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Friday, March 10, 2006
Academic Testing Systems Are Fraudulent Testing By KAREN W. ARENSON and DIANA B. HENRIQUES Mistakes by a large testing company raised questions about the reliability of high-stakes standardized tests at all levels of education. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/10/education/10sat.html?th&emc=th .................................. We have known for more than half a century that our formal academic testing systems are a fraud -- sometimes literally so. Back when I was a prep school student my English teacher was chair of the SAT committee that devised the tests for college admission. My math teacher was on the math committee. Both gave us short courses on how to test well on these things -- short cuts for getting answers (read the answers first; don't ponder a question that delays one, when to guess, etc., etc.). Our school tended to have a number of results in the top 15 -- not 15 percent but top fifteen scores in the nation! Most private schools devote much time prepping students for 'the tests' through vocabulary drills and updates of techniques on how to beat the system. I tell my own college students some of the tricks and they are amazed to learn that ability is not the primary testing need here, but rather skills that can be taught in test taking. Then there was the great LSAT cheat game to which some of my students alerted me. I checked with two law school deans who confirmed that they knew of this loophole that allowed cheating and I asked the LSAT officials why they did not close it. They said they could not afford to do so. I was personally a beneficiary of the system which undoubtedly did much to help win me scholarships both in college and a national fellowship for graduate school. I was part of a testing program for GRE exams given to college sophomores. We were all nearer our high school years of math and grammar and such that were being tested and we all got super scores -- top 1% which were counted and which we could use for our post college studies. Whee for those on the inner tracks who can afford such testing luxuries! Woe to those left out of THE SYSTEM! Shame! All this testing mania dates back to an animal psychologist who displaced John Dewey as the primary educational theorist in this country with his application of rat testing techniques to educating kids - Edward Thorndike: http://www.psy.pdx.edu/PsiCafe/KeyTheorists/Thorndike.htm -- "A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy) -- Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies] http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/ http://www.bloggernews.net Blogger News Network is advertiser-supported, and your visits to our advertisers help BNN to meet its expenses. Help keep us afloat! posted by Ed Kent at 8:48 AM |
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