Date of Award
5-1941
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
First Advisor
Ernest M. Anderson
Abstract
This study is a survey of age-grade progress in the Douglass Elementary School (for Negroes) in Pittsburg, Kansas, in order to determine the extent of retardation and to discover the causes of failure.
Data and Procedure
Data for determining the status of progress in the various grades were drawn from school records filed on the permanent record cards of the pupils. Data on various factors affecting school success were obtained from the following standardized tests:
1. Otis Quick-Scoring Mental Ability Test Beta (Form A) and Alpha (Form A) and Otis Self-Administering Test of Mental Ability.
2. The Stanford Achievement Test, Form D, administered to pupils in the fourth , fifth , and sixth grades in May, 1940.
3. Baker's character test, ".Telling What I Do," Primary Form (grades four, five, and six) and Advanced Form (grades seven and eight).
For data on factors not measured by standardized tests, teachers' opinions were obtained on an inquiry blank devised by the writer for ratings on attitudes, habits, attendance, personal characteristics, and supplementary personal information. Conferences with the teachers and visitation of pupils' homes yielded further data with respect to health, physical disabilities, and home conditions .
Case histories were compiled for all pupils.
Comparisons were made between the retarded group and the normal-progress group, on the basis of the various factors .
Findings
It was found that 39.1 per cent of the forty-six pupils enrolled in the Douglass Elementary School are retarded . This proportion, while large, is not excessive in comparison with the findings of other studies .
The distribution of intelligence for the total group, including high school pupils, follows the normal curve , and establishes the subjects as a representative group . The mean I.Q. for the retarded elementary pupils is 93.7 with a range of 63 to 126. The mean of the normal-progress group is a little higher--96.4, with a range of 78 to 123. The distribution of both groups is normal, with fifty percent of each group within the established range of normal intelligence.
Little relationship was found between school attendance and grade progress . Only two cases in each group were reported as irregular in attendance.
There is a slight evidence that pupils with poor or fair health are likely to be retarded.
Speech impediments were found among three cases of repeaters, one is in the third grade and two are in the first grade; two of these are doing unsatisfactory work at present and may not be promoted this year . Left-handedness appears not to be an important factor.
Poor home conditions appear to be an important factor. More than 50 per cent of the retarded pupils come from homes rated as "poor," and 22.2 per cent come from homes rated only "fair." "Good" homes were reported for 42.8 per cent of the pupils making normal progress.
Characteristics of the retarded pupils, according to the teachers' ratings, include such factors as: inability to hold attention to task , inability to remember facts apparently learned , inability to comprehend work of the difficulty of his grade, and being easily discouraged.
Recommended Citation
Rankin, Beverly E., "Pupil Progress in the Elementary Grades of Douglass School for Negroes, Pittsburg, Kansas" (1941). Electronic Theses & Dissertations. 494.
https://digitalcommons.pittstate.edu/etd/494
Comments
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