Re: What are we testing

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

Because they hate kids. Because theyre tools of the capitalist state. 
Because we dont stand up and refuse to participate in our slaughter and 
the slaughter of the little angels entrusted to us. Shame on us.
Let us CLOSE EVERY SCHOOL IN CALIFORNIA ON THURSDAY, MAY DAY.
Susan

On Sunday, April 27, 2008, at 11:35 PM, George Sheridan wrote:

> During the California Mathematics Standards Test (part of STAR), my 
> tiniest second grader raised her hand.
>
> To avoid having mathematics test scores influenced by reading ability, 
> students are given some visual cues plus an oral direction like, "Tell 
> how much money this is." They work in 8.5" by 11" test booklets, with 
> as few as one or two of this kind of problem on the page. So there's 
> plenty of room to show full-size images of dollar bills and coins. But 
> for some reason, each year the state gives us pictures of dollar bills 
> that are about one fourth the size of Monopoly money, and dimes about 
> one centimeter in diameter.
>
> My little angel asked me what coin was pictured on the page. Of course 
> I was forbidden to tell her. She elaborated on her dilemma: the coin 
> looked something like a quarter, so she had reached in her pocket and 
> pulled out a quarter to compare. She rotated the real coin so that the 
> head of George Washington was tipped at the exact angle of the head 
> illustrated in her test booklet. She noticed a difference between the 
> coins, however. Above Washington's head on her real quarter were the 
> words, "United States of America." The one pictured on the test had 
> the word "Liberty." That difference, plus the discrepancy  in size, 
> led her to believe that the coin pictured could not be a quarter.
>
> Following test protocol, I said something like "Just do the best you 
> can," and walked away. Pretty soon, her hand was up again. On a 
> subsequent problem, she had noted that the picture of a nickel was 
> even smaller than the picture of a quarter. She wanted me to know she 
> had figured out that the coin she had been puzzling over must have 
> been a quarter.
>
> I think she got both problems right. But how many other students were 
> thrown off by the size difference, or the fact that the quarter 
> pictured was an old style no longer being minted? The testing 
> contractor would report that they do not meet the second grade content 
> standard 5.1 for mathematics: "Solve problems using combinations of 
> coins and bills." In reality, some of these students have no 
> difficulty with coins and bills, but have a problem with 
> smaller-than-life-size pictures.
>
> Every year, the STAR test includes this same stumbling block in all 
> the problems where students are required to know the value of coins. 
> Why?
>
>
> George Sheridan
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