The Relation of the Home Factor to Achievement and Intelligence Test Scores

Abstract

The recently developed Sims Score Card for Measuring the Socio Economie Status offers a new opportunity to study the relation of the factor'' to such other factors as the achievement and intelligence of school children. Through the cooperation of Superintendent Chester P. Davis, of the Stillwater, Oklahoma, city schools, the writer secured a body of data which reveal the significance of the rating of the home, as measured by the Sims Score Card, in relation to school achievement, as measured by the Stanford Achievement Test. The data further reveal the relation between the home factor and mental level, as measured by the McCall Multimental Scale. The chronological ages of the pupils were determined and this factor is also reported. The groups studied were an eighth grade group of 113 pupils and a ninth grade group of 130 pupils. The pupils attended the Junior High School, Stillwater, Oklahoma. The two groups were similar, so far as known, with one exception. The ninth grade is the transfer point for rural pupils who wish to complete high school and therefore it is proba bly true that there is a tendency for the duller children to drop out at this point since there is no compulsory feature beyond the eighth grade. Promotions in the rural schools tend to be slower than in the city. This may result in the inclusion of a number of older and brighter pupils in the ninth grade. The accompanying tables carry fairly complete statistical values for the two groups. Readers who wish to make more interpretations than are attempted in the present discussion, will find the complete tables of service. Table I carries the mean scores, the standard deviations, and the number of the pupils tested. It is particularly important to note the results for the Sims Score Card. The average score reported by the author is 16. The means for our two groups are just slightly higher. It is clear from the size of the standard deviations that the two groups range both above and below Sim's average. In other words, these two groups constitute a fair cross-section of American homes, not an atypical sam ple. The wide range of status, represented in the study, gives abundant opportunity for these differences to operate in their relation to school success, mental level, and rate of progress through school. 88