An investigation into adjusted programs in the junior high schools of Nova Scotia in 1976

Abstract

This thesis will deal with a class of students who are usually referred to as slow learners. Specifically, this thesis will deal with the slow learner in the junior high schools of Nova Scotia. In some ways, they are marginal people within the system. Many are not able to advance educationally in the regular classroom setting. Those responsible for curriculum development are attempting to remove this group of students from this marginal position to give the slow learner more positive and meaningful benefits. The experience of schools confirms that there are many such children who lack the intelligibility necessary to cope with basic subjects and who need special assistance. The number of these students varies from one locality to another and from one school to another. These students, in Nova Scotia, are usually placed in one of three programs: adjusted, occupational, or intermediate industrial. Slow learners in these classes have a chronological age of approximately thirteen to eighteen years. These students do not benefit from the educational opportunities presented to them in the regular classroom setting. Many of these students have repeated one or more grades before they reach junior high. One of the major reasons for this, traditionally, was that the regular school programs were designed for average and above average students who, it was thought, were destined for university training.