Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-09-02
Bx LAMBS g. DEANE

School Supt. Hobart M. Corn
ling stands alone among Wash
Iington area school superintend-
tents in his determination to keep
achievement test results secret.
Public schools in four Wash
Iington suburbs make no secret
Iof general test results. a survey
ilby The Star discloses. Superin-
Itendents of the other two SUBJ
1urban school systems said they
favor a similar open-door policy
and will recommend it this
month to their school boards.
4 The handling of test data be-
came an issue after The Star
last week published results of
recent tests showing District
achievement averages tagging
behind national standards.
DR.. Corning said release of
these results, obtained by The
Star from an unofficial source.
was not authorized and was
against his policy.
No Disclosure Curbs
School systems in Montgomery
and Arlington Counties. Alex
andria and Falls Church. have
no rule barring public disclosure
of system-wide test averages.
Prince Georges and Fairfax
schools have been accustomed to
keeping test results confidential,
but their boards win be asked
Ito establish definite policy per-
Uniting test disclosures.
DR.. Corning said he opposes
test revelations because he feels
test scores are easily misin-
lterpreted, may embarrass indi-
Ividual schools and may cause
difficulties in racial relationships
/ Suburban superintendents,
however. said they believe the
public is entitled to know test
averages.
Two Of the suburban systems
not only make test summaries
available on request but publish
annual reports on the subject.
Handling Of Data
| Here are the facts about the
handling of test data disclosed
by The Stars suburban survey
Montgomery County - Supt.
Forbes H. Norris this year in
augurated a policy of issuing
formal reports on county test
averages. The first such report,
covering is achievement and in
telligence tests given in seven
different grades during the past
year. was published in May, An
additional report. summarizing
results of IL grade educational
DEVELOPMENT tests. was issued in
July. The results cover all tested
students, without racial distinc-
Ition.
| On most tests county pupils
averaged as well as. or above
national norms. Sixth and ninth
graders averaged below national
norms in some arithmetic tests
and the report cited a need fol
improvement in certain subjects
lamong pupils of above arc
below average ability. The 18th
grade averages were all well
iaboye national norms.
| officials said they believe il
is the intent of the School BOARD
TO permit continued publication
tof test reports in the future
whether favorable or unfayor-
liable.
Arlington County - Arlington
ISupt. T. Edward Rutter said Ar
llington policy at least since 1850
has been to- make county wide
test averages public in printed
form.
i can See no reason why this
information should not be given
to the public" Mr.. Rutter said.
l"Our results have been good
and we're proud of them"
He added, however, that he
would not advocate withhold
ing unfavorable results.
I Arlington's test results for the
past school year have not yet
been published. For the 1884
year all averages among white
students exceeded national norms
except on one test, in which the
national standard was equalled
Among Negro pupils. averages
were below national norms ex-
Icept on one test. Mr.. Rutter said
lit is unfair to compare Negro
and white averages because the
Negro children have inferior
background and opportunities in
the community, Arlington's pub.
I.ished test averages exclude Negro
children because they comprise
only about S per cent of the total
he said.
Alexandria Practice
/ Alexandria-Supt. T. c. Will
iliams said he has consistently
followed the practice of reading
test averages at open School
Board meetings each year.
! Il feel it's public business. The
school system doesn't belong to
u.s." he declared.
The school board has no es-
tablished policy regarding dis