The Indian Child Goes To School

APPENDIX A

List of Schools Participating in the Study

Manual of Instructions for Test Administration

Background Information Sheet

LIST OF SCHOOLS PARTICIPATING IN THE STUDY

PHOENIX AREA

4 through 12

Education Grades
1951 Fall Testing Program
Office of Indian Affairs

MANUAL OF INSTRUCTIONS

FOR

TEST ADMINISTRATION

Purpose

The 1951 fall testing program marks the beginning of a new phase of evaluation In Indian education. The program this year is being concentrated in the Albuquerque and Phoenix areas and will, to some extent, serve as a pilot study. It is expected that the program will be extended to other areas in succeeding years, with the benefit of procedures worked out In this year’s study.

One of the aims of the program is to provide the education branch with data by means of which it can evaluate progress toward its educational goals.

Another, and equally important, aim is to provide administrators, supervisors, and teachers In the field with data about children which will be useful in the Instruction and guidance of those children.

It should be understood that the items In the tests do not constitute a list of facts or skills that should be mastered by all pupils in the Indian schools. These do not in any sense constitute an approved course of study.

It should also be understood that it is not the purpose of the testing program to rate the efficiency of any teacher nor to judge the quality of Instruction In school.

Schools Participating

It Is planned that all Indian Service schools in the Albuquerque and Phoenix areas, with the exception of a few schools remote from the area headquarters, will participate in the program. In addition, testing will be carried on in a number of selected public and mission schools in each area. This cooperative arrangement has been worked out in order to provide a basis for comparative studies among the three types of schools enrolling Indian children of similar cultural background.

Grades to be Tested

All pupils in grades 4 through 12, In the schools participating, will be tested.

Tests to be Used

The California Achievement Tests (complete battery) have been selected for use this year. This confines the testing to the area of basic skills: reading, arithmetic, and language.

The California Achievement Tests are prepared for three levels: Elementary including grades 4, 5, and 6; Intermediate, including grades 7, 8, and 9; and Advanced, including grades 9 through 14. It will be noted that there is a year of overlap, involving the 9th grade, between the Intermediate and Advanced levels. It has been determined that all 9th grade pupils will be given the Intermediate level.

Who Will Give the Tests?

The tests will be administered by trained teams of test administrators appointed by the directors of education of the respective Indian Service areas. It is expected that the teacher of the pupils being tested will be present in the room while the testing is in progress.

It is also expected that pupils will be tested at their own schools and, if possible, in their own school rooms.

Members of the testing teams will prepare themselves by studying both the testing manuals and the tests themselves until they are thoroughly conversant with them.

The Background Information Sheet

The Background Information Sheet is not a test but is designed to provide information about a pupil which will be helpful in interpreting his test scores. The front side of the sheet may be filled out by the pupil with the teacher’s help, or the pupil may be asked to provide only such information as the school records cannot supply. The back side of the sheet must be filled out by school officials who will refer to the school records. Specific instructions for the front side of the sheet appear later in this manual. Specific instructions for the back side of the sheet are printed on the sheet itself.

(Note: In case the school is boarding-day school, the school, in the case of an individual pupil, should be considered either boarding or day, depending upon whether the individual pupil is a boarding or thy pupil.)

Persons in charge of test administration are urged to see that these sheets are filled out in advance of the testing date in order that this operation will not infringe upon the testing time itself.

The Sample Questions

Since the tests in this year’s program are to be machine scored, pupils tested will be required to mark their answers on a separate answer sheet. This involves an additional operation for the pupil and to most of the children it will be a new experience.

In order to minimize any adverse effects of this factor on the test results, a sample question and answer sheet has been prepared for the purpose of practice.

These sheets may be used in advance of the testing date or immediately before the testing begins. There is no limitation upon the amount of help a pupil may have in understanding the technique of marking the answer sheet. In no case, however, is the pupil to be given help in deciding which is the correct answer once the actual testing has begun.

Specific instructions for using the sample questions appear later in this manual.

Conditions of Administration

1. The room in which the testing is done should have a blackboard available.
2. The room should be large enough so that students maybe spaced without crowding. It is desirable to have a desk intervene between pupils.
3. Each student should be provided with a comfortable chair and a desk on which he can write.
4. The test administrator should have a watch or clock to which to refer.
5. When a student has finished he should sit quietly until the entire group is ready to proceed or to be dismissed.
6. Do not attempt to test more than 30 or 40 children at one time. The number should be smaller with younger pupils.

The Testing Schedule

No attempt will be made to set up in this manual a rigid schedule for administering the tests. However, there are some basic considerations which should be adhered to:

1. The entire battery should be administered on the same day.
2. The sections of the test must be administered in the order in which they appear in the test booklet.
3. Provision must be made for adequate rest periods. These may be at the discretion of the test administrator but they should always fall between the six major sections of the test battery. The length and frequency of rest periods should depend upon such factors as the age and mental maturity of the pupils, temperature, etc. It is well to make sure that the pupils move around during rest periods and preferably go outdoors to play if possible. The noon hour will of course provide one intermission.

Two Points to Stress with Pupils

1. Because the tests are to be scored with a machine it is absolutely necessary that a special electrographic pencil be used. A supply of these pencils is being shipped with the tests. Pupils may have favorite pencils of their own or inadvertently pick up an ordinary pencil. Consequently it is necessary to repeatedly remind pupils to use the special pencils. The machine will not score sheets marked with ordinary pencils, regardless of how soft the lead may be.
2. Care must be taken that pupils do not write or make any marks whatsoever on the test booklets. When special machine scored answer sheets are used, the test booklets may be used repeatedly if they are not defaced. Great vigilance must be exercised, however, to be sure that the pupils do not forget.

Test Manuals

This mimeographed manual contains general instructions for the testing program and specific instructions for the Background Information Sheet and the Sample Questions. Specific instructions for the California Achievement Tests are printed and are supplied by the California Test Bureau with the tests. One copy of the manual is packed with each package of 25 copies of the test booklets. Persons administering the tests should make sure that they are using the directions for tests which are to be machine scored. These directions begin on page 18 of both the elementary and advanced manuals and on 19 of the intermediate manual. Persons administering the tests should familiarize themselves thoroughly with the instructions for administering the tests and with the tests themselves.

No Handwriting Test

No handwriting test will be given and any reference to the handwriting test in the manual may be disregarded.

The Answer Sheets

Each pupil, in the course of taking the tests, will use three different answer sheets, one each for reading, arithmetic, and language. Since these come at three different levels, elementary, intermediate, and advanced, the test administrator will be working with nine different types of answer sheets. Care must be taken not to get them confused.

Sec that each pupil fills out completely the information called for on the answer sheets. Also, during the progress of the testing, persons proctoring the examination should check constantly to be sure the pupils are not confused as to the section of the answer sheet in which they should be marking.

Complete instructions for using the answer sheets are included in the printed manuals.

Time Limits

Time limits for the various sections of the California Achievement Tests are suggested in the manual. However, inasmuch as the tests are ‘power’ rather than speed tests, these suggested limits need not be adhered to rigidly. On the other hand, it is not practicable to wait until all stragglers have finished a section. It is recommended that time be called when about 90% of the group have completed the section.

Preparing the Roster

Rosters of pupils taking the tests are to be prepared in duplicate. Both copies are to be returned with the answer sheets. Please use typewriter or, in the event a typewriter is not convenient, print by hand.

Be sure that all information called for at the top of the page is supplied. By “Type of School’ is meant whether Indian Service, public, or mission, and whether day, reservation boarding, or non-reservation boarding. By “date’ is meant date the tests were administered to the pupils listed below.

Make a separate roster for each grade tested in each school. More than one sheet may be used for a grade if required.

List the pupils in alphabetical order on the roster. Also, stack the completed answer sheets in alphabetical order for the pupils listed on the roster. Clip the answer sheets and both copies of the roster together and return as directed below.

Returning the Answer Sheets and Rosters

Completed answer sheets and rosters must be returned by mail, first class. Whenever possible these should be mailed under government frank.

It is important that the answer sheets not be folded or allowed to become “dog-eared” since this will make it impossible to put them through the scoring machine. Pack all answer sheets flat and reinforce the bundles of answer sheets with firm pieces of card-board.

Mail the answer sheets and rosters to:

The Guidance Bureau
University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas

These answer sheets and rosters should be mailed as soon as the testing is completed in any grade in any school. Promptness in returning the answer sheets will help to insure promptness in getting the test results back to the schools.

The Guidance Bureau of the University of Kansas will score tests only for pupils who have completed all sections of the test. Therefore, do not send in partial or incomplete data for a pupil. For example, do not send in the reading and arithmetic answer sheets for a pupil unless he has also taken the language test.

Returning Other Supplies

The electrographic pencils belong to the central testing office and are to be used in subsequent testing programs. Be sure to recover these pencils from the pupils, repack them in the boxes and ship them by parcel post. There may be some loss on these pencils but it should be held to a minimum.

The test booklets, test manuals, and unused copies of answer sheets, background information sheets, and sample questtion sheets also should be returned. There is not the same urgency about the return of these items, however, as of the marked answer sheets, rosters, and pencils. Consequently, these may be shipped by freight, if desired.

Send all items under this heading to:

L. Madison Coombs
Education Specialist
Haskell Institute
Lawrence, Kansas

SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS

BACKGROUND INFORMATION SHEET

1. See that all students have pencils. The special electrographic pencils are not necessary for this sheet, but they maybe used if desired. Pen and ink may be used if preferred.
2. Distribute the sheets with the side headed, “Background Information” face up. (Instructions for the reverse side are printed on the sheet itself.)
3. Say:

   “On the sheet which you have been given I want you to fill in some information about yourself. I will help you as we go along. Do not write anything at all on the back of the sheet.

   “Write the date on the first line.” (Write the date on the blackboard.)
   
   “ After the number ‘1’ write your first name first, then your middle name, then your last name. Be sure to write clearly.” (Printing or manuscript writing is desirable.) “If you are a boy, put a check mark after ‘Boy’; if you are a girl put a check mark after ‘Girl’.
   
   “ After number ‘3’ write the name of this school.” (For younger students write the name of the school on the blackboard.)
   
   “ After number ‘4’ put a check mark in the blank after . . . . . . .(indicate the appropriate blank, depending upon the type of school being tested.)
   
   “Number ‘5’ asks whether you are Indian or white. Put a check mark in the space after ‘Indian’, if you are Indian, and in the space after ‘white’, If you are white.” (If all of the pupils in the group are Indian, recognition of that fact may be made).
   
   “ Number ‘6’ asks you, if you are Indian, to state your degree of Indian blood. If you are a fullblood, write the word. ‘full’ in the space at the right. If you are one-half Indian blood, you should write the fraction 1/2 in the space. If you are three-fourths Indian you should write the fraction 3/4, etc.” (The person administering the tests should write these and other applicable fractions on the blackboard. Be sure to give students all the help they need in answering this question.)
   
   “ After number ‘7’ write . . . . . . . . (name the grade or grades.)
   
   “ Number ‘8’ asks how many years old you are now. If you have reached your tenth birthday, you will write ‘10’. If you will soon have your tenth birthday, but have not yet reached it, you will write ‘9’.
   
   “ After the number ‘9’ write your birthday.” (Help students in computation of their birth year. Be sure these are as accurate as possible.)
   
   “ Number ‘10’ asks how old you were when you first started to school.” (The younger students may need assistance In this computation.)
   
   “ Number ‘11’ asks what languages you could speak when you first started to school.
   
   Place a check mark after the correct answer. If you could only say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. or ‘Hello’ in English, but always spoke in Indian to your parents, put a check mark after ‘Indian only’. If you spoke neither English nor Indian when you first started to school, but some other language such as Spanish, write the name of that language in the space after ‘Only’.” (Check closely on the accuracy of the student’s responses.)
   
   “Number ‘12’ asks how many years you have gone to school, including this year. Count all the years you have gone to school, including years when you did not attend the whole year.”
   
   “Number ‘13’ asks what schools you have gone to. List all the schools you have attended, starting with the one where you were a beginner. You are also to show whether each school was a government, public, or mission school, whether it was a day, boarding, or non-reservation school and what grades you were in at that school.” (Help the students to answer this item accurately.)
   
   “Number ‘14’ asks, ‘Where is your permanent home?’ You are to make check marks in the right spaces, and write in the other information called for.” (Boarding school students should respond to this in relation to the home of their parents, or the location where they usually spend their vacations. It will 1robably be necessary for you to help some students with the distances from towns and the approximate population of towns. Give all the help necessary to insure accuracy,)
   
   “ Number ‘15’ asks, ‘Who are your friends?’ This means, ‘With whom do you play?’ (The accuracy of the responses to this question is important.)
   
   “ Alter 16’ check. . . . . . . .(Give the students the proper information.)
   
   “ Alter number ‘17’ write the number which tells the grade you expect to ftrii1sh before you stop going to school. How long do you expect to attend school?”

4. Do not permit students to write on the back side of the sheet. When students have finished the front page, collect the papers.

SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS
SAMPLE QUESTIONS No Time Limit

1. See that each student has a special electrographic pencil with an eraser.
2. Say:
   
   “ You are going to take some tests today, but first you axe to have some practice on how to mark your answers. These tests are probably a little different from any you have taken before, in that instead of marking your answers on the test booklet, you mark them on a separate answer sheet. This does not make the test any harder, but we want to be sure that you know how to go about marking the answers.
   
   “ In just a moment I am going to give you a sheet of paper with some sample questions on it. Do not make any marks on this paper until I tell you to do so. I will explain carefully what you are to do as we go along.”
3. Distribute the Sample Question Sheets.
4. Say:
   
   “ Now look at the sheet which has been given you. You will notice that there are some Sample Questions above the line which runs across the page and some Answer Spaces below it. Think of the Answer Spaces below the line as if they were on a separate sheet of paper, for they will be on a separate sheet when you take the tests.
   
   “ Now look at question 1 under ‘Test 1--Section A’. You see two words, ‘b-e-e-t’ and ‘b-e-a-t’. Are these two words the same or are they different? Are they spelled the same? No, they are different. Now look at the Answer Spaces below the line, under Test 1--Section A. At the right of the number ‘1’ are two answer spaces, one with ‘S’ above it, and the other with ‘D’ above it. Since the words In this question are different from each other, take your special pencil and make a heavy black mark within the pair of dotted lines under ‘D’. Make the mark as long as the pair of dotted lines and move your pencil up and down firmly to make a heavy black line.” (Demonstrate on blackboard.)
   
   “ Now look at question 2 under ‘Test 1--Section A’. You see two words, ‘c-o-m-p-a-r-e’ and ‘c-o-m-p-a-r-e’. Are these words the same or are they different? Yes, they are exactly the same. Now find the answer spaces to the right of the number ‘2’ under Test 1--Section A below the line. Since the words in this question are the same, make a heavy black line with your special pencil between the pair of dotted 1[ne8 under ‘S’.”
   
   (Check to be sure that all the children are finding the correct answer spaces and are marking them properly. Give whatever help Is needed to insure correct marking of the answer spaces.)
   
   “ Now look at question 3 under ‘Test 1--Section C’. Toward the left hand side the sheet see the word ‘bright’. Toward the right hand side of the page see four words, ‘eat’, ‘small’, ‘dark’, and ‘read’, numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4. You are to mark the number of the word that means the opposite or about the opposite of the first word. Which of the four numbered words means the opposite of ‘bright’? (Let the group respond.) “Yes, ‘dark’, the word with the small 3 above it, is correct. Now, look at the answer spaces under Test 1--Section C at the right of the small heavy black 3. Make your heavy black mark within the pair of dotted lines under the small light black 3.
   
   “ Now look at question 4 under ‘Test 1--Section C’. The first word is ‘early’ and the other words are ‘walk’, ‘late’, ‘lock’, and ‘myth’. Which of these four words means the opposite of ‘early’? Yes, ‘late’ is correct and it is number 2. Now find the second answer space for question 4 under Test 1--Section C and make your heavy black mark.” (Check to see that the students are marking the paper correctly and that they are beginning to understand the procedure.)
   
   “ Now look at question 5 under ‘Test 1--Section D’. This is much the same as ‘Section C’, above, except that here you are to mark the number of the word at the right which means the same as the word at the left. Which word means the same, or about the same, as ‘talk’? Yes, ‘speak’ with the number 4 above it. Now find the fourth space for question 5 under Test 1--Section D in the answer spaces below and make your heavy black mark. Now do question 6 under Test 1--Section D. What word means the same, or about the same as ‘walk’? Yes, ‘stroll’, number 1, is correct. Make your mark in the first answer space for question 6 under Test 1--Section D.
   
   “ Now look at question 1 under ‘Test 3--Section A’. At the left see the word ‘twelve, spelled out. At the right of the word ‘twelve’ see four numbers: ‘10’, ‘12’, ‘24’, and ‘2’, and the word ‘None’, with the letters a, ~. c, d, and e before them. For some of the problems none of the answers given may be correct. If you cannot work a problem, or if you think that none of the answers given is correct, mark the letter ‘e’. What letter does the number, 12, have in front of it? Yes, •‘b’ is correct. Therefore, you should make a heavy black mark under the ‘b’ in answer row ‘1’, under Test 3--Section A in the answer spaces.
   
   “ Now look at question 2 under ‘Test 3--Section A’. The words, ‘one hundred two’ are spelled out. What is the letter in front of the number ‘102’ at the right? Yes, ‘c’ is correct. Make a heavy black mark under the ‘c’ in answer row ‘2’ under Test 3--Section A in the answer spaces.”
5. See that each student is supplied with a sheet of scratch paper.
6. Say:
   
   “ Now look at question (3), in parentheses, under ‘Test 4--Section D’. Have your scratch paper ready. You need not copy any problem. Just place your scratch paper under the problem, then do your figuring. Remember not to do any figuring on the question sheet.” (Demonstrate how to place the scratch paper, if necessary.) “This is a problem in addition. What is the correct answer?” (Wait until the students have had time to find the answer and then allow the class to respond.) “Yes, ‘39’ is the correct answer. Do you find ‘39’ among the numbers at the right? Yes. What letter is in front of it? That is right, ‘d’. Now make your mark under ‘d’ in answer row (3) under Test 4--Section D in the answer spaces.
   
   “ Now look at question (4) under ‘Test 4--Section D’. Do it in the same way. What is the correct answer? Yes, ‘34’. What is the letter in front of ‘34’? Yes, ‘a’ Now make your mark under ‘a’ in answer row (4) under Test 4- -Section D in the answer spaces.
7. Check to see that all have marked the sheets correctly and collect the sheets and the scratch paper.

INSTRUCTIONS

(For filling in above)

1. School enrollment is the total number of students enrolled in the school during the 1953-54 school year thus far.
2. Give the total number of years that the student has attended this school, including the 1953-54 academic year. Count every year in which he was enrolled and attended for a month or mare.
3. Three entries are required to describe attendance:
   
   1. Enter on the first line the total number of days of school offered during the school year just past, 1952-53, not the current school year. This figure indicates how many days the student could have been in school if he had attended regularly. Boarding schools should count only the number of days on which a regular classroom was in operation.
   2. On the second line, enter the number of days the student was absent from this regular classroom program during the 1952-53 school year, if he was attending your school at that time. If a boarding school student was absent on a Sunday, for example, this would not be included in this figure.
   3. On the third line indicate whether your program last year was a day program, in which students returned home each afternoon; a five-day boarding program, in which students lived at the school Monday through Friday; or a full boarding program, in which the students lived at the school throughout the school year.
      
4. Check one of the three spaces which, in your judgment, best describes the student’s general physical condition at present.

APPENDIX B

Mothod for Determining the Area Hierarchy of Achievement

The first step in securing a general hierarchy of the areas with regard to achievement was to establish an ordering of the six areas on each of the achievement tests for each grade. The ranks of mean (average) achievement for each grade are shown in Table B-i. The table should be read by going across the rows. For instance, we find that fourth graders in the Anadarko area had the highest mean score for the reading vocabulary test, the Aberdeen area fourth graders had the second highest mean, and so on to the Phoenix area whose fourth graders had the lowest mean on this test.

The table can be read down the columns, too, to obtain a picture of the consistency with which a particular area held a rank throughout the grades tested. A study of the table will show that there was some variability of ranks among the areas. The question which is then posed is: Can the ranks of area mean achievement be “averaged” in some way to give an over-all picture of the ranks of the areas in all skills and grades?

Ranks, as such, cannot be added and averaged since they do not take account of the size of differences between ranks. A method is available however by which normalized standard scores are assigned to ranks. These scores are positioned along the distribution curve of normal probability. They have a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10. As the number of ranks changes, the specific standard scores which are used changes, but for any series of ranks the scores always have a mean of 50.

When six categories are ranked the first rank has a score of 64, the second a score of 57, the third 52, the fourth 48, the fifth 43, and the sixth 36. These scores are shown at the top of each column in Table B-i. Thus we see that for reading vocabulary the scores assigned to the Aberdeen area from grade 4 through 12 were 57, 52, 52, 57, 57, 57, 57, 57, and 57. The sum of these scores is 503 and their arithmetic average is 55.89. This mean standard score for the Aberdeen area can then be compared with the mean on reading vocabulary for each of the other areas.

(The Anadarko and Muskogee area raw score means were not significantly different from each other for any of the seven achievement tests in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades. Both areas were therefore combined on this level. For the purpose of ranking, these Oklahoma areas were both listed for two adjacent ranks in the three grades mentioned. The standard score assigned to each area was the mid-point between the standard scores assigned to the two adjacent ranks. Thus six ranks were always maintained. Each area was then ranked sixty-three times, i.e., in nine grades on seven tests.)

The standard scores assigned to the rankings of an area for all grades in all seven skills were added and averaged to obtain the general hierarchy. The mean standard score of each area was as follows:

Standard deviations were calculated on the standard scores for each area. Tests for the significance of the difference between means of standard scores were then made. The results of these tests of significance of difference are shown in Table B-2. These may be summarized by saying that there was no significant difference between mean rank scores of the Anadarko and Billings areas but the differences between all other pairs of means were significant. Significance was here defined to be at the .05 level of confidence. By this it is meant that a difference as great as or greater than the observed difference in means would have occurred less than 5 times in 101) by chance alone. The difference between the means for the Billings and Aberdeen areas very closely approached the .05 level of probability.

The method of assigning normalized standard scores to ranks, and the tables of standard scores may be further investigated by referring to “Tables for Transmutation of Orders of Merit into Units of Amount or Scores” by Kenneth E. Anderson, Robert T. Gray, and Einar V. Kullstedt, in the Journal of Experimental Education, 1954, XXII, 247-256.