Records as a Basis of Standardization
Fourth and finally, measured standards show the direction in which pupils are moving, because they permit a permanent record of each step of the child’s development. Schools have been slow to learn the value of records. On the one hand, school records have been piled up by the tome and no use has been made of them; on the other hand, they are usually so loosely thrown together that they are of very little value in guiding educational policy. Here is a form of record which can be duplicated and compared from year to year. Medicine has long since learned that exact records are the only safe means of guiding treatment. Modern agriculture has become scientific through the use of records and through decisions regarding experiments which these records make possible. Modern business has learned to make its accounting intelligent enough to guide policies. Finally, schools are beginning to see that records of a type permitting continuous comparisons are invaluable in determining at what point school work shall take this or that form.