THE SELECTION AND RELIABILITY OF THESE SOURCES OF DATA
By employing data secured only from official school records and in the
manner stated, this study has been limited to those schools that
provide the cumulative pupil records, with continuity and completeness,
for a sufficient period of years. Some schools had to be eliminated
from consideration for our purposes because the cumulative records
covered too brief a period of years. In other schools administrative
changes had broken the continuity of the records, making them difficult
to interpret or undependable for this study. The shortage of clerical
help was the reason given in one school for completing only the records
of the graduates. In addition to the requirements pertaining to
records, only publicly administered and co-educational schools have
been included among those whose records are used. It was also
considered important to have schools representing the large as well as
the small city on the list of those studied. Since many schools do not
possess these important records, or do not recognize their value, it is
quite probable that the conditions prescribed here tended to a
selection of schools superior in reference to systematic procedure,
definite standards, and stable organization, as compared to those in
general which lack adequate records.
The reliability and correctness of these records for the schools named
are vouched for and verbally certified by the principals as the most
dependable and in large part the only information of its kind in the
possession of the schools.
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