A Pineapple challenges a Hare to a Race

[gshowell]

Someone needs to start testing the people who write the tests.

http://www.buffalonews.com/city/scho...icle826865.ece

From the Buffalo News. A must read for parents with school age children.

[WNYresident]

Last week, students and teachers complained about questions on the eighth-grade English test that were based on a reading passage that put a twist on a well-known fable. The modern version highlighted in the test features a pineapple and a hare, rather than a tortoise and a hare.

The pineapple challenges the hare to a race, and then is eaten by animals in the forest after losing the race. Multiple-choice test questions asked students, among other things, why the animals ate the pineapple, and how the animals felt toward the pineapple.

In response to the complaints, state Education Commissioner John B. King Jr. decided not to count the six questions toward test scores.

What he should do is fire the idiots who came up with that question.

Education Department, King, John, Deputy Commr, Annual salary $186,506 and that is the best he could do?

And people have to discuss why we are falling behind in education in the USA.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

What he should do is fire the idiots who came up with that question.

Education Department, King, John, Deputy Commr, Annual salary $186,506 and that is the best he could do?

And people have to discuss why we are falling behind in education in the USA.

King did not create the test. A company was paid $32,000,000.00 to create the tests.

[WNYresident]

King did not create the test. A company was paid $32,000,000.00 to create the tests.

I don't care if he didn't create the test. Doesn't he basically have final say how things are done? Doesn't he review and others review the questions before hand?

[Genoobie]

It's good to know that teachers will be judged based on these measures, we can all have confidence that the State Ed is working hard to make everyone accountable.

[WNYresident]

It's good to know that teachers will be judged based on these measures, we can all have confidence that the State Ed is working hard to make everyone accountable.

So Genoobie, why a pineapple?

[300miles]

The pineapple challenges the hare to a race, and then is eaten by animals in the forest after losing the race. Multiple-choice test questions asked students, among other things, why the animals ate the pineapple, and how the animals felt toward the pineapple.

Doesn't anybody else see what's really going on here??

These aren't English tests...

They're hunting for replicants!

http://youtu.be/yiuAI-GuOOc?t=1m14s

[gshowell]

Doesn't anybody else see what's really going on here??

These aren't English tests...

They're hunting for replicants!

http://youtu.be/yiuAI-GuOOc?t=1m14s

Let me tell you about my mother!

[300miles]

Let me tell you about my mother!

Bam! I can never get past how thin the walls are in that scene...

[WNYresident]

Doesn't anybody else see what's really going on here??

These aren't English tests...

They're hunting for replicants!

http://youtu.be/yiuAI-GuOOc?t=1m14s

It's really not funny or joke. 10000's of kids are taught items that won't benefit them in adulthood. Or, tested and penalized because of one groups incompetence. I'm curious, did the company that produced these test lose the account yet?

[300miles]

It's really not funny or joke. 10000's of kids are taught items that won't benefit them in adulthood. Or, tested and penalized because of one groups incompetence. I'm curious, did the company that produced these test lose the account yet?

So far I've only seen one singular odd question mentioned (which I really do find funny). And it's on an English test... a subject that teaches about fiction and creativity. So I guess I don't see where the incompetence is yet. Maybe it was an inappropriate question for a standardized test but from the little I've heard so far I'm chalking it up to over-reaction.

BTW - how much % was the pineapple question worth towards the total test score? Has anyone read the whole test?

[WNYresident]

So far I've only seen one singular odd question mentioned (which I really do find funny). And it's on an English test... a subject that teaches about fiction and creativity. So I guess I don't see where the incompetence is yet. Maybe it was an inappropriate question for a standardized test but from the little I've heard so far I'm chalking it up to over-reaction.

BTW - how much % was the pineapple question worth towards the total test score? Has anyone read the whole test?

Go read the examples of these test. What is wrong with the test we took when we were kids? I don't think 32 million were spent to create them.