In every State the public high school is now firmly established as a part of the educational system. It is no longer merely a link between elementary school and the college, but attempts to prepare for intelligent citizenship the common-school pupil who has not the time or the means for requiring a higher education. The public school systems in most of the States provide for a carefully devised scheme of studies covering 12 grades and extending through as many years. The first 8 are known as the elementary grades, and the grades from 9 to 12, inclusive, are the secondary or high-school grades. In a few of the States the elementary schools have only 7 grades and in the whole country the public high schools having courses of three years or less include about one-third of the total number. In some localities the term "secondary" is applied to upper grades of the elementary school, but generally the secondary school is the high school, and the meaning of the term is so restricted in the report of the Bureau of Education. The private high schools and academies and college preparatory schools maintain courses of study practically parallel with the courses in public high schools, and all of these schools are referred to as secondary schools. In the year 1909-10 the combined enrollment of the public and private secondary schools passed the million mark, the aggregate being 1,032,461. Of this number 10,213 public high schools reported 915,061 secondary students 398,525 boys and 516,536 girls. For the same year 1,781 private high schools and academies reported 117,400 secondary students, 55,474 boys and 61,926 girls. For the year 1910-11 there were 10,234 public high schools, reporting 984,677 secondary students, 433,053 boys and 551,624 girls. There were 1,979 private high schools and academies reporting 130,649 secondary students, 61,298 boys and 69,351 girls. The aggregate of 1,115,326 was 82,864 more than the number of secondary students reported by the public and private high schools for the year ended June, 1910. (Contains 35 tables.) [Prepared by the Statistical Division of the Bureau of Education. Best copy available has been provided.]