379 uw3c 1891 mo17 Cop. 2 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, BUREAU OF EDUCATION, Washington, D. C., September 10, 1891. SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith a Circular of Information on the subject of "Promotions and Examinations in Graded Schools," prepared for this Bureau by Dr. Emerson E. White, of Cincinnati, Ohio. With the growth of population, which is continuous in all parts of the country, there is an increase of what is called the graded school system. Formerly in the small school, situated in the rural district, some thirty or forty pupils of all ages, from four to twenty years, were gathered. Scarcely two pupils were of the same degree of advancement, and the consequence was that each pupil must form a class by himself. There was no time given for an investigation of the subject of the lesson, but the teacher must be content with the pupil's repetition of the words of the lesson, without much discussion of their meaning. In the villages and cities where three hundred to eight hundred children may be brought together in the same school, it is possible to classify them according to their several degrees of advancement. And in several of the States there have been for some time praiseworthy efforts to grade the studies and classify the pupils in the individual country schools, efforts which have proved more or less successful in proportion to the density of population. A teacher with two classes only can find it possible to give a half hour to each recitation or class exercise, and much better methods of instruction may be adopted. It is evident that the question of changing from the old-fashioned ungraded school to the modern graded school is a matter of peculiar importance. There is no person in this country more competent to speak on the subject than Dr. White, of Cincinnati. It gives me great pleasure therefore to recommend for publication this Circular of Information. CONTENTS. 1. INTRODUCTION Circular of inquiry... Returns from seventy cities Graded schools in cities.... 2. A GRADED COURSE OF STUDY Principles involved........... Grades or year divisions 3. THE CLASSIFICATION OF PUPILS 4. INTERVALS BETWEEN CLASSES. The year interval. The half-year interval The term interval .... Comparison of class intervals... The Chicago plan.......... 5. NUMBER OF CLASSES IN A ROOM One-class plan.. Two-class plan Page. 7 7 8 8 9 9 10 10 11 12 13 14 16 16 18 19 20 21 23 24 24 27 PROMOTIONS AND EXAMINATIONS IN GRADED SCHOOLS. By EMERSON E. WHITE, LL. D. INTRODUCTION. These pages are written in the belief that the time has come for a full and thorough consideration of the more important problems connected with the administration of graded schools in cities, and especially of those problems which relate to grading and classification, promotion, examination, etc., problems that touch directly the interests of the pupils. As a basis for such a discussion it has seemed important to gather up the experience of the leading cities of the country, as embodied in their present systems or practice, not the experience of one city or of the older cities only, but of all the large cities. To this end a circular of inquiry was prepared, and, by the kind coöperation of the Commissioner of Education, sent to the superintendents of seventy of the larger cities. The circular called for information on the following points: 1. How often pupils are promoted: (a) In primary grades. (b) In grammar grades. (c) To high school. (d) In high school. 2. Number of classes or grade-divisions in each room as a rule: (a) In primary grades. (b) In grammar grades. 3. In what branches or exercises all pupils in a room are taught as one class, i. e., together: (a) In primary grades. (b) In grammar grades. 4. How the fitness of pupils for promotion is determined: (a) In primary grades. (b) In grammar grades. (c) To high school. (d) In high school. 5. If written examinations are used to determine fitness: (a) How often they occur (in each grade). (b) By whom questions are prepared. (e) By whom pupils' papers are read and graded. (d) How the results are used in promoting pupils. (e) Why promotion examinations are used. 6. Please emphasize and explain any special plan or system which you may deem peculiar to your city or of special value. |