DUMBED DOWN? EdNews.org has
DUMBED DOWN? EdNews.org has begun a multi-part mock trial of the Texas accountability tests, TAKS. it promises to be entertaining. A tidbit:
This State document proves that an average of 86% of Texas students got the first 29, or easiest, questions right. That prompted us to take a look at the next six easiest questions on the test that the plaintiffs refer to as “buffer zone” questions. A student who gave the right answer to 36 questions would have achieved the math performance standard that the TEA uses to define its first level of college readiness.
So, nearly all of the 10th graders got the first 29 questions correct and 36 correct signified that they were at the “first level of college readiness.” This is a multiple choice test with four possible answers. Random guesses should generate the 7 additional correct answers. Maybe the TX miracle is true and every 10th grader in TX is ready for college. But, what are they asking on those 29 “easy” questions? Here’s one:
At a candy store, chocolate costs $0.35 per ounce. Hector bought 8.25 ounces, Jeanette bought 8.7 ounces, James bought 8.05 ounces and Shanika bought 8.42 ounces. Which list shows these weights in order from least to greatest?
A. 8.05 oz 8.25 oz 8.42 oz 8.7 oz.
B. 8.42 oz 8.05 oz 8.25 oz 8.7 oz
C 8.05 oz 8.7 oz 8.25 oz 8.42 oz
D. 8.7 oz 8.05 oz 8.25 oz 8.42 oz
10th grade level work? Admittedly, EdNews.org may have picked the absolutely easiest question as a straw man. I have no way of proving that they didn’t. But, it makes you wonder if this test is legit or is designed to merely make the teacher’s union (which wrote the test) look good.