The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1912-07-25

| in sufficient numbers for comparison.
| The teachers were asked to classify
their pupils as slow, average, and
bright according to general ability and
progress, and then to classify under
those heads the number Of their pupils
who started with kindergarten train
ing, and the number without it.
| Second, they were asked to give the
average age June Goth in years and
months Of the children of these two
classes in each of the three groups,
slow, average, and bright.
! Third, to give the average number
Of years in school since entering the
first grade Of those with and without
kindergarten training in each of the
three groups.
| The total number Of children involv-
ed in this study is 1863 of which 925
did and 1873 did not start with the kin
dergarten. According to the judgment
of the forty-three teachers entering
into this investigation and reporting
on their respective classes, &c per cent
of the children are slow, forty-six are
average and % per cent are bright.
Since, as I have already stated, the
kindergartens have not been sufficient
lily general or sufficiently long estab-
lished in our city to catch all these
children as beginners, and since chill
dren of grade age from other places
are contantly entering school, it was
! 5xpected that each of the three groups
in each grade would have it's portion
Of those with and those without the
kindergarten training. In the slow
and average groups these children are
found to number respectively 81 per
cent and 46 per cent Of all.
In the bright group or those making
most rapid progress, kindergarten
children are 60 per cent, and those
without 40 per cent.
This fact, that children with kinder
garten training form a larger portion
of the rapid group than Of the aver
| age and slow, seems to indicate that
they were better equipped for the
race, and so outdistanced in larger
numbers their fellows.
Next, taking up the statistics in re-
gard to ages of the children in each
of these three groups, careful fgur-
ing of results shows that in each Of
the groups, slow, average, and bright,
in all Of the five school grades the
kindergarten children are Younger
than the, others. The difference in
average age varies from grade to
grade, the total average difference for
all grades being 8.4 months. This
means that all the children with kin
dergarten training, wherever found in
the first five grades have an average
age which is 8.4 months below that Of
all the children without such training.
Another question related to average
number of years since beginning
the first grade. In view of the import
ance which recent school investiga
tions are attaching to retardation, this
part of my study has not the degree of
reliability that is desirable. The card
system necessary for correctness in
such investigations which system pro-
vides a convenient record Of the school
histories of all school children, has not
been in operation long enough to fur
nish the authentic data needed, con-
sequently in some instances, the teach
ers were obliged to rely upon the mem
DRY of the child or the statement of
the parent. For the greater number,
however, especially in the three lower
grades, the averages reported by teach
ers are essentially true.
Assuming that the normal rate Of
progress is one grade year, that at
the end of June, 1912 each child com
plotting the first grade should have
been in school year, and each child
completing the second grade snssssd