Retardation In the Elementary Schools Of Philadelphia
- Author:
Byron A. Phillips, Ph.D.,
Philadelphia.
Iii the following study all pupils will be classed as retarded, who are one year or more behind the “normal” grade for their age. The universality of retardation is what first strikes the student of the problem. Whenever there is a school system, this phenomenon is present. Upon further consideration, however, we must recognize that retardation is dependent to a great extent upon the natural inequalities of the human mind, which may be of any grade from the lowest to the highest intelligence. At one end of the series we have the profound idiot, at the other the genius. Somewhere between these extremes we find the average or “normal” mind. The curricula of the public school systems are supposed to be adapted to this average, normal, or standard. Of course this average mind will not be one determined by a strict criterion, but will range within certain limits. Minds below the lower limit will not lit into a school system based upon Ibis average, and a certain amount of retardation will always exist. Investigation, however, reveals the fact that many pupils of-average intelligence are retarded to such an extent that the school systems have been called in question as inefficient.
Besides natural inferiority of mind, there are several other factors which cause retardation, the most important of these being irregular attendance and lack of proper medical inspection. These factors are present in all school systems to a greater or less extent, yet there are great differences in the amount of retardation among the different systems.
Tn studying the retardation of any system, the relation of the retarded to the normal and to the accelerated should be taken into account if we are to obtain an adequate idea of the relative worth of the system.
The present study is an investigation of retardation in the elementary public schools of Philadelphia, and a word as to the organization of the system will make clearer the significance of the results. At the head is a Superintendent of Public Instruction, who is assisted in his duties by four Associate Superintendents. The city is divided into ten districts, each under a Dis(79) 80 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC. trict Superintendent. Each district includes within its jurisdiction several contiguous political wards. In all there are 232 schools having an average enrolment of 81,768 boys and 82,127 girls, a total of 163,895 pupils. Age tabulations are taken on the number of pupils in actual attendance on one day of the year, and the regulation retardation blank is used for this purpose. A child eight years or over in the first grade is considered retarded; nine years or over in the second grade, and so on through the grades. In the present study the age tabulations for 1909 are used as a basis, and occasional reference is made to those of 1908 and 1910 for comparison.
Retardation for the Years 1908, 1909 and 1910. From Dr Oliver P. Cornman’s study of the “Retardation of the Pupils of Five City School Systems,”1 we see that the different cities vary greatly in the percentage of retardation. In a more detailed study of any particular system it is desirable to ascertain whether the rate of retardation is uniform throughout the system or not. The ten districts readily lend themselves to such a study. In 1908 the highest amount of retardation for boys was 50.6 per cent in District 3, and the lowest .’57.9 per. cent in District 10, a difference of 12.7 per cent; for girls 46.5 per cent in District 4, and 32.8 per cent in District 10, a difference of 13.7 per cent; and for both 48.3 per cent in District 3, and 35.4 per cent in District 10, a difference of 12.9 per cent.
In 1909 we find the following range of difference in the amount of retardation in the districts: boys, from 48.1 per cent, in District 3, to 35.9 per cent in District 10, a difference of 12.2 per cent; girls, from 45.8 per cent in District 3, to 30.6 per cent in District 10, a difference of 15.2 per cent; both, from 47.0 per cent in District 3, to 33.3 per cent in District 10, a difference of 13.7 per cent.
In 1910 the greatest amount of retardation for boys was 48.4 per cent in District 3, and the least 34.6 per cent in District 7 a difference of 13.8 per cent; for girls 45.7 per cent in District 3, and 30.i per cent in District 10, a difference of 15 per cent; and for both 4/.6 per cent in District 3 and 33.0 per cent in District. 7, a difference of 14.6 per cent.
The other eight districts range in retardation between the extremes just cited. Tt is apparent that different causes are working in different degrees in these districts to cause the variations in the amount of retardation among them. The following table 1 Tiie rsYcn0L0GicAL Clinic, Vol. I, 1007-08, p. 245. RETARDATION IN PHILADELPHIA. 81 summarizes the retardation of the ten districts for the years 1008, 1000, and 1910:
Table I. RETARDATION BY DISTRICTS District 1908 Boys Girls 43.0 40.447.1 ! 45.3 50.4 40.0 Both 1909 Boys 44.7 41.9 40.2 45.9 48.8 42.0 40.:} 42.7 38.3 37.9 Totals …. I 44.3 18.3 48.1 40.5 I 47.0 40.0 40.1 37.2 30.8 40.1 37.5 35.9 39.5 35.5 37.0 35.3 32.8 40.4 40.8 3S.0 39.8 37.0 35.4 42.4 Girls Both 41.7 43.2 45.8 44.4 45.1 43.3 44.7 41.8 44.5 47.0 41.5 37.3 34.2 30.9 34.5 30.0 39.2 37.2 35.5 38.5 30.0 33.3 40.3 1910 Boys 41.0 44.7 48.4 42.9 I 40.4 42.0 41.7 Girls Both 39.0 40.1 42.7 43.7 45.7 47.0 41.0 42.1 35.0 35.0 34.0 31.5 37.9 ! 34.5 36.1 ! 32.7 30.1 30.7 35.0 33.0 30.2 34.4 33.3 40.1 37.0 38.8
Studying this table we note its remarkable regularity. Each year in each district the retardation of the boys is less than that of the previous year; each year in each district the retardation of the girls is less than that of the previous year; each year in each district the totals are less than the totals of the previous year. We can almost see retardation being forced down by some external cause. Since the problem of retardation is 6ccupying the attention of most departments of superintendence, we may infer that this decrease is due to supervision. The following table summarizes the retardation statistics for the three years in question:
Table IT. Boys. Girls. Roth. 1008 44.3 40.4 42.4 1000 41.5 30.2 40.3 1010 40.1 37.0 38.8
Tsot. only the districts but the grades, with a few trifling exceptions, show the same uniform reduction in retardation. Table 111. RETARDATION BY GRADES Grades /. 6. Totals. 1908 1909 Boys 36.1 39.3 52.5 56.6 52.0 Girls Both Boys Girls Both 35.9 36.0 57.1 53 54.0 43.4 21 .9 44.3 31.2 31.3 31.3 37.0 38.1 35.5 35.9 1 35.7 47.3 49.0 48.1 ! 47.1 47.6 54.3 54.8 55.3 56.2 50.6 50.5 47.3 37.3 20.2 40.4 54.1 54. 51.2 53. 45.5 48.0 40.4 39.1 34.6 36.9 21.1 20.1 ; 18.5 19.2 42.4 41.5 39.2 40.3 1910 Boys 30.2 36.5 47.7 54.8 52.9 Girls 30.5 36.6 49.6 51.3 48.7 48.4 42.7 36.3 31.4 19.1 17.1 40.1 37.6 Both 30.4 36.6 48.7 53.0 50. X 45.5 33.9 18.1 38.8
N”o one familiar with the problem of retardation would look for equal amounts of retardation in the different trades. The grade figures for the whole city, arranged in order of the amount of retardation, are for 1909:
Table IV. 5th grade 54.5 per cent 4th ” 53.7 ” 48.0 Gth 2d 7th 8th 1st 47. G 36.9 31.3 19.1 Total 40.3 per cent The figures for 1910, although somewhat smaller, follow those of 1909 in order of grades. Summary: (1) The ton districts van- considerably among themselves in amount of (2) I here has been n uniform reduction in the amount of retardation during the past three years in the city as a whole, in each district, and with a few exceptions in each grade. RETARDATION IN PHILADELPHIA. 83 (3) Supervision is probably an important factor in this reduction of retardation. Attendance. Some investigators have considered attendance to be the leading factor in retardatioii. A comparison of retardation figures with the statistics of attendance given in the Superintendent’s annual report, fails to reveal any correlation. For 1909 District 3 has the greatest amount of retardation, 47.0 per cent, and an average attendance of 90.9 per cent; while District 10 has the lowest retardation, 33.3 per cent, and an average attendance of 89.9 per cent. The ten districts show the following percentages of retardation and attendance respectively: Table V. District. Retardation. Attendance. 3 47.0 90.9 4 45.1 89.2 5 44.7 88.3 2 44.5 S9.8 1 41.8 89.9 8 38.5 88.8 (5 37.2 88.0 9 36.0 89.3 7 35.5 90.1 10 33.3 S9.9 In order to obtain a measure of the general tendency of a relationship between two variable quantities with unknown zero points and units directly incommensurable, it is necessary to find the coefficient of correlation. The Pearson method obtains as its measure of the relationship a single number which may be anywhere between 1.00 and ?1.00. The method of calculating the Pearson coefficient of correlation is to multiply the deviation of each observation from the average in one trait, by its deviation from the average in the other; to add the products thus found and divide the sum by the number of cases times the standard deviation of the first trait times the standard deviation of the second trait. That is, the coefficient of correlation r = 2 X. y n o-j (t2 The coefficient of correlation obtained bv this method for the relationship between retardation and attendance for the year 1909 is .05, which signifies practically a lack of correlation. A study of the grade figures shows a similar lack of correlation between the percentages of retardation and of attendance. From this it would seem that attendance is a minor factor in causing retardation, but this is evidently untrue, for two reasons. In the. first place the percentage of retardation is being compared with the percentage of attendance for the same year. The attendance in any year cannot be a cause of retardation for the same year, although percentages of attendance vary but little from year to year. Secondly, the method of calculating attendance is apt to convey a false impression of the actual conditions in the various schools and districts. The attendance here, as in most school reports, is given in the form of a per cent of the average number belonging or the’ average number present for month and year. In such a calculation a difference of one or two per cent may mean a difference of hundreds of half-day attendances, and even tenths of a per cent may mean no small factor. No doubt the true way to estimate the exact influence of irregular attendance on retardation would be to keep a record of the number of half-day attendances for each pupil and compare the results with the promotion record of the same pupil.
It is to be noted that District 3, with the highest percentage of retardation, is a compact foreign district; while District 10, with the lowest percentage, is a rural American district, so it would seem that other factors, in this case the nature of the sociological unit, may overbalance the factor of attendance. The influence of attendance may be seen by comparing the attendance of the colored schools with that of the district in which they are located. The J. Miller School has an average attendance of 83.7 per cent. District 1 an average attendance of 88.3 per cent; the Pollock School has an attendance of 83.5 per cent, District 3, 00.4 per cent; the Catto School has an attendance of 80.7 per cent, and the Ramsay School, 7G.3 per cent, District 4, 87.7 per cent; the Vaux School has an attendance of 76.0 per cent, District 0, 87.G per cent; the Hill School has an attendance of 80.2 per cent, the Meehan School, 80.0 per cent, District 0, 88.7 per cent; the Wilmot School has an attendance of 84.7 per cent. District 10, 89.0 per cent. When retardation in the colored schools is discussed it will be seen that in every case it is approximately from 10 to 20 per cent higher than that for the district. Summary:
(1) The method of reckoning attendance used in compiling school reports gives results which are of small value for statistical purposes.
(2) While the tables do not show any correlation between retardation and attendance, no doubt sucli relationship exists, and is an important but not the predominating factor in causing retardation, being overbalanced in various districts by a single potent, factor or several factors working together. Retardation in Relation to the Sociological Unit. The city of Philadelphia spreads over a considerable area. Originally many parts of the present city were towns in themselves, which have been incorporated into the city iu the course of its growth. Many of these sections still retain their old characteristics. The center of the city contains the great business section. South of this we find the foreign element, consisting mostly of Italians and Russian Jews. In the northeast there is a great factory district, in the northwest a wealthy residential district including Tioga and Germantown. West Philadelphia is characterized by the homes of the average American workingmau. The ten districts, generally speaking, may be said to have the following characteristics: District 1, rather poor social class working in factories in the 40th and 3Cth wards, with a better residential section in the 4Gth and 27tli wards; District 2, Americans of the lower class, with a large foreign element; District 3, almost entirely foreign, with a considerable colored element ; District 4, business section, old aristocratic section, large colored element, and west of the Schuylkill residential; District 5, residential, with large colored element, business section; District G, large foreign element, large colored element, poor laboring class, and in the 32d ward a better residential section; District 7, factory section; District S, good residential section, also factories; District 0, good residential section with one factory ward; District 10, rural outlying district, factory districts with small settlements of foreigners. AVe can readily see that District 3, composed almost wholly of foreigners, and District 4, with a large negro element, have the greatest amount of retardation; and that Districts 2, 5 and 1, with a considerable foreign element and poor home conditions, follow. District G, although having a large foreign element, has a counterbalancing factor in a better residential section. District 8, besides a large residential section, has a considerable factory element to augment the retardation. District 7 has a low percentage of retardation, although of a rather low social order, but its low rate of retardation will be seen to be due in part to the high elimination rate and to the absence of the negro element. Districts 0 and 10 with low retardation rates are partly rural and residential. We can see that each district is too large to permit us to establish a relation between the social condition and retardation, except in a general way. Each district, however, is composed of a number of political wards, some of which are nearly homogeneous socially. In District 1 the retardation is 41.8 per cent, the wards with poor social conditions showing about 3 per cent more retardation and the better residential wards about 3 per cent less. For District 2, with 44.5 per cent of retardation, the ward retardation is fairly uniform. In District 3, with a retardation of 47.0 per cent, the greatest variation is in the 30th ward, which has 42.J) per cent. In District 4, with a retardation of 45.1 per cent, the 7th ward has 62.2 per cent (colored), and the 9th ward 57.8 per cent. The latter is a business section with very poor and heterogeneous elements in the smaller streets. In District ;> the retardation is 44.7 per cent, and shows the 10th ward with 53.7 per cent of retardation. This is also a business section with many apartment houses, and with a poor social element in the side streets. District 6, with 37.2 per cent of retardation, shows 45.1 per cent in the 14th ward, which has a considerable negro element besides a large number of foreigners. The 32d ward, which is a very good residential section, has a retardation rate of only 33.6 per cent. District 7, with 35.5 per cent of retardation includes the factory wards, and there is not much difference in the percentage of retardation among them. District 8, with 38.5 per cent of retardation includes the 21st ward with 34.3 per cent, showing the effect of rural conditions. District 9, with 36.0 per cent of retardation, shows the 22d ward with 40.1 per cent. This ward includes two colored schools. The 43d ward has a retardation rate of 34.6 per cent. This is a good residential section. District 10, with 33.3 per cent of retardation, shows 29.9 per cent in the 25th ward and 37.3 per cent in the 45th ward. The former is ;i factory district, which has a rather low rate of retardation owing to the hii?h elimination, while the latter contains a large percentage of foreigners, with a number of parochial schools, which always increase the rate of retardation.
Many wards are differently constituted socially in their various parts, so that it would be profitable to investigate further the separate schools in each ward. The table on page 87 gives in more detail the social components of District 6. District 6 comprises five wards. In the 12th ward, which contains only two colored schools, the retardation is 34.8 per cent, although the schools contain 80 and 90 per cent of foreigners, but RETARDATION IN PHILADELPHIA. Table VI. Wards and ? Schools fe a 12th 34.8 Mifflin Paxson. 13th 41.8 Warner Divisions 0 17 0 21 Social Components 2 19 821 32.3 Foreign of low social conI dition, 90 %. 25 1088 36.G , Foreign of low social condition, 80%. 0 13 2 Wyoming 18 5 1 14th 45.1 Hancock 10 17 2 Spring Garden* Vaux 20th.. Lynd. Penn…. Rut ledge. Webster. 40.0 0 7 2 1.5 3.5 1 8 13 0 12 3 17 12 1 0 10 1 Widener 12 9 32d 33.0 Allison 0 Blaine…. Cainac… Clagliorn. Singerly. . Stokley… 3 11 1 IS 9’ 0 5 12 2 10 10 2 10 0 11 2 15 24 29 039 37.7 Foreign of low social condition, 80%, with slight colored element. 927 44.1 Foreign of low social con, dition, 80%. 1 1250 47.4 Residential of lower order, colored 14%, foreign 30%. 380 2S .0 Foreign of low social condition, 75%. 205 00.3 I Colored school. 984 44.3 Residential of lower order, 25% colored, 70% foreign. 019 30.0 Foreign of lower order, 80%. 1323j 38.1 Residential, 10% foreign, negroes. 475 32.3 Residential of lower order, 40% foreign, negroes. 937 44.2 Residential, 10% foreign 12% colored. 015 29.0 Residential of higher order, good conditions. 1201 35.7 Residential of higher order, 10% foreign. 19 838: 38.9 Residential of higher order. 28 1235 33.5 Residential of higher order, 10% foreign, 21 957 30.5 Residential of higher order, 5% foreign. 13 550 21.5 Residential of higher order, very good conditions.
?Spring Garden School has grades 1 and 2 only. these schools contain grades 1 to 4 only. In the 13th ward the Warner School, with 80 per cent of foreigners, has 37.G per cent of retardation. The Wyoming School has 44.1 per cent of retardation, about the average percentage for schools having a large foreign element. The schools of the 20tli ward have a rather Ioav percentage of retardation, considering the social components of the schools. The Lynd School has 44.3 per cent of retardation, with 70 per cent foreign and 25 per cent colored. The 32d ward shows a considerable decrease in retardation, the ward retardation being only 33.G per cent, with no school varying much from the average except the Allison School, with only 29.0 per cent of retardation, and the Stokley School with 21.5 per cent. These schools are not fully graded, and draw their pupils from very good residential districts.
W e see that city, district, ward, and school are made up of distinct sociological units. In each of these Units the home conditions are widely different. In those districts where retardation is greatest, the sociological unit proves to be the one in which home conditions are most unfavorable and even antagonistic to educational influence. A course of study has been prescribed for the city as a whole, as if the various districts were homogeneous units, equal sociologically and intellectually. This course of study is to be followed as closely for the foreigners in District 3, as for the native Americans in District 10. Can we expect equal results when we apply the curriculum inflexibly to these widely divergent social units ? We must conclude that retardation is in a great measure the resultant of unfavorable home conditions, combined with an inflexible curriculum.
Supervision may overcome to a certain extent adverse conditions, by taking these facts into consideration. The standards of requirement must be differently applied to the different sociological groups. In District 0, for example, we expect to find a large percentage of retardation, for here arc a larj?e foreign clement. ;i large colored element, and (with the exception of the 32d ward) poor social conditions; yet. in this district with a comparatively poor element from which to draw, we find a comparatively low rate of retardation. Why is it that the retardation in schools with 00 to 80 per cent of foreigners does not begin to be as great as that in schools in other districts where conditions nrr? approximately the same? This district has been under the superintendence of on*’ who has been especially interested in the problem, and it would be fair to say that the course of study has been interpreted less rigidly and more in accord with the needs of the sociological unit. A closer study of the colored and foreign elements brings to light facts which substantiate the conclusions already drawn. The Colored Element.
In most of the schools of Philadelphia, white and colored pupils are mixed in varying proportions, according to the district. There are nine schools for colored children exclusively. The following table shows a surprising contrast between these schools and the others:
Table VII. RETARDATION IN THE COLORED SCHOOLS School J. Miller… Pollock Catto Ramsey…. Purvis 4 0 District Divisions 0 2 1 0 10 1 4 1 I G 1 4 0 I 9 1 Vaux… Hill Meehan. Wilmot. G 1.5 9 2 9 0 10 1 1 3.5 5 3 9 Grades 3 1-4 11 1-4 10 0 1 1 G 1 I 8 1-5 * 1-4 1-4 1-6 1-8 1-4 Number Retardation 148 GS 2 413 GO.G 33G 67.3 434 31 205 385 175 1-8 138 70.9 46.4 66.3 72.0 58.2 59.3 Attendance 83.7, 83.5 SO.7 76.3 93.5 76.0 80.2 80.0 84.7
In District 1 the J. Miller School has 68.2 per cent of retardation, against 41.8 for the district, the school having the next highest amount of retardation being the Boon’s Dam, with 49.1 per cent (8 per cent colored).- In District 3 the Pollock School has GO.G per cent of retardation, against 44.5 per cent for the district, the school having the next highest amount of retardation being the Florence, with 56.0 per cent (nearly 100 per cent foreign). In District 4 the Catto School has 67.3 per cent of retardation, and the Ramsey 70.9 per cent, against 45.1 per cent for the district. The Keystone School, 44 per cent colored, has the next highest amount of retardation, 57.8 per cent. In District 6 the Vaux School has 66.3 per cent of retardation, against 37.2 per cent for the district. The Hancock School (13 per cent colored), with 47.4 per cent retardation, lias the next highest percentage. In District (.) the. Ilill School and the Meelian have 72.S per cent and 58.2 per cent of retardation respectively, against 3(> per cent, for the district. ‘Flic Gilbert School (<i per cent colored), with 5J.(I per cent, stands next. The high percentage of retardation here, however, seems to he due to local causes, as the Harnier, which is next below, has only 45.0 per cent, and the percentages of retardation of the schools below this fall off normally. In District 10 the Wilmot School has 59.3 per cent of retardation, against 33.3 per cent for the district, the next school being the Martin, with 51.1 per cent. This school has a large foreign element and also draws a number of its pupils from three parochial schools in the neighborhood. The Marshall School follows the Martin, with 40.5 per cent, after which comes the Lawndale, with 40.2 per cent, which is more typical of the district. In every case the colored schools are far above the others in the amount of retardation. Taking the schools with 20 per cent colored children or over, we can see an increase as a whole in retardation. With 8188 colored pupils showing so great an amount of retardation, it is obvious that the total retardation is affected. In comparing the grades this colored retardation is a considerable factor, as the colored pupil does not often get above the sixth grade before leaving school. One result of this is to swell the amount of retardation in the fourth and fifth grades.
If we look over the retardation of the several districts we see that District 7 has practically no negro element and that in Districts 8 and 10 the negro element is only 2.1 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively. District 0, on the other hand, has a large percentage of colored pupils (7.1 per cent) and still has a comparatively low rate of retardation. Districts 3 and 4 have the largest percentages of retardation and also the largest proportion of negroes. It is not contended that the negro element is the principal cause of the greater retardation in these districts, but that it is one of the factors. This sociological element inflnences the whole system and adds to the amount of retardation. It is a question whether the course of study is suited to the negroes, as the educational results are so far behind those in the other schools, and it is very doubtful whether even a liberal interpretation of the course of study would meet the educational necessities of this group.
(To be coil eluded.)
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