ommonly used first readers. Since it is
one of the very commonest words, is easy to spell, and is found in all
first readers, it is placed in the first list in the book. In a
similar way every lesson in the first three grades has been a matter
of computation. The lessons in grades above the third have been made
in the same careful fashion, except that occurrences in readers were
not taken into consideration. It is clear that the lessons increase
gradually in difficulty in each successive grade, and that a pupil who
is forced to leave school at the end of grade six or seven will have
learned the words which he is most likely to need in writing.

=Standard Scores.=--By means of standard errors at the close of each
lesson, the pupils and teachers may compare results with those of
other grades and with those obtained in the country at large. These
standards were taken from the Ashbaugh Scale and from a supplementary
study conducted by Doctor Ashbaugh and Doctor Horn to determine the
standards for words not included in the original scale. It must be
kept in mind that these standard errors are high, being the result of
the present unfavorable conditions of the teaching of spelling in the
country at large. They are used merely for the purpose of comparison.
The ideal to keep before your class is that they should learn their
lessons so that they will not misspell a single word, but this ideal
is intensified by the use of the standard errors.

=How to Teach the Lesson.=--Four points must be kept in mind as more
important than any others:

1. The teacher must test her pupils on each lesson before they begin
to study.

2. Each pupil should study only the words which he misspelled on the
test.

3. He must be taught an economical method of study.

4. He must see clearly what progress he is making.

Detailed suggestions for teaching the lessons are given in the
paragraphs which follow. These suggestions are based upon the
investigations reviewed by Doctor Horn in the Eighteenth Yearbook of
the National Society for the Study of Education. The method has been
tried out thoroughly in public school classrooms, and has proved
uniformly successful. Teachers are urged to follow it as closely as
possible. If, however, the teacher prefers another method of study,
she may use it. The book may be used with any method.

=Getting Started Right.=--The first few lessons may well be spent in
systematizing class procedure and teaching pupil