TABLE 11.-Foreign races ranking highest and second highest and lowest and second lowest in the proportion of pupils retarded, by grade-Continued.

Retardation is discussed in much greater detail in the section relating to the "intensive" school investigation in the Commission's complete report on the children of immigrants in schools.

DESCRIPTION OF GENERAL TABLES.

For each of the 37 cities included in the investigation of pupils in public schools 6 general tables are shown in the Commission's complete school report. In each of the general tables excepting Table 1 the pupils are classified according to general nativity and race of father of pupil. The points covered by the general tables are as follows:

Table 1.-Grade and age-Number of pupils of each age in each grade, by sex. This table shows for each grade and for each year of the high school and also for the kindergarten and special schools the number of boys and the number of girls of each age. The age entered is the age at last birthday. The pupils are not classified by race.

Table 2.-Race, sex, and grade-Number of pupils of each sex in each grade, by general nativity and race of father of pupil. This table shows by sex the number of pupils in each grade or year of school work. The information is presented by general nativity and race of father of pupil. The age of the pupils is not shown. From this table are computed the percentages showing "race distribution" in Table 5 and the percentages showing "grade distribution" in Table 6. Table 3.-Race, sex, and age, by grade-Number of pupils of each age in each grade, by sex and by general nativity and race of father of pupil. This table takes up separately the kindergarten, each of the elementary grades, each year of the high school, and the special grades. For each grade or year of school work the table shows the number of boys and the number of girls of each age at last birthday. The data are presented by general nativity and race of father of pupil.

Table 4.-Race and grade, by age Number of pupils of each specified age in each grade, by general nativity and race of father of pupil. In this table the pupils of each age are taken up separately. The table shows the distribution throughout the grades or years of school work. Boys and girls are shown separately and the information is presented by general nativity and race of father of pupil. This table presents, differently arranged, the same information which is shown in Table 3.

Table 5.-Race distribution in each grade-Percentages. This table shows for the kindergarten, for each of the grades, for each year of the high school, and for the special schools the proportion of pupils whose fathers were of each specified general nativity and race.

The table shows for the public schools of Pittsburg, for instance, the following proportion of races among the pupils in the first grade:

Only races represented in the public schools of the city by 100 or more pupils are shown in detail; all others are shown under "Other races" in this table.

Table 6.-Grade distribution of each race-Percentages. This table shows for the pupils of each race the proportion in the kindergarten, in each of the elementary grades, in each year of the high school, and in each of the special grades. In the public schools of Pittsburg, for instance, of the 3,626 pupils present who are children of Russian Hebrew fathers the table shows the following percentages in the various grades:

Per cent.

Per cent.

4.9

3.4

2.2

1.6

1.0

.4

Only races represented in the public schools of the city by 100 or more pupils are shown in detail; all others are shown under "Other races in this table.

PUBLIC SCHOOL PUPILS-THE INTENSIVE INVESTIGATION.

This "intensive" or detailed investigation of children in schools seeks to determine some of the factors which impede school progress and the relation of the different races to these factors. In this investigation the Commission sought to secure for each pupil present on a certain day in the selected schools data relative to race, age, place of birth, school attendance in foreign countries or in sections of the United States other than the city in which they lived at the time of the investigation, age at entering school, grade first entered, years in school, regularity of school attendance, and standing in studies. In addition, data were sought concerning the parents of the pupil and his home life and environment. The personal information was furnished by the pupil or his parents, and the school record of the pupil by his teacher. A copy of the form used and a copy of the instructions which were furnished the teachers are shown on pages 684-5 and 722–725.

This report includes returns for 61,231 pupils, distributed among 12 cities. The cities represented and the number of pupils in each for whom returns were secured are as follows:

TABLE 12.-Number of pupils for whom returns were secured, by city.

In the five cities last named, schools in which the various races of immigrants were represented were selected by the superintendents of schools. The Commission sought to secure data from all pupils in attendance in both the elementary grades and the high school in Bay City, Johnstown, and New Britain, and from all pupils in attendance in the elementary grades in Cedar Rapids, Chelsea, Haverhill, and New Bedford.

The number of pupils for whom information was secured is shown by general nativity of father of pupil in the table which follows:

TABLE 13.-Number of pupils for whom returns were secured, by general nativity of

father of pupil.

The principal foreign races represented are the following:

TABLE 14.-Number of pupils of principal foreign races for whom returns were secured, by race of father of pupil.

The next table shows for the pupils included in the investigation the proportion who are children of native-born fathers and the proportion who are children of foreign-born fathers:

TABLE 15.-General nativity of fathers of pupils, oy city.

Of the total number of pupils included in the study, 62.5 per cent are children of foreign-born fathers. The proportion of pupils who are children of foreign-born fathers varies from 89.5 per cent in the selected schools in Buffalo to 25 per cent in Johnstown.

The table which follows shows the proportion of pupils born in the United States and the proportion born abroad. The data are presented by general nativity of father of pupil and the foreign races are divided into two groups-English-speaking and non-English-speaking

races.

TABLE 16.-Birthplace of pupils, by general nativity and race of father.

Only 14.2 per cent of the 61,231 pupils were born abroad. The proportion born abroad was 12.9 per cent among English-speaking races and 24.9 per cent among non-English-speaking races.

For each of the principal foreign races the number and per cent of pupils born abroad and the number and per cent born in the United States are shown in the table which follows:

TABLE 17.-Birthplace of pupils, by race of father; principal foreign races.

The race showing the largest proportion of its number born abroad is the Roumanian Hebrew, with 63.9 per cent; the Magyar, with 57.2 per cent born abroad, is the next in order. The Irish show 3.2 per cent of their pupils born abroad, which is the lowest proportion for any race; the Welsh, with 3.8 per cent, have an only slightly larger proportion born abroad.

The table which follows shows for each of the cities included in the investigation the number and per cent of pupils born abroad:

The selected schools in Chicago have the highest proportion of pupils born abroad, and Chelsea ranks second, the percentages being 22.4 and 21.3 respectively. Cedar Rapids, with 2.2 per cent, has the lowest proportion born abroad, and Bay City, with 4.5 per cent, is next in order.