The progress of children through the grades of the public schools and the stage of advancement at which they quit school are matters of great educational and economic importance, and enlist the interest of both school officers and taxpayers. If many children fail to accomplish any part of the work of the school in the time prescribed, it may be supposed that the work is not well adjusted to the powers of the children or that the teaching is at fault. If many quit school before completing the minimum course of instruction necessary for intelligent citizenship and industrial and social life, then the purposes for which the schools are maintained are not accomplished and our life in all its phases is less full and less efficient than it should be. There is a need for a large body of accurate information, as to the amount and kind of retardation and the time of quitting school, to determine the means to prevent this economic and vital waste. This study by the second assistant superintendent of schools of Richmond, Virginia, contains valuable information on these subjects for the schools of that city. Its contents include: (1) Introduction; (2) Progress of children in the elementary schools (White); (3) Progress of children in the elementary schools (Negro); (4) Acceleration and retardation by grades and ages; (5) Absence and entrance age in relation to progress through school; (6) Application of mental tests for determining the placement of children; and (7) Further application of mental tests for the placement of children and the results. A bibliography is also included. (Contains 37 tables, 1 figure, and 2 footnotes.) [Best copy available has been provided.]