GLYN MORRIS Study and Recommendations PMSS IV Records

Pine Mountain Settlement School
Series 07: Directors – Glyn Morris

GLYN MORRIS STUDY & RECOMMENDATIONS IV RECORDS

TAGS: Glyn Morris Study & Recommendations IV Records; Pine Mountain Settlement School; Harlan County, KY; Guidance; record-keeping; Student Application Blanks; Autobiography Forms; Home and Parent Records; teachers; housemothers; student counselors; Anecdotal Record; Houseparents’ Appraisal Sheet; Work Reports; interviews; scholastic records; Cumulative Records; transcriptions; student letters to parents; student files; 

GALLERY: Glyn Morris Study & Recommendations IV Records (p. 42-44)

TRANSCRIPTION: Glyn Morris Study & Recommendations IV Records

[Slightly edited.]

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42.

IV
RECORDS AND THEIR USES (1) 

The Guidance point of view can operate best when based on a well laid out and adequate system of records. If our conception of Guidance is breaking down education in terms of individual needs as the child develops, and helping him to well thought out vocational plans and preparation for them, much must be learned, recorded and used, about the individual.

The first information that comes to the School about a student is on the Student Application Blank. The data that is furnished on this form determines whether or not he will receive a personal interview for further questioning. If he meets certain broad requirements for entrance, a personal interview is arranged, usually at his home. At this meeting, he fills out the Autobiography Form, and his parent or guardian fills out the Home and Parent Record. Enough pertinent data collected in writing at this time, plus the impression received by the interviewer, forms the basis for acceptance or rejections.

All staff members, but especially the teaching staff and housemothers, are encouraged to read both the Autobiography and Home and Parent Records the first week of school, and even before the new students arrive. As a double check the Student Counselor prepares brief abstracts of this data and presents them at weekly teachers’ meetings about the second and third week, or after teachers learn faces and names of the new students.

  1. See Appendix 4.

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43.

The Anecdotal Record is made up chronologically of contributions from the staff, of brief written anecdotes describing specific social behavior, either positive or negative. Together these form a composite personality picture and indicate trends toward, or away from, satisfactory social adjustment. These anecdotes are recorded continuously by the Student Counselor.

The Houseparents’ Appraisal Sheet is checked once each semester by the houseparent and gives a summary of the student’s adjustment to living with a group, also his personal and his study habits in the dormitory.

The Work Report is filled out for each student every six weeks, or when labor changes. This evaluates not only the quality of work done but the attitudes that are developing. The Work Report, together with the Anecdotal Record and the Houseparents’ Appraisal Sheet, forms the basis for regular interviews of counseling periods with the Student Counselor.

The scholastic record is made up of written summaries by the teacher, of student achievement, and recorded on the Teacher’s Appraisal Sheet, D. For transcript purposes a condensed version of this material will be recorded on one sheet which will form the fourth or D-sheet of the Cumulative Record.

The Cumulative Record, developed chiefly for transcription purposes to employers or schools, shows on four sheets the following information for a period of four years:

  1. Brief home and family data.
  2. Standard test record.
  3. Extra curricular activity and personal development.
  4. Scholastic records and evaluations.

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44.

Another important part of the record is the student’s semester letter to parent or guardian in which he comments at length on each of the following:

  1. Progress in each study.
  2. Quality of his labor.
  3. How he can be more thoughtful of others during the next term.
  4. Tentative vocational plans.

This letter, written in duplicate in order that there will be a copy for the permanent files, is supplemented by a letter from the Principal, rounding out the picture for some, and merely approving the student evaluation for others. This supplement by the Principal is based on data that is filed in writing in the student folder for that semester, which includes most of the records mentioned previously.

The student folders are arranged alphabetically in steel cabinets. Each folder has three compartments as follows:

  1. Contains original application, home and parent, autobiography, anecdotal record, and all testing data, and Infirmary records.
  2. Contains all correspondence with the student or his parents and any past transfer or graduation correspondence.
  3. Contains all scholastic, work and house parent evaluations and Cumulative Form typed in triplicate.

See Also:

GLYN MORRIS Biography

GLYN MORRIS STUDY & RECOMMENDATIONS [FOR PMSS] 1942