Evening star., 1935-01-15
A more flexible system of grading

written reports to the teachers on the
ground that to prepare the large num-
ber required would force the grading
officer to fall into stilted form much
less effective than the oral methods
now generally in use.
1.-The members of the board Of ex-
aminers, as now constituted" Miss
Dents brief said, "do not themselves
have to meet any prescribed require
ments and do not have, in some cases,
the qualifications of the teachers on
whom they have to pass. In some
cases they have been people who lack
the breadth of view necessary to eval-
uate properly material submitted by
teachers trying to qualify"
Says Former Examiners Favored.
Questioned on this assertion by
Henry Gilligan, board member, Miss
Dent declined to go into personalities,
but declared that teachers who once
serve on the Board of Examiners
themselves have an advantage over
other teachers when they seek to be
tested for promotion into the higher
salary classifications.
Such an advantage was acknow-
ledged by Ballou, who agreed that it
should be eliminated.
Other points stressed by Miss Dent
were:
Contrary to present trends in edu-
cation, the present examination al
lows more credit for courses in educa-
tion than for courses in subject mat
ter
There Is no fixed method of evalu-
ating educational work except edu-
cational work based on college and
university credits.
"The method Of evaluating civic
work is purely artificial and arbitrary.
Credit Held Destructive.
1.-THE giving of credit value to extra
curricular activities destroys, in part,
the value of the activity.
1T fails in selection because some
teachers who have done and are doing
outstanding work are not passed by
the Board Of Examiners, while others
Of lesser ability and lower quality Of
work are.
MANY teachers making really fine
contributions to the school system fail
to qualify under the present method
of examination because their work
does not At into the catagories pro-
vided in the examination"
Miss Dent asserted that more value
was placed upon knowing how to file
material, that is, placing it in the
correct category, than upon the ma
terial itself.
"I want the board to remember"
she said, that teachers are adult hu-
man beings. We are not children
Under the present methods we are
treated as children"
High Basis Held Stigma.
She asserted that it is both en-
barrassing and humiliating to the
teacher to have to write for the let
tiers often required before they can
earn an advancement. The ratings
Of superior" and "eminently SUI
perior" she called ridiculous, adding
that among teachers themselves they
carry something of stigma"
Mrs. Mary Mason Jones, on the
faculty Of Francis Junior High School
and representing Local No. 27 Of the
American Federation Of Teachers, fol-
lowed Miss Dent and criticized not
only the system of ratings and exami-
nations but declared that teachers
are supervised too much.
Don't think we are supervised too
little," she said. Sometimes I have
felt that I was the only private in
an army while all the others were
either brigadiers or major generals.
We have enough supervision in
quantity, but we could improve the
quality. I think there should be some
instruction for the supervisors them
selves who do the ratings"
Other Recommendations.
Together the teachers made the
following recommendations:
THAT good teaching be recognized
as Of primary importance.
THAT the teacher be required to
have some cultural and educational
work beyond that which he submitted
to meet the qualification for his ap-
pointment to the school system (be-
fore being advanced to q higher rat
ing)
THAT the teacher, instead of being
required to qualify in varied fields Of
activity as now, may make his con-
tribution in one field of activity in
which he is particularly qualified to
function, if he SO chooses. or in more
than one field. If he so chooses.
THAT the method of examination
be made much more flexible than it
is now so It will not, as now. exclude,
because Of the rigidity of its cate
gories, some of the teachers most
qualified to enter . group Of superior
teachers"
Addtioal briefs to be fled by