A Differentiated Program for Duller High School Pupils
of the duller high school pupils in certain New York State village superintendencies are being met more nearly by an adjusted offer ing or by the traditional Regents program. Six schools were studied. Three of them were Regents schools that provide the same offering and maintain substantially the same requirements for all pupils. The other three attempt to adjust their offering to meet the needs of the duller pupils. Some of the adjust ments are: (i) a curriculum constructed to help a pupil do whatever he is going to do rather than to prepare him for admission to college; (2) adjustment of marks to avoid discouraging a pupil who is working nearly to capacity; (3) the presentation of subject matter, which, like the curriculum, is func tional rather than of college entrance type; and (4) the offering of a diploma based on local teachers' examinations, not State Regents examinations. Three criteria were employed to determine whether the traditional Regents schools or the experimental schools succeed more nearly in adjusting their offering to the needs of their duller high school pupils: (1) the ex tent to which the pupils continue in school; (2) the degree to which they enjoy the ex perience, coupled with a conviction that the experience is socially and culturally valuable; and (3) the extent of actual attainment of some of the recognized aims of secondary education.