scoring 100 per cent is designated "standard" and is awarded a special diploma by the State department of education. make a total of 120 points, by grading on any or all of the items considered on the score card, it is entitled to a diploma as a "superior school." Schools graded below 100 per cent on the standard school basis are ranked as grade A, B, or C, and as "scrub" schools if their rank is below 60 per cent. The scoring is done by the State supervisor of rural schools if practicable; otherwise by a local committee appointed by the State superintendent of public instruction. As the points differ somewhat from those given on the Illinois requirements above, a copy is included here.

Alabama requirements for a standard and for a superior school.

Points.

Items considered.

Allowed. Earned.

BUILDING AND GROUNDS-20 POINTS.
(Select only 10 items.)

1. House painted outside (required)...

2. Plastered or ceiled and painted (required).

3. Windows proper height, none in front of pupils as seated, and mainly on left and rear of pupils...

4. Available amount of light, one-sixth of floor space.

5. Sanitary floor and sweeping arrangements.

6. House latticed underneath or surrounded by cannas or other flowers..

7. Roof in good repair (required).

8. Good windows and doors that lock

9. Pure water supply.

10. Yard cleared and clean.

11. Sufficient number of trees planted or well kept.

12. Sufficient number of sanitary closets.

Total....

MATERIAL EQUIPMENT-24 POINTS.

(Select only 8 items.)

1. "Patent" desks-at least three sizes (required).

2. Desks fastened to the floor neatly, at proper distance apart. 3. Good blackboards, covering at least 75 square feet of space.

4. Teacher's desk and chair; wall clock..

5. Jacketed stove or equivalent ventilating system.

6. Sanitary fountain or individual drinking cups

7. Globes, maps, charts, thermometer.

8. Mottoes on wall and at least two well-framed pictures..

9. State library or equivalent...

10. Good translucent shades, State and National flags; apparatus for teaching pro

22

2222222222

24

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

3

30

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

32

The West Virginia score card.-West Virginia has adopted a score card, so that all county superintendents may score their country schools upon the same basis. The "efficiency score card," as it is called, provides for rating as follows:

Schools scoring between 90 and 100 points are rated as class A; between 80 and 90 as class B; between 70 and 80 as class C; between 60 and 70 as class D; and below 60 as class E.

The State department of education has tried also to encourage improved physical conditions by designating certain days as "cleanup and beautify days," and has issued a special score card on which the teachers are asked to score their building and grounds after the day's work. A maximum of 15 points is allowed on the card for clean yards, 20 for clean floors and walls, 20 for proper decoration, 15 for clean windows and suitable conditions of sanitation, 10 for a sanitary water supply, and 20 for other general conditions of cleanliness. Schools were rated grades A, B, or C, and lists are published showing the standing of each school.

County standardization. The county superintendent of Berks County, Pa., Mr. E. M. Rapp, began standardizing his one-room country schools some years ago. There are 350 one-teacher schools in the county. The standard set is high. The scoring is done by the superintendent. A four-page circular is put into the hands of each teacher, setting forth 50 minimum requirements for the standard school. The teacher and the organization count 75 points, the physical equipment, including building, grounds, sanitary arrangements, etc., 25 points. Approximately 150 of the 350 one-teacher schools have come up to the requirements and have received diploThe names of these schools are published in a monthly bulletin issued by the county superintendent. Mr. Rapp has the following to say concerning the success of the plan:

mas.

Nearly every one of the 350 single-room schools made effort to qualify in some of the specified conditions in order eventually to reach the desired goal. Directors are vitally interested in the project, and in several instances this resulted in the erection of first-class buildings with all modern improvements. It was largely instrumental in the installation of 150 sanitary room furnaces, combining a system of heating and ventilating, and also in the installation of a number of sanitary bubbling fountains

for one-room schools. The school code making mandatory the display of the flag, planting of trees, and improvements of outbuildings greatly facilitated this movement.

Similar plans are followed by probably three-fourths of the county superintendents of Oregon. Polk County may be taken as a type. There wall posters are supplied to the schools, containing a list of standard school points. The list is as follows:

Polk County, Oreg.—Standard school points.

Flag-Must be flying in good weather.

Schoolhouse-Properly lighted and ventilated.

Conditions of schoolroom--Attractive.

One standard picture-One new picture during the year unless four good ones are already in room.

Drinking water-Either fountain or tank and individual cups.

Outbuildings Sanitary all the time.

Walks From road to house; from house to outbuildings.

Grounds-Drained; attractive; flowers on grounds or in rooms.

Spelling contests-Every pupil entered.

Discipline Good order at all times.

Satisfactory work-On part of both teacher and pupils.

Attendance-Average, 95 per cent for year.

School board-Teacher's monthly reports must show at least one hour's visit by one or more members of the board each month.

Teacher-Attending at least 50 per cent of teacher's institutes and subscribing to at least one educational paper.

When the county superintendent visits the schools he determines in what points the school is satisfactory and places a silver star on the poster before the point. When the school has been awarded a star for each point on the poster, it is given a pennant bearing the words, "Standard School."

THE RURAL-SCHOOL TERM.

Considerable activity has been manifested during the year in efforts to increase the length of the rural-school term. In all the States the rural term is less than the term for urban schools; in the majority of States it is much less. In 1910, the only recent year for which data are available concerning the lengths of the term for urban schools and for rural schools separately, the average number of days in the year for urban schools was 184.3 and for rural schools 137.7. For the United States as a whole the urban schools were in session 46.6 days more than the rural schools. In Rhode Island and Connecticut the difference between the urban and rural session was 3.8 days, while in South Carolina it was 88.5 days. The average number of days in the rural term in the several States ranges from 90 in New Mexico to 190 in Rhode Island. Four States-New Mexico, North and South Carolina, and Arkansas-had a rural term in that year of less than 100 days, while Florida had a term of just

100 days. These averages, however, do not tell the whole story. There is much variation above and below the average, and there are many school districts, and even many counties, where the school term for the past year was not over 60 days.

During the year 1913 several State legislatures passed enactments requiring a longer rural-school term. North Carolina has increased the minimum legal school term from four to six months and has provided a State equalizing school fund to assist counties in maintaining a six months' term. It has passed also a law compelling every child from 8 to 12 years of age to attend continuously for at least four months out of the six. New Mexico has increased the minimum term to five months by legislative action. Missouri has increased the minimum term to eight months and has provided special State aid up to $100 per school to assist in carrying out the law. Such aid is provided only when the school district is raising by taxation the maximum levy permitted by law and is paying a teacher at least $40 per month. In South Carolina a 1-mill State tax was levied, the income of which will constitute the State school fund. Part of this fund, the balance after certain specified appropriations are made, will be used by the State board of education for lengthening school terms.

In North Dakota a law was passed providing State aid to rural schools, the amount of which depends upon the length of term. To receive the highest amount, $150, a nine-months' term is required, among other conditions; to receive the next amount, $100, an eightmonths' term. Schools maintained less than eight months may not receive any of the benefits of the act. A law providing aid for consolidated schools requires the schools to be maintained nine months in order to be eligible to aid from the fund.

CONSOLIDATION OF RURAL SCHOOLS.

There has been during the year much activity in consolidating oneteacher rural schools into single central schools to which the children are transported at public expense. In nearly one-third of the States recent bulletins have been published by the State department of public instruction or by the State universities giving information for those working for consolidation. They are an indication of a prevailing opinion that consolidation will do much to remedy the present unsatisfactory conditions in rural education.

The extent of the consolidation movement in any locality depends in large measure upon the rural-school unit of organization. States whose schools are organized with the county basis or the township basis are consolidating much more rapidly than those upon the district basis. Louisiana, for instance, which is organized on the county basis, reports many schools abandoned during the year and