LB 3051 .M46 Copy 1 HAPERS on school issues of the day. XI. EXAMINATIONS' AS ! "\. TESTS MPROMOTIOiN. \ BY- ^^H BrnoTchju. \. V. A Pai'Eh read liKFouK THE National Educational Associa- tion", AT St, Paul, ^Iinn., Jiily, isoo. sv i;a<: I .>!::. N. \ . : C. W. BARDEEN, PUBLISHER. 18.111. -THE SCHOOL BULLETIN PUBLICATIONS.- The Five Great English Books. The recognition of Teaching as a Science ■was much earlier in England than in this country, and tlie five books which are there recoj;nized as stan- dards, have probably no equals in soundness and scope. Hence they are usually the first books adopted by Eeadins Circles, and ai-e indispensable to the library of an intelligent teacher. These are: 1. Essays on Educational Befoniui-s. By Robert Henry Quick. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 330. Price $1.50. ' This is altogether the best History of Education. " With the suggestion that study should be made iiitereslimj" writes Principal !Moi'gan, of the Rhode Island State Kormal School, " we most heartily agree. How this may be Cioiie, the attentive reader will be helped in learning by the study of this adiTHrable book." 2. The First Three Years of Childlwod. By B. Perez. With an intro- duction by Prof. James Sully. Cloth, 12nio, pp. 204. Price $1.50. This is incomparably the best psychology for primary teachers, and forms the proper Bans for pedagogical knowledge. The .Journal of Pedacjor/y says (April, 18S9): " Some of the greatest questions relating to primary edu- cation can only be solved by an accurate observation and correct interpre- tation of the infant mind, and as the author of this volume combines the proper qualifications for the work with ample opportunity, his observations and deductions are entitled to the highest confidence." 3. Lectures on the Science and Art of Education. By Joseph Payne. Cloth, ICmo, pp. 384. Price, $1.00. The student is now ready to take up the Science of Education, which is i^owhere else so brilliantly and effectively presented. The lectures are sin- gularly fascinating, and the full analysis and indexes in this edition make it easy to collate and compare all that the author has uttered upon any topic Suggested. L The Philosorphy of Education, or the Principles an d Practice of Teach inrj. By Thoji/ ' Tate. Cloth, lOmo, pp. 440. Price $1.50. This gives the application of the Science to the Art of Teaching, and is without a rival in its clear presentation and abundant illustrations. The author is not content with giving directions. He shows by specimens of class-work .iust what may be done and should be done. . 5. Introductory Text-Book to School Education, Method and School Man- agemerd. By John Gill. Cloth, lOmo, pp. 270. Price $1.00. This supplements the work of all the rest by practical directions as to ScJiool Manar/e7nent. Of the five this has liad a sale equal to that of all the rest combined. The teacher's greatest difficulty, his surest discomfiture if he fails, is in the discipline and management of liis school. That this man- ual has proved of inestimable help is proved by the fact that the present English edition is the 44th thousand printed. C. W. BARDEF.N, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y. EXAMINATIONS AS TESTS FOR PROMOTION. W. H. MAXWELL, BROOKLYX, X. Y. (A paper read before the National Educational Associivtion, at St. Paul, Jlinn., July, 1890. i It is fortunate for me that this paper is to be read before a convention of professional teachei's. It is fortunate, first, because my mind has not yet reached conviction on many of the questions involved, and you as experts will ai)preciate the difficulties of one who is still in the stage of experiment- making. It is fortunate, in the second place, because it is impossible within the limits of time allowed, to discuss with anything like fullness of detail the numy important (piestions which the subject suggests. All I can hojie to do is to raise the leading points at issue, to state briefly some of the arguments pro and eon, and leave to you the task of filling in the details and illustra- tions. I did not choose this subject, nor did I .^^elect the title; and, to prevent mis- understanding, I shall begin by defining terms. What is promotion ? In a system of graded schools promotion means the moving of a pupil from a lower grade to a higher grade. The term implies that the pupil has accomi)lished with a reasonable degree of efficiency the work of the lower grade, and that he is ready to begin the more advanced work of the higher grade. Examina- tion, as the term will be used in this jniper, is any means that may be employed by a teacher, a princii)al, or a superintendent, to discover whether a pupil has completed with a sufficient degree of efficiency the work of the lower grade, and whether he is ready to l)egin the work of a higher grade. To examine means literally to "weigh carefully," hence to test, to try. When we examine a child, we simply test wliether he has accomplished certain Avork, and whether he is ready to proceed with certain other Avork. Examinations under some conditions are legitimate; under other conditions are illegitimate. Hoav shall the legitimacy be determined? Dr. White distinguishes betAveen examination a.s an element of teaching and examination as a test for promotion, and seems to regard the former as not only legitimate, but necessary, and the latter as not only unnecessary, but il- legitimate. I cannot admit Dr. White's distinction. All examinations are elements of teaching. Wliether they are made for the purpose of testing a pupil's knowledge, or of determining his fitness for promotion, they are equally elements of teaching. They are teaching him either something good or some- thing bad. They are training him in a right direction or in a wrong direc- tion. Everything done in a school-room is an element of teaching; and it is our business to see that each thing done is an element in teaching Avhat is good. Here, then, Ave have found a criterion by Avliich to determine the legitimacy or illegitimacy of any form of test or examination. Is it an element in teach- 2 THE NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION. ing what is good ? If it is, let us use it. If it is not, let us not touch the unclean thing. But in order to apply this criterion, we must classify examinations. They may be classified according to the immediate object for which they are con- ducted, as daily examinations, review examinations, and comprehensive or stated examinations. By daily examinations I mean the sharp, rapid cross-questioning to which every skillful teacher subjects his pupils. The questions may test the connec- tion between the lesson in hand and one that has gone before, or they may test knowledge of the subject under consideration, or they may be used to dispel illusions, or they may suggest and elicit a new train of thought that flows from the lesson like a brooklet from a spring ; but in all cases, they have quite as good a right to the title of examination as either the review or the stated examination. Socrates was the fii-st great examiner whose examination questions are still extant, and those who believe in examination have no need to be ashamed of the inventor of the system. Review examinations, generally written, are given j)rimarily for the pur- pose of testing whether the knowledge imparted is retained with sufficient ac- curacy and clearness. They are sometimes given at stated intervals, though the more progressive among teachers now adopt the plan of giving a review examination whenever the study of some natural division of a subject, as dec- imal fractions in arithmetic, or one of the grand divisions in geography, is completed. Comprehensive, or stated, examinations are intended or should be intended to test whether students have a comprehensive grasp, not of petty details, but of the general outlines of a subject, whether they know the relations of the various parts to one another and to the whole. These three difierent kinds of examination, the daily examination, the review examination, and the comprehensive examination, exhaust all possible kinds of examination. The inquiry is now pertinent as to how far and under what conditions they are elements in teaching what is good. But first, what is teaching ? Dr. White defines teaching as " the applying of means to the pupil's mind in such manner as to occasion those mental ac- tivities that result in knowledge, power, and skill." Teaching, according to this definition, in which as far as it goes I heartily concur, includes both in- struction and training — instruction being that part of teaching which results in knowledge, and training that part which results in jDower or skill. The question then resolves itself into this: Is examination one of the means that occasion those mental activities which result in knowledge, power, and skill ? The reply must be in the affirmative. Certainly it will be so with regard to the daily and review examinations ; and, rightly considered, it can hardly fail to be so also with regard to the comprehensive, or stated examination. The ground is exactly the same in all three cases. Knowledge is not knowl- edge when it has been merely taken in. It is not knowledge until it has EXAMINATIONS AS TESTS FOB PROMOTION. 3 passed through the mind and come out a^ain in words or actions of our own.^ Until this is done we cannot be sure even that we [jossess knowledge. Every thorough-going student has been at some time or other, when confronted ^ith examination questions, amazed at his own ignorance of subjects with which he fondly imagined he was thoroughly familiar. There is probably no better test of a teacher's ability than his power to determine, during the giving of a lesson or after it has been given, whether it has been mastered l)v his i)iipils. And yet I have frequently seen teachers of great ability astonished at their pupils' ignorance of subjects which they, the teaehei'S, thought had been completely mastered. In all these ca.ses the examination test shows that the knowledge in question has not been assimilated, has not l)een converted into faculty. The very act of reproducing knowledge in tlic jjupil's own words or acts is one of the best means of converting it into faculty ; but it is not the only means. The i)rocess is not complete when isolated facts, nor even when divisions of a subject, have passed through the mind and been reproduced. All this is necessary, but it is not enough. It is but a means to an end, and the end is the comprehension of a subject as a whole, and the com])rehension of the relations of the various parts to one another and to the whole. This aim should be held steadily in view by every teacher, no matter how small a portion of a subject may fall to his lot ty teach in a particular grade. I can conceive it possible that where one teacher, as sometimes happens in a college or univei"sity, begins and ends the teaching of a single subject, the compre- hensive examinations might be abandoned without serious injury. But in a system of graded schools, in which each teacher teaches only a small fraction of a subject, in which the teachei-s differ so largely, as they inevitably must, in ability, in manner, and in method, there is absolutely no other way by which to test whether pupils have attained a comprehensive knowledge of a subject ; there is absolutely no other way by which to enforce due attention on the part o^both teaehei'S and pupils to this all-important part of their work. Nor is even this all. The process of learning is not complete until the pupil can apply his knowledge in some practical way. The learning of a princi})le or rule in arithmetic is useless, until the pupil can apply it to the solution of problems. The study of the facts of form is of comj^aratively little value, unless the scholar can give them concrete expression with his own hands. The memorizing of the rules and definitions of grammar is so much time almost wasted, unless the scholar can apply them in the criticism of his own language, both oral and written, and in the elucidation of difftcult and obscure passages in what he reads. These are elementary truths which I should have to apologize for stating were it not for their bearing upon this discussion. Examination consists not merely in reproducing knowledge im- parted or accpiired, but in making practical application of knowledge, in test- ing power and skill. And hence on this ground also — the ground of practical application as well as that of reproduction — examination, seeing that it is not only a test of application and reproduction, but an exercise in application 4 THE NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION. and a means of the development of power and skill, must be regarded as an element of teaching what is good. And if it is an element of teaching what is good, it has a right to its legitimate place and function in any and every system of education. In the words of Mr. Fitch, "Examining is a part of teaching, and is indispensable to it." Examination is not merely a test of knowledge, power, and skill: it is a means of acquiring knowledge, power, and skill. Examinations, however, when wisely used may be made to serve other pur- poses than those of exercise in reproducing knowledge and of testing and ac- quiring power and skill, ^hey may serve also as both a standard and a stimulus. ^ Particularly is this true of the comprehensive or stated examina- tion. Such an examination is the surest preventive of that loose and desultory teaching which is sure to demoralize the intellectual habits of the average student. The habit of mind we should aim to cultivate is that which in the affairs of life enables a man to see clearly the end to be accomplished, and to take with honesty and firmness of j)urpose the path that leads most directly to its accomplishment. In every branch of study the cultivation of this habit is a thing to be kept ever in view. Every time the teacher wanders, or allows his pupils to wander, from the straight j^ath that must be pursued to master a subject, he fosters the formation of habits of fickleness in purjjose and de- sultoriness in action, he dulls the power of steady intellectual vision. ISTow it is only teachers of the highest order, of whom in the nature of things there can be but few, who can, without adventitious pressure, curb this j^ropensity to wander ; and, as the comprehensive examination, when properly conducted and given , in its proper place, is the most powerful of all adventitious in- fluences, it follows that its use as a standard in a system of graded schools is indispensable. Even by teachers of the highest order, the influence of the comprehensive examination is not to be despised, especially when it is conducted by an ex- ternal authority. Even that rara avis, the born teacher, will work all the better if he is enabled, or compelled, to compare his own Avith another ideal, Mr. Fitch has put this phase of the argument so well that I feel constrained to adopt his language as my own : " The teacher knows well enough how nearly his ideal has been reached ; but he does not know, and cannot know, whether that ideal is the highest attainable, and how it compares with that which is attained by other teachers and under other conditions. There is an inevitable narrowness of vision produced by daily observation of the same little group of minds. Details are seen in more or less false perspective. The progress of to-day is compared with that of yesterday, and the larger view of the progress that ought to be made, and which might be made, from year to year, becomes more and more difficult in proportion to the very zeal and ear- nestness with which the teacher watches the every-day work of his scholars. He cannot jjut himself into the position of complete detachment. He wants to see his work as" others see it. He wants an honest comparison to be made EXAMINATIONS AS TESTS FOB PBOMOTION. 5 of his own performances with those of othei-s, and to be assured that what he is doing does not fall short of the standard which is aonorally reached by good teachei-s in similar conditions; and even if the teacher did not himself feel this distrust, the public would feel it for him. Ixird Sherbrooke puts the case with an irreverent but characteristic i)lainness when he says he does not like to leave traders to 'brand their own herrings.'" Let no one take offense at this last statement. AVe are all public servants, and the public whom we serve have a right to ai)ply tests to our work and estimate its value. No branch of the public service can be administered just as a i)rivate business is managed. Why ? Because the ])ro])rietor of a private business has a natural and legal right to manage his affairs in the way that suits him best. But in the public service the very first condition of success is the sym])athy and support of the ])ul)lic. AVitliout such synipatliy and su])- port those who are immediately concerned in administering the i)ublic schcjols cannot hope to accomplish their perfect work. "Without such sympathy and support the conscientious teacher is sure to be overwhebned by tlie malign and al)horrent forces that are ever seeking to use the public schools for their own selfish and wicked purposes. Nothing that can create and preserve ])ul)li(.' sympathy and sup{)ort for the public schools can be without its effect for good. The comprehensive examination, when conducted by one who is not innne- diately engaged in the work of class-teaching, and who is responsible to the State alone, is the best means of informing the public how far the work of the teacher is honest and successful. All examinations, then, but particularly tlie comprehensive examinations, may be regarded as establishing a standard at which both teacher and jiupil may aim, and a standard by which the public may judge of both teacher's and pupil's work. But again, all examination, and particularly the comprehensive examina- tion, is useful not only as an- exercise, as a test, and as a standard, but also as | a stimulus. Competition has been one of the mightiest forces in the evolution of civilization. In one form or another it is competition, under God's laws, that has raised man fi-om being a little higher than the brutes to being a little lower than the angels. Many forms of com])etition that once played a promi- nent ])art in determining what types were fittest to survive, have now disaj)-_ peared, or are disappearing from among civilized men. Among them, let us hoj)e, is that form which leads a student to work only that he may surj)ass others — a form which leads to envy, malice, dishonesty, and distrust. But there is still room, and, so long as men are imperfect, there will always be room, for that form of competition which leads each to striyej^not to suii)ass others, but to equal the best and highest. Equa^ty in excellence, not suj)e- riority, is a healthy motive for endeavor, and if examinations when properly conducted can be made to sen^ens a stinudus to this motive, their existence is amply justified. It may be objected that knowledge and cultui-e should be pursued for their 6 THE NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION. own sakes. This is very true. They should be so pursued. But then they are not. With the great majority of men and women the love of scientific knowledge and of culture is an acquired taste. Those who proclaim most loudly the doctrine of the self-sufficiency of education, both as an object and as a stimulus, forget that if their contentions were founded upon fact, the ar- gument for the maintenance of a State system of education would be robbed of its validity. Why does the State maintain public schools? Because the desire for education, a thing necessary to the very existence of free govern- ment, does not exist originally in the majority of minds. K it did exist, uni- versally, as, for instance, the craving for food exists, there would be no more excuse for the State providing education for the masses than there is now for the State providing food for the masses. Our whole public-school system is predicated on the assumption that the desire for education is not universally present. The necessity for the stimulus afforded by examination is demon- strated by the very same reasoning. The desire for training is not indi- genous. It is an exotic as well as a plant of slow growth. The necessary mental habit is formed onl}'-, except in rare exceptions, under the influence of various stimuli, one of the most potential of which is examination. Let us now consider some of the objections of those who are opposed to ex- amination. Parenthetically, it may be said that these objections are urged chiefly, if not exclusively, against the comprehensive, or stated examination. It would be well, however, for the objectors to remember that their objections apply with equal force to the review examinations, though the jDrojoriety of the latter is doubted by none. The first objection is that the highest kind of teaching defies all test. As President Adams puts it:( "Above all things it [education] means the awak- ening and developing of certain desires that will go well with the pupil 'as a kind of perpetual inspiration through life," /To test this higher kind of teach- ing, examination utterly fails. But, though it fails at this 'point, is that any reason why it should not be used for the purpose for which it is preeminently fitted, namely, to test the acquisition of knowledge and the development of power and skill? We might as well say that we should not use cross-exam- ination in a court of law to test the veracity of a witness because it may not reveal whether a man is a poet or a philosopher. Again, examinations, it is said, lead to cramming with all its attendant evils. The case against examinations from this point of view, has never been more strongly stated than by President Adams : "A bird put into a dark room and stuffed with food by main force, will at once develop enormous digestive organs, and take on fat at an unnaturally rapid rate. But it can hardly be claimed that this is a process of healthy growth. It is abnormal, and it tends to weakness rather than strength ; but it is entirely analogous to the processes of cramming for examinations that sometimes prevail. The one case is a gorging of the mind for the purpose of getting it into a certain condition for the emer- gency of an examination, much as the other is a gorging of the body in order EXAMINATIONS AS TESTS FOB PEOMOTION. 7 to bring it into a certain condition, let ns say fur a Christ inavS or a Thanksgiving dinner." The apjjarently tremendous force of this striking analogy is broken to tlie discerning eye by the presence of the word sometimes. " The processes of cramming for examinations that sometimes prevail " ! Not univei-sally, not even frequently, but only .•ils in the first gt^d.de. Based upon Pestalozzi's metliod of teaching Elementary Number. By James II. IIoose. Boards, Kimo, ii editions. Pup'd'x Edition, pp. 1.56, 35 cts. Teacher's Edition, contain- ing the former, with additional matter, pp. 217, .50 cts. This is a practical exposition of the Pestalozzian Method, and has met with great smccess nut only in the Cortland Normal School, where it was first developed, but in nuniy other leading schools, as at Gloversville, Baby- Jon, etc. It is diaractiiciilly opposed to the Grube Method, and good teach- ers should be familiar with both, that they may choose intelligently between them. /,. Lessons in Nuniber, as given in a Pestalozzian School, CJwam, Surrey. The Master's Manual. By C. Keiner. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 224. $1.50. 5. Lessons in Eo9-m, or, an Introduction to Geometry as given in a Pesta- lozzian School, Vheam, Surrey. L'y C. Reiner. Cloth, 16mo, pp. 215. $1.50. Both 4 and .5 in one volume, $2.00. These works were prepared in 1833 under the supervision of Dr. C. Mayo in the first English Pestalozzian school, and have particular value as lepre- senting directly the educational methods of the great reformer. C. W. BARDEEN, Publisher, Syracuse, N. Y,