1. New Brunswick is very largely an industrial community.

2. A very considerable proportion of its population is non-English-speaking. Only a small proportion of these attend evening school.

3. A majority of the pupils enrolled in the public schools drop out at an early age to go to work; a smaller number remain for the advanced work of the high school. About 60 per cent of the pupils drop out between the fourth and eighth years of school. The great majority of these leave school before they have reached the seventh grade.

4. The school system of the city, as now constituted, does not (a) advance pupils as rapidly as it should to upper years of school, and does not (b) offer for boys and girls leaving school at an early age sufficient opportunity. In other words, if the boys and girls who drop out of school at an early age could have been advanced to the eighth or ninth year of school before leaving, they would not have received adequate educational opportunity in the upper years, for vocational and industrial education is almost lacking.— Superintendent Ira T. Chapman, New Brunswick.

The year 1918, classed in this

In 1908 we began the cultivation of a spirit for a better pupil attendance as a means to school betterment. Its result shows an advance during the decade from 56 to 475 pupils who were neither absent nor tardy. This is a gain of 748.2 per cent. It has been a constant aim to impress upon principals, teachers, pupils and parents that the best teaching and learning are possible attainments only when there is good pupil attendance. The percentage of attendance in 1907 was raised to .926. It was raised to .951 in 1909 but this has fallen off to .922 in 1916 and .921 in 1917. an unusually severe one, furnished 357 pupils who were list... We believe that pupils should be trained to self-thinking. Our library system has been organized for this purpose. We have differed in our plan from the conventional arrangement for libraries in schools. We believe that pupils should not only be trained to read, and to read intelligently, but that they should be trained (1) to enjoy reading, and (2) to form this habit of pleasurable reading in the early grades of school life (3) under the guidance of the teacher. We have accordingly organized not only our ordinary school libraries into class libraries, but have also provided a primary class library for grades 1 to 4 in every school. The teacher directly supervises the distribution of books, their reading, the pupils' report upon their reading, and the discussion of the socialized reports made to her own pupils, as a regular part of the work done in English in our schools. Books are loaned to first grade pupils so that they may have them read to them. Ten years ago the plan of our Primary School Library was put in operation, because the ordinary library is too late in its application to meet pupils' needs, too late in guiding the desires and taste of pupils for reading, too late in forming the valuable basic habit of good taste in the selection of reading, and too late to form the habit of reading with pleasure, and therefore too late in giving its valuable aid in the mental and character development of our pupils. For ten years we have thus been practically using this phase of a silent reading method that is now being so much emphasized in educational circles.-Superintendent M. F. Husted, North Bergen.

Although the work in physical training has been going on but a few years its beneficial results are already apparent, especially among the girls. If we succeed in carrying out not only the letter of the law but its spirit also, no other form of school activity will do more for the well-being of the coming men and women than the continued, systematic, daily work in physical training. We have continued the community evenings devoted to music. These meetings are not intended as school functions but as partnership affairs in which the children furnish the minor part of the program. These meetings were not so numerous as they would have been had it not been for the shortage of coal. Although there were days when the last shovelful of coal was used, we were very fortunate in not being compelled to close the school at any time.-Superintendent James M. Stevens, Ocean City.

The dental clinic has now become a well established part of the school system and a very significant result is to note the pride which the pupils take in the frequent use of the toothbrushes. The clinic has reenforced many of the ideas which the pupils have acquired from the textbooks and I am sure the work as a whole, while being of incalculable value to each individual, has resulted in more regular attendance and better attention to school work.

The figures as submitted by the dentist are as follows: appointments kept, 2,586; fillings (amalgam, cement, gutta-percha), 2,777; extractions, 2,226; cleanings, 1,180; treatments, 738; patients completed, 594; new patients, 717; repeaters, 419.

The work in physical training has been conducted along lines suggested in the state monograph, the principal features for the high school boys being setting up exercises, march tactics and games. In addition to this the boys completed an army rifle drill.

In the grades, in addition to the regular work, much attention has been directed to the correction of bad postures.

The enlistment of the boys' athletic director the latter part of the year had its effect upon the outside activities. The boys did excellent work along this line, however, considering the great disadvantage under which they were laboring.

The definite instructions issued by the State Department have had a vitalizing effect upon the physical training work as a whole and are conducive to the attainment of beneficial results.

The following tabulation from the attendance officer's report is interesting, as it represents the reasons assigned as a result of each call by him:

The total enrollment of the schools of Passaic for the year closing June 30, 1918, shows a net gain over the previous year of 366. This increase was wholly in the elementary schools since the enrollment in the high school was 2 less than for the previous year. There was in the elementary schools an increase of 368. The increase in the elementary schools is distributed as follows: kindergarten, 49; grades 1 to 3, 102; grades 4 to 6, 129; grades 7 and 8, 80; vocational, 7; subnormal, 1; total, 368.

The percentage of promotions in February of this past year was 87.54 as compared with 88.85 the year before; in June of this year 87.04, as compared with 89.43 the year before. The causes for this slight falling off in the percentage of promotions are not clear. Several hypotheses might be predicated, such as, loss of time due to closing of the schools for lack of fuel, the distractions incident to the war, an unusually large number of new teachers to be broken in, and a good deal of illness among the teachers. It means that we must all, working together, strive to resist more strongly the causes militating against the larger percentage of promotions.

This past year general evening schools for both elementary and high school pupils, as well as for foreign-born residents, were maintained. The general evening schools contained only two elementary classes, enrolling 98, leaving a net enrollment of evening high school students of 711. This is the largest evening high school enrollment we have ever had. It was probably due to the fact that we offered to teach any high school subject if at least 20 applied for such subject. The subjects taught were stenography, typewriting, bookkeeping, Spanish, French, chemistry and mechanical drawing. The attendance kept up well until the Christmas holidays. Then the extreme cold weather and the closing of the schools on account of lack of fuel for the month of January thinned out the classes to a very great extent.

The wheels of our two work-study-play schools have turned very smoothly this past year. The attitude of teachers toward this type of schools has completely changed. Parents are generally well pleased. The per capita cost of these schools for 1917 has been worked out with some care.

The Woody-McCall arithmetic tests were given the last of January. The results showed on the whole that our schools were doing very creditable work. As the seventh and eighth grades throughout the city fell a trifle below the standard median measures were immediately taken to strengthen these grades in the fundamental operations. The value of such a test was shown in the fact that principals and teachers were not aware that our seventh and eighth grades were not as strong as they possibly should have been in the fundamental operations. The test revealed to us, principals and teachers alike, all points of weakness whether of individual schools or of separate classes. It was like the diagnosis of a physician. All were quick to apply the needed remedy. It will be interesting, when the time comes for a similar measurement, to note whether the remedies applied have been effective. Interest in the use of measurements of achievement has grown apace so that in the future they will be used just as liberally as possible. The obstacle in the way of their more frequent use is the lack of clerical assistance.

The five atypical classes in our schools have made decided progress this past year. We have spared no expense in granting to the teachers every needed equipment and facility. In the middle of the year an exhibit of the