During 1914 and the earlier months of 1915, the Division of Education of the Russell Sage Foundation conducted a study of spelling among school children with the object of developing a scale for measuring attainment in the spelling of common words. This pamphlet describes the investigation and the scale it produced.
LEONARD P. AYRES was director of the Division of Education at the Russell Sage Foundation.
This paper, published in 1912, analyzes the argument that the effectiveness of a school and its teachers must be measured in terms of the results secured by the school. It looks at how applied science may avail to better educational practices, similar to industrial activity.
LEONARD P. AYRES was director of the Division of Education at the Russell Sage Foundation.
Laggards in Our Schools presents the findings of a 1907 study on disabled children and the effects of education on their early years. The study analyzed the specifics of the children’s’ conditions and what factors caused them to drop behind in school, as well as to what extent attendance, homework, and other methods affected progress.
LEONARD P. AYRES was director of the Division of Education at the Russell Sage Foundation.
Published in 1920, this report presents an index for measuring the effectiveness of state school systems by the amount of education received by the children and the expenditures made to purchase this education. The purpose of the index is to make it possible for state school systems to measure their progress from year to year and to compare their attainments with those of their neighbors.
LEONARD P. AYRES was director of the Division of Education at the Russell Sage Foundation.
Published in 1913, The Effect of Promotion Rates on School Efficiency presents findings that illustrate the great importance of small differences in promotion rates in education, particularly the degree to which children are trained in habits of success and failure.
LEONARD P. AYRES was director of the Division of Education at the Russell Sage Foundation.
This pamphlet explores constant occupations, occupations which offer opportunities for employment to a number of workers in a variety of areas, rather than site-specific, less constant, or variable occupations, and their implications on vocational education.
LEONARD P. AYRES was director of the Division of Education at the Russell Sage Foundation.
This article offers an evaluation of the Binet-Simon Measuring Scale for Intelligence, a 1908 series of tests developed by French psychologists for the diagnosis of the level of intelligence of children. The scale had widespread application at the time, with minor variations to adapt to the needs of American children. By assessing each test and determining a number of flaws, such as overemphasis on “puzzle tests,” the author argues that, beyond small adjustments, an entirely new measuring scale is needed to test intellectual performance.
LEONARD P. AYRES was director of the Division of Education at the Russell Sage Foundation.
A look into the rising cost of education, Trends of School Costs was published in 1920. It analyzes the different aspects at play in the cost of public school education, including the relationship between growing attendance rates and cost. Of prime importance are trends in teachers' salaries, compared to the cost of living and the salaries of other workers. Future pricing trends are predicted.
W. RANDOLPH BURGUESS, Department of Education, Russell Sage Foundation
Disparities in educational achievement and attainment between low- and high-income students have grown over the last four decades—an era of rising economic inequality. Some evidence has linked increased inequality and disparities in educational outcomes, but the mechanisms by which this occurs are much less clear.
In the course of its television lifetime, "Sesame Street" has taught alphabet-related skills to hundreds of thousands of preschool children. But the program may have attracted more of its regular viewers from relatively affluent homes in which the parents were better educated. Analyzing and reevaluating data drawn from several sources, principally the Educational Testing Service's evaluations of "Sesame Street," the authors of this book open fresh lines of inquiry into how much economically disadvantaged children learned from viewing the series for six months and into whether the program is widening the gap that separates the academic achievement of disadvantaged preschoolers from that of their more affluent counterparts. The authors define as acute dilemma currently facing educational policymakers: what positive results are achieved when a large number of children learn some skills at a younger age if this absolute increase in knowledge is associated with an increase in the difference between social groups?
THOMAS D. COOK is Joan and Sarepta Harrison Chair of Ethics and Justice and professor of sociology, psychology, and education and social policy at Northwestern University.
