Standard Celeration Chart System

Description

The standard celeration system (SCS) combines standard celeration chart (SCC) papers, terms, and methods to record, archive, analyze, project, and communicate the growth and decay of any thing that can be counted. Ogden R. Lindsley and his students developed the system in 1966 to speed chart making and reading and to increase the accuracy of sharing learning progress and improvement suggestions between elementary special education students and their teachers. They chose terms based on what the thing being charted was doing (e.g., multiplying) rather than what was in the formula used to obtain a y axis frequency value from an x axis time value (exponential). They reduced complex terms (logarithmic scale) to plain English (multiplication scale) and used simple graphic operations, carefully avoiding mathematics and formulas.

Lindsley placed frequency, the slope of Skinner's standard cumulative records, on the left of a standard chart, forming a multiplication scale with 6 × 10 cycles (logs to base 10; see Figure 1). This six-cycle frequency spectrum covers the full spread of human performance from 1 in a 16 hour day (.001 per minute) to 1,000,000 per day (1,000 per minute) at its top. Across the daily chart are 140 day lines. Thicker Sunday lines mark off the 20 weekly celeration periods over which learning is measured.

Figure 1 Daily Per-Minute Standard Celeration Chart

Lindsley adjusted the chart frame to fit standard overhead projectors, but more important, he adjusted it so that a line from the lower left to upper right corner illustrates doubling of frequency (×2 per week). This ×2 celeration line is easy to read, has an angle of 34°, and sets a reasonable goal for learners. Early research showed that students could double their frequency correct per week by individualizing their curriculum.

Skinner's standard cumulative record displayed performance in number per minute—two dimensions. The SCC displays learning in number per minute per week—three dimensions. By taking the root of acceleration and deceleration, the word celeration is used to describe gradual and stable change in frequency—the slope of Skinner's standard chart.

Everything is standard about the SCC paper. Any deviation in font, label location, or grid line thickness slows chart making and reading. Frame proportion displays the corner-to-corner ×2 celeration line exactly 34°. Users recognize celeration sizes graphically, as with 90°, 45°, 60°, and 30° angles in geometry. Exact frame and borders size permit transparencies to perfectly overlay on overhead projectors in chart-sharing meetings. Each member in the family of five SCCs (daily per minute, daily per day, weekly per week, monthly per month, and yearly per year) has the same frame size, multiplication cycles, and 20 celeration periods. Over 127 standard SCS terms apply to charting and precision teaching.[Page 1547]