A survey of the educational system of the Philippine islands by the Board of educational survey, created under acts 3162 and 3196 of the Philippine Legislature.

CHAPTER I

MEASUREMENT OF THE RESULTS OF INSTRUCTION
The members of the Commission have evaluated the quality of
instruction in two ways. They have tested a large number of pupils,
and they have critically observed hundreds of classroom exercises.
In this section will be presented the results of a comprehensive effort
to measure the results of instruction.
The most critical issue in the Philippine school situation is the teaching
of English. For twenty-five years the Government of the Islands
has conducted a unique experiment-that of teaching the children of a
whole people in a foreign language. The people and the Government
now wish to know the results of that experiment. The first question
which confronted the Commission was, therefore: Do Filipino children
learn to use the English language well enough to guarantee facility in
its use in adult life? Specifically, how well can they read, write, and
speak English? Does the work of the past quarter century give promise
that soon a generation of young people will be produced by the schools
skilled in using English as their common language?
Because the language probem is so critical, therefore, we shall
devote much of our measurement report to it. In addition, however,
we have evaluated other aspects of instruction. Our tests have
measured various skills and types of information of the children. We
have attempted to answer these questions: How well informed are
the children about the community in which they live, the problems
and conditions of their country, and the crucial issues of world affairs
which are so important to the future of their country? How much
knowledge have they of the economic and industrial life of their own
people; of the history of their country? Are they familiar with the
more pertinent characteristics of the natural and scientific world in
which they live? Have they skill in using number processes? How
well can they reason with numerical data when the problems are
presented in English? To answer these questions the Commission
has given 223,710 tests.
More than 32,000 children have been tested with modern standardized
examinations. Four measures of ability to read were obtained; one
measure of knowledge of correct usage in English; one detailed measure
of ability to comprehend oral English; one measure of skill in arithmetical
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