Measuring Success in College of Students from Experimental High Schools

Abstract

T HE Eight Year Study, carried on by the Commission on the Relation of School and College of the Progressive Education Association, was organized to provide an opportunity for a selected group of thirty secondary schools to experiment with their programs. The schools felt that, if they were unhampered by collegeentrance requirements, they could provide for all their pupils more fruitful and effective educational experiences. To facilitate experimentation with a broader program, a majority of the colleges throughout the country agreed, for the period of the study, to admit students from these secondary schools without reference to the particular pattern of entrance units or credits presented. The study provided for a twofold program of evaluation: one in the high schools and one in the colleges.' The purpose of the school evaluation was to determine the extent to which a school was successful in achieving the objectives set up by its faculty. The evaluation staff assisted the teachers in clarifying their objectives and developed instruments designed to show the extent to which these objectives were being achieved. The primary function of the study of the college success achieved by the students was to determine the extent to which students entering college under the Eight Year Study plan were successful in the pursuit of their college work. The high schools, the colleges, the parents, and some laymen wanted to know whether students prepared in these deviate fashions could stand the gaff of college work. The schools were confident, the parents hopeful, and the colleges generally dubious. 1 The evaluation program was made possible by a subvention from the General Education Board.