Standardization by Measurement of Results
A third group of problems are those which have been referred to in the chapter on standardization. The results of classroom work must be evaluated and comparisons must be made on a large scale to guide the future work of the pupils. In some measure this is a problem for teachers. But so far as the individual class teacher is concerned, there will have to be dependence on central agencies for the collection of material which can be used in comparisons.
At the present time a large share of the standardizing material is being collected by private agencies. Men and women who are interested in the promotion of educational science are making individual studies and are bringing together bodies of comparative material. This is entirely legitimate so long as the movement of standardization and quantitative treatment of results is in what may be described as an experimental stage. As soon as the utility of measurements has been proved, it becomes a public obligation to provide agencies for this work.
The growth of the movement toward the addition in all large school systems of one or more officers whose duty it shall be to measure results has been commented on in earlier connections. There is a national organization of school-efficiency officers with a membership including representatives of some twenty of the leading systems of the country. This shows in a concrete way that the demand for central officers of standardization is beginning to be met.