Work of the sort indicated above will not only serve to test the value of the work that children have done, but will also add greatly to the interest and enthusiasm with which children do their work. We can scarcely hope that all examinations will satisfy this ideal; but of this we can be sure, the more work of this kind we do with our pupils, the firmer will be their grasp upon their work and the greater is apt to be their power to satisfy even less adequate tests.
Examinations have another function which we as teachers should not overlook. Any adequate test of children’s abilities is also a test of our teaching. It will probably not be best for us to try to defend ourselves by pleading the inadequacy of the test, nor the backwardness of the pupils when they come to us, nor their parentage, nor any other less common reason. If children do not write as well as they should, if they misspell words they commonly use in their written work, if they cannot tell the story, recite the poem, solve the problem, describe the geographical area, or relate the events of the historic period, we had better inquire whether we have helped them to work to best advantage, whether we have clearly differentiated the several aspects of our work and have then applied the methods suitable to accomplish the desired result. There may be mistakes made, but, all things else being equal, the teacher who gets results is the best teacher.
We shall do better work, children, teachers, and supervisors, when we have provided for our use more definite standards or scales by which to measure our results. There is no reason why we should not have a scale which would enable us to tell with a fair degree of accuracy just what the standing of this group of children is in writing, in ability to perform the fundamental operations in arithmetic, in spelling, in writing compositions, in discussing the geography of North America, in decorating a cover for a notebook, or in any other subject or aspect of their school work. Beginnings have been made in this direction, and we may hope for more as time passes.[14] As these units of measure are perfected and applied in examining the results of school work, we will, of course, hear the cry of those who will tell us that the best things that a teacher does cannot be measured. The obvious reply will be that efficiency in accomplishing results which can be measured need not in any way prevent a teacher from exercising that influence or doing that sort of work which is not recorded on examination sheets. Rather it will be found, I venture, that the efficient teachers, as measured by the results which we can test, are, on the whole, the teachers that are doing the noblest work. Strength of personality, appreciation of child nature, a life which by its example makes for truth and beauty in other lives, are qualities not uncommon in the teacher who is glad to be judged by the results which pupils can demonstrate.
For Collateral Reading
W. C. Bagley, The Educative Process, Chapter XXII.
W. W. Charters, Methods of Teaching, Chapter XI.
Exercises.
1. What is the purpose of an examination?
2. Would you be willing, in a review of a large topic in history, to demand fewer details than in the original study of the topic?