The Retardation of the Pupils of Eive City School Systems
- Author:
Oliver P. Coenman, Ph.D.,
District Superintendent of Schools, Philadelphia, Pa.
Ever since tlie system of graded schools was established, children have been promoted from grade to grade at stated periods as they completed definite units of work. But not all children of each grade have been thus promoted, for a percentage has always failed of promotion and been required to repeat in whole or in part the work of the grade. This failure to win promotion has served to establish the fact that some children proceed more slowly through the grades than others.
The child who fails of promotion and therefore requires more than a single year or term to do the work regularly allotted, is “retarded” in comparison with those who have progressed at the normal pace. It is a matter of indifference in establishing the fact of retardation, whether the cause resides in the child himself, in home or school conditions, or in a combination of these and other factors. That different classes, schools, and school systems vary considerably in the percentages of children promoted, is shown by even the most cursory examination of promotion statistics. The records even for the same school, or for the schools of the same city, sometimes show great variation in these percentages from year to year. Thus the annual report for one large city shows that several schools promoted 60 per cent or less of their pupils, while other schools promoted 90 per cent or over. In another city the percentage of variation ranged from 42 per cent to 92 per cent. These facts have served to direct attention to an excessive amount of retardation present in special instances, and have aroused discussion which has led to improvement in the methods of gradation and promotion in many schools; but they have not been fruitful in furnishing us with a satisfactory measure of the amount and general extent of retardation. The determination of a common and comparable measure of retardation for the schools of a single city and for different cities, is a real problem, calling for solution to-day by the administrative officers of our school systems.
The attempts that have been made to solve this problem have done little more up to the present time than call attention to the existence of the facts. Thus the report of the city superintendent of Chicago for 190G includes a valuable special investigation of the number of backward children in that city. This number is determined by excessive time in grade, and by the personal opinion of teachers as to the inability of their pupils to progress under instruction in regular classes up to the full limit of the school curriculum. The investigation, however,, was restricted to certain grades, and does not show the percentages of retardation for other grades or for the city as a whole. In Philadelphia, statistics of retardation based upon excessive time in grade have been collected for the years 1905, ‘00 and ‘07. The usual promotion records for each grade indicate the number of children two years in grade, the number three years or more in grade and the percentages of the enrolment which these retarded children represent. These facts were obtained for each grade and collated for schools, districts, and for the city as a whole. There was thus given much information of practical value in dealing with the problem, but the method does not furnish an entirely satisfactory standard of measurement. It makes possible an estimate of retardation as it may exist within the school system, but it does not account for that which may be due to influences or conditions outside the school. Thus children over age for their grade are, strictly speaking, retarded, regardless of the cause and even though they may, at the time the statistics were obtained, bo passing through the grades at a normal pace. These children slip through the statistical net supposed to be spread for them by these promotion records, and fail to be counted as retarded. The average age, which is usually taken as a criterion of the progress of the children in the grades, loses much of its significance because the under age children offset those over age, and the cases of extreme over age, which are pedagogically of great interest, fail to affect the average by more than a trifling fraction of a year.
We are therefore compelled to turn to the enumeration of the children in the grades by ages for a more satisfactory standard by which to measure retardation. The statistics on which this standard of measurement is based are in many respects more valuable than those based upon the number of years in grade. They are simple, certain, easy to collect, and embody unequivocal information as to many conditions and results of school work. It would seem, therefore, desirable to give them a place as a regular item in the annual report of every school system. In some city reports, this enumeration does appear annually, but in most cases it seems to be recorded without a full appreciation of its significance and value. The numbers are not reduced to percentages, and receive little or no attention by way of comment or analysis.
A beginning, however, has been made. The city superintendent of lSTew York in his report for 1904 invited attention to the fact that a large number of pupils (39 per cent in the elementary grades) were shown by his tables to be older than what might reasonably be called the normal age for the grade. Since that year he has regularly published similar tables, which it is worth observing disclose a considerable reduction in the amount of retardation, the report for 1906 showing but 30 per cent. The drawing of attention to the problem has evidently produced good results. For Camden, 1ST. J., Superintendent Bryan is employing the statistical method under discussion with good effect in a special investigation of the extent and causes of retardation in the schools of that city. A partial collation of his results appeared in the April, 1907, number of this journal.* For Philadelphia the distribution of pupils in the grades by ages was tabulated in June, 1907. The number and percentages of children above the normal age for their grade were found to be so high as to be a cause of surprise to educators unfamiliar with the similar results obtained by Dr Maxwell and Superintendent Bryan for the schools under their charge. Whether a percentage of retarded children is to be considered large or small can be determined only by a comparison of statistics obtained from several cities. To serve this purpose I have compiled the retardation statistics for four other cities?Boston, New York, Camden, N. J., and Kansas City. The list of these cities is a small one because the published material is limited, as well as the time that I could devote to the collation. The results for these ?The Psychological Clinic, Vol. I, No. 2, p. 41. Table I.?CAMDEN, SEPTEMBER, 1905. DISTRIBUTION OF PUPILS IN THE GRADES BY AGES. Grade 8 7 0 5 4 3 2 1 Total. 6 or Under 3 116 1,762 1,881 1,556 2 93 503 958 3 40 297 600 494 1,434 1 29 236 561 448 237 1,512 2 33 135 397 470 268 136 11 1 10 120 305 13 10 49 198 469 317 133 ? | 373 363 238 75 33 1,441 1,424 1,339 16 100 17 29 18 or Over Total Above Normal Age 269 449 863 1,301 1,858 2,146 2,197 3,717 12,800 Number Percent. 122 274 511 829 1,183 1,192 978 997 6,086 45.2 61.0 59.1 63.7 63.6 55.5 44.4 26.8 47.5 Table II.?KANSAS CITY,* JUNE, 1906. DISTRIBUTION OF PUPILS IN THE GRADES BY AGES. Grade 8 7 I 6 3 4 I 3 3 1 I ! Total.. 6 or Under 10 11 13 13 16 17 18 or Over Total Above Normal Age Number Percent 70 3,432 3,502 1 46 784 2,278 42 572 44 453 1,226 2 37 349 1,048 24 297 832 239 675 610 1, 1,182 1,029 477 1,101 572 254 1,073 250 89 3,109 3,104 ; 3,229 3,363 3,153 747 394 148 77 3,168 778 636 455 208 86 39 620 413 555 I 220 339 170 232 64 81 29 fl2 2,812 1,8 148 66 30 14 3 3 1 2,103 2,650 3,295 4,136 4,243 4,286 7,850 1,228 1,641 2,070 2,592 2,399 2,124 2,140 58.3 61.9 61.0 62.6 56.5 49.5 27.2 904 265 61 26 28,563 14,194 49.6 * Seven year course for elementary schools. DISTRIBUTION OF PUPILS IN THE GRADES BY AGES. Grade 8 G 5 4 3 2 1 j Total. 0 or Under 14 1,116 9,205 10,335 17 865 4,273 3,129 8,284 1 68 839 3,662 3.209 985 8,764 6 72 793 3,079 3,006 1,249 249 8,454 2 83 736 2,681 2,831 1,340 351 8,087 83 703 2,253 2,481 1,453 328 51 25 7,377 7,550 1,684 2,164 1,543 804 334 35 6,575 14 15 1,767 1,179 645 264 104 3,959 844 401 189 69 21 1,524 16 ? 248 91 51 21 2 413 17 41 Table IV.?PHILADELPHIA, JUNE 1907. DISTRIBUTION OF PUPILS IN THE GRADES BY AGES. 18 or Over Total 5,321 6,691 7,894 8,788 9,402 9,336 10,276 13,669 71,377 Above Normal Age Number Percent. 1,125 1.6S5 2,434 2,765 2,636 1,789 1,678 1,335 15,447 21.1 25.2 30.8 31.4 28.0 17.9 16.3 ? 9.7 21.6
THE RETARDATION OF PUPILS 249 Table V.?NEW YORK, JUNE, 190G. DISTRIBUTION OF PUPILS IN THE GRADES BY AGES. Table VI.?Summary of Percentages of Enrollment “Above Normal Age. Grade Above Normal Age defined as 15 years or over,. 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 Total Camden, Sept., 1905. 45.2 61.0 59.1 63.7 63.6 55.5 44.4 26.8 47.5 58.3 61.9 61.0 62.6 56.5 49.5 27.2 49.6 Boston. Jan., 1906. June, 1906 14.7 18.8 24.3 23.3 21.0 11.6 10.2 5.7 15.4 21.1 25.2 30.8 31 4 28.0 17.9 16.3 9.7 21.6 Philadelphia, June, 1907. 23.9 31.1 41.5 45.1 43.0 39.3 28.3 36.5 37.1 5 New York. June, 1904. June, 1905. June, 1906 25.3 32.8 42.0 49.0 49.2 45.0 38.1 23.2 39.0 19.0 28.0 37.6 42.9 40.1 34.1 25.6 16.6 20.7 29.1 36.5 40.3^ 37.4 31.6 23.4 13.9 30.1 I 30.0 Table VII.?Retardation in Elementary Schools as Shown by Distribution of Pupils in the Grades by Ages. City. Camden …. Kansas City Boston Philadelphia New York.. , Date of Record. Sept., 1905 . June, 1906 . June, 1906 . June, 1907 . June, 1906 . Total Total Enrollment. 12,800 28,563 71,377 143,112 500,076 755,928 Beyond Theoretic Limit.* 9,309 22,171 36,432 93,302 299,964 461,178 1 Year or Beyond Theoretic Limit by 2 Years I 3 Years or or more, i more. 6,086 14,194 15,447 53,135 150,500 239,362 3,372 7,523 5,249 25,139 61,263 102,546 1,737 3,535 1,501 10,049 20,754 37,576 4 Years or 623 1,475 396 3,479 5,866 11,839 Percent Beyond Theoretic Limit. 72.7 77.6 51.0 65.1 59.9 61.0 Percent Beyond Theoretic Limit by 1 Year or more.f 47.5 49.6 21.6 37.1 30.0 31.6; 2 Years or more.t 26.3 26.3 7.3 17.5 12.2 13.5 3 Years or 12.7 12.3 2.1 7.0 4.1 4.9 4 Years or 4.8 5.1 .5 2.4 1.1 1.5
Defined as 7 years of age or over’for pupils of first grade; 8 years of age or over for pupils of second grade, and so on through the grades,
t” Above Normal Age ” as defined by Dr Maxwell. t ” Pedagogically retarded ” as defined by Superintendent Bryan.
Table VIII. City. Boston New York… Philadelphia. Kansas City. Camden Total. Enrollment. Total. 7th Grade. 8th Grade 71,377 500,076 143,112 28,563 12,800 755,928 6,691 43,260 9,793 2,103 449 62,296 5,321 28,932 6,795 269 41,317 Percent of Total Enrollment. 7th Grade. 8th Grade 9.3 8.6 6.8 7.3 3.5 8.2 7.4 5.7 4.7 2.1 5.6 five cities, however, comprising as tliey do nearly 5 per cent of the elementary school population of the United States, are, I believe, sufficiently typical to afford a satisfactory basis for discussion and further elaboration of the statistical material. In tables I to V inclusive, pages 248-250, the actual number of children of each age in each grade is given for these cities in the following order: Camden, Kansas City, Boston, Philadelphia, !N~ew York. This enumeration establishes the basis upon which the percentages that appear to the right of the tables have been computed. The results for all the cities are combined In table VII, page 251. From this table it will appear that the five cities bring under consideration 755,928 children, approximately 5 per cent of the children in the elementary schools of the United States. If we follow Superintendent Bryan and regard a first grade child of seven years of ago or over as beyond the “theoretic age limit” for that grade, and a second grade child of eight years of age or over as beyond the theoretic age limit for that grade, and so on throughout the grades, we find G1 per cent of the children beyond this theoretic age limit. Boston has the smallest percentage, 51 per cent, and Kansas City the largest percentage, 77.6 per cent. If with Dr Maxwell wo use the term “above normal age” for a child one year beyond this theoretic age limit, i. e., a first-grade child of eight years of ago or over, it appears from table VII that 31. G per cent aro above normal age. Boston again has the lowest percentage, 21.6 per cent, and Kansas City the highest, 49.6 per cent. If wo take Superintendent Bryan’s definition of a “pedagogically retarded child” as one two years beyond the theoretic ago limit for each grade, then 13.5 per cent are pedagogically retarded, the limits ranging between 7.3 per cent for Boston, and 26.3 per cent for Camden and Kansas City. Table VII also reveals that of the children of these five cities, 4.9 per cent aro threo years or more beyond the theoretic age limit, and 1.5 per cent aro four years or more beyond the theoretic ago limit.
Tables I-V have been prepared not only for the purpose of showing the distribution of the pupils by ago throughout the different grades of the five cities concerned, but also to present the number and percentage of these pupils above normal ago as defined in the preceding paragraph. The heavy lino of steps running obliquely across the table is the lino of separation between the children of normal age and those above normal age. All the figures to the right of this black line enumerate children who aro above normal age. Tlie tables also make possible a collation of the exact number of children -who are above normal age by anydesired number of years. The total registration for each grade of each school system is given in these tables, as also the total number of children above normal age and the percentage of the total number enrolled which the children above normal age represent. In table VI, page 250, the percentages of children above normal age, shown in the first five tables, are combined in a single table for convenience of comparison. It appears from this table that the percentages of retardation for every city increase through the grades to the fourth or fifth grade, and then fall off, seemingly because the older children drop out of school to go to work. Some remarkable differences are displayed in these tables. New York for June, 1906, shows 30 per cent of children “above the normal age,” as against 21.6 per cent for Boston also for June, 1906. Philadelphia for June, 1907, has 37.1 per cent, even more than New York, while Camden for September, 1905, and Kansas City for June, 1906, have 47.5 per cent and 49.6 per cent respectively. This difference between the cities is even more marked when we compare them with reference to the various degrees of retardation given in table VII. Thus in the column which shows the percentages of children two years or more beyond the theoretic age limit, we find that Boston has 7.3 per cent, New York 12.2, Philadelphia 17.5 per cent, and Camden and Kansas City 26.3 per cent. In the column which shows the percentages of children three years or more beyond the theoretic age limit, we find that Boston has 2.1 per cent, New York 4.1 per cent, Philadelphia 7.0 per cent, Kansas City 12.3 per cent, and Camden 12.7 per cent. Camden and Kansas City have six times as many children three years or more beyond the theoretic age limit for the grade, while New York has twice as many and Philadelphia three times as many as the city of Boston. Of children four years or more beyond the theoretic age limit, Boston has 0.5 per cent, New York 1.1 per cent, Philadelphia 2.4 per cent, Camden 4.8 per cent and Kansas City 5.1 per cent.
This result must be viewed in relation to the results shown in table VIII. Of the five cities Boston has the largest percentage enrolled in the seventh and eighth grades. New York comes next, Kansas City is third, Philadelphia fourth and Camden brings up the rear. It is probably to be expected that cities having smaller percentages of retardation would have relatively more pupils in their higher grades. Boston is now able to make the proud boast that she has a seat in school for every child able to attend. This condition may be due in part to the smaller percentage of retardation. Were the stream of children through the grades less rapid, perhaps she would have her thousands or tens of thousands upon part time, while empty benches yawned for occupancy in the highest grades. Damming the stream of children passing through the grades of our schools subverts the purposes of the public educational system and causes a wasteful expenditure of the public funds.
The number of over-age or retarded pupils in our school is so large as to call for an investigation of the causes and the application of every adequate remedial measure that may be devised. Apart from the deplorable arrest of mental development produced by excessive delay in grade, which in turn reacts upon school progress to cause a still greater delay in grade,?a vicious circle from which the over-age child finds it difficult to escape; and apart from the question of the relatively poor quality of at least a portion of the product turned out by the schools as a result of these conditions, there is from the point of view of economy an enormous financial waste involved. The child that takes ten years to complete an eight year course, costs the state 25 per cent more than one who gets through on time. Complete statistics of retardation would furnish the data upon which might be made a fairly accurate computation of the cost of this delay in the grades. It is safe to assert that the total loss to the community would be found to be surprisingly large.
The collation of statistics similar to those which I have presented, and a careful analysis of the results, would give us much valuable information as to the causes of this retardation. A certain proportion of the retardation is due to the fact that pupils are already over age on entering school. A fairly accurate estimate of the size of this factor could readily be made by a careful tabulation of registration data. In some cities large numbers of foreign born children are retarded on account of difficulty with the language.
A certain percentage of children have serious physical or mental defects, which prohibit normal progress in regular classes, and these go to swell the retardation figures in every school system. ^Ve refer to the child who is markedly atypical or different from the average of his fellows,?the “hundredth child,” as ho has been well named, a denomination that suggests an approximately accurate estimate of the number of these children; for such investigations as have been made show that at least 1 per cent of the children of school age may properly be classified in this way. Overcrowded classes and children upon part time instruction or on waiting lists, the results of inadequate accommodations, are in very many places a contributory factor of no mean proportions.
Another important factor is the system of classification and promotion, by which children are periodically regraded. If the system is of the inflexible, lock-step variety, which compels some to mark time while others are unduly stimulated, which prescribes a year’s repetition of work when only a few weeks or months of review are needed, over-age children will of necessity accumulate. Variations from the average usually occur both in the positive and negative directions, but many of our promotion systems allow the child to vary his rate of progress through school in only one direction. Accident, disease, and temporary physiological retardation in mental growth will cause him to be retarded in his progress through the grades, but no provision is made for the acceleration of progress when conditions render this possible. Another cause of retardation which operates in schools as in all undertakings under human management, is inefficiency,?inefficiency of a particular teacher, principal, superintendent, or administrative system. “The class was under a substitute teacher for several weeks,” is an explanation considered quite sufficient for a Ioav percentage of promotion. What a commentary upon the system which obtains in many places of employing the ‘prentice hand of the recent normal graduate upon the most difficult piece of work that can be assigned, the task of serving in place of the skilled teacher, 011 the briefest notice, in an unfamiliar school, and in any grade!
To discover, to devise, and to apply remedies for the excessive retardation that is found in our schools, is much more difficult than to enumerate the causes. The late entrance to school is due on the one hand to the thriftlessness of the ignorant parent, too often of American birth, and 011 the other to the large numbers of immigrant children. Dr Maxwell has recommended that the ago for compulsory attendance be reduced to seven, at least for the large cities of New York state. Seven is the compulsory age in some states, for example, in New Jersey. If the issue were not so obscured by the complexity of causes at work, the efficiency of the compulsory law might he tested by comparing retardation results in these places with the records of those having a higher local age limit The late entrance to school of the immigrant child is beyond our control. In some cities these over-age children are grouped in classes and given intensive work in language to hasten the time when they may take their place in regular classes with others of their own age. For other cities the plan is advocated of so placing these children from the start that they may pick up the language in the course of the regular instruction. We need to study the results of these two methods before we shall be able to pronounce an opinion as to their relative value. Perhaps the ultimate solution will be found in the combination of the two methods. Special classes and special courses of study for the over-age children who may be expected to leave school early in life, and for the physically and mentally defective, need to be multiplied rapidly if the solution of the problem of retardation is to be satisfactorily attempted. There should be a careful development of a system for.the periodical examination by teachers and by a medical or psychological expert, of all children two years or more beyond the theoretic limit for their age. This is necessary in order to provide for the segregation of pupils in special classes, which should be undertaken only on a scientific basis, in order that experience may enable us to discover and diminish or remove the causes of retardation.
Systems of classification and promotion must be made as flexible as conditions will permit, in order to allow each pupil to proceed at the pace natural to himself. It should be recognized that the pupil of extraordinary ability, as well as the backward or otherwise defective child, needs special consideration. After all, the most neglected pupils of our schools are perhaps the exceptionally bright or talented, and those with a real spark of genius. These too often are left to take caro of themselves, marking time or worse, while the attention of the teacher is devoted to the dull plodder or to the mentally defective. The reorganization of many administrative systems is required in order clearly to differentiate legislative and administrative functions, to fix responsibility, and to assure adequate resources for the schools. Philadelphia has benefited greatly in all these directions in the past two years through the passage of the act of Assembly of April, 1905. For reform in educational legislation for the remainder of the state, we confidently rest our hopes upon the commission appointed by the governor to codify the strange patch-work of school laws that are at present a disgrace to the commonwealth.
We may entertain very different opinions as to the causes of retardation and the relative value of the remedies to which I have been able only briefly to refer, but there should be no difference of opinion as to the value of the age enumeration and the collation of such statistics as I have herein presented. It is to be hoped that similar tabulations made upon a uniform basis will become part of the regular statistical reports of every public school system, and that this and other standards of measurement will be steadily developed and perfected. This is an essential prerequisite for assured and rapid advance in educational work. Norwood describing his measurement of a degree of latitude in 1G35 wrote: “Sometimes I measured, sometimes I paced, and I believe I am within a scantling of the truth;” from this germ has grown the modern geodetic surveys that have made the dimensions of the world known within a few hundred yards. “In other branches of science,” continues Jevons, “the invention of an instrument has usually marked, if it has not made, an epoch.” The development of the science of heat was made possible by the thermometer; astronomy was mere astrology before the application of the pendulum to the exact measurement of time; chemistry was but alchemy prior to the perfection of the analytic balance. Similarly pedagogy will remain,?well, pedagogy will remain pedagogy unless ways and means are devised and applied of testing our methods, processes and results with an ever-increasing degree of accuracy.
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