led and complete records which tell the
whole story about the failures in the school and for the individual are
found in relatively few schools, even when on all sides business
enterprises find a complete system of detailed records, filed and
indexed, altogether indispensable for their intelligent operation and
administration. The school still proceeds in its sphere too much by
chance and faith, forgetting mistakes and recalling successes. This is
possible because there is no question of self-support or of solvency to
face, and because neither the teachers nor the institution are in
danger of direct financial loss by their waste, duplication, or
failures. In the absence of records it is always possible to calmly
assume that the facts are not so bad as for other schools which do
report their recorded facts. The prevailing unfamiliarity with
statistical methods may also favor a skepticism as to their proper
application to education, since it is not an exact science. But the
fact remains established that it is always possible to measure
qualitative differences if stated in terms of their quantitative
amounts.

Admirable and complete as are the records for the many schools of the
minority group possessing them, their more general value and
information are still quite securely hidden away in the files which
contain them. Peculiarly interesting was the surprise expressed by the
principals at the extensive and significant information which their own
school records provided, when they received individual reports on the
data collected and tabulated for this study. Yet they received only the
portions of the tabulations which seemed most likely to interest them.
The principals do not have the time or the assistance to study in a
collective way the facts which are provided by their own records, but
they are entitled to much credit for so courteously cooperating with
any competent person for utilizing their records for approved purposes
and in turn sharing their results with the school. To proceed wisely in
the administration of the school we must have a chance to know and
discuss the facts. It is not possible to know the facts without
adequate records. The absence of evidence gives prominence to opinion
and precedent. Accordingly, it is entirely incredible that the number,
the repetition, and the accumulation of failures would remain unchanged
after a fair exposition and discussion of the evidence presented in a
collective and com