Northwestern University Preparatory School Record of Standing

The Northwestern University Preparatory School Record of Standing records the academic and deportment scores for students for the 1879-1880 school year. On each of its 225 pages are printed three identical forms; Fall Term, 1879, Winter Term, 1880 and Spring Term, 1980. The forms record the students' names, number of excused absences from church, prayers, and recitations, and his or her standing in deportment and academics.

The perfect score for student deportment is 100. This score can be diminished for unexcused absences from church (3 points each), from prayers (3 ea.), from weekly roll call (5 ea.), from recitations (3 ea.), from the session room, and from rhetorical excercises. The student was also penalized for failures in rhetorical excercises (10 ea.), for absences from written examinations (5 ea.), from oral exams (5 ea.), and for tardiness (1 ea.).

Academic standing is determined by scores, on a scale to 100, for daily work (averaged monthly), written examinations given monthly in each three month term, and an oral final exam. The student's average score is given for each course, and also often his or her rank relative to the other students in that class. An average score is also recorded for the student's performance in rhetorical compostion and elocution for each term. Course loads averaged two or three classes plus rhetorical excercises.