Evening journal., 1889-08-29
HOW PROMOTIONS ARE MADE.
The System of Marking, In the Whining
ton Public Schools, Described.

HOW PROMO IONS ARE MADE.
The System OF Marking. in the whining
ton Public schools, Described.
Superintendent Of Schools David w.
Harlan, in his annual report, described |
the method of making promotions and Of |
marking in vogue in the schools of the |
city, aud suggests certain beneficial
changes as follows:
How Promotions are Made.
"How to make promotions is one Of the
most important questions arising in our
school work. We have always promoted
from grade TO grade in the primary
schools on the recommendation of the
teachers. For several years promotions
to the grammar schools, from grade TO
grade in the grammar schools, and from
the grammar schools to the high schools
have been made on the following plan:
Every recitation of each pupil is
marked at the close of the recitation
On three recitation marks alone the be ST
half of each class are promoted, provided
that all of this half have received eighty
per cent of the full number of credits
allowed for all the rectations OF the
class. The other half of each of these
classes. all Of the best half that are be
low eighty, and all the High School
pupils, are examined at the end Of each
term or half year TO determine
what is called the promotion mark.
the average per cent in examination is
multiplied by two, to this product the
recitation average is added and this sum
is divided by three. All pupils receiving
q promotion mark as high as seventy are
promoted. In favor of this plan it can
| I'D said that it has reduced the time nee
essariy spent in examinations about one
! half. and that the desire to be in the best
| half and exempt from examination has
been 70 many pupils great stimulus to
study
THE principal argument against it is
that some teachers mark much hig her
than others and that consequently in the
classes Of those who mark high there are
sometimes several pupils with recitation
averages running well up in the eighties,
who have been examined While in the
classes of those who mark lower all who
are up to eighty are exempt. That eighty
five under one teacher may not
mean any more than eighty
under another is not matter
of surprise to those familiar with school
work, but it leads to bad feeling among
the pupils and parents.
"While the teachers estimate of the
pupils fitness to go into the next grade
should ia fact determine the question Of
his promotion, our way of getting that
estimate, it seems to me, is not the best.
To mark every pupil justly, at the close
of the class recitation, requires too much
of the teachers attention. Indeed with
large class it is scarcely possible
to give each answer its correct value at
the end of the recitation. For the teacher
to stop and mark each answer when it is
given, is an amount of interruption that
takes all the life out a recitation. To call
the roll at the close and to require the
pupils to report their own answers, q
common practice, is necessarily to leave
too much to their judgment and hon
esty.
"When side questions pertinent to tn,
subject, but off the order of the book OF
the routine order Of the subject lead L
difficulty, when the pupils are to tel
what they have answered and what the,
have missed to avoid disputes about tn,
correctness Of answers, when the pupil
are to report at the end of the recitation
the teacher is under continual tempta
/ tion to confne her questions to point
, upon which answers can be given in th
language of the text book or in som
stereotyped terms. The result Of thi
kind OF questioning is too often a me
, chanical and soulless exercise
ITO mark each pupil in every recitation
certainly hampers the teacher too much
think the teachers estimate of tn
pupils progress in each branch, recorded
once a week, or even once menth, woul
be quite as reliable as the results of tn
present method of marking. This woul'
make quite a saving Of time, and woul
give the teachers much more freedom I
teach"