A Side-Light on Platoon Schools

Abstract

The first St. Paul school to be organized on the platoon plan adopted that system of organization in the autumn of 1919. Eighteen schools are now operating on this plan, but the records here described are for fifteen schools, the number of platoon schools in operation during the school year 1923-24. These fifteen schools are located in various sections of the city. The organization of platoon schools in St. Paul was encouraged by the superintendent of schools because he believes in the plan as having distinct educational advantages as well as providing economical housing. The decisive factor in the establishment of the plan in the various buildings, however, has been in some cases a principal's interest in the experiment, in some cases the special adaptability of a given building for such use, and frequently the overcoming of crowded conditions. Since 1920 St. Paul has been carrying on an extensive building program that has helped to bring the building accommodations up to date. The adoption of the platoon program, however, has been a most helpful factor in reducing part-time enrolment from 2,200, three years ago, to fewer than 0oo pupils this school year. The clientage of the schools undertaking the platoon plan is probably a fair cross-section of the city enrolment when considered from the point of view of intellectual ability and home advantages. Two or three of the schools are in a new and rapidly growing section, but several are in the older, semi-industrial sections of the city, in which housing and home advantages are below the average. Surface indications and a few group tests would indicate that the pupils in the platoon schools, while averaging near the city median in ability, are, on the whole, slightly below that median rather than above. The School Division of Research, under the direction of L. L. Everly, has charge of city-wide standard tests in the grade subjects. Three years ago, when eight or ten schools were using the platoon