Retardation and Elimination in Graded and Rural Schools
- Author:
Gayler,
Superintendent of Schools, Princeton, Illinois.
During the winter of 1909 the material upon which this study of retardation and elimination is based was secured from the eleven graded systems given in the table below, and from 139 rural schools of Bureau County, Illinois. Blank forms, asking for a tabulation of the age and grade of all school children enrolled in the different systems, were sent to the superintendents and principals, with the request that these be properly filled out and returned at an early date. The data from the Freeport schools were taken from the annual statement of the superintendent of those schools. These same blanks were sent to the teachers of the rural schools of Bureau County by County Superintendent Claude Brown. All these reports were submitted to the writer of this article for tabulation and study, after which the whole subject was presented by him to the Illinois Yalley Superintendents’ and and Principals’ Round Table for consideration and discussion. In the schools from which this material was collected the legal age of entrance is six years. Reports from the superintendents in charge show that but few children are kept out of school until they are seven years old. More often parents are anxious to have their children in school before six years of age, and sometimes considerable pressure is brought to bear to secure admission for children who have not yet reached the legal age. The data given in this paper are all based upon the ages of children taken at the beginning of the school year, September, 1908. All ages were always given in years and months. If a child enters school at the beginning of the school year between the ages of six and seven, and is advanced a grade each year, he should be in the second grade between seven and eight, the third grade between eight and nine, the fourth grade between nine and ten, the fifth grade between ten and eleven, the sixth grade between eleven and twelve, the seventh grade between twelve and thirteen, the eighth grade between thirteen and fourteen. Without any loss of time he would finish the elementary course of eight grades at fourteen years of age. The school course has been planned with (40)
TABLE I. ELEVEN GRADED SCnOOLS. Grades Streator Ottawa La Salle Peru Princeton E. Mendota Henry De Pue Ladd Neponset Freeport 207 148 147 84 58 33 16 28 42 12 295 m 291 67 69 10 35 10 11 21 42 10 112 N. 158 132 79 90 41 26 13 9 18 20 B. 213 65 104 31 26 12 15 20 48 8 127 N. 76 99 60 46 40 22 8 5 10 4 109 B. 179 76 74 29 24 14 11 25 55 5 205 N. 91 92 46 44 30 7 5 6 ‘12 79 B. 173 109 98 57 55 29 11 22 37 1 230 N. 46 71 44 51 26 12 10 2 ‘ 4 68 B. 186 103 70 36 56 18 6 8 20 7 211 N. 34 71 46 34 25 8 6 2 3 5 59 148 83 90 19 60 29 20 8 19 6 154 N. 38 61 28 38 25 10 5 2 5 7 59 B. 102 85 68 14 55 19 19 10 7 5 126 N. 24 55 20 39 26 5 13 ‘ii 4 44 77 70 50 9 51 21 10 ‘ 5 7 114 Total N. 674 729 470 426 271 123 76 54 92 68 812 1369 658 623 205 362 152 103 114 233 49 1279 2043 1377 1093 631 633 265 179 168 325 117 2091 Per Cent 32.99 52.94 43.00 67.51 42.81 46.41 42.96 32.28 28.30 58.12 38.83 B. 67.01 47.06 57.00 32.49 57.18 53.59 57.04 67.72 71.70 41.88 61.17 Totals. 1070 678 1748 685 669 1354 479 697 1176 412 822 1234 334 721 1055 293 636 929 278 510 788 244 414 658 3795 5147 8942 8942 42.44 57.56 Totals in per cent. 61.21 More than i year behind Per cent more than i year behind 38.79 50.59 202 11.55 49.41 40.73 248 10.83 59.27 33.38 66.62 31.66 247 21.01 308 24.95 68.34 31.54 279 26.44 68.46 35.28 240 25.83 64.72 37.08 183 23.22 62.92 42.44 142 21.56 57.56 1849 20.67 this idea in mind, and the normal child can complete the course by the time he is fourteen years old, unless there is some serious handicap which impedes his progress. In table I a summary of all data collected from the eleven graded schools is given. Among the many things shown in this table are the following:
1. There were reported from these schools 8942 pupils of which number 3795, or 42.44 per cent were in the normal grade, or ahead of it, and 5147, or 57.56 per cent were behind the normal grade.
2. Of the total number of pupils reported 3298, or 36.89 per cent are one year behind, and 1849, or 20.67 per cent are two or more years behind. Of the total number of pupils reported in the first ten systems 552, or 8 per cent are ahead of the normal grade.
3. The per cent of pupils behind constantly increases grade by grade from the first to the sixth, after which there is a decrease in per cent behind for the remainder of the elementary course. The climax of retardation is reached in the fifth and sixth grades. 4. There is the greatest increase in retardation in the second, third and fourth grades, and the least in the fifth and sixth. 5. Over 50 per cent of the children are behind in all grades above the second. Almost 50 per cent are behind in the second (49.41 per cent).
6. Elimination commences with the fifth grade and continues until the close of the elementary course. Elimination commences where retardation is greatest. 7. The per cent of retardation decreases where the per cent of elimination is greatest. As retardation decreases elimination increases.
8. The per cent of pupils more than one year behind is greatest in the fifth and sixth grades, the place where elimination commences. After the fifth grade there is a decrease in the per cent retarded two or more years.
9. In school systems where a large per cent of the pupils are children of foreign parents (Streator, Ladd, and DePue), there is the gratest retardation and elimination. Table II gives a summary of all data collected from the 139 rural schools. Among other things this table shows the following: 1. Of a total of 2090 children reported 970, or 46.41 per cent are in the normal grade, or ahead of it, and 1120, or 53.59 per cent are retarded.
TABLE II ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-NINE RURAL SCHOOLS IN BUREAU CO., ILL. Grades 6 Totals N. B. N. B. N. B. N. B. B. N. B. Total 207 296 177 127 304 107 138 245 138 308 170 91 158 249 74 133 207 99 297 198 77 107 184 970 2090 1120 2090 Total in per cent.. More than 1 year behind Per cent more than 1 year behind 69.89 30.11 19 6.41 58.22 41.78 48 15.78 43.68 57.32 68 27.75 44.81 55.19 28.57 36.54 63.46 91 36.54 35.81 64.19 66 31.88 33.33 66.67 135 45.45 41.84 58.16 68 36.95 46.41 53.59 583 28.37
2. Of the total number reported 537, or 25.22 per cent are retarded one year, and 583, or 28.37 per cent are retarded two or more years. 3. Of the total number 251, or 12 per cent are ahead of the normal grade. 4. There is a constantly increasing per cent retarded until the seventh grade with the exception of the fourth grade. 5. There is a constantly increasing per cent behind two or more years until the eighth grade with the exception of the sixth grade. In the eighth grade there is a drop in the per cent retarded two or more years as well as in the total number retarded. This is probably due to the older children dropping out of school. Notice the great elimination which takes place this year. In comparing and contrasting these two tables the following facts are apparent: 1. A larger per cent of children are retarded in the graded systems than in the rural schools (57.56 per cent in the graded systems, and 53.59 per cent in the rural schools). 2. A larger per cent of children of the rural schools are retarded two or more years than in the graded systems (28.37 per cent in the rural schools and 20.67 per cent in the graded systems). 3. There is a larger per cent of children ahead of grade in the rural schools than in the graded systems (12 per cent ahead in rural schools and 9 per cent in the graded systems). 4. The per cent of retarded cases in the rural schools increases to the seventh grade, the greatest per cent being in that grade, while in the graded systems the maximum per cent retarded is reached in the sixth grade. 5. Elimination commences earlier in the graded schools than in the rural schools. Following this investigation, and growing out of it, was another which had for its purpose to find the cause, or causes, of so much retardation. Teachers were asked to study the different cases of retardation coming under their immediate observation and report the same together with the cause of it. Blanks were furnished and reports made as in the other investigation. There was a total of 1352 retarded pupils reported, and the cause of retardation in each case was given. A tabulation of these reports gives the following results: 274, or 20.2 per cent were retarded because of moving from one district to another. 271, or 20 per cent were retarded because of late entrance.
265, or 19.6 per cent were retarded because of laziness, or indifference on the part of parent, or pnpil. 200, or 14.8 per cent were retarded on account of sickness. 140, or 10.3 per cent were retarded on account of physical defects. 52, or 3.8 per cent were retarded because of change from, or to, a parochial school.
46, or 3.4 per cent were retarded because of slow development. 104, or 7.6 per cent were retarded for other causes including truancy (27), work (5), lack of ability (30), cause not given (42).
The difficulty which foreign children have in mastering English, and the handicap which this is to a foreign child was not taken into consideration here, although in the Hound Table later it was the unanimous opinion that this does offer a serious handicap and must be given as one of the causes. It was also the opinion of the superintendents that the results of this investigation are not so reliable as the results of the previous one. “When compared with data collected by Mr. Wagner, and reported in the November Clinic, there is a striking similarity, and this encourages us to think that our results are not so far out of the way as we thought at first.
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