An Analysis of the Proficiency and Competency of a Fourth Grade Class
- Author:
Gladys E. Poole, M.A.,
Clinic Teacher, University of Pennsylvania.
The Observation School conducted by the University of Pennsylvania during its summer session is regarded not as a model but as a typical elementary school in which the pupils are representative of the typical school group. These pupils are recruited from the Philadelphia schools and accepted in the order of their application until the grades are filled. A teacher of the fourth grade in this school should expect to demonstrate methods in group teaching to pupils having fourth grade competency and at least advanced third grade proficiency. This means pupils having the ability to do the work of the fourth grade and the education which should precede fourth grade work.
At the close of the first week of the summer session the teacher of this fourth grade felt like the old woman who lived in a shoe and had so many children that she did not know what to do. Group teaching seemed to be impossible. There seemed to be as many individual problems in discipline and teaching as there were pupils enrolled. The problems which confronted the teacher of this grade are probably quite similar to those experienced by the majority of teachers in our schools. This leads the writer to believe that a number of teachers may be interested in seeing how the problem was analyzed to determine the proficiency and competency of the class in order to readjust the course of study to fit group and individual needs. This paper treats only of the results of the diagnosis. No discussion of remedial treatment is attempted.
A preliminary survey of the class showed that the thirty pupils were of nine different nationalities?Italian, Russian, Jewish, Hungarian, Bohemian, Spanish, Irish, Negro, Scotch and old-line American. There were four old-line Americans. The first outstanding problem was a language difficulty. Four of the pupils neither understood nor spoke English. These pupils could not take directions and were a source of constant interruptions and of disciplinary questions. The ages of the pupils ranged from eight and a half years to eighteen years. The median age was twelve, i. e., there were just as many pupils over twelve years of age as there were pupils under twelve. The average and mode were also twelve years. If children enter the first grade when six or seven years old and advance a grade each year we should expect the median entering age of fourth grade children to be from nine to ten years. The fourth grade teacher who has in her class pupils of normal age only has a much easier problem than the teacher who has pupils ranging from eight and a half years to eighteen years. This class should have been classified so that pupils of the same experience, capacities and proficiency were reciting together. The wide age variations lead the teacher to question that this had been done.
The first step in the problem analysis was to give certain standardized educational tests in order to determine the proficiency of the group and to make possible comparisons from pupil to pupil. The tests were given by the advanced students of the School of Education under the direction of Dr H. Updegraff, Professor of Educational Administration, to all grades from the fourth through the eighth. In a very few days after the tests were given a list of the scores made by each pupil, arranged so that the pupil making the highest score headed the list, was handed to each teacher. This article is concerned only with the results obtained from the fourth grade tests.
The tests used were: Standardized Research Tests in Arithmetic Series B (for determining accuracy and speed in the fundamental processes), Monroe Standardized Silent Reading Test (for determining rate and comprehension in silent reading), Courtis Standardized Research Test in Reading, Thorndike Visual Vocabulary Scale A-2 (Y series), Ayres Measuring Scale for Handwriting, Ayres Measuring Scale for Ability in Spelling. The results of these tests are shown in the following tables.
Table II shows that in the Monroe Standardized Silent Reading test the pupils in the Observation School read at the rate of fifty-four words in three minutes, and comprehended 6.4. The scores in rate ranged from fifteen words in three minutes to 108 words in three minutes. This may mean that one pupil in the class could read seven times as much as another pupil could. In comprehension the scores ranged from zero to 17.2. As a rule the pupils ranking highest in comprehension also ranked high in rate of reading. One pupil who scored seventy-six in rate, scored zero in comprehension. He apparently read the words without any comprehension of what he was reading. The Observation class reads less rapidly but comprehends more than the average class as shown by the standard median. They read two-thirds as fast and comprehend much less than the standard set for fourth grade, but as well as the median reached by the three hundred children in Philadelphia schools. These facts are significant when we consider that nineteen out of thirty pupils enrolled had been promoted in June to the fifth grade by their regular teachers on the condition that they did excellent work in the fourth grade during the summer session.
Table I. Scores of Fourth Grade Pupils in some Educational Tests. Pupil No. Addition Rate Accuracy Multiplication R. Ac. Division R. Ac. Monroe Reading R. Com. 87 108 44 44 31 87 44 54 44 76 76 15 54 22 10 22 67 108 87 15 11.8 13.6 2.7 4.1 1.4 15.2 6.8 6.0 6.8 5.3 13.7 12.8 6.9 4.0 0.0 10.1 0.0 4.5 1.3 1.04 2.6 10.7 7.4 17.2 2.6 Courtis Reading 141 101 118 167 193 100 99 191 148 169 103 80 163 63 103 82 73 Com. Vocabulary 95 100 28 57
Table II. Monroe Silent Reading Tests Showing Median Scores Obtained in Fourth Grade of the Observation School and Standard Scores. Medians Observation School: Fourth Grade Pennsylvania March Scores (1919): Third Grade Fourth Grade Philadelphia Scores (March, 1919): (For 300 children.) Third Grade Fourth Grade Monroe Standards (May, 1919): Third Grade Fourth Grade Pennsylvania, May and June. Rate 54 Comprehension 6.4 3.5 5.0 6.4 9.0 14.5
Table III shows that in the Courtis Reading test the class made a median score very little above the standard second grade median. This means that in so far as the Courtis Reading test is a test of pro54 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC. ficiency in reading that class under discussion has attained second grade proficiency. An examination of the individual scores (Table I) shows a skewed distribution at the lower end of the scale. Table IY shows that in rate and accuracy in addition, multiplication and division the median score made by the Observation fourth grade falls considerably below the median score made by the State of Pennsylvania and slightly below the third grade standard as set by Courtis. On the whole the class was not far below what
Table III. Scores Obtained by Courtis Reading Tests in the Observation School and Standard Scores. Medians Rate Comprehension, No. of Questions Answered Index of Comp. Observation School: Fourth Grade Courtis Standard (1919): Second Grade Third Grade Fourth Grade 87 113 145 60 Table IV. Courtis Standard Research Test, Series B. Medians Observation School: Fo’irth Grade Pennyslvania State (May, 1919): Third Grade Standard (1919) :l Third Grade Fourth Grade General Addition Rate Accuracy 4.5 6.5 4.0 6.0 7.4 39.8% 50% 100% 41 100% 65 Multiplication Rate Accuracy 40 6.1 5.0 6.0 6.2 74% 100 49 100 67 Division Rate Accuracy 2.0 4.2 4.0 4 0 4.6 50% 61% 100% 100 57%
1 Schoolmen’s Weekly Proceedings, pp. 97-101. might be expected of a beginning fourth grade. Still the class was unable to do fourth grade work because of the wide variations in ability. The rate of addition ranged from one to twelve, in accuracy from zero to five; the rate of multiplication ranged from two to nine, accuracy from zero to seven. Ten pupils scored zero in accuracy of addition and five in accuracy of multiplication. Should these pupils whose scores fell on the extreme lower end of the scale in the proficiency test for the fundamental processes have been classified in the fourth grade where the emphasis is usually placed upon long division and various types of thought problems? Accurate work in long division must depend upon accuracy in multiplication and addition.
The purpose of the visual vocabulary test is to show how difficult words the pupils can read and understand well enough to classify under proper headings, e., animal, flower. Of the words given by the test the median number known by the pupils was thirty-three and the median score was 4.5, the standard for third grade was 19.8 words correct and a median score of 3.83. The class excelled the third grade standard but did not reach the fourth grade standard which is 80.3 words correct and a score of 5.03. The median scores in the spelling and penmanship tests slightly exceeded the standard set for second grade but fell short of the third grade standards. These educational group tests while planned primarily to test groups, not individuals, show in general that while many in the group lack the necessary proficiency for fourth grade work, the class as a whole is not too far below the average beginning fourth grade but is prevented from doing fourth grade work because of the skewed distribution at the lower end of the scale. Furthermore, these tests showed that the teacher’s judgment of the pupil’s proficiency cannot be relied upon in the division of the grade into sections. At the beginning of the session the pupils were placed in sections A or B according to the regular teacher’s recommendation. Later a re-division was made based upon the results obtained from these tests. As a result of this re-grading ten of the pupils placed in section A were advanced to section B and eight pupils in section B were placed in section A. Other things being equal the nearer alike the pupils are in proficiency the easier the teaching and the better the work done. Before attempting to bring the backward pupils up to a fourth grade proficiency level it was necessary to know why they were below grade. Was their inefficiency due to poor teaching methods, illness, lack of interest, or did they lack competency for fourth grade work? Apparently the next step was to pick out the individuals who were impeding the progress of the class or who were incorrigible and analyze these cases individually. Children inherit certain capacities and defects which must be taken into account in their training. It is not possible to determine the specific problems in the training of a child until his ability to learn has been measured. In order to determine why some of these fourth grade pupils having only first or second grade proficiency had not attained the proficiency required by their grade they were sent to the Psychological Clinic where they were examined and their competency determined. One of them who was pronounced feebleminded had not been suspected by the teacher because he looked intelligent and apparently learned easily but his mind was a mental sieve. As a result of the examinations, Dr H. J. Humpstone gave a group test to the class. This group test, like the educational group tests, was not intended to be a measure of the competency of individuals, but it did do two things at least: first it gave an estimate of the competency of the group and second it showed up the pupils who were apparently weakest in native ability.
As a result of this group test cases were selected for individual examination. These individual examinations showed that each pupil had specific defects which conditioned his performance in the group test and which would interfere to a greater or less extent with his acquisition of the content of the school curriculum under ordinary conditions.
Report on Psychological Examination of Fourth Grade Pupils.
As a first step in the solution of the problem some group tests were given the class. These consisted of memory span for digits and short words according to the method standardized and described in my monograph,1 and three tests taken from the Terman series and administered as group tests with written response. They are the construction of sentences from the nine-year tests, the giving of likenesses from the eight-year tests and the differences of the sevenyear tests. The scores from these tests were grouped and the pupils arranged in rank order for purposes of further testing and comparison. The scores made in the educational tests were treated in the following way. The pupils were arranged in rank order on the basis of their scores in arithmetic, in the Monroe reading test, in the Courtis reading test and in the spelling test. They are divided into quintiles in each of these tests. Those in the highest quintile were given the mark of five, in the high quintile the mark of four, in the middle quintile the mark of three, in the low quintile the mark of two and in the lowest quintile the mark of one. The four scores for each pupil were then averaged and a new rank order made on the basis of thees averages. The comparison of these ranks is shown in the following table:
1 “Some Aspects of the Memory Span Test,” H. J. Humpstone, Psychological Clinic Press, Philadelphia, 1917. Comparison of Grades in Educational and in Psychological Tests.
Pupil Number Quintile Grades Educational Tests Psychological Tests Difference in Gride 4 5 ab ab 1 3 4 ab 5 1 ab 2 3 4 3 5 2 ab 3 4 5 5 3 ab 2 2 1 1 1
The column headed ” Difference in Grade” gives a rough index of the correlation between the two sets of tests. There are seven who rank the sane in both tests. There are nine whose grade only differs by one point. There are three whose grade only differs by two points. Three differ by three points and one by four points. The Pearson coefficient of correlation is r = +0.31. Number sixteen whose grade differed by four points was unable to do the group tests in Psychology satisfactorily because of his extremely defective vision. Number six is handicapped by language difficulty and did not understand what he was to do. The other two whose grade differs by three points (numbers five and eight) have a native ability as shown in the Psychological tests, but do not apply themselves in the school work.
A number of pupils were then brought to the clinic for analytic diagnosis. The criterion on which they were selected was principally the result of the memory span tests. No. 19 is a Russian Jew. He has a language difficulty complicated by a speech defect and has dull hearing and lacking in attention. No. 27 has specific defects of memory span, memory and distribution of attention. No. 11 has very limited vision and poor distribution of attention. He also has a speech defect which affects his understanding of language. No. 1 has a slow rate of energy distribution. There is a suspicion of glandular dystrophy. He might do the work if the had plenty of time. No. 16 has normal mentality except as conditioned by his vision. He has congenital myopia which is very severe. No. 29 has a language defect and environmental handicap. No. 24 has specific defects of memory span and distribution of attention. His distractibility is partly due to lack of interest. No. 12 gives evidence of eye strain and should be immediately examined for possibility of cor58 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC. rection. He shows a lack of attention which is partly due to the eye strain and partly to lack of interest. No. 4 is definitely feebleminded, an institutional case. No. 6 has a specific language difficulty, speaking Italian for the most part. No. 23 is normal but dull, lacking in energy and interest. No. 2 has specific defects of distribution and analytic concentration of attention, defective visual and auditory memory. No. 5 is above normal in ability, but does not like school and does not work. No. 19 is normal, but lacking in planfulness and energy. No. 8 has low trainability and retentiveness. No. 13 is normal but handicapped by language. She was born in Argentine and Spanish is spoken in the home entirely. No. 9 speaks only Polish at home, and has a slight speech defect which interferes with his understanding. No. 10 has deficient concentration of attention. No. 17 is retarded, partly as a result of illness. She lacks energy and concentration of attention. No. 21 is feebleminded. He is also defective in hearing and seems to be an institutional case. H. J. Humpstone.
Some of these pupils absolutely lacked fourth grade competency. To attempt to give them fourth grade proficiency was a waste of money on the part of the district, of time and energy for the teacher, and took from the child of fourth grade competency instruction that rightly belonged to him, for no others should be admitted to the fourth grade. Pupils lacking fourth grade competency should not become problems for the fourth grade teacher to handle. Rather their competency should have been determined during their first school year, and no children lacking first grade competency such as cases No. 4, 2 and 21 should be allowed to encumber the second, third and fourth grades. These psychological tests should be repeated from year to year, and other children possessing only the second or third grade competency sifted out and kept on their competency level. Special classes should be provided for pupils below the average in competency. No child lacking third grade education should be promoted to the fourth grade. Proficiency tests should be given and the child’s proficiency accurately determined before promotion. Children showing superior competency and proficiency should be advanced one or more grades until they reach their competency and proficiency levels.
Disclaimer
The historical material in this project falls into one of three categories for clearances and permissions:
Material currently under copyright, made available with a Creative Commons license chosen by the publisher.
Material that is in the public domain
Material identified by the Welcome Trust as an Orphan Work, made available with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
While we are in the process of adding metadata to the articles, please check the article at its original source for specific copyrights.