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.

124 EDUCATIONAL SURVEY OF THE PHILIPPINES

lished that tests given by Filipino examiners lead to the same general
conclusions as those given by American examiners on the Commission.
Meticulous care was taken in timing the tests. Work on a given
examination was begun and stopped exactly on the prescribed second.
Each examiner followed the precaution of repeating directions until
he was positive that they were understood by the children. We know
of no case in which pupils were blocked by lack of understanding
directions. The papers of pupils discovered cheating were not used
in the evaluation of results.
Summing up the conditions surrounding the administration of the
tests, the Commission believes that the manner in which the directions
for the tests were given, the accuracy of timing, and the watchfulness
of the examiner in detecting cheating establishes thoroughly the validity
of the tests. It is our confident judgment, therefore, that they are a
sound measure of the scholastic achievement and of the verbal mental
ability of children in Philippine schools.
THE TESTS WERE MODIFIED TO FIT FILIPINO CONDITIONS
The tests used in reading, arithmetic, history, and literature, nature
study and science, dictation and spelling were a modified form of the
Stanford Achievement Test. After fifteen years of work in standardizing tests, this is regarded generally as the best composite attainment
test available in America. It was chosen for the survey not only
because of its excellent design but also because of its convenient and
practicable form. But a single school day could be given to complete
the testing of a given municipality. The nine subject examinations of
the Stanford Test were available in one booklet, the contents had
been scientifically graded and well standardized, and sound norms
of attainment on American children were at hand.
The test, however, had been used only on American children. Accordingly the members of the Commission modified its contents to fit
Filipino conditions. For the American names of persons, units of
measure, implements and the like were substituted the corresponding
Filipino terms. The information tests in nature study-science and
history-literature were modified in many aspects. Forty-two items were
revised to fit the course of study of the Philippine schools. But with
the exception of the two information tests, only slight modification was
necessary. In the arithmetic test (IV) only a total of 9 items were
changed. The only changes made in the reading tests were changes in
names of persons, animals, objects, and action words. The changes
are summarized as follows: