A
SIMPLE
SYSTEM
DISCOVERING SOME
FOE
FACTORS INFLUENCING NON-PROMOTION. Leonard P. Aykes, Russell
Sage Foundation,
A recent German work
Pii.D.,
New York
what
011
we
City.
term
retardation is
entitled "Warum kommen die Kinder nicht vorvvarts ?"?"Why do the children not progress or, freely translated into the vernacular of the school-room, "What are the causes for non-promotion ?" A notable account of a recent attempt to find out why not go forward in the schools of one city has just in the annual report of the Ninth School District of the appeared town of Manchester, Connecticut, for the year 1910.
children do
The Ninth District of the town of Manchester is really the It is the home of town of South Manchester.
manufacturing
Mr. Howell Cheney, and also
-one
one
of Connecticut's foremost
of the most
progressive
manufacturers,
and active members of its
For some years Mr. Cheney has been insistently asking school men why it should not be possible to apply to the business of education some of the same business processes of checking results, comparing the finished product with raw material, and disclosing leaks and wastes, that are applied to modern manufacturing. One result has been an attempt carried on during the past year, with the cooperation of Superintendent of Schools F. A. Verplanck, to discover the factors which influence the promotion and
State Board of Education.
of children in the
non-promotion
public
schools of South Man-
chester. The method employed was to record certain significant facts regarding all of the pupils at the close of the last school year, and tabulate them for the promoted and the non-promoted pupils so as to discover in what respects records for the first group differed from those of the second group. This method avoided the common error
which results from
gathering
data
concerning solely
the pupils who fail, and then having no way of determining in what respects the records of these pupils differ from those of the successful
ones.
?(189)
190
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC.
The blank form used to gather the data for each simple sheet worded and arranged as follows:
room
was a
MANCHESTER PUBLIC SCHOOLS Ninth School District Number Among Children Promoted
Number Among Children Not
at end of Year
Promoted
Boys Girls
Average Age Average Days Attended From Non-English Speaking Families. Foreign Born Suffering From Malnutrition Mentally Defective Defect of Vision "
"
Hearing
Adenoids Other Throat Troubles Enlarged Glands Defective Teeth Other Defects Grade
Teacher
School
These blanks
were
Date.
used to
who remained in the eight the school year 1909-10.
gather data concerning 1396 pupils grades of the public schools at the end of Of these pupils, 1093 were promoted
higher grades and 303 failed of promotion; in other 78 per cent were promoted and 22 per cent failed. A salient fact brought out by the tabulation of the data from all of the rooms was that 94 per cent of the girls had received pro-
to the next
words,
as contrasted with only, 75 per cent of the boys. Morefailures the were in the over, boys among especially frequent This fact at once raises the highest grades. question whether or
motion
public school system is giving as fair opportunities to the it is to the girls. Other investigations have disclosed the boys The condition seems to suggest same condition in other cities. that as our courses of study and methods of school administration not
our as
developed, we have unconsciously fitted them to the needs and abilites of the girls, rather than to those of their brothers. The next fact brought to light was that the average age of the
have
promoted pupils
was ten
years and ten
months,
whereas that of the
191
A SIMPLE SYSTEM.
was eleven years and four months. That is to say, those who failed were on the average older than those who This same condition was disclosed by the investigasucceeded. tions of Superintendent Morss in Medford, Mass., in 1908.
unpromoted pupils
In South Manchester the school year has 185 actual school days. On the average, the pupils who were promoted had been absent from school 19
days during the year. The unpromoted In other words, the pupils had, average, been absent 29 days. the non-promoted pupils had been absent over 50 per cent more than the promoted pupils. on
The
rest of the data referred to the social and
tions of the which
table,
and of
pupils, gives
and the results
in percentages the affected
non-promoted pupils
are
plysical condifollowing promoted pupils
shown in the
proportion of by each one of the
conditions:
Percentage Percentage Among Among Pupils Pupils Promoted Not Promoted
From
non-English speaking homes. Foreign born Suffering from malnutrition Poor mentality Defective eyesight
12
7
13
9
25
8
49
4
3
Adenoids
15
20
Other throat troubles
14
13
Defective teeth
25
38
The
where
9
figures giving English is not the
actually
English
the
proportion language,
home
of children from homes and the number of pupils
born are
the child.
abroad, show that foreign birth and ignorance of real, although not very important, factors in retarding As was to be expected, much higher percentages of
malnutrition and poor mentality are found among the non-promoted than among the promoted. Eye defects are more common and this result is in accordthe more successful children, among ance
with similar observations made
New York
City.
during the past
two years in
Adenoids and defective teeth show
higher percentage among the unsuccessful pupils. Although these figures are for one town only,
they
a
much
cover
a
sufficient number of cases, distributed over the entire eight grades, to be regarded as significant in themselves, and as of distinct importance in indicating a simple method for making this kind of
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC.
192
investigation in other places. Simply as they are, these figures indicate that among the factors which prevented the children in South Manchester from going forward, we may name the following
an
in the order of their Poor
(1 (2 (3 (4 (5 (6
retarding
mentality,;
Malnutrition; Handicap of foreign birth; Bad teeth; Absence from school; Adenoids; from
(?
Coming
(8
The fact of
The
figures
following
influence:
as
surmises
among each
one
non-English speaking families; being a boy.
interpreted as
in the
printed report point
hundred
cases:
Failures due to
Per cent
Character of instruction and
organization
of school.
19
Poor attendance
Influence of
to the
to the distribution of the causes of failure
foreign
0
9
birth
Poor nutrition
1G
Deficient
mentality
28
Physical
deficiencies other than
mentality
and
nu-
trition
1
Unclassified
15
100 It is of vidual cause
course
impossible
to
give
proper
to any indi-
weight
set of causes, because of the duplications in the items of the individual records. That is to say, a child who is or
suffering from adenoids also probably figures in the group suffering from malnutrition and in that of poor mentality.. Nevertheless, such a weighing of the individual causes is not necesrecorded
as
sary for the application of the method. Mr. Cheney and Superintendent a
most
useful instrument,
Verplanck
whereby significant
the progress of school children may be measure
evaluated.
have
facts
disclosed,
developed
concerning
and in
large
SIMPLE
SYSTEM
DISCOVERING SOME
FOE
FACTORS INFLUENCING NON-PROMOTION. Leonard P. Aykes, Russell
Sage Foundation,
A recent German work
Pii.D.,
New York
what
011
we
City.
term
retardation is
entitled "Warum kommen die Kinder nicht vorvvarts ?"?"Why do the children not progress or, freely translated into the vernacular of the school-room, "What are the causes for non-promotion ?" A notable account of a recent attempt to find out why not go forward in the schools of one city has just in the annual report of the Ninth School District of the appeared town of Manchester, Connecticut, for the year 1910.
children do
The Ninth District of the town of Manchester is really the It is the home of town of South Manchester.
manufacturing
Mr. Howell Cheney, and also
-one
one
of Connecticut's foremost
of the most
progressive
manufacturers,
and active members of its
For some years Mr. Cheney has been insistently asking school men why it should not be possible to apply to the business of education some of the same business processes of checking results, comparing the finished product with raw material, and disclosing leaks and wastes, that are applied to modern manufacturing. One result has been an attempt carried on during the past year, with the cooperation of Superintendent of Schools F. A. Verplanck, to discover the factors which influence the promotion and
State Board of Education.
of children in the
non-promotion
public
schools of South Man-
chester. The method employed was to record certain significant facts regarding all of the pupils at the close of the last school year, and tabulate them for the promoted and the non-promoted pupils so as to discover in what respects records for the first group differed from those of the second group. This method avoided the common error
which results from
gathering
data
concerning solely
the pupils who fail, and then having no way of determining in what respects the records of these pupils differ from those of the successful
ones.
?(189)
190
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC.
The blank form used to gather the data for each simple sheet worded and arranged as follows:
room
was a
MANCHESTER PUBLIC SCHOOLS Ninth School District Number Among Children Promoted
Number Among Children Not
at end of Year
Promoted
Boys Girls
Average Age Average Days Attended From Non-English Speaking Families. Foreign Born Suffering From Malnutrition Mentally Defective Defect of Vision "
"
Hearing
Adenoids Other Throat Troubles Enlarged Glands Defective Teeth Other Defects Grade
Teacher
School
These blanks
were
Date.
used to
who remained in the eight the school year 1909-10.
gather data concerning 1396 pupils grades of the public schools at the end of Of these pupils, 1093 were promoted
higher grades and 303 failed of promotion; in other 78 per cent were promoted and 22 per cent failed. A salient fact brought out by the tabulation of the data from all of the rooms was that 94 per cent of the girls had received pro-
to the next
words,
as contrasted with only, 75 per cent of the boys. Morefailures the were in the over, boys among especially frequent This fact at once raises the highest grades. question whether or
motion
public school system is giving as fair opportunities to the it is to the girls. Other investigations have disclosed the boys The condition seems to suggest same condition in other cities. that as our courses of study and methods of school administration not
our as
developed, we have unconsciously fitted them to the needs and abilites of the girls, rather than to those of their brothers. The next fact brought to light was that the average age of the
have
promoted pupils
was ten
years and ten
months,
whereas that of the
191
A SIMPLE SYSTEM.
was eleven years and four months. That is to say, those who failed were on the average older than those who This same condition was disclosed by the investigasucceeded. tions of Superintendent Morss in Medford, Mass., in 1908.
unpromoted pupils
In South Manchester the school year has 185 actual school days. On the average, the pupils who were promoted had been absent from school 19
days during the year. The unpromoted In other words, the pupils had, average, been absent 29 days. the non-promoted pupils had been absent over 50 per cent more than the promoted pupils. on
The
rest of the data referred to the social and
tions of the which
table,
and of
pupils, gives
and the results
in percentages the affected
non-promoted pupils
are
plysical condifollowing promoted pupils
shown in the
proportion of by each one of the
conditions:
Percentage Percentage Among Among Pupils Pupils Promoted Not Promoted
From
non-English speaking homes. Foreign born Suffering from malnutrition Poor mentality Defective eyesight
12
7
13
9
25
8
49
4
3
Adenoids
15
20
Other throat troubles
14
13
Defective teeth
25
38
The
where
9
figures giving English is not the
actually
English
the
proportion language,
home
of children from homes and the number of pupils
born are
the child.
abroad, show that foreign birth and ignorance of real, although not very important, factors in retarding As was to be expected, much higher percentages of
malnutrition and poor mentality are found among the non-promoted than among the promoted. Eye defects are more common and this result is in accordthe more successful children, among ance
with similar observations made
New York
City.
during the past
two years in
Adenoids and defective teeth show
higher percentage among the unsuccessful pupils. Although these figures are for one town only,
they
a
much
cover
a
sufficient number of cases, distributed over the entire eight grades, to be regarded as significant in themselves, and as of distinct importance in indicating a simple method for making this kind of
THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC.
192
investigation in other places. Simply as they are, these figures indicate that among the factors which prevented the children in South Manchester from going forward, we may name the following
an
in the order of their Poor
(1 (2 (3 (4 (5 (6
retarding
mentality,;
Malnutrition; Handicap of foreign birth; Bad teeth; Absence from school; Adenoids; from
(?
Coming
(8
The fact of
The
figures
following
influence:
as
surmises
among each
one
non-English speaking families; being a boy.
interpreted as
in the
printed report point
hundred
cases:
Failures due to
Per cent
Character of instruction and
organization
of school.
19
Poor attendance
Influence of
to the
to the distribution of the causes of failure
foreign
0
9
birth
Poor nutrition
1G
Deficient
mentality
28
Physical
deficiencies other than
mentality
and
nu-
trition
1
Unclassified
15
100 It is of vidual cause
course
impossible
to
give
proper
to any indi-
weight
set of causes, because of the duplications in the items of the individual records. That is to say, a child who is or
suffering from adenoids also probably figures in the group suffering from malnutrition and in that of poor mentality.. Nevertheless, such a weighing of the individual causes is not necesrecorded
as
sary for the application of the method. Mr. Cheney and Superintendent a
most
useful instrument,
Verplanck
whereby significant
the progress of school children may be measure
evaluated.
have
facts
disclosed,
developed
concerning
and in
large
