These scales are especially valuable for diagnosing the arithmetical ailments of children. The variation and gradation of the Woody scales are commendable features of these scales. The following quotation from the author indicates their specific value: "The great variety of the problems in these scales, and the fact that the problems in each of the various operations proceed from the simplest to the more difficult problems, aid greatly in the location of the weaknesses of the class. If a large number in a class fail to invert the divisor in the problems in division of fractions, or if a large number in a class fail to locate the decimal point properly in the problems in multiplication of decimal fractions, a teacher should know immediately that these classes need more practice in these particular processes. In a like manner, by locating the particular types of problems missed, one should be able to direct the work of a class more intelligently."

Grade

Ballou's Addition-of-Fractions Tests. — These tests grev out of an analysis of the specific steps involved in adding two or more fractions. Since specific abilities are required to make these specific steps in solving problems in the addition of fractions, Ballou rightly concluded that there should be a test for these abilities. The Ballou tests are given below.

1205 10.7 79.6 7.765.6 5.5 41.9 4.0 69.5 4.6 51.0 4.4 48.6

1243 16.5 86.6 10.1 72.9 7.3 46.1 5.3 69.2 6.3 54.9 5.7 48.1

1130 20.7 88.2 11.6 74.4 8.4 47.4 6.0 67.8 6.9 52.4 6.4 46.5

The other arithmetic tests which have appeared have noc attracted such wide attention as those given. Reasoning tests in arithmetic, one each by Stone and Starch, have been used quite extensively. Other tests will be forthcoming. Courtis is perfecting a diagnostic test in the fundamentals of arithmetic, which promises much.

DRAWING SCALES

The Thorndike Scale for Measuring Achievement in Drawing. In the Teachers College Record for November, 1913, Professor Thorndike presented a scale for the measurement of achievement in drawing. In reference to the purpose of this scale he says: "It is the purpose to present a provisional scale by which achievement and improvement in drawing can be measured with somewhat the same clearness, exactness, and commensurability as achievement and improvement in lifting weights."

The same general method which was used in determining the Thorndike Handwriting Scale and the Hillegas Composition Scale was employed in the making of this drawing scale. Forty-five drawings of children were first submitted to a number of critics whose ratings reduced the number to a series of fifteen drawings graded from zero up.

This series of fifteen drawings was rated by 376 persons, of whom sixty were artists of distinction, eighty were supervisors of art, and 236 were students of education and psychology.

The unit of the scale was one merit. This unit is "the difference of merit in children's drawings, which 75% of artists, teachers of art, and intelligent judges generally can distinguish, and which 25% of them fail to distinguish." The drawing lowest in the scale was judged of zero merit.

The difference of merit between two drawings is not necessarily a unit merit. It depends upon the relative number of judges who considered one drawing better than the other. If 75% of the judges considered one drawing superior to another the difference in quality is called a unit of merit. If less than 75% of the judges distinguished a difference in merit between two drawings, the difference between the two is less than one unit. If more than 75% of the judges discerned a difference in merit the difference in quality was marked more than one unit. The following is the determined rating:

The reader should see the drawings in the Teachers College Record, which accompany these merit values.

No one is more conscious of the limitations of this scale than is Professor Thorndike. In spite of its limitations it is a valuable contribution to experimental education. The method of attack, the care employed in determining differences in merit, and the scientific attitude of the author in the whole procedure will have a wholesome effect upon investigators. It is as practical in determining the qualities of children's drawings as are the writing scales in determining the quality of handwriting. It would better meet the needs of the schools if it attempted to measure the various

aspects of children's art instead of a single aspect. It is to be hoped that it will be followed by other drawing scales which will measure the various qualities of children's drawings.

GEOGRAPHY SCALES

Of the several attempts to standardize the materials in geography for the upper grades of the elementary school, that by Professors Hahn and Lackey of the State Normal School of Wayne, Nebraska, is certainly the most successful of those which have as yet reached the public.

Hahn-Lackey Geography Scale. This scale consists of two hundred and sixteen questions arranged in twentythree columns, on the basis of their relative difficulty. The determination of the relative difficulty of these questions and their arrangement in columns resulted from an examination of the answers of 1696 children in twelve different schools, to whom the questions were given.

The known difficulty of the questions, their arrangement in twenty-three columns in the order of their known difficulty for pupils in grades four to eight inclusive, the specific directions relative to the values to be given, the answers received, the wide distribution of the subjectmatter involved, and especially the practicability of this scale, place it alongside some of the best scales that have appeared.

HISTORY TESTS

Tests of Information in American History. So far, methodologists in American history have not succeeded in supplying an objective standard that is entirely satisfactory. The Tests of Information in American History1

1 Tests of Information in American History, C. L. Harlan, College of Education, University of Minnesota.