Factors influencing American education are numerous, various, and complex; it is impossible to conceive of any single set of factors that adequately explain what is happening in our schools. This volume attempts to describe some aspects of the New York City school system in order to provide a factual basis and perspective for examining and planning educational programs and policies. Staffing, school organization and programs, population change and school enrollment, and permissive zoning are discussed.

Eleanor Bernert Sheldon was sociologist and executive associate at the Russell Sage Foundation. Raymond A. Glazier was chief of the Bureau of Community Statistical Services at the Community Council of Greater New York.

From the preface: “This study was taken up in response to a need expressed by practical workers in public employment offices and in industry. The burden of what they had to say was that public employment office work had grown rapidly in recent years, that new and important questions of policy had arisen, and that many of these required more time to be thought through and worked out than persons in the midst of the exacting daily duties of the service could devote to them.” Topics include the nature of employment bureau work, the need for better organization methods, the case for establishing a public employment service, and the methods of organizing and performing the placement and administrative functions of a local office. In collaboration with Bradley Buell, Leslie E. Woodcock, Mary La Dame, and Frederick A. King.

Shelby M. Harrison was director of the Department of Surveys and Exhibits of the Russell Sage Foundation.

A collection of essays on public assistance work in the United States and the ways in which aid may be given. Contents:

“Public Assistance in the United States,” Arthur Dunham

“Who Shall Be Granted Public Aid? How Much? In What Form?” Donald S. Howard

“Dealing with People in Need,” Margaret E. Rich

“Problems of Health and Medical Care,” Dora Goldstine

“Tying in with the Community,” Gertrude Vaile

“Public Assistance and Social Work,” Russell H. Kurtz

Russell H. Kurtz was the editor of the Social Work Year Book.

Foundations and charitable trusts receive from society certain privileges, of which tax exemption is the most tangible. In return for these privileges, and also in view of the fact that the ultimate beneficiary is society itself, it seems wholly proper that the foundation or trust should be held accountable for its stewardship. Accountability includes disclosure of the availability of this public trust; provision for its protection against theft, squandering, or unreasonable withholding; and requirement for adequate reporting. However, accountability should not be confused with control. Freedom of operation is as important in welfare as it is in business if social progress is to continue. Some abuses exist, and, as this book points out, in most states even the most rudimentary machinery of accountability does not function. The trend has been toward new legislation, chiefly in states, but on the federal level with respect to taxation. Public Accountability of Foundations and Charitable Trusts traces the development of state regulation under the courts and legislatures and presents an analysis of the regulatory machinery in 12 states, with brief consideration of Canadian and English law; it also offers a recommended program.

Eleanor K. Taylor was associate professor of the State University of Iowa.

This monograph is one of a proposed series dealing with the status of certain established or emerging professions in the United States. It looks at the growing role of the engineer to occupy positions of a managerial nature, not only in the field of engineering but in industry, business, public health, banking, and the administration of public affairs. Training, national associations, salaries, and trends are also discussed.

ESTHER LUCILE BROWN was director of the Department of Studies in the Professions at the Russell Sage Foundation.

A study of major disasters in the United States in the 1940s as accompaniments of technological change, with an emphasis on how to prevent fatal explosions in coal mines. Topics include explosion hazards and principles of safety in coal mines, the responsibility of managers, mining investigation committees, and a suggested program for miners’ safety.

Edward A. Wieck was research associate in the Department of Industrial Studies of the Russell Sage Foundation.

This 1932 report presents model architectural plans for the police stations for a metropolitan city (based on the Milwaukee Public Safety Building of 1929), a medium-sized city, and a small city, as well as a fireproof jail for a small village.

Hastings H. Hart was director of the Department of Child-Helping of the Russell Sage Foundation.

This is the first of a series of volumes dealing with the changing pattern of men’s aspirations for their society during a long and critical period in the history of western Europe. The present volume is an essay commenting on the subject and presenting conclusions drawn from a considerable mass of available evidence. Topics include the decline of the Middle Ages and the emergency of endemic poverty in the sixteenth century, the gradual assumption of national responsibility for the poor, the evolution of the charitable trust, the literature of exhortation, and the changing structure of class aspirations.

Wilbur Kitchener Jordan was president of Radcliffe College and professor of history at Harvard University.

This 1961 book presents the findings of an empirical study that explored the attitudes and behaviors of patients who had experience with more than one way of organizing medical practice, and thereby sought to suggest some of the ways in which both lay and professional social structure figure in the utilization of medical care. The data are used to derive a tentative conceptual framework that takes account of structural as well as cultural factors in understanding the behavior of doctors and patients. The net result is a set of ideas that suggest the nature of the medical system that lies outside the walls of the hospitals, in direct contact with the community.

Eliot Freidson, New York University, and Montefiore Hospital

From the preface: “This is a book about advice—especially advice to local public officials. It tries to determine why analyses and proposals offered to local public agencies by consultants of many kinds so often seem to be useless, or at least go unused. The book offers an answer to that question and then suggests a number of ground rules—for advisers, consumers of advice, and third-party funders of advice—that I believe would improve matters.”

Peter Szanton was president of the New York City–Rand Institute.