PREFACE.

By P. P. CLAXTON, Commissioner of Education.

The progress of children through the grades of the public schools and the stage of advancement at which they quit school are matters of great educational and economic importance and enlist the interest of both school officers and taxpayers. If many children fail to accomplish any part of the work of the school in the time prescribed, it may be supposed that the work is not well adjusted to the powers of the children or that the teaching is at fault. If many quit school before completing the minimum course of instruction necessary for intelligent citizenship and industrial and social life, then the purposes for which the schools are maintained are not accomplished and our life in all its phases is less full and less efficient than it should be. In both cases there is economic and vital waste. To the end that intelligent search may be made for the means to prevent this loss there is need of a large body of accurate information as to the amount and kind of retardation and the time of quitting school. The following study by Mr. K. J. Hoke, second assistant superintendent of schools of Richmond, Va., contains valuable information on these subjects for the schools of that city.

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THE PLACEMENT OF CHILDREN IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.

In recent years many students of education have been placing considerable emphasis on the study of scientific measurements applied to the achievements of school children with a view to putting educational practice on a more scientific basis than in the past.

Because of the lack of scientific information, many theories not justified by systematic observation have obtained currency. As a result, much of the time and energy of teachers and pupils has been spent to a great disadvantage; confusion has been produced, and the advancement of the teaching profession has at times been greatly retarded.

Gradually a body of scientific knowledge concerning the actual accomplishment of school children is evolving. Administrators are being trained to realize the need of accurate and uniform records whereby the progress of children can be determined, not only in relation to other children in the city, but also to children in other cities. By this means standards or norms in educational practice will be set up whereby one school system can be compared with another as to the amount of elimination, retardation, and promotion; the percentage of children entering the high school from the elementary school, and the like. Such information has also been used to determine the relative differences between sexes and nationalities for the purpose of planning courses of study, the organization of children into classes, and the determining of other educational policies. Administrators are further beginning to realize the necessity for definite and objective standards for guidance in the expenditure of school finances. A superintendent of schools in one city should know how much he is spending to educate a child through the kindergarten, the elementary school, and the high school, as well as the amount spent for the same purposes by a superintendent of schools in another city.

The application of scientific measurements to the achievement of school children is revealing waste and unbusinesslike methods in many school systems. Due consideration has not been given to the amount of time and energy spent in relation to achievement-or, in business terms, the amount of money spent in relation to value received. A school system should meet the same requirements that any business corporation must meet. The output must be commensurate with expenditure. If school men are to secure and retain the support of the business men and the taxpayers, they must, in the future, demonstrate their ability to handle finances on a businesslike basis.

In this connection the psychologist has played an important part in the establishment of general mentality tests and special subject tests for the purpose of determining the amount and kind of results, together with standards for guidance in educational practice. Tests that lend themselves most readily to practical uses in the public schools are the Binet-Simon tests and De Sanctis tests for general mentality, and the Courtis arithmetic tests, the Hillegas and HarvardNewton language scales, the Thorndike, Ayres, and Freeman handwriting scales, the Buckingham spelling scale, and the Thorndike drawing and reading scales as special subject tests.

In this scientific movement two great goals have been kept in view. They are, first, the establishment of objective standards whereby the workers in educational practice can not only measure actual results of their time, energy, and methods, but will also have guideposts which will indicate clearly the different stages in the child's development; and, second, the prevention of waste through misplacement of children.

Much progress has been made in the establishment of objective standards in the important subjects of the curriculum, but the placement of children by means of mental tests has not progressed so rapidly, due to the fact that the mental tests now available for practical purposes do not give all the information needed. The BinetSimon tests have been widely used to locate mentally defective and retarded children. Recently, however, children's mental ages determined by the Binet-Simon tests, instead of their chronological ages, have been used as a standard to measure the amount of retarded, accelerated, and normal progress of children. Educational administrators see the need of some accurate means for determining children's mental abilities or mental ages in order to place them properly in school.

In order to show, then, that certain educational practices do result in waste of time, energy, and money, and can not be justified from a practical and businesslike viewpoint, and, further, that tests can be employed to prevent much of this waste and thereby secure a