Evening star., 1960-10-11
Students Ahead
In 6 Test Areas
In Montgomery
BY DANA BULLEN
Star stad Writer


The tests, standardized for
use in other parts of the coun-
try, were given during the
last school year to pupils in
the Sd, 5th, 9Th and 9th grades
and to other students in Ger
tain subjects.
School officials said 39,788
children were tested, or about
half of the county pupils. Tests
used included the California
Mental Maturity and Achieve
ment examinations.
Children in Montgomery
County schools were measured
against national norms and
against groups of students with
similar mental age, chronology
cal age and grade placement.
Year Ahead in Six Areas
In many cases, Montgomery
children we're more than one
year ahead of norms across the
country in six test areas that
generally cover the so-called
three RS.
Most of the time, Montgom-
cry children exceeded, some
times by a number of months,
students in similar situations
in other areas.
In some subjects. however,
Montgomery County fell below
national averages. Major areas
of difficulty were Sd and 5th
grade arithmetic. 9th grade
spelling and chemistry.
County students also fell be-
hind slightly in 7th grade ge-
ography and 18th grade Amer
lean history. In algebra, 9th
grade students, taking this sub
ject for the first time last year,
excelled.
Officials Happy
School officials said they were
very happy" at the high marks
given Montgomery County in
most areas. They said the test
results also provided a tool for
further improvements.
In addition to indicating
general areas where more en-
phasis may be required, the
tests show teachers how to aid
individual children, said Direc-
tor of Research Maxwell E.
Burdette.
Mr.. Burdette said that while
test results permit Montgomery
County to compare its program
with national averages, they do
not permit comparisons with
other Washington area jurisdic-
tions because of sampling prob
lens.
Comparisons Made
In more detail, the tests show
the following comparisons be-
tween the largest groupings OF
Montgomery County students
and pupils elsewhere with sim
liar ages, los and grade place
ments.
Third grade-Reading vocab-
ulary, 6 months ahead; read
ing comprehension, 4 months
ahead; arithmetic reasoning. s
months ahead; arithmetic fun
damentals, l month ahead with
brighter pupils l month behind;
English mechanics, 4 months
ahead; spelling, 2 months
ahead.
Fifth grade-Reading vocab-
ulary, 6 months ahead; reading
comprehension, 2 months
ahead; arithmetic reasoning. 4
months ahead; arithmetic fun
damentals, l month behind with
brighter students 2 months be-
hind; English mechanics, S
months ahead; spelling, 8
months ahead.
Sixth grade-Reading vocab-
ulary, 8 months ahead: read
ing comprehension. 8 months
ahead; arithmetic reasoning, 8
months ahead; arithmetic fun
damentals, 8 months ahead:
English mechanics, 6 months
ahead; spelling, 7 months
ahead.
Eighth grade-Reading vo-
cabulary, 7 months ahead: read
ing comprehension, 4 months
ahead; arithmetic reasoning,
= months ahead; arithmetic
fundamentals, 7 months ahead
but slower students l month
behind; English mechanics, S
months ahead; spelling, 5
months behind with brighter
students / month behind and
slower students 13 months be-
hind.
In all four grades, the los
of the Montgomery County
students are about 10 points
over national norms.
Other tests show pupils per-
forming above average in Eng
lish, Latin I, Plane Geometry,
| PhySicS and Algebra.