A GENERAL survey of the Springfield (Missouri) public schools was recently completed by members of the faculty of the College of Education of the University of Illinois. This work was done on a comprehensive scale, which provided for thoroughgoing examination of the educational purposes, plans, procedures, resources, and results being achieved by the entire public-school system of Springfield. Preliminary inquiries made before the survey plans were completed revealed that the public schools of Springfield had been engaged in a farreaching program of curriculum development and that they had gained the reputation of being "progressive" schools. Through more extensive study which went on as the survey progressed, it was found that numerous changes had been introduced during the past two decades, with most of the innovations coming sometime after 1935. The general trends had been in the direction of more pupil-teacher planning, less dependence on textbooks, more extensive use of community resources, less use of formal drill and memoriter methods, and more concern generally about the progress of individual pupils. These changes had led to rather sharp divisions of opinion regarding the effectiveness of the schools. The