Educators and laymen have always expressed opinions with respect to the efficiency of our schools. In recent years there has been developed, along with a refinement in the technique of investigation in education, a remarkable public interest in the attempts to evaluate our educational practice. School inquiries, investigations, or surveys have been conducted, or are planned, in a great many cities throughout the United States. In each case there is the supposition that such an inquiry or investigation will measure the efficiency of the schools. It has not always been clear, either to those making the survey, or to those who read the reports, that three distinct types of measurement have been employed, or three sets of standards or tests applied. It is possible to characterize each investigation, or each part of some of the larger surveys, by one of the three following methods of measurement--first, measurement by personal opinion; second, measurement by comparison; or third, measurement by more or less well-established standards or units. Greater progress will be made in the establishment of standards and tests, and in the development of more adequate measurements of the efficiency of school systems, when we establish a committee, a board, or commission on school efficiency. It is of the utmost importance that this committee or board be representative of the most significant scholarship and of the best administrative practice known to our profession. The body should be constituted by the National Council of Education. Its functions should be as follows: (1) It should offer encouragement, expert advice, and opportunity for publication to those engaged in scientific work in the direction of the derivation of scales of measurement, in the application of such scales or units to actual school situations, or in the establishment in any other manner of standards in relation to public education; (2) It should offer expert advice with respect to the nature and scope of surveys, investigations, or inquiries to be undertaken in any part of the United States; and (3) It should offer to members of our profession engaged in administrative work the opportunity to secure a scientific investigation of their systems of schools under the direction of professional experts. A bibliography is included. [Best copy available has been provided.]