Haggerty: The Ability to Read 



29 



10.5 all show less time than line 6 for the eighths. In the sixth 

 grade the greatest time is for those of line 8 ability, while those 

 whose score is 10.5 use less time than do those who score lines 

 5, 7, or 9. Line 6 scored the longest time for the fourth grade, 

 while lines 9, 7, 5, and 4 scored shorter times than that made by the 

 126 fourth graders who had less than line 4 ability. The shortest 

 average time was made by the 20 who scored line 10.5, the highest 

 possible score. 



There is a general decrease in average time for the pupils of 

 each higher grade scoring any line. The fourth grade requires 

 longest, the eighth grade least, and the sixth grade is always inter- 

 mediate. The time by quartiles follows this same general rule. 



In examining the quartile scores the greatest difference ap- 

 pears. The fastest group of all is composed of fifty eighth-grade 

 pupils who do the entire test correctly, scoring line 10.5 in 4 minutes 

 and 30 seconds. The slowest eighth grade group, 115 in number, 

 scored line 9 in 14 minutes and 18 seconds. The speediest group 

 of sixth grade pupils numbering 70 scored line 9 in 5 minutes and 

 48 seconds, and the slowest 38 scored line 5 in 30 minutes, 11 sec- 

 onds. For the fourth grade the extremes are 7 minutes 40 seconds 

 for 67 pupils scoring line 7, and 32 minutes, 2 seconds for 26 chil- 

 dren scoring line 8. The next slowest fourth grade group, 118 

 in number, scored line 6 in 31 minutes and 6 seconds. In general 

 the fastest quartile in any grade requires from one-fifth to one- 

 half the time of the slowest quartile. Only in the fourth does 

 the slowest make a higher score than the fastest. The very 

 poorest group of eighth grade pupils, 2 in number, are excelled 

 in both speed and score by more than 400 fourth grade children, 

 by more than 800 sixth grade children, and by almost 1,000 

 eighth grade children. At the opposite extreme are 50 eighth 

 grade pupils who excel in both quality and speed all other children 

 in these grades, naaiely 914 in the eighth, 1,588 in the sixth, and 

 1,824 in the fourth. 



The simplest and most direct conclusion from these figures 

 is that inaccuracy is not a necessary correlative of rapid work. 

 Neither is slow work a guarantee of correctness. It is possible 

 that some of those in the first quartile might have done better if 

 they had taken more time. There is some evidence that time 

 pays, in that the fourth grade group which took the longest time 

 made a better record than the group which made the shortest 

 time. Against that fact, however, is the fact that 125 fourth 



