intended to build a complete educational structure, from the primary school through the university, free and open to all. They labored to clarify the laws so that by 1895 there was no mistaking that it was the wish of the founders and the will of the people that high schools should be an integral part of the common-school system.

With the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad to the Puget Sound in 1887 there was a great influx of population. The United States census shows that the population was nearly five times as great in 1890 as in 1880, having jumped from 75,116 to 357,232. (See table 1). Most of that increase occurred during the last 3 years of the decade. By 1900 the population had reached 518,103. That number more than doubled by 1910 reaching 1,141,990. For the last 2 decades the population has increased very slowly. The 1920 figure was 1,356,621 and for 1930 it was 1,560,000.

During the period from 1880 to 1910, therefore, the increase in highschool enrollment was due in part to an increase in the total population. Even then the increase in high-school enrollment was twice as fast as the increase in population. While the population in 1930 was only 40 percent greater than in 1910 the high-school enrollment had leaped forward 430 percent.

Reference to table 24 shows at a glance the tremendous growth of Washington high schools during the last 40 years. In the first year during statehood there were only 6 high schools, employing 16 teachers and having an enrollment of 320 pupils. The schools graduated eight pupils that year, presumably all from 3-year curricula.

By 1900 the number of high schools had increased to 47, the number of teachers to 137, and the enrollment to 4,186. There were 382 graduates that year, mostly from 4-year curricula.

The next decade witnessed the organization of nearly 700 percent more high schools, the increase of the teaching staff by 600 percent, and an increase of nearly 400 percent in enrollment. In 1910 there were nearly 3,000 graduates, all from well-organized 4-year accredited high schools.

From 1910 to 1920 the number of new high schools naturally did not increase greatly as most of the communities had already established them. There was, however, a steady increase in enrollment and in number of graduates. In both cases the numbers about doubled. Dur ing the last decade there was a similar doubling. So great has been the increase in attendance that all the high-school plants have had to be entirely rebuilt to accommodate the increasing throng.

In the United States as a whole the high-school attendance was about 25 times as large in 1930 as it was in 1890. In Washington the attendance was nearly 270 times as great as in 1890. In the entire United States the high-school enrollment was 10 times as great in 1930 as in 1900. In Washington it was more than 20 times as great. During the last 2 decades the rate of increase in Washington has about paralleled that in the United States.

In 1890 less than 1 person in every thousand was in high school; by 1900 there were 8 in every thousand; by 1910 there were 18 in every thousand; by 1920 the number was 31; and by 1931 it was 55 in every thousand or 1 in every 18. That is, in a given population 55 times as many are now attending high school as in 1890. In the entire United States 1 in every 25 or 40 in every thousand are attending high school.

The remarkable retention in school from grade to grade in Washing ton is revealed in tables 13 and 14, chapter VIII, in a striking way. For example, the first-grade class which started in 1921 on the great adven ture consisted of 43,308 members, 29,250 of them reached the eighth grade, 28,206 entered the high school, and 18,000 reached the gradua tion platform. In the United States as a whole 1 out of 7 of all who start in the first grade survive to the twelfth grade; in Washington nearly one-half of all (41 percent) first graders reach the twelfth grade. The ratio between high-school enrollment and the total school enrollment and successive stages presents some very interesting figures. In 1890 a little over one-half of 1 percent (0.57 percent) of the total school registration was in the high school. In 1891 that had reached about 1 percent. The high-school registration increased year by year until it had reached 10 percent in 1911, nearly 15 percent in 1920, and 29.18 percent in 1933. Statistics gathered from 21 representative cities throughout the United States in 1929 showed that Seattle had a larger percent of its total school population in the junior high school and in the senior high school than any of the other 20 cities. In the junior high schools were 26.5 percent of the total school enrollment and in the senior high school 15.9 percent. The three nearest competitors were, respectively, Oakland, Calif.; Omaha, Nebr.; and San Francisco, Calif.

As near as can be ascertained the State of Washington has a larger percentage of its population in high school than any other State in the Union. Seattle probably has a larger ratio of high-school enrollment to population than any other community of like size in the world.

TABLE 24. Showing the growth of high schools in the State since 1889 1

1 Statistics taken from the reports of the United States Commissioner of Education and of the superintend ent of public instruction.

Twenty-ninth Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, June 1928, p. 94, and Wash ington Education Journal.

8. The Accreditation of High Schools

Prevailing entrance examinations.—The accreditation of high schools in Washington has given rise to much controversy. From the outset the laws have been vague and contradictory. The complex history leading up to the present status will be stated briefly.

When the university opened in 1861 it was the prevailing custom in all the States for colleges to admit students by examination. The

colleges gave their own examinations and set their own individual standards. It was largely an individual institution matter. The German plan of admission by certificate had not yet been introduced in the United States, being adopted first in Michigan in 1871. At the launching of the University of Washington November 4, 1861, the State superintendent had just been appointed, January 30, 1861, and his duties were vague and undefined. The superintendent's office was abolished on January 15, 1862, and not reestablished until January 1, 1872. There was no State board of education.

It was very natural then that the university should follow tradition in determining its own entrance qualifications. When the university was incorporated, January 24, 1862, the authority to determine entrance requirements was vested in the university. The language of the law was very general but its implications were not at all uncertain. It was stated that—

The university shall be open to all persons residents of this Territory under the regulations prescribed by the regents, and to all other persons under such regulations and restrictions as the board may prescribe.

Establishment of the State board of education.-In 1877 the State board of education was created. Most of its powers were stated in general terms. This was especially true of the power to classify schools and to prescribe courses of study. The language was as follows:

To prescribe rules for the general government of the public schools that shall secure regularity of attendance, prevent truancy, secure efficiency and promote the true interests of the schools.34

A very aggressive board was appointed and within a year they had evolved a complete scheme of public-school organization including primary schools, grammar schools, and high schools. A very detailed course of study was adopted. This auspicious beginning of standardization carried with it by implication inspection and accreditation although there was no specific statute authorizing it.

35

Beginnings of high schools in Washington.-Graded schools increased and high-school work was offered in several private academies and in a few public schools. In 1881 as noted in a previous section Dayton definitely organized a 3-year high school. Seattle organized a high school in 1883, graduating the first class in 1886. In 1887 the Northern Pacific Railway reached the Puget Sound. Population began to

34 Laws of Washington, Nov. 9, 1877, p. 262.

35 See ch. VIII.

increase rapidly. High schools were organized in Tacoma, Fairhaven, Spokane, Centralia, Chehalis, Puyallup, Olympia, and several other places.

Each high school organized according to local ideas. No unification of educational effort was manifest in the high schools. As the students began to look forward to the university, the State college, or other higher educational institutions the need for standardization became manifest. The news came of the accredited system in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and the North Central States. All these facts combined stimulated a new movement, which, however, required nearly 2 decades to develop fully. The various steps in that movement will be traced in some detail as they have never before been fully stated.

During that period students entered the university by examination. In order to accommodate prospective students beginning in 1894, examinations were held during the summer in various cities under supervision of faculty members. These facts directed the attention of the regents toward some centralized control and a unification of the educational interests of the State.

Initial law authorizing accreditation by the university.-At that time the law read:

The university shall, so far as practicable, begin its course of study in the literary and scientific departments at the points where the same are completed in the public. high schools of the State. No student shall be admitted except upon examination satisfactory to the faculty of the university or of the college which he seeks to enter in such course of elementary studies as may from time to time be prescribed by said faculty: Provided, however, That students shall be admitted upon presentation of certification from those public high-schools and other educational institutions in this State whose courses of study shall have been approved by such faculty, such certificate to show the completion of a course of study on the part of applicants, which such faculty shall deem equivalent to the course of study necessary for admission under examination.36

Under the foregoing statute the regents believed that the university faculty had the sole right and duty to determine the entrance requirements and to approve schools from which students should be accepted on certificate of graduation. This seemed to imply the right and duty of inspection of high schools by the university.

Suggestions by the State superintendent for unification. In his biennial report issued November 1, 1894, State Supt. C. W. Bean called

Laws of Washington, 1893, ch. CXXII, p. 296.