Re: bad item

[Rick Parkany <rparkany@borg.com>]

Art Burke wrote:

> I'm sure that moms and dads all over the country will be eagerly
> awaiting publication of a collection of lousy test items.  Sure to be a
> best seller.

OK, Art...you suckered me in just like an 8th grade boy, you did!

So, I'll take the bait and respond on the face of your reply to our dear
Carol-The-Brave:

There are TWO reasons why most testing items are secret & proprietarily
protected:

(a) the technical reason that DMD-concatenated used to ply this list was that
the cost of item construction/analysis/indexing for reliability is so high and
so time-consuming that large-scale assessments would be either impossible OR too
expensive if not kept secret. NYS seems to have oodles of Cash --ask Gov. Cold
Six-packi down @ Fort Pataki about THAT call--because (supposedly) this year's
items (from MacGraw-Hill) will be *publicly* disseminated as are the *locally
developed Regents;     OR

(b) the more likely reason is that parents and students WOULD MOCK THE TESTS AND
THE FOOLS, THEMSELVES, if they only knew the *facts* concerning these
abominations!

In fact, our own dear George Schmidt is evidence enough that more reptilian
(leave aside primate) behaviors are afoot in these matters, rather than mere
economics. (BTW:    George Schmidt : it is often a good list habit to respond to
these types of one-liner prompts from Art, because the list membership is not to
be presumed to be static and we're not all home-boys in the know, ya
know--you've hectored me several times for so replying, even though you fall fer
it every other week or so--I do it for th' *new jacks* who are always peekin'
in...it's only good pedagogy. No?)

IF it were only the money, the NYS Regents, would pay it, nevertheless, with the
current mad-dogs in power at the helm, regardless of Pataki's *budget blues* and
crocodile tears...but SINCE we Folks have been hammering them @ every public
meeting they throw concerning *secrecy*, they've at least got to lie and CLAIM
they will release them--just like they claimed three years ago that scoring
bungles @ MacGraw-Hill wouldn't cause them to embargo the tests for 6 months.

God help us all...    ;-} rap.
<REF>:
The Ubiquitous Lie: Manipulation of Cut Scores at the Expense of Students - June
2002 Physics Exam
http://www.borg.com/~rparkany/Standards/HOPE/Research/CalaResearch2002.htm
by William C. Cala, Ed.D. (Dec. 20, 2002); Superintendent of Schools, Fairport
Central School System, NY
AND
http://www.borg.com/~rparkany/Standards/HOPE/ResearchEvents.htm
http://www.borg.com/~rparkany/Standards/HOPE/Repository.htm

Art Burke wrote:

> I'm sure that moms and dads all over the country will be eagerly
> awaiting publication of a collection of lousy test items.  Sure to be a
> best seller.
>
> Art
>
> >>> kceh@airmail.net 05/07/03 07:11AM >>>
> Is anybody collecting these items? Sure would be nice to keep such a
> collection handy. Many moms and dads would be absolutely thrilled to
> know that questions like these are used to keep their kids in school
> after hours, don't you think?
>
> I see, therefore I blab...
> Carol
>
> On Wednesday, May 7, 2003, at 08:12 AM, Rick Parkany wrote:
>
> > These jokers @ MacGraw-Hill and all the PC clones as a matter of
> course
> > ask item
> > prompts in this fashion.
> >
> > All the children who cared at all in my Rachael Margaret's 3rd grade
>
> > class a
> > month ago (practicibn' for the ELA exams, they were) almost revolted
>
> > after one
> > such *simulation* involving a child, sick at home, but--nevertheless
> as
> > a good
> > child and patient patient--dreaming of things he liked (his toys were
>
> > alive and
> > playing with him). The children were asked *How do you THINK this
> child
> > felt in
> > the story?* There were pictures of (a) sad, (b) happy, (c) neutral
> > facial
> > pictorial renditions AND (d) a child smiling in bed, cozy against his
>
> > pillow,
> > snuggling!!!
> >
> > Of course, Rachael picked *D*, because she STILL pretend plays as
> much
> > or more
> > than she dd before school Daze hit, and she's such a trooper that she
>
> > rarely, if
> > ever, complains, especially while sick--THAT's the time she gets
> Momma
> > time (and
> > Daddy time when she wills it). The CORRECT answer was, of course, (a)
>
> > [of
> > course, who can be sick and happy at the same time??? why! it seems
> all
> > of us
> > COULD be w/the proper support and mental frame of mind. No?].
> >
> > ASside from Rachael's *thinking* on the subject, isn't it quite clear
>
> > that if
> > you ask a child what they THINK (or as in the latter math case, which
>
> > one is
> > ABOUT right...<they ALL are in some scale or other!!!>), they had
> > better be
> > ready to score EVERY answer *correct*--or am I just a jaded old f**t,
>
> > myself?
> > ;-} rap.
> >
> > I quit archiving crap like this a few years ago--now, my kids
> routinely
> > scan
> > each test for such bogus escapades in FORCING children to think as
> > adults
> > <sigh!> LONG BEFORE they are cognitively/emotionally ready so to
> > do--that is
> > LONG before they have learnt to stifle their spirit for *job
> security*
> > as most
> > adults eventually do, most but the more childlike of us, that
> > is...    ;-} rap.
> >
> > "gerald w. bracey" wrote:
> >
> >> I think this is a wondereful item.  It teaches kids to not trust
> tests.
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: "William Cala" <wcala@rochester.rr.com>
> >> To: <arn-l@interversity.org>
> >> Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2003 7:14 AM
> >> Subject: Re: [arn-l] bad item
> >>
> >>> pick the best answer:  31 (divided by) 8 =
> >>> a.  about 3
> >>> b.  about 240
> >>> c.  about 11
> >>> d.  answer is not there
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> What a horrible question.  So many things wrong here.  Too much
> >>> emphasis
> >> on
> >>> language versus mathematics.  What qualifies as good enough to be
> >>> "about?"
> >>> The fact that A,B and C are all preceded by "about" leads one to
> >>> believe
> >>> that the answer supplied will not be exact.  Then D, turns this
> simple
> >>> "math" problem into mental gymnastics for the student.
> >
> > --
> > "Dein Wachstum sei feste und lache vor Lust!
> > Deines Herzens Trefflichkeit
> > Hat dir selbst das Feld bereit',
> > Auf dem du bluehen musst." JS Bach: Bauern Kantata
> > Richard A. Parkany: SUNY@Albany
> > Prometheus Educational Services
> > http://www.borg.com/~rparkany/
> > Upper Hudson & Mohawk Valleys; New York State, USA
> >
> >
> >
>
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--
"Dein Wachstum sei feste und lache vor Lust!
Deines Herzens Trefflichkeit
Hat dir selbst das Feld bereit',
Auf dem du bluehen musst." JS Bach: Bauern Kantata
Richard A. Parkany: SUNY@Albany
Prometheus Educational Services
http://www.borg.com/~rparkany/
Upper Hudson & Mohawk Valleys; New York State, USA