A "history" test -- eighth grade final exam from 1895

[Weird Harold]

My Brother-in-law spammed me with this. It appears to be fairly close to the kind of test I would expect from a genuine test of that era, but I can't verify whether it really what it is claimed to be.

---
Remember when our grandparents, great-grandparents, and such stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well checkthis out.

Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?

This is the eighth grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, KS.USA.

It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th Grade Final Exam:

Salina, KS -1895

Grammar (Time, one hour)

1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.

2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no modifications.

3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.

4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of do, lie, lay and run.

5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.

6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.

7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.



Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)

1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.

2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?

3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cts./ bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?

4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?

5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.

6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.

7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per metre?

8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.

9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per are, the distance around which is 640 rods?

10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.



U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)

1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.

2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.

3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.

4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.

5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.

6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of theRebellion.

7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell,Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?

8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607 1620 1800 1849 1865



Orthography (Time, one hour)

1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication?

2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?

3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?

4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u'.

5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e'. Name two exceptions under each rule.

6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.

7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: Bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup

8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: Card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.

9. Use the following correctly in sentences, cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.

10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.



Geography (Time, one hour)

1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?

2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?

3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?

4. Describe the mountains of North America.

5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fermandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.

6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.

7. Name all the republics of Europe and give capital of each.

8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?

9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.

10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give inclination of the earth.

 

[Closet Desire]

I think...

...I failed.

 

[Docgtvt]

THAT WAS 8th GRADE??? mrs. zullo, wherever you are, i owe you an apology...
with the exception of the bushel questions, i fared fairly well, even though theories and answers to some have changed over the years.






"...school's been blown to pieces!"
alice cooper

for bonus points, what is alice's real name?

 

[Starfish]

EEeeeeeshhhhh!
I feel stupid.

They obviously didn't need college for general education.

Wow.

 

[SleepingWarrior]

I think I would have passed the US History, and Geology parts. The parts dealing with language well to be frank.... I doubt I could pass at this moment. When it came to english classes Im not the type of person who would find it interesting and listening to the many different things that have to do with it. I haave always figured I can write out a paper when need be and can hold my own in most conversations so I will be fine. Kind of funny coming from someone who had a 99% on the standardized test in 8th grade but my interest and skills have most likely decreased substancily since that time but it is how I think. Sad to think that comes from someone who just graduated from highschool at the end of May this year isnt it.....

 

[Weird Harold]

THAT WAS 8th GRADE??? mrs. zullo, wherever you are, i owe you an apology...
with the exception of the bushel questions, i fared fairly well, even though theories and answers to some have changed over the years.

I'm not sure I could pass it even if it was open book. Of course I'm much better with multiple guess tests than I am with essay tests like this one.

 

[Willing and Unsure]

i'm pretty sure i'd fail




no... completely sure of it

 

[Angelus]

I'm sure I would have failed miserably and I thought that I was a pretty smart person, sheesh.

 

[Ally C]

I don't know what age you would be if you were in eighth grade! Do tell, just for some comparison with other countries. I don't think it's important how anyone does on tests which they don't have to sit, it's how well you do on ones which you have already done, or are going to. I can see why my opinion could be challenged, but I've long since passed my school exams and have no need or desire to revisit them, certainly not via a detour through a foreign examination. Thanks.

 

[Weird Harold]

I don't know what age you would be if you were in eighth grade! Do tell, just for some comparison with other countries.

In the US, (even in 1895), first grade starts at age six. Add eight years, and eighth grade ends at age fourteen or fifteen, depending on where birthdays fall during the school year.

I don't think it's important how anyone does on tests which they don't have to sit, it's how well you do on ones which you have already done, or are going to.]

I think it is interesting to see how the emphasis on what should be tested for has changed over the last 106 years. It's just an interesting bit of historical evidence in the "our schools have gone all to shit" debate.

 

[rambling man]

You have to understand that for the vast majority of kids, 8th grade was the end of the line. No additional schooling. Many of those kids took an additional test and became teachers. It was also a time in which lecture predominated, no movies, no projects, no fiddling around. If you didn't do well you got paddled or beaten at home, and that was the good parents.

I did well on history and geography, but I felt my 20th century English class's leanings towards more literature (and mine towards literotica) than grammar. Those math questions were inspired by Satan.

 

[unusuallyconfused]

Now I have confirmed that I AM STUPID

Just a product of our fine educational system............no really, it was the drugs.......it was the , OMG, I'm stupid.

 

[morninggirl5]

My Brother-in-law spammed me with this. It appears to be fairly close to the kind of test I would expect from a genuine test of that era, but I can't verify whether it really what it is claimed to be.

---
Remember when our grandparents, great-grandparents, and such stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well checkthis out.

Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?

This is the eighth grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, KS.USA.

It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

This has some interesting questions on it, and I'll give you my section by section reasons this is probably not a graduation exam. It could conceivably be a Certification exam for teachers, however. In our history of education, graduation exams are a fairly recent invention.

8th Grade Final Exam:

Salina, KS -1895

Grammar (Time, one hour)

1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.

2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no modifications.

3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.

4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of do, lie, lay and run.

5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.

6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.

All of these questions deal with mechanics of grammar that the average person would not need. A teacher who would be responsible for teaching grammar would need this knowledge. The verbs used in question 4 are all exceptions to the normal rule. On an exam for students, there should be at least one example of the rule.

7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

This application of the rules of grammar is a bit suspect to me. Educational tradition would hold that grammar is to be assessed in any essay, so the grammar of the essays to the other questions in the exam would be used to determine correct use of grammar for students. A separate essay requiring direct explanation of why this demonstrates understanding reflects an assessment of the test-takers ability to ASSESS grammar, not use it correctly.

Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)

1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.

Very vague question. I'm sure there were study guides even then that showed the exact answers being requested.

2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?

3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cts./ bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?

Number 3 is a completely bogus question requiring a transfer from weight(mass) to volume.

4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?

5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.

6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.

Interesting math "word problems" here, but again these are fairly new in the arena of testing students. Also question six does not give a time reference for the rate. Any teacher (and since this was a district graduation test, it would have been evaluated by several teachers) would have required the interest to be defined as daily, monthly, yearly, etc.

7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per metre?

The most glaring error within. Metre is not the American spelling of this term AND teaching metric measurements is still a very minute part of the mathematics curriculum in our country. Conversion of standard to metric units is completely out of place in this "test".

8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.

9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per are, the distance around which is 640 rods?

Again, #8 requires an assumption of the interest rate's defined time. I like question 9, with a change for modern units and a correct spelling of acre, it would be an excellent question after a unit on perimeter and area.

10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

Interesting that this was included in Arithmetic. While operations would be necessary to complete the assignment, this application of knowledge has not been included on traditional exams.

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)

1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.

2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.

3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.

4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.

5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.

6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of theRebellion.

7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell,Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?

8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607 1620 1800 1849 1865

Any one of these questions would require at least 20 min to give the most basic answer. Several of them (5,6, and 8) are extremely vague, leading me to doubt their authenticity. This section constitutes an impossible task for anyone.

Orthography (Time, one hour)

1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication?

2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?

3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?

4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u'.

5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e'. Name two exceptions under each rule.

6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.

7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: Bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup

8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: Card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.

9. Use the following correctly in sentences, cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.

10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

If this has any authenticity, it will only prove the point that in education there are no new ideas. Questions 2, 4, 8, and 10 are direct examples of exercises students complete in the Saxon Phonics reading program. The remaining questions are normally considered grammar questions and would have been included there.

Geography (Time, one hour)

1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?

2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?

3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?

4. Describe the mountains of North America.

5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fermandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.

6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.

7. Name all the republics of Europe and give capital of each.

8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?

9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.

10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give inclination of the earth.

Again, it would be impossible for anyone to complete these exercises in one hour. Several of them are more "science" than geography questions. But oops, there is no science section to the exam. Common sense would tell us that in 1895, basic biology and botany would be necessary to daily living and certainly would be included in a basic education.

I seriously doubt the authenticity of this "exam". The least time consuming section (Arithmetic) was given the greatest amount of time. It does have some interesting questions, however and if it's origins are determined, I'd be curious as to what they are.

 

[morninggirl5]

You have to understand that for the vast majority of kids, 8th grade was the end of the line. No additional schooling. Many of those kids took an additional test and became teachers. It was also a time in which lecture predominated, no movies, no projects, no fiddling around. If you didn't do well you got paddled or beaten at home, and that was the good parents.

Another reason I forgot about in my reasoning for why this is bogus. This "exam" leaves a great deal of room for the students to synthesize and analyze ideas. Educational philosophy of that time (and up until fairly recently) dealt mainly with questions for which there was ONE right answer. The causes of the revolutionary war are varied, a student could not possibly outline them all unless he already "knew" the answer he was supposed to give and teaching to the test has always been considered to be evil.

I did well on history and geography, but I felt my 20th century English class's leanings towards more literature (and mine towards literotica) than grammar. Those math questions were inspired by Satan.

Again, you hit on a completely missing element of this "exam," absolutely no mention of literature. In this time frame, memorization of "appropriate" literature was an important educational task.

Do I detect a hint of math phobia????? Math is your friend.

 

[Weird Harold]

Re: Re: A "history" test -- eighth grade final exam from 1895

This has some interesting questions on it, and I'll give you my section by section reasons this is probably not a graduation exam. It could conceivably be a Certification exam for teachers, however. In our history of education, graduation exams are a fairly recent invention.

It actually doesn't say it is a "graduation exam," it says it is a "final exam" which would be just one part of the requirements for graduation.

I can't speak from persoanl experience about what the process in 1895 was, but from 1955 through 1964, I took "final exams" every year that covered a random sampling of what had been taught during the year. In fact, I took five "final exams" a year Four covering the nineweeks periods, and one covering the whole year.

...
Number 3 is a completely bogus question requiring a transfer from weight(mass) to volume.

I think questions two and three are meant to be taken together. Question two establishes the cargo capacity of a typical grain wagon, and question three establishes the "standard" weight of that wagon.

The story problems are what I would expect of a curiculim oriented to educating farmers and rpresent the kind of everyday applications the students would be expected to encounter.

...
The most glaring error within. Metre is not the American spelling of this term AND teaching metric measurements is still a very minute part of the mathematics curriculum in our country. Conversion of standard to metric units is completely out of place in this "test".

I'm not sure what the standard spelling of "metre" was in 1895. I'm also not sure that "metre" refers to a metric measurement in this context -- it could be an archaic (by today's standards) term for "board feet" or other commonly understood measure of wood in 1895.

...
I seriously doubt the authenticity of this "exam". The least time consuming section (Arithmetic) was given the greatest amount of time. It does have some interesting questions, however and if it's origins are determined, I'd be curious as to what they are.

I cited my suspicion that this might not be what it was represented to be. It is however, similar to other historical texts I've seen from sources I trust.

This has to be considered in the context of 1895, and not in the context of what educators have learned and standardized since then. Tests and curriculim were set based on local educational needs much more in 1895 than they are now. This test could easily be the creation of a single teacher in Salina, KS who only had an eighth grade education -- Without benefit of even the most current educational theories of 1895. It is certainly the work of someone who has no knowledge of modern testing theory

It also has to be considered in terms of how recently the students were taught the material. I could probably have passed this test at the end of eighth grade, within the time limits given, although I can't now. (Assuming the state history question referred to Oregon instead of Kansas.)

Rote Memorization of material, such as conversion factors from bushels of wheat to pounds of wheat and the dates of historical events, would certainly make taking this test easier -- especially within seven months of learning the material.

 

[morninggirl5]

Re: Re: Re: A "history" test -- eighth grade final exam from 1895

I think questions two and three are meant to be taken together. Question two establishes the cargo capacity of a typical grain wagon, and question three establishes the "standard" weight of that wagon.

But there is no "standard" weight for a bushel of wheat and that would be required to solve the problem.

The story problems are what I would expect of a curiculim oriented to educating farmers and rpresent the kind of everyday applications the students would be expected to encounter.

I agree, however, teaching everyday applications has not traditionally been a part of most curriculums. Particularly, promisory notes, bank checks, etc.

I cited my suspicion that this might not be what it was represented to be. It is however, similar to other historical texts I've seen from sources I trust.

This has to be considered in the context of 1895, and not in the context of what educators have learned and standardized since then. Tests and curriculim were set based on local educational needs much more in 1895 than they are now. This test could easily be the creation of a single teacher in Salina, KS who only had an eighth grade education -- Without benefit of even the most current educational theories of 1895. It is certainly the work of someone who has no knowledge of modern testing theory.

My belief here is that it is the work of someone who knows modern testing theory. The questions are designed in such a way that a complete answer requires analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of ideas and concepts.

It also has to be considered in terms of how recently the students were taught the material. I could probably have passed this test at the end of eighth grade, within the time limits given, although I can't now. (Assuming the state history question referred to Oregon instead of Kansas.)

Passing this test at the end of any grade within the time limits given would require one to have memorized the "correct" answers. I think your assertion here gets at the point of my arguement about this test and "the good ole days" of education in general. Is an educated person one who can regurgitate the "correct" answers or one who uses his knowledge to support their answer.

Rote Memorization of material, such as conversion factors from bushels of wheat to pounds of wheat and the dates of historical events, would certainly make taking this test easier -- especially within seven months of learning the material.

Certainly, which is why I will remember the square farm question. It represents a great example of a math problem that requires both knowledge and reasoning to arrive at a correct answer.

 

[Weird Harold]

My belief here is that it is the work of someone who knows modern testing theory. The questions are designed in such a way that a complete answer requires analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of ideas and concepts.

A quick search on google.com turned up this reference to an episode of NPR's All Things Considered (Entire program for June 28, 2000)

http://search.npr.org/cf/cmn/cmnpd01fm.cfm?PrgDate=6/28/2000&PrgID=2

In the segment on this test, is a link to the Salina Journal ( http://www.saljournal.com/ ) but the Journal's online search feature is not working at the moment.

From everything that Google.com turned up, I have to believe this test is exactly what it is purported to be -- a copy of an eighth grade final exam from 1895.

 

[morninggirl5]

Very interesting..... I would definitely like to see an answer "key" then. I suspect you thought this would highlight the lack of knowledge our students have today, but the only answers that I can conceive of students being able to provide in the time limits given would have been rote memorization of material. This leads me back to my previous question

Is an educated person one who can regurgitate the "correct" answers or one who uses his knowledge and reasoning abilities to formulate and support a hypothesis?

 

[Todd]

And then again we are reading into it 2001 ideas into a 1895 test.

I noticed a lot of the speculation of the authenticity is based on what we know now.

 

[morninggirl5]

And then again we are reading into it 2001 ideas into a 1895 test.

I noticed a lot of the speculation of the authenticity is based on what we know now.

Give Todd the Rosenblatt Reading Response Award of the day!!

You, sir, are entirely correct. And that is why using a test from 1895 to show that the education system in 2001 is a failure is invalid.

 

[Todd]

Give Todd the Rosenblatt Reading Response Award of the day!!

You, sir, are entirely correct. And that is why using a test from 1895 to show that the education system in 2001 is a failure is invalid.

I still think that our tests are dumbed down to politcally correct pass everyone without question

 

[Weird Harold]

Very interesting..... I would definitely like to see an answer "key" then. I suspect you thought this would highlight the lack of knowledge our students have today, but the only answers that I can conceive of students being able to provide in the time limits given would have been rote memorization of material. This leads me back to my previous question

Is an educated person one who can regurgitate the "correct" answers or one who uses his knowledge and reasoning abilities to formulate and support a hypothesis?

The question you like so much, "9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per are, the distance around which is 640 rods?", can't be answered via rote memorization, although I'm sure the classwork involved a lot of drill on similar problems.

Rote memorization involves more than simple storage of facts without understanding them. Repetitive drill reinforces memorized procedures so they become second nature and you don't have to think about how to apply them.

These questions would require rote memorization even under today's educational system, or an open-book test:
---
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fermandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.

6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.

7. Name all the republics of Europe and give capital of each.
---

There is simply no way except remembering, to know the significance of the place names, the principal trade centers, and the european republics in a testing environment, unless the students are allowed to use reference books.

There was probably some mnemonic like a rhyme or pattern ed presentation that made remembering specifics easy.

If I knew the material as the students must have, then I wouldn't have trouble with the time limits except for "Write a composition of about 150 words ..." I would have trouble figuring out the first ten or fifteen words, and then be unable to stop at 150.

You commented that the easiest portion was the arithmetic, and it had the longest time limit.

You forget that in 1895, there were very few adding machines, no calculators, and conversion tables for logorithms and trig functions were books that weighed in at about three pounds each. Solving those problems with pencil and paper and doing long division by hand probably took most of the 1.25 hours.

I suspect that the "key" to this test uses about twenty words to answer each question, and the students wouldn't require more than thirty if they knew the answers.

The time limits are very realistic for the educational methods of the day, and rote memorization only had a small part in making them realistic.

You asked, "Is an educated person one who can regurgitate the "correct" answers or one who uses his knowledge and reasoning abilities to formulate and support a hypothesis? "

An "educated person" is one who can come up with the right answer efficiently. Often that means giving the answer expected instead of trying to justify why another answer might be better.

If I were teaching a class on Music Appreciation and asserted that Mozart was the greatest composer, then when I ask, "who was the greatest composer?", on a test I expect the answer Mozart, no matter how much "proof" you might bring to bear that Beethoven was better.

(Yes, I know that's a very subjective determination, and "who do you think is the greatest and why" would be a better question.)

An "educated pesron" is one who "can regurrgitate the correct answers" when it's testing time. A "smart"person is one who knows which "correct" answers are bullshit and why.

 

[morninggirl5]

Then why are so many students still failing graduation tests? Todd, the tests have been proven to be biased..... and the reason they are biased is because of the Reader Response Theory. We all interpret what we read based on our own experiences and backgrounds. Here is one example of what I'm talking about and you tell me how to eliminate this bias.

One of the questions on the 1st grade ITBS practice shows a picture of a picnic table, a camper, a couple of tents and people having a meal at the picnic table.

The questions is stated as: What are these people doing?
a. shopping b. cooking c. camping d. none of these

Now, I'm sure you're thinking it's obvious the answer is c. camping. But for the students I was observing, an equal number chose d. They had never been camping in their lives BUT they had been on a field trip to the circus where they saw the "behind the scenes" areas which included campers, tents, and circus employees having lunch at picnic tables.

The bias here is simple and related to only one incident, but the fact remains the standardized tests we use today are biased against minorities and the poor. It has been shown in study after study that the single greatest predictor of a child's performance on a standardized test will be his parent's wealth or lack thereof.

Also, the tests don't teach what's being taught in the classroom. For example, the 6th grade Social Studies portion of the ITBS was analyzed to determine if it would be appropriate to judge teachers' performance based on scores. The teachers in Tennesssee (where this was being considered) found that less than 15% of the content on the test was included in the 6th grade curriculum. In order for these tests to be standardized, they have to have a wide range of scores and those ranges are only possible if you take out the questions the students know the answers to.

 

[Weird Harold]

Also, the tests don't teach what's being taught in the classroom. For example, the 6th grade Social Studies portion of the ITBS was analyzed to determine if it would be appropriate to judge teachers' performance based on scores. The teachers in Tennesssee (where this was being considered) found that less than 15% of the content on the test was included in the 6th grade curriculum.

Could the problem possiblybe the curriculim isn't covering the right information? I don't know what ITBS stands for, so I don't know why there is such a mismatch in what the test covers and what the curriculim covers. I tend to believe the curriculim is lacking in Tennesee if the test is designed to be a standard for a wider area than just Tennesee.

In order for these tests to be standardized, they have to have a wide range of scores and those ranges are only possible if you take out the questions the students know the answers to.

Why do standardized test have to have a wide range of scores. Every student administered the test that began this discussion was expected to pass with a score of (probably) 70% or better.

A "graduation test" should NOT have a wide range of scores. Those who construct such test should structure them so that 80% of the people students should be able to pass it. (ie 60% of students, or so, should be able to ace it.)

If the test is properly constructed, and fewer than 80% pass, the problem is the material isn't being learned, not that the test is too hard.

 

[morninggirl5]

Could the problem possiblybe the curriculim isn't covering the right information? I don't know what ITBS stands for, so I don't know why there is such a mismatch in what the test covers and what the curriculim covers. I tend to believe the curriculim is lacking in Tennesee if the test is designed to be a standard for a wider area than just Tennesee.

Why do standardized test have to have a wide range of scores. Every student administered the test that began this discussion was expected to pass with a score of (probably) 70% or better.

A "graduation test" should NOT have a wide range of scores. Those who construct such test should structure them so that 80% of the people students should be able to pass it. (ie 60% of students, or so, should be able to ace it.)

If the test is properly constructed, and fewer than 80% pass, the problem is the material isn't being learned, not that the test is too hard.

The test is one of the standardized tests used in the country, Iowa Test of Basic Skills and it's the most widely used of the tests. The curriculum isn't the problem in most instances, it's the test. They are designed to get a wide range of scores because the scores are reported not as a percentage correct but rather as a percentile score. If you score 80 on the test that means you scored better than 79% of the students in the same grade level taking the test. It is impossible with this model (and it's the one all the accountability reformers use) for all schools to improve. Someone is going to have the lower scores or everyone will have a score of 0, meaning every school (student) did equally well.
These are the tests we are using today.

The test you are advocating are Criterion Referenced Tests, those that are directly related to the curriculum and what is being taught in the classroom. Students have to get a certain percentage of correct responses to pass the test. The teachers would know exactly what is on the test and can teach those concepts in their classrooms. These tests are becoming more popular (Gwinnett Co, Georgia is implementing a program using these tests now) but the other tests are still required by the state and it is these tests that determine school funding, teacher performance, and "underperforming" schools.

My concern throughout this discussion is that we get away from tests as a measure of a child's education. We have allowed the belief that a test is the be all and end all to indoctrinate our society so completely that there are now parents making decisions about their child's education based on a test score. A score of 80th percentile or even 80% correct does not give me the information I want to have about a child's knowledge. It does not tell us if the child can apply that learning to a new situation, if the child comprehends the underlying concepts or they merely memorized an answer or process.

One thing you said in your original posting was that you performed better on multiple choice tests rather than essay. My guess would be that you perform better on multiple choice tests because you use your basic knowledge about the question and the possible answers, along with your reasoning abilities to determine which answers are reasonable then choose the one you believe is most correct. That is how a "thinking" person approaches these tests. Students who have been taught only to regurgitate information, however, cannot go through this process and when they don't know the answer, they guess randomly. Both of you may get the correct answer, but did either of you really learn the information requested?