Leonard Porter Ayres
Leonard Porter Ayres | |
---|---|
Cleveland, Ohio[1] | |
Place of burial | |
Allegiance | United States of America |
Service/ | United States Army |
Rank | Brigadier General |
Commands held | Chief of Statistics Service |
Battles/wars | World War I World War II |
Awards | Distinguished Service Medal |
Alma mater | Boston University (BPh, AM, PhD) |
Leonard Porter Ayres (September 15, 1879 – October 29, 1946) was an American statistician. He played a central role in developing and analyzing large-scale statistical projects, especially for the Russell Sage Foundation. His best-known work dealt with comprehensive statistical studies of American casualties in the first and second world wars.
Career
Ayres was born at Niantic, Conn. His father was A clergymen and journalist, and editor of the Boston Advertiser. He studied at Boston University, earning a B.Ph. degree in 1902, A.M. degree in 1909 and Ph.D. degree in 1910. He also attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University Summer School, and Teachers College, Columbia University (1907–1909).[2][3]
He began teaching in 1902 as one of the first to carry American ideas and methods to Puerto Rico. There he was appointed superintendent of schools in the districts of Caguas and San Juan, and in 1906 became general superintendent of all the public schools on the island. He founded the Insular Bureau of Statistics.
Returning to live in the United States, Ayres was made head of the division of statistics in the Playground Association of America. Beginning in 1908, he was prominently identified with the work of the
In 1908-09 Ayres lectured on education at
United States Army
On behalf of the Russell Sage Foundation, in April 1917 Ayres organized the Division of Statistics of the Council of National Defense. In October he was assigned responsibility for statistical reporting and analysis for the War Industries Board, the Priorities Committee, and the Allies' Purchasing Committee. In addition, he provided services to the Army. It had no statistical office until early 1918, when Ayres's section came under military auspices and he was made a lieutenant colonel with a staff of fifty. He directed the Statistics Branch of the General Staff, preparing secret reports for them and for the White House. He was the first to apply modern methods of research, analysis, and presentation that he had developed at the foundation. He was assigned to General Pershing in France with a statistical staff of 250 people. His statistical summary, The War with Germany (1919), was then and now widely used by historians and analysts. He was assigned a similar role in 1940-42, with the rank of Brigadier General. He retired in 1942 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.[7]
Cleveland
In 1920, Ayres moved to Ohio as vice-president and chief economist of the
Works
His writings on educational subjects, besides reports and contributions to periodicals, are:
- A Course of Study for the Schools of San Juan (1905)
- Medical Inspection of Schools, with Luther H. Gulick (1908)
- Laggards in our Schools (1909, 1913)
- Open Air Schools (1910)
- Seven Great Foundations (1911)
- Health Work in the Public Schools, with May Ayres (1915)
- A Measuring Scale for Ability in Spelling (1915, republished by Mott Media, Milford, Michigan 1985)
Many of his articles in educational journals have been reprinted, among them, The Effect of Promotion Rate on School Efficiency (1913).
References
- ^ a b c "Ayres, Leonard Porter". Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. 7 March 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
- ^ Motter, H. L. (1911). "Ayres, Leonard Porter". Who's Who in the World, 1912. New York, New York: The International Who's Who Publishing Co. p. 54. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
- ^ Marquis, Albert Nelson (1922). "Ayres, Leonard Porter". Who's Who in America. Vol. 12. Chicago, Illinois: A. N. Marquis & Company. p. 249. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
- ^ Raymond E. Callahan, "Leonard Ayres and the educational balance sheet." History of Education Quarterly 1.1 (1961): 5-13.
- ^ American Statistical Association. "Joint committee on standards for graphic presentation." Publications of ASA 14 (1916): p. 790-791.
- ^ List of ASA Fellows Archived 2016-06-16 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 2016-07-16. Online
- ^ William J. Breen, "Foundations, statistics, and state-building: Leonard P. Ayres, the Russell Sage Foundation, and US government statistics in the First World War." Business History Review 68.4 (1994): 451-482 online.
- ^ Dictionary of American Biography (1974)
- Attribution
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.)
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Further reading
- "Leonard Porter Ayres." Dictionary of American Biography (1974). Online
- Glen, John M. et al. Russell Sage Foundation, 1907-1946 (2 vols. (1947).