Class 
 
 
 3^ 
 
 Copyright N?. 
 
 CQElfRlGHT DEPOam 
 
IMPROVING SCHOOLS 
 
 BY 
 
 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 SAMUEL sI'^ROOKS 
 
 District Superintendent of Schools, Winchester, N.H. 
 UNDER THE EDITORSHIP OF 
 
 B. R.TBUCKINGHAM, PH.D. 
 
 Director oj the Bureau of Educational Research 
 Ohio State University 
 
 HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
 
 BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO 
 

 COPYRIGHT, 1922 
 
 BY SAMUEL S. BROOKS 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
 
 /.7^ 
 
 Wbt S&i'ottii'Ot ^ttea 
 
 CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS 
 PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. 
 
 OCT 13 '22 
 
 ©CiA683e62 
 
 Atd I 
 
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 
 
 This book divides itself naturally into two parts. The 
 first part has to do with the situation in which Superin- 
 tendent Brooks found himself, with his successful campaign 
 in educating his teachers to use standardized tests, with 
 the results which he obtained, with the way he used these 
 results to grade his pupils, to rate his teachers, and to 
 evaluate methods of teaching, and finally with the use he 
 made of inteUigence tests. This is the first time, so far as 
 I know; that a practical school man has, after planning 
 carefully and executing to the last essential detail a large 
 testing program, set down for the guidance of other prac- 
 tical school men just what he did. 
 
 We have waited a long time for this. The test-makers 
 and technical research workers have been heard from exten- 
 sively; and some of them have written for the benefit of 
 teachers and supervising officials. Here, however, is one 
 of their number who found unfavorable conditions in the 
 district to which he had been assigned. He secured the 
 support of his teachers in making a survey of these con- 
 ditions by means of standardized tests. He gave the tests 
 three times and made certain important uses of the results. 
 Teachers, pupils, and parents were in favor of the tests 
 as he used them. Moreover, he tells us just how he did 
 these things; and he tells the story so clearly and so vividly 
 that any one who reads his account will feel that he can 
 do likewise. 
 
 The second part of the book has to do with the changes 
 
IV EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 
 
 in methods of teaching which were brought about because 
 of the knowledge gained from the tests. This is the best — 
 is it not the only? — account of a testing program which has 
 been carried through to its logical conclusion. It is the best 
 answer I know to the question so often raised, *'What 
 shall we do with the results of tests?" Nor is the answer 
 conceived narrowly. It is not concerned with mere devices. 
 It has a philosophy, and it is broad and fundamental. 
 Definite methods are shown and shown in detail, but they 
 are based on sound general principles. For example, he 
 justifies his startling doctrine that the first reading in- 
 struction should be in silent reading by the principles of 
 association. Again, he introduces a plan of teaching chil- 
 dren how to study because the tests measure the results of 
 study and because if one wishes to improve the results of 
 teaching as measured by tests, one must first improve 
 methods of study. 
 
 Even with reference to particular subjects the measures 
 he has adopted and described are something more than 
 expedients. Even here they are broadly conceived. In 
 reading, for example, he recognizes a general principle ap- 
 plicable to all subjects. The general principle is that in 
 order to improve instruction in terms of test results, one 
 must develop in the pupils the abilities which the tests 
 measure — not other abilities, not even similar abilities, 
 but the precise abilities which the tests measure as nearly 
 as these can be ascertained. 
 
 I am aware that there will be a few transcendentalists 
 among research workers who at this point will cry out that 
 neither Superintendent Brooks nor I know what the tests 
 measure. These are the men whose daily occupation is 
 
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION v 
 
 straining at gnats and swallowing camels. It is well enough 
 for them to do this among themselves, but some of them 
 would hold up all progress while they split hairs over the 
 setting up of a theoretically perfect *' criterion" and the 
 devising of a test of highest possible correlation with it. 
 This is good work, and I do not deprecate it. But the 
 work of the schools must be done. Instruments of measure- 
 ment must be used even if they are lacking somewhat in 
 validity. 
 
 At any rate, a practical man who thinks about silent 
 reading readily concludes that rate and comprehension are 
 the two items which ought to be measured and which the 
 tests do apparently measure. He infers, therefore, that a 
 method of teaching reading which is to develop the abil- 
 ities measured by the tests must aim at these two objec- 
 tives — rate and comprehension. This at least is Super- 
 intendent Brooks's line of thought, and he pursues it with 
 vigor and success. 
 
 From the point of view of the expert in tests the author 
 undoubtedly displays an uncritical acceptance of them. 
 Fine statistical points are ignored; practice effects are for- 
 gotten; validity is assumed; and reliabiHty is all but un- 
 questioned. In short, the test-maker is accepted as hav- 
 ing done his work. Some of us are sure that he is not en- 
 titled to this degree of confidence; nor — to be entirely 
 fair — does he think so himself. For the most part he is 
 an experimentalist, trying one device after another, call- 
 ing this a reading test and that an arithmetic test, with- 
 out agreeing with his fellow test-makers as to what ability 
 in either of these subjects may be. There is in this book an 
 impressible object lesson for the test expert. From it he may 
 
vi EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 
 
 see clearly how vital it is that he analyze the objectives in 
 teaching and that he make his tests true measures of the 
 extent to which the objectives are realized. It is clear that 
 if school people are going to adopt the tests in the spirit 
 displayed by Superintendent Brooks's teachers in chap- 
 ter X, a burden of responsibility is laid upon the test- 
 maker which he cannot evade. 
 
 Again, there will be many practical teachers, principals, 
 and supervising officials who will feel that there are many 
 products of teaching which the tests fail to measure. These 
 school men and women will point out that the abilities 
 which are here exalted are of the more formal type. Yet 
 it is entirely possible that the abilities which the tests 
 directly measure are representatives of the higher abilities 
 which the tests do not directly measure and which it is un- 
 doubtedly the business of the school to inculcate. For 
 example, rate and comprehension of reading, which the 
 tests purport to measure directly, may fairly be said to 
 condition the acquiring of more complex qualities having to 
 do with taste, attitude, and appreciation — qualities which 
 manifest themselves to an increasing degree as rate and 
 comprehension of reading are developed. It may very well 
 be that the better our pupils can read, add, and spell, or an- 
 swer questions in language, geography, and history, the 
 better they will manifest the qualities which are valuable 
 in a social organism. Indeed, it can hardly be otherwise. 
 These subjects are in the course of study by common con- 
 sent; nor are the efforts of the curriculum makers, even of 
 the most advanced type, directed toward their entire 
 withdrawal. They are in the course of study because they 
 are believed to serve the higher purposes of education. If 
 
EDITOR'S EsfTRODUCTION vii 
 
 this is true, there is a case to be made out for teaching these 
 subjects well, and for the belief that, within reasonable 
 limits, the better they are taught, the more surely the 
 broader purposes of education will be served. It will be 
 time for the experts in high places and the conservatives in 
 all places to criticize the author when they have accom- 
 plished as much without tests as he has with them. 
 
 To my mind chapters x to xv — constituting what I 
 have called the second part of the book — are unique. 
 Professor Cubberley has pointed out that because of the 
 measurement movement, the whole subject of Educational 
 Administration, in a decade or two, may need to be reor- 
 ganized and books on the subject rewritten in terms of 
 this new scientific development. The same statement 
 may be made as to the subject of Methods of Teaching 
 and as to books on that subject. Those methods will gain 
 favor which produce measurable results. A method will 
 not be taken for granted because some one high in author- 
 ity favors it. In fact in these days no one high in authority 
 will promulgate a method merely as his ipse dixit. Super- 
 intendent Brooks has much to offer in these last chapters 
 about method — methods of teaching reading in both pri- 
 mary and upper grades, methods of handling the content 
 subjects and of teaching children to study. But these 
 methods are the immediate outgrowth of his testing pro- 
 gram, and they are designed to improve the conditions 
 which his testing program disclosed. They are methods 
 which he has tried and the effects of which he gives us. 
 They are therefore convincing. 
 
 B. R. Buckingham 
 
PREFACE 
 
 This book is written for superintendents, teachers, and all 
 other persons interested in the use of educational tests and 
 measurements as a means of improving the work of the 
 schools. It tells how standardized tests and scales were 
 used periodically for two years throughout an entire su- 
 pervisory district, and how the results of the tests were put 
 to practical use in classifying pupils into grades, for meas- 
 uring the progress of pupils in their studies as a partial 
 basis for promotion of pupils, for measuring the effi- 
 ciency of teachers, for measuring the relative efficiency 
 of special methods, and for motivating the work of both 
 teachers and pupils. It also tells of remedial measures, 
 in the way of modification of subject-matter and teaching 
 methods, taken to improve unsatisfactory conditions re- 
 vealed by the use of the tests. 
 
 In its field, the book is unique in at least two respects: 
 (i) it is a narration of actual experience rather than an ex- 
 position of theory, and (2) it describes in detail how a com- 
 prehensive, periodical testing program was planned and 
 carried out, how the interested cooperation of the teachers 
 was secured, and how the results of the tests were used to 
 improve the schools. One whole chapter is devoted to what 
 the teachers and pupils had to say, at the end of two years' 
 use of the tests, as to how the tests were of help to them in 
 their work. 
 
 So far as the author is aware, all the books previously 
 
X PREFACE 
 
 published on the subject of standardized tests and measure- 
 ments deal almost entirely with the tests themselves; the 
 need for them, descriptions and reproductions of them, 
 and data concerning their derivation and standardization. 
 Very little is said as to how the tests can be put to 
 practical use in the schoolroom, and that little is usually 
 expressed in very general terms. No book heretofore pub- 
 lished describes in detail the putting of standardized tests 
 to practical use in a concrete situation and periodically 
 over a period of years. 
 
 The above-mentioned books have proved very valuable 
 in making the educational public acquainted with stand- 
 ardized tests and their possibilities. But is it not time 
 that we had something definite in book form as to how the 
 tests are proving of value, or otherwise, in the hands of 
 teachers and administrators? It was with the idea of 
 starting something in this line that the author has set 
 down in this book his own experiences with standardized 
 tests as an aid in school supei*vision. The book does not 
 claim to settle any of the great problems of modern edu- 
 cation. It merely tells how standardized tests were used in 
 an attempt to solve some of the more pressing of these 
 problems as they appeared. In it we tell what we did, why 
 and how we did it, and the results obtained. We have 
 tried to tell it in such a way that any one who so desires 
 may easily follow the general plan with modifications, if 
 necessary, to fit his own particular field of endeavor. It 
 is hoped that the book may prove both interesting and help- 
 ful to our fellow workers, and that it may give at least a 
 little added momentum to the great movement toward ob- 
 jective measurement of ''classroom products.'' If it ac- 
 
PREFACE XI 
 
 complishes these objects, even in a small measure, the au- 
 thor will feel amply repaid for the time and labor involved 
 in presenting his experiences for publication. 
 
 It is with pleasure and gratitude that the author here ac- 
 knowledges his indebtedness to Dr. B. R. Buckingham for 
 kindly advice and encouragement during the preparation 
 of the work, for many helpful suggestions, for his sympa- 
 thetic editing of the manuscript, and finally, for the Editor's 
 Introduction. 
 
 S. S. Brooks 
 Winchester, N.H., Jtdy^ 1922 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter I. Introduction . i 
 
 Chapter 11. The Practical Situation . . . ,. . . 8 
 Sizing-up the situation — Analyzing the situation. 
 
 Chapter III. Getting Teachers to Feel the Need eor 
 Standardized Tests . . . i6 
 
 The first meeting — The second meeting — The third meeting 
 
 — The fourth meeting. 
 
 Chapter IV. Using Standardized Tests for Grading Pur- 
 poses 30 
 
 Supervising the testing — Converting scores into grades — 
 Devising a graph card — The meaning of the graph card — 
 Grading the pupils. 
 
 Chapter V. Conditions Revealed by the Use of Standard- 
 ized Tests 39 
 
 The graph cards described — Tendencies shown by the graphs 
 
 — The search for causes; over-emphasis on arithmetic — Other 
 tendencies — The writing situation — Poor results in reading, 
 and why — A new policy as to reading. 
 
 Chapter VI. Measuring the Progress of Pupils by Means 
 . OF Standardized Tests 52 
 
 Teachers' judgments of progress unsatisfactory — Standardized 
 tests used to measure progress — The graph card — The record 
 of a child of average mentality — The record of a bright child — 
 The record of a dull child — The record of a class. 
 
 Chapter VII. Measuring the Efficiency of Teachers 
 BY Standardized Tests 69 
 
 Factors in teaching ability — Measuring teaching efficiency by 
 results — Objections of teachers to rating by results — The 
 objections answered — The plan of rating teaching — First illus- 
 tration of the plan — Second illustration of the plan — Salary 
 and rating. 
 
xiv CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter VIII. Comparing the Efficiency of Special 
 Teaching Methods by Means of Standardized Tests . 82 
 
 The teacher and the method — Eliminating the variables — Two 
 ways of comparing methods; the first case illustrated — An ex- 
 periment in comparing methods — The second case: comparing 
 methods when used by the same teacher — A suggested plan of 
 procedure — Need of testing methods by results. 
 
 Chapter IX. Some Uses for Intelligence Tests ... 96 
 
 Practical notes for practical purposes — Intelligence tests needed 
 in school: faulty judgments of teachers — The fallacy that all 
 pupils can make satisfactory progress — The Binet-Simon Intel- 
 ligence Scale — Group tests of intelligence — Our original pur- 
 pose to locate the mentally defective — The Otis Test — The 
 Haggerty Tests — A case in which intelligence testing helped — 
 Another case — A menace — Border-line cases — Intelligence 
 tests used in rating teachers — Identifying the bright pupils 
 
 — Special opportunities in city systems — Intelligence tests 
 for grading purposes — The small range of mental ages in each 
 grade — Mental ages of pupils in each grade — Grading by 
 mental and achievement tests substantially the same — A pro- 
 posed plan of grading in a rural school. 
 
 Chapter X. Reaction of Teachers and Pupils to Stand- ">• 
 ardized Tests 124 
 
 What the teachers think of the tests — What the pupils think of 
 i the tests. 
 
 Chapter XI. Reading Aims and Methods 143 
 
 Modification of methods and materials is part of a testing pro- 
 gram — Drill in oral reading does not ensure silent-reading abil- 
 ity — The way to improve silent reading is to teach silent read- 
 ing — Oral-reading drill hinders good reading — The case against 
 oral reading — Yet oral reading has its value — Oral reading not 
 necessary for beginners — When to begin to teach oral reading 
 
 — Why silent reading should be taught first — Silent reading as 
 actually taught — Merely giving children books to read is not 
 sufl&cient. 
 
 Chapter XII. Silent Reading in the Lower Grades . .159 
 
 Must develop the kind of ability the tests measure — The success 
 of the plan adopted — Reading in first grade — Teaching the 
 first words — Keeping the right order of association — Teaching 
 
CONTENTS XV 
 
 sentences — The use of pictures — Reading from books — Little 
 good material available — An example of usable material — One 
 way of using such material — A second method — A third method 
 
 — Second readers begin in the last half of the first year — The 
 result in one school — The kind of material needed for first-grade . 
 use — Reading in the second grade — Reading in the third grade. 
 
 Chapter XIII. Reading in the Upper Grades . . .193 
 
 Reading as a separate subject should not be necessary in the upper 
 grades — Local conditions required vigorous action — The plan 
 
 — Character of the reading material — The books mentioned are 
 merely suggestive — Why literature is not adapted for silent- 
 reading drill — The kind of material needed for silent reading. 
 Examples of good selections for silent reading — Ways of using 
 silent-reading material. 
 
 Chapter XIV. Teaching Children How to Study . . 234 
 
 Children do not know how to study — Children must be taught 
 to study — Poor methods prevail — Situations which favor good 
 study habits must be provided — Good silent-reading ability 
 essential to study — Good silent-reading methods encourage 
 good study habits — Some examples — Habits thus developed 
 carry over into other work. 
 
 Chapter XV. Supervised Study 246 
 
 > Three types of activity in "studying" — Difficulties in connec- 
 tion with supervised study — Silent-reading drill offers an oppor- 
 tunity for supervised study — The question method is especially 
 advantageous — The method illustrated — Alternating super- 
 vised study and recitation — Another way of conducting super- 
 vised study — Finding the topic of a paragraph — Construction 
 of outlines — Collecting material as a phase of study. 
 
 Index •••..•• 275 
 
LIST OF TABLES 
 
 Table I Distribution of the Ratings of a Sixth-Grade 
 Arithmetic Paper 17 
 
 Table II. Distribution of the Ratings of an Eighth- 
 Grade History Paper 18 
 
 Table III. Weights assigned to Twelve History Ques- 
 tions ACCORDING TO TeACHERS' JUDGMENTS . . . .22 
 
 Table IV. Rank of History Questions in Difficulty based 
 ON Number of Times missed 24 
 
 Table V. Summary of Ranks and Values for Each of 
 Twelve History Questions 25 
 
 Table VI. Record of L. D 35 
 
 Table VII. June Scores of a Fifth Grade in Reading . 75 
 
 Table VIII. Grade per cents on Each Test — Teacher A 76 
 
 Table IX. Grade per cents on Each Test — Teacher B . 77 
 
 Table X. Grade per cents on Each Test — Teacher C . 78 
 
 Table XI. Grade per cents on Each Test — Teacher D . 79 
 
 Table XII. Average Scores in the Woody Scales . . 89 
 
 Table XIIL Comparison of Mental and Chronological 
 Ages of Sixth-Grade Pupils, Tamworth Schools . .115 
 
 Table XIV. Mental Ages of Pupils in Each Grade . .117 
 
 Table XV. Results of Mental Tests in a Selected School 120 
 
 Table XVI. Pupils with Mental Ages below Eight 
 Years . 120 
 
 Table XVII. Pupils with Mental Ages between Eight 
 AND Nine 121 
 
 Table XVIII. Pupils with Mental Ages between Nine 
 AND Ten 121 
 
 Table XIX. Pupils with Mental Ages between Ten and 
 Eleven 122 
 
IMPROVING SCHOOLS BY 
 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Education Is gradually becoming less of a custom and 
 more of a science. A force of professionally trained edu- 
 cators, imbued with a determination to free the schools 
 from the chains of mediaeval traditions in subject-matter 
 and method, and with an ambition to apply the principles 
 of common sense to education, is being rapidly built up. 
 The development of modern educational psychology is 
 bringing about changes of management and method that 
 are little short of revolutionary. The ossifying doctrine 
 of formal discipline and a multitude of other hoary tradi- 
 tions have been proved invalid by the scientifically con- 
 trolled experiments of experts in the psychology of learn- 
 ing. Thus the very foundations have been knocked from 
 under the existing educational system, leaving it, so to 
 speak, very much up in the air. 
 
 But if these experts were to be anything more than 
 iconoclasts, they must furnish something better in the 
 way of teaching aims and methods to replace the demol- 
 ished idols of an educational world whose complacency 
 they had sadly ruffled. Accordingly, they inaugurated in 
 some quarters experimental schools and school systems — 
 laboratories for the compounding of educational doctrines. 
 While still very young, however, the new movement be- 
 came seriously afflicted with a rash of faddism due to 
 
2 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 under-trained but over-enthusiastic reformers who mis- 
 took their day-dreams for facts of proved worth. Having 
 passed through this period, however, the movement 
 began to steady itself. Earnest seekers after the truth 
 early came to realize that to foist half-baked schemes on 
 an ultra-conservative public would in the end merely 
 breed distrust and suspicion of all new ideas in education 
 regardless of their value. Reformers grew more cautious 
 of presenting their ideas until they had proved their 
 worth. Local school men and women also became more 
 cautious of introducing new methods until those methods 
 had been successfully tried out under fairly representa- 
 tive conditions. Thus something like a healthy balance 
 was struck between faddism and conservatism. 
 
 Among the more recent ideas there are some that seem 
 pregnant with tremendous possibilities for the improve- 
 ment of educational procedure. The most far-reaching 
 in its beneficial possibilities seems to me to be the idea of 
 measuring the results of teaching and the intelligence of 
 school children by means of standardized tests. Of large 
 importance also are: " The Socialized Recitation/* 
 " Supervised Study," " Teaching Children How to 
 Study," "The Project-Problem Method in Teaching," 
 and the change of emphasis from oral to silent reading. 
 All these things are rich with promise of greater efficiency 
 in education. But although all the above-mentioned 
 ideas have proved successful, when carried out by trained 
 men and women full of enthusiasm and thoroughly under- 
 standing the psychological principles upon which the ideas 
 were based, nevertheless, when the carrying-out of these 
 same ideas has been attempted by persons lacking in 
 sympathy and full understanding of the principles, aims, 
 and methods involved, they have often been far from 
 successful. 
 
INTRODUCTION 3 
 
 Superintendents and teachers who condemn these ideas, 
 after proving to their own satisfaction that they are worth- 
 less, remind me of the first farmer in the town of my boy- 
 hood to purchase a mowing machine. For a great many 
 years this man had mowed his many rough and rather 
 rocky acres by hand with the help of a large crew of hired 
 men. But one spring the mowing-machine agent appeared 
 in our town and as a result, by the time hay was ready to 
 be cut, the farmer found himself possessed of a brand-new 
 mowing machine, resplendent in green, yellow, and red. 
 The next morning he started out to mow the " back field." 
 Truly his trials that day were many. And when the 
 machine, unable to stand any more of his inexpert han- 
 dling, broke down late in the afternoon, he had succeeded 
 in getting over only about as much ground as one good 
 man with scythe and snath could have mowed in the same 
 length of time. And what an untidy-looking job it was! 
 The next day the farmer started his old crew to mowing 
 by hand. No more of that mowing machine for him. He 
 could do more and better work in a day alone than could 
 a man with a pair of horses and a mowing machine. The 
 mowing machine was a failure. He knew because he had 
 tried it. But did this farmer's experience with his new 
 mowing machine prove the failure of the machine or the 
 failure of the man? The mowing machine, we know, will 
 do good and rapid work in astonishingly rough and rocky 
 ground when guided by a practiced hand. 
 
 And so it is with new methods and ideas in education. 
 The sociaHzed recitation can easily result in chaos in the 
 hands of weak teachers. Supervised study can become 
 the sepulcher of all energy and initiative on the part of 
 pupils if improperly conducted. Teaching children how 
 to study becomes a farce when attempted by teachers who 
 do not themselves know, how to study efficiently. And 
 
4 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 how many of them do know how to study to the best 
 advantage? As for silent-reading — well, some of its 
 ardent exponents would get the surprise of their lives if 
 they sent out questionnaires to all the teachers of so-called 
 silent-reading asking them to explain their conception of 
 silent-reading drill. 
 
 For example, I visited a village school not long ago, 
 where, the superintendent told me, one of his best teachers 
 was working out some of the " new ideas." I found the 
 teacher industriously correcting papers at her desk. The 
 room was very quiet and orderly, and every child was busy. 
 
 "Do you teach silent-reading here?" I asked, after 
 introducing myself. 
 
 " Oh, yes! That is what we are doing now. We have 
 silent-reading drill for a whole hour every afternoon." 
 
 " And is that all the silent-reading drill they get? " 
 
 She looked up in surprise. " Why, yes, that seems to 
 be as much time as we can spare without neglecting the 
 other work. The pupils enjoy it very much," she added. 
 
 And why should n't they enjoy it? The school was well 
 supplied with children's story-books and for a whole hour 
 every afternoon the pupils were permitted to forget the 
 serious affairs of life and to dawdle over story-books with- 
 out aim or purpose. Was this efficient silent-reading 
 drill, or was it largely a waste of time and money? 
 
 Now the moral of all this is that neither a machine nor 
 an educational method should be condemned as worthless 
 because it fails in unpracticed hands. The successful 
 working-out of any of the things mentioned above (espe- 
 cially in the present state of our knowledge about them) 
 demands energy, initiative, industry, enthusiasm, and a 
 fairly complete understanding of the psychological princi- 
 ples involved together with ability to apply them. The 
 form of a method without its spirit will not ensure success 
 
INTRODUCTION 5 
 
 Before introducing a new mode of procedure into a 
 school or school system, superintendents and teachers 
 should be sure that they know what they are going to try 
 to do, why they are going to try to do it, and what others 
 have done along the same line. In addition they should 
 have a definite plan as to how they expect to do it. This 
 plan may have to be changed or modified several times 
 before results are satisfactory, but nevertheless, some 
 definite plan should be provided at the start. 
 
 For information as to what others have done one must 
 have recourse to educational books and periodicals. 
 Much has been written, in one form or another, concerning 
 supervised study, teaching children how to study, silent- 
 reading, and standardized tests. Most of these writings, 
 however, deal with generalities. Now, either through 
 lack of inherent ability or through lack of proper training, 
 it is undoubtedly hard for most people to apply general 
 principles to specific cases; to take a suggested plan, think 
 out the details, and put the plan into successful operation. 
 This is the reason for such a large crop of failures when a 
 superintendent calls his teachers together, tells them what 
 he wants done, explains the general principles of the new 
 plan, and leaves them to w^ork out the details and produce 
 results. 
 
 The research men are giving us some splendid books as a 
 result of their years of study and painstaking experiment. 
 Their statements of procedure are, for the most part, 
 sound in theory; and many of them have been proved by 
 practice — especially when conditions were favorable. 
 But these general principles, when applied under widely 
 different and often adverse conditions, do not always work 
 well. There are, however, some school people who are 
 not easily discouraged, who take the trouble to make a 
 careful study of the causes of failure, and who modify 
 
6 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 either the plan or the local conditions or both ; and it is they 
 who put the results of research into successful operation. 
 
 Would it not, therefore, be well if we had more printed 
 records direct from the actual workers in the field — from 
 the men and women at the head of local schools and school 
 systems and from their teachers? Even if these records 
 were not of high technical or literary merit, they would 
 tell just what teachers and superintendents have tried to 
 do, and why and how they have tried to do it, together 
 with the results achieved. The story might not always be 
 one of shining success, but could it not be valuable to 
 fellow workers for all that? If we are truly wise, we may 
 often learn success from others' failures. Most of us 
 profit by reading about the experiences of others in our 
 own line of work, even though we are sometimes foolish 
 enough to think we have nothing more to learn. 
 
 Hence the excuse for this book. It tries to tell in a 
 simple way how standardized tests and scales were used 
 to improve the schools in a newly organized rural-school 
 district in New Hampshire under conditions that were, to 
 say the least, discouraging. In a way it is story. It is 
 the story of how a corps of faithful, hard-working, but 
 mostly untrained teachers, with the aid of an inexperienced 
 superintendent, put standardized tests and measurements 
 to practical use throughout a school system to the con- 
 siderable advantage of all concerned; of how also, in con- 
 nection with the use of the tests, they solved, with at 
 least some satisfaction to themselves, the problems of 
 efficient silent-reading drill, supervised study, and teach- 
 ing children how to study, in one-teacher rural schools. 
 It is not a story of complete and unqualified success; but 
 I have endeavored to make it a faithful, readable, and 
 understandable account of what was done, of why and 
 how it was done, and of the results achieved. 
 
INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 The book is addressed to teachers and superintendents, 
 both urban and rural. The principles of procedure set 
 forth can be applied in a single school or a whole school 
 district, in large schools or small, in city or country. The 
 methods used have been tried out under about as unfavor- 
 able conditions as could be found anywhere. Although 
 the actual experiments have been carried on in a purely 
 rural district, I can conceive of no reason why the same 
 principles cannot be applied with even greater facility, 
 and the methods used to even greater advantage in town 
 and city schools. Many of the obstacles that face the 
 rural superintendent in attempting such a testing program 
 as is here described are largely absent in the city. Better- 
 trained teachers are available; the teaching force is more 
 stable; and it is much easier to get the teachers together 
 for frequent meetings. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE PRACTICAL SITUATION 
 
 A SUPERVISORY district containing twenty-six rural, un- 
 graded one-room schools with teachers for the most part 
 inexperienced or untrained, a majority of whom had never 
 worked under a superintendent before — this was the 
 opportunity that fell to my lot when I became a New 
 Hampshire superintendent under the new law effective 
 September i, 1919. It was my first experience as a super- 
 intendent. Truly the district was " virgin soil " as a 
 member of the State Department remarked to me when 
 I took the position. 
 
 SiziNG-up THE Situation 
 
 The first two or three weeks were spent in traveling about 
 the district getting acquainted with the teachers and 
 sizing-up the situation. Most of the schools had already 
 begun, the teachers having been hired by the local school 
 boards as in the past. I found that three of the teachers 
 were normal-school graduates, and that two had attended 
 one summer school; but the others had no professional 
 training whatever. Several had not attended school 
 beyond the eighth grade, but had taught from ten to 
 twenty-eight years in the same school. Three were in- 
 experienced high-school graduates in their teens. Fifty 
 per cent of all the teachers had never seen a professional 
 book or magazine and did not know where to obtain one. 
 All this, of course, had resulted in an ingrowing provin- 
 cialism which could not but have a disastrously narrowing 
 effect on their teaching. They were imitators of imitators. 
 
THE PRACTICAL SITUATION 9 
 
 Their methods were in imitation of the teachers who had 
 taught them and who, in their turn, had imitated their 
 own teachers. The results were the use of methods and 
 texts so archaic as to be amusing if they had not been at 
 the same time such a sad commentary on our boasted 
 educational system. 
 
 Most of the textbooks were sadly out of date. Arithme- 
 tics, geographies, grammars, and even histories published 
 in the eighties were in daily use. One of the local com- 
 mittees insisted that they must be good books or they 
 would not have worn so long. Of course the books were 
 all based on the defunct doctrine of formal discipline and 
 showed little of the psychological methods of presenting 
 material which are the basis of modern educational pro- 
 cedure. The idea seemed to be that an arithmetic is an 
 arithmetic, and that a geography is a geography, one book 
 being as good as another so long as nothing pertaining to 
 the subject is omitted and the leaves are all present. 
 
 I have emphasized the teaching and textbook situations 
 because I consider them the most important factors. 
 I shall mention a few other points briefly. As for the 
 schoolhouses, it is sufficient to say that most of them were 
 typical New England rural-school buildings of ancient 
 vintage, modeled variously (according to the ideas of their 
 instigators), upon churches, town halls, barns, and in some 
 cases it would almost seem, upon pigpens. They were 
 small, dirty, poorly heated, lighted, and ventilated, and in 
 short generally unsanitary and ill-suited to their purpose. 
 As to the organization of the schools, as I have already 
 intimated, no attempt had ever been made to grade them. 
 Another important factor in the situation was the attitude 
 of the communities toward expert supervision. Three of 
 the four towns in the district had always opposed such 
 supervision as long as it was optional and were not in- 
 
lo STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 clined to submit gracefully when, according to the pro- 
 visions of the new law, it became compulsory. Such were 
 the general conditions as revealed by my preliminary 
 survey. 
 
 However, there were th^^ee bright spots in the general 
 darkness of the situation. First, the splendid new State 
 school law which made the superintendent a State ofl&cial 
 with a pretty free hand and which provided liberal State 
 aid for rural schools, where it might be necessary, to keep 
 them up to the required minimum standards. Secondly, 
 intelligent school boards willing to cooperate. And last, 
 my own professional equipment which included a pretty 
 thorough training in educational measurements and an 
 earlier experience in the teaching of rural schools. Ac- 
 cordingly, I tackled the proposition determined to show 
 what scientific method in education, as I understood it, 
 could do for rural schools if it had the chance. 
 
 Analyzing the Situation 
 
 The following week was spent in analyzing the conditions 
 found to exist and in deciding upon the most efficient way 
 to bring order out of chaos. As a result of this analysis a 
 number of definite problems seemed to stand out clearly 
 demanding early attention. From among these problems 
 I shall select, for present discussion, only those, in the 
 solution of which, as it seemed to me, standardized tests 
 and scales could be used to good advantage. 
 
 Problem i. To grade the schools fairly and accurately. 
 Getting the schools graded in order to start the pupils 
 right for their year's work was of course the most urgent 
 problem. It would have been a comparatively simple 
 matter to grade them arbitrarily on the basis of the teachers' 
 judgments. But there are serious objections to this 
 method even as a beginning, especially when the teacher 
 
THE PRACTICAL SITUATION ii 
 
 is new to the school. If, for example, children are placed 
 in grades lower than their parents think they ought to be, 
 there are bound to be strenuous objections from some of 
 these parents, and the only evidence one has to offer is that 
 the teacher thought the children ought to be placed in 
 those grades. Did you never hear this line of talk from 
 an irate parent? " My John is just as smart as Mrs. 
 Smith's Henry and he ought to be in the same class or 
 above. It's a plain case of showing partiality. I just 
 won't stand it!" 
 
 It is not by any means easy in such cases to prove to the 
 satisfaction of the parent that the teacher had a sound 
 basis for her judgment. And the fact is that she did not 
 have a sound basis. How did she know just what knowl- 
 edge or ability a child should exhibit in order to belong in a 
 certain grade? What standards of achievement did she 
 have for the different grades besides her own arbitrary 
 judgment? 
 
 Giving ordinary tests for grading purposes is also in- 
 accurate and unfair, because such tests are devised by the 
 teacher or superintendent and hence represent merely the 
 judgment of one of them as to what he or she thinks a 
 child ought to know in order to be placed in a certain grade. 
 
 Worse than all else, the children themselves are apt to 
 become discouraged, not understanding wherein they have 
 failed, and being at a loss as to just what they are expected 
 to achieve. Even the superintendent and teachers, if 
 they are conscientious, are not satisfied because they can- 
 not feel sure that injustice has not been done. Retarding 
 a child without good reason, thus robbing him of a year of 
 his time, is a serious matter, at least for the child. 
 
 What method of grading, then, could be found which 
 would be fair to all concerned? After casting about for 
 some time for a solution to this problem, it suddenly oc- 
 
12 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 curred to me that standardized tests would help me out of 
 my difficulty. Did they not offer definite standards of 
 achievement for each grade? And those standards were 
 not based on an unattainable one hundred per cent nor 
 upon the opinions of dogmatic educators as to what a child 
 ought to know at the end of a certain grade. They were 
 experimentally derived and based upon the amount of 
 work that normal children are actually doing in the differ- 
 ent grades throughout the whole country and not upon 
 the amount of work somebody thinks they ought to do. 
 
 By giving these tests in all my schools I thought I could 
 determine just where each child belonged on the educa- 
 tional ladder. The process would be roughly comparable 
 to measuring a large number of sticks of various lengths 
 by means of a tape measure sorting them into eight piles, 
 each pile containing sticks of about the same length. 
 Then, when angry parents wanted to know wh}^ their 
 children were graded so low, I could show them. The 
 children themselves could be made to see wherein they had 
 fallen below standard and what they would have to do 
 to come up to the standard. Both superintendent and 
 teachers would feel that they were on solid ground. Surely 
 I needed standardized tests the first thing. 
 
 Having reached this conclusion, I immediately ordered 
 all the tests and scales I knew of that were sufficiently well 
 standardized for my purpose. They covered the following 
 subjects: arithmetic, silent and oral reading, spelling, 
 writing, geography, history, and English language.-^ 
 
 Problem 2. How to measure the progress of pupils. 
 Having settled upon how to do the preliminary grading, 
 
 1 For those who do not know standardized tests and want to get acquainted, 
 I recommend for a beginning the purchase of Measuring the Results of Teaching by 
 Monroe, and Educational Tests and Measurements by Monroe, De Voss, and Kelly. 
 Both books describe the best tests and their uses and the former tells where to 
 obtain them. These books are published by Houghton Miffin Company. 
 
THE PRACTICAL SITUATION 13 
 
 the next problem was to find a just method of measuring 
 the progress of pupils for promotion purposes. The same 
 objections to teachers' tests hold good here as were noted 
 in discussing the previous problem. 
 
 This problem involved, obviously, the finding of a 
 satisfactory system of marking. It has been proved be- 
 yond doubt that ordinary teachers' marks are unfair, 
 inaccurate, and generally unsatisfactory as a means of 
 measuring progress or as a basis for promotion. 
 
 In measuring the progress of pupils, standardized tests 
 must surely find their widest field of usefulness. Here the 
 process can be compared to standing a ten-foot measuring 
 rod beside a young tree when it is a foot high and noting 
 its growth in height. When it has added another twelve 
 inches it belongs in the two-foot class. Twelve inches 
 more and it is promoted to the three-foot class, and so on. 
 It is entirely possible to dexdse a satisfactory system of 
 marking, with the aid of such tests, as will be explained 
 later on. 
 
 Some of the teachers thought that the new State pro- 
 gram of studies for elementary schools would be a sufficient 
 guide for promotion purposes. This program is thoroughly 
 practical and up-to-date. But it offers no definite, ob- 
 jective standards of achievement from grade to grade. 
 Therefore it is not a satisfactory tool with which to meas- 
 ure the progress of pupils and to determine when they are 
 ready for promotion. It is true that a printed program 
 of studies specifies the subject-matter to be covered by 
 each grade, but it is left entirely to the judgment of the 
 teacher as to when that subject-matter is covered satis- 
 factorily. The ground may be gone over more or less 
 thoroughly and with very unequal results according to 
 the methods and arbitrary standards of the individual 
 teacher. Hence, it is obvious that programs of study 
 
14 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 cannot take the place of standardized tests that are even 
 fairly objective. 
 
 Problem 3. How to measure the ability of teachers. 
 One of the greatest needs of superintendents is a method 
 of measuring the ability of teachers that will be accurate 
 and fair to all concerned — a method that will not leave 
 the superintendent open to the charge of favoritism or poor 
 judgment — a method that will satisfy a teacher who has 
 been rated something less than " excellent '' that her 
 shortcomings are real and not hallucinations in the mind 
 of the superintendent due to his personal dislikes and 
 prejudices. 
 
 What is wanted is concrete evidence of a teacher's 
 ability or lack of ability that will allay carping criticism 
 from whatever source. It is decidedly neither accurate 
 nor fair to estimate a teacher's ability solely by observa- 
 tion made by the superintendent dining his visits to the 
 classroom. It is not fair because (a) such observations 
 do not furnish a sound basis for judgment; (b) the superin- 
 tendent's opinions are quite apt to be colored by personal 
 prejudices toward an individual teacher or her methods; 
 (c) classes often show at their worst in the presence of 
 visitors; (d) even the teacher may fail to do herself justice 
 xmder the critical eye of the superintendent. It is inac- 
 curate for all the reasons noted above and because (a) 
 some teachers do excellent work when the superintendent 
 is present and shirk all the rest of the time, and (b) if such 
 teachers do their own testing, even the results may be 
 made falsely to appear satisfactory. 
 
 Provided a teacher is of good moral character with high 
 ideals and a fairly pleasant personality, her further de- 
 sirability as a teacher is measured by the results she gets 
 as determined by the progress of the pupils when such 
 progress is objectively measured. After all, it is results 
 
THE PRACTICAL SITUATION 15 
 
 we are after, primarily. Hence, the standardized tests 
 measure objectively both the progress of the pupils and the 
 ability of the teacher at one and the same time. 
 
 Problem 4. To find a practical method of supervising 
 study and of teaching how to study. This may seem like a 
 large contract for the one-teacher rural school with its 
 crowded curriculum, but I shall try to show that it can be 
 successfully worked out by using proper methods of study 
 supplemented by judicious use of the standardized educa- 
 tional tests and measurements. 
 
 This chapter merely presents some of the problems con- 
 fronting me in my new work together with some plans 
 for their solution and reasons therefor. The following 
 chapters will describe in detail the working-out of these 
 plans and the results achieved. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 GETTING TEACHERS TO FEEL THE NEED 
 FOR STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 Having concluded that standardized tests would greatty 
 help me under the conditions set forth in the preceding 
 chapter, I next attacked the problem of securing the whole- 
 hearted cooperation of my teachers in their use. The 
 psychology of interest teaches us that a person's best 
 efforts are called forth only when he feels a real need. So 
 I set myself to arouse in my teachers an enthusiastic 
 interest by bringing them to feel a real need for definite 
 standards of accomplishment in school work. In order to 
 make them feel this need deeply, something more than 
 merely telling them of the tests and their uses was neces- 
 sary. They must be made to realize the inadequacy of 
 ordinary methods of measuring the results of teaching. 
 
 Accordingly, I called a series of teachers' meetings on 
 four consecutive Saturday afternoons. In a district more 
 than twenty miles square it is not easy to get all the 
 teachers together at one place. I succeeded, however, in 
 persuading two automobile owners in each town to take 
 the teachers to these four meetings at a price that would 
 little more than pay for the gasoline consumed. Whether 
 or not this scheme could be worked in other districts would 
 depend, of course, on the character of the automobile 
 owners and the success of the superintendent in convincing 
 them that they ought to be willing to do it in an emergency 
 and for the welfare of the schools. 
 
THE COOPERATION OF TEACHERS 17 
 
 The First Meeting 
 
 At the first meeting I outlined briefly what I wanted to do 
 and why, and then suggested that v/e try some practical 
 experiments. The first experiment was intended to prove 
 the inaccuracy of teachers' marks in general. A few days 
 before, I had selected the paper turned in by a sixth-grade 
 pupil in a regular arithmetic test given by one of the 
 teachers. This test contained the usual ten problems and 
 was supposed to measure knowledge of percentage. A 
 hektographed copy of the pupil's paper was given out to 
 each of the twenty-four teachers. Then, without warning 
 them of my purpose or of what the results were apt to be, 
 I asked them to correct the paper and mark it on a per- 
 centage basis. When all had finished, the papers were 
 collected and I at once tabulated the ratings on the black- 
 board with the result shown in Table I. 
 
 TABLE I. DISTRIBUTION OF THE RATINGS OF A SIXTH- 
 GRADE ARITHMETIC PAPER 
 
 Ratings 
 
 Frequency 
 
 90-94 
 
 3 
 
 85-89 
 
 8 
 
 80-84 
 
 6 
 
 75-79 
 
 4 
 
 70-74 
 
 2 
 
 65-69 
 
 I 
 
 Total 24 
 
 The effect was striking. Nearly everybody had caught 
 the idea and the expressions on the various faces showed 
 me that there was no need of rubbing it in by pointing 
 out the moral. Aroused interest was evident as I passed 
 the papers back with the suggestion that we analyze the 
 methods of marking to discover the factors which pro- 
 duced such evident lack of agreement. We finally agreed 
 on the following points: 
 
i8 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 1. Most of the teachers had aimed to mark the pupil's re- 
 sponse to a problem entirely wrong if the answer was 
 wrong, without regard to correctness of principle. 
 
 2. Some gave half credit if the principle was right and the 
 answer wrong. 
 
 3. The majority marked answers entirely wrong if a decimal 
 point was omitted or misplaced, while some gave vary- 
 ing degrees of credit, if the digits of the answer were correct 
 and the decimal point misplaced or omitted. 
 
 4. A few had assigned weights to the various problems on 
 the basis of their own judgments with far from uniform 
 results. This factor actually seemed to have been the 
 one which had produced the most extreme variations in 
 the marking. 
 
 Then some one suggested that we try it again and see if 
 we could not do better. Several others seconded the idea, 
 so I passed around copies of an eighth-grade pupil's his- 
 tory paper. Never did teachers work more seriously than 
 did those teachers for the next fifteen or twenty minutes. 
 The papers were then collected and the marks tabulated 
 as before with the results shown in Table II. 
 
 TABLE n. DISTRIBUTION OF THE RATINGS OF AN EIGHTH- 
 GRADE HISTORY PAPER 
 
 ^ Ratings Frequency 
 
 90-94 I 
 
 85-89 3 
 
 80-84 10 
 
 75-79 5 
 
 70-74 2 
 
 65-69 3 
 
 Total 24 
 
 Then followed a lively discussion, as a result of which 
 the following important conclusions were unanimously 
 agreed upon; 
 
THE COOPERATION OF TEACHERS 19 
 
 1. That teachers' marks are ordinarily very apt to be inaccu- 
 rate. 
 
 2. That, due to the personal standards of the teacher and to 
 individual marking systems, the work of the same child 
 may be graded very high by one teacher and very low 
 
 ' by another. 
 
 3. That such irresponsible rating may work serious injustice 
 to the children. 
 
 4. That the work of different schools cannot be accurately 
 compared under such conditions. 
 
 And best of all, these conclusions were mostly arrived 
 at by the teachers themselves with the help of a few lead- 
 ing questions on my part. Was it worth while? Would 
 those teachers ever again correct test papers with the same 
 self-satisfied assurance of the infallible justice of their 
 marks? Would they ever again feel fully justified in 
 retarding a pupil because he had been given a mark of 68 
 when the passing mark was 70? 
 
 It was now time to bring the meeting to a close. Several 
 wanted to know what better method of marking could be 
 found. I advised all who were interested in solving the 
 problem to order at once Monroe's book. Measuring the 
 Results of Teaching,^ and to think the matter over until 
 our next meeting. 
 
 The Second Meeting 
 
 In preparation for the next meeting I made a list of twelve 
 history questions on the events leading up to the American 
 Revolution. The questions were as follows: 
 
 1. How were laws made for the colonies? 
 
 2. What sort of governments had the colonies? 
 
 3. How was the commerce of the colonies regulated? 
 
 1 Monroe, Walter S., Measuring the Results of Teaching. Houghton Mififlin 
 Company. 
 
20 
 
 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 4. What kind of a king was George III? 
 
 5. What was the Stamp Act? 
 
 6. What were the objections to it? 
 
 7. What was the Stamp Act Congress and what did it do? 
 
 8. Plow did the British try to keep the colonists in order? 
 
 9. What friends had the colonists in Great Britain? 
 
 10. What was the Act of Association? 
 
 11. How was it enforced? 
 
 12. Distinguish between the real and the apparent reasons for 
 the Revolution. 
 
 When we were again assembled I passed two copies of 
 this list to each teacher with the request that they rank 
 the questions one, two, three, etc., in the order of their 
 difficulty beginning with the easiest, and that they write 
 these ranks opposite the questions on one of the papers 
 which they had received. When they had finished, I 
 asked each teacher to read the ranlcs she had assigned to 
 the questions beginning with question one, while I tabu- 
 lated them on the board in such a way that vertical col- 
 umns would show the various ranks assigned to the same 
 question and horizontal rows the ranks assigned to all the 
 questions by each teacher. I regret that I have lost my 
 copy of the original table, but the general arrangement 
 (for four teachers only) is shown below without the correct 
 figures. 
 
 Teachers 
 
 Rank assigned to each indicated question 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 5 
 
 12 
 6 
 8 
 
 10 
 
 I 
 
 S 
 
 II 
 2 
 
 II 
 
 12 
 
 A 
 
 6 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 I 
 
 4 
 
 7 
 
 12 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 II 
 
 8 
 12 
 
 7 
 3 
 3 
 4 
 
 12 
 
 10 
 
 4 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 7 
 
 II 
 
 8 
 6 
 
 I 
 7 
 
 10 
 8 
 
 9 
 12 
 
 II 
 
 B 
 
 I 
 
 C 
 
 2 
 
 D 
 
 3 
 
 
THE COOPERATION OF TEACHERS 21 
 
 The tabulation, which I had made on the blackboard, 
 showed such wide variations in the ranks assigned to the 
 same question by different teachers, that a lively interest 
 was aroused. In the ensuing discussion further conclu- 
 sions were reached which may be summed up as follows: 
 
 1. That if a test is to measure accurately a pupil's knowledge of 
 the ground covered, the questions must be so selected as to 
 bring out the most important ideas in the subject-matter. 
 
 2. That there should be a large proportion of thought ques- 
 tions in order to call for something more than a parrot- 
 like repetition of memorized facts, so that the better 
 students may be enabled to demonstrate their superior 
 reasoning abilities. 
 
 3. That some accurate method of weighting the questions 
 must be used if accurate measurement of pupils' abilities 
 and knowledge is to be expected. 
 
 4. That the weighting of questions by individual teachers on 
 the basis of their personal judgments is mere guess work, 
 since, as was shown by our experiment, they cannot even 
 judge accurately the relative difficulty of questions. 
 
 5. That the average of the judgments of a number of teachers 
 is apt to be more accurate than the judgment of a single 
 one. 
 
 In line with this last conclusion we then proceeded to 
 find the average rank assigned each question and, with 
 these averages as a basis, to rank the questions according 
 to their relative difficulty as determined by the combined 
 judgments of the teachers. Next I asked them to use 
 these ranks as a guide and to assign values to each ques- 
 tion so that the sum of the values would equal one hun- 
 dred. It was observed that for each question the varia- 
 tions in values were not as wide as the variations in ranks 
 had been. This was attributed to the fact that the order 
 of difficulty used as a guide and the limit of one hundred 
 
22 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 placed on the sum of the values would necessarily permit 
 much less variation. The average results are shown in 
 Table III. 
 
 TABLE III. WEIGHTS ASSIGNED TO TWELVE HISTORY 
 QUESTIONS ACCORDING TO TEACHERS' JUDGMENTS 
 
 Average Average 
 
 Question "' estimated estimated 
 
 No. rank value 
 
 I , 8 lo 
 
 2 4 4 
 
 3 9 12 
 
 4 I I 
 
 5 7 9 
 
 6 5 7 
 
 7 2 2 
 
 8 6 8 
 
 9 3 3 
 
 lo II 14 
 
 -II 10 13 
 
 12 12 17 Total. . . 100 
 
 The lesson of the day had been so well assimilated that 
 some one suggested that since the ranking of the questions 
 by each individual was all guesswork as proved by our 
 experiment, then our averages were only averages of 
 guesswork and hence likely to be far from reliable. For 
 her part she did not see that we had any real proof that 
 question twelve, for instance, was any harder than ques- 
 tion three, and more than that she did n*t see how we were 
 going to prove that it was. Then came what I was hoping 
 for, but hardly expected. 
 
 " The eighth grades have recently completed their 
 study of the period of history which the questions cover. 
 Why not give them as a test to these grades and so find 
 out which questions are hardest? '^ This from a bright girl 
 who had attended one summer session at Plymouth 
 Normal. 
 
 " How could you prove which questions are hardest by 
 doing that? " I asked. 
 
THE COOPERATION OF TEACHERS 23 
 
 « 
 
 Why, if the questions were given to a large number of 
 pupils, would it not be safe to conclude that the one which 
 is missed the most times is hardest and that the one missed 
 the next largest number of times is the next hardest, and 
 so on?" 
 
 The practical side of this suggestion appealed to the 
 majority of the teachers at once and they were eager to 
 try it. Since this was the very thing I had intended to 
 propose in order to get material for discussion at our next 
 meeting, you may be sure that I was not slow in taking 
 advantage of their enthusiasm. So it was decided to give 
 this list of questions as a history test to all the eighth- 
 grade pupils in the district. The teachers were to bring 
 the corrected papers with them to the next meeting. 
 
 The Third Meeting 
 
 I WATCHED the faces of the. teachers as they gathered 
 for our third meeting. The dazed look had passed from 
 most of them by this time and a look of intelligent com- 
 prehension was taking its place. The books which they 
 had ordered at my request had arrived during the week 
 and they had been reading them. They were apparently 
 beginning to get their bearings. There was a business- 
 like air in the way they took their seats and prepared for 
 the afternoon^s work that augured well for the future. 
 
 The meeting having been called to order we began to 
 investigate the results of the history test. It had been 
 given to 106 pupils. As I called a question by number, 
 each teacher told me how many times her pupils had 
 missed it. I wrote the figures on the board, a column for 
 each question. When the results had all been read they 
 were summed and tabulated as in Table IV. 
 
 This table showed that question four was the easiest 
 since it was missed the least number of times and that 
 
24 
 
 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 TABLE IV. RANK OF HISTORY QUESTIONS IN DIFFICULTY 
 BASED ON NUMBER OF TIMES MISSED 
 
 Question No . . . 
 Times missed . . 
 Real rank 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 II 
 
 28 
 
 44 
 
 40 
 
 8 
 
 23 
 
 20 
 
 35 
 
 29 
 
 16 
 
 60 
 
 56 
 
 5 
 
 9 
 
 8 
 
 I 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 12 
 
 II 
 
 12 
 
 SI 
 10 
 
 question ten was the hardest since it was missed the 
 greatest number of times; also, that question ten was 
 seven and a half times as hard as question four because it 
 was missed seven and a half times as often. ^ This would 
 indicate that, in weighting the questions, number ten 
 should be valued seven and a half times as much as num- 
 ber four. When these points had been discussed, even 
 the teacher who was dissatisfied at our last meeting was 
 convinced that we had found a fairly accurate method of 
 evaluating questions. 
 
 The next step was to find values for the questions ac- 
 cording to their relative difficulties. We first assigned to 
 the easiest question (number four), which was missed 
 eight times, a value of one. Since the next question in 
 order of difficulty (number nine) was missed sixteen times, 
 or just twice as often as number four, we gave it a value of 
 two. Question six was missed twenty times. As twenty 
 is two and a half times eight, this question was valued two 
 and a half. The same method was followed throughout. 
 
 The sum of these values was found to be 51.5. Since 
 the sum of the teachers' estimated values (Table III) was 
 one hundred, it was necessary for comparative purposes 
 that the sum of these values should also be one hundred. 
 Evidently if each of them were multiplied by two, the 
 sum of the resulting proportionate values would be 103. 
 
 * Statistical difficulties involving the location of the zero point were ignored. 
 
THE COOPERATION OF TEACHERS 
 
 25 
 
 This was near enough to one hundred for our purpose and 
 it had the advantage of yielding whole numbers. These 
 may be seen in the last column of Table V, which sum- 
 marizes the results of our study of the history questions. 
 
 TABLE V. SUMMARY OF RANKS AND VALUES FOR EACH 
 OF TWELVE HISTORY QUESTIONS 
 
 Question 
 No. 
 
 Estimated 
 rank 
 
 Real 
 rank 
 
 Times 
 missed 
 
 Estimated 
 value 
 
 Value 
 
 from 
 
 times 
 
 missed 
 
 The same 
 
 multiplied 
 
 by 2 
 
 I 
 
 8 
 
 5 
 
 28 
 
 10 
 
 3-5 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 9 
 
 44 
 
 4 
 
 5-5 
 
 II 
 
 3 
 
 9 
 
 8 
 
 40 
 
 12 
 
 5-0 
 
 10 
 
 4 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 8 
 
 I 
 
 I.O 
 
 2 
 
 ^5 
 
 7 
 
 4 
 
 23 
 
 9 
 
 3-0 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 20 
 
 7 
 
 2.5 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 35 
 
 2 
 
 4.5 
 
 9 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 29 
 
 8 
 
 3.5 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 16 
 
 3 
 
 2.0 
 
 4 
 
 10 
 
 II 
 
 12 
 
 60 
 
 14 
 
 7.5 
 
 15 
 
 II 
 
 10 
 
 II 
 
 56 
 
 13 
 
 7.0 
 
 14 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 10 
 
 51 
 
 17 
 
 6.5 
 
 13 
 
 After the teachers had rated a few history papers using 
 the two sets of values, we concluded our experiments. 
 Crude and inaccurate they were, of course; but they were 
 not intended to contribute to the statistics of educational 
 measurements. They were rather designed to exemplify 
 to the teachers that spirit of scientific investigation which 
 is so rapidly making over our school systems, and in par- 
 ticular to convince them that teachers' ratings as ordi- 
 narily made are unreliable. And they had served well. 
 All but two or three of the teachers had by this time 
 expressed their firm conviction that tests devised by 
 teachers and rated according to individual standards were 
 of little use in finding out a pupil's real knowledge or 
 ability, or in determining his standing with regard to other 
 
26 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 pupils of his age and grade. These two or three teachers 
 no amount of accumulated evidence could convince, be- 
 cause everything was unalterably settled to their way of 
 thinking before the experiments were tried. The old 
 methods had been in use for hundreds of years and must, 
 therefore, be better than anything new. It is useless to 
 waste time with such people. The only thing to do is to 
 get rid of them at the first opportunity. 
 
 A few more points were cleared up by general discussion. 
 Some one objected that, with a passing mark of seventy, 
 it was evident from the scores that two thirds of the 
 pupils would fail to pass the test. This brought up an 
 important point. Is it fair to mark pupils on a percentage 
 basis with loo standing for perfection? Some thought it 
 was. Some thought it was n't. Most of them had n't 
 thought about it at all, but since the matter was called to 
 their attention they were inclined to think that it was 
 hardly fair. What fairer way could I suggest? 
 
 I then explained what is meant by a median score, 
 demonstrated with figures on the board the difference 
 between median and average, pointed out the advantages 
 of the median, and then proposed that we find the median 
 score of the io6 history papers using the derived values 
 for marking. This was found to be 65.1, to which I added 
 10 per cent of itself and suggested that we use the result, 
 71.6, as a standard score. Any child who got this score 
 would be given a mark of 100. That is, a pupil's mark 
 would be the per cent that his score was of the standard 
 score. For instance, if pupil A had a score of 26, his mark 
 would be 26 divided by 71.6 or ^6. If pupil B scored 63, 
 his mark would be 63 divided by 71.6 or 90. A pupil who 
 scored 8$ would receive a mark of 118. In using letters 
 for marks this pupil would be marked A +. It was pretty 
 well agreed that this method of marking would be emi- 
 
THE COOPERATION OF TEACHERS 27 
 
 nently fair, provided standard scores were available. The 
 method may not be scientifically accurate; but it is cer- 
 tainly fairer than the ordinary method of marking on a 
 percentage basis, and it has the advantage of simplicity. 
 
 Then some one wanted to know if we should do away 
 with teachers' tests entirely and depend on the standard- 
 ized tests altogether. We finally decided that teachers' 
 tests should be used often by way of written reviews for 
 the benefit of the pupils, but that the results should not 
 have too much weight in determining the pupil's final 
 standing. The pupils themselves, however, need not 
 know how much or how little weight these tests might 
 have on their grading for promotion. 
 
 Most of the standardized tests which I had ordered were 
 at hand for this meeting. Samples of these were given to 
 the teachers to study in connection with their new books 
 on educational measurements. After explaining briefly 
 the painstaking methods employed in deriving these tests 
 and scales, I dismissed the meeting. 
 
 The Fourth Meeting 
 
 Our fourth meeting was devoted to the actual work of 
 giving and scoring the tests. A few obvious facts were 
 first emphasized, such as the need of accurate timing in 
 cases where time was a factor, the fact that no help should 
 be given the pupils other than clear and complete direc- 
 tions, and the fact that when directions accompanied the 
 tests they should be followed explicitly. I also warned 
 the teachers to beware of copying on the part of pupils; 
 and I then proceeded to administer the tests to the teach- 
 ers just as they should be administered in the classroom. 
 As each test was finished, we corrected and scored it, each 
 teacher correcting and scoring her own paper for practice. 
 In this way many obscure points were cleared up. Each 
 
28 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 teacher had seen each test given and had herself corrected 
 and scored a sample of each test properly. They kept 
 these corrected samples to use as models in correcting the 
 tests which they were to give in their schools. Unless 
 some such precaution is taken beforehand, the superin- 
 tendent is sure to be surprised and dismayed when he gets 
 the first packages of tests from his teachers. He will find 
 that he must either return them to the teachers with time- 
 consuming directions and explanations or go over most of 
 them himself in order to secure accurate results. I had 
 been through such experiences before on a small scale and 
 intended to avoid them this time as far as possible. 
 
 Since the tests were to be given to pupils the following 
 week, each teacher then received a sufficient supply for her 
 school. The tests were to be corrected and returned to me 
 by mail within ten days. Unless a definite time limit 
 is set and strictly adhered to, batches of tests from the 
 various schools will come straggling in for two months 
 after they are given out. Thus a few procrastinating 
 teachers can delay the superintendent's part of the work 
 to a very annoying extent. In order to tabulate and study 
 results for the district as a whole, he must have all his 
 data in hand at one time and as soon as possible after the 
 tests are given out. In this case I was particularly anxious 
 to have all the tests in on time as the grading of the schools 
 was being delayed pending the results. So I laid special 
 emphasis on the ten-day limit. 
 
 The teachers were further warned that, although I had 
 no reason to distrust anybody, the matter was too im- 
 portant to permit taking any chances. Accordingly, I 
 proposed to check the work of each teacher by giving one 
 or two of the tests in her school after she had given all of 
 them. By comparing the results of my tests with theirs 
 of the same kind, I could readily detect any gross careless- 
 
THE COOPERATION OF TEACHERS 29 
 
 ness or intentional dishonesty on the part of the teachers. 
 There is considerable temptation for some short-sighted 
 teachers who know that their own efficiency is being 
 measured by these tests, to stretch the time limit or to 
 give illegitimate aid to the pupils, or even to drill on the 
 test itself, in the effort to make their classes show up well. 
 Of course any intelligent teacher, knowing how the tests 
 are used, would see the short-sightedness of such a policy, 
 since it is evident that what might be gained on one test 
 would be lost on the next. However, two or three such 
 dishonest teachers may, at first, work sad havoc with the 
 accuracy of a superintendent's final figures regarding the 
 efficiency of his schools and teachers unless he takes some 
 precautions to discover the culprits at the start. Hence 
 my method of checking their work. 
 
 Above all, tests should not be permitted to fall into the 
 hands of pupils. Since they are to be used again and again 
 to measure progress, teachers should be impressed with 
 the importance of safeguarding them. As fast as the 
 papers are finished, they should be taken up to prevent 
 possible copying of the questions or problems by the 
 pupils in preparation for future tests. Of course, this does 
 not apply in the case of the writing, spelling, and composi- 
 tion scales because of the different manner in which they 
 are used. In fact it is well to display these scales on the 
 walls of the schoolroom so that the pupils may try to 
 measure their own work. 
 
 In this chapter I have attempted to give an account of 
 how the cooperation of teachers was secured in the use of 
 standardized tests. It may not be intensely interesting 
 in the reading, but it was assuredly interesting in the 
 doing. Results since have proved its value. I can 
 recommend the general procedure to any one with a 
 similar problem to solve. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 USING STANDARDIZED TESTS FOR 
 GRADING PURPOSES 
 
 In Chapter III I explained how the cooperation of teach- 
 ers was secured in the use of standardized tests and how 
 the teachers were instructed as to the manner of giving 
 and scoring them. The chapter concluded with an ac- 
 count of the distribution of the tests with directions that 
 they were to be used at once in the schools. These schools, 
 as I have indicated, were not graded. Indeed, it was the 
 immediate purpose of this preliminary test to secure a 
 satisfactory basis for grading them. 
 
 Supervising the Testing 
 
 During the ten days allotted to the teachers for giving, 
 scoring, and returning the tests, I visited as many schools 
 as possible, giving advice and help where it appeared to 
 be most needed. Considerable time and labor were thus 
 saved in the later tabulation of results. Moreover, this 
 plan enabled me afterwards to avoid much of the delay 
 incident to the repetition of tests found on examination to 
 have been carelessly or improperly given. 
 
 Even so, it was not all smooth sailing. In spite of pre- 
 liminary precautions to ensure accurate results in the 
 shortest possible time, a number of tests had to be re- 
 peated before I could feel sure that the results were fairly 
 accurate. The returns of two or three teachers indicated 
 such gross carelessness or incompetence or both that I was 
 obliged to repeat the tests in their schools myself. But 
 since the purpose of this Chapter is to show how the re- 
 
TESTS FOR GRADING PURPOSES 
 
 31 
 
 suits of these tests were used for grading purposes, I shall 
 confine myself to that topic. 
 
 Converting Scores into Grades 
 
 The first step was to mark each paper with the grade 
 corresponding to the score recorded on it by the teacher. 
 For instance, one pupil's score on Woody's Multiplication 
 Scale was 15, Since 15 is the standard score for grade vi, 
 this paper was marked " 6." Another pupil's score on the 
 same scale was 16. Since 15 is the standard score for 
 grade vi and 17 is the standard score for grade vii, this 
 paper was marked" 6 1/2," On Courtis's Silent Reading 
 Test a certain pupil received the following scores: words 
 read per minute, 140; questions answered in five minutes, 
 38; index of comprehension, 94, The standard scores for 
 grades 11- vi are given as follows: 
 
 Words per minute . . 
 Questions in five minutes 
 Index of comprehension , 
 
 II 
 
 III 
 
 IV 
 
 V 
 
 84 
 
 113 
 
 14s 
 
 168 
 
 i6 
 
 24 
 
 30 
 
 37 
 
 59 
 
 78 
 
 89 
 
 93 
 
 VI 
 
 191 
 40 
 
 95 
 
 Hence the grades marked on the paper were, for words 
 per minute, 4; for questions answered in five minutes, 
 5 1/3; for index of comprehension, 5 1/2. 
 
 If teachers are instructed to keep all the tests of one kind 
 together rather than all the tests of one pupil, this task of 
 grading the papers is not interminable. As the teachers 
 correct the papers, they should mark the score plainly on 
 the front page. Then the superintendent may compare 
 these scores with the standard scores and grade the papers 
 correspondingly. About two days sufiiced to mark the 
 approximately two thousand papers from all the schools. 
 The work was considerably facilitated by having on a 
 
32 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 single sheet of cardboard the tables of standard scores for 
 all the tests. Working at a large table with this sheet 
 propped up in front of me, I could after a little practice 
 ascertain at a glance the grade corresponding to any score. 
 The advantage of such a procedure will soon become 
 obvious to any one who attempts to mark a large number 
 of papers with the standard scores scattered in a dozen 
 different books and pamphlets. (By way of an aside, I 
 wonder why all the authors of tests do not print the 
 standard scores on the front page. It would save a lot of 
 time for the people who use the tests.) 
 
 Devising a Graph Card 
 
 Next came the harder task of devising a method of re- 
 cording results which would meet four conditions: (i) be 
 in a form readily available for grading purposes; (2) be 
 concrete and graphic enough to be clearly understood by 
 teachers, pupils, and parents; (3) show on a single form 
 small enough to be conveniently filed the standing of a 
 pupil, a class, or a school in all subjects of the course of 
 study for which standardized tests are available; (4) be in 
 a form that could be used as the beginning of a continuous 
 record to measure progress of pupils and ability of teachers. 
 The class record sheets and graph sheets accompanying 
 several of the tests were carefully studied with a view to 
 adapting them to the purpose in hand. I soon decided, 
 however, that they were too complicated and time-con- 
 suming for practical use by the superintendent who must 
 do all his own tabulating of results or have it done by un- 
 trained teachers. Certainly such record and graph sheets 
 would not meet any of the last three conditions mentioned 
 above. They could not be easily understood by pupils 
 and parents. There would be as many sheets as there 
 were subjects; and several files instead of one would there- 
 
TESTS FOR GRADING PURPOSES 33 
 
 fore be required. Furthermore, such sheets do not ac- 
 company all the tests, and only two or three tests make 
 any provision for keeping permanent records of the scores 
 of individual pupils. Some sort of simple graphic repre- 
 sentation that would include all the tests on a single small 
 sheet was absolutely necessary if the scheme was to be 
 simple enough for practical use. 
 
 After considerable experimenting, during which some 
 of the graphs evolved resembled nothing so much as a lost 
 trail in the desert, I finally adopted the following plan as 
 both simple and practical. I ruled several 4X6 cards in 
 copying ink with vertical and horizontal lines as shown in 
 Figure i. The vertical lines were numbered at the top to 
 represent subjects and phases of subjects in which tests 
 had been given. The horizontal lines were numbered with 
 Roman numerals to represent the eight grades of the ele- 
 mentary school. From these originals nearly four hun- 
 dred hektograph copies were made — enough for all the 
 pupils in my schools above the first grade. 
 
 The Meaning of the Graph Card 
 
 With these forms in hand and with the papers properly 
 graded, it did not take very long to construct a graph for 
 each individual pupil. Figure i is a copy of an actual 
 record on file in my office. It is the graph of L. D., an 
 eleven-year-old boy in the village school, Tamworth, 
 New Hampshire. Table VI shows the same data includ- 
 ing the subjects and phases of subjects corresponding to 
 the numbers of the vertical lines of Figure i. L. D.'s 
 grade for each test is shown in Table VI in the right-hand 
 column opposite the name of the test. In constructing 
 the graph a heavy dot was placed at the intersection of 
 vertical line i with grade line iii to indicate third-grade 
 ability in rate of silent reading; a second dot at the inter- 
 
34 
 
 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 section of vertical line 2 with grade line vii to indicate 
 seventh-grade ability in number of questions answered in 
 five minutes; a third dot at the intersection of vertical 
 line 3 with grade line iii to indicate third-grade ability 
 according to index of comprehension; and so on until the 
 pupil's standing in all the subjects had been properly 
 located by dots. The dots were then connected by a 
 
 Name L-i U 
 
 
 
 
 INDIVIDUAL RECORD 
 
 Acre /I School ~ra-ry,.^nythVilta.q2 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 lO 11 1 2 13 14 15 16 17 isl 
 
 VIII 
 VII 
 VI 
 
 V 
 IV 
 
 III 
 II 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 ^ 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 \ 
 
 y 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 1 
 
 
 \ 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Fig. 1. Sample op Individual Record. Data the Same as in 
 
 Table VI 
 
 heavy line giving the graph as shown. In actual practice 
 the grades marked on the papers were translated directly 
 into properly placed dots on the graph card without con- 
 structing tables like Table VI. This can be done very 
 rapidly with a little practice. Of course, for this purpose 
 the papers should be sorted so as to g(s,t all the test papers 
 of one child together. By this means each pupil's graph 
 can be completed before taking up the next. 
 The Older in which the subjects are entered on the graph 
 
TESTS FOR GRADING PURPOSES 
 
 35 
 
 TABLE VI. RECORD OF L. D. 
 (See also Figure i) 
 
 No. 
 
 I 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 4 
 S 
 6 
 
 7 
 8 
 
 9 
 lo 
 II 
 
 12 
 
 13 
 14 
 
 15 
 i6 
 
 17 
 
 Subjects and phases of subjects 
 
 Rate of silent reading: Courtis's Test 
 
 Writing speed 
 
 Writing quality 
 
 Questions answered in five minutes: Courtis's Test 
 
 Index of comprehension: Courtis's Test 
 
 Spelling 
 
 Addition 
 
 Subtraction 
 
 Multiplication 
 
 Division 
 
 Mixed fundamentals 
 
 Arithmetical reasoning: correct principle 
 
 Arithmetical reasoning : correct answer 
 
 Visual vocabulary 
 
 English organization 
 
 Geography 
 
 History 
 
 Grade 
 
 III 
 
 VII 
 
 III 
 
 VII 
 
 VII 
 
 III 
 
 IV 
 V 
 
 VI 
 
 V 
 IV 
 IV 
 VI 
 
 V 
 
 IV3^ 
 
 V 
 
 card is significant. Reading is placed first because all 
 grades are tested for reading ability. Spelling and writing 
 follow, since they come early in school life. Then come 
 the four fundamental operations of arithmetic, and so on, 
 those subjects coming last which are taught only in the 
 upper grades. Suppose the subjects were given in the 
 following order: reading, history, spelling, arithmetical 
 reasoning, addition, geography, etc. Then the graph of a 
 third-grade pupil could not be drawn, since such a pupil 
 would not be tested for history, geography, or arithmetical 
 reasoning. The dots on the graph card indicating his 
 grade of ability in the subjects which he does take would 
 not be located on consecutive vertical lines. Hence no 
 continuous line connecting the dots could be drawn. 
 With the subjects arranged on the card in the order shown. 
 
36 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 the graph will be complete as far as it goes, although it 
 may extend only part-way across the card. 
 
 Using numbers to represent the subjects on the graph 
 card is not such a disadvantage as it might at first appear 
 to be. One very soon learns to associate the subjects with 
 their respective numbers. The slight disadvantage ex- 
 perienced in the beginning is very much more than offset 
 by the advantage of being able to use a much smaller card 
 than would be possible if the names of all the subjects 
 were written in. 
 
 Grading the Pupils '^^^ 
 
 Next came the problem of deciding upon the grades in 
 which pupils should be placed for the year's work. A 
 glance at the graph for L. D. shows that he had an aver- 
 age of about fifth-grade ability at the beginning of the 
 school year. In fact the average of his grade as shown in 
 Table VI is almost exactly five. Clearly, then, since the 
 standards are June standards, he belongs in the sixth grade 
 for the current year. Therefore the sixth-grade line on 
 his card was emphasized by overlining to indicate that he 
 is a sixth-grade pupil. Then, with his name, age, and the 
 name of the school entered as shown in Figure i, the card 
 was ready for filing. In the same manner a graph card 
 was prepared for each child, his grade determined, and the 
 card placed on file. 
 
 Within two weeks from the time the first tests were re- 
 turned, a graph card had been filed for every pupil (above 
 the first grade) in the district, and each pupil had been 
 assigned to the grade corresponding to the average abiHty 
 indicated by his or her graph. A week later each teacher 
 had received copies of the graphs of her own pupils in 
 order that she might see where their weak points were and 
 govern her work accordingly. 
 
TESTS FOR GRADING PURPOSES 
 
 37 
 
 Although in about a score of cases it was later found 
 advisable to place a child a grade above or below that 
 indicated by his graph, on the whole this method of grad- 
 ing has proved surprisingly accurate. Most of the cases 
 referred to were those of very bright children who, on the 
 basis of the test results, would have been advanced to a 
 grade very much above normal for their ages. The graph 
 in Figure 2 illustrates a case in point. This eight-year-old 
 
 Name l^ .L>... 
 
 
 
 
 INDIVIDUAL RECORD 
 
 Ao-P..?^. .. School ...Choc or u a 
 
 
 
 
 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 lO 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 | 
 
 VIII 
 
 VII 
 
 VI 
 
 V 
 
 IV 
 
 % 
 
 II 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 \ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 \ 
 
 / 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Fig. 2. Sample of Individual Record op a Bright Child (E. C.) 
 
 girl shows an average of fifth-grade ability. Her mental 
 age, as indicated by the Otis Group Intelligence Scale, is 
 twelve years. She is fully capable of doing sixth-grade 
 work this year. However, in spite of the opinions of some 
 eminent educators to the contrary, I cannot convince 
 myself that it is wise to rush such children through school, 
 especially in a district like this where the elementary school 
 is pretty sure to see the beginning and end of their school 
 life. Is it not better to keep them in school until they are 
 
38 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 at least fourteen, giving them a chance to do more and 
 harder work than their classmates of mediocre ability, and 
 supplying them with much carefully selected informa- 
 tional supplementary reading to broaden their minds? 
 There were four other cases of this kind in the same school. 
 This, then, is a preliminary account of how standardized 
 tests and scales were used to solve the grading problem. 
 I believe that any one confronted with a similar problem 
 will find the scheme practical. Nor will the labor involved 
 prove either monotonous or uninteresting to one whose 
 heart is in his work. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 CONDITIONS REVEALED BY THE USE OF 
 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 While making out the graph cards of individual pupils for 
 grading purposes as described in chapter IV, I gradually 
 became conscious of certain tendencies affecting the 
 majority of the graphs. Not only was the variation great 
 among individuals in different subjects, but there was a 
 certain sameness in it that struck me as being significant 
 of fundamental weaknesses in the school system. If the 
 graphs had been on transparent cards and had been placed 
 in a pile, their low and high points would have tended to 
 coincide. That is, in certain subjects most of the pupils 
 tended to grade high throughout the district, while in 
 other subj'ects they tended to grade low. 
 
 The Graph Cards Described 
 
 In Figures 3 to 7, the numbers at the left of the horizontal 
 lines represent the grades, while those at the top of the 
 vertical lines stand for the various subjects as follows: ^ 
 
 I. 
 
 Rate of silent reading 
 
 9- 
 
 Writing, rate 
 
 2. 
 
 Comprehension in reading 
 
 10. 
 
 Writing, quality 
 
 3- 
 
 Addition 
 
 II. 
 
 Arithmetical reasoning 
 
 4. 
 
 Subtraction 
 
 12. 
 
 English organization 
 
 5- 
 
 Multiplication 
 
 13. 
 
 Visual vocabulary 
 
 6. 
 
 Division 
 
 14. 
 
 Language 
 
 7- 
 
 Mixed fundamentals of 
 
 15. 
 
 Geography 
 
 
 arithmetic 
 
 16. 
 
 History 
 
 8. 
 
 Spelling 
 
 
 
 ^This arrangement of subjects is somewhat different from the illustrative 
 arrangement shown in chapter iv. 
 
40 
 
 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 In each of these figures the heavy horizontal line is 
 drawn at the grade in which the pupil was placed as a 
 result of the September testing. The solid lines show the 
 grading of the pupils according to each of the tests at the 
 beginning of the year; the broken lines show their grading 
 at the end of the year. In interpreting these figures it 
 should be remembered that, as before stated, the grading 
 
 
 FIGURE 3 
 
 SCOTT GRADE V 
 
 CHICK'S CORNER SCHOOL 
 
 
 23456789 
 
 lO n 12 13 14 15 16 
 
 8 
 7 
 6 
 5 
 4 
 S 
 2 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 N 
 
 iv 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 ,<y 
 
 
 \ 
 
 :^ 
 
 v"^ 
 
 
 
 / 
 / 
 
 V 
 
 \ \ 
 \ \ 
 \ \ 
 
 
 
 
 
 /; 
 
 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 
 1 j 
 1 1 
 1 
 
 
 \ \ 
 
 A 
 
 -^V 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 *■ 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 \v^ 
 
 1 1 
 1 / 
 If 
 
 
 \ 
 
 / 
 
 \ 
 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 SEP- 
 
 'EMB 
 
 PR C.t 
 
 ~OPP 
 
 ^ ... 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 JUN 
 
 E SCORFS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
 is based on June scores. In other words, if a child's score 
 on any test equals the standard for the fourth grade, his 
 performance is that of a child who has completed the 
 fourth grade. Since his scores (obtained in September) 
 indicate that he has already attained fourth-grade pro- 
 ficiency, he will naturally be placed in the class which is 
 just beginning the fifth-grade work. 
 
 In Figure 3 the solid line shows the curve of Scott, a 
 twelve-year-old, fifth-grade boy in one of the Sandwich 
 schools, at the beginning of the year. The high and low 
 
CONDITIONS REVEALED 
 
 41 
 
 points are more pronounced than in most cases. The 
 solid lines in Figures 4 and 5 are the September curves of 
 two other pupils drawn at random from among the cards 
 of the Madison and Tamworth schools. All three of these 
 pupils are normal or above according to the Otis Group 
 Intelligence Scale. The broken lines in these figures are 
 the end-of-the-year curves. <■■ 
 
 FIGURE 4 
 
 EVERETT GRADE VII TAMWORTH VILLAGE SCHOOL 
 
 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 6 
 5 
 4 
 3 
 2 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 ,^— - 
 
 ■»»^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 // 
 
 
 
 ^,. 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 "^-^ 
 
 R 
 
 '^ 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 / 
 1 
 
 / 
 
 \ ^ 
 
 ■" 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 // 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 \ 
 
 
 \ 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 v 
 
 
 
 
 N 
 
 ' — ■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 SEP 
 
 rPMR 
 
 PR c: 
 
 :ORE 
 
 s 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 JUNP ?5COR|S'« 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 PlQ.4.' 
 
 It will help in the understanding of the figures to take 
 the case of a particular child. Consider the record of 
 Paul (Figure 5). His score in the September test for rate 
 of silent reading was 62, The third-grade score for rate 
 of silent reading is 60. Accordingly, this boy showed 
 third-grade ability in rate of silent reading in the first test. 
 The first point on the solid line is, therefore, located at the 
 intersection of the third-grade line with the vertical line 
 I. In the June test Paul's score for rate of silent reading 
 was 97, Since 97 is midway between 92 and 102, the 
 
42 
 
 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 standard scores for the sixth and seventh grades respec- 
 tively, the first point on the broken line is located about 
 halfway between the sixth- and seventh-grade lines on the 
 vertical line i. 
 
 Similarly, in the first test his score for comprehension 
 was 12, which is somewhat below the fourth-grade stand- 
 ard. His score on the second tests, however, was quite 
 equal to the standard of the seventh grade. 
 
 FIGURES 
 PAUL GRADE VI MADISON CORNER SCHOOL 
 
 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 lO 11 12 13 14 15 16 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 6 
 5 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 ^*^' 
 
 •^^_ 
 
 ,. 
 
 •^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 < 
 
 
 
 /) 
 
 h 
 
 1 
 
 / 
 
 \ 
 
 / 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 \ 
 
 
 / 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 \ 
 
 / 
 
 J 
 
 > 
 
 /' ■ 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 f / 
 
 
 \ 
 
 / 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 > 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 SEP 
 
 TCMia 
 
 eo c 
 
 :ORE 
 
 ", .ll. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 JUNP ?;cORF<; 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 FiQ. 5. 
 
 Tendencies shown by the Graphs 
 
 The reader's attention is directed to the fact that in all 
 the accompanying figures there is a tendency for the 
 valleys and peaks of the curve for the June test to flatten 
 out toward the horizontal. This represents the effect of 
 the remedial measures taken in the interim between Sep- 
 tember and June. 
 It will be noted that these pupils stood high in the four 
 
CONDITIONS REVEALED 
 
 43 
 
 fundamental operations of arithmetic (3, 4, 5, 6, and 7) 
 and in Greene's English Organization Test (12), which 
 is mostly a test of general intelligence. In arithmetical 
 reasoning or problem- solving (11), spelling (8), and lan- 
 guage (14), they were near to grade standards. In rate 
 (i) and comprehension (2) of silent reading, in rate (9) 
 and quality (10) of handwriting, in visual vocabulary (13), 
 and in the content subjects (15 and 16) each of these 
 pupils ranked from low to very low. 
 
 FIGURE 6 
 
 GRAPH SHOWING AVERAGE SCORES OF 62 NORMAL SEATENTH-GRADE PUPILS 
 
 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 lO 11 12 13 14 15 16 
 
 8 
 7 
 6 
 5 
 4 
 3 
 2 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 >' 
 
 ^ 
 
 ,^ 
 
 vr^ 
 
 ^^, 
 
 ^^ 
 
 's 
 
 
 / 
 
 y, 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
 
 '^^>. 
 
 / 1 
 
 ' ■ 
 
 y 
 
 X 
 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 / 
 / 
 / 
 
 
 \ \ 
 
 ,-'"' 
 
 
 "*■"■—-. 
 
 S, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 / , 
 / / 
 1 / 
 
 
 \ 
 
 / 
 
 \ 
 
 
 X 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 N 
 
 
 
 
 r 
 
 \ 
 
 -^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 SEP 
 
 rPMR 
 
 PR C! 
 
 :ORE 
 
 e 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 JUN 
 
 i SCORES 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . - '. . ' ^ Fig. 6. 
 
 The graphs of 72.24 per cent of all the normal pupils 
 above the third grade showed the same tendencies to a 
 greater or less degree.-^ Figure 6 is a sort of composite 
 graph of all the normal seventh-grade pupils in the district. 
 They numbered 62. Figure 7 is a similar graph for the 
 104 normal fourth-grade children. These graphs were 
 
 * In making this study the cards of all children who ranked below normal ac- 
 copding to the intelligence tests were thrown out. 
 
44 
 
 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 obtained by averaging the scores of the pupils in each 
 separate subject and using the grades corresponding to the 
 averages to locate the points on the graphs. For example, 
 at the September test the average seventh-grade score for 
 rate of silent reading was 95.2. This is a little above the 
 standard fifth-grade score of 93. Hence the first point on 
 the solid curve in Figure 6 is located just above the fifth- 
 grade line. Similarly, the average of all the seventh- 
 
 FIGURE 7 
 GRAPH SHOWING AVERAGE SCORES OF 104 NORMAL FOURTH-GRADE PUPILS 
 
 8 9 10 n 12 13 14 15 16 
 
 Fig. 7. 
 
 grade scores in comprehension of reading was 17.8. Since 
 this is about two-thirds of the way from the fourth-grade 
 standard toward that of the fifth grade, the second point 
 is located two-thirds of the way between the fourth- and 
 fifth-grade lines. 
 
 The Search eor Causes; Over-Emphasis on 
 
 Arithmetic 
 
 Having observed in the graphs these general tendencies 
 
 of which I have spoken, I next made a survey of the time- 
 
CONDITIONS REVEALED 45 
 
 tables and teaching methods in vogue in the district in 
 order to formulate reasonable hypotheses to account for 
 the conditions thus revealed and in order to aid in planning 
 remedial measures. 
 
 The universally high scores in all the tested phases of 
 arithmetic were indicative of over-emphasis on this sub- 
 ject. The time-tables showed the relatively large amount 
 of time assigned to arithmetic. The idea seems to be 
 prevalent among teachers, pupils, and parents that arith- 
 metic is the all-important subject. These schools are no 
 doubt typical of the schools in small rural communities. 
 Moreover, being widely scattered, they have little com- 
 munication with each other. It would seem, therefore, 
 that the results of this study fairly represent conditions in 
 most of the smaller rural schools where standardized tests 
 have not been used and where their diagnostic values have 
 not been realized. 
 
 I am aware that these findings are contrary to those of 
 more eminent workers who have found arithmetic to be a 
 subject in which pupils usually grade low when measured 
 by standardized tests. Possible reasons for this difference 
 may be (i) that the results from all the pupils were con- 
 sidered instead of only the normal ones and (2) that their 
 tests were given in city schools. 
 
 This over-emphasis on arithmetic in the smaller rural 
 schools is not an unnatural condition. In fact there are 
 sound reasons for it. In the first place, arithmetic is 
 easier for the untrained teacher to teach than the content 
 subjects. Fair results can probably be obtained with less 
 mental effort on the part of the teacher in the teaching of 
 arithmetic than in the teaching of history and geography. 
 The work is largely a matter of drill, and drill is easy for 
 the teacher. In the second place, teachers usually have 
 more immediately obvious success in the teaching of 
 
46 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 arithmetic. It is human nature to like to do the things 
 in which we best succeed. In the third place, pupils like 
 arithmetic (a) because they enjoy good lively drill work 
 in the fundamentals; (b) because they do not feel quite so 
 much " at sea " in preparing an assignment of the next ten 
 problems in arithmetic as they do in facing an assignment 
 of the next ten pages in history or geography or physiology; 
 and (c) because children like puzzles. The older pupils 
 especially enjoy solving the problems of this character 
 which our textbooks abundantly supply. In the fourth 
 place, when it is left to the children to divide their study 
 time among the different school subjects — as has been 
 the common custom in unsupervised rural schools — an 
 undue amount of time will usually be spent on arithmetic. 
 Not knowing what to do with improperly assigned lessons 
 in the content subjects, but knowing that they must keep 
 busy at something, children will turn to their arithmetics 
 with which they feel most capable of doing independent 
 work. Finally, the demands of parents on the teacher 
 that their children be " learnt how to figger " is another 
 factor in the situation. All these reasons cooperate in 
 bringing about over-emphasis on arithmetic in the rural 
 schools. 
 
 As the beginning of an attempt to remedy this condition 
 we decided to reduce for a while the time devoted to 
 arithmetic by one half and to use the time thus gained for 
 subjects in which the schools were making a poor showing. 
 
 Other Tendencies 
 
 Arithmetic was the only school subject in which there ap- 
 peared a general tendency to rank very much above grade. 
 The only other markedly high spot in the graphs was that 
 denoting their grading in Greene's English Organization 
 Test. In this test the pupils demonstrate their ability or 
 
CONDITIONS REVEALED 47 
 
 lack of ability to rearrange broken sentences so as to make 
 sense. Here is a sample of the disarranged sentences of 
 which the test is composed; 
 
 wanted, to go home, him, the dog 
 
 Since this is largely a test of intelKgence, the prevalent 
 high scores of the pupils simply go to show that their low 
 ratings in subjects other than arithmetic were not due to 
 lack of mental ability, a fact also supported by their scores 
 in the Otis Group Intelligence Scale. 
 
 The average scores for problem-solving in arithmetic 
 were close to grade standards for each grade. The reason 
 why the pupils did not do as well in this particular phase 
 of arithmetical ability as they did in fundamentals will be 
 discussed a little later. Spelling and language are other 
 subjects in which drill work figures very prominently. 
 Although in each of these two subjects there were wide 
 differences between the lowest and highest scores in each 
 grade, the averages were well up to or above standard, as 
 shown by the soHd lines in Figures 6 and 7. 
 
 The Writing Situation 
 
 Writing averaged the lowest of all the subjects in every 
 school but one. The teacher of this school had received 
 business-college training and was good in muscular-move- 
 ment penmanship. The low averages in writing led me to 
 make a special' investigation of the methods of teaching 
 that subject in the district. A round of observation con- 
 vinced me, not only that the teaching of writing was being 
 neglected, but also that what teaching there was had 
 little value. The copy-book method was in use in every 
 school except the one just mentioned. The teachers in 
 general did not know how to teach writing. Therefore 
 they had little success with it and did not like to teach it. 
 
48 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 Upon inquiry as to how the writing period was conducted, 
 I learned that in several cases at least the teacher would 
 simply tell the pupils to take their writing-books and write 
 for ten minutes. During this time she would sit at her 
 desk and correct papers. At the end of the period, without 
 even looking at the copy-books, she would tell them to 
 put away their writing materials and go on with other 
 work. In very few of the writing periods that I observed 
 personally was there any adequate attempt to teach the 
 children how to write. Is it strange that the writing 
 scores were disgracefully low? I wonder if this condition 
 is typical of schools in smaller rural communities with 
 untrained teachers, or is it a specialty in this district? i 
 
 In an attempt to remedy the condition I tried to arouse 
 the teachers to its seriousness, and I introduced a method 
 of business writing into all the schools. This was some- 
 what of a venture, since most of the teachers had had no 
 training in muscular-movement writing. However, they 
 were all informed regarding the correspondence course for 
 teachers conducted by the publishers of the system, and 
 were encouraged to take it. Several of them did so, and 
 by the end of the year they were doing passable work as 
 teachers of the new method. 
 
 As a result of this radical change the writing conditions 
 in the schools are now in a somewhat chaotic condition. 
 It takes time to break up the old finger-movement habits 
 and perfect new ones. Hence the graphs show little im- 
 provement in writing scores for the year. We hope, how- 
 ever, that during the coming year a continuation of our 
 efforts will produce definite improvement in the quality of 
 handwriting. 
 
 The chief difficulty seems to be to get the children to 
 use the muscular movement outside of the period of writ- 
 ing drill. Hereafter, in order to further our efforts, no 
 
CONDITIONS REVEALED 49 
 
 written work will be accepted unless it is done with muscu- 
 lar movement. We believe it is largely a waste of time to 
 compel a pupil to write with muscular movement for ten 
 minutes a day and then to let him use finger movement in 
 writing his compositions. 
 
 Poor Results in Reading, and Why 
 
 The reading scores were also scandalously low. Both the 
 individual graphs (Figures 3, 4, and 5) and the grade 
 graphs (Figures 6 and 7) exhibit this fact in a striking 
 manner. Analysis of the situation furnished several quite 
 probable reasons for the poor showing in silent reading. 
 
 First, the pupils had not been taught silent reading. 
 The reading drill in the schools was, and always had been, 
 oral. Only two or three of the teachers had any concep- 
 tion of what is meant by silent-reading drill. The oral 
 reading was conducted in the old-fashioned way which 
 needs no description — and mostly in a slipshod manner 
 at that. The fact that the children were tested for silent 
 reading when all their class work had been in oral reading 
 was probably the chief reason for the low scores. 
 
 Second, in most of the schools there was only one set of 
 readers for each grade. The younger pupils knew most 
 of the stories in the upper-grade books from hearing them 
 read over and over by the older pupils. The fact that 
 they knew the gist of these stories long before they ever 
 reached the grades in which the books were used, that 
 they had " studied " the lesson over several times at their 
 seats (perhaps), and that each pupil was provided with a 
 book in class, precluded any chance for real, live interest 
 in the class work. Many of the teachers, even, did not 
 seem to be over-enthusiastic. 
 
 Third, the low scores resulting from the use of Thorn- 
 dike's Visual Vocabulary Tests indicate that lack of word 
 
50 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 knowledge probably accounted to a large degree for the 
 poor results in reading. It may well be that the narrow 
 range of reading, due to lack of variety in books and to the 
 conspicuous absence of school libraries, was responsible 
 for the limited reading vocabularies of the children. 
 
 In the light of the above-described conditions the low 
 scores in content subjects need little explanation. Success 
 in history, geography, etc., depends on ability to study 
 effectively. Efficient study is efficient silent reading. 
 Even in arithmetic, much if not most of the difficulty en- 
 countered by the pupils in solving problems lies in their 
 inability to read and understand them as they appear in 
 the text. Poor ability in silent reading, then, helps to 
 explain why the scores in the problem- solving phase of 
 arithmetic were so much lower than those in the funda- 
 mental operations. 
 
 A New Policy as to Reading 
 
 These matters were brought to the attention of the 
 teachers. They readily concluded that reading is the 
 most important subject in the school, because upon it 
 depends success in most of the other subjects. We there- 
 fore decided to give reading a place in the program com- 
 mensurate with its importance. For the rest of the year 
 most of the reading time was devoted to intensive drill 
 in silent reading. Different methods of conducting this 
 drill were devised in order to furnish variety and in order 
 to keep interest alive. Much of the work in geography, 
 history, physiology, civics, etc., was taken up as class drill 
 in silent reading. Oral quizzes every few days by way of 
 review in these subjects took the place of the customary 
 daily question-and-answer recitation. In this way the 
 time usually available for reading drill was quadrupled. 
 Did so much reading drill get monotonous? The chil- 
 
CONDITIONS REVEALED 51 
 
 dren will testify that it did not. Did the content subjects 
 suffer from giving up so much seat study and question- 
 and-answer recitation? The graphs clearly indicate the 
 answer. 
 
 We adopted also a definite policy of vocabulary building. 
 New words were constantly introduced to the pupils by 
 psychological methods. They were introduced as the 
 names of ideas after the ideas themselves had been vividly 
 brought to their attention by objects, pictures, or lively 
 descriptions. 
 
 The number of reading books in the schools was multi- 
 plied by ten or twelve, and a generous beginning of school 
 libraries was made. For the most part the new books 
 were informational rather than merely entertaining. Yet 
 they were books that appeal to children — and, indeed, 
 they did appeal to them. Our difficulty now is not in 
 getting the pupils to read, but in getting them to do any- 
 thing else but read. 
 
 What did it all amount to? Well, look at the broken 
 Knes in the preceding figures. They speak for themselves. 
 They are the graphs of the same pupils and of the same 
 grades at the end of the school year. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 MEASURING THE PROGRESS OF PUPILS BY 
 MEANS OF STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 Teachers' Judgments of Progress Unsatisfactory 
 
 From time out of mind the estimate of a pupil's progress in 
 his school work has been left to the more or less excellent 
 judgment of his teacher, a judgment often warped by 
 personal prejudice due to his behavior in school, his per- 
 sonal appearance, or his father's standing in the commun- 
 ity. The fact that the teacher gave tests and ranked the 
 child on the quality of his reactions to them does not 
 necessitate a modification of the above statement. For 
 those tests were based solely on what she Judged the child 
 ought to know concerning the various school subjects as a 
 result of her particular line of instruction. She had no 
 way of knowing definitely what a child of his age and grade 
 really ought to know in order to be as well informed as 
 other children of his age and grade in other schools. Even 
 the grading of the papers, after they were corrected, was 
 mostly a matter of judgment, as has been previously 
 shown. 
 
 Some of the more unthinking teachers took the testing 
 and grading very seriously, marked the papers very care- 
 fully on a percentage basis, and then " passed " the pupil 
 or " flunked " him according to whether his mark was 70 
 or only 69. Others, realizing more or less vaguely the 
 injustice of such a procedure, graded the pupils' work as 
 excellent, good, fair, poor, or very poor, which they could 
 probably have done just as accurately without giving 
 any tests for grading purposes at all. 
 
THE PROGRESS OF PUPILS 53 
 
 Standardized Tests used to Measure Progress 
 
 But there is no longer any valid excuse for such hap- 
 hazard methods of measuring the results of teaching in 
 elementary schools. The standardized tests and scales 
 furnish us with definite norms of achievement by means of 
 which we can compare any child's work with the median 
 or average for his age or grade and decide justly as to 
 whether or not he is making normal progress. 
 
 One of my purposes in using tests has been to measure 
 the progress of pupils in their studies. Thus far ^ we have 
 given the tests four times in all the schools of the district. 
 They have been given at intervals of several months so as 
 to permit progress between tests to show plainly in the 
 graphs. Three of these test periods — the ones particu- 
 larly of interest in this chapter — fell within the school year 
 1919-20. All of the data from these several tests were 
 graphically recorded and filed. The records are very 
 interesting and highly satisfactory so far as proof of the 
 efl&ciency of this method of measurement of progress is 
 concerned, although, of course, they do not always show 
 satisfactory progress on the part of the pupils. 
 
 As heretofore stated, our plan is to give standardized 
 tests in as many of the elementary-school subjects as 
 possible to all the pupils in the district three times a year. 
 They were given first in September, 191 9, for grading 
 purposes and to get a starting-point from which to meas- 
 ure progress. In February, 1920, the tests were given 
 again in order to find out how the pupils were progressing 
 and particularly to discover along what lines, if any, 
 unsatisfactory progress was being made, so that the teach- 
 ers might see where increased effort or change of method 
 
 1 This chapter was written some time after the preceding chapters. 
 
54 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 was needed. In June, 1920, they were given a third time 
 for promotion purposes. 
 
 The scores of the individual pupils in these tests were 
 first recorded on 4 X 6 cards in the form of graphs. Each 
 time a new test was given a new graph was drawn on each 
 pupil's card in a different color, so that at the end of June 
 I had, for each pupil in the district above the first grade, 
 a graph card which showed at a glance his standing in all 
 the subjects tested for three different periods in the school 
 year. Each teacher had duplicate cards for the pupils of 
 her particular school. 
 
 The Graph Card 
 
 More recently, however, I have devised and had 
 printed a 5 X 8 graph card which is considerably more 
 convenient than the makeshift in use last year.^ The 
 graphs reproduced in this chapter are shown on the new 
 form (Figures 8 to 11). This new card contains not only 
 the names of the tests, but also the standard scores for 
 each of them. Directly below the name of each test is a 
 vertical line upon which the standard scores for that test 
 are printed at the intersections of the vertical Hne with the 
 horizontal grade lines. For instance, the sixth-grade 
 standard score for comprehension in Monroe's Silent 
 Reading Test is 21. Accordingly, this number is printed 
 at the intersection of the sixth-grade line with the vertical 
 line below " Comprehension " and under the name of that 
 test. The fourth-grade standard score for Woody's Divi- 
 sion Scale is 5. The figure 5 is therefore printed at the 
 intersection of the fourth-grade line with the vertical 
 line directly beneath *'D" under " Arithmetic- Woody." 
 
 * A still more recent edition of these cards has been published as the "Brooks 
 Individual Graph-Record Card." These cards may be obtained, in any desired 
 quantity, from the J. L, Hammett Co., Cambridge, Mass. 
 
THE PROGRESS OF PUPILS 55 
 
 Since in the Ayres Spelling Scale and in the Hahn-Lackey 
 Geography Scale the standard scores for any particular 
 grade vary with the column used for testing, no scores 
 could be printed for these tests. So, merely for con- 
 venience, the Roman numerals marking the grade lines 
 were repeated at their intersections with the verticals for 
 these two tests. The lowest score on any test line shows 
 the lowest grade in which that test is given. For example, 
 Woody's Division Scale is not given below the third grade. 
 Hence, the lowest score for this test (3) is on the third- 
 grade line. Similarly, Starch's History Test is not given 
 below the sixth grade. 
 
 Figures 8, 9, and 10 are copies of the graph records of 
 three different children for the school year 1919-20. All 
 three were taught by the same teacher throughout the 
 year. The graphs are given with explanations and com- 
 ments for the purpose of showing a method of recording 
 results so as to indicate at a glance how the pupils were 
 progressing in their school work and when they were ready 
 for promotion. 
 
 The Record of a Child of Average Mentality 
 
 Figure 8 shows the record of an eleven-year-old girl of 
 about average mentahty. Her mental age (M.A.) was 
 eleven years, seven months, and her intelligence quotient 
 (I.Q.) was 105. Hence she is a little above the average in 
 intelligence. Her graph, resulting from the September 
 tests and represented by the dotted line in Figure 8, falls 
 about equally above and below the fourth-grade line. 
 That is, she averaged about fourth-grade (end of year) 
 ability in the tested subjects at the beginning of the school 
 year. Hence she was placed in the class that was be- 
 ginning fifth-grade work, namely, the fifth grade according 
 to the plan discussed in chapter iv. The dashed line 
 
56 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 represents the scores of the same child from the February 
 tests and the solid line those from the June tests. The 
 progress of the child in her studies is shown by the higher 
 levels of the graphs for the later tests. Only two subjects 
 show little or no increase and those will be explained a 
 little farther on. 
 
 Reading. Let us consider separately the progress made 
 by this pupil in each subject, beginning with reading. I 
 depend mainly on Monroe's test for measuring silent- 
 reading ability. It is well standardized, perfectly ob- 
 jective, eliminates the memory factor, and is, to my mind, 
 best fitted for my particular scheme. The pupil's score 
 for rate of silent reading in September was 80. The first 
 point, therefore, on the September curve was plotted at 
 the intersection of the fourth-grade line with the test line, 
 80 being the fourth-grade standard score as shown on the 
 card. Her score for comprehension was 17, which is half- 
 way between the standard scores for the fourth and fifth 
 grades. Hence the second point on the September graph 
 is located halfway between the fourth- and fifth-grade 
 lines. Now note the space between the two points just 
 located and the corresponding points on the dashed curve. 
 This space shows the progress made by the pupil in silent 
 reading during the first half of the school year in relation 
 to normal annual progress represented by the distance 
 between the two grade lines. The advance in rate of read- 
 ing is particularly marked, covering as it does the space of 
 a grade and a quarter in a half-year. The advance made 
 in comprehension is normal; that is, a haK-grade of prog- 
 ress in a half-year of work. 
 
 As shown by the corresponding points on the solid-line 
 curve, the pupil's rate of reading increased very little 
 during the last half of the year, while progress in ability to 
 comprehend what was read continued to be normal. The 
 
THE PROGRESS OF PUPILS 57 
 
 rapid increase in rate of reading was undoubtedly due to 
 the special emphasis placed on efficient silent-reading drill 
 which was inaugurated in the fall term and continued 
 throughout the year. There had never before been any 
 such drill in any of the schools. For the year, this child's 
 progress was a grade and a half, or fifty per cent above 
 normal, in rate of reading and just a grade, or normal, in 
 comprehension. 
 
 Arithmetic. On the addition line, note the drop of the 
 February curve below the one for September. There 
 might be several reasons for this, the most plausible being 
 that the child was tired or not feeling well at the time that 
 particular test was given in February. This surmise is 
 supported by the fact that she " came back " strong in the 
 June tests and showed a half -grade of progress for the year 
 in addition ability. 
 
 Little progress was shown in subtraction ability; none 
 at all for the first half of the year. But you will note that 
 she was already up to fifth grade in both subtraction and 
 addition at the beginning of the year. When a child's 
 graph shows that he is well up to or above grade in any 
 subject, the time and effort of that child is diverted to 
 some subject in which he is below grade. One of the chief 
 values of the tests is their diagnostic value in showing up 
 the weak and strong places in the work of pupils or classes 
 so that the teacher and superintendent may know where 
 their efforts should be concentrated in order to bring about 
 results as nearly uniform as possible. The tendency of the 
 graphs to flatten out and more nearly approximate a 
 straight line toward the end of the year is the direct result 
 of this policy of placing the emphasis where it is most 
 needed, the places where it is most needed being indicated 
 by the earlier graphs. The ideal curve would, of course, 
 be a straight line, denoting ability exactly equal to the 
 
58 
 
 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 grade norms in all subjects. And an ideal year's record 
 for a fifth-grade pupil would be three straight hnes, the 
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THE PROGRESS OF PUPILS 59 
 
 third coincident with the fifth-grade line, and the second 
 midway between and parallel to the others. Such a 
 record would denote absolutely even and normal progress 
 for the year. 
 
 One of the tests given in the fall was the Cleveland Sur- 
 vey Test in the fundamental operations of arithmetic — ■ 
 a test which is excellent for purposes of diagnosis. This 
 test showed this particular pupil to be especially weak in 
 the multiplication and division of fractions, decimals, and 
 denominate numbers. Special corrective drill on these 
 phases of arithmetic was responsible for the splendid 
 progress shown on the multiplication and division lines. 
 
 Note the very low score made in the mixed fundamentals 
 test in September, the excellent progress made during the 
 year, and the fact that in spite of such progress the pupil 
 failed to come up to grade at the end of the year. It is 
 noteworthy that only eight pupils in the whole district 
 have so far succeeded in getting as high grades in this test 
 as they averaged in the four fundamental operations, 
 although the test is made up of a mixture of the identical 
 examples used in the addition, subtraction, multiplication, 
 and division tests. Most of them fall below from half a 
 grade to a whole grade. A study of Figures 9, 10, and 11 
 reveals the same facts concerning the results from this test. 
 Although good progress is made in every case, the pupil or 
 class persistently grades lower in this test than in the 
 others on fundamentals of arithmetic. To my mind this 
 indicates that the standard scores for this test are too 
 high. 
 
 Continuing the examination of Figure 8, we find Mon- 
 roe's Reasoning Test in Arithmetic to be the next in order. 
 This test is scored for three things: rate of solving prob- 
 lems, solutions correct in principle, and correct answers. 
 Good progress is shown for the year in all three although 
 
6o STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 the pupil fails to reach the grade standard for speed in 
 solving problems. 
 
 Spelling. In spelling ability the pupil accomplished 
 twenty-five per cent more than a normal year's progress, 
 with nearly four times as great progress made in the last 
 half of the year as in the first half. And here is a chance 
 for some more interesting comparisons of the graphs on 
 the different cards. Figure 9 shows no progress in spelling 
 in the first half; Figure 10 shows the same; while Figure 11, 
 which is the record of a whole fifth grade, shows consider- 
 ably more progress in the last half than in the first. The 
 midyear tests revealed the fact that speUing work in 
 general was progressing unsatisfactorily. As remedial 
 measures, oral speUing drill, together with Buckwalter's 
 Comprehensive Speller, was thrown into the discard. 
 Ayres's Spelling Scale, supplemented by individual spell- 
 ing lists made up of troublesome words from the pupils' 
 own written vocabularies, was made the basis of the spell- 
 ing course. A little booklet containing graded lists of 
 1600 " Common Blunder Words " was also used in most 
 of the schools. Spelling lessons were shortened; new 
 words were presented by a more psychological method; 
 and the recitation consisted of a written lesson wherein 
 the pupils use the words of the day's lesson in sentences 
 or in a short composition. The efficacy of these changes in 
 subject matter and method is strikingly evidenced by the 
 greatly increased progress during the last half of the year. 
 
 Handwriting. Next comes handwriting. This pupil's 
 scores in writing (Figure 8) are typical of the general condi- 
 tions revealed by the tests as discussed in chapter v; speed 
 scores up to or much above grade and quality scores very 
 low. Although this pupil showed considerable progress 
 for the year, she failed to reach the grade standard in qual- 
 ity of handwriting. But she did better than most of the 
 
THE PROGRESS OF PUPILS 6i 
 
 pupils in this respect. Note that, throughout the year, 
 her speed decreased while her quaHty increased. In the 
 past, speed had been attained at the expense of quality. 
 Now quality has been gained at the sacrifice of speed, and 
 yet speed has not been reduced below the grade standard. 
 Figure 9 also shows the fact that quality improved at the 
 expense of speed. In most other cases, however, speed 
 increased at approximately the same rate as quality, and 
 the pupils were about as far behind in writing at the end of 
 the year as they were at the beginning. All four of the 
 records presented in this chapter show an improvement in 
 handwriting for the year considerably above the average 
 for the district. In general the improvement in writing 
 abihty was small. The reasons for the conditions found to 
 exist at the beginning of the year and the general lack of 
 progress during the year have already been discussed. 
 
 English. As for language and grammar, so far as the 
 author is aware, no satisfactory general test or scale has 
 been standardized. One of our greatest needs at present 
 in carrying out a complete testing program in the ele- 
 mentary schools is a general language and grammar test 
 somewhat on the same plan as the Hahn-Lackey Geogra- 
 phy Scale. Starch's Punctuation Scale is good for measur- 
 ing abihty in that particular. Charters Diagnostic Lan- 
 guage and Grammar Tests are excellent as far as they go, 
 and they cover pretty well the common errors in the use of 
 the EngHsh language. But no standards were available 
 for them last year, so that they did not fit into a scheme 
 which required tests that have been fairly well standard- 
 ized.^ Hence we could do Httle in testing language and 
 grammar ability last year. The two tests used, namely, 
 Greene's Enghsh Organization Test and Thorndike's 
 
 1 Standard scores for these tests are now available and we are using them as a 
 part of our testing program. 
 
62 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 Visual Vocabulary Test might perhaps more properly be 
 placed under the head of reading. The English Organiza- 
 tion Test proved rather unsatisfactory. It does not seem 
 to measure any definite ability. Its chief value seems to 
 be in indicating, to some extent, a pupil's general intelli- 
 gence or general reasoning ability, if there is such a thing, 
 and even in this I have not found it to agree very well with 
 the results of regular intelligence tests. 
 
 The vocabulary test, however, has proved very valuable, 
 especially in interpreting silent reading scores. There is a 
 high degree of correlation between the scores in the vocab- 
 ulary test and those of comprehension in silent reading if 
 the scores of children much below normal are thrown out. 
 When a normal child fails in comprehension of silent read- 
 ing, an examination of his vocabulary scores will often 
 show a serious lack of word knowledge, which can be reme- 
 died by a definite plan of vocabulary building. To such a 
 policy is due the excellent progress as regards vocabulary 
 knowledge shown by the pupil represented in Figure 8. 
 This progress is shown by the curves to be from fourth- 
 grade ability in September to halfway betv/een fifth- and 
 sixth-grade ability in June. Notice that this is also the 
 highest point reached in the silent reading scores. This 
 test likewise measures the efficiency of whatever method of 
 vocabulary building may be adopted. 
 
 Content subjects. Highly satisfactory in amount and 
 uniformity was the progress in geography and history, as 
 shown in Figures 8, 9, and 11, although for some reason 
 the history scores persistently lagged behind those in 
 geography. 
 
 General progress. As before mentioned. Figure 8 is the 
 record of a pupil a little above the average in intelligence 
 and her record shows on the average, a little more than a 
 normal year of progress; which is as it should be. Further- 
 
THE PROGRESS OF PUPILS 63 
 
 more, her progress was in the direction of a more uniform 
 ability in all subjects. The June curve is 35 per cent 
 shorter than the September curve as shown in Figure 12 
 (a), thus approaching much nearer the ideal curve. This 
 fact exemplifies the value of corrective measures based on 
 diagnosis by standardized tests. 
 
 These records are also used for promotion purposes. 
 When a child's graph has moved upward over a space ap- 
 proximately equal to the distance between two grade lines 
 he is ready to be promoted to the next grade. As before 
 stated, the pupil whose record is shown in Figure 8 was 
 started on fifth-grade work at the beginning of the school 
 year. Her graph has moved upward, as shown by the 
 solid-line curve, until it averages better than fifth grade. 
 This shows that she had attained fifth-grade end-of-the- 
 year standards in June and was ready for promotion to the 
 sixth grade and to begin work in that grade the following 
 September. 
 
 The Recoio) of a Bright Child 
 
 Figure 9 shows the record of a very bright eleven-year- 
 old girl with a mental age of fifteen years and an I.Q. of 
 135. Although her graph showed an average of sixth- 
 grade ability at the beginning of the year, it was consid- 
 ered wisest, because of her youth and because of various 
 changes in the course of study, to have her take the regular 
 sixth-grade work for that year and to prepare herself for 
 double promotion by taking part of the seventh-grade 
 work. Her chart shows a progress of from half a grade in 
 rate of silent reading and spelling to two and a half grades 
 in multipHcation. In the June tests, as shown by the 
 solid-line curve, she averaged halfway between seventh- 
 and eighth-grade standards and was promoted to the 
 eighth grade. Whatever of seventh-grade work she did 
 
64 
 
 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
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THE PROGRESS OF PUPILS 
 
 65 
 
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66 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 The Record of a Dull Child 
 
 Figure io gives the record of a very dull boy with a 
 chronological age of thirteen years, a mental age of nine 
 years ten months, and an I.Q. of 76. Note the great 
 irregularity of the September curve and the general lack 
 of progress throughout the year. Note that in many 
 instances the scores of later tests fall below those of previ- 
 ous ones, and that the reading scores are much lower than 
 the vocabulary scores indicating that poor reading may be 
 due to lack of native ability and not to lack of word 
 knowledge. This boy fell so far short of reaching fourth- 
 grade standards in the June tests that he was not promoted 
 to the fifth grade. He was already two years retarded. 
 Question: Did we do right in retarding this child another 
 year? Problem: What to do with cases of this kind in 
 rural schools where special classes are out of the question, 
 where manual trade schools are beyond the reach of the 
 pupils, when promotion means placing the pupil wholly 
 out of his depth, and when retardation means discourage- 
 ment. This boy will probably never get beyond the 
 fourth or fifth grade except through mistaken charity. 
 Would it not be well to have some provision whereby sach 
 hopelessly retarded children could be permitted to leave 
 school and engage in some useful and profitable work under 
 the guidance of parents or other responsible persons, at 
 least until society becomes sufficiently civilized to make 
 provision at public expense for the proper training of such 
 individuals? They would at least be saved from forming 
 habits of failure and idleness which so many such children 
 acquire during years of forced attendance at school after 
 they have reached the limits of their mental capacities in 
 acquiring knowledge from books. Figure 12 (c) shows the 
 relative lengths of this pupil's September and June curves. 
 
THE PROGRESS OF PUPILS 
 
 67 
 
 It should be remembered that all three of the pupils whose 
 records we have been discussing were taught by the same 
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68 
 
 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 The Record of a Class 
 
 Figure ii is the record of a fifth grade containing nine 
 pupils. It shows that the entire grade has made normal 
 progress or better in nearly every test. As usual, how- 
 ever, the class is weak in quality of handwriting. It is 
 also slightly below grade in arithmetical reasoning, in 
 mixed fundamentals, in spelhng, and in geography. On 
 
 Percent 
 
 (a) Sept. 
 June 
 
 (b) Sept. 
 June 
 
 (c) Sept. 
 June 
 
 (d) Sept. 
 June 
 
 1 
 
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 O 9 
 
 O lOO 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Fig. 12. A Comparison of the Lengths of September and June 
 Curves as Shown in Figures 8 to 11 
 
 the other hand, the class is considerably above standard 
 in reading, in the fundamentals of arithmetic, in speed of 
 writing, and in language and grammar. On the whole it 
 shows that both teachers and pupils have done excellent 
 work throughout the year. Relative lengths of Septem- 
 ber and June curves are shown in Figure 12 {d). The June 
 curve is about twenty per cent shorter than the September 
 curve. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 MEASURING THE EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 
 BY STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 In chapter vi I told how we used standardized tests and 
 scales to measure the progress of pupils and to tell when 
 they were ready for promotion. In this chapter I shall 
 shov\^ how, at the same time, we were measuring the ability 
 of the teachers to get results. 
 
 Factors in Teaching Ability 
 
 Besides knowledge of subject-matter, one may recognize 
 five main factors in a teacher's efficiency: (i) managing 
 ability; (2) natural aptitude for the work; (3) method and 
 technique of teaching; (4) interest and industry in her 
 work; and (5) that vague thing, personality, somewhat 
 indefinable, but generally admitted to include character, 
 temperament, pejsonal appearance, manners, tact, etc. 
 A teacher must demonstrate ability to organize and man- 
 age a school in an orderly manner before any of her other 
 abilities can do their work. With all the other factors 
 present, a teacher's success can be but m^ediocre if she 
 lacks greatly in natural ability as applied to teaching. 
 She may have all the other virtues, but if she lacks enthu- 
 siasm and industry she cannot inspire her pupils; and 
 without an efficient method her other qualities will be 
 ineffective. Finally, her personal qualities, ideals, and 
 conduct must be worthy of emulation if she expects to 
 influence properly the social and moral life of her pupils. 
 
 Measuring Teaching Eeficiency by Results 
 
 Now no one of these factors can be accurately and objec- 
 tively measured independently of all the others; but they 
 
70 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 all function cooperatively in getting results — results 
 which are manifested in the development of knowledge, 
 skill, and ideals among pupils. And many of these results 
 can be measured by means of standardized tests. 
 
 Is it not customary to measure the efficiency of the 
 workman, professional or otherwise, by the amount and 
 quality of the work he turns out? The efficiency of the 
 wood-chopper is gauged by the number of cords of wood 
 he can chop in a definite length of time; of a bricklayer, 
 by the number of bricks he can lay in a day; of a farmer, 
 by the per-acre yield and profit of his crops; of the lawyer, 
 by the per cent of cases he wins for his clients; of the 
 doctor, by the proportion of cases he cures; and so on, 
 for almost any line of human endeavor we could mention. 
 Experience has set certain standards of achievement in 
 every kind of work and the efficiency of the worker is 
 judged by the ratio of his product to these standards. If 
 he does only three fourths as much as the standard, he is 
 only seventy-five per cent efficient. 
 
 Then why should not the efficiency of teachers be meas- 
 ured by the amount of work they turn out? Too long has 
 efficiency been taken for granted or, at best, left to the 
 judgment of supervisors making guesses based on class- 
 room observation, more or less perfunctory, of teachers' 
 good looks, engaging personalities, show of energy and 
 enthusiasm, evidence of preparation, handling of super- 
 visor's pet methods, etc. Although such observation is 
 not without value in helping to secure a fair estimate of a 
 teacher's ability, it does not alone furnish a safe and sane 
 basis for judgment; and any teacher so judged to be ineffi- 
 cient has a right to complain of unfairness of treatment. 
 Judgments based on mere classroom observation are not 
 fair either to the teachers or the taxpayers. The reasons 
 why this is so have already been summarized, but they 
 will bear repeating here. 
 
MEASURING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 71 
 
 (i) Such observations do not furnish a sound basis for 
 judgment; (2) the superintendent's opinions are quite apt 
 to be colored by personal prejudices toward an individual 
 teacher or her methods; (3) classes often shov/ at their 
 worst in the presence of visitors; (4) even the teacher may- 
 fail to do herself justice under the critical eye of the super- 
 intendent; and (5) classroom observation takes no account 
 of the actual results the teacher may be getting. Further- 
 more, such observation is not only unfair, but inaccurate. 
 It is inaccurate because of all the reasons just given, and 
 because (a) some teachers do excellent work when the 
 superintendent is present and shirk all the rest of the 
 time, and because (b) if such teachers do their own testing, 
 even the results may be made falsely to appear satis- 
 factory. 
 
 If the education of a child consists in his acquiring cer- 
 tain knowledge, skills, habits, and ideals that will make 
 him a useful and desirable member of the society in which 
 he lives, and if teaching is the proper leading and directing 
 of the child in utilizing his natural abilities to acquire these 
 things with the least possible expenditure of time and 
 energy, then why is it not eminently fair to all concerned 
 to gauge the teacher's efficiency by measuring at definite 
 intervals the progress her pupils are making in the acquisi- 
 tion of the prescribed knowledge, skills, habits, and ideals, 
 provided we have well-defined standards of achievement 
 for each grade such as the standardized tests furnish? 
 
 Anyway, I put the question squarely up to the teachers 
 of my district at one of the teachers' meetings held early 
 in the year. They were asked to decide whether they 
 would prefer to have the superintendent estimate their 
 efficiency on the basis of what classroom observation he 
 could make in schools so widely scattered, or according to 
 the progress made by their pupils as measured by stand- 
 ardized tests. 
 
72 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 Objections of Teachers to Rating by Results 
 
 As I had expected, the question evoked a Hvely discussion 
 and some well-founded objections were raised. Most of 
 the teachers were ready to admit the inaccuracy and 
 unfairness of ordinary methods of rating teachers, but 
 insisted that there was a large probabiKty of the same 
 weaknesses in the plan I proposed. Their chief objections 
 were: (i) that knowing they would be judged by the results 
 of the tests, some teachers would be tempted to cheat in 
 giving the tests, thereby perhaps gaining a higher rating 
 than would better and more conscientious teachers who 
 gave the tests honestly; (2) that since there are in most 
 schools a sprinkling of mentally deficient or even feeble- 
 minded children v/ho under the most efficient teacher 
 cannot be expected to make normal progress, the records 
 of such pupils, when averaged with those of normal chil- 
 dren, would seriously and unjustly lower the rating of 
 the teachers; and (3) that of two teachers of equal abihty 
 one might have a school whose pupils averaged so much 
 higher in intelligence than those of the other that she 
 would undeservedly obtain a much higher rating. The 
 majority thought that, if these principal objections could 
 be satisfactorily disposed of, the plan would be worth 
 trying. The fev/ teachers who displayed marked lack of 
 interest in the subject had already on other grounds shown 
 themselves to be of the time-serving variety. I therefore 
 ignored their attitude. But I wanted the intelligent 
 acquiescence of the better teachers in some sort of a 
 reliable teacher-rating scheme. 
 
 The Objections Answered 
 
 The first two objections I had foreseen and prepared for. 
 As to the first, I explained that most of the tests were 
 
MEASURING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 73 
 
 furnished in two or three different forms, so that the same 
 forms would not have to be given twice in the same year. 
 This would obviate the possibility of any teacher drilling 
 pupils on the exact contents of a test, drill along the 
 general lines of work suggested by the tests being not only 
 legitimate but desirable. Furthermore, I pointed out 
 that my plan of checking the work of the teachers in 
 giving the tests would ensure the immediate discovery of 
 any serious attempt at cheating on the part of dishonestly 
 inclined teachers — such as allowing more than the 
 allotted time for each test or giving illegitimate aid to the 
 pupils during the tests. This plan was for me to repeat 
 in each school one or two of the tests after the teachers had 
 given them all. Then if there was any great discrepancy 
 between the results of the tests I had given and those a 
 teacher had given, such discrepancy would indicate either 
 dishonesty or gross carelessness in giving the tests. 
 
 The second objection offered a good opportunity for a 
 discussion of intelligence tests and their uses. I passed 
 around some samples of the Otis Group Intelligence Test 
 and explained how, by the use of such tests, we could 
 locate the pupils who were mentally incapable of making 
 normal progress. The progress records of these pupils 
 could be thrown out in calculating the teachers' ratings, 
 and we might use only the records of pupils who graded 
 eighty per cent of normal or better by the intelligence tests. 
 
 The third objection was one which had not before 
 occurred to me. I suggested that we leave the matter 
 until our next meeting by which time I hoped to have a 
 satisfactory solution. 
 
 The Plan of Rating Teachers 
 
 The plan I finally worked out and which was accepted 
 as satisfactory by the teachers follows: From the results 
 
74 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 of the June tests the average scores by grades for each 
 test were to be calculated for each school. Each of these 
 average grade scores was to be divided by the correspond- 
 ing standard score, thus giving the per cent which each 
 grade score was of normal. 
 
 Table VII illustrates the method by which these per 
 cents for each grade were obtained. The figures opposite 
 the pupils' numbers are the rate and comprehension scores 
 in reading for a fifth grade in the June tests. 
 
 All grade per cents similarly derived for each school 
 were to be averaged to give the teacher's percentage mark- 
 Then, to offset the differences in intelligence between 
 schools, if the average of the I.Q.'s in a school was less 
 than loo, the difference between it and loo was to be 
 added to the teacher's mark, and if the average of the 
 I.Q.'s was more than loo, the difference was to be sub- 
 tracted from the teacher's mark. This procedure served 
 in the one case to discount the part of a school's progress 
 that was due to superior native intelligence and in the 
 other case to give the teacher an allowance to offset her 
 school's mental disabihties. This plan disposed of the 
 third objection mentioned above. Its accuracy, of course, 
 depends in large part on the degree of correlation between 
 the scores in intelligence tests and the scores in achieve- 
 ment tests. That the correlation is high will be shown in a 
 subsequent chapter. This scheme does away with the 
 necessity of discarding the scores of subnormal children in 
 calculating the ratings of teachers, although such discard- 
 ing would save considerable work without materially 
 affecting results. 
 
 First Illustration of the Plan 
 
 Below are given concrete illustrations of how the ratings 
 of several teachers were obtained at the end of the year. 
 
MEASURING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 75 
 
 The first two are both very competent and successful 
 teachers. In A's school the average of the I.Q/s of all the 
 pupils was 88. This school had thirty- two pupils, four 
 of whom graded as feeble-minded. Twenty of them had 
 I.Q.'s of less than 90. Only five had I.Q.'s over 100, and 
 
 TABLE VII. JUNE SCORES OF A FIFTH GRADE IN READING 
 
 Pupil Rate Comprehension 
 
 number 
 
 1 108 26 
 
 2 98 20 
 
 3 73 14 
 
 4 8s 19 
 
 5 loi 25 
 
 6 95 21 
 
 7 50 8 
 
 8 105 20 
 
 Average 89 . 4 19 , i 
 
 Standard 93 20 
 
 Per cent average score 
 
 is of standard 96 . i 95 . 5 
 
 the highest was 122. In B's school, consisting of thirty 
 pupils, the average of the I.Q.'s was in. The intelli- 
 gence level in this school was unusually high, just as in 
 the other it was unusually low. There were no feeble- 
 minded children, and only one pupil graded as very dull. 
 Eighty-three per cent of the pupils were normal or above. 
 Three had I.Q.'s above 140.^ 
 
 Table VIII gives the grade per cents (computed as 
 shown in Table VII) on each test in A's school — also the 
 general average for the whole school. The 78, for instance, 
 at the top of the second-grade column in Table VIII means 
 that the second-grade average score in rate of silent read- 
 ing was 78 per cent of the second-grade standard score. 
 
 ^ All intelligence tests were given, corrected, and scored by the superintendent. 
 
76 
 
 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 TABLE VIII. GRADE PER CENTS ON EACH TEST — 
 TEACHER A 
 
 Subjects 
 
 Grades 
 
 II 
 
 III IV 
 
 VI VII VIII 
 
 Silent Reading 
 
 Rate 
 
 Comprehension 
 
 Addition 
 
 Subtraction 
 
 Multiplication 
 
 Division 
 
 Mixed Fundamentals . . 
 Arithmetical Reasoning 
 
 Spelling 
 
 Writing 
 
 Speed 
 
 Quality 
 
 English Organization . . 
 Visual Vocabulary . . . . 
 
 Geography 
 
 History 
 
 Grade averages 
 
 78 
 69 
 
 85 
 93 
 93 
 74 
 72 
 
 82 
 
 96 
 67 
 
 81 
 77 
 87 
 91 
 92 
 
 79 
 76 
 70 
 80 
 
 102 
 68 
 92 
 83 
 
 86 
 80 
 92 
 93 
 97 
 82 
 
 77 
 73 
 80 
 
 lOI 
 
 67 
 
 94 
 84 
 82 
 
 78 
 
 90 
 80 
 92 
 92 
 93 
 87 
 80 
 
 78 
 77 
 
 104 
 
 65 
 92 
 81 
 80 
 72 
 
 93 
 78 
 94 
 93 
 98 
 92 
 82 
 81 
 83 
 
 III 
 62 
 
 88 
 77 
 85 
 82 
 
 99 
 85 
 96 
 
 98 
 98 
 95 
 91 
 88 
 86 
 
 107 
 62 
 
 94 
 86 
 89 
 84 
 
 98 
 84 
 98 
 98 
 100 
 
 97 
 93 
 87 
 87 
 
 109 
 65 
 93 
 89 
 92 
 90 
 
 80.9 
 
 82.9 
 
 84.4 
 
 84.2 
 
 86.6 
 
 90-5 
 
 92.0 
 
 General average, 86.3. 
 
 In comprehension of silent reading the second-grade 
 average score was only 69 per cent of the standard score; 
 and so on for each subject and for each grade. There are 
 qS of these per cents in the table. The general average for 
 the school was obtained by adding all of them and divid- 
 ing the sum by 98. The general average in this school was 
 86.3 per cent, which means that the average achievement 
 of the school, as measured by the standardized tests, was 
 S6.^ per cent of normal. Table IX gives the same data 
 for B's school. In this case the general average was 108.4 
 per cent of normal. 
 Then, according to the rating plan described above: 
 
MEASURING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 77 
 
 A's ratings = General average for A's school + (100 — 
 Av. I.Q.) = 86.3 + (100 - S8) = 98.3. And B's rating 
 = General average for B's school — (Av. I.Q. — 100) = 
 108.4 — (hi — 100) = 974. 
 
 TABLE IX. GRADE PER CENTS ON EACH TEST — 
 TEACHER B 
 
 Subjects 
 
 Grades 
 
 II III IV 
 
 VI VII VIII 
 
 Reading 
 
 Rate 
 
 Comprehension 
 
 Addition 
 
 Subtraction 
 
 Multiplication 
 
 Division 
 
 Mixed Fundamentals . . 
 Arithmetical Reasoning 
 
 Spelling. 
 
 Writing 
 
 Speed 
 
 Quality 
 
 English Organization . . 
 
 Visual Vocabulary 
 
 Geography 
 
 History . 
 
 Grade averages . . . . 
 
 102 
 
 93 
 107 
 
 114 
 
 114 
 
 96 
 
 94 
 
 104 
 
 118 
 
 89 
 
 los 
 
 lOI 
 
 109 
 112 
 113 
 
 lOI 
 
 98 
 92 
 
 102 
 
 124 
 
 90 
 
 114 
 
 106 
 
 III 
 
 104 
 
 114 
 
 114 
 
 118 
 
 104 
 99 
 95 
 
 102 
 
 123 
 89 
 116 
 103 
 104 
 96 
 
 114 
 
 104 
 114 
 
 "3 
 114 
 109 
 102 
 99 
 99 
 
 126 
 87 
 114 
 108 
 102 
 95 
 
 117 
 102 
 116 
 
 114 
 119 
 114 
 104 
 104 
 105 
 
 123 
 84 
 116 
 108 
 III 
 106 
 
 123 
 109 
 118 
 119 
 119 
 117 
 
 113 
 no 
 109 
 
 129 
 
 84 
 
 116 
 
 IDS 
 
 III 
 
 107 
 
 122 
 108 
 120 
 119 
 121 
 119 
 
 115 
 109 
 108 
 
 131 
 
 86 
 
 113 
 III 
 114 
 109 
 
 103. 1 
 
 105.1 
 
 106. 1 
 
 106.7 
 
 109.5 
 
 112. 6 
 
 II3-7 
 
 General average, 108.4. 
 
 These are the ratings of two teachers of undoubted 
 ability, but with schools widely varying in average intelli- 
 gence and rate of progress. Yet the ratings show the 
 teachers to be of about equal ability. 
 
 The difference in achievement in the two schools is 
 due to difference in the average mentality of the pupils. 
 It would be eminently unfair to expect equal results with 
 the two schools, or to rate A as a poorer teacher than B 
 
78 
 
 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 because performance in A's school was less than that in 
 B's school. 
 
 Second Illustration of the Plan 
 
 Now let us consider the cases of two teachers of widely 
 different ability, but with schools approximately equal in 
 size and in the average inteUigence of pupils. Teacher C 
 is a normal-school graduate with several years' experience, 
 but with apparently little aptitude for or interest in the 
 work — a teacher who tries to teach as she was taught 
 regardless of her professional training. Teacher D is 
 an enthusiastic girl of twenty years who had had one sum- 
 mer term at normal school and one year's experience. 
 
 TABLE X. GRADE PER CENTS ON EACH TEST — 
 TEACHER C 
 
 Subjects 
 
 Grades 
 
 II 
 
 III 
 
 IV 
 
 VI 
 
 VII 
 
 80 
 
 84 
 
 88 
 
 92 
 
 95 
 
 75 
 
 81 
 
 80 
 
 85 
 
 90 
 
 84 
 
 85 
 
 90 
 
 91 
 
 94 
 
 92 
 
 90 
 
 89 
 
 96 
 
 95 
 
 90 
 
 89 
 
 94 
 
 90 
 
 96 
 
 78 
 
 8S 
 
 80 
 
 82 
 
 88 
 
 73 
 
 74 
 
 75 
 
 78 
 
 84 
 
 
 70 
 
 74 
 
 79 
 
 82 
 
 78 
 
 75 
 
 80 
 
 81 
 
 89 
 
 87 
 
 92 
 
 93 
 
 98 
 
 lOI 
 
 67 
 
 70 
 
 65 
 
 65 
 
 58 
 
 
 90 
 
 90 
 
 95 
 
 95 
 
 
 85 
 
 82 
 
 79 
 
 76 
 
 
 
 83 
 
 87 
 
 90 
 
 
 
 76 
 
 82 
 
 80 
 
 80.4 
 
 82.3 
 
 82.6 
 
 85.3 
 
 87.S 
 
 Reading 
 
 Rate 
 
 Comprehension 
 
 Addition 
 
 Subtraction 
 
 Multiplication 
 
 Division 
 
 Mixed Fundamentals . . 
 Arithmetical Reasoning 
 
 Spelling 
 
 Writing 
 
 Speed 
 
 Quality 
 
 English Organization . , 
 
 Visual Vocabulary 
 
 Geography, 
 
 History 
 
 Grade averages 
 
 General average, 83.9 
 
MEASURING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 79 
 
 Apparently she got more out of her summer session than 
 many do out of the whole course. Moreover, she has the 
 ability to adapt her knowledge to classroom use. 
 
 Tables X and XI give for the schools of C and D respec- 
 tively the same kind of data as Tables VIII and IX did 
 for the schools of A and B. 
 
 TABLE XI. GRADE PER CENTS ON EACH TEST — 
 TEACHER D 
 
 Subjects 
 
 Grades 
 
 II 
 
 IV 
 
 VI 
 
 VII 
 
 VIII 
 
 Reading 
 
 Rate 
 
 Comprehension 
 
 Addition 
 
 Subtraction 
 
 Multiplication 
 
 Division 
 
 Mixed Fundamentals . . 
 Arithmetical Reasoning 
 
 Spelling 
 
 Writing 
 
 Speed 
 
 Quality 
 
 English Organization . . 
 
 Visual Vocabulary 
 
 Geography 
 
 History 
 
 Grade averages 
 
 95 
 
 86 
 
 100 
 
 107 
 
 107 
 
 89 
 
 87 
 
 97 
 
 III 
 
 82 
 
 98 
 
 94 
 102 
 
 105 
 106 
 
 94 
 91 
 85 
 95 
 
 117 
 
 83 
 109 
 98 
 97 
 93 
 
 103 
 
 97 
 107 
 107 
 III 
 
 97 
 92 
 88 
 95 
 
 1x6 
 82 
 
 107 
 99 
 95 
 87 
 
 107 
 
 97 
 107 
 106 
 107 
 102 
 
 95 
 92 
 92 
 
 119 
 80 
 
 107 
 96 
 
 104 
 99 
 
 96.1 
 
 97.8 
 
 98.9 
 
 100.7 
 
 no 
 
 95 
 109 
 
 107 
 
 112 
 
 107 
 
 97 
 
 97 
 
 98 
 
 116 
 
 77 
 109 
 
 lOI 
 
 103 
 95 
 
 102.2 
 
 General average, 99 . 3 
 
 The average of I.Q.'s for C's school was 98.8 and that 
 for D's school was 102.2. This is a slight advantage for 
 D's school, but not nearly enough to account for the 
 difference in attainment in the two schools. Calculated 
 as before, 
 
8o STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 Cs rating = 83.9 + (100 - 98.8) = 85.1 
 And D's rating = 99.3 - (102.2 - 100) == 97.1 
 
 Here again the relative efficiency of the teachers is 
 reflected in the respective ratings of their schools when full 
 cognizance is taken of the average intelligence of the two 
 schools. 
 
 We use averages rather than medians in computing the 
 ratings of teachers because the schools are small with few 
 pupils in a grade. In larger schools with twenty or more 
 pupils to a grade the median scores could be as well used 
 in figuring grade per cents. In such case one should not 
 neglect to use median I.Q.'s as well as median scores. 
 And it might be well to mention here that when the scores 
 of subnormal children are thrown out of the reckoning 
 their I.Q's should be discarded also; otherwise the teach- 
 er's rating would be considerably raised. 
 
 Although, of course, this rating does not include every- 
 thing that should be taken into account in estimating a 
 teacher's worth to the school and to the community, it 
 nevertheless covers one of the most important factors to be 
 considered and furnishes a fairly objective test by means 
 of which on occasion a teacher can be convinced of her 
 own inefficiency. Certainly if a teacher fails seriously in 
 this phase of her work, she cannot profitably be kept on 
 the pay-roll for the sake of her personal appearance, good 
 moral influence, managing ability, or any other factor 
 or factors that go to make up a good teacher. 
 
 Salary and Rating 
 In addition to a substantial general raise in salaries 
 throughout the district for the current year, the school 
 boards were persuaded to grant special increases of one or 
 two dollars per week to certain teachers who rated ninety- 
 five per cent or better with ratings calculated as described. 
 
MEASURING EFFICIENCY OF TEACHERS 8i 
 
 None of the teachers who failed to get such a raise made 
 any complaint of favoritism, nor could they consistently 
 do so, since they had themselves accepted the basis on 
 which their ratings were determined. Furthermore, the 
 teachers are working this year with the understanding that 
 they will receive bonuses at the end of the year of five 
 dollars for every whole unit that they increase their ratings 
 over those of last year, the bonus not to exceed fifty dol- 
 lars. Thus, if a teacher's rating last June was 89.2 and 
 next June it has increased to 94.4, she will have increased 
 her rating five whole units. Hence she will receive a bonus 
 of twenty-five dollars. I know that most of the teachers 
 are working hard for a bonus. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 COMPARING THE EFFICIENCY OF SPECIAL 
 
 TEACHING METHODS BY MEANS 
 
 OF STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 In the last chapter five principal factors in a teacher's 
 efficiency were distinguished — namely, (i) managing 
 ability, (2) natural aptitude, (3) method of teaching, (4) 
 interest and industry, and (5) personaUty. The position 
 was taken that no one of these five factors can be accu- 
 rately and objectively measured independently of any or 
 all of the other factors. 
 
 Although method was one of the factors mentioned, we 
 nevertheless now propose to measure the efficiency of 
 methods. Note, however, that we do not propose to do so 
 independently of the other factors. 
 
 The Teacher and the Method 
 
 In general the efficiency of a teacher and the efficiency of 
 her methods are pretty much inseparable. It is a mooted 
 question whether or not there can be a good teacher with- 
 out good teaching methods. We hear it argued, for 
 example, that a good teacher with a poor method will 
 accomplish more than a poor teacher with a good method. 
 This argument implies that good teachers using poor 
 methods may secure better results than poor teachers 
 using good methods, in the same way that a good carpenter 
 with few and poor tools can do a better job than can the 
 novice with the best and most complete set of tools obtain- 
 able. We must admit that there is much truth in the 
 argument. Sometimes we find that a teacher who is 
 ignorant of approved methods, but who has great natural 
 
EFFICIENCY OF TEACHING METHODS 83 
 
 ability, is obtaining better results than another teacher 
 who is without natural aptitude, but who, perhaps with all 
 the advantages of professional training, is using, or rather 
 misusing, the most approved modern methods. One has 
 the true teaching instinct and ability to apply general 
 principles and the other lacks these advantages. 
 
 Whatever may be the actual relations between good and 
 poor teachers and good and poor methods, we can all agree, 
 I think, that the best teachers are those who combine 
 natural aptitude with thorough knowledge of up-to-date 
 methods together with skill in applying them so as to 
 realize their possibilities. And although we cannot meas- 
 ure the efficiency of a teacher's methods entirely apart 
 from consideration of her general ability, there is a way, 
 nevertheless, by which we can, with the help of standard- 
 ized tests, obtain fairly accurate comparisons of the effi- 
 ciency of various special methods, taking at the same time 
 full cognizance of the teacher's general ability. 
 
 Eliminating the Variables 
 
 This can be done somewhat as we solve simultaneous 
 equations in algebra — that is, by manipulating the 
 various quantities so as to eliminate all but one of the 
 unknowns. The value of the remaining unknown is 
 readily found after the others are equalized so as to cancel 
 each other. Yet it cannot be said that the eliminated 
 quantities are ignored. The manipulations required to 
 bring about the conditions suitable for their elimination 
 give them their full force in evaluating the result. 
 
 And so, if we are to find the relative values of two or 
 more special teaching methods, we must equalize as far as 
 possible the conditions under which those methods are 
 tried out, thus eliminating all the unknown quantities but 
 one. The chief of these external conditions that would 
 
84 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 affect the accuracy of our results are the general ability of 
 the teachers, the average mental abilities of the several 
 groups of pupils, and the time devoted to class work with 
 the method. 
 
 Two Ways of Comparing Methods; the First Case 
 
 Illustrated 
 
 Now there are two ways in which we may want to compare 
 methods. We may want to discover which of two or more 
 special methods of teaching a subject will give the best 
 results when used by teachers of equal general ability, or 
 we may want to learn which of two or more special meth- 
 ods can be used to best advantage by a certain teacher. 
 
 To illustrate the first case, suppose we wanted to com- 
 pare the results of drill in the fundamental operations of 
 arithmetic as conducted in the usual more or less unor- 
 ganized manner and without much regard for the special 
 difficulties involved in definite types of examples, with 
 results of drill in the same operations by means of the 
 Courtis Standard Practice Tests. To do this we should 
 first choose our teachers for the trial. Their general 
 ability should be as nearly equal as possible in order to 
 eliminate so far as may be any inaccuracy in our conclu- 
 sions due to differences in ability. Two teachers with 
 approximately equal ratings by the method described in 
 the last chapter would serve admirably. One should have 
 had no experience with, and if possible no knowledge of, 
 the Courtis Practice Tests or of similar practice material, 
 while the other should have had experience in their use 
 and knowledge of their basic principles. It would not do 
 to have the same teacher try to handle both methods 
 because, on the one hand, if she had had experience with 
 the practice tests, the defects of the haphazard procedure 
 would be largely nullified by her knowledge of the prin- 
 
EFFICIENCY OF TEACHING METHODS 85 
 
 ciples underlying them; while, on the other hand, if she 
 did not have such knowledge and experience, the advan- 
 tages of the Courtis method would in some measure be lost. 
 
 The next step is to choose two groups of pupils. These 
 groups should be neither too large nor too small; neither 
 large enough to be cumbersome to handle as a class nor 
 small enough to make average scores meaningless. From 
 ten or twelve to twenty in a group is probably about right. 
 The pupils in both groups should be in the same grade 
 and the average mental ages and average intelligence 
 quotients of the two groups should be as nearly equal as 
 possible. The pupil's mental ages and intelligence quo- 
 tients are obtained, of course, by means of intelligence 
 tests, some uses of which will be discussed in the next 
 chapter. 
 
 As soon as the pupils have been selected, they should be 
 carefully tested by means of standardized tests in the fun- 
 damentals, and their scores should be recorded. The 
 testing of both groups and the scoring of the papers should 
 be done by the same person, preferably a person experi- 
 enced in such work. The period of drill should begin as 
 soon as the tests have been given. Care should be taken to 
 see that, in each group, exactly the same amount of time 
 is devoted to drill in the fundamental operations each day. 
 At the end of eight or ten weeks the tests should be given 
 again, the scores recorded, and the progress of the two 
 groups compared. The difference in progress of the two 
 groups will approximate the difference in efficiency of the 
 two methods. 
 
 The degree of accuracy of the results will depend upon 
 the care with which the tests are given and the degree to 
 which the conditions of the drill work are equalized. It is 
 an open question whether or not the teachers themselves 
 should be informed of the main purpose in view — that is. 
 
86 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 the purpose of comparing the efficiency of the two methods. 
 If we could be perfectly sure that both teachers would be 
 thoroughly interested and honest about the experiment, 
 it would undoubtedly be wise to seek their intelHgent 
 cooperation, since by so doing we should be more likely to 
 get the best possible results from both methods. But if, 
 thinking that their reputations are at stake, one or both 
 are likely to be tempted to stretch the time limit for 
 daily drill or to persuade the pupils to drill themselves 
 for speed and accuracy outside of class, then it will proba- 
 bly be better to leave them in bhssful ignorance of the 
 main plot, merely seeing to it that each teacher devotes 
 the same amount of time to class drill in the fundamentals 
 each day. In this way one can infer what each of the 
 methods would accomphsh under everyday working con- 
 ditions in the hands of equally competent teachers. If 
 one is particularly desirous of getting the best results of 
 which either method is capable, this purpose may perhaps 
 be accomplished by asking each teacher separately to do 
 her very best. 
 
 An Experiment in Comparing Methods 
 
 This particular problem was worked out in my district 
 last year with rather interesting and fairly conclusive 
 results. The Courtis Standard Practice Tests were not 
 in use at that time in the district, but, wishing to introduce 
 them the following September, I planned ahead to have 
 the stage set for their appearance. That is, before the 
 practice tests were introduced generally, I wanted if 
 possible to prove definitely that better results could be 
 accomplished by their use with less drudgery for both 
 teachers and pupils. 
 
 This was before the teachers' ratings had been computed 
 as described in chapter vii. I did not therefore have this 
 
EFFICIENCY OF TEACHING METHODS 87 
 
 sort of guidance in selecting the teachers to carry out the 
 experiment; but I did have the records of progress for 
 each school as shown by the September and February tests. 
 
 Wishing to secure as representative results as possible 
 under the circumstances, I tried the experiment in each 
 of three different towns. To handle the work with the 
 practice tests one teacher in each town was selected who 
 had shown interest and capability in adapting new ideas 
 to classroom use and whose schools had made normal 
 progress during the first half of the year. Five weeks 
 before the end of the winter term these three teachers were 
 furnished with the Courtis Standard Practice Tests, 
 Teachers' Manuals, and Students' Practice Pads. I 
 showed them how to use the tests, pointed out their 
 advantages, and explained the principles underlying them. 
 Then I told them that for special reasons of which they 
 would be informed in due time, I was anxious to have 
 them become as expert as possible in using the tests by 
 the end of the term. They assured me that they would 
 do their best and I believe they did. At any rate, they 
 did exceedingly well. 
 
 The other three teachers, one in each of the same towns, 
 were chosen because their schools had also shown about 
 normal progress for the first half of the year, and because 
 of the further fact that they were all teachers of many 
 years' experience, somewhat set in their ways and not 
 taking kindly to new ideas, but withal hard-working, trust- 
 worthy, and capable of doing very good work in their own 
 ways. In other words, they were good old-fashioned 
 teachers. 
 
 The intelligence tests had been given by this time 
 throughout the district, and I hastened to record all the 
 mental ages and intelligence quotients for use in selecting 
 the several groups of pupils. They were finally chosen 
 
88 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 according to the plan outlined above except that the grades 
 in any one school were too small to permit groups of ten 
 pupils to be selected from the same grade in such a way 
 that the six groups would all average the same in both 
 mental ages and intelligence quotients. However, the 
 conditions regarding mental ages and intelligence quo- 
 tients were strictly observed and allowed for. The lowest 
 mental age in any group was ten years nine months and 
 the highest was eleven years five months. The I.Q's 
 ranged from 97 to 105. 
 
 Using the Woody Scales for measuring the ability of 
 pupils in the fundamental operations, I gave the first 
 tests to the six picked groups during the first week of the 
 spring term, and corrected and scored them myself, 
 tabulating the average scores for each group in each 
 subject as shown in Table XII, in the columns marked A. 
 As I gave the tests to each group of pupils, I had a talk 
 with their teacher, telHng her that for very important 
 reasons I wanted her to see how much improvement she 
 could bring about in that particular group during the 
 ensuing twelve weeks by drilling the pupils together just 
 fifteen minutes each day for speed and accuracy in the 
 fundamental operations of arithmetic. The three teachers 
 trained for the purpose were directed to use only the Cour- 
 tis Standard Practice Tests for the drill, but to use them 
 for all they were worth. None of the teachers had any 
 inkling of the real object in view. Yet each one w^as 
 keyed up to do her best after her own fashion. Every 
 pupil in the six groups was promised a special holiday for 
 not missing more than one day during the term. Peda- 
 gogically, of course, this may have been questionable, 
 but practically it proved very effective; and I hoped 
 that the end would justify the means. At any rate, I 
 know that a large majority of the pupils got their holiday. 
 
EFFICIENCY OF TEACHING METHODS 89 
 
 TABLE XII. AVERAGE SCORES IN THE WOODY SCALES 
 (a) Groups not using Practice Tests 
 
 Operation 
 
 Group I 
 
 Group 2 
 
 Group J 
 
 Averages 
 
 
 A 
 
 B 
 
 A 
 
 B 
 
 A 
 
 B 
 
 A 
 
 B 
 
 Addition 
 
 II. 6 
 8.2 
 8.5 
 5.5 
 
 21.0 
 
 14.8 
 10.6 
 12.2 
 8.5 
 25.9 
 
 12.0 
 8.4 
 8.3 
 5.9 
 
 21.0 
 
 14.7 
 10.3 
 12.0 
 8.0 
 26. 1 
 
 II. 8 
 
 7.9 
 
 8.1 
 
 6.1 
 
 22.2 
 
 15. 1 
 10.5 
 12.4 
 8.8 
 27.0 
 
 II. 8 
 8.2 
 
 S.3 
 
 5.8 
 
 21.4 
 
 14.8 
 10. 5 
 12. 2 
 
 8.4 
 26.3 
 
 Subtraction 
 
 Multiplication 
 
 Division 
 
 Mixed Fundamentals. . 
 
 (b) Groups using Practice Tests 
 
 
 
 Operation 
 
 Group 4 
 
 Group 5 
 
 Group 6 
 
 Averages 
 
 
 A 
 
 B 
 
 A 
 
 B 
 
 A 
 
 B 
 
 A 
 
 B 
 
 Addition 
 
 II. 9 
 8.1 
 8.0 
 
 5-4 
 22.0 
 
 16.0 
 12.4 
 
 15.3 
 
 9.6 
 
 29.0 
 
 II. 7 
 8.6 
 9.0 
 5-7 
 
 19.5 
 
 15-8 
 12. 2 
 
 iS-S 
 10.2 
 30.0 
 
 II. 7 
 8.0 
 8.4 
 5.8 
 
 23.0 
 
 16.3 
 II. 9 
 14.8 
 
 9-3 
 29.6 
 
 II. 8 
 8.2 
 8.4 
 5.6 
 
 21.5 
 
 16 
 
 Subtraction 
 
 12 2 
 
 Multiplication 
 
 Division 
 
 15-2 
 
 9-7 
 
 29. S 
 
 Mixed Fundamentals. . 
 
 The work was supervised as closely as possible through- 
 out the term. Neither from observation nor by question- 
 ing pupils could I detect any evidence that the rules of the 
 game were being disregarded by any of the teachers. At 
 the end of twelve weeks the pupils were again tested by 
 means of the Woody Scales. The average scores for each 
 group were placed in the B columns of Table XII in such 
 a way that each group's second score in each subject was 
 opposite its first score in the same subject. According to 
 the table, the average score of the pupils of group i on the 
 first test in addition (column A) was 11,6. The score for 
 the same group in the second addition test was 14.8 as 
 shown in the first B column. The scores for the three 
 
90 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 groups which did not use the practice tests are average 
 for both first and second tests and recorded in the fourth A 
 and B columns, while in like manner the general averages 
 for the three groups which used the practice tests are 
 recorded in the last two columns of the table. 
 
 It will be noted that, according to the A columns of the 
 general averages, the two main groups, the first consisting 
 of the three smaller groups in which the practice tests were 
 not used, and the second, of the three groups in which they 
 were used, started almost exactly even in the race as might 
 be expected under the circumstances. The first score of 
 both groups in addition was 11.8 and the first score in 
 subtraction for each group was 8.2. The remaining first 
 scores differed by but one or two tenths of a unit. But 
 this correspondence is no longer apparent when the B 
 columns of general averages are considered. The final 
 scores of the group using the practice tests are seen to be 
 considerably larger than those of the group not using them. 
 The differences between the scores contained in the fourth 
 and last B columns represent the difference in progress 
 of the two main groups. 
 
 The group of pupils drilled with the practice tests has 
 all the best of the argument, the difference in progress 
 being sufficiently great to prove conclusively considerable 
 superiority for the Courtis method properly handled. 
 On the whole, the improvement of all the groups was sur- 
 prisingly large for a period of only twelve weeks. It 
 amounted on the average to about a year of progress for 
 the groups which did not use the practice tests and to 
 about a year and three quarters for the group using the 
 practice tests. This merely goes to show what can be 
 accomplished by intensive work along definite lines when 
 the interests of teachers and pupils have been thoroughly 
 aroused. 
 
EFFICIENCY OF TEACHING METHODS 91 
 
 The Second Case: Comparing Methods when Used 
 BY the Same Teacher 
 
 Now to return to the second way in which we might want 
 to compare special methods. Suppose we wish to learn 
 which of two or three special methods will give the best 
 results with a particular teacher. This is quite a different 
 matter from measuring the relative efficiency of the 
 methods themselves. Only in exceptional cases can 
 methods be accurately compared when handled by the 
 same teacher. For such a purpose the teacher must be 
 equally skilled in the use of the methods to be compared 
 and without prejudice in favor of any particular method. 
 In particular she must have a thorough knowledge of the 
 special advantages and disadvantages of each method and 
 know how to minimize the latter and make the most of 
 the former. In no other way could the methods be given 
 a fair trial. Only an exceptionally well- trained and widely 
 experienced teacher, with the impartial mind of a scien- 
 tist seeking truth through experiment, could fulfill these 
 conditions. Such teachers are not to be found in every 
 school system. 
 
 We know that quite often a method of teaching which 
 has proved highly successful, when handled by its origina- 
 tor or by teachers specially trained by him, has failed 
 miserably when introduced into a school system where 
 the teachers were trained and experienced in other 
 methods. And such failure is not to be wondered at. 
 When the mere form of a new method, without its spirit, 
 is introduced among workers lacking a knowledge of the 
 proper technique to accompany the method, and natu- 
 rally prejudiced in favor of their own methods, the new 
 method is foredoomed to failure. A few of the better 
 teachers, specially endowed with adaptability and initia- 
 
92 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 tive, may grasp the essential advantages of the new 
 method, gradually evolve a suitable technique to fit it, and 
 adopt it as their own. But most teachers, finding them- 
 selves accomplishing less with the new method than they 
 did with the old, and longing for the famihar routine, will, 
 unless constant supervision prevents, return surrepti- 
 tiously at least to their former procedure, convinced that 
 there is none better and that attempting new methods is a 
 waste of time and trying to the nerves. 
 
 Of course, if the real interest of the teachers can be 
 aroused in the new method by a judicious advertising cam- 
 paign before it is introduced, and if everybody's patience 
 holds out long enough, and a definite poHcy of teacher 
 selecting and teacher training is carried on, eventually 
 the new method will come into its own if it really pos- 
 sesses marked advantages. But in too many instances 
 the innovation is discarded as worthless after a few 
 months of half-hearted trial without any adequate attempt 
 to modify the environment to fit the new method. And 
 the chief factors contributing to such failures in attempt- 
 ing to introduce into a school system new methods of 
 teaching are the indifference of teachers or their actual 
 antagonism toward new methods in general, their lack of 
 knowledge concerning particular new methods, and their 
 lack of foresight and initiative in adapting themselves 
 and their ideas to changing conditions. Probably the 
 most annoying factor and the one most difficult to elimi- 
 nate is the teacher's mental attitude toward new ways 
 of doing things, her clinging to familiar trails, and her 
 aversion to breaking new paths even in the interest of 
 finding a smoother, shorter, and pleasanter road to her 
 goal. 
 
 Hence new methods, unless real interest and behef in 
 them has been aroused in the teacher beforehand, have to 
 
EFFICIENCY OF TEACHING METHODS 93 
 
 contend against ignorance and indifference or prejudice 
 from the start. I repeat, therefore, that the efficiency of 
 new methods cannot be accurately compared with that 
 of old methods if the new ones are tested by the very 
 teacher whose own methods are being questioned as to 
 their comparative worth. Her attitude is too much like 
 that of the hen defending her chickens from the hawk that 
 would destroy them, the teacher's chickens being her own 
 familiar methods while the hawk is the superintendent 
 with his disturbing new ideas. 
 
 We can, however, determine pretty accurately which of 
 two methods a teacher can (or will) handle most efficiently 
 regardless of the actual possibilities inherent in the two 
 methods. And since it is essential that each teacher use, 
 in general, the methods with which she can produce the 
 best results, it is also essential that we know what those 
 methods are. It will not be found profitable, merely for 
 the sake of having certain new methods, to enforce their 
 continued use on teachers who cannot or will not produce 
 as good results with them as they produce with their own 
 methods. So we must have some way of determining 
 whether or not teachers are doing as well or better with 
 the new methods after using them a reasonable length of 
 time, say six months or a year. 
 
 A Suggested Plan of Procedure 
 
 This can be done with the help of standardized tests. 
 First select ten or a dozen pupils in the school with mental 
 ages and intelligence quotients as nearly equal as it is 
 possible to arrange. Divide them into two equal groups 
 that average about the same in mental ability. Next 
 test them with some standardized tests in the subject for 
 which special methods are to be compared. Then have 
 the teacher try out two methods, one on each group of 
 
94 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 pupils, over a period of three or four months. At the end 
 of that time give the tests again and compare the progress 
 of the two groups. 
 
 Such a trial will not prove necessarily which method is 
 the best as regards possibilities, nor with which method the 
 teacher could do the best if she had the proper inclination 
 and training, but it will prove which method she will do 
 the best with under existing conditions. And that is the 
 essential point. If, after preparing carefully for the 
 introduction of a new method of teaching some subject, 
 by discussing its possibilities with teachers individually 
 and collectively, and by furnishing them with suitable 
 reading material concerning its basic principles, special 
 advantages, and technique; if after demonstrating to the 
 teachers the proper handhng of the method and giving 
 them a reasonable length of time to acquire skill in its 
 use; and if after striving in every way to arouse their 
 interest and hearty cooperation in giving the new method a 
 thorough try-out; if, after doing all these things and as 
 many more as you can thinlc of, you make such a com- 
 parison as outlined above and find that a teacher either 
 cannot or will not do at least as good work with the new 
 method as she did with the old, then it is time to discard 
 either the teacher or the method. If your best teachers 
 have succeeded in getting superior results by using the 
 new method, it means that the method is all right and it 
 may be wise to keep the method and get a new teacher. 
 But if your best teachers have failed to get better results 
 with the new method after several months of earnest ef- 
 fort, it will be better to discard the method. 
 
 Need oe Testing Methods by Results 
 
 At any rate, in order that the children may get the most 
 for their time and the taxpayers the most for their money, 
 
EFFICIENCY OF TEACHING METHODS 95 
 
 it behooves us to make sure that the methods in use in the 
 schools under our direction are the most efficient that can 
 be used under existing circumstances. We can do this 
 either by selecting and training teachers to fit our chosen 
 methods or by selecting methods to fit the available 
 teachers. Most emphatically it is not efficiency to cling 
 to new methods forced upon untrained or improperly 
 trained and often unwilling teachers just because they are 
 up-to-date methods, when those teachers are not doing 
 as good work v/ith them as with their ov/n methods. 
 Unless we can train our teachers successfully in the proper 
 use of the new methods, or obtain teachers already trained 
 in their use, we had better stick to the old a little longer. 
 Standardized tests will help to prove whether or not the 
 new methods are more successful than the old methods 
 in a particular environment. Results are more important 
 than methods. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 SOME USES FOR INTELLIGENCE TESTS 
 
 Practical Notes for Practical Purposes 
 
 Another promising offspring of modern psychological 
 science is the standardized intelligence test. In the hands 
 of practical men intelligence tests are proving themselves 
 to be practical tools for practical purposes. During the 
 war they were used to obtain leaders of men for the army; 
 large industrial concerns are using them to pick young men 
 and women to be trained for executive positions; great 
 universities are using them in lieu of entrance examina- 
 tions to select students; social welfare organizations are 
 using them to discover feeble-minded individuals who 
 menace society as potential or actual criminals ; live teach- 
 ers and educational administrators are using them for 
 various purposes. We have heard much of them during 
 the last three or four years. Are we all getting our share 
 of the help they offer us? 
 
 I do not propose to enter into a comprehensive discus- 
 sion of the nature of inteUigence tests, the need for them, 
 their reliability, or the uses to which they might be put. 
 All this has been set forth at length and in a clear and 
 readable manner by Lewis M. Terman to whose book, 
 The Measurement of Intelligence, published by Houghton 
 Mifflin Company, I refer all readers desirous of a full dis- 
 cussion of intelligence testing in general and of the Binet- 
 Simon Intelligence Scale in particular. My own purpose 
 is merely to describe how we have put intelligence tests 
 to practical uses in our schools. 
 
SOME USES FOR INTELLIGENCE TESTS 97 
 
 Intelligence Tests Needed in School: Faulty 
 Judgments of Teachers 
 
 I SHALL, however, refer for a moment to the need for some 
 method of measuring objectively the relative mental 
 abilities of pupils in the schools. This need is not gener- 
 ally felt even among teachers and school men. Some of 
 the teachers whom I convinced with comparatively little 
 difficulty of the need for standardized tests for measuring 
 the progress of pupils in their studies were inchned to 
 scoff at the idea of intelligence tests. Their attitude may 
 be expressed in the words of one teacher of many years' 
 experience who said with a decided air of assurance, 
 " I guess I can tell the bright children from the dull ones 
 without the help of any intelligence tests." Just before 
 giving the intelligence tests in the school of this particular 
 teacher, I asked her to write down for me the name of the 
 brightest pupil in each grade according to her best judg- 
 ment. 
 
 As might be expected, and as events proved, her esti- 
 mates were right or nearly right in some cases and entirely 
 wrong in others. As an example of being wrong, she 
 selected as the brightest pupil in grade four, a twelve-year- 
 old girl of small stature who led her class in achievement. 
 Now it must be perfectly obvious to any one who con- 
 siders the matter seriously that it would be a very unusual 
 thing to find a mentally superior child of twelve years in 
 the fourth grade. The teacher, however, had neglected 
 the age factor in making her estimate of this child's mental 
 ability and had rated her as a very bright child simply 
 because she was doing the best work of any pupil in her 
 class. The fact that the child was small for her age and 
 so did not tower above her classmates of nine and ten 
 probably helped out the delusion. If this girl had been 
 
98 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 placed in a class of normal twelve-year-olds, she would 
 have been recognized at once as a dull pupil — a fact 
 which the mental tests at once disclosed. She had a 
 mental age of ten years two months and an intelligence 
 quotient of 80. 
 
 In reality the brightest child in the fourth grade proved 
 to be a little girl of eight years six months whom the 
 teacher estimated as ^^ just average." This girl had a 
 mental age of ten years and an intelligence quotient of 118. 
 Among pupils of her own age she would have been a shin- 
 ing star. The teacher's errors of judgment were due to 
 the fact that because of their ages the first girl was work- 
 ing a little below capacity and the second a little above 
 capacity. Teachers and others are too prone to estimate a 
 child's mental ability by comparing the amount and qual- 
 ity of his work with those of the other children in his grade 
 regardless of how much he may be advanced or retarded. 
 If the child happens to be in the normal grade for his 
 age, this judgment may be fairly accurate; otherwise it 
 is prone to be inaccurate. Personal judgment in such 
 matters must be replaced as far as possible by objective 
 measurement. 
 
 The Fallacy that All Pupils can make Satisfactory 
 
 Progress 
 
 Furthermore, intelligence tests are needed to help refute 
 a common fallacy which is almost unbelievably widespread 
 in the educational world as well as outside it — the fallacy 
 that under proper conditions and with proper instruction 
 every child, barring the obviously feeble-minded, is about 
 equally capable of making satisfactory progress in any 
 study. This idea is echoed in our Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, which offers as a self-evident truth that " All 
 men are created equal." It is reechoed in the rabid mouth- 
 
SOME USES FOR INTELLIGENCE TESTS 99 
 
 ings of I.W.W/s proclaiming the equality of men. It is 
 the precept and guide of the teacher who wastes her time 
 and the time of the brighter children of a class while 
 she holds them back and tries desperately to help one 
 or two mentally deficient classmates to keep up with the 
 rest. 
 
 Only a short time ago the principal of one of the oldest 
 and most famous academies in New England spent nearly 
 an hour assuring me most vehemently that there was 
 absolutely no reason in the world why, with proper instruc- 
 tion and sujSicient interested effort, one student could not 
 do just as well as another in Latin, history, algebra, or 
 chemistry — and this in face of the fact that he admitted 
 he had never been able to achieve such ideally uniform 
 results in any of his classes. I gathered from his talk, 
 however, that the failure was not due in any measure to 
 inadequate instruction, but entirely to widely varying 
 degrees of interest, industry, and application on the part 
 of his pupils. He was cock-sure and eloquent. I was so 
 amazed at his attitude and so overwhelmed by a torrent 
 of time-worn, dogmatic, and, to him, unassailable argu- 
 ments upholding his contention, that I could offer but a 
 feeble reply. I am convinced that he went away with 
 the firm belief that I was some new variety of incurable 
 crank. 
 
 ' Now any one with common sense who will forget 
 proverbs and doubtful platitudes long enough to give his 
 common sense time to function, can readily see that men 
 are not born equal. Perhaps they should be, but they are 
 not. They are not born equal mentally, physically, or 
 financially, nor even with that democratic equality of 
 opportunity of which we hear so much. We have all ex- 
 tremes mentally from the driveling idiot to the genius, 
 physically from the bedridden cripple to the physically 
 
100 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 perfect human being, and financially from the pauper to 
 the millionaire. Financial inequality may be more or less 
 overcome, and in many cases so also may physical in- 
 equality. But mental inequality, according to the psy- 
 chologists, seems to be pretty much a fixed condition. 
 They, with their brother scientists in the realm of ge- 
 netics, seem to have proved to the satisfaction of the 
 majority of their fellows that an individual's mental 
 capacities are determined from the moment of his con- 
 ception, and that the limitations of his mental develop- 
 ment are predetermined by the forces of heredity. This 
 means for us, among other things, that as soon as a school 
 child has reached his Hmitations, if not before, he will 
 begin to fall behind his classmates who have inherited 
 better mental equipment, and that no amount of extra 
 coaching on our part or effort on his part will enable 
 him to keep up for long unless the rest of the class is 
 held down to his pace. If, therefore, efficiency means 
 partly the ehmination of wasted effort, should we not, in 
 the name of efficiency, eliminate the waste of time and 
 energy expended in the hopeless task of trying to fit all 
 children to the same mould? 
 
 The Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale 
 
 Only for the past few years, in fact, only since the publica- 
 tion of the Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale (in some of its 
 later and better editions), have we really a practical and 
 fairly accurate tool for the measurement of inteUigence, 
 one which can be used effectively by interested persons of 
 ordinary intelligence with little experience in psychological 
 testing. This scale, because of the many years of careful 
 investigation and experiment by its originator, the several 
 painstaking revisions, and its careful standardization 
 both as to content and method of procedure, is undcubt- 
 
SOME USES FOR INTELLIGENCE TESTS loi 
 
 edly the most accurate intelligence test available. The 
 fact, however, that each individual must be interviewed 
 separately makes it unsuitable for general use in testing 
 large numbers of pupils, as, for example, in making an 
 educational survey. For a few examiners to test thou- 
 sands of children in a large school system, or for one 
 examiner to test several hundred children in a small school 
 system, with the Binet-Simon Scale would take more time 
 than is usually available for such purposes. This is espe- 
 cially true if the testing must be done by the superin- 
 tendent or his assistants along with their numerous other- 
 duties. 
 
 Group Tests of Intelligence 
 
 When we entered the war against Germany our military 
 authorities were faced with the problem of selecting and 
 training thousands of new officers to lead the millions of 
 raw recruits furnished by the draft. Time was at a 
 premium. The psychologists offered their assistance, and 
 after a period of trial it was decided to permit them to 
 select the new officer material by giving intelligence tests 
 to the more promising of the drafted and enHsted men. 
 The above-mentioned limitation to the practical use of the 
 Binet-Simon Test was quickly realized and led to the rapid 
 devising and standardizing of group intelligence tests by 
 means of which hundreds of individuals could be tested at 
 one time. These tests were to some extent based on the 
 Binet-Simon Test and to a greater extent on the special 
 mental tests which had hitherto been used in psychological 
 laboratories (directions, analogies, opposites, etc.). The 
 new instruments, however, were adapted in organization 
 and method of procedure to group presentation, definite 
 response, and objective scoring. By the end of the war 
 such tests had reached a high degree of development. 
 
102 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 The industrial and social world, awakening to the possi- 
 bilities of mental measurement, soon adopted the army 
 tests for their own purposes, as they could well do, since 
 they were dealing mainly with adults. But radical 
 changes were required to fit them for use in testing the 
 mental abilities of elementary-school children. Devising 
 suitable group tests for the younger children who cannot 
 read or write much was the most difficult problem. This 
 problem has been partially solved within the last three 
 years by means of picture completion tests. There are 
 now available a number of excellent group tests adapted 
 to school use. In this district we have used the Otis 
 Group Intelligence Test for the upper grades, the Dear- 
 bom test for the lower grades, and the Haggerty tests for 
 all the grades. 
 
 Our Original Purpose to Locate the Mentally 
 
 Defective 
 
 Although we have derived several worth-while advan- 
 tages from the use of standardized intelligence tests in the 
 schools, the original purpose in giving them was to dis- 
 cover all the mentally incompetent children in the schools 
 of the district. The scheme for measuring the ability of 
 teachers by the progress of their pupils, as described in a 
 previous chapter (such progress to be measured by stand- 
 ardized achievement tests), demanded some way of know- 
 ing which pupils were mentally capable of making some- 
 where near normal progress and which ones were incapable 
 of doing so. It is manifestly unfair to expect teachers to 
 secure normal progress with feeble-minded or very dull 
 pupils. Accordingly, the work of determining the mental 
 ages and intelligence quotients of all the children in the 
 district was undertaken soon after they had been graded 
 in October. 
 
SOME USES FOR INTELLIGENCE TESTS 103 
 
 The Otis Test 
 
 At that time, as far as I knew at least, the most suitable 
 standardized group intelligence test on the market was 
 the Otis test.^ It contains excellent testing material 
 organized and arranged so as to be easily and objectively 
 scored. It is supposed to be used as low as the third 
 grade, but on checking up the results with those from the 
 Binet-Simon scale I found that, although the correlation 
 was fairly high in the seventh and eighth grades, it grew 
 rapidly less in going down the grades until in the third 
 grade it was too small to bespeak much accuracy for the 
 Otis test. This is assuming, of course, that the Binet- 
 Simon scale is the standard in accuracy. Just as a guess, 
 I might venture the opinion that the Otis test makes 
 too great demands on concentration and acquired reading 
 abihty to give accurate results below the sixth grade ex- 
 cept with the brightest children. 
 
 This failure of the Otis test to give accurate results in 
 the lower grades was som^ewhat discouraging. I had 
 planned to use it with all pupils above the second grade 
 and then gradually, as I could find time, to test out the 
 first two grades with the Binet-Simon scale. It now ap- 
 peared that I should have to begin with the individual 
 tests in the fifth grade and work down. In the interests 
 of uniformity and accuracy I planned to do all the mental 
 testing myself, and even with group tests this would be a 
 considerable task in a district where the schools were so 
 scattered. 
 
 The Haggerty Tests 
 
 Nevertheless, I tackled the job and by the end of the 
 fall term had tested more than seventy pupils with the 
 
 * This was the first of the tests which Dr. Otis brought out. 
 
104 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 Binet-Simon scale. During the first month of the winter 
 term other matters kept me busy. Then came the giving 
 of the midyear achievement tests and the attendant work 
 of tabulating results. I had just got around to taking up 
 the mental testing once more, when the Haggerty tests 
 made their appearance. I ordered some to try out. 
 They were first given in the four lower grades to the same 
 children to whom the individual tests had already been 
 given. I was delighted to find a fairly close agreement 
 between the Haggerty and Binet-Simon results even in 
 the first and second grades. Then I began all over again, 
 giving the Haggerty tests right through the district in all 
 the grades. The giving of the tests took about a week and 
 by the end of three weeks they were all corrected and the 
 results recorded. Each pupil's mental age and intelli- 
 gence quotient were recorded on his or her graph card 
 where they have often proved very enlightening when 
 studied in connection with the pupil's achievement record 
 on the same card. 
 
 A Case in which Intelligence Testing Helped 
 
 For instance, I have before me as I write the card of a 
 thirteen-year-old boy with an intelligence quotient of io8. 
 Although his mental age at the tim^e of the test was 
 thirteen years eleven months, he was only in the sixth 
 grade, and his achievement record showed that even in 
 that grade he was doing poor work. Now, why should a 
 child of his age and intelligence be doing poor work in the 
 sixth grade? Any one or more of various conditions m.ight 
 account for it, such as poor teaching, poor general health, 
 adenoids, enlarged tonsils, defective sense organs, un- 
 favorable living conditions at home, constant fatigue from 
 outside work, and so on. But if we are to handle such 
 cases with understanding and sympathy, we must know 
 definitely the cause of the trouble. 
 
SOME USES FOR INTELLIGENCE TESTS 105 
 
 In this boy's case a combination of untoward circum- 
 stances was found. To begin with, he was much over- 
 worked outside of school hours, often at tasks beyond his 
 strength. Moreover, his parents were constantly quarrel- 
 ing and snarling at each other, making home life a misery 
 to the sensitive boy. A medical examination showed him 
 to be in good general health, but revealed the fact that he 
 was a little deaf — a fact never before suspected even by 
 his parents. In connection with this fact it is significant 
 that his teacher was accustomed to speak in rather sub- 
 dued tones, so that he lost a large part of the oral instruc- 
 tion. To sum up, the boy was hard of hearing, sensitive, 
 tired, and discouraged. 
 
 Having discovered these conditions, we moved to 
 remedy them as far as possible. Seating the boy where he 
 could watch the teacher's lips at all times when she was 
 talking to the class enabled him to get much instruction 
 which under former conditions would have been lost to 
 him. A tactful show of sympathy and understanding on 
 the teacher's part, and words of encouragement instead of 
 constant nagging for failure to do the class work, brought 
 a new light to his eyes and the sullen look of a misunder- 
 stood boy left his face. His whole attitude toward the 
 school and its work changed. A talk with his father, who 
 did not mean to be either unreasonable or unkind, helped 
 to lighten his burden of work at home. A talk with both 
 parents concerning the effects of their constant bickering 
 on their boy's life served to make home life more pleasant. 
 They were really a devoted couple, and their quarreling 
 seemed to be more from habit and because they enjoyed 
 it than because of real ill-feeling. This pupil is undoubt- 
 edly a much happier boy, interested in his school work 
 and gradually catching up with the other children of his 
 age and ability in the school. He is no longer considered 
 dull. 
 
io6 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 Such investigations and readjustments are decidedly 
 worth while. But before they can take place our atten- 
 tion must be attracted to the need for investigation. And 
 here the worth of standardized tests, intelligently used, is 
 again demonstrated. In this boy's case it is interesting 
 to conjecture whether the need for investigation would 
 ever have become apparent, if the results of his mental and 
 achievement tests had not been recorded on the same card 
 and carefully studied together by some one interested in 
 interpreting them for the best good of all concerned. 
 
 This was a particularly interesting case, and for this 
 reason it was chosen to illustrate my point. But it is not 
 the only case where comparison of mental-test records 
 with achievement- test records has led to investigations 
 resulting in permanent good. And there is need of investi- 
 gation whenever a child grades high in mental ability and 
 low in actual achievement of school work. For it is very 
 unusual to find a pupil, physically and mentally normal, 
 in good health, and with good home influences, who is 
 doing unsatisfactory work in school. If such is appar- 
 ently the case, there is generally something wrong some- 
 where; and it is usually possible to make a beneficial 
 readjustment. 
 
 Another Case — A Menace 
 
 Another card represents a type of pupil constituting one 
 of the serious school and social problems. It is the record 
 of a boy of fifteen years six months. His mental age is 
 nine years two months, and his intelligence quotient 59. 
 This boy's graph shows that he cannot do satisfactory" 
 work in the third grade, although he has been in that grade 
 for four years. Investigation revealed his immediate 
 ancestry to be of universally low mental and moral 
 caliber. This boy is a menace to the school and the school 
 
SOME USES FOR INTELLIGENCE TESTS 107 
 
 is a menace to him. He is a menace to the school because, 
 with all the dawning strength, instincts, passions, and 
 emotions of the primitive male controlled only by the 
 undeveloped mind of a nine-year-old, he is no fit associate 
 for normal boys and girls. The school is a menace to him 
 Because, instead of furnishing him with interesting and 
 valuable employment suited to his abilities, it is wasting 
 time that he could more profitably and instructively 
 employ elsewhere and because it is forcing upon him habits 
 gf idleness and failure. 
 
 XjJnless special classes are available, the public school is 
 no place for children with intelligence quotients much 
 below 70, ^especially when they have become two or more 
 years retarded in their school work. No further evidence 
 is needed that they have reached the limit of their mental 
 development along the lines of the ordinary program of 
 studies. Whenever possible they should be transferred to 
 special institutions where they can have special training 
 suited to their needs and capacities; and rtieasures should 
 be taken to prevent them from reproducing their kind. 
 At any rate, the public schools should be rid of them. 
 X^^ith the proofs furnished by the results of intelligence 
 tests, backed by the child's record of achievement in his 
 school work, it ought to be possible to get school boards 
 to act in excusing such children from school even if they 
 cannot be otherwise properly taken care of. / \^ 
 
 B order-Line Cases 
 
 Still more of a problem, from all points of view, are the 
 children with intelligence quotients ranging from 65 to 80. 
 More often than otherwise they appear superficially to be 
 entirely normal or even bright. They may do excellent 
 work in the first four grades where habit formation is the 
 chief end to be attained and where drill is the chief feature 
 
io8 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 of instruction. Sometimes they continue to do fairly well 
 even in the upper grades in schools where much rote 
 memorizing prevails and where memorizing ability is 
 mistakenly considered an index of general intelligence and 
 learning power. But in properly conducted schools such 
 children begin to fall behind their classmates in the fifth 
 and sixth grades and soon become hopelessly retarded. 
 They have reached the limits of their abilities in learning 
 from books or from ordinary schoolroom instruction. 
 They are very much lacking in the powers of initiation, 
 discrimination, and reasoning demanded by the higher 
 types of learning. They are incapable of higher thought 
 processes. Hence they fail in grammar, problem-solving 
 in mathematics, and in the content subjects if the teaching 
 of the latter demands, as it should, more than mere 
 memorization of facts. 
 
 7^ Teachers are often unjustly blamed because such chil- 
 dren fail in their work. Parents wonder why their children 
 cannot learn under the new teacher as well as they did 
 under the old when it is in no way the fault of the teacher. 
 The children Jiave simply reached their limit of mental 
 development;-. Jf a child reaches the limit of his mental 
 development at a mental age of eleven years, he will never 
 be much older than eleven years mentally, though he lives 
 to be a hundred. Children of this sort are too often per- 
 mitted to become the pacemakers in their classes to the 
 untold harm of the brighter pupils. But in spite of all 
 attempts to keep them along with the other and brighter 
 children of the same age, they finally get completely be- 
 yond their depth and fail day after day in their school 
 tasks until they begin to believe they are absolute failures 
 and that success in anything is impossible for them. They 
 grow discouraged, give up trying, and devote themselves 
 to mischief or wait passively for the legal age limit to be 
 
SOME USES FOR INTELLIGENCE TESTS 109 
 
 reached so that they can leave school and earn something 
 in return for their time. ^Meanwhile, failure and idleness 
 have all too often become habits that follow them beyond 
 the schoolroom and lessen their social efficiency. In such 
 cases the school has defeated its own ends. 
 ^ This type of child, the high-grade moron, is such a 
 problem partly because he is not generally recognized as 
 being mentally deficient. The shortcomings of the feeble- 
 minded are generally evident, and no one expects much 
 from them. ^^ The high-grade moron, however, is usually 
 normal in appearance and in ordinary intercourse with 
 other people appears to be normal mentally. It is only 
 when situations arise which demand the functioning of the 
 higher forms of intelligence that he reveals his deficiencies. 
 Even his teacher often fails to understand why he con- 
 tinually fails in his school work. He is characterized as 
 " obstinate " and " lazy " when in reality he is mentally 
 deficient and incapable of doing the work demanded of 
 him. XCarefully conducted mental tests will reveal such 
 cases and should lead to more sympathetic and intelligent 
 treatment of them. 
 
 X When such children become retarded as much as two 
 years, it is little less than criminal to keep them in rural 
 or small-town schools where there are no special classes 
 for their benefit and where there is not sufficient differen- 
 tiation of courses to permit of their being given amounts 
 and kinds of work suited to their abilities. _ If possible 
 they should be sent to manual trades schools where they 
 can be taught a trade and at the same time be given as 
 much cultural training as they are capable of acquiring. 
 Otherwise some arrangements should be m.ade whereby 
 they can leave school and go to work under the super- 
 vision of their parents or of other responsible persons who 
 will instruct them in the rudiments of some useful line of 
 
no STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 work. They might still be under the supervision of the 
 school authorities to the extent of being obliged to spend 
 as many hours per week in useful labor under real instruc- 
 tion as normal children spend in school; such supervision 
 of the school authorities to continue until the legal age 
 limit for compulsory attendance is reached. And why 
 could not school credits be allowed for such work? 
 
 Intelligence Tests Used in Rating Teachers 
 
 To return, however, to my main purpose in giving the 
 intelligence tests. When I first discussed with the teach- 
 ers of the district the feasibility of some scheme of rating 
 teachers based principally on the progress made by their 
 pupils, it was objected that the varying mental abilities 
 of the children would make such rating unfair unless the 
 records of the slower pupils were ignored. But who was 
 to be the judge as to which pupils were incapable of mak- 
 ing normal progress? It was this situation which led us 
 to make use of the intelligence tests. We agreed to dis- 
 card in calculating the teachers' ratings the records of all 
 pupils with intelligence quotients below 80. Later a still 
 better scheme was worked out based on the average in- 
 telligence quotients of the different schools in such a way 
 as to take full cognizance of the varying mental abilities 
 of pupils,^ Thus, a teacher with a school composed in 
 general of dull children would not suffer in comparison 
 with a teacher of equal ability with a school largely con- 
 sisting of bright children. That is, two teachers of about 
 equal ability would get approximately equal ratings re- 
 gardless of the comparative average mentalities of their 
 respective schools. In this scheme the intelligence test 
 was the impartial judge whose findings were accepted as 
 satisfactory by both teachers and superintendent. 
 
 1 See chapter vii. 
 
SOME USES FOR INTELLIGENCE TESTS in 
 
 Identifying the Bright Pupils 
 
 ^Another valuable service of the intelligence tests was in 
 locating the children of very superior abilities. In one 
 school of twenty-five pupils I discovered five with intelli- 
 gence quotients around 140 and none with intelligence 
 quotients of less than 80. This school was locally noted 
 as being uniformly fortunate in securing good teachers 
 under whom the pupils advanced very well indeed. Of 
 course it would be a mighty poor teacher who could n't 
 get passable results with such a school. In another school 
 I found, working with other children of about the same 
 chronological age, a little girl of eight years six months 
 with a mental age of twelve years and an intelligence 
 quotient of 142. In the ordinary run of events she would 
 probably have secured no further recognition of her 
 superior abilities than regular promotion and graduation 
 in due time. She is now nine years five months old and 
 leading her class in the fifth grade. She could probably 
 do satisfactory work in the sixth grade. 
 
 This type of pupil is not generally recognized as a seri- 
 ous problem. And, in truth, the situation is more serious 
 for the pupil and the public than for the teacher, however 
 unconscious of the fact the pupil and the pubhc may be. 
 As at present organized, the average school is probably 
 doing such children as much harm as it is good, in that it 
 does not furnish them with opportunity and incentive to 
 develop their capacities to the limit. It is from among 
 these children that the leaders of the future are to come, 
 and the public which foots the bills is being cheated when 
 such children are not given opportunity to develop as they 
 should. The present generation is retarded in progress 
 by the provincial narrowness of natively intelligent but 
 mentally blind leaders of the blind whose possibilities for 
 
112 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 development were early cramped to deformity in the nar- 
 row confines of the traditional elementary and secondary 
 school programs by being forced to travel in a groovejjx 
 competition with their mentally inferior classmates. \Our 
 school system can never attain nearly to its maximum 
 efficiency until programs and courses of study are so 
 differentiated as to fit the kind and quantity. of work to 
 the mental capacities of individual pupllsj /The stand- 
 ardized intelligence test will prove a usefuTtool in shaping 
 plans toward that end>^ y /W 
 
 Special Opportunities in City Systems 
 
 The problems noted above are present to a greater or less 
 extent in practically all school systems; but it is in the 
 cities that, with the help of standardized tests, they may 
 be most easily solved. The city superintendent has, or 
 can arrange to have, special classes or even special schools 
 to take care of the feeble-minded children so as to separate 
 them from the other pupils. Those troubled with sensory 
 defects or other serious physical deficiencies can be placed 
 in special classes or institutions provided for their benefit. 
 Then with two, or preferably three, divisions in each grade, 
 the children can be assigned on the basis of mental ages 
 and intelligence quotients to groups from which fairly 
 uniform work can be expected. 
 
 Let us suppose, for instance, that intelligence tests have 
 been given to the fifth grade in a large city school and that 
 the mental ages and intelligence quotients of all the pupils 
 have been recorded on cards together with their respective 
 names. First, the average mental age for the whole grade 
 should be computed and all cards sorted out which are 
 marked with mental ages more than a year above or below 
 the average for the grade. The pupils represented by 
 these cards should be given special attention. Their 
 
SOME USES FOR INTELLIGENCE TESTS 113 
 
 achievement records should be studied and, where possible, 
 they should be retested with the Binet-Simon scale if that 
 scale was not used in the first instance. It will probably 
 be found that most of these pupils do not belong in the 
 fifth grade at all, but in the fourth or sixth grade. Next, 
 the remaining cards may be sorted into four piles. Let 
 the first contain the intelligence quotients below 70; the 
 second, those from 70 to 90; the third, those from 90 to 
 115; and the fourth, those above 115. These groupings 
 are of course rather arbitrary and might be varied some- 
 what. All pupils with intelligence quotients much below 
 70 would probably be best placed in special classes or 
 schools. The other three groups might be termed the A, 
 B, and C divisions of grade five; and the children in each 
 group, being of approximately equal mental age and in- 
 telHgence, should be able to do about the same kind and 
 amount of school work. Since there are no sharp lines of 
 demarcation between groups, some further adjustments 
 should probably be made as experience might dictate. 
 1/ The courses of study could then be adapted to the vari- 
 ous groups. The group of dull pupils might be assigned a 
 minimum of book work and a maximum of manual train- 
 ing. The pupils in the normal group would perhaps divide 
 their time somewhat evenly between these two lines of 
 work. The superior group could probably accomplish as 
 much of the manual work as the normal group and much 
 more of the mental work. 
 
 In this way intelligence tests may assist in bringing 
 about that much-needed differentiation in courses of study 
 which will permit each pupil to have work more suited to 
 his particular abilities. Although it is advisable, where 
 possible, to have a double grouping based on the results of 
 intelligence tests — namely, one grouping according to 
 mental ages for classification by grades and the other 
 
TI4 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 grouping based on intelligence quotients for subdivisions 
 of grades — such a double grouping is not usually possible 
 in the smaller schools where all the pupils in a grade must 
 work together. In these cases the grouping must depend 
 more on the mental ages, as will be explained farther on. 
 
 Intelligence Tests for Grading Purposes 
 
 It was while engaged in recording the mental ages and 
 intelligence quotients of the pupils on their respective 
 graph cards that the possible use of intelligence tests for 
 grading purposes occurred to me. I gradually became 
 conscious of the fact that, although there was wide varia- 
 tion in the chronological ages of the children in any one 
 grade (as they had already been graded by the standardized 
 achievement tests), the mental ages in a grade did not 
 usually appear to vary by more than a few months or a 
 year from the average mental age for the grade. Now if, 
 as may apparently be expected, there is close correlation 
 between the results of intelligence tests and the combined 
 results of achievement tests, that is, between mental 
 ability and accomplishment of school tasks, why cannot 
 intelligence tests be used instead of achievement tests for 
 grading purposes, at a considerable saving of time and 
 energy? 
 
 When, therefore, I had finished recording the results of 
 the intelligence tests on the graph card, I proceeded to 
 develop this idea. The chronological and mental ages of 
 all the sixth-grade pupils in the Tamworth schools were 
 tabulated as shown in Table XIII. 
 
 The Small Range of Mental Ages in Each Grade 
 
 The variation in chronological ages within this sixth grade 
 is from nine years five months for the youngest pupil to 
 fifteen years three months for the oldest — a total range 
 
SOME USES FOR INTELLIGENCE TESTS 115 
 
 TABLE XIII. COMPARISON OF MENTAL AND CHRONO- 
 LOGICAL AGES OF SIXTH-GRADE PUPILS 
 TAMWORTH SCHOOLS 
 
 Number of pupils 
 Age Chronological Mental 
 
 9-0 to 9-5 I 
 
 9-6 to 9-1 1 I 
 
 10-0 to 10-5 o 
 
 10-6 to 1 i-i 1 3 
 
 II-O to 11-5 2 I 
 
 11-6 to ii-ii 6 7 
 
 12-0 to 12-5 10 14 
 
 12-6 to 12-11 5 II 
 
 13-0 to 13-5 1 6 
 
 13-6 to 13-11 3 
 
 14-0 to 14-5 2 
 
 14-6 to I4-II 2 
 
 15-0 to 15-5 3 
 
 Total 39 39 
 
 of five years ten months, or of nearly six years. On the 
 other hand, the variation in mental ages of the same 
 children is from eleven years five months to thirteen years 
 five months — a total range of only two years. Indeed, if 
 the first two pupils and the last pupil are omitted, the 
 range is only one and a half years. These facts would 
 indicate that the grading with the achievement tests had 
 served to bring together children of much the same men- 
 tahty and that intelligence tests would possibly have 
 served equally well if not better for grading purposes. 
 Similar tabulations were made for the se,cond- and third- 
 grade pupils. The results were not quite so convincing, 
 but were nevertheless significant. The range in mental 
 ages for the third grade was one year nine months and for 
 the second grade two years three months. There was 
 twenty-two per cent of overlapping of mental ages be- 
 tween these two grades. The increasing range of mental 
 ages within a grade as we go down the grades would seem 
 
1 16 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 to support the reasonable and suspected fact that for 
 accuracy of results these tests are less dependable the 
 younger the children tested. The overlapping encountered 
 in the two lower grades led me to make still another tabu- 
 lation — namicly, of the seventh grade — so that I could 
 compare it with the sixth grade on the basis of the over- 
 lapping of mental ages. There was an overlap of about 
 fourteen per cent between these two grades. This would in- 
 dicate that the amount of overlapping also increases from 
 higher to lower grades and probably for the same reason 
 mentioned above for the increase in range of mental ages. 
 
 Mental Ages of Pupils in Each Grade 
 
 Then I began to wonder how much differently the pupils 
 would have been grouped by grades if the grading had been 
 done with intelligence tests instead of achievement tests. 
 So I constructed a distribution as shown in Table XIV. 
 Having no established data as to what the hmits of the 
 range should be for the different grades, considerable ex- 
 perimenting was necessary with different arrangements of 
 intervals. A two-year range was finally adopted, since I 
 had already found, as described above, that the range of 
 mental ages for each grade was about two years. Since 
 children ordinarily enter school between ages six and eight, 
 and since the chronological age of a normal child corre- 
 sponds with his mental age, the first grade was assigned 
 the range of mental ages from 6-0 to 7-1 1. (The ex- 
 pression " 7-1 1 " means 7 years 11 months and so for like 
 expressions.) The interval used in Table XIV is one year, 
 but two intervals are allowed for each grade in order to 
 show a more exact distribution. This arrangement also 
 allows for an overlapping between grades of one year of 
 mental age. Thus, the normal range for the first-grade 
 pupils is from 6-0 to 7-1 1, that for the second grade from 
 
SOME USES FOR INTELLIGENCE TESTS 117 
 
 7-0 to 8-1 1, that for the third grade from 8-0 to 9-1 1, and 
 so on. Moreover, the children in any annual age group 
 may be normally in either of two grades. For instance 
 the nine-year-olds are normally placed in either the third 
 or fourth grade. The first grade might be regarded as 
 having a range of three years because all children with 
 mental ages below 6-0 will naturally be included in that 
 grade. A somewhat similar statement may be made for 
 the eighth grade, since it might be expected to include any 
 children with mental ages above 13-0. This bunching of 
 mental ages is, of course, due to the fact that these grades 
 are the lowest and highest respectively in the school. 
 
 ' TABLE XIV. MENTAL AGES OF PUPILS IN EACH GRADE 
 
 Mental ages 
 
 Grades 
 
 Total 
 
 1 
 
 II 
 
 III 
 
 IV 
 
 V 
 
 VI 
 
 VII 
 
 VIII 
 
 Sto s-n-..- 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 27 
 
 36 
 4 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 X 
 
 5 
 
 18 
 
 28 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 6 to 6-ir..^.. 
 
 39 
 
 45 
 
 43 
 
 7 to 7-IX..,.- 
 
 43 
 46 
 
 93 
 
 8 to 8-1 1 ^ 
 
 2 
 
 28 
 41 
 
 81 
 
 9 to 9-11..... 
 
 S 
 
 26 
 19 
 
 77 
 
 10 to lO-II 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 S6 
 
 11 to II-Il 
 
 12 to 12-11..... 
 
 4 
 
 I 
 
 23 
 47 
 
 70 
 73 
 
 i3toi3-ii..... 
 
 3 
 6 
 
 3 
 34 
 
 36 
 
 14 and over 
 
 IS 
 
 55 
 
 Total 
 
 94 
 
 98 
 
 78 
 
 56 
 
 73 
 
 86 
 
 67 
 
 40 
 
 592 
 
ii8 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 Grading by Mental and Achievement Tests Sub- 
 stantially THE Same 
 
 Table XIV shows the distribution of pupils as they are 
 actually graded in this district on the basis of achievement 
 in standardized tests. Five hundred and ninety-two 
 children are represented. All figures between the heavy 
 zigzag lines represent children normally placed according 
 to their mental ages. The figures outside these lines repre- 
 sent pupils working, for some reason, in higher or lower 
 grades than the tests show them to be fitted for. Take the 
 third-grade column, for instance. In this grade there are 
 28 children between 8-0 and 8-1 1 and 41 between 9-0 and 
 9-1 1 that rightly belong there. There are four children 
 in the grade that, according to their mental ages, ought to 
 be in the first or second grade, and on the same basis still 
 other children belong in the fourth and fifth grades. 
 
 Now, if all the schools were graded strictly on the basis 
 of the mental ages of pupils, all the figures would fall be- 
 tween the zigzag lines. Hence 89 out of 592, or 15 per 
 cent, of the pupils are working above or below their indi- 
 cated mental capacities. Of these, 7.1 per cent are work- 
 ing above or trying to, and 7.9 per cent are working below. 
 This shows on the whole a pretty close agreement between 
 the results of intelligence and achievement tests and indi- 
 cates that either gives substantially the same basis for 
 grading. 
 
 I have studied the records of the children whose mental 
 ages show them to be misplaced and find that most of those 
 working above normal grade are pupils who had been 
 pushed too far ahead by their teachers before the prelimi- 
 nary grading took place and whom, since they were work- 
 ing hard to hold their places, we did not demote when 
 regrading. About half of the pupils shown as working 
 
SOME USES FOR INTELLIGENCE TESTS 119 
 
 below their apparent mental capacities are accounted for 
 by retardation due to sickness or absence, poor general 
 health, sensory defects, etc. Most of the others remain a 
 mystery as yet. Gradually we hope to work most of the 
 misplaced ones into their proper mental-age groups so that 
 the grouping of pupils throughout the district will be based 
 pretty closely on mental age. 
 
 City schools can be graded with intelligence tests into 
 eight mental-age groups as shown in Table XIV and then, 
 since there will be a wide variation of intelligence quotients 
 within each mental-age group, these groups can be sub- 
 divided into grade divisions or sections as explained above. 
 But the smaller rural schools without grade subdivisions 
 must necessarily be satisfied with a less perfect distribution. 
 
 A Proposed Plan of Grading in a Rural School 
 
 Let us suppose that we have given the intelligence tests 
 in a rural school and that the mental ages and intelligence 
 quotients of the pupils are found to be as shown in Table 
 XV. Now, let us select from this table all the pupils with 
 mental ages within the first-grade range (all below 8-0); 
 and let us list them separately in Table XVI with their 
 respective intelligence quotients. 
 
 In discussing Table XIV it was noted that part of the 
 children in the 7-0 to 7-1 1 age group would normally be 
 in the second grade. How shall we decide which ones to 
 place in the second grade? To begin with, no child just 
 beginning school will belong there. Accordingly, in Table 
 XVI let us mark v/ith a star the number of each pupil who 
 attended school the previous year. These pupils may enter 
 the second grade if their mentality is normal or better. 
 Let us therefore mark with an additional star those with 
 intelligence quotients of 90 or above. Those thus marked 
 with a double star may be assigned to the second grade. 
 
120 
 
 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 TABLE XV. RESULTS OF MENTAL TESTS IN A SELECTED 
 
 SCHOOL 
 
 Pupil 
 
 Mental 
 
 Intelligence 
 
 Pupil 
 
 Mental 
 
 Intelligence 
 
 number 
 
 age 
 
 quotient 
 
 number 
 
 age 
 
 quotient 
 
 I 
 
 5-0 
 
 76 
 
 23 
 
 7-0 
 
 80 
 
 2 
 
 7-1 
 
 76 
 
 24 
 
 13-0 
 
 106 
 
 3 
 
 7-1 1 
 
 103 
 
 25 
 
 14-7 
 
 no 
 
 4 
 
 7-9 
 
 79 
 
 26 
 
 9-4 
 
 73 
 
 5 
 
 6-II 
 
 100 
 
 27 
 
 7-9 
 
 83 
 
 6 
 
 8-4 
 
 91 
 
 28 
 
 9-8 
 
 80 
 
 7 
 
 15-7 
 
 128 
 
 29 
 
 7-8 
 
 68 
 
 8 
 
 IO-8 
 
 100 
 
 30 
 
 14-0 
 
 no 
 
 9 
 
 15-0 
 
 123 
 
 31 
 
 9-10 
 
 78 
 
 lO 
 
 II-IO 
 
 84 
 
 32 
 
 9-0 
 
 93 
 
 11 
 
 13-7 
 
 108 
 
 33 
 
 II-O 
 
 108 
 
 12 
 
 10-9 
 
 132 
 
 34 
 
 12-4 
 
 80 
 
 13 
 
 9-2 
 
 96 
 
 35 
 
 9-0 
 
 95 
 
 14 
 
 ii-i 
 
 100 
 
 36 
 
 8-0 
 
 92 
 
 15 
 
 13-9 
 
 138 
 
 37 
 
 10-6 
 
 85 
 
 i6 
 
 9-7 
 
 lOI 
 
 38 
 
 lO-I 
 
 73 
 
 17 
 
 8-5 
 
 71 
 
 39 
 
 8-6 
 
 ICO 
 
 i8 
 
 lO-O 
 
 90 
 
 40 
 
 9-1 
 
 85 
 
 19 
 
 7-9 
 
 95 
 
 41 
 
 12-0 
 
 83 
 
 20 
 
 10-6 
 
 70 
 
 42 
 
 13-9 
 
 102 
 
 21 
 
 13-5 
 
 108 
 
 43 
 
 8-7 
 
 73 
 
 22 
 
 8-6 
 
 82 
 
 
 
 
 TABLE XVI. 
 
 Pupil 
 number 
 
 I 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 19 
 23 
 27* 
 29* 
 
 4c* 
 
 PUPILS WITH MENTAL AGES BELOW EIGHT 
 YEARS 
 
 {Daia Jrom Table XV) 
 
 Mental 
 
 Intelligence 
 
 age 
 
 quotient 
 
 5-0 
 
 76 
 
 7-1 
 
 76 
 
 7-1 1 
 
 103 
 
 7-9 
 
 79 
 
 6-1 1 
 
 100 
 
 7-9 
 
 95 
 
 7-0 
 
 80 
 
 7-9 
 
 83 
 
 7-8 
 
 68 
 
SOME USES FOR INTELLIGENCE TESTS 121 
 
 All the others in this table will therefore go to make up the 
 first grade. 
 
 Next let us consider the mental-age group from 8-0 to 
 8-1 1 and list them in Table XVII. Part of these belong in 
 
 TABLE XVII. PUPILS WITH MENTAL AGES BETWEEN EIGHT 
 
 AND NINE 
 
 Pupil 
 number 
 
 6* 
 
 17 
 22 
 
 36* 
 39* 
 43 
 
 the third grade and part in the second. We will choose 
 those with intelligence quotients of 90 or better for the 
 third grade and mark each of their numbers with a star. 
 The second grade will then consist of pupils 17, 22, and 43 
 from Table XVII and pupils 3, and 19 from Table XVI. 
 
 Table XVIII lists the pupils of the mental-age group 
 from 9-0 to 9-1 1. The starred numbers (intelligence 
 quotients of 90 or above) will be placed in the fourth 
 grade, while the rest, together with the starred numbers 
 from Table XVII, will make up the third grade. 
 
 {Data from Table 
 
 XV) 
 
 
 Mental 
 
 
 Intelligence 
 
 age 
 
 
 quotient 
 
 8-4 
 
 
 91 
 
 8-5 
 
 
 71 
 
 8-6 
 
 
 82 
 
 8-0 
 
 
 92 
 
 8-6 
 
 
 100 
 
 8-7 
 
 
 73 
 
 TABLE XVIII. 
 
 PUPILS WITH MENTAL AGES 
 AND TEN 
 
 {Data from Table XV) 
 
 BETWEEN ] 
 
 Pupil 
 
 Mental 
 
 Intelligem 
 
 number 
 
 age 
 
 quotient 
 
 13* 
 
 9-2 
 
 96 
 
 16* 
 
 9-7 
 
 lOI 
 
 26 
 
 9-4 
 
 73 
 
 28 
 
 9-8 
 
 80 
 
 3^* 
 
 9-10 
 
 78 
 
 32* 
 
 9-0 
 
 93 
 
 35* 
 
 9-0 
 
 §5 
 
 40. 
 
 9-1 
 
 85 
 
122 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 Table XIX lists the age group from lo-o to lo-ii. 
 From this table pupils 8, 12, and 18 will be placed in grade 
 five, while pupils 20, 37, and ^8 will go with pupils 13, 16, 
 32, and 35 from Table XVIII to make up the fourth grade. 
 
 TABLE XIX. PUPILS WITH MENTAL ACES BETWEEN TEN 
 
 
 ANE 
 
 > ELEVEN 
 
 
 
 (Data from Table XV) 
 
 
 Pupil 
 number 
 
 
 Mental ^ 
 age 
 
 Intelligence 
 * quotient 
 
 8* 
 
 •» 
 
 10-8 
 
 100 
 
 12* 
 18* 
 
 20 
 
 37 
 38 
 
 • 
 • 
 
 10^ 
 lo-o 
 10-6 
 10-6 
 
 lO-I 
 
 132 
 90 
 
 70 , 
 8^ 
 
 . . 73 
 
 There may be somp, question as to the advisability of 
 placing pupil 18 in fiie filth grade, since his intelligence 
 quotient is barely 90. On the other hand, if pupil 12 has 
 had good instruction and is ambitious and industrious, he 
 may be able to work in grade six, since his intelligence 
 quotient of 132 shows hfm to be a pupil of very superior 
 ability. The remaining^ children listed in Table XV may 
 be assigned to their grades in like manner, whereupon the 
 prehminary grading of the school is completed. Some 
 readjusting will probably be found necessary for various 
 reasons which the results of intelligence tests do not allow 
 for. But when once adjusted there should be possible a 
 uniformity of achievement within grades that is absolutely 
 impossible in the school as ordinarily graded, where pupils 
 differing in mental age by as much as five or six years are 
 often found working together, or trying to work together 
 in the same grade. 
 
 As I have said before, when I first attempted to grade 
 pupils there were available no standardized group intelli- 
 gence tests that would cover all the giades. I therefore 
 
SOME USES FOR INTELLIGENCE TESTS 123 
 
 used achievement tests for grading purposes, as explained 
 in chapter iv. Although that grading has proved satis- 
 factory, and although Table XIV plainly shows it agrees 
 closely with the grading that would have been made if 
 intelligence tests had been used, nevertheless, if I had any 
 more preliminary grading to do, I should do it with the 
 group intelligence tests supplemented by the Binet-Simon 
 individual test wherever there was any doubt of the ac- 
 curacy of the results of the group tests. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 REACTION OF TEACHERS AND PUPILS TO 
 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 After having set forth my own views as to the value of 
 standardized tests in improving the efficiency of the 
 schools, and after having described in considerable detail 
 my methods of using the tests for such a purpose, it oc- 
 curred to me that it would be only fair to give the teachers 
 and pupils a chance to tell their side of the story; to tell in 
 what ways, if any, standardized tests had been of benefit 
 to them. If the work carried on with the tests for two 
 years had been as successful as I had judged it to be from 
 my point of view, the reports from the majority of the 
 teachers and pupils should be favorable and would thus 
 afford considerable support to my own views as published. 
 If their reports were not favorable, then many of the 
 values I had claimed for the tests would have to be dis- 
 counted and some of them would have to be declared 
 entirely imaginary. 
 
 Accordingly, all the teachers were invited to submit a 
 short paper on the advantages of using standardized tests, 
 this paper to be based wholly on their own two years' 
 experience in using the tests in their schools. Nineteen 
 teachers responded. The papers were v/ell shuffled before 
 any of them had been read, and every other one beginning 
 with the first was then chosen for reproduction here. 
 Afterward those not chosen were read, and all were found 
 to be in the same vein except three which were unfavor- 
 able. It was mere chance that none of the unfavorable 
 ones were drawn for reproduction. 
 
REACTION OF TEACHERS AND PUPILS 125 
 
 One of the papers which expressed unfavorable opinions 
 of standardized tests was from a very excellent teacher of 
 many years' experience and very thorough training in the 
 normal schools of twenty-five years ago. In fact she had 
 taught several years in teacher-training schools as a young 
 woman. The fact that she had fallen from high estate to 
 the level of a small rural school speaks for itself. She had 
 got into a rut which was too comfortable to leave for new 
 pathways. Worse still, her mind, during the last stages of 
 its plasticity, had apparently been caught in that violent 
 agitation of ten or a dozen years ago which declared any 
 sort of test or examination to be a cruel abomination, 
 highly detrimental to the physical, mental, and moral 
 health of its victims. That agitation was, of course, a 
 reaction against the foolish, unreasonable, and unjust 
 so-called examinations in vogue in city schools at that 
 time. This particular teacher's mind seems to have 
 crystallized at that point, and she now has absolutely no 
 use for any kind of a test. She had heard of standardized 
 tests and that was about all. She would not discuss their 
 purpose or advantages nor try to see any good in them. 
 She gave them carefully and painstakingly as required, 
 but without interest and under protest, so that neither she 
 nor her school derived much benefit from them. 
 
 Another of the unfavorable responses was from a local 
 crank with no special training and little education. She 
 had " kept school " for many years and had acquired a 
 local reputation as a " smart " teacher mostly on account 
 of her disciplinary ability which was of the lowest order. 
 She had few of the qualifications of a successful teacher 
 and almost no conception of a teacher's most important 
 duties and responsibilities. No newfangled notions for her. 
 
 The third was from a young teacher, daughter of a 
 school board member, who had little interest in anything 
 
126 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 but her salary and a good time. Standardized tests took 
 up too much of her " spare time." I cannot consider any 
 one of these papers as reflecting seriously upon the value 
 of standardized tests. 
 
 The following are the eight papers chosen for reproduc- 
 tion: 
 
 What the Teachers Think of the Tests 
 
 My appreciation of having had the privilege of introducing 
 standardized tests in my school cannot be too strongly empha- 
 sized. Before I began using these tests under the guidance of 
 Superintendent Brooks, I had always depended upon my own 
 selection of twenty or thirty questions (examinations so 
 called, and dreaded by the pupils) to be thought out and pre- 
 pared before school opened in September, then again in June. 
 How much better to have these tests scientifically prepared 
 for us! 
 
 No school can accurately determine the progress of its pupils, 
 either as a group or individually, without using these tests. 
 
 One of the greatest advantages, after obtaining the results 
 of the tests on the graph cards, is that they show just wherein 
 the teacher or the individual pupil has succeeded or failed. 
 Nearly every pupil is interested in studying his graph card to 
 discover his weak points and is desirous of exhibiting and 
 explaining the card to his parents. With the help of such 
 concrete evidence as these cards furnish one can face an irate 
 parent with much greater assurance when he or she demands 
 to know why James was not promoted. 
 
 One essential of classroom instruction is to have some 
 scientific method of measuring the progress of pupils and classes. 
 Up to quite recently we have been unable to compare accu- 
 rately teacher with teacher, school with school, and pupil with 
 pupil. The standardized tests furnish us with standards by 
 means of which such comparisons can be fairly and accurately 
 made. 
 
 E. M. W. 
 
REACTION OF TEACHERS AND PUPILS 127 
 
 I now consider standardized tests the only fair means of 
 measuring a pupil's ability and progress in his studies. For 
 several years I had been reading about the tests and of course 
 realized, after five years of trying to grade rural schools accord- 
 ing to my own standard of efficiency or those of the super- 
 intendent, that we needed something of the sort; but I did not 
 believe that a method had been found that would truly work 
 until I used standardized tests this year in the Chocorua school 
 under Superintendent Brooks. 
 
 I was eager to give the first tests out of curiosity and I 
 watched with much interest the attitude of the children towards 
 them. They were alert, quiet, and determined. The fact that 
 they were being measured by a fair standard in comparison with 
 thousands of other boys and girls made them feel the "exams" 
 were going to be really important and worth while. They knew 
 that whatever work they did would be appreciated at its true 
 value and corrected fairly, and that the results would be an 
 accurate index of their achievement. 
 
 When I corrected the tests I became enthusiastic. The 
 saving of time and energy from the old method of examina- 
 tions, and, above all, the fact that they showed up in every 
 study the weak points of each pupil was truly remarkable. 
 I became so interested that I read Monroe's Measuring the 
 Results of Teaching and Educational Tests and Measurements 
 through again, understandingly at last, and even sent to the 
 State Library for further information. 
 
 After copying the graph cards I knew exactly where to 
 begin with each pupil to make up his or her deficiencies. The 
 whole school was weak in decimals, and I did not even realize 
 it until the tests proved the fact. 
 
 The second time I gave the tests I put aside every study and 
 gave them all in two days. I did not let the pupils know that 
 they were coming until the morning we began work. When 
 their graph cards came back the last time the children could 
 hardly wait to see them. They are going to make copies of 
 the cards and try "on their own" to come up to standard in 
 every subject in the spring term. 
 
128 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 It is the spirit we want — the spirit of fair play, competition, 
 and desire to work hard for a definite goal. I hope every 
 teacher in the district has found her v/ork with the tests as 
 inspiring and helpful as I have. 
 
 V. L. W. 
 
 I think that standardized tests are the greatest boon that 
 has ever been invented for the benefit of teachers, especially 
 for those who are interested in, and conscientiously working to 
 obtain, the best possible results with each child. 
 
 These tests save the teacher both work and worry — the 
 former by having the questions prepared and valued without 
 aid from the teacher, and the latter because the teacher now 
 has the comfort of knowing that even though Helen may fall a 
 few points below grade when the scores are added, it is no 
 fault in reckoning valuation of questions and exercises or in 
 computing ranks. There is proof enough even to convince an 
 irate parent if occasion demands. 
 
 Furthermore, standardized tests show a teacher where the 
 weak points are in the pupils' work so that she can conserve 
 time and effort by drilling each child upon the particular line 
 of work in which he or she is below grade, instead of upon the 
 curriculum as a whole without regard to the standing of 
 individual pupils in particular studies. Without the tests there 
 is no accurate way of telling what grade a pupil belongs in. 
 
 Last, but not least, these tests show a teacher whether she is 
 gaining or losing in skill according to the progress made by 
 children of average ability under her control. This knowledge, 
 either way, has proven a stimulant to me, as I have been able 
 with my superintendent's aid to, in part at least, correct many 
 faults and realize others that need to be corrected in order to 
 make my teaching more efficient. 
 
 L. E. M. 
 
 I have become a firm believer in standardized tests. During 
 the two years they have been used in my school, I have found 
 them to be a source of help and an incentive to better work on 
 
REACTION OF TEACHERS AND PUPILS 129 
 
 the part of the pupils. I consider them a fair test of the ability 
 and progress of the pupils both individually and as a school. 
 
 By means of them, the teacher is able to discover readily 
 the weak points in the work of her pupils. This enables her to 
 know which pupils need special help. By giving this special 
 help she is enabled to raise the standard of her school as a 
 whole as well as aid the individual pupil to keep up to grade. 
 
 To me, another proof that these tests are helpful is the fact 
 that they create a marked degree of enthusiasm on the part 
 of the pupils. They look forward eagerly to the "testing 
 time," each one eager to do his or her best. I beheve that the 
 enthusiasm thus aroused is a stepping-stone to better work 
 and, therefore, to better results, the goal for which we, as 
 teachers, are striving. 
 
 A. N. H. 
 
 Standard tests have helped me first, because they determine 
 what points in each course of study need the greatest amount 
 of emphasis and drill. Of course, that does not mean that we 
 should drill on the exact material used in any of the tests; 
 for that would be unfair to the test by rendering it valueless for 
 accurate measurements. However, they do point out the 
 kinds of things which should receive most attention in the case 
 of a particular pupil, class, or school. 
 
 Too often in rural schools the grading has been left to the 
 teacher's judgment — quite frequently to the judgment of a 
 teacher untrained and inexperienced. How can such grading 
 be uniform with no set standard for a guide? While the State 
 Program outlines the courses of study for each grade, it does 
 not set any standards of speed, accuracy, and thoroughness 
 with which the work shall be covered. Here again, standard 
 tests solve the problem. They prevent us from trying to 
 produce expert accountants as well as from allowing children 
 to fall into the slipshod habit of using all the time they desire 
 for a task. 
 
 Every teacher has certain weak points. That is, her teach- 
 ing ability is of a higher order in some subjects than in others. 
 
130 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 But how can the teacher herself be made to realize her failings? 
 Certainly not always from her own observation, for self-criti- 
 cism is bound to be lenient. She may resent the most tactful 
 criticisms from others, but she must realize that the standards 
 set by thousands of children are not unreasonable for the 
 children of her school and that if the majority of them do not 
 attain to these standards, she herself is chiefly at fault. 
 
 Tests which determine the mental ability of the individual 
 child are invaluable. Much worry and nervous strain on the 
 part of the teacher as well as of the child may be avoided by 
 study of the results obtained from such tests. It may be said 
 that from daily association a teacher is able to gauge accurately 
 the pupil's grade of mentality, but in many cases this is proved 
 to be incorrect. A mental examination is as important as a 
 physical examination. The teacher may expect too much of a 
 pupil who is utterly incapable of doing the work required of 
 him. In this case the child becomes discouraged — sometimes 
 nervous — and unable to learn even to the extent to which he 
 would be capable under conditions normal to him. On the 
 other hand, the teacher may fall too easily into the habit of 
 allowing the mentally deficient child to fall below his own 
 standard. 
 
 Some children seem to be in a state of mental lethargy from 
 one cause or another and need some slight stimulus to arouse 
 their better ability. The test, being something unusual, often 
 arouses their interest and unconsciously they use their ability 
 to think. Once the results are obtained, it is, in many cases, 
 an easy matter to get better results all around, merely because 
 of knowing that the child is capable of better things. 
 
 Finally, it seems to me that the results received from the 
 use of standardized tests showing progress or lack of it on the 
 part of pupils are a much fairer means of judging the teacher's 
 ability than mere observation or hearsay. Results count, no 
 matter what the method. H. H. E. 
 
 I heartily believe that the standardized tests are of inesti- 
 y mable value to my school. The children realize the benefits 
 
REACTION OF TEACHERS AND PUPILS 131 
 
 derived from the tests and are always eager to see their graphs 
 as soon as their scores have been recorded. 
 
 Since it is an acknowledged fact that the general aim of 
 education is social efficiency, it is up to us as teachers to place 
 a great amount of stress on the " tool " subjects. In these sub- 
 jects certain standards have been established so that we may 
 know when our pupils have acquired the desired proficiency 
 in each subject. Through these standards it is possible for us 
 to learn many things: first, the weak spots in our teaching, so 
 that we may know to what part of the work we should give more 
 emphasis and drill; second, the tests enable us to select the 
 individual pupils who need our special attention in certain 
 subjects; third, the comparison of my graph cards with those 
 from other schools certainly proves a motive for better work on 
 my part and the same thing proves true when the individual 
 pupil compares his graph card with that of his classmate; 
 fourth, through the results of the standardized tests the super- 
 intendent and the public in general are, or may be, kept in 
 close touch with the everyday work of the schools. Thus, if 
 we do our best, and that best is good, we are rewarded for our 
 efforts by the appreciation of those interested in the betterment 
 of education, as well as by the knowledge that we are doing 
 something really worth while. 
 
 In conclusion, I feel safe in saying that the standardized 
 test, as a means of scientific measurement, is one of the great- 
 est contributions ever offered to education. 
 
 E. M. W. 
 
 After a fairly long experience in a single grade, I found myself 
 facing the problem of rendering sufficiently elastic to cover 
 seven grades the minutes and the mental energy formerly 
 devoted to one. The problem, to me, did not become any 
 easier from the fact that the school was under unusually alert 
 supervision. Also, my experience has bestowed upon me a 
 number of things, among them a knowledge of what is due the 
 children and a fairly accurate idea of my own limitations. I 
 will pass over the adjustment period, at the beginning of the 
 
132 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 term, to that which I at first considered as merely another 
 
 "superintendent's hobby," standardized tests. 
 
 Now a little enthusiasm is a much more constructive emo- 
 tion than mild toleration, especially in dealing with the inevi- 
 table, so I met the tests with what I could command on short 
 notice. To-day I consider that the tests have been a great 
 help in facing the single schoolroom of many grades. How 
 much might they not accomplish in one grade in the develop- 
 ment of different groups within the class! Most teachers know 
 that no program of classes can be iron-bound and successful 
 at the same time. Right here came my first great aid from 
 standardized tests and the resulting graphs. They enabled 
 me to adjust the program to the needs of this particular school 
 as a whole. Then as a study of the graphs revealed the strength 
 and weakness of individuals, weak points were the subjects of 
 special attention. For instance, in grade four, Ann, Lucy, 
 and Tom readily understand anything that they are able to 
 read, while Jarnes and Edith are slow in grasping the thought 
 and often do not arrive at all. James and Edith are given 
 much personal drill, while the others are kept at attention that 
 there may be no regression on their part. On the other hand, 
 Lucy and Tom are held rigidly to account when it comes to 
 number work. Thus the limited time may be used to the best 
 advantage. 
 
 George's graph disclosed the fact that, with an intelligence 
 quotient of 112, in multipHcation and subtraction he was far 
 below grade. This indicated need of drill in these two essen- 
 tials which was faithfully administered. George's graph line 
 is now rapidly approaching normal. I discovered that the 
 reading vocabulary and the history of the entire school were 
 considerably below my personal estimate of the facts. Again 
 the proper remedy was indicated by the graphs. 
 
 Further study of the graphs brought to light a number of 
 points below grade in problem work. A consideration of the 
 intelligence quotients, followed by a little introspection, placed 
 the blame squarely at my own door. 
 
 Thus these tests, given at definite periods, act as a sort of 
 
REACTION OF TEACHERS AND PUPILS 133 
 
 efficiency expert to hold us to account. They uncover our 
 weaknesses and by way of encouragement show us our good 
 points. They also are of considerable tonic value. They offer 
 a definite goal and I find that they are the subject of a very 
 genuine enthusiasm among the children. 
 
 Personally they are satisfying, as they are a protection 
 against the unfair and difficult tests given by the average 
 superintendent or teacher. If one has had any experience with 
 superintendents' " unstandardized tests," it is gratifying to 
 feel that one's pupils are being held up to a standard which has 
 been carefully worked out among many children and is entirely 
 possible of achievement with a reasonable expenditure of time 
 and energy; that, and the knowledge that the mental age and 
 general intelligence of each pupil is considered, contributes a 
 serenity infrequently associated with the "examination" 
 period. 
 
 As time goes on, the tests themselves will probably vary and 
 improve. If widely adopted they will render our educational 
 procedure more uniform in efficiency; and children with parents 
 of nomadic tendencies or changing business affiliations will not 
 suffer so great a loss of time, pride, and ambition of being "put 
 back " every time they enter a new school. 
 
 G. E. D. 
 
 I certainly think that the standardized tests are fine. They 
 are a great benefit to the children. I find that a child who 
 takes the standard tests two or three times a year does much 
 better work, and also does it much more quickly. The chil- 
 dren enjoy them; at least mine do. Instead of dreading an 
 ''examination" as they used to do, they are simply overjoyed 
 at the prospect of taking a "test." 
 
 A teacher cannot, by means of ordinary examinations, know 
 how her pupils compare with other children of the same age 
 and grade in other schools, but by using the standard tests 
 she can determine their relative standing and whether they 
 need extra time devoted to certain subjects. 
 
 Of course they make extra work for the teacher, but if she 
 
134 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 has the welfare of her pupils at heart (as every teacher should 
 have) she will not mind extra work. 
 
 I have been a teacher for twenty-nine years and never heard 
 of the tests until two years ago, since which time I have been 
 using them under the direction of Superintendent Brooks. I 
 should not care to teach again without them. 
 
 G. E. S. 
 
 This last tribute to the efficiency of standardized tests 
 comes from a teacher who has just finished her twenty- 
 ninth year as teacher in the same little rural school. Up 
 to two years ago her own education was limited to the 
 eight grades of the very school she has been teaching so 
 long in her home district. She attended the summer ses- 
 sion of a normal school last summer and is planning to go 
 again this summer. 
 
 When I asked the teachers to write their opinions of 
 standardized tests, I also asked them to have all the 
 children above the fourth grade write what they thought 
 of the tests. Below are a number of the papers submitted 
 by the children. With the exception of corrections in 
 spelling they are submitted just as the children wrote them, 
 with no attempt to smooth over the crudities. 
 
 These are not selected papers chosen for effect. They 
 were picked out from the nearly two hundred papers re- 
 ceived in such a way that each school would be repre- 
 sented by two papers. The papers from each school were 
 thoroughly shuffled and then the third and seventh papers 
 from the top of each pile were taken for publication. 
 
 What the Pupils Think of the Tests 
 
 The tests help us to learn. I think I have improved since the 
 last test. I was below grade by the tests the first time, but 
 came up this time. They tell me I must work hard on the 
 fundamentals of arithmetic and spelling and reading. I am 
 
REACTION OF TEACHERS AND PUPILS 135 
 
 going to try to go up again next time. I like the tests very 
 much. 
 
 E. E. W. 
 
 I think the tests have helped me in many ways. They have 
 helped me to work both faster and better, and I have more 
 interest in getting ahead in my studies. I like all the tests, 
 but I like the arithmetic tests best. 
 
 L. M. D. 
 
 I like the tests very much and I know that they help me in 
 many ways. The arithmetic tests are very nice and I improved 
 a lot in them. I was sorry to find that I did not come up to my 
 grade in addition and division on the last test, but I am going 
 to see that I come up to grade in them next time. I was glad 
 to see that I did much better with the tests this time than I did 
 the last time. 
 
 D. L. 
 
 I like the tests because I think they help me to do better 
 work. The first time I took the tests I ranked way below my 
 grade, but the second time I came up nearly to where I be- 
 longed. The last time I found I was behind in the reasoning 
 test and the language tests. 
 
 T. V. 
 
 The tests we have had have helped me very much, especially 
 the arithmetic tests because there were so many different kinds 
 of examples. I did not come up much in the reasoning tests, 
 but I am going to work hard and get a better graph next time. 
 The Hahn-Lackey Geography Scale helped me greatly. I like 
 to study it. Then when I study in my books I can pick out 
 the important things better. 
 
 G. H. M. 
 
 I improved on the tests very much. I like the tests. The 
 first time I had them I measured below my grade, but the 
 
136 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 second time I had them I did very much better. I had to 
 work very hard on multiplication and spelling. I was very 
 pleased when I saw my last graph card. 
 
 A. W. 
 
 I think the tests are a great help to us. They teach us to 
 work quickly and correctly. They show us what we need the 
 most. On my graph in some things I was below my grade so 
 those are the things I have got to study up on. I was below my 
 grade in writing. I had to work mostly on Geography and 
 History. 
 
 V. M. 
 
 I have done better in all my lessons since we have been hav- 
 ing the tests and I think they are very nice. Since we have 
 been having the tests if one was in the third grade and belonged 
 in the fourth he is put where he belongs and I think that is 
 right. I like the arithmetic tests best, but I like the rest of 
 them too. I am always glad when it is time to begin our tests 
 and am sorry when we have no more. I was weak on some 
 things and now I know what they are and am going to work up 
 on them. 
 
 R. L. 
 
 I for one in this school do not like the standardized tests. 
 It is true that in some ways they help us, but in some ways they 
 do not. They help us to work quickly, but how about accu- 
 racy? We do not have time to think, and put down things that 
 after we do think we know are not right. Some of the tests 
 that help me are Reading and Grammar, but Arithmetic I hate 
 and always shall. I think the standardized tests are more 
 beneficial to the younger scholars than to the older ones. I 
 hope they will stop having those tests as they get on my nerves. 
 
 F. M. 
 
 I think that the standardized tests are a great help to us. 
 We can tell by looking at the graph card what grade we are in 
 
REACTION OF TEACHERS AND PUPILS 137 
 
 and whether we are in the grade that we should be in. They 
 help us, for we compare our graph cards with those of our 
 classmates. When we are given standardized tests we know 
 that we are rated fairly. A. H. 
 
 The tests help us to compare our work with our classmates, 
 with other classes, and also with other schools. When we get 
 our ranks from the graph cards we know what studies we need 
 to study more. We also know that we are being rated fairly. 
 
 W. A. 
 
 I think the tests are very good for us. They tell exactly 
 where one belongs, and one don't get put above his grade or 
 below. It helps the teacher too, for they do not rank us by 
 guess. The mixed fundamentals are good because they show 
 us whether we can do arithmetic all mixed up or not. But best 
 of all I like the standardized tests in Geography, especially 
 those upon states and cities. I do not like the spelling test at 
 all. It is more like dictation work to me. I hope I make my 
 grade by these tests this year. The standardized tests are 
 surely a help and I hope we will have them all the time. 
 
 R. K. L. 
 
 I think the standardized tests are the best kind to have. 
 They tell us where we pupils belong and what we have to work 
 up on. They tell us what we are weak in. They can't push 
 us ahead if we don't belong there. The Mixed Fundamentals 
 are exactly what we need. I like them very much, I don't 
 know of anything better that we could have. They tell us 
 what grade we belong in. I have done much better with them 
 than I did last year. H. A. D. 
 
 I like the standardized tests. I think they are just what we 
 need. I like the arithmetic best. The tests put us where we 
 belong. I like the tests better this year than I did last year. 
 I think I did better in the tests than I did last year too. 
 
 J. F. 
 
138 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 I think the tests are very fair. Some of them are Just what 
 I like and some of them are not. The Mixed Fundamentals 
 I do not like. I did not have them when I first began to come 
 to school. I like them better than the old tests. 
 
 S. F. L. ' 
 
 I like the tests very much. I think they are fair, too. 
 I like to take the Geography tests better than the others, but 
 I think I will like the others after I know more about their 
 subjects. I don't like the Mixed Fundamentals. I found I was 
 below my grade in long columns of addition. I like the gram- 
 mar tests, but not quite so well as the others. I hope I will get 
 my grade in everything next term by the tests. They are very 
 interesting and I hope we will have them always because any- 
 body can tell just where she is. It gives us more courage to do 
 our work well. 
 
 M. L. 
 
 I think the standardized tests are very interesting and also 
 think they are the fairest of any tests I ever took. I enjoy 
 them very much and hope they will continue to use them. 
 They tell exactly where a child belongs. I don't like the Mixed 
 Fundamentals very well. I found when I took the tests I fell 
 down in long division. I hope that I get my grade next June 
 so that I can be promoted. 
 
 E. G. 
 
 The tests are valuable to me because I compare my graph 
 card with my classmates and if I am behind in anything I try 
 to study harder to keep up. One class may be behind the other. 
 They try to keep up with other classes that are ahead of them. 
 It helps us to keep up with other schools because they can com- 
 pare our school with others. And we know we are rated as we 
 should be by standardized tests. L. D. 
 
 I think that the graph card which is a record of the result 
 of Standard Tests, is a very good idea. I can compare my 
 
REACTION OF TEACHERS AND PUPILS 139 
 
 graph card with that of my classmate. By looking at my card 
 I can tell what studies I am below my grade in, and so know 
 what subjects I need to study most. E. G. H. 
 
 The graph cards which tell the results of the tests are a great 
 help to the pupils because we can compare our marks with 
 those of our classmates and it tells us whether we did as well 
 as our classmates or better, and how much. It also tells us 
 in what studies we went below grade so we know what to study 
 harder. It helps the teacher because they can find out what 
 to let us put more time on. It helps the superintendent 
 because he can compare our school with another. It helps 
 the public because they can tell what the schools are doing. 
 We know when we take the Standard Tests we will get fair play. 
 
 E. M. G. 
 
 I think the standardized tests are a good thing. They show 
 you where you stand in your studies and whether you are 
 keeping up in your grade or not. They help you to work with 
 greater speed and accuracy. They are of benefit to you because 
 they show how much you can get out of a lesson. They show 
 you that, if you can't keep up with your grade, you can fall 
 back into a lower grade. They also show you whether you are 
 far enough advanced to be put in a higher grade. 
 
 I. M. 
 
 I think the tests are a great help to me and some special ones 
 like addition, subtraction, and Mixed Fundamentals have 
 made me quicker in my work. I like to do them. They help 
 me in my everyday work. I can add and subtract quicker. If 
 it was n't for them I would n't know whether I passed my grade 
 or not. I would like to have them every day. I think it is fun 
 to do the tests. 
 
 A. H. M. 
 
 The tests the teacher gives us are very easy. We are allowed 
 five, ten, and sometimes twenty-five minutes. The tests I like 
 
I40 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 best are reading and History. I do not like arithmetic as I 
 cannot remember my tables. The tests are a very good thing 
 for every girl and boy in school, as they show them if they are 
 above or below their grade. I do not sympathize with the 
 school children or teachers, as I hate going to school. I can 
 learn more by reading library books and going to places. 
 
 E. M. 
 
 During the past two years, since we have had a superintend- 
 ent, we have had standardized tests which I have enjoyed very 
 much, especially the Courtis Geography tests, although I 
 should like to have them more often. They are all very help- 
 ful. The Courtis Standard Practice Pads that we have every 
 morning help to develop speed as well as accuracy. I am espe- 
 cially interested to note the progress on my graph card. 
 
 J. L. C. 
 
 I think all the tests are very interesting and helpful. We 
 shall be glad when the tests come again in June. Then we can 
 see if we are going to be promoted. M. R. D. 
 
 I did not enter this school until late last fall because my 
 parents just moved here from Providence, Rhode Island. All 
 of the other children had been given the standardized tests 
 before I entered, so the teacher gave them to me to determine 
 what grade I should be in. When I got my graph card back 
 it showed just where I belonged. These tests help me to think 
 more quickly and I can see that they have been a great help 
 in many ways. We have the Courtis Arithmetic Practice Pads 
 every morning. All the children seem to be very interested in 
 the tests and their results as recorded on the graph cards. 
 
 P. N. G. 
 
 We have only had standardized tests in our schools for two 
 years. When our superintendent first brought these tests to 
 us we were not very much interested, but since our teacher has 
 explained the results on our graphs we have become very much 
 
REACTION OF TEACHERS AND PUPILS 141 
 
 interested indeed. The tests that I enjoy most are the Stu- 
 dent's Record and Practice Pad by Stuart A. Courtis, the 
 Fundamentals of arithmetic by Clifford Woody, and the Silent 
 Reading tests by Walter S. Monroe. I would like to have these 
 tests more often than three times a year. 
 
 H. L. A. 
 
 I like all the tests that we have had only I would like to have 
 them more often than we do. Of all the tests I think I like 
 the Courtis Silent Reading Test the best. We think that it is 
 great fun and would like to have them every day if we could. 
 The Courtis Practice Pads that we have every morning have 
 helped me more than any other. Can't we have some more 
 tests that can be given every day? W. F. G. 
 
 The standardized tests have helped me in various ways, to 
 think quickly and to read rapidly and silently and yet get 
 the meaning of what I have read. They tell exactly what I am 
 expected to do and in that way help me not to be careless, 
 because if I look at the top of the paper and what it says there 
 I know what to do. If I did n't look I would do something 
 wrong. For example, if it said to subtract and I did n't pay 
 any attention to it and multiplied, I would get the example 
 wrong. The tests seem to me something like a game; trying 
 to do something in so many seconds or minutes and get it 
 correct. I do not mind them as much as tests which the 
 teacher makes up and gives me because it seems as though she 
 takes the very hardest things she can for me to do and gives 
 the others something much easier. But with the standard tests 
 there are just as hard things for one to do in my grade as 
 another. E. G. 
 
 I like the tests very much. I like the spelling and reading 
 tests best of all. I am always glad when the tests come round. 
 I think the tests are very nice and helpful. I enjoy them very 
 much. I try to improve each time we have them. 
 
 E. J. D. 
 
142 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 I like the tests and am always glad when they come round. 
 I think it is hard to change over to the new way of writing, 
 but I am trying to do it. I hope I shall do better in my next 
 test. I like the arithmetic tests best and the English tests the 
 least of any. I think they are all very helpful. M. I. S. 
 
 I am always glad when we have the tests. I try to do better 
 every time they come round. I like them very much. I like 
 the arithmetic the best. I think the tests are a very nice thing 
 and I think they help us a lot. I hope we have some more 
 very soon. E. M. S. 
 
 The above papers are, I think, fairly representative of 
 the opinions of the school children of this district in regard 
 to standardized tests. Is there not a convincing sermon 
 here for the educator who is not too much addicted to 
 spinning beautiful theories out of his head to be a student 
 of child nature? Is there not a lesson for teachers and 
 superintendents who are willing to seek the child's point of 
 view in order to make the teaching process more efficient 
 by taking advantage of his likes and dislikes? 
 
 At any rate, the papers show that the children have 
 grasped and appreciated the principal advantages that the 
 use of standardized tests has for them. To sum up, they 
 appreciate them as interesting, as motivating, as eminently 
 fair, as setting up definite standards of achievement to 
 work for, and as giving them a means of comparing their 
 work with that of their classmates. 
 
 The record of the progress of pupils as measured by 
 standardized tests and recorded on the graph cards, to- 
 gether with the testimony of teachers and pupils as above 
 set forth, seems to me to be conclusive evidence that the 
 use of standardized tests is tremendously worth while in 
 rural schools or in any other school for which they are 
 available. . 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 READING AIMS AND METHODS 
 
 Modification of Methods and Materials is Part of a 
 Testing Program 
 
 Although standardized tests may be ever so useful in 
 discovering the performance of pupils relative to grade 
 norms, in helping to decide when pupils are ready for pro- 
 motion, in determining the efficiency of teachers, and so 
 on, nevertheless the benefits of a systematized testing 
 program cannot be fully realized unless a careful study of 
 results leads to the modification of the methods and mate- 
 rials of instruction in such a way as to improve the quan- 
 tity and quahty of classroom products. The carrying-out 
 of such modifications and the retesting to measure their 
 effectiveness is as much a part of an intelligent testing 
 program as is the measuring of progress or testing for 
 diagnostic purposes. Indeed, what is the use of diagnosis 
 without follow-up treatment? For a physician to say 
 that a patient has pneumonia is of little consequence unless 
 he administers the proper treatment. And what would 
 be the value of medical records of cases if the records 
 did not contain descriptions of the procedures following 
 diagnoses and of the results of such procedures? 
 
 It may seem at first thought that the topic " Reading 
 Aims and Methods " is beyond the scope of this book. 
 But the reading methods and materials now in use in this 
 district are so directly the outgrowth of efforts to remedy 
 the conditions revealed by tests of silent-reading ability, 
 and so essential do some such methods and materials 
 appear to be in developing silent-reading ability as meas- 
 ured by the tests, that I believe a detailed discussion of 
 
144 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 them should be included in the exposition of any scheme 
 for getting the utmost practical benefits from the syste- 
 matic periodical use of standardized tests. 
 
 Drill in Oral Reading does not Ensure Silent- 
 Reading Ability 
 
 A DISCUSSION of the conditions disclosed by the first tests 
 is given in a previous chapter. The low level of reading 
 efficiency revealed throughout the district by the results of 
 these first tests was conclusive proof that the customary 
 oral-reading drill was not developing the sort of reading 
 ability that the tests measure. Yet the tests measure the 
 kind of reading ability that it is most important for the 
 pupils to acquire, namely, the ability to gather ideas 
 silently, rapidly, and accurately from the printed page. 
 Teachers, however, habitually try to develop reading 
 ability through practice in word-pronouncing, supple- 
 mented sometimes by more or less efficient drill in enuncia- 
 tion, articulation, and proper expression. By the end of 
 the eighth or ninth grade, most pupils have learned to 
 recognize and pronounce a sufficiently large number of 
 words to enable them to give at least a phonograph-like 
 rendering of untechnical printed matter — minus in most 
 cases the intelligent expression which a phonograph re- 
 produces so perfectly. Since the chief measure of reading 
 efficiency is the teacher's judgment of proper expression 
 and pronunciation regardless of whether or not the words 
 and sentences read mean anything to the reader, this oral 
 evidence of the ability to translate printed symbols into 
 the sounds which they represent is misconstrued into evi- 
 dence of real reading ability. Indeed, when we measure 
 oral-reading ability — as we do by means of Gray's test — 
 we estimate the performance of the pupil solely on the 
 basis of the way he pronounces the words. 
 
READING AIMS AND METHODS 145 
 
 This may account for the fact that so many pupils with 
 fair oral-reading ability can do little more with the content 
 subjects than to give parrot-like repetitions of facts 
 memorized from the texts. We ask teachers to assign 
 project-problem work to the upper grades in geography, 
 history, and science. They reply that most pupils, even 
 when they have full instructions and outlines to work by, 
 are helpless in carrying on anything like independent 
 study, and that rote memory work seems to be the limit 
 of their achievement in these subjects. If this is a true 
 statement of the case, we are rightly led to inquire whose 
 fault it is that upper-grade children cannot read with 
 understanding. 
 
 To be sure, some of the more intelligent pupils really 
 learn to read, not because of proper drill and instruction, 
 but because of superior native ability. Such pupils are 
 actuated by the necessity of reading for comprehension in 
 learning their geography and history lessons, and by their 
 love of books in general. They do much silent reading 
 outside of school. In other words, they learn to read 
 mostly through self-imposed practice in silent reading. 
 Accordingly, since some pupils in time learn to read in 
 spite of poor teaching methods, and since most pupils 
 learn how to pronounce a few hundred common words, a 
 false idea of the efficiency of oral-reading drill has long 
 persisted — an idea fostered by wrong aims in teaching 
 and a lack of intelligent method in measuring results. 
 
 The Way to Improve Silent Reading is to Teach 
 
 Silent Reading 
 
 Lately, however, the revolutionary idea has occurred to 
 some people that the most efficient way to teach reading 
 is by actual class drill in reading and not by practice in 
 speaking as heretofore. Strange, is n't it, how long it has 
 
146 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 taken even a few school people to reach such an obviously 
 sensible conclusion? Yet music teachers have always 
 known that piano playing could be taught much more 
 effectively through actual piano practice under instruction 
 than by means of singing lessons. Moreover, one does 
 not teach children to swim by giving them skating lessons. 
 
 After considering all the reasons we could think of for 
 the almost universally poor reading ability revealed by the 
 scores in silent-reading tests, we decided that the chief 
 reason was that the pupils had never been drilled in that 
 kind of reading. Oral-reading drill, and that very poorly 
 conducted as a rule, was the only kind of reading drill they 
 had ever known. It had, of course, failed to develop the 
 type of ability measured by the standardized tests. Other 
 contributing factors were lack of vocabulary knowledge, 
 as revealed by the visual vocabulary tests, and bad habits 
 of silent reading, such as lip movements, which prevent 
 the attainment of speed. 
 
 Oral-reading drill does not ensure the development of 
 silent-reading ability because the mental processes in- 
 volved, and hence the brain centers brought into play, are 
 very different in the two kinds of reading. It is a good 
 deal like trying to develop the muscles of the arms through 
 exercising the legs. Furthermore, oral-reading drill does 
 not, as has been shown, ensure the pupil's understanding 
 of what he reads. A pupil may be able to pronounce the 
 words of a passage perfectly; he may also, through a 
 mechanical minding of punctuation, convey the author's 
 thoughts to the hearer without himself comprehending 
 them at all. Yet comprehension is one of the two main 
 factors of efficiency in silent reading. 
 
 The ability to recognize and pronounce words and 
 phrases is no true evidence that their meaning is under- 
 stood, A phonograph can reproduce perfectly the words 
 
READING AIMS AND METHODS 147 
 
 that are spoken into it, but surely nobody would argue 
 from this circumstance that the words have any meaning 
 to the machine. Just so can the child repeat words which 
 have been pronounced for him by the teacher without 
 having much conception of the ideas which the words 
 represent. He can become so familiar with their visual 
 forms as to recognize them instantly on the printed page 
 and pronounce them in consecutive order so that they can 
 be understood by others, and still they may have almost 
 no meaning to him. This point will be clear to any one 
 who has acquired during his high-school days a reading 
 knowledge of a foreign language, and who has given it no 
 thought for several years until his vocabulary has so nearly 
 faded from memory that in scanning a printed page of the 
 language he can find only here and there a word that means 
 any more to him than a jumble of letters and sounds. 
 Yet he can pronounce most of the words as well as he ever 
 could and can probably read the whole page orally, al- 
 though with poor expression due to his inability to grasp 
 the thought. There is a rather close analogy between 
 such reading by an adult and the hesitating, expressionless 
 oral reading of a child who does n't grasp the meaning of 
 what he is reading. 
 
 We must remember that words have no meaning in 
 themselves. They are merely the visual symbols of ideas 
 more or less common to the experience of the race. Until 
 the learner makes these ideas his own through experience 
 either direct or indirect, and connects them permanently 
 in his mind with their visual symbols, the words can have 
 no meaning for him, though he may be able to recognize 
 them at sight and give correctly the corresponding vocal 
 fqrms. So I repeat that skill in word-pronouncing is not 
 conclusive evidence of reading ability, if we define reading 
 ability as the ability to gather ideas from the printed page. 
 
148 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 Oral-Reading Drill Hinders Good Reading 
 
 Furthermore, oral-reading drill acts in at least two ways 
 to prevent the formation of proper reading habits. Per- 
 haps it would be better to say that it tends to the forma- 
 tion of improper reading habits. 
 
 In the first place, the fact that the pupil when reading 
 aloud must concentrate his attention on punctuation, 
 enunciation, articulation, and expression, precludes the 
 possibility of his gathering much meaning from what he 
 reads. His mind is too much occupied with the mechanics 
 of oral reading. If the reader is skeptical as regards this 
 point, he might profit from a little experiment. Let him 
 read aloud to some one, a page from Dewey's Democracy 
 and Education, remembering that he is reading to an audi- 
 ence and that he must give as much expression to his read- 
 ing as possible so that the audience may get the author's 
 meaning. Then let him close the book and see how much 
 he can tell of what he has read. After trying it, the dis- 
 comfited experimenter may object that the text is too 
 difiicult for a fair test. But is Dewey's masterpiece any 
 more difiicult for the educated, intelligent adult than the 
 ordinary school text is for the learner? Besides, the 
 learner may be still further handicapped in getting the 
 thought by childish self-consciousness and the constant 
 expectation of being interrupted, corrected, and criticized 
 by the teacher or his classmates. Have you ever consid- 
 ered how harmful to the thought-getting process must be 
 those constant interruptions accompanied by wildly wav- 
 ing arms and hands where the reader is told that he can 
 read until he makes a mistake and the class is told to 
 watch for his mistakes? In oral-reading drill of this sort 
 the habit is forced upon the pupil of paying more atten- 
 tion to forms of words than to their meanings. In silent 
 
READING AIMS AND METHODS 149 
 
 reading, however, this habit cannot but be a hindrance to 
 him. 
 
 In the second place, in oral reading every word has to be 
 pronounced, a procedure that in silent reading is not only 
 unnecessary but positively harmful. It absolutely pre- 
 cludes the possibility of attaining a normal rate of speed. 
 A good reader can read from two to four times as fast 
 silently as he can orally because in reading silently he 
 does n't have to pronounce words or even to consider 
 single words. He grasps whole thoughts at a glance. 
 But the per cent of such readers in the elementary schools 
 is small. One may obtain ample proof that such is the 
 case by going into any schoolroom during a study period 
 in history, and noting the pupils who are not visibly pro- 
 nouncing every word as they read over their lessons 
 silently. True, most normal adults and some of the 
 brighter children in the grades who read much do not move 
 their lips in silent reading. But it is the fact that such 
 persons read much that really accounts for their efficiency. 
 This fact also shows that silent-reading ability can be 
 developed by practice in silent reading. In other words, 
 those who exhibit this ability have acquired it through much 
 self-imposed silent reading rather than through school in- 
 struction in oral reading. And most of them learn to 
 read too late to be of help to them in their school work. 
 Beyond the third or fourth grade boys and girls need to 
 use reading as a tool with which to acquire the information 
 contained in books. Hence the recent movement to de- 
 velop efficient silent readers during the first three or four 
 years of school life. 
 
 A slow reader, then, is not an efficient reader and oral- 
 reading drill tends to make slow readers by forming the 
 habit of lip movement in word-pronouncing. I use the 
 term " oral reading ''_ not because it is appropriate, but 
 
150 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 because it is the common designation applied to the type 
 of drill in vogue during the " reading '^ period in most 
 schools. Of course so-called " oral reading " is not really 
 reading at all. It is word-pronouncing. Word-pronounc- 
 ing is speaking; and speaking and reading are by no means 
 synonymous terms. Their dictionary definitions bring 
 out the distinction. Reading is defined as " the going over 
 words or characters with comprehension of their meaning.'* 
 Speaking is defined as " the utterance of articulate words 
 or sounds." 
 
 The Case against Oral Reading 
 
 Accordingly, because it furnishes practice in speaking 
 rather than in reading, I am trying to make out a case 
 against " oral reading '' as the sole or even the chief means 
 of developing reading ability in school children. I am not 
 condemning oral-reading drill in general as a useless and 
 pernicious practice. Not by any means, even though, as I 
 have shown, too much of it tends to prevent the formation 
 of good reading habits. But I do say that oral-reading 
 drill as often, if not as ordinarily, conducted is worse than 
 useless as far as developing real reading ability is con- 
 cerned. It is a criminal waste of the child's time and 
 opportunities and a disgrace to those who practice it while 
 professing a knowledge of the art of teaching. 
 
 We recognize the picture. A class of pupils is taking 
 turns reading aloud from a book of which every one has a 
 copy. The " lesson '^ has probably been read over and 
 over by most of the pupils at their seats until there is 
 nothing new in it to keep alive a vital interest during the 
 class period. One after another each rises and drones out 
 a paragraph or two, interrupted occasionally by corrections 
 of too glaring errors from a yawning teacher or from class- 
 mates not so busily engaged in mischief or day-dreaming 
 
READING AIMS AND METHODS 151 
 
 as to be entirely oblivious of their surroundings. I have 
 seen teachers correct papers, write letters, or put work on 
 the board for another class while conducting (?) a class in 
 what they termed " reading." The pupils each pro- 
 nounced a paragraph, doing so in regular turns so that the 
 teacher would not have to give her attention to stopping 
 one pupil and starting another. Corrections and assist- 
 ance in saying the words were left to supposedly alert 
 classmates. In reality most errors went uncorrected and 
 the reader skipped or stumbled over such words as he did 
 not know how to pronounce. If things came to a complete 
 standstill, the teacher would give her attention long enough 
 to start them going again. All this in the name of educa- 
 tion, with the public's money going to pay for it! Shall 
 we ever have enough teachers, real teachers, to do real 
 teaching in all our schools? It is such handling of " oral- 
 reading " drill that I condemn and the practice does not 
 need to be nearly as bad as described in order to be not 
 only useless but positively harmful. 
 
 Yet Oral Reading has its Value 
 
 However, properly handled drill in the oral reproduction 
 of printed words and sentences can be made worth while 
 to the pupils. If the printed selections are used as mate- 
 rial for intensive drill in pronunciation, articulation, and 
 enunciation, then such drill has its proper place in develop- 
 ing proper habits of speech. Used in this way, it supple- 
 ments (and should probably form a part of) the oral- 
 composition phase of language work. But it is not read- 
 ing, and should not be permitted to replace real reading 
 drill or to encroach upon the time that should be devoted 
 to real reading drill. Let us find a suitable name for it and 
 give it a place in the program all its own if we cannot feel 
 convinced that it is a part of the regular language work. 
 
152 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 Of course there are, especially in cities and large towns, 
 many schools with highly trained teachers where oral- 
 reading drill is by no means so tragically inefficient as in 
 the method described above. Such inefficiency in varying 
 degrees is chiefly characteristic of the rural districts, espe- 
 cially of districts without expert supervision or wherein 
 teachers through inherent inadaptability or acquired 
 prejudice have failed to profit from expert supervision. 
 In many school systems the defects of the traditional 
 method have been largely remedied and oral-reading drill 
 has been developed to the point where most of the possible 
 benefits are derived from it. In such systems pupils are 
 no longer required or even permitted to study their reading 
 assignments at their seats. They read at sight fresh 
 stories each day so that the important element of interest 
 in something new and desirable is present during the 
 reading period. Only the reader has a book. The others 
 have to listen carefully if they want to get the whole story. 
 Thus attention is held; especially if the teacher calls upon 
 some member of the class now and then to repeat what he 
 has just heard read. For the reader, the audience situa- 
 tion is provided. He is reading a new and interesting 
 story to his classmates. He must read his best in order 
 that they may understand him as fully as possible. Under 
 such conditions the criticisms of his classmates, to the 
 effect that he does n't speak distinctly or loud enough, are 
 apt to be much more effective than formal criticisms by the 
 teacher. But in spite of all improvements, oral-reading 
 drill at its best cannot develop the most valuable kind of 
 reading abihty. 
 
 Oral Reading not Necessary for Beginners 
 
 There is a popular belief that oral-reading drill is a neces- 
 sity with beginners. On the contrary, it is not necessary 
 
READING AIMS AND METHODS 153 
 
 and IS probably productive of more harm than benefit. It 
 is unnecessary because silent-reading methods can be used 
 to good advantage from the very beginning. It is harmful 
 because it starts to develop wrong reading habits in the 
 child from the first. Furthermore, it is of little practical 
 value even in developing oral-reading ability because no 
 effective oral reading can be done until the child has ac- 
 quired the ability rapidly to translate printed symbols 
 directly into ideas. This ability can be developed in the 
 young child only through much efficient silent-reading 
 drill. Over-emphasis on oral reading in the lower grades 
 is directly responsible for much of the stiff, stumbling, 
 expressionless oral reading in the upper elementary grades 
 and even in high school. We are requiring children to read 
 orally before they have gained that proficiency in rapid 
 comprehension which alone makes intelligent oral expres- 
 sion possible. Their minds, wrongly trained from the 
 beginning, are often unfitted for efficient reading of any 
 kind. Hence, oral reading should not be introduced too 
 early in the child's school life. 
 
 The current contention, that emphasis on oral reading 
 should be strong in the first grade and decreasingly so 
 throughout the other grades, cannot be sustained on the 
 ground that another procedure is not feasible. Neither 
 can it be sustained on psychological grounds. The order 
 of mental stimuli and associations is significantly different 
 in the two forms of reading. In oral reading the visual 
 symbol is translated first into its more familiar auditory 
 symbol, the auditory image into an idea, and the idea into 
 verbal expression. Indeed, with many children if not all, 
 who have been brought up on oral-reading drill, verbal 
 expression seems to be necessary before they can grasp the 
 idea. 
 
 On the other hand, in efl&cient silent reading the visual 
 
154 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 symbol is associated directly with the idea without the 
 intervention of either auditory image or verbal expression. 
 Efficient silent reading is the instantaneous association of 
 printed words with the ideas which the words represent. 
 The earlier we develop this habit of direct association in 
 children, the sooner shall we make them efficient and in- 
 telligent readers. Too early drill in oral reading not only 
 hinders the acquirement of this habit in early years, but 
 injures the child's chance of acquiring it in later life. 
 
 When to Begin to Teach Oral Reading 
 
 Just how soon it is desirable to begin oral-reading drill is 
 open to argument. In general it might be said that it 
 should not be until the habit of direct association between 
 words and their meanings has become firmly fixed. That 
 would probably mean the third or fourth grade at the 
 earliest. It might possibly be introduced earlier to a 
 limited extent without great harm, provided care is taken 
 to preserve the proper order of mental associations as ex- 
 plained later. 
 
 It is probably not advisable to drop formal drill in oral 
 reading altogether, although extremists go so far as to 
 advocate doing so. Something in the nature of drill in 
 verbal-motor reaction to printed-word stimuli would seem 
 to be necessary to the child's complete mental develop- 
 ment. There must be drill in phonics and phonetics in 
 order to develop in the child independence and confidence 
 in attacking new words. There must be practice in word- 
 pronouncing, not only for the sake of learning to pronounce 
 new words, but also for the sake of building up the speak- 
 ing vocabulary. This latter result is accomplished through 
 developing mental associations between visual forms and 
 auditory images. Nor can such practice be postponed 
 beyond the age of easy and economical habit formation, 
 
READING AIMS AND METHODS 155 
 
 in other words, beyond the natural period for effective 
 drill. But it should not begin so early as to prevent the 
 formation of other habits just as important. 
 
 Why Silent Reading should be Taught First 
 
 We shall now turn our attention to silent reading. Why 
 is it so much more important to develop silent-reading 
 ability in the child than to develop oral-reading ability, 
 admitting that oral-reading ability is a valuable accom- 
 plishment? And if both abilities are to be developed, why 
 should silent reading come first? 
 
 It is more important because it is the type of reading 
 ability that the child needs to use in studying history, 
 geography, physiology, civics, and even mathematics be- 
 yond the bare fundamentals. It is almost the only kind 
 of reading he will do after he gets out of school. It is 
 probably no exaggeration to say that over ninety-nine per 
 cent of the reading done by most adults is silent reading. 
 
 Silent reading should come first because oral-reading 
 ability and silent-reading ability are, psychologically, two 
 very different accomplishments, and, while efficiency in 
 silent reading is a very necessary preliminary to good oral 
 reading, effective drill in oral reading is, on the other hand, 
 a positive hindrance to efficient silent reading. Why, then, 
 should so large a part of the pupil's school time be devoted 
 to acquiring an ability of so little practical use at the ex- 
 pense of failing to acquire another that is, beyond intelli- 
 gent dispute, the most useful one that he can develop? 
 
 Silent reading has already been defined as the process 
 of making direct mental associations between visual 
 images and ideas, between printed words and their mean- 
 ings, without the intervention of auditory images or verbal 
 expression. It is the reading of meanings rather than of 
 words. Efficient silent reading means much more. It 
 
156 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 means rapid and accurate gathering of thoughts from the 
 printed page. An efficient silent reader takes in whole 
 thoughts at a glance and associates them instantly with 
 previous experience while being scarcely conscious of the 
 word-forms. He looks through the words and is conscious 
 only of the ideas they express. That the rapid reader not 
 only reads much more, but retains more of what he reads 
 and understands it better than does the slow reader, is a 
 fact so well proved that further discussion is unnecessary. 
 Excellent psychological reasons are advanced to account 
 for this fact. Rate and comprehension, the two chief 
 factors in efficient silent reading, go hand in hand. 
 
 Silent Reading as Actually Taught 
 
 In progressive school systems, silent-reading practice is 
 being given more and more the prominence it deserves 
 in the elementary-school program. The methods and 
 technique in most general use are, however, of questionable 
 efficacy. Although the idea of the need of developing 
 silent-reading ability early in the child's school career is 
 spreading rapidly, little attention seems to have been given 
 to developing rational special methods. Hence, many 
 teachers have but a vague idea of how best to proceed to 
 get good results. 
 
 Within the past two years I have visited a number of 
 schools where it was rumored that the teaching of silent 
 reading was a specialty, with the purpose of finding out 
 how it was taught. Much of the work was being done by 
 normal-school seniors as part of their practice teaching. 
 The information I obtained was both surprising and dis- 
 couraging. Most of the work I witnessed was almost as 
 reprehensibly time-wasting as slipshod oral-reading drill. 
 The only idea most of the teachers seemed to have of what 
 constitutes silent-reading drill was that of 'having children 
 read books or selections from books or periodicals silently 
 
READING AIMS AND METHODS 157 
 
 at their seats and then of having them give oral or written 
 reports on what they had read. Some of them did not 
 even call for reports. They merely accepted the child's 
 statement that he had read over the assignment. Is that 
 kind of silent reading useless? Well, no, not entirely. 
 Almost any kind of reading is better than none. But as a 
 means of developing habits of concentration and rapid 
 comprehension I should say that it is, if not entirely useless, 
 at least discouragingly slow. It is like waiting for the 
 weather to wear away a granite ledge instead of attacking 
 it with steam drills and blasting powder. I found the 
 nearest approach to effective class drill in silent reading 
 where some teachers gave their classes a definite length of 
 time, say one minute or two minutes, in which to read a 
 page from a story and then called on some member of the 
 class to tell what he had read, while the others listened 
 carefully to discover errors or omissions. 
 
 Merely Giving Children Books to Read is not 
 
 Sufficient 
 
 Now, what is the matter with giving children books to 
 read at their seats for silent-reading drill? In the first 
 place, it is a waste of school time. It does not develop 
 silent-reading ability to any great extent, and it takes time 
 which can be used to better advantage. Such reading has 
 its place if the material is worth while either from an in- 
 formational or a literary standpoint, but it should usually 
 be assigned for home work if assigned at all. It may serve 
 as extra work for brighter pupils for whom the ordinary 
 class assignments are not sufficient to keep their time 
 profitably employed. 
 
 In the second place, it does not demand, or at least it 
 does not force, that concentration of attention so abso- 
 lutely essential to a complete and accurate understanding 
 of what is read. Most of us have had the experience of 
 
158 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 trying to read something in which we were not particularly 
 interested while our thoughts tended to wander to more 
 congenial subjects, or of trying to read something really 
 interesting while some other matter weighed heavily on 
 our minds. How many times have we read on, page after 
 page, without comprehending a single thought of the 
 author. The boy, dawdling and day-dreaming over a 
 book at his seat with his thoughts continually wandering 
 to the baseball field, is not getting much worth-while 
 silent-reading practice. On the contrary, he is forming 
 very bad habits. 
 
 In the third place, such practice does not develop speed, 
 that highly important factor in efficient silent reading. 
 In such reading there is usually little incentive for the 
 pupil to read rapidly while at the same time concentrating 
 his attention on getting the thought. Rate of accompKsh- 
 ment is a phase of performance that has been largely neg- 
 lected in estimating the relative abilities of pupils, not 
 only in reading, but in other subjects as well. For in- 
 stance, ten problems are assigned to a class in arithmetic. 
 Both John and James do them all correctly and each gets 
 a mark of one hundred, although John does them in half 
 the time that it takes James. Is such marking fair to 
 John? He is in one sense twice as efficient as James in 
 arithmetic and his school marks should indicate that fact. 
 Similarly in reading. The pupil who can read three pages 
 in five minutes and understand all that the author has 
 said is three times as efficient a reader as he who can read 
 but a single page with equal understanding in the same 
 length of time. So unless we can find something better in 
 the way of silent-reading drill than merely to give a child 
 some reading to do at his seat and perhaps to require a 
 written or oral report, it would be as well and probably 
 better to stick to oral-reading drill for a few hundred years 
 longer. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 SILENT READING IN THE LOWER GRADES 
 
 Reading, then, is the most fundamental subject taught in 
 the elementary grades. Ability to read is absolutely es- 
 sential to progress along almost every line of school work. 
 Reading is the key with which the pupil unlocks the gates 
 of knowledge; the medium through which he makes the 
 accumulated information of the race his own. Hence the 
 importance of developing efficient readers in the lower 
 grades and our decision to give reading a place in our school 
 program commensurate with its importance. 
 
 Must Develop the Kind of Ability the Tests 
 
 Measure 
 
 It was obvious from the results of our first reading tests 
 that if we expected to bring the schools up to the test 
 standards for each grade, we must guide our teaching 
 efforts so as to develop the kind of reading ability that the 
 tests measure. That the customary oral-reading drill 
 would not develop this ability, the reading scores of the 
 upper-grade pupils furnished ample proof; for these scores 
 averaged much below normal despite the fact that the 
 pupils had had such drill for years. Besides, even the 
 standard scores for the silent-reading tests are probably 
 much too low, since they are derived from the results of 
 testing children who have for the most part been taught 
 oral reading. 
 
 After we had made an investigation of current practice 
 in the teaching of silent reading and had studied the 
 meager literature on the subject, it was equally obvious 
 
i6o STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 that we should have to depend largely on our own in- 
 ventive resources for a program and method that would 
 offer hope of measurable results within a reasonable length 
 of time. Accordingly, we evolved the plan which I am 
 about to set forth. 
 
 The Success of the Plan Adopted 
 
 This program has not proved an unqualified success in 
 every school or with every teacher. But in most schools 
 it has proved reasonably effective, and in every school 
 wherein the pupils average normal in intelligence and are 
 taught by a teacher who has entered into the spirit of the 
 work, it has proved effective beyond our most sanguine 
 expectations. There are a few small schools in the dis- 
 trict where the average mental level is too low to expect 
 normal results under any method or any teacher. There 
 are a few teachers who, either because of lack of teaching 
 ability or unwillingness to cooperate whole-heartedly in 
 the experiment, have failed to get better results. It has 
 been impossible as yet to replace all of them because of the 
 great shortage of teachers during the last two or three 
 years. But I am convinced from the results achieved 
 by our better teachers that, with a reasonably capable 
 teacher, the plan will produce excellent results in every 
 school where the pupils average normal mentality. At 
 any rate, though by no means perfect, it has enabled us to 
 bring most of our schools up to the grade standards of 
 Monroe's Silent Reading Test within the year and a half 
 during which it has been in operation. 
 
 Reading in Grade I 
 
 It vas a great step in advance when teaching the alphabet 
 was discarded as the initiatory step in teaching beginners 
 to read, and when the teaching of whole words, phrases, 
 
SILENT READING IN LOWER GRADES i6i 
 
 and sentences was substituted therefor. It will be another 
 great step forward when the elimination of verbal-motor 
 expression in primary reading work becomes general. 
 The first problem confronting the teacher with a class of 
 beginners is to help them acquire a visual vocabulary while 
 at the same time forcing them to make direct associations 
 between printed words and the ideas they represent. The 
 only way this can be done is to eliminate as far as possible 
 in class drills the pronunciation, either by teacher or pupils, 
 of the new words being presented to the class. Whenever 
 possible teachers should indicate the meanings of new 
 words by other than verbal means, and the pupils should 
 indicate their understanding of the meanings without 
 actually pronouncing the words. Of course, it is impossi- 
 ble to do away entirely with verbal forms and auditory 
 images because there are many common words, such as 
 articles, prepositions, conjunctions, abstract nouns, with 
 their adjective and adverb derivatives, and verbs other 
 than verbs of action, which cannot be introduced economi- 
 cally if at all in any other way than orally. But the teacher 
 can exercise considerable ingenuity in trying to teach the 
 meaning of a word before having recourse to pronouncing 
 it and explaining it orally. 
 
 Now, to what words in visual form shall we first intro- 
 duce the beginner in this process of vocabulary-building? 
 Obviously to the words belonging to the speaking vocabu- 
 lary which he has already acquired. To begin with, there 
 is a large number of words which we can be sure are com- 
 mon to the vocabularies of most seven-and-eight-year-olds 
 who have been brought up under normal conditions in this 
 country. Many other words known in general to the 
 particular group can be found by drawing the pupils into 
 conversation or discussion and noting the words which 
 they use and which all of them seem to understand. _Not 
 
i62 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 until the possibilities of the children's own speaking 
 vocabularies are exhausted is it necessary to turn to the 
 vocabularies of books. 
 
 Teaching the First Words 
 
 Let us suppose that the teacher has chosen for the first 
 lesson a list of ten words which she is sure corresponds to 
 a part of the stock of ideas common to all the children in 
 the class. The list might be as follows: hoy, girl, the, run, 
 jump, sit, chair, pencil, hook, desk. How is she going to 
 teach the meanings of these words without pronouncing 
 them or permitting the pupils to pronounce them? To 
 begin with, she should have each word printed neatly on a 
 separate card about a foot long and three inches wide — 
 large enough at least so that the printed word can be 
 clearly seen by the entire class at one time. Such cards 
 are similar to the ordinary quick-perception cards; but 
 their use is quite different from the usual use of quick- 
 perception cards. Generally such a card is flashed for an 
 instant before the pupil's eyes. He is then supposed to 
 recognize it and respond with the vocal form. This vocal 
 response, however, is just what we want to avoid at first. 
 The better way is for the teacher to begin with three words; 
 as, hook, pencil, chair. She exposes each word in turn 
 while calling the attention of the class to the object which 
 it represents. Then she goes over them again asking a 
 pupil to point out the objects. This process is repeated 
 with different pupils until the whole class is able to recog- 
 nize the words as representing particular objects. Then 
 another word is included, after illustrating its meaning; 
 and the drill is repeated. 
 
 This procedure continues until all the words in the list 
 are learned thoroughly. This may take one period or 
 several. It is slow work at first, but it pays. Thorough- 
 
SILENT READING IN LOWER GRADES 1^3 
 
 ness is essential. Run and jump, being verbs of action, 
 can be easily illustrated by the teacher. The word the 
 must be told outright. The pupils are familiar with its 
 use and need only to become acquainted with its visual 
 form. Concrete nouns and verbs of action which are 
 capable of easy illustration should constitute the bulk of 
 the words taught during the first term, in order to avoid 
 so far as possible the necessity of pronunciation and oral 
 explanation. When words must of necessity be presented 
 orally, there should be no more repetition of the pronuncia- 
 tion than is absolutely necessary. 
 
 Keeping the Right Order of Association 
 
 Not until a considerable number of words have been 
 taught in this way, and the habit of forming direct associa- 
 tion between printed words and ideas has been well started, 
 should the vocal forms be used in class drill unless they 
 cannot be avoided. Indeed, beyond what is absolutely 
 essential, it is a question whether or not they should be 
 used at all during the first half-year. But if it seems 
 necessary to use them, great care should be taken to pre- 
 serve the proper order of mental associations. Do not let 
 the auditory image get between the visual image and the 
 idea. The proper order, so far as reading is concerned, is: 
 Visual Image, Idea, Auditory Image, Verbal-Motor Ex- 
 pression; not Visual Image, Auditory Image, Verbal- 
 Motor Expression, Idea. It makes a great deal of differ- 
 ence, as regards the development of present silent-reading 
 efficiency and future oral-reading efficiency, which order 
 of associations is formed in the child's mind in the very 
 beginning. 
 
 Hence the importance of getting the direct associations 
 between words and their meanings before verbal expression 
 is permitted in connection with the class drill. The proper 
 
i64 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 order of associations can be maintained by the above- 
 described process of vocabulary development preceding 
 the oral naming of objects or actions. When a strange 
 word is presented to a child, it means nothing to him, al- 
 though he may be perfectly familiar with the object which 
 it represents and the spoken word which stands for it. If 
 the teacher points to the object instead of pronouncing it, 
 the printed word is first associated with its meaning in the 
 child's mind. Although, if the idea is familiar to the child, 
 this association immediately calls up another previously 
 formed association, namely, that of the idea with its 
 auditory symbol, nevertheless the association of the visual 
 form with the idea has been made first, and thus the proper 
 order of associations has been maintained. To illustrate, 
 suppose the teacher holds up a card with the word desk on 
 it. The children have never seen the printed word before. 
 It means nothing to them, although they know perfectly 
 well what a desk is, and how to say the word. There has 
 been no association formed between the printed word and 
 its meaning. Let the teacher point to the word and then 
 to a desk, and instantly the association is made, and fol- 
 lowed instantly by the auditory image which tends toward 
 verbal-motor expression unless the latter is repressed. 
 
 But suppose the teacher pronounces the word for the 
 class instead of pointing out the object which it represents. 
 The children know instantly what it means because asso- 
 ciation has been previously formed between the idea and 
 the spoken word. But here the spoken word intervenes 
 between the printed word and its meaning, thus setting up 
 an order of associations which is wrong from the point of 
 view of reading. This is just what happens when quick- 
 perception cards are used in the ordinary way Moreover, 
 when this oral method is used, children may learn through 
 imitation of the teacher to recognize and pronounce new 
 
SILENT READING IN LOWER GRADES 165 
 
 words without grasping their meanings. Suppose a card 
 is shown with a word representing an idea wholly outside of 
 the child's experience. The teacher pronounces it and the 
 child pronounces it after her. In time he learns to recog- 
 nize it and to pronounce it correctly when he sees it either 
 on the card or in a book; but, wherever he meets it, it has 
 no meaning for him. The method here suggested ensures 
 that the child will get the meaning of every new word. 
 If we must teach the vocal forms of words along with their 
 visual forms, let us first make sure that they know their 
 meanings by some assurance other than oral before they 
 are asked to pronounce them. 
 
 Teaching Sentences 
 
 As soon as a sufiScient number of words have been learned 
 by the class, the teacher should begin to make use of short 
 sentences made up of the words already learned from the 
 quick-perception cards. In order to avoid so far as possi- 
 ble the necessity for oral reading, these sentences should 
 express simple actions which children can perform in the 
 schoolroom, or ideas which permit them in some other way 
 than orally to express their complete understanding of the 
 thought of the sentences. Below are a few examples of 
 such sentences. 
 
 1. Open the door. 
 
 2. Show me a pencil. 
 
 3. Go to the window. 
 
 4. Pick up a book. 
 
 5. Sit in the chair. 
 
 A pupil can easily express his understanding of such 
 sentences through action without speaking a word. Not 
 until he has performed the act expressed by a sentence, if 
 at all, should he be asked or permitted to read it orally. 
 
i66 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 This is real, efficient silent-reading drill which can be 
 used effectively with the little ones after the first three or 
 four weeks of vocabulary-building. Some people hold 
 that oral reading is absolutely necessary in beginning to 
 teach reading; except through oral expression, they con- 
 ceive of no way of knowing whether or not a child is mak- 
 ing proper progress. Our experience, however, with the 
 method I am describing shows that oral reading is emphat- 
 ically not necessary. Besides, one must remember that 
 oral expression is no safe indication of progress in reading 
 abihty, because it does not prove understanding of what is 
 being read. The drill described above does prove such 
 understanding. If a child, after glancing at the first sen- 
 tence, walks to a door and opens it, he proves conclusively 
 that he understands the sentence. 
 
 Of course, this method of teaching reading cannot be 
 expected to appeal strongly to the type of teacher whose 
 chief interest is in her salary. It demands considerably 
 more thought and effort on the part of the teacher than 
 does the customary oral-reading drill. She cannot crochet, 
 or write letters, or even put work on the board for other 
 classes while using it She must plan her work ahead and 
 be prepared from day to day with suitable material. She 
 must go to the trouble of carefully selecting new words for 
 the vocabulary-building drills and of printing them on 
 cards for class use. She must devise and print large num- 
 bers of action sentences for the sentence interpretation 
 work. Cheap manila cardboard, commonly known as 
 "tag," should be furnished her for this purpose. A chart- 
 marker should also be furnished for each schoolroom; but 
 if this is not available, the printing can be done by hand 
 with the rubber end of an ordinary lead pencil dipped 
 in black drawing ink. The chart-marker is naturally 
 very much to be preferred because it has the same letter 
 
SILENT READING IN LOWER GRADES 167 
 
 forms that the pupil will meet in the books he is to study 
 later. 
 
 The Use of Pictures 
 
 To illustrate the meanings of all concrete nouns by means 
 of the objects themselves is. impossible. It would be rather 
 awkward to import a barn or a locomotive into the school- 
 room to illustrate the meaning of a word. Obviously the 
 next best thing to the object itself is a good picture of it. 
 So, the real live teacher, with efficiency in view, will make 
 a collection of pictures with which to illustrate ideas to her 
 classes. The papers and magazines are full of suitable 
 material, and a picture of almost any object under the sun 
 can be found in the big catalogues of mail-order houses. 
 
 These pictures should be pasted on small cards, and they 
 should be kept neatly filed and indexed. Every school- 
 room ought to have a filing cabinet for this purpose. 
 After choosing the new words to be taught, the teacher 
 should take from the cabinet pictures to illustrate their 
 meanings if they are words whose meanings can be so 
 illustrated. A word may be shown first and then a picture 
 to illustrate it until all the new words have been thus ex- 
 plained as to meaning. Then the pictures may be spread 
 out on a table, the words flashed in turn, and the pupils 
 asked to pick out the proper pictures. This drill may be 
 continued until all the words are instantaneously asso- 
 ciated with their meanings as shown by the readiness of the 
 children in choosing the correct pictures. 
 
 Probably there is no other device so efficient in vocabu- 
 lary-building as the illustrated vocabulary. Something 
 of this kind in particularly effective form for seat work is 
 now sold by Milton Bradley & Co., Boston, Massachusetts. 
 It consists of a series of cards about 4x5 inches, each card 
 bearing a picture of some object. In each lower corner of 
 
i68 
 
 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 the card is printed the name of the object illustrated. The 
 right-hand lower corner with one of the words on it is cut 
 out. The cards and the cut-out corners are all shuffled 
 together and it is the pupil's task to match the words on 
 
 Fig. 13 
 
 the cut-off corners with the words and pictures on the 
 cards, putting the corners in the places from which they 
 were cut so as to form complete cards. The accompanying 
 figure will make plain the idea. 
 
SILENT READING IN LOWER GRADES 169 
 
 This plan is excellent, but the range of words so far il- 
 lustrated is much too limited. If the range could be ex- 
 tended to include five or six hundred of the common words 
 capable of pictorial explanation, it would be a wonderful 
 help in the teaching of silent reading in the lower grades. 
 
 If I remember correctly, the scheme is self-correcting. 
 If not, it could easily be made so by varying the shape of 
 the cut-out so that it would fit only the card from which it 
 was cut. With this self-correcting feature there would be 
 no need of a printed word on the main card; and I am not 
 sure but that it would be better to omit it. If it is not 
 omitted, it may well be that pupils will fit the corners by 
 matching words without having their attention particu- 
 larly attracted to the picture which illustrates the meaning 
 of the word. In fact, with the word printed on the main 
 card with the picture, there is no very strong incentive for 
 fitting the corners at all. With this word omitted, the 
 game would be to fit the corner in order to find out by the 
 picture what the word on the cut-out means. 
 
 Reading from Books — Little good Material 
 
 Available 
 
 The drills in vocabulary-building and sentence-interpreta- 
 tion described above should be continued throughout the 
 first half-year, or until the children have acquired sufficient 
 vocabulary and reading ability to read a simple, short, 
 connected story from a book and then to tell the story in 
 their own words. Then it is time to begin reading from 
 books. And right here is where we meet with the first 
 real difficulty in teaching silent reading to beginners. The 
 difficulty exists simply because the reading material in 
 primers and first readers is mostly unsuited to class drill 
 in silent reading. Here, for instance, is a selection from a 
 certain first reader. 
 
170 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 " Mary is making a pancake. 
 It is fun to mix a pancake. 
 It is fun to stir a pancake. 
 Pop it in the pan! 
 See Mary make a pancake. 
 See the pancake in the pan. 
 It is fun to stir a pancake. 
 It is fun to pop it in the pan." 
 
 Imagine asking a little child to read this silently and 
 then tell the " story " in his own words! There simply 
 is n't any story to it. Here is another gem from near the 
 end of the same book: 
 
 **This is a rainy day. 
 I cannot go out to play in the rain. 
 I see the organ man, Susan. 
 The organ man is playing in the rain. 
 Here is a penny, Susan. 
 The organ man will play for a penny. 
 Run to the door and give the organ man this penny.'* 
 
 This IS not much better. The rhymes are even worse for 
 silent reading purposes. Yet these are representative 
 samples of the incoherent contents of most modern first 
 readers. The primers are even greater conglomerations of 
 unrelated nonsense. Some of the material may be worth 
 while as hterature, interesting to little children, and per- 
 fectly adapted to oral-reading drill. But it is n't oral- 
 reading ability that we want to develop at this stage. We 
 want to develop silent-reading ability, and for this purpose 
 such material is not at all suitable. In fact there seems to 
 be little material simple enough to be available for first- 
 grade use that is also suitable for silent-reading class drill 
 in that grade. 
 
SILENT READING IN LOWER GRADES 171 
 
 An Example of Usable Material 
 
 I HAVE just finished examining seven primers and ten first 
 readers in an attempt to find some pieces with which to 
 illustrate silent-reading class drill for little folks. In but 
 one first reader did I find a few simple stories coherent 
 enough to make sensible reading, and they are largely- 
 spoiled for my purpose by containing too much direct dis- 
 course. For direct discourse, which is so eminently suited 
 to oral reading, is about the poorest sort of material for 
 silent-reading class drill. Here is a part of one of the 
 stories, with much of the direct discourse left out or 
 changed to narrative: 
 
 RED HEN AND THE FOX 
 I 
 
 Red Hen lived in a little red house. 
 
 Near the house lived Sly Fox. 
 
 His mother lived with him. 
 
 One day Mother Fox said, "I want a hen to eat." 
 
 II 
 
 "Very well, mother," said Sly Fox, "I will get one for you." 
 He told his mother to get a pot of hot water ready. 
 Then Sly Fox took a bag and went to Red Hen's house. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Red Hen was in the garden. 
 
 She saw Sly Fox. 
 
 Red Hen flew up on her little house. 
 
 She thought she would be safe there. 
 
 A fox cannot fly. 
 
 IV 
 When Sly Fox saw Red Hen on the house, he said, 
 
 "I'll get her now." 
 So he ran round and round and round the house. 
 It made Red Hen so dizzy that she fell off the house. 
 Sly Fox put her in his bag and away he ran. 
 
172 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 One Way of Using Such Material 
 
 Now, we vary the class drill on such reading material in 
 three ways. One way is to give the whole class a definite 
 length of time to read a certain amount of material and 
 then to have one of the pupils tell in his own words what 
 he has just read. Meanwhile the rest listen with books 
 closed and watch for errors or omissions. These they are 
 permitted to supply, after the reciting pupil has told all he 
 can remember. To illustrate, let us suppose the teacher is 
 going to give the class a minute in which to read section i of 
 the above story. Everybody keeps his book closed, with 
 a finger marking the place, until the teacher gives the word 
 to begin. At the end of a minute, she says " Stop," and 
 the books are instantly closed. John, called upon to 
 recite, reproduces the following ideas from the story: 
 
 *'Red Hen lived in a little house. A fox and his mother 
 lived in another house near by. One day his mother said, 
 *I want a hen.'" 
 
 When he has finished, the teacher calls for volunteers to 
 supply omitted facts or to correct errors of statement. 
 In this way the following omissions and corrections may 
 be noted: 
 
 1. The kind of a little house in which Red Hen lived. 
 
 2. The name of the fox. 
 
 3. Why the mother fox wanted a hen. 
 
 4. The story does not say that the foxes lived in a house. 
 John's statement to the effect that they lived in a house 
 shows that he did not fully understand what he read 
 and is evidence of somewhat careless reading. 
 
 There are at least two advantages of this method of 
 class drill in silent reading: 
 
 (i) Everybody is working all the time. Each pupil reads 
 
SILENT READING IN LOWER GRADES 173 
 
 (a) with concentration because he may be the one called 
 upon to recite, and (b) rapidly because his time is limited. 
 Concentration of attention is conducive to accurate com- 
 prehension, and speed and accuracy of comprehension are 
 the two chief factors in efHcient silent reading. (2) The 
 pupil reciting gets practice in thinking on his feet and in 
 expressing his thoughts orally, thus affording most of the 
 benefits of oral reading with few of its defects. 
 
 A possible defect of the plan is that a good verbal 
 memory may simulate real comprehension in reproducing 
 what has been read. However, I believe psychologists 
 concede that ability to summarize in their proper relations 
 the main facts of a story or other selection in one's own 
 words is a fair indication that the subject-matter is under- 
 stood. But the pupil who tries to keep too closely to the 
 words and expressions of the book in his oral reproductions 
 can be justly suspected of lack of understanding. 
 
 The time limit and the amount of material assigned for 
 each reading should vary with the average ability of the 
 class and the type of matter to be read. The length of time 
 should be so adjusted to the amount of material that the 
 majority of the children will be forced to read at top speed 
 in order to cover the assignment within the period. Com- 
 prehension will suffer at first, but in no other way can 
 normal speed be developed within a reasonable length of 
 time. Under such conditions pupils who have already 
 formed bad habits of lip-movement or of spelling out 
 words will be forced to abandon them in order to keep up 
 with the others. 
 
 The time allowed for reading an assignment should not 
 be so long as to prevent a considerable number of children 
 from having an opportunity to recite during each class 
 period. If the time for each assignment is three minutes 
 and the reading period fifteen minutes, not more than three 
 
174 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 or four pupils can recite during a period. On the other 
 hand, if the time limit is one minute, eight or nine children 
 will get a chance to recite. A time limit of from half a 
 minute to a minute for all grades, the amount of material 
 to be read being adjusted accordingly, will produce excel- 
 lent results as the records of our schools prove. 
 
 The assignment should not be so long as to preclude the 
 possibility of fairly complete reproduction of details from 
 memory; nor should it be so short as to make possible the 
 verbatim memorization of the words of the book in the 
 time allowed for the reading. 
 
 A Second Method 
 
 A SECOND way of treating the same material is for the 
 teacher to prepare beforehand a list of questions based or 
 the text to be read. After the pupils have read a section, 
 timed as before, she may test their comprehension of the 
 thought by asking the question the answers to which are 
 given or suggested in the section read. Let me repeat here 
 the four sections of our selection with appropriate ques- 
 tions on each. 
 
 RED HEN AND THE FOX 
 
 Red Hen lived in a little red house. Near the house lived 
 Sly Fox. His mother lived with him. One day Mother Fox 
 said, " I want a hen to eat." 
 
 1. In what kind of a little house did Red Hen live? 
 
 2. Who lived near them? 
 
 3. Who lived with Sly Fox? 
 
 4. What did Mother Fox say she wanted? 
 
 5. What did she want it for? 
 
SILENT READING IN LOWER GRADES 175 
 
 II 
 
 "Very well, mother," said Sly Fox, "I will get one for you." 
 So Sly Fox told his mother to get ready a pot of hot water. 
 Then he took a bag and went to Red Hen's house. 
 
 1. What did Sly Fox tell his mother he would do? 
 
 2. What did he tell his mother to do? 
 
 3. Then where did he go? 
 
 4. What did he take with him? 
 
 ■ 5. What do you suppose the pot of hot water was for? 
 6. What do you suppose the bag was for? 
 
 Ill 
 
 Red Hen was in her garden. She saw Sly Fox. Red Hen 
 flew up on her little house. She thought she would be safe 
 there. A fox cannot fly. 
 
 1. Where was Red Hen? 
 
 2. What did she do when she saw the fox? 
 
 3. Why did she do it? 
 
 4. Why did she think she would be safe there? 
 
 IV 
 
 When Sly Fox saw Red Hen on the house, he said, "I'll 
 get you now." So he ran round and round and round the 
 house. It made Red Hen so dizzy that she fell off the house. 
 Sly Fox put her into his bag and away he ran. 
 
 1. What did Sly Fox say when he saw Red Hen on the 
 house? 
 
 2. What did he do? 
 
 3. What happened to Red Hen? 
 
 4. What did Sly Fox do with her? 
 
 A Third Metfiod 
 
 According to a third variation in method, the teacher may 
 prepare questions as just shown, but, instead of having the 
 class read a section beforehand and then asking the pupils 
 to answer the questions from memory, she may ask the 
 
176 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 questions one at a time and let them read to find the 
 answers. The game is to see who can find the answer first. 
 This practice has some advantages over the others in that 
 it (a) ensures better concentration, and (b) soon develops 
 the ability to scan quickly a paragraph or a page in search 
 of a definite idea while ignoring unessential details. Such 
 ability is very useful later in studying lessons from topical 
 outlines. It is really a treat to see the little tots concen- 
 trating on their work, each one trembling with eagerness 
 to be the first to discover the right idea. 
 
 Second Readers Begin in the Last Half of the 
 
 First Year 
 
 Now let us return for a moment to the before-mentioned 
 lack of suitable book material for silent-reading class drill 
 in the first grade. Little of such material is found in 
 present-day primers and first readers. All these books 
 were designed for oral-reading drill. Not until we come 
 to the second readers do we find any considerable amount 
 of material of a usable nature and here the vocabulary 
 requirements are rather heavy. Nevertheless, we have 
 been obliged to use them during the last part of the first 
 year because they are, for the most part, the only suitable 
 books available. Their use has been possible only because 
 the vocabulary-building and sentence-interpretation drill 
 above described really develop reading ability with sur- 
 prising rapidity when properly handled. By the end of 
 the first half-year of such drill, most of the first-year pupils 
 in the schools where the plan has been intelHgently carried 
 out can do very well at reading simple stories at sight. 
 
 By continuing these drills, using the new words in the 
 reading books for vocabulary-building, the action sentences 
 made up from these words for sentence-interpretation, we 
 were able to begin with second readers soon after the 
 
SILENT READING IN LOWER GRADES 177 
 
 middle of the first year in the schools that had been undei 
 capable instruction. And these schools were not taught 
 by highly trained and broadly experienced teachers. The 
 good results were accomplished through interest, industry, 
 and common sense. Of course, all the new words in each 
 story had to be thoroughly taught before the story could 
 be used for silent-reading drill. 
 
 The Result in One School 
 
 The results in some schools are astonishingly good. I 
 visited one school just recently and witnessed a silent- 
 reading drill that almost took my breath away. A second 
 grade, of nine pupils, none of them more than eight and a 
 half years old, was reading a simplified version of Robinson 
 Crusoe by the timed-section method described above. 
 The text was of a degree of difficulty usually assigned to 
 the fourth or fifth grade. The teacher informed me that 
 they had just finished reading some stories from the 
 Arabian Nights a few days before. These pupils were 
 reading a full page of the text in half a minute and then 
 getting up and telling what they had read, scarcely omitting 
 a detail of any importance. They not only told it, but 
 they told it smoothly in their own words with good ex- 
 pression and using good English. They could certainly 
 talk on their feet without hesitation or embarrassment. 
 Nor was this a spectacular exhibition by very bright 
 pupils. I looked up their mental test records on the spot. 
 While it is true that there was none with an intelligence 
 quotient below 90, there were only two with intelligence 
 quotients above no. These two had intelligence quotients 
 of 116 and 119 respectively. The class was just an aver- 
 age group of children who had been under the right kind of 
 reading instruction from the first. They were shining 
 examples of what is possible in the way of teaching reading. 
 
178 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 The Kind of Material Needed for First-Grade Use 
 
 To begin with, it would be a great help to have some books 
 to replace the ordinary primers and first readers — books 
 containing the usual children's classics written in pure 
 narrative form without direct discourse. To illustrate, I 
 will reproduce here a story as it is found in a popular first 
 reader, and then give the same story in rewritten form 
 suitable for silent-reading drill, or at least as nearly suit- 
 able as purely literary narrative can be. 
 
 • THE THREE LITTLE PIGS 
 
 Once there was a mother pig. 
 
 The mother pig had three little pigs. 
 
 There was little pig One. 
 
 There was little pig Two. 
 
 There was little pig Three. 
 
 One day the mother pig said, 
 
 *' Go, find some work, little pigs." 
 
 The little pigs went to find work. 
 
 Little pig One said, "I shall build me a house." 
 Little pig Two said, '*I shall build me a house." 
 Little pig Three said, "I shall build me a house." 
 
 Little pig One said, 
 
 **I shall build a soft house." 
 
 Little pig Two said, 
 
 "I shall build a tall house." 
 
 Little pig Three said, 
 
 *'I shall build a strong house." 
 
 One day little pig One found some straw. 
 The straw was soft, 
 
SILENT READING IN LOWER GRADES 179 
 
 Little pig One said, 
 
 "This straw will make my house soft. 
 
 I will build a straw house." 
 
 Then little pig One built a house of the soft straw. 
 
 One day a wolf came to the straw house. 
 The wolf knocked at the door. 
 The little pig ran to the door. 
 The wolf said: 
 
 "Little pig, little pig, 
 Let me come in." 
 
 **No, no, by the hair 
 Of my chinny-chin-chin." 
 
 "Then I'll huff and I'll puff 
 And I'll blow your house in." 
 
 Then the wolf huffed and puffed and blew in the straw house 
 and ate up the little pig. 
 
 Little pig Two found some sticks. 
 
 Little pig Two said, 
 
 " The sticks will not make a strong house. 
 
 The sticks will make a tall house. 
 
 I will build my house of sticks." 
 
 Then little pig Two built a tall house of sticks. 
 
 One day the woK came to the house of sticks. 
 The wolf knocked at the door and said, 
 "Little pig, Httle pig," etc. 
 
 So the wolf huffed and puffed and blew in the house of sticks 
 and ate up little pig Two. 
 
 Little pig Three found some stone. 
 Little pig Three said, 
 "This stone will make a strong house; 
 I will build my house of stone." 
 
i8o STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 The little pig worked one day. . 
 
 He worked two days. 
 
 He worked three days. 
 
 Then the house of stone was built. 
 
 The wolf came to the stone house. 
 He knocked at the door. 
 Wolf. Little pig, little pig, 
 Let me come in. 
 
 Pig. No, no, by the hair 
 
 Of my chinny-chin-chin. , 
 
 WOLP. Then I'U huff and I 'U puff 
 And I '11 blow your house in. 
 
 Pig. You may h uff and puff, but you will not 
 blow my house in. 
 
 The wolf huffed and puffed and puffed and huffed, but he 
 did not blow in the strong house of stone. 
 
 The same story in the following form, with much of the 
 direct discourse and with all needless and monotonous 
 repetition omitted, is much more suitable for silent reading 
 class drill. 
 
 THE THREE LITTLE PIGS 
 
 I 
 
 Once there was a mother pig with three little pigs. The 
 pigs were named One, Two, and Three. One day the mother 
 pig told them to go find some work. So the little pigs went to 
 find work. 
 
 n 
 
 Each little pig said he would build himself a house. 
 Little pig One said he would build himself a soft house. 
 Little pig Two said he would build himself a tall house. 
 Little pig Three said he would build himself a strong house. 
 
SILENT READING IN LOWER GRADES i8i 
 
 III 
 
 One day little pig One found some straw. The straw was 
 soft. It would make a soft house. So little pig One built a 
 house of the soft straw. 
 
 IV 
 
 One day a wolf came to the straw house. The wolf knocked 
 at the door. The little pig ran to the door. The wolf said: 
 "Little pig, Httle pig, let me come in." 
 "No, no, by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin." 
 "Then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in." 
 Then the wolf huffed and puffed and blew in the straw house 
 and ate up the Httle pig. 
 
 V 
 
 Little pig Two found some sticks. Sticks will not make 
 a strong house. They will make a tall house. So Httle pig 
 Two built a tall house of sticks. 
 
 VI 
 
 One day the wolf came to the house of sticks. He knocked at 
 the door and said: 
 
 "Little pig, Httle pig," etc. 
 
 So the wolf huffed and puffed and blew in the house of sticks 
 and ate up Httle pig Two. 
 
 VII 
 
 Little pig Three found some stones. Stones will not make a 
 soft house but they will make a strong one. So little pig Three 
 built his house of stones. He worked three days and then 
 the house of stone was built. 
 
 vin 
 
 The wolf came to the stone house. He knocked at the door. 
 
 "Little pig, little pig," etc. 
 The wolf huffed and puffed and puffed and huffed but he did 
 not blow in the strong house of stone. 
 
1 82 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 If such stories could be printed with four or five good 
 questions immediately following each section, so much the 
 better. The teacher would then be furnished with test 
 questions which she might not have the ambition to pre- 
 pare beforehand for herself. If the teacher makes up her 
 questions in class, much time is usually wasted and the 
 questions are not well chosen. All new words in each story 
 should be printed at the beginning of the story. 
 
 Do not fear for an instant that the use of such meta- 
 morphosed (desiccated, if you will) stories of childhood 
 will result in less interest and enthusiasm on the part of 
 pupils. What is lost in the material is made up in the 
 method. I have never seen anywhere else such spon- 
 taneous enthusiasm as is evidenced by our silent-reading 
 classes, providing the drill is properly handled and the 
 teacher herself shows some life and interest. And without 
 an interested and enthusiastic teacher, neither material 
 nor method of any sort will arouse any great enthusiasm 
 in class drill. Several times have pupils complained to me 
 that their teachers were not carrying on the reading drill as 
 I had directed and demonstrated in the presence of the 
 children. They asked me to try to have her do so, because 
 they thought the work, as I presented it, was so much more 
 interesting. These complainants were, not first-grade 
 pupils, of course. 
 
 Still better would be some books based on historical and 
 geographical facts and written as pure exposition. Ex- 
 pository material is best suited to silent-reading drill. 
 Only very elementary facts should be so treated, and that 
 in the simplest possible language. With the use of such 
 books the intensive study inherent in properly conducted 
 silent-reading drill would make the reading period doubly 
 valuable because the children would be acquiring worth- 
 while information while, at the same time, developing 
 reading ability. 
 
SILENT READING IN LOWER GRADES 183 
 
 But even better types of silent-reading exercises are 
 possible, especially for the transition from the quick-per- 
 ception word and sentence drills to book material. Books 
 filled largely with the type of exercises used in Haggerty's 
 " reading test " for primary grades would be excellent to 
 replace the ordinary primer for silent-reading purposes. 
 Some of this material is reproduced below. ^ 
 
 Put a stem on the apple. 
 
 
 Put a cross on the ball. 6^^ 
 
 Put a ring around the bee. 
 
 
 ^•^^,^r 
 
 Make two lines under the horse. 
 Put a cross over the dog. 
 
 Fig. 14 
 
 * From Haggeriy Reading Examination: Sigma I. Cop3night, 1921, by World 
 Book Compaay, Yookers-on-Hudsou, N.Y. 
 
i84 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 Such exercises as these could be varied with action 
 sentences hl^e those heretofore suggested, the child proving 
 his understanding of the sentences by carrying out the 
 actions therein described. Such action sentences should 
 gradually increase in length and difficulty throughout the 
 book 
 
 Questions like the following also make good elementary 
 silent-reading exercises. Here the child reads the question 
 silently and gives his answer orally: 
 
 1. Can a chair walk? 
 
 2. Is four more than two? 
 
 3. Have all girls the same name? 
 
 4. Are men larger than boys? 
 
 5. Does flour come from milk? 
 
 6. Is every man a soldier? 
 
 7. Does the sun rise in the evening? 
 
 Other good material would be pictures accompanied by 
 descriptions or little stories in which many of the state- 
 ments do not agree with the pictured facts. My meaning 
 is illustrated below. ^ 
 
 One day when Betty and Harry were playing barefooted in 
 the fields with their dog and kittens, they found a mother bird 
 teaching her little ones to fly. This picture shows the cliildren 
 and the kittens watching the birds. The four little birds are 
 sitting in a row on the fence while the frightened mother bird 
 flutters about below them. Both children are very still so as 
 not to frighten the birds. Harry has a hoop in his left hand. 
 His right hand is out of sight. Betty's hat is lying on the 
 ground by her feet. In front of the kittens are two tall lilies. 
 How many blossoms have the lilies? How many buds have 
 they? What is the dog doing? 
 
 1 The illustration is from the Primer, in the series of Riverside Readers 
 (Houghton Mifflin Company). In the original the picture is in two colors. As 
 reproduced here it is reduced one-fourth in size. 
 
SILENT READING IN LOWER GRADES 185 
 
 Fig. 15 
 
 The pupils read the description or story, compare its 
 statements with the facts of the picture, and point out 
 errors. Of course the misstatements cannot be indicated 
 by the pupils unless they understand the printed thoughts. 
 
i86 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 These are only a few suggestions of the possibilities for 
 effective devices to further the efficiency of silent-reading 
 drill in the first grade. 
 
 Reading in the Second Grade 
 
 During the year in which our new reading program was 
 initiated, we were confronted with almost as many diffi- 
 culties in teaching silent reading in the second grade as we 
 encountered in the first grade. True, the children aver- 
 aged about a year older and could read a little orally. 
 That is, they had learned to recognize a considerable 
 number of printed words and to pronounce them correctly. 
 But in silent-reading work they were almost as helpless as 
 the beginners. In some respects they were even worse off 
 than the beginners. They had already formed many bad 
 reading habits. Lip-movement was universal when they 
 were asked to read silently. Most of them had been 
 taught the alphabet as the first step in learning to read, 
 and their first reading drills were like this, each pupil in 
 turn standing at the teacher's knee while she pointed out 
 the words for him one at a time. 
 
 S-e-e, see; t-h-e, the; c-a-t, cat. 
 
 H-e, he; i-s, is; a; g-o-o-d, good; c-a-t, cat. 
 
 S-e-e, see; t-h-e, the; g-o-o-d, good; c-a-t, cat; r-u-n, run. 
 
 As a consequence these pupils had formed the habit of 
 spelling each word before they could pronounce it. It was 
 a painful sight to watch them trying to read to themselves 
 at their seats, spelling out each word letter by letter and 
 then pronouncing them in audible whispers as they pro- 
 gressed with the end of their forefinger slowly through the 
 short, simple sentences in a first reader. The teaching of 
 whole words and sentences by quick-perception methods, 
 so far as I could ascertain, had been entirely unknown in 
 the schools of the district.. 
 
SILENT READING IN LOWER GRADES 187 
 
 These bad reading habits, formed through improper 
 instruction and drill without due regard to the correct 
 order of associations which I have mentioned, more than 
 offset what little oral-reading ability the children had ac- 
 quired their first year in school. Such habits had to be 
 broken up before correct ones could be formed. Therefore 
 we were obliged to use practically the same methods and 
 materials in the second grade as in the first grade during 
 the first year of silent-reading work. 
 
 But the next year, with second grades made up mostly 
 of pupils who had been under proper reading instruction 
 from the first, the problem was much simplified. There 
 were few normal pupils who were unable to read rapidly 
 and with comprehension material of the grade of difficulty 
 found in ordinary second readers. Accordingly, there 
 was no lack of reading matter for the work in this grade. 
 Second and third readers were used as the chief sources of 
 material, the latter during the last half of the year. Eight 
 to ten books were read in class during the year by the same 
 methods outlined for the first grade. All class reading 
 was done at sight. Pupils were not permitted to have 
 their class reading books at their seats. Vocabulary- 
 building and sentence-interpretation drills were carried 
 on throughout the year in much the same manner as de- 
 scribed for the first grade. All new words in each story 
 were thus thoroughly drilled upon before the story itself 
 was attempted. 
 
 Pronunciation of new words was still repressed during 
 the greater part of the year. But with the opening of the 
 spring term oral-reading practice was begun because of the 
 insistent demands of the teachers who feared that the 
 children would never learn to read orally if they were con- 
 fined too long and too exclusively to the silent-reading 
 drill. The oral reading was begun in primers. Much to 
 
1 88 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 the surprise of some of the teachers, most of the pupils 
 could read very well indeed and could pronounce nearly 
 every word correctly. In fact, the primer material proved 
 so easy for them that they were given first readers after a 
 few days, and it was found that they could read nearly 
 as well from them as from the primers. By the middle of 
 the term they were doing good work in second readers. 
 Throughout the spring term from a third to a half of the 
 reading time was devoted to practice in oral reading. By 
 the end of the year the majority of the second-grade pupils 
 could read fluently from the easier third readers. In the 
 June tests more than fifty per cent of them tested third 
 grade or better in silent-reading abiHty; and at the same 
 time they could read orally m_ore smoothly and with better 
 expression than could many in the fourth and fifth grades. 
 The most surprising thing about this sudden introduc- 
 tion to oral reading was the ability of the pupils to pro- 
 nounce most of the words correctly, although, for the most 
 part, they had been rigidly restrained from pronouncing 
 them while they were being learned in class. Yet there 
 was really nothing to be wondered at. Even to beginners 
 most of the words contained in the lower-grade readers are 
 familiar in their vocal forms and usually also in their 
 meanings. The pupils had had nearly two years of inten- 
 sive drill in the direct association of words with their mean- 
 ings, so that when they saw a printed word it was instantly 
 associated with its meaning and the next instant with its 
 vocal form with which they were already familiar before 
 they ever tried to read. Most of the hesitation and 
 stumbling by the pupil in oral reading is due to the fact 
 that he does not know the meanings of the " hard " words 
 and is trying to recall imperfectly formed associations be- 
 tween meaningless visual forms and their respective vocal 
 forms. For instance, a child comes to the word " stove " 
 
SILENT READING IN LOWER GRADES 189 
 
 in his reading. He does not connect it in his mind with any 
 vocal form or with any familiar object. In other words, 
 the word has no meaning for him. He hesitates, stumbles 
 over it, and guesses at it. Then the teacher pronounces it 
 for him and he reads on. The next day the teacher pro- 
 nounces it for him again. After several such pronuncia- 
 tions by the teacher, he may make permanent association 
 between the printed and spoken forms of the word. 
 
 Now, if the first time the word was met with, the teacher 
 had pointed out a stove or shown the child a picture of one, 
 he could instantly have pronounced the word without the 
 slightest trouble. It was not the pronunciation of the 
 word that needed to be taught, but its meaning as asso- 
 ciated with its visual form. Hence these second-grade 
 children, with very little or no previous practice in oral 
 reading, could read well orally because they had learned to 
 associate the printed words directly with the ideas which 
 they represent. The spoken names of the ideas had been 
 already acquired when they learned to talk, so that the 
 vocal forms came spontaneously as fast as they recognized 
 the meaning of the printed words. With such a founda- 
 tion of vocabulary knowledge to build upon, oral-reading 
 ability developed very rapidly with practice. 
 
 And since, with children so trained, understanding 
 precedes oral expression, they put intelligent expression 
 into their reading almost as naturally as they do into their 
 speaking. There was absolutely no doubt but that at the 
 end of the year they were able to read orally as well as or 
 better than most second-grade pupils. Their silent-read- 
 ing ability has already been noted. So there seems to have 
 been nothing lost and much gained by postponing oral 
 reading until the latter part of the second year. It is quite 
 probable that nothing would have been lost if oral read- 
 ing had been postponed until the last half of the third year. 
 
190 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 At any rate, the fears of the teachers that the children 
 would not learn to read orally having been mostly allayed 
 by this experience, our next class will not begin oral reading 
 until the third year. 
 
 Considerable unsupervised silent reading was done at 
 the seats during the second year. The children fairly rev- 
 eled in the stories and pictures in the primers and first 
 readers which by this time most of them could read with 
 ease. They read them over and over at their seats. 
 Nearly every day some of them were permitted to tell to 
 teacher and classmates some story thus read. The ten to 
 twelve new sets of primers and first readers in each school 
 furnished ample material for seat work in silent reading. 
 
 Although of necessity the literary contents of second and 
 third readers furnished most of the drill material in this 
 grade, nevertheless, we were not wholly confined to them. 
 Some informational matter was simple enough to be avail- 
 able. For instance, toward the end of the year it was 
 found possible to utilize to good advantage the James Otis 
 Colonial Series of historical readers in some of the schools. 
 Among the titles of this series are Mary of Plymouth and 
 Ruth of Boston. In these books colonial fife is pictured as 
 the background for imaginary biographies of typical boys 
 and girls of the colonial period. Carpenter's Around the 
 World with the Children is another book with real content 
 value that is simple enough for use in this grade. Most of 
 the material available for second grade is, however, of the 
 purely literary type which, as has been said, is least suit- 
 able and least valuable for silent-reading class drill. The 
 lack of simple, accurate informational reading matter is 
 felt almost as strongly in the second grade as in the first. 
 
 Reading in the Third Grade 
 
 With the beginning of the third year, our difficulties in the 
 way of teaching silent reading rapidly diminish. With 
 
SILENT READING IN LOWER GRADES 191 
 
 independent reading ability already acquired through two 
 years of intensive silent-reading drill and vocabulary- 
 building, it is mostly a matter of more practice and more 
 vocabulary-building with the advantage of a much wider 
 range of reading material which can be adapted to class 
 drill by the wide-awake and industrious teacher. 
 
 The same sort of vocabulary-building drill through the 
 use of quick-perception cards, with the meanings of new 
 words explained by means of objects, pictures, or illustra- 
 tive actions, should be continued through at least a part of 
 this year. The many new words found in the supple- 
 mentary reading books available for this grade, especially 
 those of informational content, offer ample material for 
 vocabulary-building. There are a great many words used 
 in historical, geographical, and nature readers that are not 
 usually found in the literary readers. If the more common 
 of these words are made a permanent part of the child's 
 reading vocabulary at this time, he will be that much 
 better equipped to do good work in history and geography 
 later on. A large part of the difficulty experienced by 
 pupils in learning their lessons in the content subjects is 
 due to the fact that they do not know the meanings of 
 words. In fact poor reading and ineffective study is 
 largely due to lack of word knowledge on the part of the 
 reader. Hence my insistence on a type of vocabulary- 
 building drill that will give the child as early as possible a 
 large stock of words properly and permanently associated 
 with their respective meanings. 
 
 There are a large number of books now on the market 
 which treat of historical and geographical facts in an inter- 
 esting manner and which are not too difficult for third- 
 year classes. More are appearing every year in response 
 to the rapidly increasing demands for supplementary read- 
 ing of this nature. 
 
192 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 Oral reading is not neglected in the third grade, but it is 
 mostly intensive rather than extensive. Its chief purpose 
 is conceived to be the development of habits of clear enun- 
 ciation and articulation. I would rather have a pupil read 
 one paragraph well with every word pronounced clearly 
 and distinctly than to have him read a whole story care- 
 lessly, slurring and clipping his words. We must remember 
 that " oral reading " is really practice in speaking and that, 
 unless oral-reading drill leads (or drives) the pupil to form 
 good habits of speech, it is time largely wasted. 
 
 I know full well that throughout this discussion I have 
 been flying in the face of well-established customs and 
 traditions pertaining to reading aims and reading methods 
 and in the face of some quite recently accepted conclusions 
 in regard to the teaching of reading. But this is not an 
 exposition of theory, so much as it is a narration of actual 
 experience. Changes of method in the teaching of reading 
 were suggested and shown to be necessary by the results of 
 the first silent-reading tests. The changes made and 
 herein described are based mainly on two things: (i) The 
 aim to develop efficient readers in the shortest possible 
 time, and (2) the generally accepted psychological princi- 
 ples of association and memory set forth in this and pre- 
 ceding chapters. 
 
 We have found our methods good. We have proved, to 
 our own satisfaction at least, that they will produce results 
 in actual practice. We are doing what we set out to do, 
 that is, we are developing in three or four years reading 
 ability as good as or better than the abifity ordinarily de- 
 veloped in the same schools in B.ve or six years. We may, 
 of course, be losing some things of value which are derived 
 from other methods; but we are at least getting as a rec- 
 ompense real reading efficiency in most of our schools. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 
 
 Reading as a Separate Subject should not be 
 Necessary in the Upper Grades 
 
 During the first year of the new regime upper-grade read- 
 ing presented some problems all its own. It should not 
 have been necessary to teach reading as a separate subject 
 above the third grade; and probably it would not have 
 been necessary, if during the first three years the children 
 had been given efi&cient instruction and drill. In general 
 it may be said that if, by the end of the third year, the 
 mechanics of reading have been acquired to the extent that 
 they may be, all that the pupil ought to need thereafter is 
 continuous practice on material of increasing difficulty; 
 and that practice can be arranged for {a) in connection 
 with other subjects and {b) by much assigned silent-reading 
 work to be done at seat or at home. Extensive silent 
 reading done at home or at seat will undoubtedly help to 
 improve reading ability through practice. This procedure, 
 however, is far too slow and unreliable. Intensive drill in 
 silent reading should undoubtedly continue throughout the 
 grades. If such drill is not given in connection with other 
 subjects, then it should surely be given a place of its own 
 in the program. The fact that efficient reading practice 
 can be given in connection with other subjects is no guar- 
 antee that it will be so given unless definite arrangements 
 are made for it. It has been my experience that any line 
 of work not specifically provided for in the daily schedule, 
 with a time allotment of its own, is pretty sure to be neg- 
 lected unless it happens to be a hobby of the teacher. 
 
194 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 Local Conditions Required Vigorous Action 
 
 At any rate, in our situation if existing conditions were to 
 be remedied to any appreciable extent by the end of the 
 year, it was necessary to provide for much systematic and 
 intensive drill in reading for the upper grades. Pupils old 
 enough for the third and fourth grade were unable to read 
 as well as beginning-second-grade pupils ought to be able 
 to read. More than half the pupils in the other grades 
 were from two to four grades below normal. Strong reme- 
 dial measures were therefore essential if the schools were 
 to be brought up to the test standards within a reasonable 
 length of time. 
 
 The Plan 
 
 Accordingly, it was decided to have special reading 
 classes for the upper grades. For this purpose the upper- 
 grade pupils in each school were divided into two groups. 
 In general the pupils of the fourth and fifth grades formed 
 one group and those of the sixth, seventh, and eighth 
 grades made up the other. In some schools it was found 
 necessary to include the sixth grade in the lower group. 
 In most schools the best readers of the fifth grade worked 
 with the higher group, while the poorest readers of the 
 higher grades worked with the lower group. In this way 
 two groups of fairly uniform reading ability were secured, 
 so that separate reading classes for each grade were un- 
 necessary. Then, partly by cutting down the dispro- 
 portionately large amount of time customarily devoted 
 to arithmetic and partly by utiKzing to a large extent 
 the subject-matter and supplementary reading of other 
 subjects for our silent-reading material, we managed to 
 squeeze out of our congested eight-grade, one-teacher 
 program., two fifteen-minute reading periods per day for 
 
READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 195 
 
 each of these groups. This is of course double the amount 
 of time that ordinarily need be devoted to special reading 
 drill in these grades. 
 
 And this was not all. Much of the class work in geog- 
 raphy and history was so conducted as to furnish the best 
 kind of silent-reading drill, so that all told the upper grades 
 had from forty-five minutes to an hour of intensive reading 
 drill nearly every day. In our case the importance of the 
 subject and the existing low level of efficiency demanded 
 that strenuous measures be taken. 
 
 That these measures were effective is proved by the fact 
 that at the end of the same year nearly ninety per cent of 
 all mentally normal pupils had attained to grade standards. 
 Most of those who were not up to standard in the June 
 tests were pupils in the three or four schools where the plan 
 was not efficiently carried out because of lack of interest 
 or adaptability on the part of the teachers. 
 
 After considerable experimenting our special reading 
 schedule for the upper grades evolved into something like 
 this: 
 
 SILENT-READING SCHEDULE FOR UPPER GRADES 
 
 
 
 Mon. 
 
 Tues. 
 
 Wed. 
 
 Thurs. 
 
 Grades 
 4&S 
 
 A.M. 
 P.M. 
 
 History 
 Literature 
 
 Phys.&Hyg. 
 Geog. 
 
 Geog. 
 History 
 
 Civics 
 Literature 
 
 Grades 
 6,7&8 
 
 A.M. 
 P.M. 
 
 History 
 Literature 
 
 Phys.&Hyg. 
 Geog. 
 
 Geog. 
 Civics 
 
 Civics 
 History 
 
 Fri. 
 
 Manners and 
 Conduct 
 
 Current 
 Events 
 
 Manners and 
 Conduct 
 
 Current 
 Events 
 
196 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 Chaeacter of the Reading Material 
 
 The types of reading material used in carrying out this 
 schedule were principally as follows : 
 
 History. In the upper grades, besides regular American 
 history texts, we used books like Tappan's Our European 
 Ancestors, England'' s Story, Story of the Greek People, Story 
 of the Roma7i People, Guerber's Story of the Chosen People, 
 Coe's Makers of the Nation, etc. For silent-reading mate- 
 rial in history for the fourth and fifth grades we used vari- 
 ous books of American and Old- World hero stories, myths, 
 and fables. No other class work in history was done in 
 these grades. 
 
 In all grades the customary question-and-answer recita- 
 tion was entirely replaced by this silent-reading work re- 
 viewed by fortnightly oral or written tests on the subject- 
 matter covered during the preceding two weeks. The 
 time usually devoted to seat study of history was given 
 over to reading other of the many books of myths and hero 
 tales, stories of pioneer and colonial life, and Indian 
 legends recommended for supplementary reading in his- 
 tory, especially in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. 
 
 Geography. The geographical reading material con- 
 sisted for the most part of one of the several excellent 
 series of geographical supplementary readers now pub- 
 lished. The very complete lists of well-chosen review 
 questions given in some of these books make them particu- 
 larly well adapted to the type of silent-reading drill wherein 
 the teacher asks questions while the children read to find 
 the answers. This method was described in chapter xii. 
 
 Physiology and Hygiene. Books of the Woods Hutch- 
 inson Health Series and Ritchie's Primers of Physiology, 
 Hygiene, and Sanitation, were used. Silent-reading drill 
 from these books together with occasional discussion and 
 
READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 197 
 
 periodical tests by way of review, comprised all the book 
 work given in physiology and hygiene. A part of the work 
 was seat work, the children being assigned a topic with 
 a list of questions to cover it and being required to find 
 and write the answers to the questions. 
 
 Civics. Modern texts emphasizing community civics 
 were used for silent-reading class drill and supplemented 
 by discussions of local community problems. This cov- 
 ered all the work required in the line of civics. 
 
 Literature. Reading material for these periods was taken 
 from whatever suitable books were available in the differ- 
 ent schools. The reading was done orally with particular 
 attention to securing as far as possible a real audience 
 situation for the reader. The book in the hands of the 
 reader was the only one used in the class. The rest of the 
 class, with the teacher, made up the audience. 
 
 According to this method the pupil who does the reading 
 stands in front of, and facing, the class; and after reading 
 about a page he takes his seat. Then the teacher calls 
 upon some member of the class to tell in his own words the 
 part of the story just read. Then another pupil is called 
 upon to go on with the reading. Since neither teacher nor 
 classmates have any books to look at and must therefore 
 depend entirely on the reader for the author's thoughts, 
 the reader has every incentive to do his best. The device 
 of calling upon another pupil to reproduce what has been 
 read tests that pupil's understanding of the passage, en- 
 sures the attention of the whole class to what is being read, 
 since none of them know which one is going to be called 
 upon to recite, and tends to develop a habit of giving strict 
 attention to the words of a reader or a speaker — a thing 
 of no little importance in itself. 
 
 Manners and conduct. McVenn's Good Manners and 
 Right Conduct was read either silently or orally. Discus- 
 
198 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 sions were held only when the pupils themselves wished 
 to " start something.'* The danger of mere discussion by 
 the teacher lies in making the " morals " of the stories too 
 obvious. 
 
 Current events. This consisted of oral reading in class 
 of interesting and informational (not merely sensational 
 or funny) items from the news of the day. 
 
 The Books Mentioned are Merely Suggestive 
 
 The particular titles mentioned on the foregoing pages are 
 not listed as being those of the best books available for 
 silent-reading purposes, but are merely suggestive, of the 
 types of books now available that are best suited and most 
 valuable for the kind of intensive silent-reading drill that 
 will develop habits of efficient study. Until we have real 
 silent-reading textbooks^ with material properly and spe- 
 cially organized to aid in developing the several phases of 
 silent-reading ability, we cannot do better than utilize for 
 our purposes good textbooks and supplementary readers 
 rich in content value. Such books as the various geo- 
 graphical, industrial, nature, and science readers, together 
 with regular textbooks in the content subjects, represent the 
 very best all-around silent-reading material yet available. 
 By the use of such books we are killing at least three 
 birds with one stone. We are getting our supplementary 
 reading done in such a way that the children will derive 
 some benefit from it; we are developing the most valuable 
 kind of reading ability; and we are supplying the children 
 with a broad range of valuable information. Moreover, 
 that information is presented to them under just the 
 psychological conditions that make for retention. The 
 concentration forced upon the pupil by the right kind of 
 silent-reading drill is the best guarantee that the material 
 read will be remembered as well as understood. 
 
READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 199 
 
 Why Literature is not Adapted for Silent-Reading 
 
 Drill 
 
 This suggests one of the principal reasons why literature 
 does not furnish the best kind of drill material. It is not 
 only difhcult to test the pupiFs comprehension of material 
 which has been read silently; but it is also inappropriate to 
 devote to such material the intensive study inherent in 
 properly conducted silent-reading drill. The chief aim in 
 the reading of literature is appreciation, not the develop- 
 ment of reading ability, and the intensive drill and thor- 
 ough testing for comprehension connected with silent- 
 reading lessons is not conducive to appreciation of the 
 literary merits of the selections read. 
 
 Probably literary appreciation can be best developed 
 through extensive reading of good literature outside the 
 class. Literary appreciation is something that grows upon 
 one principally through acquaintance and constant asso- 
 ciation with good literature. I doubt if the teacher can 
 do much toward developing it beyond furnishing an en- 
 vironment of good books and encouraging the children to 
 read them on their own initiative. If she has to lead up to 
 the habit of reading and liking good literature through 
 getting the children at first to read something that is not so 
 good, she should not be discouraged nor shrink from the 
 process. The first thing is to give the children the ability 
 to read easily and understandingly. The next thing is to 
 get them to read willingly almost anything that is not 
 positively harmful. What if their tastes do incline at first 
 toward " blood and thunder," crude humor, or cheap 
 sentimentalism? If you can once get them into the read- 
 ing habit, you may be able to lead them to something 
 better; but if you cannot get them to read at all except 
 under compulsion, you stand little chance of developing 
 much literary appreciation in them. 
 
200 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 Certainly it cannot be developed through the medium 
 of the microscopical dissecting exercises usually considered 
 essential to the teaching of literature for appreciation. 
 Here is a chance for the anti-vivisectionists to function for 
 the good of society in general and suffering school children 
 in particular — • that is, in connection with the murderous 
 and cruel dissecting, under the hands of misguided teach- 
 ers, of the living, throbbing, emotional gems of English 
 literature. 
 
 Some who read this book will probably criticize the idea 
 of a reading program and a reading method so bare of 
 opportunities to develop appreciation of good literature. 
 But remember my aim is not to develop literary apprecia- 
 tion, but to develop reading ability. Literary apprecia- 
 tion has no necessary connection with such an aim. The 
 only connection there is between literary appreciation and 
 reading ability is that the former is almost entirely de^ 
 pendent on the latter. Therefore the sooner the latter is 
 acquired, the sooner can the former become a possibility. 
 Let me repeat. The study of literature has no necessary 
 connection with the development of reading ability. It is 
 beginning to be evident that it has no profitable connection 
 with it from the point of view of reading efficiency. Hence, 
 if literary material is not suitable for use in developing the 
 kind of reading ability that we want to develop (and must 
 develop, if our schools are to be truly efficient), then let us 
 relegate such material to its proper place, namely, the, 
 study of literature, while we go ahead and teach reading 
 with the best type of material we can find for the purpose. 
 
 The Kind of Material Needed for Silent Reading 
 
 For the upper grades as well as for the lower grades we are 
 greatly in need of books with informational content espe- 
 cially organized and arranged into silent-reading exercises 
 
READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 201 
 
 and accompanied by teachers' manuals giving explicit 
 instructions for the treatment of each lesson. I know of 
 but two attempts so far to produce books specially de- 
 signed to aid in the development of real silent-reading 
 abihty. These attempts have resulted in the placing of 
 two sets of *^ Silent Readers " on the market within the 
 past year. The Bolenius Readers are well designed and 
 go far toward filling the great need of material properly 
 arranged for silent-reading class drill. It would be diffi- 
 cult to improve upon them as mediums of development of 
 certain phases of silent-reading abihty or in their mode of 
 presenting narrative material for silent-reading purposes. 
 But they do not sufficiently present the type of reading 
 material which the pupils meet in studying their daily 
 lessons in history, geography, physiology, civics, etc. The 
 special vocabularies of these studies contain great numbers 
 of words not found in ordinary narrative material. Hence 
 the Bolenius Readers need to be supplemented by class 
 reading drill in material similar to that found in the con- 
 tent subjects of the elementary school. 
 
 The other series of readers, besides containing a pre- 
 ponderance of narrative material, is scarcely more adapted 
 to silent-reading class drill than is the ordinary literary 
 reader since only a few of the selections are accompanied 
 by adequate and specific instructions or devices for testing 
 comprehension. Scattered throughout each book, how- 
 ever, are a few exercises of real value; but most of them are 
 designed for seat work, rather than for class drill. 
 
 Some examples of good selections for silent reading are 
 reproduced below: 
 
 EXERCISE I 
 
 (Material selected from Tappan's Diggers in the Earthy and 
 arranged for intensive study, paragraph by paragraph. The 
 first number at the end of each paragraph or section is the 
 
202 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 number of words in the section. The number in parentheses 
 is the total number of words in the exercise up to the end of 
 that particular paragraph.) 
 
 Directions: Let the class read the first question under 
 section I. Then see who in the class can find the answer first. 
 Then take the second question, and so on. The whole exercise 
 can be assigned as seat work, but in that case a time limit 
 should be assigned. As seat work the answers to the questions 
 should be written out and passed in by the pupils or rapidly 
 corrected in class. 
 
 AT THE GOLD DIGGINGS 
 Section I 
 
 When gold was first discovered in California, in 1848, people 
 from all over the world made a frantic rush to get there, every 
 one of them hoping that he would be lucky enough to make his 
 fortune, and fearing lest the precious metal should be gone 
 before he could even begin to dig. The gold that these men 
 gathered came from what were called "placers"; that is, 
 masses of gravel and sand along the beds of mountain streams. 
 Each miner had a pan of tin or iron, which he filled half full of 
 the gravel, or "pay dirt," as the miners called it. Then, hold- 
 ing it under water, he shook off the mud and stones over the 
 side of the pan, leaving grains of gold mixed with black sand 
 at the bottom. This black sand was iron, and after a while 
 the miners removed it with a magnet, dried what remained, 
 and blew away the dust, leaving only the grains of gold. 
 162 
 
 1. What happened in 1848? 
 
 2. Why did so many people rush to California when they 
 heard the news? 
 
 3. Why were they in such a hurry to get there? 
 
 4. What are "placers"? 
 
 5. What is "pay dirt"? 
 
 6. How did the miners separate the gold from the gravel? 
 
 7. What was left in the pan besides gold?, 
 
 8. How did they get rid of the iron? 
 
 ' 9. How did they get rid of the dust? 
 
READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 203 
 
 Section II 
 
 Another contrivance which soon came into use was the 
 " cradle." This was a long box, sometimes only a hollowed-out 
 log. At the top was a sieve which sifted out the stones. Nailed 
 to the bottom of the cradle were small cleats of wood, or 
 "rifHes," which kept the water from running so fast as to sweep 
 the gold out of the cradle with it. The cradle was placed on 
 rockers and also tilted slightly. The miner shoveled the gravel 
 into the top of the cradle and his partner rocked it. The sieve 
 kept back the stones, the water broke up the lumps of earth 
 and gravel and washed them down the cradle, and the grains 
 of gold were stopped by the riffles, and sank to the bottom. 
 Sometimes the "pay dirt" continued under a stream. To get 
 at it, the miners often built a little canal and turned the water 
 into a new channel; then they could work on the former bed 
 of the river. 
 166(328) 
 
 1. What was the miner's "cradle" ? 
 
 2. What were the riffles and what were they for? 
 
 3. Explain how the gold was separated from the gravel by 
 means of a cradle? 
 
 4. When the streak of pay dirt extended under a stream how 
 did the miners get at it? 
 
 Section III 
 
 Before many years had passed the gold that was near the 
 surface had been gathered. The miners then followed the 
 streams up into the mountains, and found that much of the 
 gold had come from beds where in ancient times rivers had 
 flowed. There was gold still remaining in these beds, but it 
 was poorly distributed, the miners thought. Sometimes there 
 would be quite an amount in one place, and then the miner 
 would dig for days without finding any more. Even worse 
 than this was the fact that these gravel beds were not on the 
 top of the ground, but were covered up with soil and trees. 
 Evidently the slow work with pans and cradles would not 
 pay here; but it occurred to some one that if a powerful stream 
 
204 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 of water could be directed against the great banks of earth, 
 as water is directed against a burning building, they would 
 crumble, the dirt could be washed down sluices, and the gold 
 be saved. This was done. Great reservoirs were built high up 
 in the mountains, and water was brought by means of ditches 
 and pipes to a convenient place. Then it was allowed to rush 
 furiously through a hose and nozzle, and the great stream com- 
 ing with tremendous force was played upon the banks of gravel. 
 The banks crumbled, the gravel was washed into a string of 
 sluices, or long boxes with riffles to catch the gold. Soon the 
 miners found that if quicksilver was put into these sluices, it 
 would unite with the gold and form a sort of paste called 
 "amalgam." Then if this amalgam was heated, the quick- 
 silver would be driven off in the form of gas, and the gold would 
 remain in a beautiful yellow mass. 
 290 (618) 
 
 1. What did the miners do when the placer gold gave out? 
 
 2. What did they find? 
 
 3. Find two reasons why the slow work with pan or cradle 
 could not be made to pay in working these new gravel beds. 
 
 4. What plan was finally adopted for getting the gold from 
 them? 
 
 5. How did they get the necessary water pressure? 
 
 6. What use did the miners discover for quicksilver? 
 
 7. How was the gold separated from the quicksilver? 
 
 Section IV 
 
 The ancient rivers had also carried gold to the valleys, and 
 to collect this a dredge, which the miners called a "gold ship," 
 came into use. The " ship " part of this machine is an immense 
 flat scow. Stretching out from one end is something which 
 looks like a moving ladder. This is the support of an endless 
 chain of buckets, each of which can bite into the gravel and 
 take a mouthful of five or six hundred pounds. They drop this 
 gravel into a big drum which is continually revolving. Water 
 flows through the drum, and washes out the sand and bits of 
 gold over large tables, where by means of riffles and quicksilver 
 
READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 205 
 
 the gold is captured. This scow was usually on dry land at 
 first ; but its digging soon made a lake, and then it floated. It 
 must be more fascinating to hold a pan in your own hands and 
 pick out little grains of gold or perhaps even a big piece of it 
 with your own fingers, but if the gravel is good the dredge 
 makes more money. 
 181 (799) 
 
 1. Where else had gold been carried by the rivers? 
 
 2. What is another name for the dredge used in working 
 these valley gold deposits? 
 
 3. By what means is the gravel taken aboarc\ the dredge? 
 
 4. What is said of the amount of gravel each bucket holds? 
 
 5. What do the buckets do with the gravel when they have 
 brought it aboard? 
 
 6. How is the gold separated from the gravel in this method 
 of mining? 
 
 7. Is the dredging begun on dry land or on a lake or river? 
 
 8. Then why is it necessary to have a scow? 
 
 Section V 
 
 In Alaska the great difficulty in mining is that, t. xept at the 
 surface, the ground is frozen all the year round. At first, the 
 miners used to thaw the place where they wished to dig by 
 building wood fires; but this was a slow method, and n ^w the 
 thawing is done by steam. They carry the steam in a p.oe to 
 the place where the digging is to be done, and send it thro ^gh 
 a hose. At the end of the hose is a pointed steel tube. Thty 
 hammer this tube into the ground and let some steam pass 
 through the nozzle. This softens the ground so that picks and 
 shovels may be used. There is generally cold enough in Alaska, 
 but once at least the miners had to manufacture it. The gold- 
 bearing gravel was deep, the ground was flat, and it was often 
 overflowed. They set up a freezing plant, and shut in their 
 land with a bulkhead of ice several feet thick. Then they 
 pumped out what water was already in and did their work with 
 no more trouble. 
 181 (980) 
 
2o6 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 1. Why IS mining difficult in Alaska? 
 
 2. What was the first method of overcoming this difficulty? 
 
 3. How is it done now? 
 
 4. In what peculiar way was one mine kept from being 
 flooded? 
 
 Section VI 
 
 When gold began to grow less in the California gravel, the 
 miners looked for it in the rocks on the mountain-side. The 
 placer miners laughed at them and called their shafts "coyote 
 holes"; but in time the placers failed, while nearly all of our 
 gold to-day comes from veins of white quartz in the rocks. 
 A vein of |,old is the most capricious thing in the world. It 
 may be so tivY that it can hardly be seen, then widen and grow 
 rich in gold, t en suddenly come to an end. This is why a new 
 mine is so ui :ertain an enterprise. The gold may hold out 
 and bring for mes to the investors, or it may fail, and then all 
 they will hav . to show for their money is the memory that they 
 put it into a lole in the ground. The managers of a few of the 
 well-establifxied mines, however, have explored so far as to 
 make sure -nat there is gold enough for many years of digging, 
 171 (Asi) 
 
 1. WT.ere did the miners next look for gold? 
 
 2. V here does most of our gold come from at present? 
 
 3. iVhy is a new mine a very uncertain enterprise to invest 
 • money in? 
 
 ," Section VII 
 
 The mining engineer must be a very wide-awake man. It is 
 noX enough for him simply to remember what was taught him 
 in *t.he schools of mining; he must be bright enough to invent 
 new ways of meeting difficulties. No two mines are alike, 
 and he must be ready for all sorts of emergencies. A gold mine 
 now consists of a shaft or pit dug several hundred feet down 
 into the rock, with levels or galleries running off from it and 
 with big openings like rooms made where the rock was dug out. 
 The roofs of the rooms are supported by great timbers. To 
 
READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 207 
 
 break away the rock, the miner makes a hole with a rock drill 
 worked by electricity or compressed air, puts powder or dyna- 
 mite into the hole, and explodes it. The broken rock is then 
 raised to the surface and crushed in a " stamping mill." Here 
 the ore is fed into a great steel box called a "mortar." Five 
 immense hammers, often weighing a thousand pounds apiece, 
 drop down upon the ore, one after another, until it is fine 
 enough to go through a wire screen in the front of the box. 
 When two hundred or more of these hammers are pounding 
 away with all their might a stamping mill is a pretty noisv 
 place. The ore, crushed to a fine mud, now runs over sloping 
 tables covered with copper. Sticking to the top of the copper 
 is a film of quicksilver. This holds fast whatever gold there 
 may be and makes an amalgam, which is scraped off from time 
 to time, and the quicksilver is driven from the gold by heat. 
 276 (1427) 
 
 1. What sort of a man must a mining engineer be? 
 
 2. Why? 
 
 3. Describe a gold mine. 
 
 4. What is timber used for in a gold mine? 
 
 5. How is the gold-bearing rock broken up? 
 
 6. What is done with it after bringing it to the surface? 
 
 7. Why is a stamping mill a noisy place? 
 
 8. What is the ore like when it leaves the stamping mill? 
 
 9. How is the gold separated from it? 
 
 10. Of what use is quicksilver in the process? 
 
 Section VIII 
 
 Gold that is not united with other metals is called ''free 
 milling gold." Much of it, however, is found in combination 
 with one metal or another, and is known as **rebeUious" or 
 "refractory" gold. Such gold may sometimes be set free by 
 heat, and sometimes by chemicals. One way is by the use of 
 chlorine gas, and the story of it sounds almost like "The house 
 that Jack built." It might run somewhat like this: This is the 
 salt that furnishes the chlorine. This is the chlorine gas that 
 unites with the gold. This is the chloride that is formed when 
 
2o8 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 the chlorine gas unites with the gold. This is the water that 
 washes from the tank the chloride that is formed when the 
 chlorine gas unites with the gold. This is the sulphate of iron 
 that unites with the chlorine gas of the chloride that the water 
 washes from the tank that is formed when the chlorine gas 
 unites with the gold — and leaves the gold free. 
 
 i68 (1595) 
 
 1. What is "free milling gold"? 
 
 2. What is "refractory" gold? 
 
 3. What are two ways of setting free refractory gold? 
 
 4. What is the chlorine obtained from? 
 
 5. What does it unite with? 
 
 6. What substance is formed when this union takes place? 
 
 7. What part does water take in the process? 
 
 8. How is the gold finally freed from the chloride? 
 
 Section IX 
 
 Another method is by the use of cyanide. More than a 
 century ago a chemist discovered that if gold was put into 
 water containing a little cyanide, the gold would dissolve, while 
 quartz and any metals that might be united with the gold would 
 settle in the tank. The water in which the gold is dissolved is 
 now run into boxes full of shavings of zinc and is "precipitated " 
 upon them; that is, the tiny particles of gold in the water fall 
 upon the zinc and cling to it. Zinc melts more easily than gold, 
 so if this gilded zinc is put into a furnace, the zinc melts and the 
 gold is set free. Very often gold is found combined with lead 
 or copper. It must then be melted or smelted in great furnaces. 
 The metal is heavier than the rock and settles to the bottom 
 of the furnace. It is then drawn off and the gold is separated 
 from the other metals, usually by electricity. 
 165 (1760) 
 
 1. How can gold be dissolved in water? 
 
 2. After being dissolved, how is the gold removed from the 
 water? 
 
 3. Then how is it separated from the zinc? 
 
READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 209 
 
 4. What two metals are very commonly found combined 
 with gold? 
 
 5. When thus found how is the gold obtained? 
 
 Section X 
 
 Sometimes large pieces of gold called "nuggets " are found by 
 miners. The largest one known was found in Australia. It 
 weighed 190 pounds and was worth $42,000. Sometimes 
 spongy lumps of gold are found; but as a general thing gold 
 comes from the little specks scattered through veins in rock, 
 and much work has to be done before it can be made into 
 coins or jewelry. It is too soft for such uses unless some alloy, 
 usually copper or silver, is mixed with it to make it harder. 
 Sometimes it is desirable to know how much alloy has been 
 added. The jeweler then makes a mark with the article on a 
 peculiar kind of black stone called a " touchstone," and by the 
 color of the golden mark he can tell fairly well how nearly pure 
 the article is. To be more accurate he pours nitric acid upon 
 the mark. This eats away the alloy and leaves only the gold. 
 159 (1919) 
 
 1. What are nuggets? 
 
 2. What was the largest one ever found? 
 
 3. How much was it worth? 
 
 4. Are large nuggets common? 
 
 5. How is gold usually found? 
 
 6. Why is pure gold not used for coins and jewelry? 
 
 7. How is it made harder? 
 
 8. How can a jeweler tell how much alloy has been added 
 to the gold in any article made of gold? 
 
 Section XI 
 
 Gold is a wonderful metal. It is of beautiful color; it can be 
 hammered so thin that the light will shine through it; few 
 acids affect it, and the oxygen which eats away iron does not 
 harm it. Pure gold is spoken of as being " twenty-four carats 
 fine," from carat, an old weight equal to one twenty-fourth of 
 
210 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 an ounce troy. Watchcases are from eight to eighteen carats 
 fine; chains are seldom more than fourteen; and the gold coins 
 of the United States are about eleven parts of gold and one of 
 copper. Coins wear in passing from one person to another, and 
 that is why the edges are milled, so that it may be more easily 
 seen when they have become too light to be used as coins. 
 When such pieces come into the hands of the government, they 
 must be recoined. 
 145 (2064) 
 
 1. What four valuable qualities of gold are mentioned here? 
 
 2. How much alloy is there in gold that is twenty-four carats 
 fine? 
 
 3. What is a "carat"? 
 
 4. What are the proportions of gold and alloy in U.S. gold 
 coins ? 
 
 5. Why are the edges of coins milled? 
 
 EXERCISE II 
 
 A BRAVE HAWAIIAN PRINCESS 
 
 From Mirick and Holmes, Home Life Around the World 
 
 (This exercise consists of paragraphs in which the sentences 
 have been disarranged. The sentences are numbered. The 
 task of the pupil is to decide in what order the sentences should 
 be read in order to give proper sequence to the author's 
 thoughts. The proper order can be easily indicated either 
 orally or in writing by means of the numbers at the beginning 
 of each sentence.) 
 
 I 
 
 1. He had a beautiful daughter named Kapiolani. 
 
 2. The home of this king and of the princess was near the 
 great volcano from which ever rises the white cloud of 
 steam that is seen far out on the waters of the ocean. 
 
 3. In the days, long ago, when Kaluhe had grown to man- 
 hood, there was a powerful king who ruled the brown- 
 skinned, savage people of the Hawaiian Islands. 
 
READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 211 
 
 II 
 
 1. One was named "Fiery-Eyed-Canoe-Breaker." 
 
 2. The mightiest of these spirits, and their ruler, was the 
 goddess, Pele. 
 
 3. Kapiolani, the king, and all the people, believed that the 
 terrible fire-mountain, as they called the volcano, was the 
 home of evil spirits. 
 
 4. Another was called " Red-Hot-Mountain-Lif ting-ClouJs, " 
 and the others had equally terrifying names. 
 
 K. Pele had several sisters. 
 
 Ill 
 
 1. Some sweet, red berries grew there of which thty were very 
 fond. 
 
 2. "Some we also eat." ' 
 
 3. These simple-minded savages were very careful not to 
 displease Pele and her sisters. 
 
 4. " Pele, here are your berries. We give some to you." 
 
 5. They were particularly careful not to take anything that 
 grew near the volcano without asking permission of the 
 goddess. 
 
 6. Then they ate all they wanted without fear, because they 
 thought the spirit was pleased with their gift. 
 
 7. But when they picked them they were accustomed to 
 throw a few in the direction of the crater, sayirg: 
 
 IV 
 
 1. This story of Pele and the ocean spirits was one that 
 Nalima used to tell Kaluhe as they sat together under the 
 palm trees making cloth. 
 
 2. They also went on long journeys and had strange adven- 
 tures. 
 
 3. It was supposed that these fire-spirits sometimes quar- 
 reled. 
 
212 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 1. At his command they leaped up the sides of the volcano. 
 
 2. Pele replied from her home in the volcano, "You are not 
 my master. I refuse to obey you." 
 
 3. Once upon a time the god of the ocean became very 
 angry with Pele, the fire-spirit, because she would not 
 obey him. 
 
 4. They flowed over the edge of the crater and filled it full 
 of water to the very top. 
 
 5. Then the god of the ocean summoned his water-spirits. 
 
 6. He came one day to the foot of the fire-mountain and 
 shouted, "Pele, come forth." 
 
 7. Huge waves rolled in from the boundless sea, and piled 
 one on top of the other on the shore. 
 
 1. All the waters to the last drop were hurled from the 
 crater back to their home in the ocean. 
 
 2. Together they set to work to drive the water-spirits from 
 their home. 
 
 3. For one short moment it seemed that Pele and the other 
 fire-spirits were drowned and that their fires were quenched 
 forever. 
 
 4. They rushed to help her. 
 
 5. But she cried aloud to her sisters. 
 
 6. Then they heated them still more and great clouds of 
 steam rose into the air. 
 
 7. First they heated the waters until they boiled. 
 
 8. So Pele ruled once more in her mountain. 
 
 9. There was a fearful explosion. 
 
 10. Almost in despair, exerting all their power, they heated 
 the water many times hotter than before. 
 
 VII 
 
 I. The savages of the Hawaiian Islands believed such stories 
 as this until white people from our own country went to 
 
READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 213 
 
 them and taught them that there were neither water- 
 spirits nor fire-spirits. 
 
 2. The beautiful princess, Kapiolani, determined to prove 
 to her people that they need fear these spirits no longer. 
 
 3. How she did it is told in the following story. 
 
 VIII 
 
 1. When, at night, the fires of the crater lit up the sky and 
 the earth shook, the mountain rumbled, and the lava 
 gushed up over its edge and flowed down the mountain- 
 side, she used to tremble with fear as she lay on her bed of 
 grass-mats and pray to the fire-spirits to protect her from 
 harm. 
 
 2. When Kapiolani was a little girl, she had been taught to 
 fear Pele and her sisters. 
 
 3. Many times she had gone to the mountain to pick the 
 sacred berries, but had never dared eat them until some 
 had been offered to the goddess. 
 
 IX 
 
 1. She had come to believe that there was no Pele and that 
 there were no fire-spirits. 
 
 2. But they would not believe unless she proved it to them. 
 
 3. She wanted her people to believe this also. , 
 
 4. But now she had grown to be a woman. 
 
 1. If I come back unhurt, you will know that there are no 
 fire-spirits. 
 
 2. So one day she walked up the side of the fire-mountain 
 with a great company of her people. 
 
 3. But she said, "I will descend into the crater." 
 
 4. As they came near the crater, they urged her to go back. 
 
 5. " If I do not return safe, continue to fear Pele." 
 
214 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 XI 
 
 1. All expected the angry goddess to appear and burn up the 
 daring princess. 
 
 2. She pushed a stick into the sacred ashes. She ate the 
 sacred berries of Pele in her very home. She cried aloud 
 to the spirits to destroy her if they could. 
 
 3. Then she went down into the crater with a few who were 
 willing to die with her. 
 
 4. From that time the people ceased believing in fire-spirits, 
 and they loved and honored their beautiful princess even 
 more than they had before. 
 
 5. But when she stood unharmed and returned in safety, 
 they shouted, "There is no Pele! There are no fire- 
 spirits." 
 
 XII 
 
 1. Since the time when the white people taught Kapiolani 
 not to believe in the fire-spirits, people have gone there 
 from many lands, not only from our own country, but 
 from China, Japan, and from Portugal and Italy. 
 
 2. To-day the Hawaiian Islands belong to the United States. 
 
 3. All these things happened a hundred years ago. 
 
 4. They have cleared away the jungles and have planted 
 tropical gardens in their place — plantations of sugar, 
 rice, coffee, and pineapples. 
 
 5. The beautiful city of Honolulu now stands where Kaluhe 
 once lived. 
 
 6. Instead of grass huts we shall find neat little cottages of 
 wood. 
 
 EXERCISE III 
 
 (In this exercise words are omitted from the text. These 
 words are listed at the top of each section. The pupils are to 
 fill in the blanks with the proper words as they read. Each 
 word can be used but once in a section. There are some words 
 in each Ust that do not belong in any of the blanks.) 
 
READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 215 
 
 GRANNIE AND THE TWINS 
 From Perkins, The Cave Twins 
 
 I 
 
 Stirredy sticks, she, acorns, lap, sat, mouth, sun, trees, woman, 
 reach, piece, burning, front, sat, vast, spring. 
 
 One bright morning of early , long ages ago, the sun 
 
 peered through the on the edge of a forest, 
 
 and sent a shaft of yellow sunlight right into the of a 
 
 great, dark cave. In of the cave a bright fire was 
 
 burning, and on a rock before it an old woman. In 
 
 her lap was a of birch-bark, and on the bark was a heap 
 
 of She was roasting them in the ashes and eating 
 
 them. At her right hand, within easy , there was a 
 
 pile of broken and tree branches, and every now and 
 
 then the old put on fresh wood and ...... the coals to 
 
 keep the fire bright. 
 
 n 
 
 Nor, climbed, titer e, shore, shining, where, down, blue, forests, any 9 
 
 far, lay, slightest. 
 
 A little path ran from the front of the cave the old 
 
 woman sat, down the sloping hillside to a river, and the 
 
 morning sun across it made a bridge of dazzling light 
 
 from shore to shore. 
 
 Beyond the river were green fields and forests, and 
 
 beyond the high hills over which the sun every 
 
 morning. What lay beyond those blue hills neither 
 
 the old woman any of the clan of the Black Bear had 
 
 the idea. 
 
 ni 
 
 From, sizzling, sound, lit, beginning, trees, seemed, cracked, made, 
 no, above, little, way, long. 
 Everything quiet and peaceful on that spring morn- 
 ing so ago. The trees were to turn green and little 
 
2i6 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 plants were already pushing their through the carpet 
 
 of dead leaves. A robin upon the branches of a tree 
 
 the cave and sang his morning song. 
 
 There was no other sound except the of a wet stick 
 
 upon the fire, and the snapping noise by the old woman 
 
 when she took a roasted acorn the fire and 
 
 it with her teeth. 
 
 IV 
 
 Comb J really, been, hair, twig, covered, not, ragged, her, long, could, 
 
 only. 
 
 The old woman was pretty to look at. Her face was 
 
 brown as leather and with wrinkles, and her hair hung 
 
 about it in gray locks. It was no wonder that her 
 
 was rough and ragged, for it had never been combed her whole 
 
 life , and she was quite old — oh, as old as forty, maybe! 
 
 But she could n't help her hair being like that any more 
 
 than she help being forty, because there was not a 
 
 single yet made in the whole world! 
 
 V 
 
 Nothing, leather, nuts, teeth, watch, left, noise, brown. 
 
 It was a mystery how she cracked the so well, be- 
 cause she had only a few left in her mouth. For clothing 
 
 she had . . . . . . but the skin of a deer fastened over her 
 
 shoulder by a thorn, and tied around her waist by a 
 
 thong. 
 
 VI 
 
 Roasted, dry, rustling, and, kept, she, nothing, in, unusual, against, 
 
 there, an. 
 
 Although she seemed to be thinking of but her nuts, 
 
 the little bright eyes of the old woman close watch in 
 
 every direction, and her ears quick to hear every 
 
 sound. If a twig snapped, or there was a noise in the 
 
 underbrush, she was ready in instant to fling fresh 
 
READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 217 
 
 sticks on the fire and make it glow red the black open- 
 ing of the cave. 
 
 VII 
 
 Quietly, puzzled, fox, both, sheltered, see, leap, wild, how, faintest, 
 girls, tell, alike, were, size, stealthily, dare. 
 
 She knew that no animal, however fierce and hungry, 
 
 would come near the leaping flames. Yet watchful as 
 
 she was, she did not two children who were creeping 
 
 toward her, over the great rocks which the 
 
 mouth of the cave. 
 
 They were a boy and a girl, and from their they must 
 
 have been about eight years old. They had bright 
 
 twinkling eyes and flaming red hair, and were dressed in 
 
 skins of red foxes of almost the same color. You could 
 
 at a glance that they were twins, but it would have any 
 
 one to tell whether they were both boys or both , or 
 
 one of each kind. They came down over the rocks so 
 
 that not even the quick ears of the old woman heard the 
 
 sound. 
 
 VIII 
 
 Darkness, over, fire, near, sudden, their, two, almost, fours, she, 
 right, simple, instant. 
 
 When they had reached the ground, they stopped, 
 
 and at the same opened their mouths and howled 
 
 exactly like young wolves! 
 
 The noise was so and so near that the old woman 
 
 never thought of her at all. She simply screamed and 
 
 fell over backwards into the cave. Then she rolled 
 
 over and scuttled on all out of sight in the as 
 
 fast as she could go. 
 
 IX 
 
 Scolded, they, hack, with, acorns, dance, jumped, red, stout, like, 
 
 angry. 
 
 The acorns in her lap flew in every and rolled down 
 
 the hillside. The boy and girl to the ground, shrieking 
 
2i8 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 with laughter. In a moment the old woman was again 
 
 in the door of the cave. She had a stick in her hand 
 
 and she looked very angry. She shook the stick at the Twins 
 
 and them so fast that the sound of it was like the 
 
 chattering of an squirrel in a tree-top. 
 
 X 
 
 CanHy shrieking, while, taste, catch, best, just, this, English, you, 
 teach, not, river, until, reach. 
 
 Now, of course, I cannot tell you the words she used, 
 
 but, translated into , this is what she said: — 
 
 "You horrid little catamounts, if I you, I'll 
 
 you better manners! I'll give you such a , of this 
 
 stick that you'll not need more till the runs dry." 
 
 The twins sprang up, still with laughter, and danced 
 
 about the fire just out of of the woman's stick. 
 
 **But you catch us," they screamed. 
 
 XI 
 
 Heart, afraid, wonder, fire, sticks, her, were, they, flew, lookedy 
 angry, glared, head, scare, heads. 
 
 Their red locks of hair about in the wind as they 
 
 danced, until it almost as if red flames bursting 
 
 from their heads. The old woman at them helplessly. 
 
 "Dance away," she cried, "dance away, you red-headed 
 
 rascals! I shan't need to put on the fire while you are 
 
 here. Your red hair would away the saber-toothed 
 
 tiger himself! No you are not afraid to run in the 
 
 forest alone! With such on you, you are as safe as if 
 
 you were in the of the cave." 
 
 EXERCISE IV 
 
 (This type of exercise is designed to make the job of learning 
 the meanings of unfamiliar words a pleasant game instead of a 
 monotonous task. Instead of hunting in the dictionary for the 
 definitions of words, the pupils are given the definition and then 
 they read to find the word which fits the definition.) 
 
READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 219 
 
 WATER IN THE AIR 
 From Van Buskirk and Smith, The Science oj Everyday Life, pp. 105-06 
 
 Water is always present in the air in the form of an invisible 
 gas called water vapor. In order to understand how the air 
 contains water in a gaseous form it is helpful to compare it 
 with a sponge, (i) A sponge can hold water. So can the air 
 hold water in the form of water vapor. Water in a liquid form 
 is able to soak in between the parts of the sponge. In some 
 such way it is possible for water vapor to be soaked up by the 
 air. (2) The sponge can hold only a limited amount of water. 
 That is also true of the air in regard to water vapor. (3) When 
 a sponge is holding all the water possible it is said to be satu- 
 rated. The same expression is used with reference to the air 
 when it is holding all the water vapor it can. 
 
 Find words in the above paragraph to fit the following 
 definitions: 
 
 I. To examine in order to discover likeness and unlikeness. 
 
 3. Filled to the limit of capacity with liquid. 
 
 3. Cannot be seen. 
 
 4. In the form of gas. 
 
 The air gets its water vapor by means of a process called 
 evaporation. This is the changing of water from a visible liquid 
 into an invisible gas. The rapidity of the process of evapora- 
 tion depends upon four factors: (i) the amount of water vapor 
 already present in the air; (2) the temperature; (3) the air- 
 pressure; (4) movement of the air. 
 
 If the air is already saturated with water vapor, it is impos- 
 sible for more vapor to enter, just as it is impossible for a 
 sponge to soak up more water when it is saturated. Dry air, 
 on the other hand, allows water to enter easily. 
 
 Heat increases the rapidity of evaporation. Especially when 
 the sun is shining and the air is warm, large quantities of water 
 are evaporated from the surface of the earth, particularly from 
 the surfaces of rivers, lakes, and oceans. 
 
 1. The process of a liquid changing into a gas* 
 
 2. Makes greater. 
 
1^20 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 3. Able to be seen. 
 
 4. Being in a certain place; being at hand. 
 
 5. An act which continues and progresses; an operation. 
 
 6. Uncertain amounts of anything; anything that can be 
 increased, divided, or measured. 
 
 The third factor which helps to determine the rapidity of 
 evaporation is the air-pressure. There is more rapid evapora- 
 tion when the air-pressure is low. By using an exhaust-pump, 
 thus reducing the pressure of the air, it is possible to make 
 water evaporate so quickly that it actually boils when cool. 
 The commotion of boiling is caused by the expansion or enlarge- 
 ment of particles of the liquid into a gaseous form. This 
 change occurs close to the applied heat. As water vapor occu- 
 pies about sixteen hundred times the space formerly occupied 
 by the water, it is much lighter and rises to the surface in the 
 form of bubbles. Up in the tops of high mountains boiUng is 
 not sufficient to cook some kinds of food. Why is this so? 
 
 Evaporation takes place more rapidly in moving air than in 
 still air. After a rain the streets dry quickly if the wind is 
 strong. 
 
 1. Increase in size or extent. 
 
 2. Making smaller. 
 
 3. FiUs. 
 
 4. To fix, settle, or decide. 
 
 5. In truth; really. 
 
 6. Any thing or circumstance which helps to bring about a 
 certain result. 
 
 7. Takes place; happens. 
 
 8. Violent agitation; tumult; disorder. 
 
 9. Enough. 
 
 10. Small pieces. 
 The oceans of the world are the greatest source of the water 
 vapor in the air. Large inland bodies of water, such as the 
 Great Lakes and the Amazon River, furnish a large amount, 
 as do all the smaller lakes and rivers. The surface of the solid 
 earth is also constantly losing water to the air. When winds 
 blow from a cool to a warmer region, they keep increasing their 
 
READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 221 
 
 capacity to hold water, and absorb moisture from anything 
 they can. The trade winds, for example, blow toward the 
 hottest parts of the earth. They cause so much water to be 
 evaporated from the earth that many of the regions over which 
 they blow are deserts. Other sources of water in the air are 
 the living bodies of plants and animals. 
 
 1. Power of receiving or containing. 
 
 2. Those things from which anything arises or originates. 
 
 3. To drink in; to suck or swallow up; to take in. 
 
 4. The form taken by liquids or solids under the influence of 
 heat, or reduction of pressure. 
 
 5. All the time; continually. 
 
 6. The upper side or face of anything. 
 
 Plants are constantly giving off water by evaporation. Some 
 of it is a result of breathing, since water is formed among other 
 substances when food is oxidized in the cells. 
 
 By far the largest amount of water that is given off by plants, 
 however, is transpired. As you know, plants absorb much 
 water from the soil, and along with it, mineral foods that the 
 soil contains. When it enters the roots of the plants, the water, 
 containing the mineral food, passes from cell to cell in the 
 plant body. Since more water flows through the plant than 
 can be used to manufacture plant food, some of it is evapo- 
 rated through the openings in the leaves to the outside air. 
 The amount that may evaporate is very great. A grass plant 
 may transpire in one day more than its weight. Botanists 
 have estimated that about half a ton of water may evaporate 
 in a day from an ordinary city lot covered with grass. The 
 process by which water passes out of the leaves is called 
 transpiration. 
 
 1. To pass off as vapor; to breathe out. 
 
 2. That which is real; matter or material from which any- 
 thing is made. 
 
 3. Reckoned; computed. 
 
 4. Usual; common. 
 
 5. To be changed into an oxide. 
 
 6. The act of breathing out or passing off as vapor. 
 
222 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 • EXERCISE V 
 
 (This type of exercise is designed to develop the habit of 
 concentration on the part of the pupils. They like it because 
 of the puzzle element involved.) 
 
 DISARRANGED SENTENCES 
 From Tappan's The Story oj the Roman People, pp. 99-100 
 
 1. The countries circling / **the world" meant /conquered 
 Hannibal, / around the Mediterranean Sea / when the 
 Romans / at the time. 
 
 2. The Romans now / lying to the west / of Italy, / held the 
 chief power / in all the lands. 
 
 3. They had already / toward the east / when they sup- 
 pressed / and agreed to protect / taken one step / the 
 pirates of the Adriatic Sea / the Adriatic coast / the 
 Greek cities along. 
 
 4. But the condition / Greece could have protected / since 
 those days / in earlier times / her own cities, / had 
 changed greatly / of affairs in the East. 
 
 5. When the Romans / Alexander the Great began / were 
 subduing the Latins, / about the time / his conquests. 
 
 6. Philip II, had left him /but this was a small / his father / 
 a wonderful series / realm compared with what he / and 
 he began / meant to win, / of victories, / Macedonia and 
 Greece. 
 
 7. But also / and part of India / not only Macedonia and 
 Greece, / Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, Persia, / when he 
 died, he ruled. 
 
 8. Empire / among / this / was / divided / generals / his. 
 
 9. Have governed this / could not / but his generals / him- 
 self could / possibly Alexander / enormous domain. 
 
 10. And finally the / they and / vast empire broke up / their 
 successors / into three kingdoms / quarreled and fought / 
 1. Egypt. 2. Syria and Asia Minor. 3. Macedonia and 
 Greece. 
 
READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 223 
 
 11. Cities which were under / While the Romans / the king 
 of Macedonia, Philip V, / were contending with Hanni- 
 bal / attacked some Greek / the protection of Rome / 
 who was an ally of the Carthaginians, / 
 
 12. First / this / Macedonian / led / to / war / the. 
 
 13. And with most / was subdued, / excellent reason / with 
 Philip again, / after Hannibal / war broke out. 
 
 14. Antiochus of Syria / divide Egypt / plotted to / he and 
 King / between them. 
 
 15. Philip would control / the ^Egean Sea / on the shores of / 
 the Greek cities / if this plan should succeed. 
 
 16. Came much of / a vast amount of trading / ^Egean Sea, 
 the Black Sea, and the eastern part of the Mediterra- 
 nean, / was carried on in the / needed in Italy / part of 
 the world / the grain / and from this. 
 
 17. Of her food / if Philip was successful, then he, / whenever 
 he chose / a large part / an enemy of Rome, / could shut 
 off. 
 
 18. Of the Romans / to arouse / this was enough / the 
 interest. 
 
 19. Might think / not trouble himself / about what the 
 Romans / Philip did / but attacked Egypt and Athens. 
 
 20. And his guardians / was a boy / appealed to Rome / the 
 king of Egypt / for help, 
 
 21. That had for /as for Athens /of the Romans /some 
 time been / an ally. 
 
 22. Of her people / not to harass / the friends / Rome warned 
 Philip. 
 
 23. That Macedonia / as Rome / Philip replied that / but 
 if they / he should prefer peace / was as powerful / they 
 would learn / wished to fight. 
 
 24. Two ranges of hills, met in Greece / and shaped like / of 
 Philip and the Romans / at the Cynocephalae, or dogs' 
 heads, / then the armies / the heads of dogs. 
 
 25. General Flaminius / by the Roman / thoroughly de- 
 feated / Philip was. 
 
224 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 EXERCISE VI 
 
 (Material selected from Winslow's The United States,'^ and 
 arranged to bring out the chief thought or topic in each sec- 
 tion.) 
 
 PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE SOUTHERN SECTION 
 
 Section i 
 
 Question: How do the physical features of the southeastern 
 part of the United States differ from those of the 
 northeastern part? 
 In passing from the northeastern part of the country to the 
 southeastern part, we go from a region of rocky hills and many 
 lakes to one containing a great amount of comparatively level 
 land, well suited to agriculture. The Appalachian system of 
 mountains extends nearly across the eastern part of this sec- 
 tion. In the South, as in the North, these ancient mountains 
 have been so worn down that in places they have become mere 
 hills, or even level land. In North Carolina and Tennessee 
 there are still hills and mountains of considerable height. 
 Mount Mitchell, the highest of the system, is more than a mile 
 high. 
 
 io6 
 
 Section 2 
 
 Question: What is the Piedmont Belt? 
 
 A wide belt of country lying next to the mountains on the 
 east is nearly level, or covered with low hills with river valleys 
 among them. This section is sometimes called the Piedmont 
 Belt. The word piedmont means foot of the mountain. The 
 name is given to the section because it lies along the foot of 
 the Appalachian Mountains, where the land has been formed 
 by the wearing away of the mountains. 
 72 (178) 
 
 » Winslow, Isaac Oscar, The United States, pp. 91 ff. Boston: D. C. Heath and 
 Company, 1910. 
 
READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 225 
 
 Section 3 
 
 Problem: Explain the formation of the Atlantic coastal plain. 
 The strip of country between the Piedmont Belt and the 
 ocean is generally low, level, and sandy. It is a part of the 
 Atlantic coastal plain. All this land was once beneath the 
 ocean. The soil was formed by the wearing effect of weaves on 
 the shore, or from mud carried into the ocean by rivers. 
 
 56 (234) 
 
 Section 4 
 
 Question: How do the northern and southern coasts differ? 
 There is a striking contrast between the northern and south- 
 ern coasts. While in the North the sinking of the lands has 
 produced islands, drowned valleys, and deep harbors, in the 
 South the land has risen enough to make dry land of a strip of 
 the ocean bed. Since mud was spread evenly by the waves over 
 the ocean floor, this floor became level land after it rose above 
 the water. The even bed of the ocean made an unbroken coast 
 line, without many capes and bays. 
 
 86 (320) 
 
 Section 5 
 
 Question: What are barrier reefs? 
 
 Since this period of rising, the southern coast has settled 
 again a very little. This has been an advantage by increasing 
 the depth of water in the mouths of rivers and in the harbors. 
 In the shallow water near the shore the waves have washed 
 up sand from the bottom and formed long islands called sand 
 bars or barrier reefs. In a similar manner a low coastal plain 
 has been formed along the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 75 (395) 
 
 Section 6 
 
 Question: What are the Florida Keys? 
 
 A large part of southern Florida is elevated but little above 
 the sea, and portions of it consist of extensive marshes or 
 
226 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 swamps. The largest of these is called the Everglades. The 
 islands near the southern coast are called the Florida Keys 
 from a Spanish word which means islands. 
 
 49 (444) 
 
 Section 7 
 
 Question: How are coral reefs and islands formed? 
 
 The surface of portions of the land in southern Florida 
 and upon the Keys has been formed by minute animals called 
 coral polyps. In parts of the ocean where the water is warm 
 and shallow these animals live in great numbers attached to 
 the bottom, and when they die their stony skeletons remain. 
 They continually grow and die, and as the masses are raised 
 above the surface, coral reefs or coral islands are formed, which 
 the force of the waves slowly crumbles into soil. 
 
 84 (528) 
 
 Section 8 
 
 Question: What three States of the Southern Section have no 
 seacoast? v 
 
 In the Southern Section we may include the States bordering 
 on the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, from North 
 Carolina to Texas, and the States of Tennessee, Arkansas, and 
 Oklahoma. 
 
 32 (560) 
 
 Section 9 
 
 Question: Why has the development of the resources of this 
 section been so slow? 
 These States, which are usually called the Southern States, 
 are among the richest possessions of the country. For many 
 years they have suffered the terrible results of the Civil War, 
 in which they lost a vast amount of property and the lives of 
 many of their bravest young men. But since the close of that 
 war they have advanced rapidly in wealth and general pros- 
 perity. 
 
 65 (62s) 
 
READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 227 
 
 Section 10 
 
 Problem : Give some comparisons to illustrate the size of Texas. 
 When the rich and well- watered lands of the "sunny South" 
 are fully occupied and cultivated, they will provide homes for 
 many miUions of people. Texas is the largest of all our States. 
 It is difficult to realize its size. It contains four times as much 
 territory as the whole of New England. It is larger than any 
 country of Europe except Russia. It is believed that it will 
 at some time be able to support one half as many people as the 
 whole country now contains. 
 87(712) 
 
 EXERCISE VII 
 
 (Showing the adaptability of encyclopaedic material to 
 effective silent-reading drill.) 
 
 THE STORY OF COAL* 
 
 Section i 
 
 Ages before man lived upon the earth portions of it were 
 covered with a dense growth of vegetation far more luxuriant 
 than that found now in the densest tropical jungle. By the 
 lowering of the level of the land these dense forests were cov- 
 ered by the ocean, and while resting for ages on the bottom of 
 the sea they were buried by mud. The land again rose and 
 appeared above the ocean. The mud was hardened into rock 
 and the buried vegetation by heat and pressure was turned into 
 coal. This process was repeated many times through the 
 uncounted ages and for this reason we find the coal in veins, one 
 above another and separated from each other by layers of rock. 
 Green plants can grow only in direct sunlight. Since the plants 
 of the coal period owed their growth to the influence of the sun, 
 and since the heat energy released by burning the coal is the 
 same energy gathered from the sun's rays and stored in their 
 
 ^ O'Shea, M. V., editor, et al. World Book, vol. m, pp. 1442-43. Chicago: 
 W. F, Quarrie and Company. 
 
228 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 tissues ages ago by the plants from which the coal is made, coal 
 is sometimes called buried sunshine, a very appropriate name. 
 
 191 
 
 Questions: 
 
 1. How did the dense forests of the coal period come to be 
 covered with water? 
 
 2. What happened to them while thus buried? 
 
 3. Did the mud become rock under water or above? 
 
 4. By what means did the buried vegetation become coal? 
 
 5. Why is coal found in veins one above another? 
 
 6. What is the origin of the layers of rock separating the coal 
 veins? 
 
 7. Why is BURIED SUNSHINE an appropriate name for coal? 
 
 Section 2 
 Mineral coal, as hard and soft coal is generally called, differs 
 from charcoal in several particulars. Since it was formed under 
 great pressure it is more compact, and since the air was practi- 
 cally excluded during its formation many of the gases which 
 are driven off in making charcoal were changed into sub- 
 stances that combined with the coal. These are compounds of 
 hydrogen and carbon with a few other substances and their 
 presence in varying proportions gives us the different varieties 
 of coal. 
 
 81 (272) 
 
 Questions: 
 
 1. What name is applied to both hard and soft coal? 
 
 2. Why is coal more solid and compact than charcoal? 
 
 3. When coal is being formed, what becomes of the gases 
 that cannot escape because of lack of air? 
 
 4. Why is air practically excluded during the process of coal 
 formation? 
 
 5. What are the chief chemical elements composing these 
 compounds? 
 
 6. What causes the difference in the different varieties of 
 coal? 
 
READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 229 
 
 Section 3 
 
 Three general varieties of coal are recognized in commerce. 
 The classification is founded on the degree of hardness and the 
 varieties are anthracite^ bituminous, and lignite. 
 
 Anthracite is the hardest and best variety. It is often called 
 stone coal because it is so hard and is supposed to have been the 
 first coal formed, since it occurs deep in the earth. It was 
 probably subjected to greater heat than bituminous coal, 
 since it is almost pure carbon. The most extensive anthracite 
 mines are in Eastern Pennsylvania. The veins do not lie 
 horizontally, for they have been moved by mighty convulsions 
 of the earth. Some are near the surface, while others are found 
 at great depths. Anthracite burns with little or no flame and 
 without smoke, and produces intense heat. Its chief uses are 
 for warming dwellings and for manufacture of water-gas. 
 
 143 (415) 
 Questions: 
 
 1. Into what three general varieties is coal classified? 
 
 2. What is the basis of classification? 
 
 3. Why is anthracite often called stone coal? 
 
 4. What is supposed to be true of anthracite coal on account 
 of its being found so deep in the earth? 
 
 5. Why is it believed that anthracite was subjected to 
 greater heat than bituminous coal in the process of forma- 
 tion? 
 
 6. Which variety of coal contains the highest percentage of 
 carbon? 
 
 7. What is Eastern Pennsylvania noted for? 
 
 8. If anthracite coal was formed at great depths, why is it 
 sometimes found at or near the surface of the earth? 
 
 9. What are the chief uses of anthracite coal? 
 
 I have devoted considerable space to the preceding 
 silent-reading passages in an attempt to make clear to the 
 reader the kind of material we have found best suited to 
 class drill, and its arrangement in such a way that it can 
 
230 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 be utilized by the teacher with the least amount of extra 
 effort on her part. 
 
 Ways of Using Silent-Reading Material 
 
 There are several different ways in which such material 
 can be handled so as to furnish live class drill. They may 
 be summarized as follows: 
 
 1. The simplest way, and the one which demands least 
 extra work on the teacher's part, is to give the class a cer- 
 tain amount of time in which to read a definite amount of 
 material and then call upon one of the class to tell, with 
 books closed, as much as he can remember of what he has 
 read. While he recites, the rest of the class watch for 
 errors or omissions. When he has finished, other members 
 of the class correct errors of statement and supply impor- 
 tant details which he may have left out. This is good drill, 
 but should not be used exclusively. There should be 
 variety in silent-reading drill as well as in any other. The 
 method possesses the special advantage of giving the child 
 a large amount of practice in oral expression under condi- 
 tions least conducive to self-consciousness. He really has 
 something to say, some one to say it to, and an object 
 in saying it. Ability to think and talk well at the same 
 time develops with surprising rapidity under such condi- 
 tions. 
 
 2. The class may be given a certain amount of material 
 to be read in a limited time; and then, with books closed, 
 the pupils may answer from memory questions asked by 
 the teacher covering the important facts in the assignment. 
 To save valuable time in class, and in order that the ques- 
 tions may be well chosen, they should always be prepared 
 and written down by the teacher beforehand. This is 
 probably the poorest of the methods I am suggesting. It 
 forces rapidity and concentration in the reading; but it 
 
READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 231 
 
 gives the advantage to the child with good memory, and it 
 affords the pupils no definite objective in their reading. 
 
 3. The class may be asked questions, the answers to 
 which are given or suggested in the material to be read. 
 Then the pupils read to find the answers. The speed ele- 
 ment takes care of itself here, since each child is anxious 
 to be the first to find the answer. In order to give the 
 slower readers a chance it is well to let the faster readers 
 drop out of the game in turn as each answers a question 
 correctly until a question is given to which none of the re- 
 maining pupils can find the answer. Then one of the 
 better readers may be permitted to answer it and the whole 
 class will be in the game once more. To illustrate, here is 
 a class of seven pupils: 
 
 A B C D E F G 
 
 Let A be the first one to discover the answer to the first 
 question asked. He is permitted to answer it, and is 
 thereby automatically debarred from answering the next 
 one unless there is no one else who can answer it. Suppose 
 that B gets the second question, and C the third, and that 
 none of the four remaining pupils can get the answer to the 
 fourth question within a reasonable length of time. The 
 teacher may then appeal to A, B, and C, one of whom may 
 answer the question correctly. Then she begins over 
 again with the whole class. I have never yet seen a class 
 fail to react with interest and enthusiasm to this type of 
 drill. It gives the child a definite aim in his reading, and 
 tends to develop the habit of rapidly skimming a para- 
 graph or a page in search of a definite idea. 
 
 4. If the material is definitely arranged for silent-read- 
 ing work with suitable questions printed before or after 
 each section, or if the teacher's list of prepared questions 
 is put on the board, the class may be asked to read the 
 
232 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 questions for themselves as well as to read for the answer. 
 This method has obvious advantages. It makes it abso- 
 lutely necessary that the questions be prepared before- 
 hand, and it makes the exercise more purely a reading drill. 
 
 5. A list of questions covering a certain topic or a cer- 
 tain portion of the text may be put on the board, and the 
 pupils may be given a limited amount of time in which to 
 find and write out as many answers as possible at their 
 seats. Such seat work is much more valuable than merely 
 giving them a book to read at their seats with no time 
 limit and no definite object in view. 
 
 Right here let me call attention to the fact that the lists 
 of " map questions " in geographies, especially in the older 
 geographies, furnish an excellent type of silent-reading 
 material either for class drill or seat work. In fact, almost 
 any sort of textbook containing lists of good questions 
 based on the text will afford good material. 
 
 These are a few of the v/ays in which we have varied the 
 silent-reading work in our schools. Other, and perhaps 
 better, ways will doubtless occur to 'others v/orking along 
 the same lines. Very few of the individual ideas incor- 
 porated herein are original with us. Most of them have 
 been used or suggested by other writers. We can claim 
 only the credit of having gleaned them and put them to 
 work extensively and systematically to further our aims. 
 
 Any one of the methods listed above possesses this 
 tremendous advantage over oral-reading class drill. Each 
 individual pupil gets much more reading practice. In 
 oral reading, only one pupil can read at a time, but in 
 silent-reading drill when one pupil is reading they are all 
 reading, and reading intensively with their attention con- 
 centrated on their work. Hence, if there are ten pupils 
 in the class, each pupil gets ten times as much reading 
 practice. If there are twenty pupils in the class, each one 
 
READING IN THE UPPER GRADES 233 
 
 gets twenty times as much practice, and so on. And it is 
 practice — especially practice with effort — that develops 
 real reading ability. 
 
 If any one believes that such changes in methods and 
 materials as I have advocated herein will result in work 
 that is dull and uninteresting to the child, he needs only to 
 try them or to observe them in operation. He will then be 
 convinced of the contrary, unless his mind is so hardened 
 by prejudice that he can see no good in any new thing. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 TEACHING CHILDREN HOW TO STUDY 
 
 The title of this chapter may cause one to speculate as to 
 the connection between standardized tests and teaching 
 children how to study. The line of thought runs some- 
 thing like this: the tests measure the results of study; 
 results of study depend on efficiency of study; efficiency of 
 study depends on the child's study habits as certainly as 
 on his natural ability; and good study habits can be formed 
 economically only by special training in the art of study. 
 Hence helping children to improve their study habits is an 
 important part of a systematic testing program designed 
 to increase the efficiency of the schools. 
 
 Children do not Know How to Study 
 
 If there is any one point upon which everybody engaged 
 in educational work can agree unanimously and unhesi- 
 tatingly, it is that young people do not know how to study 
 and that most of them do not learn how to study. Well, 
 why should they know how to study or learn how to study? 
 The ability to study efficiently is an acquired art. It can 
 be acquired only through the practice of correct methods, 
 and none too easily at that. Children are not born with 
 the ability to study and usually no one seems to take any 
 very effectual pains to teach them. 
 
 And yet, the child's chief occupation for five or six hours 
 per day, five days per week, thirty or forty weeks per year, 
 for from eight to sixteen years, is supposed to be study. 
 Hundreds of thousands of men and women, at a cost of 
 hundreds of millions of dollars per year, are supposed to 
 
TEACHING CHILDREN HOW TO STUDY 235 
 
 be directing the study of the Nation's children. They 
 assign lessons, order the children to study them, and have 
 the children recite them. Still we hear the cry from 
 teachers all along the line in tones of despair: " Children 
 do not know how to study! Children do not learn how to 
 study! If children could but study efi&ciently, the teach- 
 er's life might be worth living! " 
 
 But what are teachers doing to help make their lives 
 more worth living? How many of them are making any 
 systematic, persistent efforts to help their pupils learn how 
 to study to the best advantage? All too often the teachers 
 themselves do not know how to study efficiently. Some of 
 them, as I know from annoying experience, cannot even 
 read well enough to translate accurately into action simple 
 printed directions, such as those accompanying standard- 
 ized tests. If the teachers do not know how to study, they 
 cannot, of course, expect or be expected to have much 
 success in trying to teach children the art of study. 
 
 Children must be Taught to Study 
 
 Nevertheless, if children are to study efficiently, they 
 must be taught, or rather helped to learn, to study. 
 There is no more reason to expect a child to become expert 
 in the art of study without special training and directed 
 practice than there is to expect a man to become an expert 
 biologist or surgeon without special training. The fact 
 that some few of superior mentality who go on through 
 high school or college become good students because of 
 special aptitude and much practice is no argument that 
 most pupils ought to be able to do likewise. The musical 
 genius, without special training, can improvise delightful 
 music; but most people need special training to make their 
 musical efforts worth hearing. Measured by the amount 
 of worth-while results obtained, assigning a lesson to the 
 
236 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 average child with orders to learn it is about on a par with 
 giving a person untrained in music a sheet of music with 
 orders to play it. The results are usually discouraging. 
 
 Poor Methods Prevail 
 
 Poorly assigned lessons and the customary type of recita- 
 tion have done much to encourage wrong methods, or 
 rather wrong ideas, of study. Almost universally to the 
 child, and only too often to the teacher, studying and 
 memorizing have become s5mon3mious terms. The child, 
 assigned the next five pages in history, and knowing from 
 experience that he will be thoroughly questioned to test 
 his remembrance of the details of the lesson or called upon 
 to recite from a topic, knows no other resource than to 
 memorize as many items as possible, or to memorize as 
 much of the text verbatim as possible. Quite as often as 
 not the teacher's questions cover so indiscriminately both 
 important facts and inconsequential details that the child 
 does not dare to neglect any detail even though he himself 
 may have some decided ideas, and good ones too, as to 
 what are the essential points in the lesson. The memo- 
 rizing of facts to be repeated in class, or to be elicited in 
 answer to suggestive questions on the part of the teacher, 
 seems to be the dominant feature of so-called *' study '' in 
 most schools. 
 
 Many teachers, realizing the need for training children 
 to study, have made serious attempts to meet the need. 
 Some of them have succeeded in a measure, but more of 
 them have failed through not attacking the problem from 
 the proper angle. In many cases the teachers who failed 
 were fairly good students themselves and were reasonably 
 acquainted with the psychological principles involved in 
 efficient study. They took particular pains to provide an 
 environment as favorable as possible to study. They told 
 
TEACHING CHILDREN HOW TO STUDY 237 
 
 their pupils to be interested in what they were studying, 
 to concentrate their attention, to think about what they 
 were reading, to study the relations of facts given in the 
 book, and to associate the new knowledge with what they 
 had learned before. All of this is perfectly sound advice 
 and strictly to the point, but it is for the most part so 
 much Greek to the children; and it would be difficult for 
 them to profit by it through their own unaided efforts even 
 if they could be made to understand it. 
 
 What is the use of telling a child to interest himself in 
 something entirely foreign to his natural inclinations 
 when we as adults know perfectly well how practically 
 impossible it is to force a real interest in anything that 
 does not appeal to us? Of what use is it to tell a child that 
 he must keep his attention absolutely fixed on what he is 
 reading at his seat, whether he is interested in it or not, 
 when he has such varied interests of his own outside of 
 school toward which his mind naturally tends to wander ? 
 Of what advantage is it to tell him to think about what he 
 is reading when he has been given no definite problem to 
 think about? What does the child know about making 
 deliberate mental associations for the purpose of accumu- 
 lating a store of organized knowledge? So, although the 
 advice is good, it simply does n't " take." The teacher 
 soon becomes discouraged and gives up trying, convinced 
 that the children cannot be taught to study effectively. 
 
 And she is right in her conviction. They cannot be 
 taught how to study in the sense of being told or shown 
 how. But they can be helped to learn to study. A child in 
 the elementary school has no apperceptive basis that will 
 enable him to understand or appreciate the importance of 
 interest, attention, thinking, association, etc., in their 
 relation to effective study, and he has not ordinarily the 
 mental stamina of the superior adult to enable him to 
 
238 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 apply them persistently of his own volition even if he were 
 capable of understanding them. 
 
 Something more is needed than merely telling a child 
 how to study. He must be given assignments with very 
 definite problems to work out and then be made to study 
 these assignments under conditions that will force uncon- 
 scious practice of the rules of effective study until proper 
 methods of study become habitual. In other words, the 
 child must be forced to study correctly if he is to learn to 
 study through practice; and he must learn through prac- 
 tice if he is to learn at all. But he will never learn to do 
 the thing correctly by practicing it incorrectly and the 
 latter is what most pupils are doing every day in our 
 public schools. The brighter ones who attend school long 
 enough eventually to learn to study with some degree of 
 efficiency acquire their proficiency through the uneconomi- 
 cal process of trial and error by means of which unsuccess- 
 ful methods of study are recognized in time and dropped 
 while more successful ones are slowly acquired. 
 
 Situations which Favor Good Study Habits must be 
 
 Provided 
 
 Thus the child must be helped to learn how to study by 
 being led to study properly. At the same time he is 
 generally incapable of understanding and consciously 
 appl3dng persistently the psychological principles under- 
 lying proper methods of study. Hence I say that the child 
 must be obliged to apply these principles, not, of course, 
 by the use of physical force, but through providing study 
 conditions that will compel him to apply them unwittingly. 
 This can be done without the principles being men- 
 tioned as such or being discussed in any way. If the child 
 has no immediate interest in the subject-matter to be 
 Studied, then the learning process itself must be made 
 
TEACHING CHILDREN HOW TO STUDY 239 
 
 interesting, or else the subject-matter must be made worth 
 while from the child's point of view by connecting it up 
 definitely with some problem in which he is vitally inter- 
 ested. Concentration must be secured largely through 
 furnishing frequent objects or goals during the study 
 period. The habit of looking for fact relationships must 
 be developed by thought questions which will compel the 
 child to draw inferences from a collection of facts given in 
 the text, and by supervised outline construction. The 
 organization of knowledge through mental associations 
 must be forced upon the child through actual practice in 
 grouping ideas around a central thought and by obliging 
 him to recall previous knowledge and experience in con- 
 nection with every important idea in the lesson. All this 
 is possible of achievement as soon as the child has acquired 
 independent reading ability, but it cannot be accomplished 
 through ordinary methods of assignment, study, and reci- 
 tation. 
 
 Good Silent-Reading Ability Essential to Study 
 
 Elsewhere in this volume it has been stated that effi- 
 cient study is efficient silent reading. This is entirely 
 true only if we conceive of efficient silent reading as imply- 
 ing not only thorough comprehension of words and sen- 
 tences, but also the weighing of thoughts, the evaluation 
 of facts, the classification of new ideas presented by the 
 text, and their association with previously accumulated 
 knowledge. If efficient silent reading is held to be merely 
 the comprehension of the author's thoughts as expressed 
 in the text, then the statement needs to be modified some- 
 what. But even with this less inclusive conception of 
 what constitutes efficient silent reading, it cannot be de- 
 nied that good silent-reading ability is the basis of all 
 efficient study from books. Rapid silent reading with 
 
240 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 comprehension is the most fundamental factor in efficient 
 study. The child cannot be greatly interested in words 
 and sentences that he does not understand. He cannot 
 concentrate with profit on material that has little or no 
 meaning for him. He cannot study the relationships be- 
 tween ideas unless those ideas are comprehended. It is 
 past dispute that a child must know how to read v/ell 
 before he can study well; and he must know how to study 
 before he can produce better results to be measured by 
 standardized tests. Herein lies the connection between 
 this chapter and all that goes before. 
 
 Good Silent-Reading Methods Encourage Good 
 Study Habits 
 
 In addition to the fact that good silent-reading ability is 
 essential to effective study, I submit that properly directed 
 silent-reading drills furnish the most practical means 
 available for developing good study habits in children 
 through actual practice in the factors of efficient study, 
 namely, interest, attention, thinking, and the correlation 
 and association of ideas. I have said that children must 
 be forced to practice these things by means of study con- 
 ditions that will compel such practice. Silent-reading 
 drill furnishes the medium through which the forcing can 
 be accomplished. The mental processes involved in 
 effective drill of this sort are almost exactly the same as in 
 efficient study. 
 
 The t3^es of silent-reading class drill heretofore de- 
 scribed have, with us, proved very effective in holding the 
 child's interest and forcing concentration of attention on 
 the matter being read. Probably more often than other- 
 wise in the content subjects the children have little inter- 
 est in the subject-matter itself. But they do thoroughly 
 enjoy lively silent-reading class drill. Their interest is 
 
TEACHING CHILDREN HOW TO STUDY 241 
 
 mostly in the immediate objects to be achieved, namely, 
 to see who can read the paragraph or page in the shortest 
 time and understand it well enough to give the principal 
 facts of the assignment from memory and in a connected 
 manner; to see who can be the first to discover, from among 
 the details of the text, the answer to a definite question; 
 or to see who can first discover the main thought of a 
 paragraph. The chief interest is in the spirit of lively 
 competition engendered by these drills; but, nevertheless, 
 the interested, active, enthusiastic cooperation of the 
 pupils is secured under conditions that make for real im- 
 provement in ability to study. 
 
 It is hard for any one who has never tried these methods 
 to realize the degree to which they force children to con- 
 centrate their attention on the work in hand. With the 
 timed-section method it is manifestly impossible for the 
 pupil to reproduce completely and coherently the main 
 thoughts of the section read unless he has read it atten- 
 tively; and, since no one but the teacher knows who is 
 going to be called upon to recite after the reading, every 
 member of the class must read attentively. With the 
 question method, even though most of the questions are 
 answered directly in the text, the child must read atten- 
 tively and understandingly if he is not to miss the answers 
 when he comes to them. If the answer to a question is 
 merely suggested by a fact mentioned in the text, so much 
 greater is the demand on the attention of the reader and 
 real thinking is introduced as an element in the reading. 
 If the answer to a question must be inferred from several 
 related facts given in the text, then the highest type of 
 reading ability is demanded in that the child must not 
 only concentrate his attention on what he is reading, but 
 he must do real thinking in associating various ideas with 
 each other in their proper relations and with the main 
 
242 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 idea expressed in the question. Furthermore, he must 
 hold the main thought in mind all the time he is doing the 
 reading in order not to miss pertinent facts expressed in 
 the text. 
 
 Some Examples 
 
 Let me illustrate some of these points. Here is a section 
 the answers to which can be taken directly from the text. 
 
 The sugar maple, otherwise known as the hard maple, is one 
 of the very best of our shade trees. It is well shaped, affords 
 dense shade during summer, and in autumn becomes beautiful 
 because of the rich and varied colors of its foliage. In the 
 spring its blossoms unfold with the leaves. It grows more 
 slowly than the soft maples, but it requires less moisture and is 
 more useful and durable. 
 
 Questions : 
 
 1. Why is the sugar maple a beautiful tree in autumn? 
 
 2. Which comes first, the blossoms or the leaves? 
 
 3. Which grows faster, the hard or soft maple? 
 
 These three questions are given in order of difficulty, 
 or of their thought-producing power. The first answer 
 can be taken directly from the text; " because of the rich 
 and varied colors of its foliage." The second question 
 requires understanding of the fact that, in the sugar maple, 
 the leaves and flowers appear at the same time. The third 
 one goes a step farther and requires that the pronoun " it " 
 be associated with the maple tree, its antecedent, and that 
 the terms " sugar maple " and " hard maple " be asso- 
 ciated in the mind as representing the same thing. 
 
 Here is another paragraph with a question that requires 
 still more thought on the part of the reader. 
 
 Maple sugar, like that made from sugar cane, is darker than 
 ordinary brown sugar, unless the impurities are removed. To 
 
TEACHING CHILDREN HOW TO STUDY 243 
 
 do this, milk or beaten eggs are stirred into the boiling sap. 
 This causes most of the coloring matter to rise to the top and 
 mingle with the froth, which is then skimmed off. Those who 
 live near sugar bushes enjoy making and eating maple wax. 
 This is formed by letting the hot sirup fall on snow or ice. 
 Question: How may light-colored maple sugar be obtained? 
 
 It is evident that finding the correct answer to this 
 question necessitates some real thinking and association 
 of ideas on the part of the pupil. He must connect up the 
 ideas that maple sugar is ordinarily dark in color, that the 
 dark color is due to colored impurities, and that these im- 
 purities can be gotten rid of in a certain way. 
 
 The following paragraph and questions demand even 
 greater concentration and still more extensive thinking on 
 the part of the pupil if he is to answer them correctly. 
 
 The leaves are the food-making organs of the plant, and the 
 sugar that is made from maple sap in the spring was made 
 the summer before by the leaves of the tree. As the sugar 
 is manufactured it passes down from the leaves into the 
 trunk and roots of the tree, and is stored in the living cells of 
 these parts in the form of starch. Then when food is needed 
 in the spring to enable the buds to grow and expand into 
 blossoms and leaves, and to produce the seeds, the starch is 
 changed back to sugar, which is dissolved out of the storage 
 cells and carried upward in the sap. 
 
 Questions: Is there much sugar in the roots of the maple tree 
 in winter? Why? 
 
 All the data required for inferring a correct answer to 
 these questions are given in the paragraph. But in order 
 to obtain the correct answer, the reader must comprehend 
 several facts in their proper relation, namely, that during 
 the summer the leaves of the maple tree manufacture more 
 food in the form of sugar than is needed by the tree for 
 immediate use; that this surplus food is carried to the 
 
244 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 roots where it is stored for use the following spring; and 
 that the soluble sugar is changed to insoluble starch as it 
 is stored in the living cells of the roots, remaining there as 
 starch until the following spring when the sap begins to 
 rise. Hence in winter there is little if any sugar in the 
 roots of the tree. The understanding and correlating of 
 these facts so that the correct answer may be inferred calls 
 for much practice in real thinking. 
 
 Habits thus Developed Carry over into Other 
 
 Work 
 
 In this way good silent-reading drill compels practice in 
 proper methods of study. Such practice tends to develop 
 good study habits which may logically be expected to 
 carry over into such a closely related activity as seat 
 study. That they do carry over, and thus improve the 
 pupil's abihty to study by himself even poorly assigned 
 lessons in the content subjects, is evidenced by the num- 
 ber of teachers who have spoken to me regarding the 
 greatly improved study ability of the majority of the 
 children after one or two years of intensive drills of the 
 type described in the chapters on silent reading. Other 
 proof lies in the fact that the pupils' test scores in the 
 content subjects, very low in the lirst tests, are increasing 
 at much more than the normal rate, while, at the same 
 time, no extra time or special drills have been given in 
 these subjects other than connecting them up with the 
 silent-reading word. Other types of silent-reading drill, 
 to be described hereafter, serve to stimulate still more 
 strongly the higher thought processes and are thus still 
 more conducive to the development of good study habits. 
 
 Study should also be Directed or Supervised 
 
 A fair proportion of school time devoted to silent-reading 
 class drills, in which the teacher employs the methods and 
 
TEACHING CHILDREN HOW TO STUDY 245 
 
 kinds of material used in the better schools of this district, 
 and described and illustrated in the two preceding chap- 
 ters, together with properly assigned lessons in the con- 
 tent subjects, will do much toward solving the problem of 
 helping children to learn to study to good advantage. 
 But such procedure does not include all that can be done 
 to improve study habits of children or to economize study 
 time. In order to get the best results possible, the forced 
 practice in proper methods of study must be on the actual 
 lessons assigned on the content subjects. 
 
 Furthermore, if we are to make sure that the conditions 
 under which the studying is done are those most conducive 
 to economy of time in learning, and the development of 
 good study habits in the children, the study must be di- 
 rected. This brings us to my next topic, namely, " Super- 
 vised Study." Because of the obviously close relation 
 between proper supervised study and " teaching how to 
 study," several important things that might be included 
 in this chapter are reserved for fuller discussion in the next. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 SUPERVISED STUDY 
 
 Possibly the greatest source of waste in the public-school 
 system is the time supposed to be spent by the pupils at 
 their seats or at home in trying to " study " their lessons, 
 by their own unaided efforts. Not infrequently half the 
 pupil's school time is spent in " studying " from books to 
 prepare for the recitations. 
 
 Three Types of Activity in " Studying " 
 
 Some pupils dehberately idle away their study time be- 
 cause they have no interest whatever in the school or its 
 work. Compelled by law to attend until they are fourteen, 
 or sixteen, or eighteen, as the case may be, they are sullen 
 and obstinate and plan only to kill time until they are old 
 enough to leave school. They are usually of inferior 
 mental ability and the source of most of the serious dis- 
 ciplinary problems. Quite often their attitude toward the 
 school is the result of retardation and consequent dis- 
 couragement due to the narrowness of a program of school 
 activities which provides no suitable and interesting work 
 for the moron type. 
 
 Many other pupils read over their lessons in a dilatory, 
 ineffective manner with their minds constantly wandering 
 to more inviting fields of thought in their own sphere of 
 interests. This is largely because the lessons as assigned 
 present no definite problems in which they are interested. 
 This group usually contains bright and energetic boys and 
 girls who need only to have their school work enlivened 
 and their tasks made definite in order to become inter- 
 
SUPERVISED STUDY 247 
 
 ested and enthusiastic workers. There are still others 
 who do not waste their time in idleness and day-dreaming, 
 but who are busy every minute of their study time. Yet 
 the time and energy even of these pupils are largely 
 wasted because of ineffective methods of study and ill- 
 directed efforts. They are industrious, and of good 
 mentality; and they would really like to study if they but 
 knew how. As it is they merely do the best they can under 
 unfavorable circumstances. 
 
 Difficulties in Connection with Supervised Study 
 
 A GROWING realization among educators of the tremen- 
 dous waste connected with undirected study has led to 
 the development within recent years of various plans 
 for supervised study in the more progressive school sys- 
 tems. The idea of supervised study is good, and it 
 promises much in the way of increased efficiency when it 
 is properly carried out; but, as supervised study is ordi- 
 narily conceived, the practical difficulties in the way of its 
 general adoption are prohibitive in the smaller school sys- 
 tems and particularly in the one-teacher rural schools. 
 The main difficulty is for the teacher to find the time both 
 to conduct the recitations and to supervise the study 
 periods. The ideal solution, as it is most generally advo- 
 cated, is to have two teachers in each room, one to conduct 
 the recitations, and the other to supervise the study of the 
 children at their seats. This would necessitate a doubling 
 of the teaching force that would be financially out of the 
 question in most, if not all, school systems. 
 
 Personally I doubt whether this solution would be ideal, 
 even if it were financially practicable. The teacher who 
 supervised the seat study could do little more than see that 
 every child kept busy at his lessons and assist individuals 
 over difficulties. Often her efforts would be duplicated by 
 
248 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 having to assist several different pupils over the same 
 difficulty separately. Any attempt to explain or illustrate 
 difficult points to the class as a whole would be apt to 
 interfere with the recitation supposedly going on at the 
 same time in the same room. Of course, keeping the 
 children busy and giving individual assistance to the slower 
 pupils would undoubtedly be beneficial; but the benefits to 
 be derived from such practice would scarcely justify the 
 great additional expense involved. 
 
 In school systems where each teacher has to teach only 
 one undivided grade or one division of a grade, the problem 
 of introducing supervised study may be solved with com- 
 parative ease and with no additional expense. Under 
 such circumstances the teacher is, for the most part, free 
 during the study periods to direct the studies of the pupils 
 as may seem advisable. But here again, if her efforts are 
 limited to keeping the children busy and to assisting indi- 
 vidual pupils, the full possibilities of the study period are 
 far from being realized. What is needed is directed class 
 study so organized as to develop in the pupils methods of 
 attack that will constantly improve their ability to do inde- 
 pendent work. Merely keeping them busy and assisting 
 them over the rough places will not do this. 
 
 Another device, and a more practical one, is the divided 
 period, one part of the period being devoted to supervised 
 study, and the other to the recitation. The recitation may 
 follow the study immediately, or the last half of the period 
 may be given over to study in preparation for the next 
 day's recitation so as to give the pupils a chance to do 
 further study outside of class if they so wish. But even 
 this scheme is available only in high schools where the 
 periods are long, or in schools where the teacher has only 
 one or two grades so that the class period and the study 
 period for each subject can be combined into one fairly 
 
SUPERVISED STUDY 249 
 
 long period. In the smaller school systems, where most or 
 all of the teachers have charge of from four to eight grades, 
 the time of the teacher is necessarily all taken up with 
 recitations and the class periods are so short that division 
 of them is not feasible. In each of these class periods 
 there is little more than time for a hasty testing of the 
 pupil's preparation of the lesson and for the assignment of 
 the new lesson. 
 
 Another difficulty lies in the fact that so-called super- 
 vised study, in the hands of teachers who do not rightly 
 understand its purposes and possibilities, or who do not 
 care to put themselves to any more trouble than is neces- 
 sary to enable them to draw so much per week in salary, 
 may degenerate into a procedure more harmful than bene- 
 ficial. The chief features of such a procedure have been 
 mentioned above, namely, keeping the children busy and 
 giving a certain type of assistance to individuals. Keep- 
 ing the children busy at their lessons probably can do no 
 harm, but the wrong kind of assistance can do much harm. 
 It is quite possible for the direction and help offered by the 
 teacher to tend to make the child dependent and utterly 
 unable to do a piece of work for himself. In other words, 
 the teacher may make herself a crutch rather than a guide. 
 
 The result of this kind of assistance is that children do 
 not learn to work independently. Hence their inability 
 in the upper grades, in high school, and even in college to 
 use their study time to good advantage. The giving of 
 assistance at the right time, in the right way, and in proper 
 amount demands a type of judgment based on a sense of 
 values that is all too rare in teachers. If supervised study 
 is to be nothing more than giving undiscriminating as- 
 sistance to individual pupils in specific difficulties — and 
 with an unskillful, or careless teacher, it is apt to be little 
 more — we shall probably do better without it. 
 
250 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 Supervised study is closely connected with teachinj 
 children how to study in that it furnishes the best oppor 
 tunity for such teaching. Teaching how to study doe 
 not involve a systematic course in psychology. It con 
 sists in guiding pupils in the actual practice of the art 
 giving them sufficient directed practice in it to make cei 
 tain reactions habitual, and then making them consciou 
 of the best methods of study by calling attention to th 
 elements in their study experience that have meant de 
 cided success or failure. Any supervised-study plan tha 
 does not result in constantly increasing the ability of th 
 pupils to do independent work is largely a failure. Her 
 as often the correct point of view is that a teacher's chie 
 aim should be to make herself as unnecessary to her charge 
 as possible and as soon as possible. Hence we must hel 
 children to learn how to study in connection with thei 
 actual studying. In order to do this effectively thei 
 study must be properly directed, or supervised. 
 
 Silent-Reading Drill Offers an Opportunity for 
 Supervised Study 
 
 Now, I do not propose to submit any complete plan fc 
 supervised study that is applicable under any or all cond 
 tions. I do not hope to offer a complete solution to 
 problem that has long been puzzling the minds of muc 
 abler men. But I do hope to offer some suggestions the 
 will prove helpful in attempting to solve the problem i 
 actual practice. With this in view I am about to descrit 
 some procedures now in vogue in the best schools of m 
 district which appear to help materially along these line; 
 These practices may or may not be correctly terme 
 " supervised study," but since from them seem to be d< 
 rived most of the benefits generally ascribed to supervise 
 study, they may well serve as substitutes for the latte 
 
SUPERVISED STUDY 251 
 
 whatever they may be called. They have two advantages 
 at least: (i) they are applicable so far as I can see in any 
 school or school system however small, and (2) some of 
 them can be handled with profit by any teacher with 
 average intelhgence and teaching ability who is willing to 
 give them an honest trial. 
 
 I have mentioned in a former chapter how, in our zeal to 
 increase the reading ability of the pupils quickly as the first 
 step in increasing the efficiency of the schools, we decided 
 to amphfy the time devoted to reading drill by taking 
 up some of the content subjects, notably physiology and 
 hygiene, and civics, by the silent-reading methods hereto- 
 fore described. This was by way of experiment and was 
 undertaken at first with considerable misgivings, especially 
 on the part of the teachers. It was feared that the children 
 would not " get " the subjects if they were not studied at 
 their seats and recited in the orthodox fashion. 
 
 In order to test the efficacy of these methods in fixing 
 the principal facts of the subject-matter in the minds of 
 the pupils, weekly oral or written quizzes were given to- 
 gether with monthly reviews for which the children pre- 
 pared by reading over at their seats the ground covered by 
 reading and discussion in class during the month. The 
 results were highly gratifying from the first and soon re- 
 moved all doubts as to the effectiveness of the procedure. 
 And, from the psychological viewpoint, why should it not 
 be effective? The strict concentration of attention com- 
 pelled by these silent-reading drills is much more favorable 
 to retention of subject-matter than is the usual perfunc- 
 tory reading at seat in so-called study. Moreover, the 
 reproduction of the principal thoughts and the class dis- 
 cussion of important points help the pupils to discriminate, 
 consciously or otherwise, regarding the things they ought 
 to remember. 
 
252 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 In fact, so effective did this method prove in producin 
 results and improving learning ability that, by the middl 
 of the first year, several of the best teachers of the distric 
 were taking up much of the regular geography and histor 
 work as silent-reading class drill supplemented by frequen 
 quizzes by way of review. As explained before, practicall; 
 all of the supplementary historical and geographical read 
 ing was taken up in this way in the regular reading classes 
 After giving the tests several times and noting th 
 progress made by the pupils in the content subjects ii 
 schools using this method, it occurred to me that thes 
 silent-reading class drills were proving themselves to b 
 really efficient forms of supervised study. It also seemei 
 clear that with supervised study definitely in view th 
 exercises could be so improved as to develop in the childre: 
 the ability to think and to organize the facts gleaned fror 
 their reading, thus improving still more rapidly thei 
 ability to study independently. In short, proper! 
 planned silent-reading drills gave promise not only of di 
 veloping the ability to read rapidly and comprehendingl 
 (which is the very foundation of study ability), but also c 
 stimulating the higher thought processes and of givin 
 actual practice in the art of efficient study. 
 
 This idea was presented to the teachers and I found th£ 
 the same thought had occurred to some of them as a resu 
 of their experience with the silent-reading work. Sever; 
 of them made excellent suggestions and offered to coope 
 ate in developing the idea. It is some of the process( 
 evolved from this beginning that I am about to describe. 
 The simplest form of silent-reading class drill that ca 
 be said to have much real value is the timed-section methc 
 which has already been explained in detail. This was tl 
 method we used first in all the silent-reading work, 
 forces concentration of attention and helps greatly in tl 
 
SUPERVISED STUDY 253 
 
 accumulation of factual knowledge; but it does not compel 
 much thinking or organization of ideas, and hence is not 
 specially valuable as a means of putting supervised study 
 into effect. Class discussions of the important points in 
 the lessons in their relations to the main topics will, how- 
 ever, help to overcome this, defect. 
 
 The Question Method is Especially Advantageous 
 
 Although the timed-section method has some advantages 
 peculiarly its own and is still much used in reading supple- 
 mentary material in story form, in the better schools it was 
 soon superseded for supervised study purposes by the 
 question method also described in a former chapter. It 
 remains in general use only by the weaker and less inter- 
 ested teachers of the district. Indeed, it appears to be the 
 only method of silent-reading popular or practicable with 
 that class of teachers since it demands less extra work and 
 less skill in handling. With the question m^ethod, however, 
 the questions can be so selected as to call attention to the 
 main points in a lesson and their relations to each other 
 and to the main topic. The pupils may thus be led in 
 spite of themselves to do some real thinking in addition to 
 having the principal facts fixed in their minds and getting 
 the best kind of reading practice. 
 
 Let us see how content material can be handled by the 
 question method of silent-reading drill so as to get reading 
 practice, information, and practice in the art of study at 
 the same time. Suppose that the topic to be studied is 
 " The Birch Tree," in Moseley's Trees, Stars, and Birds, 
 and that the text assignment is chapter iv, entitled 
 *^ Birches." The teacher should prepare beforehand a 
 list of questions covering the main points in the lesson. 
 A good share of them should be real thought questions to 
 which the answers can be inferred only by reading so as to 
 
254 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 grasp the relationship among the facts given in the text. 
 Most of them should be formed so that they cannot be 
 answered by words or phrases taken directly from the 
 book and without association of ideas by the reader. Of 
 course, when the object is merely to call the attention of 
 the class to some detail whose significance is derived from 
 its bearing upon some thought question to be asked later, 
 a question answered directly by the text is permissible. 
 It would be advisable at first for the teacher inexperienced 
 in the use of this method to make an outline of each topic 
 to be studied and then to frame her questions to cover all 
 the subtopics in the outline. 
 
 The Method Illustrated 
 
 The following selection is a part of the chapter under con- 
 sideration divided into sections for silent-reading drill and 
 with suitable questions following each section. 
 
 BIRCHES 
 
 Section I 
 
 Because of their grace and beauty birches are a favorite 
 subject for landscape artists and photographers, and they are 
 frequently planted in parks and on lawns. The white and the 
 paper birch are the species of birch most frequently planted for 
 ornamental purposes. They are especially effective when 
 placed among evergreens, because of the contrast in colors. 
 Many of the white birches have slender, drooping branchlets 
 with deeply cut leaves that might be taken for those of some 
 varieties of maples. White birch grows wild in Europe and 
 Canada and to some extent in our Northern States, but with 
 us the paper birch is more common. Where a forest of spruce 
 or of certain species of pine — as white pine — has been burned, 
 paper birch and aspens spring up. In the abundant sunlight 
 
 1 From Moseley's Trees, Stars, and Birds. Copyright, 1919, by World Book 
 Company, Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York. 
 
SUPERVISED STUDY 255 
 
 of the open spaces these trees grow more rapidly than seedhngs 
 of the spruce or pine, and a forest of birch and aspen grows up 
 in place of the evergreen forest. 
 
 Questions: 
 
 1. Why are birches so frequently planted? 
 
 2. What are the two favorite birches for ornamental pur- 
 poses? 
 
 3. Why are they often planted among evergreens? 
 
 4. Where does white birch grow wild? 
 
 5. Which is the more common in the United States, the white 
 birch or the paper birch? 
 
 6. When a forest of spruce or white pine is burned what 
 kinds of trees grow up to take their place? 
 
 7. Which grows more rapidly, birches or pines? 
 
 Section II 
 
 The yellow birch has yellowish or silvery-gray bark which 
 has an aromatic odor. The bark of the white birch and paper 
 birch is creamy or pinkish white and splits into paperlike layers. 
 From birch bark the Indians made canoes, as well as boxes, 
 buckets, baskets, kettles, and dishes. In making their canoes 
 they stitched together large plates of birch bark with the 
 fibrous roots of white spruce, coating the seams with resin 
 obtained from spruce and pine trees. In parts of northern 
 Europe the bark of the white birch is used for shingles. Boats 
 made from it are used on the Volga River. From it are made 
 birch oil and birch tar. Russia leather has an aromatic odor 
 due to the oil of birch bark used in tanning it. As the odor 
 repels insects, this leather is valuable for binding books. A 
 few such bindings in a bookcase are a safeguard against 
 insect enemies, and this oil is said also to protect books from 
 mildew. 
 
 Questions: 
 
 1. How could you tell the bark of yellow birch from that of 
 white birch if you were blindfolded? 
 
 2. What color is the bark of the paper birch? 
 
256 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 3. What is said in this section that would indicate the origin 
 of the name "paper birch"? 
 
 4. What uses did the Indians make of birch bark? 
 
 5. Describe how the Indians made canoes of birch bark. 
 
 6. What is the bark of the white birch used for in parts of 
 northern Europe? 
 
 7. Name four other uses of birch bark in Europe. 
 
 8. Why is Russia leather especially valuable for binding 
 books? 
 
 Section III 
 
 The wood of the white birch is used as a fuel for smoking 
 hams and herrings, because of the flavor which it imparts. 
 Being light colored, soft, and easily worked, it is used for mak- 
 ing spoons, ladles, bowls, and fish casks. Spools, wooden 
 shoes, ox yokes, chairs, and tables also are made from it. 
 Charcoal made from it is burned in forges, and soot made from 
 birch fires is used for making printer's ink. The wood of the 
 paper birch is used for fuel, shoe pegs, spools and toys. The 
 yellow birch and sweet birch yield wood that makes fine fur- 
 niture and a good interior finish for houses. It is often stained 
 dark red and varnished. It is then said to have a "mahogany 
 finish." Few trees are useful for so many purposes as is the 
 birch. 
 
 Questions: 
 
 1. Why is white birch wood used as a fuel for smoking meat 
 and fish? 
 
 2. Name several things made from white birch wood? 
 
 3. What part does the white birch play in the manufacture 
 of printer's ink? 
 
 4. Name some things made from the wood of the paper birch. 
 
 5. What kinds of birch are used for furniture and finishing 
 lumber? 
 
 6. It is often finished in imitation of what costly wood? 
 
 7. How does birch wood compare in variety of uses with 
 that of other trees? 
 
SUPERVISED STUDY 257 
 
 Section IV 
 
 Have you ever thought of any connection between the size 
 of a tree's leaves and the coarseness or slenderness of its 
 branches? Even in winter, birch trees look quite different 
 from ash or hickory, not merely in color but in the appearance 
 of the branchlets. The function of the branches is to hold the 
 leaves up to the light, and the number of branches required 
 depends on the size of the leaves. Trees with small leaves, 
 like birch, elm, and willow, have very numerous branchlets. 
 Those with large leaves, like ash and hickory, do not require 
 so many branchlets. The leaves themselves reach out to the 
 light and fill up the spaces in the crown of the tree. Most 
 palm trees, of which there are a thousand kinds in the tropics, 
 do not branch at all, but they have immense leaves with long 
 stalks to reach out to the light. 
 
 Questions : 
 
 1. Of what use to a tree are its branches? 
 
 2. Upon what depends the number of branches which a tree 
 needs to have? 
 
 3. Why do such trees as the birch and elm need so many 
 branchlets? 
 
 4. Which has more branchlets, a hickory or an elm? Why? 
 
 5. Seeing a tree in winter, when it is bare of leaves, how 
 could you tell whether its leaves in summer are large or 
 small? 
 
 6. Why is it necessary for most palm trees to have very large 
 leaves with long stalks? 
 
 Section V 
 
 On the twigs or small branches of a tree look for small oblong 
 and elevated places on the bark. These are called lenticels. 
 They are breathing pores through which the air can enter 
 to reach the living inner portion of the bark and from which 
 water vapor escapes. On birch and cherry trees the lenticels 
 may be seen not only on the branches but even on the trunks. 
 Here they have become elongated by the growth of the bark. 
 
258 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 Lenticels are to be found on all trees. Where the bark is very 
 thick, as it is on old oaks, they are at the bottom of deep cracks. 
 
 Questions: 
 
 1. What are lenticels? 
 
 2. Where would you look for them? 
 
 3. What are they for? 
 
 4. What is their shape? 
 
 5. On the trunks of what trees may they be seen? 
 
 6. What trees do not have lenticels? 
 
 7. Why can they not be seen on the trunk of an old elm tree? 
 
 Let us consider the first section in detail with a view to 
 discovering how well the questions cover the facts in the 
 text. Most of the important ideas in the section are in- 
 cluded in the following list: 
 
 1. Birch trees are graceful and beautiful. 
 
 2. They are often planted for ornamental purposes. 
 
 3. The white and paper birches are the favorites for planting 
 purposes. 
 
 4. Their white color is particularly beautiful in contrast with 
 the evergreens. 
 
 5. The paper birch is the more common of the two species in 
 this country. 
 
 6. The destruction of a forest of spruce or white pine by fire 
 is followed by a growth of paper birches and aspens. 
 
 7. Birches are fast growing trees. 
 
 Now compare this list with the questions following 
 Section I. Are there any ideas in this list that are not 
 brought out in the questions? Does the list omit any im- 
 portant ideas given in the text? Does the list contain any 
 ideas not pertaining to the main topic? Is there any doubt 
 but that the reading of these questions one at a time and 
 searching out the answers will impress these facts upon the 
 child's mind more surely and permanently than would the 
 mere reading of the text at seat? If you doubt it, try it. _ 
 
SUPERVISED STUDY 259 
 
 I met with striking evidence on this point during the 
 first year that the method was used in our schools. One 
 day in the fall I demonstrated the method in a certain 
 school for the benefit of the teacher. The reading mate- 
 rial was part of the chapter on Petrograd in Carpenter's 
 Europe, for which I had a list of questions prepared. This 
 school had a new teacher for the spring term and it became 
 necessary to demonstrate again. I had kept the list of 
 questions in my notebook for demonstration purposes; 
 and I used them again in this same school believing that 
 the children had forgotten all about what they had read 
 hurriedly and but once several months before. To my 
 surprise, several of the children scarcely glanced at the 
 book as I asked the questions in order, but were ready 
 with the answers about as soon as I had finished the ques- 
 tions. Fully half of the questions were answered in this 
 way. If I ever had any doubt as to whether material read 
 in this way would " stick," it disappeared then and there. 
 
 The questions pertaining to Section I are not real 
 thought questions. Not every paragraph furnishes data 
 upon which to base such questions. This is one that does 
 not. However, if the reader will examine the other sec- 
 tions in connection with their accompanying questions, he 
 will find a number of questions that demand real thinking 
 if they are to be answered correctly. In fact, the answers 
 to more than half the questions cannot be picked directly 
 from a single word or phrase in the text. 
 
 Alternating Supervised Study and Recitation 
 
 With questions prepared beforehand, this amount of text 
 can easily be covered in ten minutes. Let us suppose that 
 ten minutes is all the time available for this class. At the 
 end of the period the pupils are told to be prepared for a 
 review of this lesson on the following day. The next day 
 
26o STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 they are called upon to answer the same questions with 
 their books closed. Discussion of interesting points is 
 encouraged as long as it does not wander too far from the 
 main topic. On the third day another topic is taken up 
 in the text as on the first day, and on the fourth day this 
 topic is reviewed from memory. This process may con- 
 tinue for ten days, and at the end of this time a general 
 review may be given either as an oral or written quiz. 
 The questions for this review are selected from the original 
 lists which the teacher keeps in her notebook. 
 
 In this way the reading drill and supervised-study period 
 comes on one day and the recitation on the next. If 
 twenty minutes are available for the class period (or even 
 fifteen if the class is mostly composed of good readers), 
 the period may well be divided even though the lessons 
 have to be shortened. In this case the first half of the 
 period should be devoted to review of the preceding lesson 
 (the recitation) and the last half to the reading of a new 
 lesson (supervised study). Thus the children may have 
 opportunity before the recitation for further study if they 
 so desire. Few of them, however, will find further study 
 necessary. With the divided period, the general reviews 
 may come oftener — say at the end of each week. It is 
 not well to have these reviews cover too much ground; and 
 it is surprising how much ground can be covered in a week 
 with a fifteen or twenty minute divided period. This is 
 especially true if the children are fairly good readers to 
 begin with, and if they as well as the teacher have become 
 accustomed to the method. 
 
 One need have no fear that it will be impossible to cover 
 the ground required, if part of the class period, or even 
 every alternate period, is devoted to supervised study of 
 this kind. Fully as much ground can be covered; and, 
 judging from our experience at least, the results will be 
 
SUPERVISED STUDY 261 
 
 quite equal to or even better than those usually obtained 
 by the traditional daily question and answer recitation 
 following a period of unsupervised seat study. With only 
 fifteen minute periods some of our classes cover three or 
 four different texts in one subject in the course of a year, 
 thus obtaining a much broader view of the subject than 
 they could possibly have if they were confined to the study 
 of a single text. 
 
 Another advantage is, that if most of the content sub- 
 jects are handled in this way, ordinary seat study in these 
 subjects becomes less and less necessary for most of the 
 pupils. Accordingly, the tim.e usually spent in seat study 
 can be used for extended supplementary reading or in any 
 other way that may seem advisable. One way of using 
 this time to good advantage is for the teacher to put 
 questions on the board covering assignments in textbooks 
 and to have the children find the answers and write them. 
 Children generally like to do this sort of work. The 
 questions give them something definite to work on at their 
 seat. This type of work, however, should never be al- 
 lowed to supplant the regular silent-reading class drill, 
 because it takes no account of the speed element in reading 
 nor does it force concentration to anything like the extent 
 that class drill does. Some textbooks contain at the end of 
 chapters excellent lists of questions which may be used for 
 this purpose. Often, however, such hsts of questions are 
 not suitable; and the teacher should go over them carefully 
 before assigning them for this type of seat work. Judging 
 from some of these lists, one would almost think that the 
 person who framed the questions had never seen the book. 
 After trying a few such lists the pupils are apt to become 
 discouraged and lose interest — and one cannot blame 
 them. 
 
 I believe that this method of handling silent-reading 
 
262 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 drill for purposes of supervised study will prove, on the 
 whole, to be one of the most useful that can be devised. 
 It demands less extra work, and less skill on the part of the 
 teacher; and it covers ground more rapidly than most of 
 the other methods. At the same time it produces excellent 
 results from every point of view. On the one hand, it can 
 be used to good advantage by the teacher who is somewhat 
 lacking in originality or initiative after she has had it ex- 
 plained and seen it demonstrated; but on the other hand 
 it furnishes plenty of scope for the abler teacher to display 
 whatever skill she may possess. The more skillfully it is 
 handled, of course, with full understanding of its purposes 
 and possibilities, the more efficient will it prove in develop- 
 ing ability to study independently and the better medium 
 it will be for practice in the art of study. A great deal 
 depends upon the skill and judgment used in framing the 
 questions. 
 
 Another Way of Conducting Supervised Study — 
 Finding the Topic of a Paragraph 
 
 There are other ways of conducting silent-reading drill, 
 however, ways that make greater demands on thinking 
 ability and that do more to help pupils acquire the ability 
 to grasp relationships among ideas. The ability to or- 
 ganize ideas in their proper relations to each other and to 
 some central idea or group of ideas is an ability that de- 
 velops only through actual practice. Pupils must be led 
 to do such organizing if they are to learn through practice. 
 These other methods are specially valuable as aids in 
 developing organizing ability in pupils; but they consume 
 much more time and demand much more skill on the part 
 of the teacher if they are to prove successful. Neverthe- 
 less, they should be used whenever the requisite time and 
 skill are available, for they help to develop in the child an 
 ability that is vital to his success as a student. 
 
SUPERVISED STUDY 263 
 
 One good type of such silent-reading drill for supervised- 
 study purposes consists in having children read paragraphs 
 from a text which has no paragraph headings or topic 
 sentences, then requiring them to suggest suitable head- 
 ings or topic sentences for the paragraphs. Get sugges- 
 tions from as many different pupils as possible for each 
 paragraph and write them all on the board. Then call on 
 the class to decide which one is the best and why. If at 
 first the children seem at a loss to know what is required 
 of them and no suggestions as to suitable paragraph head- 
 ings are forthcoming, or if from a number of suggested 
 headings no satisfactory decision as to which is the best 
 one can be reached, do not tell them and do not be dis- 
 couraged, but lead them to analyze the paragraph under 
 discussion. Have them consider each sentence or state- 
 ment in the paragraph with a view to discovering a com- 
 mon or central idea to which each statement or sentence 
 refers. 
 
 Let me illustrate. A short article selected at random 
 from an encyclopaedia is on Cocoa. Let us proceed to 
 analyze the second paragraph which reads as follows: 
 
 The cocoa is a small tropical tree cultivated extensively in 
 Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil, Saint Thomas Island (off the West 
 African coast), Ceylon, the West Indies, and Central America. 
 Heat, moisture, and a deep rich soil are the conditions which 
 favor its growth. The straight, regular trunk usually attains a 
 height of twenty feet, and puts forth branches which bear shin- 
 ing, oval leaves, dark green above and red underneath. The 
 flowers, which have five narrow, bright-red petals, grow directly 
 from the trunk or from the older branches, and are almost 
 stemless. The fruit, a cucumber-shaped pod with a thick, 
 deeply-grooved rind, has the same peculiarity. Each pod con- 
 tains many almond-like seeds, covered by a thin, reddish-brown 
 shell, and within each of the seeds is a dark brown kernel, the 
 
204 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 valuable portion of the plant. The seeds have the commercial 
 name of cocoa beans, while the kernels are called nuts. 
 
 Sentence i, *^The cocoa is a small tropical tree cultivated 
 extensively in Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil, Saint Thomas 
 Island, Ceylon, the West Indies, and Central America." This 
 sentence tells us where the cocoa tree is cultivated. 
 
 Sentence 2. "Heat, moisture and a deep rich soil are the 
 conditions favorable to its growth." Growth of what? _ The 
 cocoa tree. 
 
 Sentence j. "The straight, regular trunk usually attains a 
 height of twenty feet, and puts forth branches which bear 
 shining, oval leaves, dark green above and red underneath." 
 This sentence speaks of trunk, branches, and leaves. Of what? 
 The cocoa tree. 
 
 Sentence 4. " The flowers, which have five narrow, bright- 
 red petals, grow directly from the trunk or from the older 
 branches, and are almost stemless." This sentence tells of the 
 flowers and where they grow. Flowers of what? The cocoa 
 tree. 
 
 Sentence 5. "The fruit, a cucumber-shaped pod with a thick, 
 deeply-grooved rind, has the same peculiarity." This sentence 
 described the fruit. Of what? The cocoa tree. 
 
 Sentence 6, "Each pod contains many almond-like seeds, 
 covered by a thin, reddish-brown shell, and within each of the 
 seeds is a dark brown kernel, the valuable part of the plant." 
 This sentence describes the contents of the pod or fruit. Of 
 what? The cocoa tree. 
 
 In this way it is made evident to every member of the 
 class that each sentence in the paragraph has reference to a 
 single central topic, the cocoa tree. The central idea of the 
 paragraph, tersely expressed as a topic, is a paragraph 
 heading; or, briefly expressed as a complete statement, it 
 is a topic sentence. 
 
 This is, of course, slow work for the children at first, but 
 it is well worth while. Most of the children will grasp the 
 idea by the time five or six paragraphs have been analyzed. 
 
SUPERVISED STUDY 265 
 
 and after that it is merely a matter of practice. In a sur- 
 prisingly short time they will acquire the ability to recog- 
 nize the topics of paragraphs merely by reading them 
 through carefully and thoughtfully, providing, of course, 
 that the material studied is well organized. In selecting 
 material for such drill, the teacher should be very careful 
 to see that it is well organized, especially at first. We 
 have found this type of drill very popular with pupils when 
 handled by an intelligent teacher who knows what she is 
 trying to do. 
 
 Sometimes in analyzing a paragraph, ideas will be found 
 that are quite irrelevant to the general topic. Through 
 such analysis the older children at least can be led to 
 recognize this irrelevant material, and it is important that 
 they should be trained to do so. It is just as important, 
 from the viewpoint of developing study ability, for the 
 child to learn to recognize data not pertaining to the sub- 
 ject under consideration as it is for him to learn to recog- 
 nize pertinent material. Hunting for irrelevant state- 
 ments in paragraphs might profitably be made a special 
 type of silent-reading exercise to be used with reasonable 
 frequency in the supervised-study period. 
 
 Construction of Outlines ' 
 
 Probably there is no more effective kind of supervised 
 study (or silent-reading drill) than is furnished by the 
 construction of lesson outlines in class under the super- 
 vision and with the assistance of the teacher — providing, 
 however, that the children are led to do the major part of 
 the thinking and organizing. Not all material is suitable 
 for this kind of work; but whenever such material is found 
 in the texts, it should be utilized so far as time will permit. 
 The material having been chosen, the first thing to do is 
 to select headings for main topics if good ones are not 
 
266 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 given in the textbook. Sometimes the headings given in 
 the books are poorly chosen or not well worded. In such 
 cases it is good practice for the class to reconstruct them 
 or find better ones. Then each paragraph should be care- 
 fully analyzed, the relations between ideas studied, and 
 subtopics chosen for groups of related ideas. Finally, the 
 minor details should be grouped under the subtopics 
 which they support. 
 
 Let us take the before-mentioned article on cocoa to 
 illustrate drill in the construction of an outline by means 
 of paragraph analysis. Here is the article: 
 
 Cocoa (Ko'-ko) (originally Ko-ko'-a) is a reddish-brown 
 powder obtained by grinding the kernels from the seeds of the 
 cacao, or cocoa, tree. It is widely used in making the popular 
 table beverage known as cocoa. The name, now in general 
 use in English-speaking countries, is a corruption of the more 
 correct form, cacao. 
 
 The cocoa is a small tropical tree cultivated extensively in 
 Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil, Saint Thomas Island (off the West 
 Coast of Africa), Ceylon, the West Indies, and Central America. 
 Heat, moisture, and a deep rich soil are the conditions which 
 favor its growth. The straight, regular trunk usually attains 
 a height of twenty feet, and puts forth branches which bear 
 shining, oval leaves, dark green above, and red underneath. 
 The flowers, which have five narrow, bright-red petals, grow 
 directly from the trunk or the older branches, and are almost 
 stemless. The fruit, a cucumber-shaped pod with a thick, 
 deeply-grooved rind, has the same peculiarity. Each pod con- 
 tains many almond-like seeds, covered by a thin, reddish-brown 
 shell, and within each of the seeds is a dark brown kernel, the 
 valuable portion of the plant. The seeds have the commercial 
 name of cocoa beans, while the kernels are called nibs. 
 
 Most of the work of getting the beans ready for shipment is 
 done by negroes. After the pod is picked, a sHt is made in the 
 side with a knife; the pods are then broken open with the hand, 
 
SUPERVISED STUDY 267 
 
 and the beans and their enveloping pulp are scooped out and 
 carried to a sweating house to go through a process of fermen- 
 tation. This fermentation makes the pulp easily removable, 
 and also improves the quality of the kernel. From the sweat- 
 ing house the beans are taken to sieves or troughs and stirred 
 under water until they are clean and smooth. They are then 
 dried, either in the sun or by artificial means. Finally, in 
 order that the beans may be protected against molds and 
 fungous growths, they are finished, or polished. On some 
 plantations the polishing is done by coolies, who dance upon 
 the seeds until every particle of pulp is removed, and the 
 finished product shines. The beans are then placed in bags 
 or barrels and shipped to the different ports of the world, to be 
 sold to manufacturers. 
 
 Powdered cocoa, chocolate, and cocoa butter are the chief 
 products of the cocoa beans. In the process of manufacture 
 the seeds are roasted, and the shells removed, and the kernels, 
 or nibs, are placed in a grinding mill with steam-heated rollers. 
 Because of the heat in the rollers the cocoa mass flows out of 
 the mill in the form of a semi -liquid, dark brown paste and can 
 be run into deep pans and allowed to harden. If cocoa is to 
 be made, the mass is remelted and placed in a great press 
 which extracts a large proportion of the fat. The substance is 
 then taken from the press and reduced to a fine powder in a 
 mill consisting of a pair of rollers armed with teeth. Before it 
 is placed on the market the powder is pulverized in a second 
 mill, then is subjected to a thorough sifting. Chocolate is the 
 cocoa mass with the fat left in. If sugar and flavoring are 
 added, the product becomes sweet chocolate. The fat extracted 
 from the cocoa is sold under the name of cocoa butter, and is 
 used as a basis for creams and pomades for the hair and skin and 
 in candy making. The shells of the cocoa beans, usually 
 regarded as a waste product, are sometimes roasted with coffee 
 to add to its flavor, and in some sections peasants use them as 
 a substitute for tea and coffee. 
 
268 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 Now let us examine each sentence in each paragraph 
 and note briefly what it tells us. 
 
 Paragraph I 
 
 1. What cocoa is and how it is obtained. 
 
 2. Its use as a beverage. 
 
 3. Derivation of word "cocoa." 
 
 Paragraph II 
 
 1. The tree and where it is cultivated. 
 
 2. Conditions favoring growth. 
 
 ' 3. Shape of trunk and shape and color of leaves. 
 
 4. Flowers and where they grow. 
 
 5. Description of fruit. , 
 
 6. Contents of pods. 
 
 7. Commercial names of seeds and kernels. 
 
 Paragraph III 
 
 1. Negroes do most of the work, 
 
 2. Getting beans from pods. 
 
 3. The sweating house and its purpose. 
 
 4. Removal of pulp. 
 
 5. Cleaning the beans. 
 
 6. Drying the beans. 
 
 7. Polishing the beans. Why? 
 
 8. How polishing is done. 
 
 9. Shipment of beans to manufacturers. 
 
 Paragraph IV 
 
 1. Things made from cocoa beans. 
 
 2. Things done to the seeds. 
 
 3. Product of grinding. 
 
 4. Extraction of oil to make cocoa. 
 
 5. Grinding of residue to make cocoa. 
 
 6. Second pulverizing and sifting. 
 
 7. Chocolate. 
 
 8. Sweet chocolate. 
 
 9. Cocoa butter and its uses. 
 10. Use of shells. 
 
SUPERVISED STUDY ^ 269 
 
 Now, with the results of our analysis and the minor 
 details of the paragraphs, we can easily construct our out- 
 line as follows: 
 
 COCOA 
 
 I. Cocoa 
 
 I. 
 
 What it is 
 
 2. 
 
 How obtained 
 
 3- 
 
 Use 
 
 4. 
 
 Derivation of name 
 
 II. The Cocoa Tree 
 
 I. 
 
 Where it is cultivated 
 
 2. 
 
 Conditions favoring growth 
 
 
 (a) Heat 
 
 
 (b) Moisture 
 
 
 (c) Soil 
 
 3. 
 
 Appearance 
 
 
 (a) Shape of trunk 
 
 
 (b) Leaves 
 
 
 A. Shape 
 
 
 B. Color 
 
 4. 
 
 Flowers 
 
 
 (a) Color 
 
 
 (b) Position on tree 
 
 5. 
 
 Fruit 
 
 
 (a) Appearance 
 
 
 (b) Contents 
 
 
 A. Commercial names of 
 
 HI. Preparing Cocoa Beans for Shipment 
 
 1. Kind of labor employed 
 
 2. Getting beans from pods 
 
 (a) How accomplished 
 
 3. Removal of pulp 
 
 (a) Where? 
 
 (b) How? 
 
 4. Cleaning the beans 
 
 5. Drying 
 
270 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 6. Polishing 
 
 (a) Purpose 
 
 (b) How accomplished 
 
 7. Shipment 
 
 IV. Manufacture of Cocoa Products 
 
 1. Chief products 
 
 2. Process of manufacture 
 
 (a) Roasting 
 
 (b) Shelling 
 
 (c) Grinding of kernels 
 
 A. Method 
 
 B. Product 
 
 3. Making cocoa 
 
 (a) Extraction of oil 
 
 (b) Grinding of residue 
 
 (c) Second grinding 
 
 (d) Sifting 
 
 4. Chocolate 
 
 (a) What it is 
 
 (b) Sweet chocolate 
 
 5. Cocoa butter 
 
 (a) What it is 
 
 (b) Its uses 
 
 6. Use of shells 
 
 Two or three such outlines worked out in class each 
 term and supplemented by as much seat work along the 
 same lines as may seem practicable will help tremendously 
 in developing the ability to select the main points in a 
 lesson and group the minor details about them. Only by 
 such practice can most pupils learn to recognize and grasp 
 the salient points in what ordinarily appears to them as a 
 dead level of facts to be memorized without discrimination. 
 When the material is so well organized by the author that 
 most of the main thoughts are emphasized by topic sen- 
 tences and other general statements, the outlining is com- 
 
SUPERVISED STUDY 271 
 
 paratively simple. Such material, however, is the excep- 
 tion rather than the rule. Nevertheless, it should be used, 
 if available, in the first attempts at constructing outlines. 
 When the main topics must be inferred through the 
 association of groups of related ideas, outlining is quite 
 another matter requiring keen thought and analysis. 
 With judicious assistance by the teacher, however, it is 
 not beyond the abilities of fifth-grade pupils. The chief 
 elements of success in this line of work are, (i) intelligent 
 selection of material, (2) careful study of the material by 
 the teacher before presentation to the class, and (3) skill 
 in presenting in order to lead the children to do most of the 
 thinking. 
 
 Collecting Materml as a Phase of Study 
 
 From constructing outlines of single lessons in a textbook 
 they should be gradually led to the still more difficult and 
 profitable practice of selecting material on a given topic 
 from several books or from other sources and of construct- 
 ing an outline based on this material. In connection with 
 this work they would learn to ,use reference books properly 
 and easily, and also the indexes and tables of contents in 
 other books. Very many pupils even in high school 
 scarcely know that books have indexes, and they are very 
 far from connecting them with any practical use in study- 
 ing. It is a pitiful sight and a sad commentary on the 
 intelligence and diligence of teachers to watch the average 
 pupil try to refer to some particular topic in a book by 
 turning the leaves one at a time and scanning each page 
 for the needed thought instead of turning to the index and 
 locating it in a few seconds. 
 
 The ability to organize material gleaned from several 
 sources is particularly important. This kind of work is 
 demanded in colleges and in many high schools. Yet not 
 
272 STANDARDIZED TESTS 
 
 a few high-school and college students appear absolutely 
 helpless when called upon to do it. They go through 
 books and magazine articles making copious notes, or 
 rather copying verbatim sentences and paragraphs that 
 seem to pertain to their topic. This can scarcely be called 
 note-taking. Then they connect these scraps together 
 with a superabundance of conjunctions without regard to 
 organization, interject a few phrases and clauses to make 
 smooth reading, and submit the result with a sigh of relief 
 to the instructor. Too often they " get by " with this 
 sort of work because so many of them are incapable of 
 doing anything better. 
 
 Outhnes constructed as practice exercises in supervised 
 study should be utilized in composition work. Although 
 many pupils in the Enghsh classes learn to turn out fairly 
 good work in narrative style, most of them do not know 
 what organization means as applied to expository composi- 
 tion. Practice in this sort of work should begin in the 
 upper grades of the elementary school in connection with 
 supervised study and silent-reading work. Teachers are 
 all too prone to declare that such work is beyond the 
 capabilities of elementary pupils, when the real trouble is 
 in neglect or in lack of teaching skill on the part of the 
 teacher. Of course it is beyond them until they learn how 
 to do it. So is most everything else. But how are they 
 going to learn if they are not given a chance to practice 
 under proper conditions. 
 
 In this chapter I have tried to show that effective super- 
 vised study is not a Utopian dream possible of realization 
 only in the larger and wealthier school systems; but that it 
 is practicable in any school system wherein the adminis- 
 trators and teachers have the courage, the ambition, and 
 the intelligence to attempt it. The fact that supervised 
 
SUPERVISED STUDY 273 
 
 study, teaching how to study, and silent-reading drill are 
 so closely related that drill in one, when properly con- 
 ducted, serves in some measure for drill in the others, 
 makes invalid any excuses for neglect of any of these 
 highly important phases of school work on the ground of 
 lack of time. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Ability in reading, diflSculty of meas- 
 uring, 159. 
 
 Ability of teachers, how to measure, 14; 
 factors in, 69. 
 
 Agreement, factors producing lack of 
 teachers, 18. 
 
 Arithmetic, individual records in, 57; 
 over-emphasis on, 44; sixth grade, 
 paper, distribution of ratings by 
 teachers, 17. 
 
 Association, keeping the right order of, 
 163. 
 
 Average mentality, record of child of, 55. 
 
 Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale, 96, 100, 
 
 103. 
 Bolenius Readers, The, 201. 
 Bonuses, to teachers, 81. 
 Border-line cases, 107. 
 Bright child, individual record of, 63, 
 
 64. 
 Bright pupils, identifying the, iii. 
 
 Causes of general tendencies, search for, 
 44. 
 
 Cave Twins, The, Perkins, 215. 
 
 Children, teaching how to study, 234. 
 
 City systems, adaptation of intelligence 
 tests to problems of, 112. 
 
 Civics, reading material for upper grades, 
 197. 
 
 Class, record of, 68. 
 
 Cleveland Survey Test, 59. 
 
 Comparing methods, ways of, 84, 86, 91 . 
 
 Conditions revealed by the use of stand- 
 ardized tests, 39; effect upon meth- 
 ods, 94. 
 
 Content subjects, individual records in, 
 62. 
 
 Cooperation of teachers, how to secure, 
 16. 
 
 Courtis'' s Standard Practice Tests, 84, 86, 
 87, 88. 
 
 Current events, reading material for 
 upper grades, 198. 
 
 Dearborn test, 102. 
 
 Democracy and Education, Dewey, 148. 
 
 Diagnostic Language and Grammar Test, 
 Charters, 61. 
 
 Diagnostic value of tests, 57. 
 
 Diflficulty of history questions, as deter- 
 mined b}' judgment of teachers, 21. 
 
 Difficulty in teaching silent reading to 
 beginners, the first, 169. 
 
 Diggers in the Earth, Tappan, 201. 
 
 Division Scale, Woody, 54, 55. 
 
 Dull child, individual record of, 65, 
 66. 
 
 Educational Tests and Measurements, 
 Monroe, De Voss and Kelly, 12. 
 
 Efficiency of methods, compared by 
 standardized tests, 82. 
 
 Efficiency of teachers, measuring, 69. 
 
 Eliminating the variables, 83. 
 
 England's Story, Tappan, 196. 
 
 English, individual records in, 6r. 
 
 English Organization Test, Greene, 43, 
 46, 61. 
 
 Equality, fallacy of the theory, 99. 
 
 Errors of judgment by teachers, 98. 
 
 Experiment in comparing methods, 86. 
 
 Factors in efficiency of a teacher, sum- 
 marized, 82. 
 
 Factors in teaching ability, 69. 
 
 Fair method of grading pupils, 9, ii. 
 
 Fallacy, of satisfactory progress possible 
 to all pupils, 98. 
 
 Faulty judgment of pupils by teachers, 
 
 97- 
 First steps in teaching reading, 160. 
 First words, teaching the, 162. 
 
 Geography, reading material for upper 
 
 grades, 196. 
 Geography Scale. Hahn-Lackej', 55, 6r. 
 Good habits of study, how to encourage, 
 
 238. 
 Grade I, initiatory steps in teaching 
 
276 
 
 INDEX 
 
 reading, i6o; kind of material needed 
 for, 178. 
 
 Grading, by mental ages and achieve- 
 ment tests substantially the same, 
 118; proposed plan of, in rural school, 
 119. 
 
 Grading pupils fairly and accurately, 10. 
 
 Grading purposes, use of intelligence 
 tests for, 30, 1 14. 
 
 Graph card, devising a, 32; meaning of, 
 33; described, 39, 54; tendencies 
 shown by, 42; composite seventh 
 grade, 42; composite fourth grade, 
 44. 
 
 Group Intelligence Scale, Otis, 37, 41, 47, 
 
 73. 
 Group intelligence tests, loi. 
 Group, progress, record of, 67, 68. 
 
 Eaggerty Reading Examination, extract 
 from, 183. 
 
 Haggerty tests, 102, 103. 
 
 Handwriting, individual records in, 60. 
 
 History paper, eighth grade, distribu- 
 tion of ratings by teachers, 18. 
 
 History questions, weights assigned ac- 
 cording to teachers' judgments, 22; 
 ranked by number of times missed on 
 test, 24; summary of ranks and values, 
 
 25- 
 
 History, reading material for upper 
 
 grades, 196. 
 Bistory Test, Starch, 55. 
 Eotne Life Around the World, Mirick 
 
 and Holmes, 210. 
 Hutchinson, Woods, Health Series, 196. 
 
 Illustrated vocabulary, the, 167. 
 Importance of developing efficient 
 
 readers in the lower grades, 159. 
 Improvement of silent reading, means 
 
 to, 145- 
 Inaccuracy of teachers' marks, general, 
 
 17- 
 
 Individual Graph-Record Card, Brooks, 
 
 54. 
 Individual Record, samples of, 34, 35, 
 
 37, 40, 41, 55, 58. 
 Intelligence Tests, practical uses for, 96. 
 Intensive work, results of, 90. 
 Investigation and readjustments, use of 
 
 intelligence tests illustrated, 104, 105, 
 107. 
 
 Judgment of pupils by teachers, faulty, 
 97. 
 
 Literature, reading material for upper 
 grades, 197; why not adapted for 
 silent-reading drill, 199. 
 
 Lower grades, reading the most funda- 
 mental subject taught in, 159. 
 
 Manners and conduct, reading material 
 
 for upper grades, 197. 
 Marking, finding a satisfactory system 
 
 of, 13. 
 Marks, general inaccuraQr of teachers, 
 
 17. 
 Material, collecting, 271. 
 Measuring the Results of Teaching, Mon- 
 roe, 12, 19. 
 Measuring teaching ability by results, 
 
 69. 
 Measurement of Intelligence, The, Ter- 
 
 man, 96. 
 Measurement of pupils, more reliable 
 
 than teachers' judgment, 98. 
 Mechanics of oral reading, a hindrance 
 
 to proper reading habits, 148. 
 Median score, 26. 
 Mental ages, and intelligence quotients, 
 
 102, 104, 106, 107, III, 114, 116, 118, 
 
 121-23. 
 Mental attitude, teacher's, 92. 
 Method vs. Teacher, 82. 
 Methods, compared by standardized 
 
 tests, 82, 84, 86, 91 ; in teaching how to 
 
 study, 236; in teaching silent reading, 
 
 Grade 1, 172, 174, 175; new vs. old, 93; 
 
 ways of comparing, 84, 86, 93. 
 Modification of methods and materials, 
 
 part of a testing program, 143. 
 Moron, the high-grade, 109. 
 Multiplication Scale, Woody, 31. 
 
 Need of intelligence tests in judging 
 pupils, 97. 
 
 Objections of teachers to rating by re- 
 sults, 72. 
 Objective measurement, need of, 98. j 
 
INDEX 
 
 277 
 
 Observation of teachers by superintend- 
 ent, not a fair way to estimate abil- 
 ity, 14. 
 
 Oral quizzes, 50. 
 
 Oral readings, the case against, 150; not 
 necessary, for beginners, 152; the 
 proper time to begin, 154; the value 
 of, 151. 
 
 Oral-reading drill, 144, 146, 148. 
 
 Ordinary tests unfair for grading pur- 
 poses, II. 
 
 Otis Group Intelligence Test, 102, 103. 
 
 Our European Ancestors, Tappan, 196. 
 
 Outlines, construction of, 265. 
 
 Over-emphasis upon arithmetic, 44. 
 
 Paragraph topic, finding a, 262. 
 
 Passing mark, 26. 
 
 Personal judgment vs. objective meas- 
 urement, 98. 
 
 Physiology and Hygiene, reading mate- 
 rial for upper grades, 196. 
 
 Pictures, the use of, 167. 
 
 Plan, for comparing teacher's work 
 under new methods, 93; for teaching 
 silent reading, an effective, 160. 
 
 Practical notes, upon use of intelligence 
 tests, 96. 
 
 Primers and first readers, comment 
 upon, 170. 
 
 Problems of city superintendents, how 
 standardized tests can help, 112. 
 
 Program of studies, as a guide for pro- 
 motion purposes, 13. 
 
 Progress, general, individual records in, 
 62; of pupils, measuring, 12, 52. 
 
 Punctuation Scale, Starch, 61. 
 
 Pupils, grading the, 36; how to measure 
 progress of, 12. 
 
 Pupils' opinions of standardized tests, 
 134-42. 
 
 Question Method, the, 253, 254-57. 
 Questions in history, ranked according 
 to difficulty, 20. 
 
 Rating teachers, plan for, 73, 76, 77, 78; 
 
 intelligence tests used in, no. 
 Reaction of teachers and pupils to 
 
 standardized tests, 124. 
 Reading Aims and Aiethods, 143. 
 
 Reading, as a separate subject, in the 
 upper grades, 193; causes of poor re- 
 sults in, 49; new policy in, 50; individ- 
 ual records in, 56; material, types for 
 upper grades, 196; scores of fifth grade 
 in, 75- 
 
 Reasoning Test in Arithmetic, Monroe, 
 59- 
 
 Results, as the measure of teaching 
 ability, 69; need of testing methods 
 by, 94; of Mental Tests in a selected 
 school, 120. 
 
 Retarded children, 109. 
 
 Riverside Primer, Tlte, 185. 
 
 Rural school, proposed plan of grading 
 in, 119. 
 
 Safeguarding tests fronj pupils, im- 
 portance of, 29. 
 
 Salary and rating, 80. 
 
 Schedule of silent reading for upper 
 grades, 195. 
 
 Science of Everyday Life, The, Van Bus- 
 kirk and Smith, 219. 
 
 Scores, converted into grades, 31. 
 
 Second grade, reading in the, 186. 
 
 Second Readers, comment upon, 176. 
 
 Sentences, teaching, 165. 
 
 Silent reading, ability not ensured by 
 drill in oral reading, 144; criticism of 
 current methods of teaching, 157; 
 effective plan for teaching, 160; good 
 selections and directions for use, 202- 
 29; how good methods encourage good 
 study habits, 240, 244; in the lower 
 grades, 159; kind of material needed 
 for, 200; methods actually used, 156; 
 schedule for upper grades, 195; why it 
 should be taught first, 155. 
 
 Silent-reading ability, essential to study, 
 
 239- 
 Silent-reading drill, an opportunity for 
 
 supervised study, 250. 
 
 Silent-reading material, ways of using, 
 230. 
 
 Silent-Reading Test, Courtis, 131 ; Mon- 
 roe, 54, 160. 
 
 Special reading classes for the upper 
 grades, how organized, 194. 
 
 Special teaching methods, relative 
 values of, 83. 
 
278 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Spelling, individual records in, 60. 
 
 Spelling Scale, Ayres, 55, 60. 
 
 Standardized test, used to measure 
 progress, 53; opinion of teachers and 
 pupils, 126-42. 
 
 Story of the Greek People, Tappan, 196. 
 
 Story of the Roman People, Tappan, 196, 
 222. 
 
 Study, teaching children to, 15, 234. 
 
 Supervised study, 244, 246, 262; alter- 
 nated with recitation, 259; diflBculties 
 in connection with, 247; practical 
 method of, 15. 
 
 Teacher vs. Method, 82. 
 
 Teachers, how to measure ability of, 14. 
 
 Teachers' judgments of progress un- 
 satisfactory, 52. 
 
 Teachers' opinion of standardized tests, 
 126-34. 
 
 Teachers' tests as written reviews, 27. 
 
 Teaching ability, factors in, 69. 
 
 Teaching how to study, practical method 
 of, 15. 
 
 Teaching methods, relative values of, 83. 
 
 Tendencies shown by the graphs, 42. 
 
 Test, in history, 23. 
 
 Testing-methods by results, need of, 94. 
 
 Testing, supervising the, 30. 
 Third Grade, reading in the, 190. 
 Time Hmit, necessity for, 28. 
 Timing, need of accurate, 27. 
 Trees, Stars and Birds, Moseley, 253. 
 
 United Slates, The, Winslow, 224. 
 Unjust blame of teachers, 108. 
 Upper grades, reading in the, 193. 
 Usable material in primers and first 
 readers, 171. 
 
 Values, of teaching methods, relative, 
 
 83. 
 Variables, eliminating the, 83. 
 Visual Vocabulary, Thorndike, 49, 62. 
 Vocabulary building, 51. 
 Vocabulary, the illustrated, 167. 
 
 War with Germany, iniSuence in devel- 
 opment of group intelligence tests, 
 
 lOI. 
 
 Ways of using reading material in the 
 lowest grades, 172, 174, 175; silent 
 reading material, 230. 
 
 Woody Scales, for measuring ability of 
 pupils, 88, 89. 
 
 Writing, the situation in, 47.