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Source: NMHS Newsletter May 1994The Bureau of Tests and Measurements
by Ferne Baldwin
If anyone asked what were the most noted items, beyond
the academic program, on which Manchester College built
its reputation in the 1930's, the answer almost always
included the same three activities. First, the football
and basketball teams. They were a threat to any team in
the state, including Purdue, Butler and Ball State. The
competition with Ball State was particularly intense and
a summary of that early period shows that Manchester won
6, lost 8 and tied 2.
Second, the debate tourneys. George Beauchamp came to
Manchester College about 1929 and built a program in
debate. He developed a High School Debating League which
held an annual contest at Manchester. Then he organized
a college debating tournament which attracted college
teams from all over the eastern United States. As many
as 144 teams competed and at least one year an overflow
section was sited at Huntington College because there
was simply no more room at Manchester.
Third, the Bureau of Tests and Measurements. This
activity began in the College Education Department and
was placed under the direction of Professor J. G. Meyer
and a committee of A. R. Eikenberry, O. Stuart Hamer and
I. H. Frantz. The first year, 1933, about fifty thousand
semester tests in more than a dozen subjects were sent
to city and town high schools in the northern half of
Indiana.
By 1935 the work was one of the major functions of the
College. Tests compiled by permanent instructors from
the college, the local school system and some
neighboring systems were being tested in the North
Manchester schools before printing. Tests were sold to
schools all over Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and other
states. Tests covered a wide variety of subjects and by
1936 were expanded to include the International Sunday
School Lesson Quarterly.
The work was centered in a small room in the basement of
the Administration Building. There tests were sorted and
tied into packages ready for mailing. Orders were
carefully tabulated. By 1937 Ira Frantz became the
Office Manager, receiving the orders and filling the
orders. In that year 80,000 tests were sold in the fall
semester and plans were underway to standardize the
tests and expand the circulation area.
In addition to the high school tests, the bureau was
publishing twenty-nine different sets of tests for
grades four to eight. The tests for main subjects of
elementary were prepared in booklets of sixty-four pages
containing eight monthly tests on each of four subjects.
Other booklets of sixteen pages covered three other
subjects. The high school semester-end tests were
printed in eight page booklets containing 100 objective
questions.
To print the high school tests alone, the bureau used
five tons of paper. The bureau argued that this type of
mass production allowed them to sell the booklets at a
price which made it uneconomical for schools or teachers
to build their own tests. Teachers found them to be
significant time savers.
In later years the Bureau of Tests was no longer related
to Manchester College. A flyer for winter, 1955
advertises Unit-Elementary Tests covering 150 different
text books with 10 tests per book and Semester-End Tests
in most high school subjects.
An advertising booklet in 1965 states that Manchester
tests are completely ready to administer when you
receive them, tough enough to measure both the best and
the poorest in your class, and objective and easy to
score. Final tests should be MANCHESTER TESTS. That
booklet is Volume 32 No. 3.
Perhaps someone among our readers can provide more
information about this Bureau of Tests which performed
an important function for schools for more than thirty
years.
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