The log cabin Democrat., 1922-03-25
COUNTRY OUTDOFS
 CITY IN SPELLING
RUNS UP BETTER SCORES
Normal Subjects 500 Rural Schools to Tests-Urges State Stage
 Big Spelling Bee.

l City or town schools in Arkansa. with all due propriety may doff theil hats to rural or one-teacher schools il the rural sections as being superior spoilers. Like tests to which botf | classes of public schools in Arkansas Were subjected reveal that the sup posedly weaker institutions show tc better advantage than the more pre- tentious ones in the cities and towns The tests were made by county super. intendents of 50 counties, who selected ten schools in their respective areas, subjected their pupils to the tests and forwarded the results to the Arkan- sas State Normal, under the super vision of which the measurements were attempted.
 Prof. c. c. Denney, director of the education measurement and standard bureau, who summarized the results, finds in the tests ground for the be- lief that Arkansas as a state can move forward educationally by expending more upon the rural schools. Hereto fore, MT. Denney says, the one-teach- CT school has been more tolerated than encouraged, a condition which should be remedied by providing longer terms, more extensive equip ment and better trained teachers.
 As to the failing of many schools to register high in spelling ability, the local educator thinks that some of the fault may be traced to unsuit- able textbooks. He suggests instead that Ayres' standard scale, which was used in all of the tests, be substituted for the commonly used spoilers. "The spelling scale from which this of words was taken" he states, "con- tains 1,505 words that investigation shows to be the most often used. Any person that learns to spell the entire list can spell by far the larger num- Der of words that are in common use. It seems to me that this list of words should be posted in every school room in the state. The world is full of spelling books and spelling books are full of worlds that simply strike some compilers fancy, but the Ayres' list comprises words which investigation proves are in actual use by the peo- pie"
 The 500 rural schools in which the tests were given ran up averages high CT than those set on the official stand ards. This is accountable to the fact that the county superintendents prob ably selected their ten best schools, i the averages as a consequence show ing what may be done rather than what is being actually done in all schools. Coming as they do from 50 counties and representing the compo- site work of 800 schools, the averages may be taken as fair indications of what is being accomplished in common school education throughout the state.
 In concluding his summary, MT. Denney ventures the opinion that a big spelling campaign couldl well be launched in all schools. County su- perintendents could exercise supervis- ion over their respective areas, and the highest averages compiled by the highest ranking schools could be sub- mitted to the State Normal for deter imitation of the winner. Such cam paign would not only work for prof. ciency in spelling, but would stimulate pupils to the mastery of other con- mon school branches.
 Compared with 1921, the Arkansas averages for the present tests are slightly lower. Harder words were included in the Ayres' scale and as a consequence the pupils did not show so well. Grouped in separate columns for town and country, and with the Ayres' scale for comparison, grades in Arkansas schools from the second to the eighth inclusive ran up the following averages:
 ? 8 1 5 6 ' 8 Rural ------75 n 64 70 v 66 "A