Hadow (1924)

Notes on the text
Preliminary pages Preface, Contents, Membership, Analysis, Introduction
Chapter 1 History of development of psychological tests
Chapter 2 Summary of evidence
Chapter 3 Possible applications, conclusions and recommendations
Appendix I List of witnesses
Appendix II Recent experiments
Appendix III Use of tests in foreign countries
Appendix IV Standardisation and norms (Cyril Burt)
Appendix V Correlation in mental testing (Cyril Burt)
Appendix VI Grades in US schools (AE Twentyman)
Appendix VII Recent publications
Appendix VIII Examples of tests
Appendix IX General, special and group abilities
Index

Appendix VI

NOTE BY MR AE TWENTYMAN ON GRADES IN AMERICAN SCHOOLS
[pages 190 - 191]

In America, as in England and Wales, the earliest form of elementary school organisation was the group of children under a single teacher. When the growth of population and the increase of material resources made possible a more extended system, the plan generally adopted was to establish two practically independent schools each with its own teacher and separate course of study. Frequently such schools were conducted on different floors of the same building, and were known as the primary school and the English grammar school. At a later stage another school - variously called the secondary or intermediate school - was interposed between the primary and the grammar school. The term 'graded school' was in common use in the [eighteen] fifties, but it referred to this grouping of schools rather than to the classes within the school.

About 1865 the cities began to organise their schools under the direction of a city superintendent, and schools of the various grades were amalgamated to form a single school under a principal. About this time the term 'grade' came to signify a stage in the school course, but the precise meaning attached to it differed with the locality. While the 'grade' usually stood for a year's work, in New York City there were ten half-yearly grades included in the primary course. No supreme education authority existed which could bring order out of this confusion. In 1874, at the meeting of the National Education Association, the school superintendents adopted a conventional grading system. The elementary school was divided into two departments, the primary school department and the grammar school department, each containing four progressive years or grades of instruction.

This form came to be adopted as the normal type of school organisation, but the conditions varied so considerably that Grade VIII by no means always represented the same standard of achievement. In some states school attendance began at 6 years of age, in others at 7, and in many at 8. In addition, the compulsory period of attendance in a year varied within very wide limits. Thus the 'grade' had a far less stable meaning than the old 'standard'.

Moreover, in the last twenty years there has been a constant stream of protests against the rigidity of the grade system with its annual promotions. In some cities the courses are so organised that the brighter children complete in six years what the average child achieves in eight. In others, there are three parallel courses throughout the grades in which the children progress at different rates. The content of the course is fuller for the abler child than for the average, and of the dull child less than the average course is expected.

A more complete departure from the grade system is represented by the attempts to 'departmentalise' the last two grades - i.e to introduce what we should call the set system, allowing the pupils to be reclassified according to their proficiency in each subject. The opportunity is also afforded to introduce other subjects than those usually taught in the present grades. There is a growing demand for a reorganisation of the whole scheme. It is suggested that if waste be eliminated, the present programme of the elementary school could be achieved in six years, and that this shortened course should be followed by six years of secondary education. In many localities this has been achieved by the establishment of junior high schools. In such places the old grades 7 and 8 have practically disappeared.