The comparatively recent establishment of a Schools Examination Board at Harvard was an important step towards improving the condition of schools. For the object of this Board is to examine the work of instruction in any public or private school which is of a grade to prepare students for Harvard College. This examination can be directed over the whole work of the school or over such special parts as may desire it; and as it deals with the organization and methods of instruction of the Schools as well as the character of the work in each study, such an investigation would bring results of considerable value. These results, however, are not to be published, but to be used by the Admission Committee of the College and the chief officers of the schools. By such an investigation the college faculty or some part of it will know the exact standing and value of certain schools, the quantity and quality of their work and the average proficiency of their pupils. As the list of schools examined will be published each year in the Catalogue, the public can know when investigations have been made. But as no further information will be given, the public will not know in what fashion the schools have met the investigation or how they stand in relation to each other. This undoubtedly is not to be desired to a great extent, but it is a pity that some idea of the condition of these schools is not to be given. If only the names of those schools which met the approval of the Board were published the same result would be reached. It is to be presumed that ordinarily no school would call for such an examination unless its work were in a firm and stable condition; but if the public had some idea of the result of that examination the schools would make even a greater effort to present a curriculum of the desired character.