Compulsory School Attendance Laws And Their Administration

This study has been prepared to help answer questions frequently asked regarding certain features of the compulsory school attendance laws in the several States, as compulsory school ages, exemptions provided, amount of attendance required, qualifications of attendance officers, State supervision of attendance enforcement, and other provisions for administering the attendance laws. The legislative enactments on certain features of school attendance are summarized in the text and a digest of some of the features of the attendance law in each of the States is appended. (Contains 6 tables and 43 footnotes.) [Best copy available has been provided.].

This circular supersedes Circular No. 278, September, 1950, by Ward W. Keesecker and Alfred C. Allen. The circular is designed to answer briefly the numerous and constant inquiries which come to the Office of Education relating to compulsory education in the United States. It also indicates some important trends in compulsory school attendance laws during recent years. For more detailed provisions of State compulsory school attendance laws the reader is referred to the texts of the laws of the particular States in which they may be interested.

This single volume text describes the origin of compulsory education in America. Each state's attendance laws are included.