Low sixth grade, Laredo, Texas, age and achievement retardation with possible causes

In this study retardation is a descriptive term. It refers to those school children who are below the at-grade standards more or less arbitrarily set up by certain measuring devices. These devices are described in some detail later in this research. Retardation implies all the problems of irregular attendance, dropping out, repeating grades, and the performance of school work by pupils in any unsatisfactory manner. Retardation has always been a problem of greatest complexity and concern to the superintendent, the supervisor, the school principal, the teacher, and to the taxpaying public as a whole. It is a serious problem to the superintendent because he is expected by the community-to return to it the best citizens at the lowest reasonable cost per pupil. The problem of retardation is important to the supervisor because it is he who is responsible for the educational status of all the pupils, those at grade and those accelerated as well. He is the one expected to provide for individual differences, and at the same time to make uniformity in the school program. Retardation makes of this a very difficult task