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Another example of why standardized tests are a joke
LadyVirginia:
Talking pineapple question on state exam stumps ... everyone!
Students, teachers, principals - no one has any idea what the deal is
Never mind the kids aren't learning anything in school.
--- Quote ---In the story [for the question on the test], a take-off on Aesop’s fable about the tortoise and the hare, a talking pineapple challenges a hare to a race. The other animals wager on the immobile pineapple winning — and ponder whether it’s tricking them.
When the pineapple fails to move and the rabbit wins, the animals dine on the pineapple.
Students were asked two perplexing questions: why did the animals eat the talking fruit, and which animal was wisest?
Teachers, principals and parents contacted by The News said they weren’t sure what the answers were.
“My reaction is horror that a question that’s so obviously confusing should be used on a test that is going to be used to determine our kid’s future and the future of our children’s schools,” said parent Leonie Haimson, of Class Size Matters, who first posted the question on her blog.
In response to revelations that the state exams had become predictable and easier to pass, the state last year awarded a new $32 million contract to testing company Pearson to overhaul the tests.
The new exams have higher stakes for principals and teachers statewide, whose evaluations will be based in part on student scores beginning as soon as this year.
Scarsdale Middle School Principal Michael McDermott said the question has been used before and “confused students in six or seven different states.”
And he had a quick answer to the question of who is the wisest: “Pearson for getting paid $32 million for recycling this crap.”
--- End quote ---
Pandora:
WTF? A talking pineapple? What the hell was the point?
Ya know, now that I'm an adult, I know "they" are full of crap. This has got to make kids think they're the crazy or stupid ones.
LadyVirginia:
--- Quote from: Pandora on April 20, 2012, 03:21:08 PM --- What the hell was the point?
--- End quote ---
There is no point--that's the big game in education. I recently read a book about how standardized tests aren't designed to test what kids know. They're designed to have certain outcomes. If too many kids get questions right the tests are redesigned so fewer students do well. If too many don't do well they redesign it. You might think that a test where most kids did well would be lauded. But no it's considered a bad test.
Millions are spent on this crap. All the time wasted and it doesn't really mean anything.
As a homeschooler I've been asked dozens of times "...but what about standerdized testing. How do you how your child is doing?" I usually say well since I'm right there with them everyday I know what they are doing and how well. But as the book I referenced said, parents and teachers who think these tests truly measure their kids are seriously uninformed.
Pandora:
So, the point is to make work for the test-designers.
*sigh*
LadyVirginia:
--- Quote from: Pandora on April 20, 2012, 03:39:39 PM ---So, the point is to make work for the test-designers.
*sigh*
--- End quote ---
sort of like how carbon credits will solve global warming
standardized tests will help schools and students
I bet we here at IAL could come up with a better test and it wouldn't cost us $32 million. Of course, I'd ask things like who is George Washington, identify the Bill of Rights, what was the Civil War? ::laughonfloor::
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