1. 1. Any form devised should be based on the objectives of teachers and schools so that a continuing study of a pupil by its use would throw light on his successive stages of development in powers or characteristics believed to be important.

2. 2. The forms dealing with personal characteristics should be descriptive. Therefore "marks" of any kind, or placement, as on a straight line representing a scale from highest to lowest, should not be used.

3. 3. Every effort should be made to reach agreement about the meaning of trait names used, and to make their significance in terms of the behavior of a pupil understood by those reading the record.

4. 4. Wherever possible a characterization of a person should be by description of typical behavior rather than by a word or phrase that could have widely different meanings to different people.

5. 5. The forms should be flexible enough to allow choice of headings under which studies of pupils would be made, thus allowing a school, department, or teacher to use the objectives considered important in the particular situation, or for the particular pupil.

6. 6. Characteristics studied should be such that teachers Would be likely to have opportunities to observe behavior that gives evidence about them. It is not expected, however, that all teachers will have evidence about all characteristics.

7. 7. Forms should be so devised and related that any school would be likely to be able to use them without an overwhelming addition to the work of teachers or secretaries.

8. 8. Characteristics studied should be regarded not as independent entities, but rather as facets of behavior shown by a living human being in his relations with his environment.

With these guiding purposes and working objectives the Committee has produced record-forms in many areas for varying uses. Forms customarily used by schools provide for only a few aspects of development. This Committee attempted to make provision, on the forms devised, for more comprehensive reports of youth's developing powers. However, any record-form runs the risk of imposing limitations. For example, it may not provide for all the data which should be written into the story of a student's activities. The Committee bas sought to avoid this danger by making provision for recording a wide range of information and by leaving spaces on the forms for additional data not called for by the topics and headings listed.

The necessity for a considerable measure of uniformity for reporting is obvious. Any report that is really significant requires careful reading and interpretation by the one who receives it. Parents, college admission committees, and employers welcome reports that are not difficult to interpret and that are reasonably uniform. The Committee on Records and Reports finds that its record-forms are being used widely and with increasing satisfaction. It is hoped that they will serve to bring some measure of order out of the chaos caused by the multiplicity of record-forms now in use.

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