The evidence put together by Shuey and McGurk is solid, dispassionate, unbiased, overwhelming; it cannot be disregarded--not, that is, if one wishes to gain any real understanding of the problems that confront local school boards over much of the South. To pull the general figures down to a single, specific case study, consider the findings of some tests administered in Dallas in 1954-55. There more than 1600 Negro pupils and almost 5700 white pupils were tested in the first grade on their general readiness for learning--on their ability to pay attention, follow directions, handle crayons and pencils, understand and use language, and so on. These were the findings:
----------------------------------------------------------------- _Number of _Per cent _Number of _Per cent Negro Negro White White Children_ Children_ _Category_ Children_ Children_ ----------------------------------------------------------------- 15 .92 Superior 576 10.14 105 6.47 High Normal 1,503 26.50 299 18.43 Average 1,814 31.96 677 41.71 Low Normal 1,391 24.50 527 32.47 Poor Risk 392 6.90 -----------------------------------------------------------------
In sum, 37 per cent of the white first-graders scored in the “high normal” and “superior” groups, against only 7 per cent of the Negro first-graders. At the other end of the scale, 31 per cent of the white pupils scored in the “low normal” and “poor risk” groups, against 74 per cent of the Negro pupils.
For another specific example, consider the findings in Virginia among pupils of an older age group. Over a period of five successive years, between 1949-50 and 1953-54, the State Department of Education administered the Iowa Silent Reading Test to all eighth-graders in the Virginia public school system. This is a standardized achievement test in reading, employed by school systems throughout the country to discover certain facts of immediate, practical importance to classroom teachers: How well do the children read? How well do they understand? The tests in Virginia were given in May of each year, when all of the children had a grade placement of 8.8 (eighth year, eighth month). Scores on the Iowa test are calibrated to match the grade placement, so that a pupil who scores a reading-grade equivalent of 8.7 would be one month retarded in achievement, and a pupil who scores a reading-grade equivalent of 8.9 would be one month advanced in achievement.
