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Page 38
3. EMPLOYMENT OF SCHOOL EXAMINATIONS
The school examinations employed to dispose of the failures are of two
types. The 'final' semester examination, employed by certain schools
and required of pupils who have failed, operates to remove the previous
failure for that semester of the subject. The success of this plan is
not high, because of the insufficient time available to make any
adequate reparation for the failures already charged. Of the 1,657
examinations of this kind to satisfy for failures, 30.7 per cent result
in success. The boys are more successful than the girls by 4.5 per
cent. This particular procedure is not employed by more than two of the
eight schools. The other form of school examination employed for
disposing of failures is the special examination, usually following
some definite preparation, and given at the discretion of the teacher
or department head. Its employment seems also to be limited pretty much
to two of the schools, because for most of the subjects the Regents'
examinations tend to displace it in the schools of the New York State
and City systems. As only the successes were sure of being recorded in
these tests we do not know the percentage of success attributable to
this plan of removing failures. It probably deserves to be credited
with a fairly high degree of success, for relatively few pupils (less
than 200) utilize it, and then frequently after some extra preparation
or study--such as summer school courses or tutoring. These two forms of
school examinations jointly yield 37.5 per cent of successes on the
number attempted, so far as such are recorded.
4. THE SERVICE RENDERED BY THE REGENTS' EXAMINATIONS IN NEW YORK STATE
Whatever may be the merits or demerits of the Regents' examination
system in general for academic school subjects, these tests certainly
perform a saving function for the failing pupils, by promptly
rectifying so many of their school failures and thus rescuing them from
the burden of expensive repetition. A pupil's success in the Regents'
examination has the immediate effect of satisfying the school failure
charged to him. At the same time, it is possible, as is sometimes
asserted, that the anticipation of these tests inclines some teachers
to a more gratuitous distribution of failing marks as a spur to their
pupils to brace up and perform well in reference to the Regents'
questions. However, there is no trace of that policy found so far as
the schools included in this study are concerned. For the three New
Jersey schools considered jointly have a higher percentage of failing
pupils, and a slightly higher average in the number of failures for
each failing pupil than have the three New York State schools.
But it is more probable that the attitude referred to operates to
exclude the failing pupils from being freely permitted to enter the
Regents' tests in the failing subjects, and thus to restrain them from
what threatens to lower the school percentage of successful papers,
except that in New York City such discrimination is prohibited.[46] On
the percentages of success for these examination results teachers and
even schools are wont to be popularly judged. Annual school reports may
feature the passing percentage for the school in Regents' examinations,
with a spirit of pride or rivalry, but with no word of what that
percentage costs as real cost must be reckoned. It is interesting to
note in this connection that the percentage of unsuccessful repetitions
for the three New Jersey schools is 13.7 per cent lower than for the
three New York schools. In addition to this, for the latter schools 22
per cent more of the subject failures are repeated than for the former
ones mentioned. It is important also to bear in mind that the success
percentage for the Regents' tests is computed on the number admitted to
the examinations--not on the number instructed in the subject. The
regulations are flexible and admit of considerable latitude in matters
of classification and interpretation. Accordingly, if it happens
anywhere in the state that those who are the less promising candidates,
in the teacher's judgment, are debarred from attempting Regents'
examinations by failing marks, by demotion and exclusion from their
class, or by other means, the school's percentage of pupils passing may
be kept high as a result, but the injustice worked upon the pupil in
such manner is vicious and reprehensible. Yet the whole intolerableness
of the practice will center in the rule for exclusion of pupils from
these examinations because of school failure. No one can predict with
any safe degree of certainty that the outcome of any individual's
efforts will be a failure in the Regents' tests, even though he has
failed in a school subject. If failure should happen to result, it is
chiefly the school pride that suffers; if the pupil is denied a free
trial, he may suffer an injustice to aid the pretension of the school.
Our school sanctions are not characterized by such acumen or
infallibility as to warrant our refusing to give a pupil the benefit of
the doubt. He is entitled to his chance to win success in these
examinations if he is able, and it appears that only results in the
Regents' tests can be truly trusted to tell us that he is or is not
able to pass them.
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