Failure is used in the unit sense of non-passing in a semester subject. Failures are then counted in terms of these units.
This study includes 6,141 pupils belonging to eight different high schools and distributed throughout two states. The cumulative, official, school records for these pupils formed the basis of the data used.
The schools were selected primarily for their possession of adequate records. More dependable school records than those employed are not likely to be found, yet they tend to understate the facts of failure. It is quite possible that a superior school, and one with a high grade teaching staff, is actually selected by the requirements of the study.
REFERENCES:
[1.] Annual Report of United States Commissioner of Education for 1917.
[2.] Josslyn, H.W. Chapter IV, in Johnson's Modern High School.
[3.] The Money Value of Education. Bulletin No. 22, 1917, United States Bureau of Education.
[4.] New York and New Jersey State School Reports for 1917.