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.
Studies of Oral Reading
What has been done with penmanship has been paralleled in some other subjects of elementary instruction. The following quotations have to do with oral reading:
A coöperative study of reading was organized during the month of September by the committee in charge of the grade-teachers’ section of the Illinois State Teachers Association (Northeastern Section), which met at Elgin, Illinois, November 3 and 4. The purpose of this study was to secure a body of facts in regard to the achievement of boys and girls in reading in a number of schools represented in the Association....
Fig. 15. Speed and quality of handwriting
Dotted lines indicate the level of achievement in various grades in fifty-six cities, the results from which were averaged; the full-drawn lines show the achievements in the two cities discussedThe materials used in this study of reading were the standardized oral-reading paragraphs and the silent-reading tests which have been used in connection with the surveys in Cleveland, Grand Rapids, and St. Louis, as well as in a large number of investigations carried on in other cities....
The standardized oral-reading paragraphs consist of a series of twelve paragraphs arranged in the order of increasing difficulty. The tests were given to the pupils individually by a principal or by a teacher who had been previously trained for the work. As the pupil read the teacher recorded the time required to read each paragraph together with the number of errors which were made of the following types:
(a) Gross mispronunciations, which include such errors in pronunciation as indicate clearly that the word is too difficult for the pupil to pronounce.
(b) Minor mispronunciations, which include the pronunciation of a portion of a word, wrong accent, wrong syllabification, omission of syllables, etc.
(c) Omission of words.
(d) Insertion of words.
(e) Repetition of words or groups of words.
(f) Substitution of one word or group of words for another.
A pupil continued to read until he had made seven or more errors in each of two paragraphs. By means of a system of scoring based on the time required to read and on the number of errors which were made it was possible to represent the achievement of a pupil or a class in numerical terms....
The upper section of the table [given below] gives the average number of seconds required to read paragraph 1 and the average number of errors made by three poor second-grade classes and by three good second-grade classes. Of the poor schools, School M made more errors and read more slowly than the average. School N read with fewer errors than the average, but read so slowly that the oral-reading score for the class was below the average. School O, on the other hand, gave sufficient emphasis to rate, but neglected accuracy to such an extent that the oral-reading score was low. An examination of the records made by the good schools shows clearly that consistent progress in both rate and accuracy is a prerequisite to a high level of achievement. The schools of northern Illinois vary widely in the amount of emphasis given to these phases of reading achievement. There is need, on the part of many teachers, for a continuous critical study of the specific character of the results which they are securing.
RATE AND ERRORS IN ORAL READING
Paragraph 1—Grade II
Average Poor Schools Good Schools M N O X Y Z Rate [seconds per passage] 42.2 65.0 64.1 39.1 27.2 32.8 37.9 Errors 1.4 2.0 0.5 2.4 1.1 0.9 1.3 Paragraph 1—Grades II, III, and IV
Average School A School B School C School D Grade II Rate 42.2 37.9 65.0 39.1 43.4 Errors 1.4 1.3 2.0 2.4 1.7 Grade III Rate 21.9 19.8 23.6 23.9 28.0 Errors 0.9 0.7 1.7 1.8 0.8 Grade IV Rate 18.6 18.0 21.9 16.0 27.0 Errors 0.8 0.6 1.3 0.5 1.5 Additional light is thrown on this problem when we follow certain schools through the second, third, and fourth grades. The average rate and number of errors for Grades II, III, and IV are given in the left-hand column of the lower section of the table. The records for School A show that second-grade pupils do better both in rate and in accuracy than the average. The same thing may be said of the third and fourth grades. Continuous, consistent progress of this type is very commendable. In School B, on the other hand, the pupils do less well in each grade in both speed and accuracy than the average. A question arises here concerning the general effectiveness of the classroom instruction. School C ranks low in accuracy in the second grade. Apparently this difficulty was realized in the third grade, and considerable progress both in speed and in accuracy resulted. In the fourth grade average results are attained which are above the average. This school represents consistent, continuous growth from grade to grade of a highly desirable type. School D, on the other hand, makes improvement in speed and accuracy in the third grade, but fails to increase its rate in the fourth grade, and makes a record in accuracy which is distinctly below the record made by the third grade. It is evident, if the records for the present second, third, and fourth grades are typical of the results secured from year to year, that there is need for more intelligent instruction and supervision in School D.
In this connection it should be said that objective standards of attainment for each grade should be defined. By means of tests given throughout a school or a city the present level of achievement can be determined. By means of comparisons with results secured elsewhere new goals of attainment can be defined. Each teacher should become familiar with the methods of giving tests. She should utilize them frequently in examining her work to find sources of strength and weakness. Through the co-operation of teachers and supervisors progressive revisions in standards of attainment and methods of procedure should be made. This type of co-operation is necessary because it is only when all the units of a school system work consistently together toward clearly defined ends that the most effective results can be secured.[76]
| Average | Poor Schools | Good Schools | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | N | O | X | Y | Z | ||
| Rate [seconds per passage] | 42.2 | 65.0 | 64.1 | 39.1 | 27.2 | 32.8 | 37.9 |
| Errors | 1.4 | 2.0 | 0.5 | 2.4 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 1.3 |
| Average | School A | School B | School C | School D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade II | |||||
| Rate | 42.2 | 37.9 | 65.0 | 39.1 | 43.4 |
| Errors | 1.4 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 2.4 | 1.7 |
| Grade III | |||||
| Rate | 21.9 | 19.8 | 23.6 | 23.9 | 28.0 |
| Errors | 0.9 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 0.8 |
| Grade IV | |||||
| Rate | 18.6 | 18.0 | 21.9 | 16.0 | 27.0 |
| Errors | 0.8 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 1.5 |
Studies dealing with Other Subjects
A great number of similar studies are being reported each year on arithmetic, spelling, and other aspects of the elementary curriculum. The high-school subjects are more complicated than those in the elementary school, but even these are beginning to be tested. There are satisfactory tests in algebra and the beginnings of measurements in Latin and English.
Mechanical Aspects the First to be Standardized
In all cases standardization begins with the mechanical aspects of school work. These are more susceptible to exact quantitative description and are the first to be taken up. Some writers have professed to find in this a reason for rejecting the whole movement toward standardization. There are, they assert, products of teaching which are subtle and intangible. These are the products which are most highly to be prized. Thoroughly to standardize penmanship and oral reading and algebra is to set aside these more important matters.