Phrase dictated:
Number of mistakes:
Conclusion.
Retardation in reading (taking account of school attendance):
Retardation in arithmetic (ibid.):
Retardation in spelling (ibid.):
Knowledge percentage:
Name and position of examiner:
In spite of the lengthy details into which we enter, it is evident that all this work of examination can be done pretty rapidly. The arithmetic alone is a little long, because it is necessary to allow time to put the child at his ease. We may put the total examination at fifteen minutes. Often it will be possible to abridge the time. The inspector is now in a position to estimate the retardation of the pupil and his knowledge percentage. He has several means at his disposal—the evidence of the teachers, the notes concerning the pupil, the examination of his copybook, observation of the attitude of the child, his physiognomy, etc., and, above all, the exact and personal test which he has made.
Is this enough? When the inspector has established the retardation and determined its causes, may he, should he, give his opinion immediately? In most cases, without doubt, a further inquiry is not necessary. But in other cases the need of further inquiry is felt. Instruction is not everything, and there are some children who have difficulty in assimilating school knowledge owing to want of aptitude, to inattention, to laziness, who are yet quite intelligent. It is the intelligence of these children that one would like to determine, and for this it is necessary to make use of some tests of intelligence. We propose, therefore, for the inspectors a last examination, a psychological one. Let no one accuse us of complicating the examinations. We do not impose them, we do not even advise them in all cases. But these tests are none the less very valuable tools to which one is very happy to have recourse when one feels embarrassed.