Better Math Skills Or Simply Poor Testing Skills?
from the wonderful dept
Whenever you have a single test trying to measure something, you had better be sure the test actually measures what it claims to measure. While reports have suggested that public school students' math skills have been improving over the past decade, a new report suggests that, actually, the tests are testing the wrong material -- and there may only be "trivial" improvements in students' understanding of mathematics. Supporters of the tests are hitting back at the claims, saying they were based on limited examples of test questions. Either way, it may be time to do a real independent evaluation on how well tests measure competency (if at all).
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sat's and all the stupid tests that you get in sch
Now it is enshrined in the system by ill guided education bureaucrats who are trying to create a metric to prove they are of any use.
I know when someone is stupid, but that is sujective, and is only useful to me. He probably thinks I am stupid.
But who between us got 1600 on the SAT, and does it matter? No.
So there will be lots of studies (more dollars not used in the classroom) trying to explain why the attempt to measure math skills (read whatever is being measured at the time) failed, or didnt produce the results they wanted it to.
The only thing that needs attention is the tendency of the system (I won't point fingers because there is blame everywhere) to let people slide or kids slide when they have them at each level. The tests do nothing to fund fixing that.
Can't let little dick or jane fail.
Jim
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