Speed as a Correlate of Quality
In the meantime the matter of speed in handwriting has also been a subject of careful measurement, and tables of average speeds for different grades have been prepared in a number of school systems.
A device for presenting in a single diagram both speed and quality and at the same time comparing several grades in the same school with each other was worked out in the Cleveland survey. The figure and a description of its meaning are given on pages 218, 219.
The relative emphasis on speed and quality actually found in a number of different schools is set forth in the following diagram. The separate parts of this diagram are made up as follows: The average speed of a grade is represented by distances in the horizontal, and average quality by distances in the vertical, scale. Thus, taking the first section of the diagram, that of the North Doan School, the fifth grade has an average speed of 71 letters per minute, and an average quality of 41. The sixth grade shows progress in both speed and quality, though speed increases more than quality. The seventh and eighth grades show further progress in both speed and quality, the two changing at about the same rate. The diagram for the Kentucky School shows progress of a slightly different type. In this school the sixth grade, as compared with the fifth, shows progress in quality, but very little in speed. Progress from the sixth grade on is about equal in quality and speed. Memorial School emphasizes speed almost exclusively up to the eighth grade, while Mt. Pleasant emphasizes quality.
The various schools which have been reported in the four upper sections of the diagram are all regular in the sense that each school shows steady progress from grade to grade in both speed and quality. Without attempting to comment in detail on the special cases, attention is called to the series of results presented in the lower part of the diagram.[74]
Fig. 14. Average quality and average speed of handwriting of pupils of the four upper grades in ten schools[75]
Before giving examples of standardization in fields other than penmanship, it will be well to indicate the full meaning of the foregoing paragraphs.