Monroe: Progress and Promotion 



35 



no difference in the amount of retardation, but after this 

 grade the girls are noticeably less retarded than the boys. 

 However, there are only slight differences in the amount of 

 acceleration until the ninth grade is reached. In the twelfth 

 grade we find the largest amount of acceleration. The in- 

 crease in the per cent of acceleration from the ninth to the 

 twelfth grade is produced by two causes: (1) actual accelera- 

 tion in the high school by carrying five subjects; (2) rela- 

 tively more overage and normal age children than underage 

 children leaving school. The increase of retardation up to 

 the fifth grade and its decrease after the sixth is evidence 

 of the tendency of overage children to leave school in larger 

 numbers than the normal or accelerated children. The slight 

 increase from the eighth to the ninth grade may indicate the 

 presence of nonresident children or children from parochial 

 schools. It may, however, be due to an actual increase in 

 retardation produced by the large number of failures in the 

 first and second year of the high school. 



Figure 7 represents the acceleration and retardation for 

 the two groups of school systems. In general there is more 

 retardation in the systems having semiannual promotion than 

 in those having annual promotion. This difference is espe- 

 cially noticeable in the first five grades. As has been pointed 

 out in other places in this report where the two groups of 

 school systems are compared, this does not necessarily mean 

 that the plan of annual promotion is superior to semiannual 

 promotion. Other factors, such as the economic and social 

 conditions, nationality, public opinion, etc., make the situ- 

 ation a complicated one. However, those superintendents who 

 are using the plan of semiannual promotion should study care- 

 fully the effect of its operation upon the progress of pupils. 

 There is a possibility that when failure means the repetition 

 of only a half-year that is given more frequently than when 

 it means the repetition of the work of a whole year. 



Comparison of Systems. Figure 8 represents the retarda- 

 tion and acceleration in each of the ten cities in the group 

 having semiannual promotion. The average for twelve Kan- 

 sas cities'" and Cubberley's standard^ are given for compara- 

 tive purposes. These Indiana cities show a more satisfactory 



^ From an unpublished study by Dean F. J. Kelly. 

 " From Cubberley's Public School Ad»iinistration. 



