The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1917-01-18
new SYSTEM
OF Promotion In the Public Schools
VIII BE Inaugurated the First Of
February = Interesting Ar.
ticle by Superintendent
Caplinger.

The following statement has been
issued by Prof. ]. w. Caplinger, Su-
perintendent of city schools
That We may classify pupils more
nearly according to their several abil-
tiles, to save time for the pupils, to be
able to make the work more individ-
ual, to meet the requirements thrust
upon us from pupils of other schools
who change their residence to this
city, and for the general efficiency OF
the public schools Of Maysville, the
Board of Education decided at its
September meeting to inaugurate the
system, now employed in most Of the
city schools, Of Mid-year promotion.
1t is my purpose to have several
short discussions in the three daily
papers between now and January 29th
the opening date of the second SEM
ester, first, relative to the advantages
and secHd, the necessary steps that
wt'lhafe to be taken to make the sys-
-. operative in Maysville | will
state at the outset for the benefit of
tax payers, the change will not in
volve the expenditure of one addition
al cent, merely matter of readjust-
ment.
The statement was made at the be-
ginning of this article that the AID
VANTAGES are:
U A more exact classification of
the children according to their in
tellectual attachments.
(2) A saving of time for the pupil
(S) Making the work more individ-
ual.
(4 Enabling our schools to artic-
ulate with the work done in other
schools in the case of pupils moving
into our city.
1t Is my purpose to discuss each of
these advantages separately. A prop
er classification of pupils involves,
first, careful analysis of the intel
iectual inheritance and acquired
knowledge of the different children;
second, a systematic grouping of like
abilities and attainments; third. that
the period of time for redistribution
OF those with similar intellectual con-
tent be twice a year or at the begin
ming of each semester, September and
February, instead of September as it
now exists. Under this plan each
grade is divided into an A and B Sec
tion-promotions or demotions occur
at the end of each five months. To
particularize, two boys whom | will
call James and George enter school
in September both enrolling in the
Third Grade. James Is considerably
above the average in his ability to ac-
quire and understand the work pre-
scented by the teacher, in addition to
this, his parents are careful about his
health; regular attendance; and home
habits such as refraining from cigar
etts, staying off the streets at nights,
member Of a gang etc. George might
easily be pictured as the direct oppo-
site to that as we have no small num-
Der OF that type, but let us say rather
that this George is one of the fifty
seven varieties who tries to get his
lessons but because Of irregular at
tendance-through sickness, indiffer-
ence OF parent or what not-because
OF fondness for things other than
books and lastly because of no spe-
cial aptitude for learning finds himself
ct the middle of the school year lost
In the bewildering perplexities of
Arithmetic or Language.
Shall We let George go on with the
grade and at the end of the year fail
him 80 that he loses the entire year, or
shall we denote him before so much
valuable time has been wasted and be-
fore he is lost SO deeply? Returning
to James, il his work has been so sat
isfactory that the teacher knows full
well he can do the work in the B sec
ton of the 4th Grade he could be ad-
yanced to beginning class OF the 4th
Grade made up of others like himself,
those regularly promoted from the
3rd A and those like George denoted
at the middle of the 4th In the 1914
rejort of the United States Commits
sioner Of Education, Vol. 1, p. 81,
"One OF the signs of progress is that
few schools now rely entirely upon
examinations as test for promotion
In some schools examinations are
made to count one-half, while in 9TH
ers they count only one-fourth. It is
now recognized that examinations are
not true tests of the pupils ability
to do the next grades work. and that
pupil should not be promoted on
what he knows. but ON what he can
do. or 1855 superintendent in the
smaller cities reporting. 500 say that
they are now depending on examina-
tons much less than formerly"
w. J. CAPLINGER.