The cumulative record

THE CUMULATIVE RECORD USED FOR GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING

1. The cumulative Record Prepared by : Balwinder Kaur Asst. Prof. in Pedagogy of English Partap College of Education, Ludhiana

2. Meaning & Definition The cumulative record has been defined as “a method of recording, filing and using information essential for the guidance of students”. “Cumulative records consist of all data about an individual pupil which a school con­siders important enough to collect and record, usually in some organised way, for safe keeping from year to year.” Bonney and Hampleman “Cumulative record is defined as “a permanent record of a student which is kept up-to-date by school, it is his educational history with informa­tion about his school achievement, attendance, health, test scores and similar pertinent data.” Arthur Jones

3. A cumulative record card supplies information on points such as the following: Personal: ( i ) name, (ii) date of birth, (iii) place of birth, (iv) sex, (v) colour , (vi) residence. Home: ( i ) names of parents, (ii) occupations of the parents, (iii) parents alive or dead, (iv) economic status, (v) number of siblings, older or younger, (vi) language spoken at home. Test scores: ( i ) general intelligence, (ii) achievement, (iii) other test scores, and (iv) personality traits. School attendance: ( i )days present or absent each year, (ii) schools attended with dates. Health: record of physical disabilities, vaccination record, diseases suffered from. Miscellaneous: ( i ) vocational plans, (ii) extracurricular activities, (iii) employment during studies, and (iv) counsellor’s note.

4. Need and Importance of Cumulative Record The cumulative records about students provide useful information to teachers, counsellors and administrators.

5. Importance in Guidance The basic principle and assumptions of guidance take into consideration individual differences in some psychological character, quality or trait. For example: Cumulative records reveal the individual differences and indicate the nature and amount of professional assistance needed by individual students at various stages of their development. The cumulative record is a permanent history of the educational development of the individual student. It indicates his/her attendance, health, achievement and various other aspects of school life. Hence it is useful in analyzing the future needs of the individual student and proper educational and occupational guidance can be offered on the basis of his needs. For example: if it indicates the weaknesses in the physical development of the student, steps to remove those weaknesses can be suggested.

6. Importance in Teaching i ) The cumulative record of an individual indicates if the achievements are in proportion to his/her mental abilities. If the student is under achieving he/she can be guided as to what steps should be taken to remedy the defect. ii) The cumulative records of different students help the teacher in classifying students in accordance with scholastic aptitudes and mental abilities. iii) The cumulative records help the new teacher in understanding the needs of students. iv) They are diagnostic tools to analyze a behavior problem or an educational one. For example: why a student is backward in academic performance? What steps can be taken to remove his/her backwardness? v) Cumulative records indicate to teachers about students who need individual attention. vi) They help the teachers in writing reports about individual students and the principal in writing a character certificate most objectively. vii) Teachers can locate children needing special help and adjust the teaching accordingly. viii) For making case studies the cumulative record is very useful to teachers, because there is some similarity of items collected.

7. Importance to Administrators Cumulative records give enough information to the juvenile courts, probation officers for understanding the delinquent behavior of a student. The cumulative record is needed by teachers/counsellors for the same reason as that a cumulative record is maintained by a physician. Records maintained over a long period of time tell the story of growth and deterioration of the client.

8. Characteristics of a Good Cumulative Record 1)Information gathered should be complete, comprehensive and adequate so that valid inferences may be drawn. 2) Information recorded should be true and valid. Like other tools of measurement, a cumulative record can be valid only when it measures what it intends to measure. 3) Information to be reliable should be collected by a number of teachers and then compiled. 4) A cumulative record should be re-evaluated from time-to-time. 5) A cumulative record should be objective and free from personal opinions and prejudices. If bias, likes and dislikes enter in the collection of data, the record will be unreliable. 6) It should be usable. A cumulative record may be card type, folder type or booklet type. The folder type cumulative records are more popular because they permit the inclusion of comprehensive information about the student

9. Types of Cumulative Record 1. The Card Type: The card type of cumulative record was prepared and developed by the Educational Records Bureau of U.S.A. This card is 9 x 11½” in size. In case of need of more cards, the supplementary cards’ of same size are attached with it. Certain items concerning to identification of students should be recorded. Other necessary information’s regarding student’s family standards, his interest for certain activities, data regarding leisure time utilization and participation in different co-curricular activities etc. should be recorded. These items pertaining various information of students are printed on this card. On this back of the card space should be provided for recording certain data like scholarship and achievement of student. The subjects offered by the student and its marks obtained should be noted in the half of the space is given to a table. The other half of the space on the back side of card is utilized for recording achieve­ment test data.

10. 2. The Booklet Type: The booklet type of cumulative is special book type of record which is usually 8½ x 11″ in size and it has 47 pages in it. It is maintained jointly by teachers, parents, head masters and pupils. But the major part of the information is recorded by students regarding himself. There are usually seven sections in the booklet type of cumulative record which are as follows: Sec. 1: Information regarding to the various types of educational experiences and social participations by a pupil is recorded. Sec. 2: School record of a student is correctly noted. Sec. 3: The scores on standardized tests are included. Sec. 4: In this section a student should describe himself his behavior with the help of self descriptive inventory. Sec. 5: Information’s regarding home and community is included in it. Sec. 6: Information pertaining to a student’s reading is noted. Sec. 7: Comments by parents, teachers, pupil himself on the basis of different observation done in different times. However this booklet type of cumulative has gained a lot of popularity so far its uses are concerned.

11. 3. The Folder Type: The folder type of cumulative record is very popular and it contains the aforesaid items. The California cumulative guidance record has gained more popularity in U.S.A. This folder record contains basic record folder and three or more supplementary folder according to the need. The basic record folder is “9 x 12” in size. It is divided into four parts namely identification, home environment, personality development and social experiences. Another three supplementary folder is used as follows: (I) In basic supplement one folder, data regarding to health and physical development are noted and the results are summarized. (Ii) In basic supplement two folder, data concerning school experiences and academic attainments are detailed. (Iii) In basic supplement three folder, information pertaining to adjustment, study habits, future plans etc. Are recorded.

12. Uses of Cumulative Record Card (I) The CRC is useful for guidance worker and counsellor as it provides a comprehensive, objective picture about the student including his strength and weaknesses. (Ii) The CRC is useful for guidance counsellor to help pupil in educational achievement, vocational choice and personal progress so far adjustment is concerned. (Iii) The CRC is useful for headmaster/principal to ascertain the pupil’s performances in different subjects and his limitations. (Iv) The CRC is useful for parents to provide special privileges to make up the deficiencies what lie in case of his child. (V) The CRC is useful for teachers to know the students and his progress and weaknesses at a glance. (Vi) The CRC does not give chance for overlapping of data collected by different teachers about the students. (Vii) The CRC is useful in making case study about the students. (Viii) The CRC is useful for the students for the vocational purposes.

13. Limitations of Cumulative Record Card: (I) The entire data is of little use if they are not collected properly objectively and accurately. (Ii) The purpose of CRC is not served if it is not maintained secretly and confidentially. (Iii) sometimes the information’s and its interpretations of CRC becomes confusing as the information’s are collected by different teachers. (Iv) The CRC needs much money to come to light which is not possible in the part of school to spend on this head. (V) The maintenance of CRC is a hard some job like clerical work in the part of teachers. (Vi) it is a lengthy process which needs much time to be worked out.