A New Incidence of Learning for the Fundamentals of Arithmetic

1. The passing grade?commonly 75 percent. 2. The norm?usually an average on a standardized test secured from a fairly wide testing program. 3. The percentile rank. 4. The grade attainment. This is not a complete list. It does not, e.g., include the well-known McCall T Score, so mystifying to the average teacher. The passing grade doubtless occupies three-fourths to seven-eighths of the field the country over today. The other indexes listed above are a result of the application of statistics to the field of examining, grading, and promotion. In general, these various indexes are interchangeable ; that is, any one can be trans lated into any of the others. Types of Subject-Matter, Types of Teaching, Types of Testing? It is appropriate to ask what should determine the incidence of learning in any particular case. Are there types among which there may be different standards? Obviously there are, and this would easily be conceded in this group if applied to different subjects. Doubtless, anyone here would agree that any attempt to check or measure in the field of history would be very different from what it is if one were measuring handwriting or spelling or the fundamentals of Arithmetic. If it is conceded that there are different types of subject matter as among different subjects, then doubtless there are some who would con cede that there are different types of subject matter in almost any field and therefore in the field of arithmetic. Specifically, it is probable that everyone here would insist that a sixthor eighth-grade pupil should know XA paper read before the American Education Research Association at their annual meeting in Cleveland, February 25, 1939. 425