The Grade Books and Reports are four volumes (Volume 1 - June 1895-February 1902, Volume 2 - June 1902-June 1909, Volume 3 - 1910-1915, Volume 4 - February 1916-Feburary 1922) that record graduating students’ grades in teaching practice, style, and form; the school grades or subjects for which they would be qualified to teach; and comments about their performance. The lists are arranged chronologically by class graduating year, then alphabetically by name. At the time, grading was described in Time the Great Teacher by Rachel M. Jarrold and Glenn E. Fromm, “...School marking of the pupils was an elaborate process, which would lead teachers of today to rise in rebellion.”
The grading system in these volumes was made up of three different scales: a set of numbers from 1 to 5 (1 being the highest) for style and form, 1 to 100 for academic achievement, and the letter system described in the Final Grades Books (E = Excellent, VG = Very Good, G = Good, F = Fair, P = Poor/Failure) for teaching practice. The comments about a student’s performance were for both academic work and as a student teacher. These remarks ranged from “...unsympathetic, due to lack of facial expression,” and “...teaching is superficial, sometimes inaccurate…,” to “...not very intelligent, but manages fairly well….”
The first volume lists students’ names, grades in Discipline, Originality, Intelligence, Manner, Teaching, Practice (academic work), Music, and grade level qualified to teach. The second volume adds a student’s home address and the subject areas of Kindergarten, Vocal or Instrumental Music, History, Mathematics, Nature Study, Psychology, English, Latin, German, and French. It drops “Originality” as an
assessment. In June 1908, a column was added for “State Teaching Center,” which was the school where the student began their required teaching assignment. The fourth volume adds a column for the student’s age.
