work of the child from the formality that characterizes it so generally under the class method.

The Dalton Plan was originated to apply to the elementary schools but received its name from its application in the high school at Dalton, Massachusetts. Its introduction into so many high schools in the United States is an extension of the original method that was devised to apply to the work of smaller children. There is nothing about the plan that would not cause it to work equally well with all ages of children if the ground work were properly done. In Bronxville, the plan in use combines much of both the Dalton and Winnetka plans, with such modifications and additions as have seemed necessary and desirable. The plan there is called "the Individual Method," and it will be so called when mentioned below. While the plan is in operation in the elementary grades as well as in the high school, only its operation in grades 7 to 12 is discussed in this paper.

The essential feature of the class method so generally used in our high schools is the class recitation. It is quite generally believed that the following criticisms can be made legitimately of the usual class recitation:

1 As a testing device the recitation is inefficient because of lack of time to test adequately what any individual child has learned. Nothing is gained from testing what a whole class has learned, the only thing that really counts is what each child has learned.

It is

2 As a teaching device the class recitation is inefficient. based upon a child's acquiring knowledge through the ear. We do not learn efficiently through the ear. We usually have no assurance that any particular child is "tuned in" to what is going on in the classroom. Morcover, those that advocate the individual method believe that education is in proportion to the amount of effort expended by the individual, and the best assurance that effort is being expended comes from giving the child something to do, not something to hear. Education is a matter of growth from within and does not come through a "pouring into " process.

3 The value that is claimed for class discussion is not usually as great as it is thought to be. Very often but a few of the class take. part in the discussions and so frequently the discussions are what they were called by a teacher of many years experience, "forensic exchanges of ignorant opinion." Whatever value there is in a discussional way in the class method is more than equalled through the group conferences that are held under the individual method.

Under the individual method every attempt is made to throw more responsibility on the child and to make him feel that his school

work is his and not the teacher's job. A pupil soon finds out that unless he puts forth all the effort of which he is capable he makes very little progress. Unless he does his work day by day he does not succeed. Of course, under the class method he does not succeed unless he works, but he is not brought face to face with the fact in just the same direct way and as constantly as he is under the individual method. If the schools of America can bring boys and girls to a realization that each one of them is responsible for his own progress and success, that unless he does his work day by day he will find his next day's tasks "staring him in the face," that no one else will do his work for him, and that he must actually complete one task before he goes on to another, perhaps the biggest lessons of all will have been taught.

The individual method makes the progress of each child the measure of the efficiency of the work of the classroom. It changes the teaching process from that of pouring education into the child to that of providing a classroom situation that is favorable to the best learning on the part of the child. Thus the teaching becomes a means to learning by the child, which is the end of all the process. It recognizes the principle that education is dependent not so much or how much the teacher does but how much the teacher can get the child to do that is worth while. The child gets his own education it is not given to him which is more nearly in accordance with life as he will meet it.

According to the individual method as it is used in Bronxville, subject matter is divided into "assignments." For instance, the subject of factoring in algebra might constitute an assignment. Different parts of the assignment are given one or more unit values. A "unit" is the value assigned for doing a part of an assignment that requires approximately 100 minutes of study for completion by the normal pupil. As the pupil progresses through the assignment he is given "practice tests" which are diagnostic in nature. These tests are corrected by the pupil according to answer sheets that are so keyed as to indicate what he is to study if he has not fully completed the part of the assignment covered by the test. He may take several different forms of practice tests on a particular part of the assignment before he completes it, although usually he takes a succeeding test over only the part that he missed on the preceding test. If the student would be tempted to cheat in taking one of these practice tests, he soon finds that it would make no difference because the practice test is given as a teaching device.

During the time that the pupil is progressing through the assignment he may have one or more personal conferences with the teacher. This device of a personal conference has proven one of the most valuable in use with the method. The pupil seeks the conference and the teacher talks over with him his problems, difficulties and progress. Also, the personal conference offers excellent opportunity to test the pupil on what he has accomplished. It affords the teacher an opportunity to give the pupil an appreciation for the subject that is not possible in the broadcasting class method. Religious leaders testify to the fact that the most effective and efficient work is done through personal conferences with individuals. After the teacher and pupil are convinced that the pupil has qualified himself for the final test over the assignment, it is given to him. Just as with the practice tests, the whole or parts of the final test may have to be taken several times. Whenever the final test is passed completely, the pupil is given the next assignment in the subject. Under the Dalton Plan a new assignment is not given a pupil in one subject until he has completed his monthly assignments in all subjects. In Bronxville one subject is not made to carry any other subject and a pupil will progress in one subject as rapidly as he can if he does not slight his other subjects as far as proportion of time is concerned. If he does get behind schedule in a subject. he is required to give it special time at the close of the day.

The class conference, which is held on an average of about once a week, is quite different from the ordinary recitation. The pupils are quite fully prepared on the subject matter on which the conference is held and all elements of testing are omitted because it has been done so much more efficiently through the method outlined above. The conference offers opportunities for special reports, special discussions and group matters that are of special interest to all the group. It is through the class conference that the social values that come from children working together on common problems are developed. As the time is free from testing, much more effective group activity is possible. Winnetka uses the afternoon entirely for group and purely social activities, confining the individual work to the forenoons. In Bronxville, the conferences come largely in the afternoon, so the arrangement is practically the same.

Each child keeps track of his own progress on the "laboratory graph." This graph is kept in the particular room, called "laboratory," the room in which a subject is studied, and gives the teacher and the pupil accurate information about the pupil's progress. On the graph card are shown the date he receives the assignment, the

date it should be finished, the date he did finish it, and the unit value of the assignment. This laboratory graph has proved to be a most valuable device, furnishing the same sort of motivation that the work chart furnishes in a manufacturing or sales establishment.

According to the plan in operation in Bronxville, the pupils pass from one laboratory to another at will, the only exception to this being when a particular room is in use for a conference or is filled to capacity. A general study hall is provided to take care of pupils that can not be accommodated elsewhere at a particular time. A pupil may stay as long as he wishes in a particular laboratory with the exception that he must meet his class conferences when they occur. That is, he may work all day on one subject if so inclined. Of course, the pupil is guided in all of these matters. Each mornng he plans his day during the first 15 minutes while in his home room with his home room teacher. He plans his day on his " time

This time card is open for inspection by anyone and passes Prồng the hands of the principal and the home room teacher twice cach day wharding plenty of opportunity for guidance when needed.

NO CISU NA PILoï, told absolutely what he must do unless he has KONG GO EST LA in his planning. Our pupils have shown surprising va, 38, in Per akility to plan, their day's work efficiently. When

kap» got Na leaves a laboratory, the teacher in charge of PCA Noetav Pecards the time and places her initials on the card. demonstrates that he can use his time efficiently and not Chart the hills or elsewhere, he is relieved from showing Need ass i tot planning his daily program. A on pirs have been granted this privilege and dser tine problems. In fact, the indisembling problems to a negligible part naris are too busy to make trouble.

A pupil is certified as eligible for Regents' examination in a particular subject when he has completed all of the assignments that make up that subject. While it may take many pupils a longer time to prepare for their particular examinations, the records they make ought, in time, to be much higher, and the mortality rate much lower.

The problem that caused most of our work and study last year was that of the assignment. There was a tendency for the assignments. to be too complicated and to require for a minimum for all what should have been the maximum for many. In other words, our assignments this year require the minimum essentials for all with enriched and extended requirements for those that are capable of doing more. We are not interested in pupils completing their high school courses in less than 4 years, but we are attempting to get each pupil to work more nearly to his capacity. Last year we attempted to have each pupil keep a record of his individual progress on a progress card, but this card has been abandoned and the laboratory graph is used in its place. There was a tendency for us to spend too much time with the "overhead" of the plan, but that has been reduced to a minimum so that now a very small percentage of either the teacher's or the pupil's time is taken up with record keeping. As was mentioned above, the time card was used for all pupils last year. It is recommended that this be so in any school instituting the plan. The Time Card is unnecessary, however, for a large proportion of the pupils as they learn to assume the responsibility for the direction of their own affairs.

After 5 months of use of the individual method in Bronxville, certain results are becoming quite evident, according to the testimony of the teachers, the pupils and the parents. The parents have been very much interested in the experiment from the beginning and we have tried to carry them with us constantly. They have given us

an intelligent cooperation that has been most gratifying and encouraging. All our pupils are studying harder than ever before. It is too early to tell definitely whether or not they are learning more than before, although results so far are encouraging. There is no question but that our pupils are growing in their ability to plan their own time efficiently and in their willingness and desire to assume responsibility for their work. Both our pupils and our teachers, because of the assignments, know more definitely where they are going than they did before. Pupils work constantly with their subject purpose in mind. In fact, they can not do their work unless they keep their purposes constantly in mind. Teachers plan their work more carefully than ever before and know more about what each pupil is