Page:State manual and course of study.djvu/17

 In such cases classify the pupil in the grade in which the greater part of his work is found, and encourage him to put forth an extra effort upon those branches in which he is deficient, that his work may be made to harmonize with the course of study.

Monthly Tests:—

There should be written tests each month. These should be brief and scattered through an entire week, pupils taking one branch each day and reciting in the other branches as usual; for instance.

These tests should consist of five or ten questions that can be answered in the recitation hour or at the most in thirty minutes. Standings from them should be marked upon the pupils’ work before returning the same, and a record made from which the average for the term or year can be readily found.

Examinations:—

There should be regular examinations by the school commissioner, by means of which he may judge whether the course of study is followed and whether teachers are doing satisfactory work. Without these examinations at regular intervals, some teachers will give the course either a half-hearted support or none at all. Then, also, the knowledge on the part of the pupils that they are to be tested on the work here planned, will interest them in it and make gradation popular.

It is therefore recommended that just before the close of each term commissioners prepare sets of test questions covering the work that should have been done by each grade during the term, place them in a sealed envelope, put this inside a larger one and mail to each teacher, with directions not to open the envelope containing questions until the day of examination.

Upon the day of examination, let the pupils choose three of their number to open the sealed envelope and sign their names to the blank found with the questions, which states that they have not been opened or tampered with. When the examinations are completed the teacher will mark them, after which the papers of each grade are to be securely fastened together and all kept in the teacher’s desk for the commissioner’s inspection. All standings are also to be entered upon the classification record. This is the plan now in use in several states. These papers, the classification record, and daily register the commissioner will carefully inspect while visiting a school; and he should accept no excuses for failure to have them ready for him. Promotions might he made from these term examinations.