A survey of the elementary schools in the city of East Kildonan
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Date
1964
Authors
Douglas, Charles Eber
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Abstract
The purpose of this study is to survey the adequacy of the elementary schools and the services provided by the teachers and the administrators who are charged with the responsibility of educating the children of East Kildonan from Grades I to VI. It is the writer's assumption that there is a need for some new services and for certain changes in the present form of organization and administration of these grades. There will be special emphasis upon, and recommendations relating to, classroom organization, exceptional students, classroom teachers and school administrators. The data for this survey were drawn from a variety of sources. The most important sources were the replies given by teachers and administrators to the questionnaires, prepared and submitted to them by the writer. Further valuable sources of information were the records accumulated in the local school board office. The writer is indebted to the School Board Office personnel who provided most of the statistical information on the past size of the district, in terms of student enrolment, and teachers engaged in teaching. The local school inspector has provided records pertaining to teacher certification. Other sources of information were the many books, pamphlets and educational magazines which contain material on the elementary school. As the study develops it appears that certain policy changes are required in the schools of East Kildonan. The major recommendation of the thesis is a suggestion that the present grade system should be abandoned and the programme of studies organized into units of work. The most administratively practicable solution to the problem of providing more adequately for the individual differences of students is the implementation of a programme designed to promote the greatest measure of growth in each student. Such a plan would require that the subject content of each grade be organized into units of work, which each child would be given and in which each would progress at his own rate of learning. A plan such as that proposed for the Province of Saskatchewan or the Hamilton Plan would seem to be most suitable. The essential feature of such a plan is that all children are taught the same material, and at a pace consistent with their mental ability.