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Mybe we need a handicap system like in Golf or horse racing. In this system the bleeding hearts would asses each kid and decide how long they get for a test. The bright kid gets say 10 minutes, the real sad cases get say two days and a tutor. If said bleeding hearts have done their job properly, each kid will get exactly the same mark and they will all feel good and we will have no more need for therapists.
The helicopter parents could buzz around overhead and the more intense ones could lean over the teachers shoulder to check the teacher marks the test just right.
Mybe we need a handicap system like in Golf or horse racing. In this system the bleeding hearts would asses each kid and decide how long they get for a test. The bright kid gets say 10 minutes, the real sad cases get say two days and a tutor. If said bleeding hearts have done their job properly, each kid will get exactly the same mark and they will all feel good and we will have no more need for therapists.
The helicopter parents could buzz around overhead and the more intense ones could lean over the teachers shoulder to check the teacher marks the test just right.
LOL. Thanks for the best post of the day.
On a more serious note, I would suggest that a different standardized test be created for kids with certain disorders to assess their knowledge as accurately as possible. Their school records could show that they took the alternate test and state a reason why they would be allowed to do so.
That way, you wouldn't be comparing test scores from kids who had a set time to take a test to scores from kids who had much longer.
What kind of "learning disability"? Lot's of really intelligent people are not good test takers but that doesn't make them disabled in any way. I don't actually know what the point is...extra time on tests, extra help in college, etc. do not = extra anything at work or in the real world. If you are slow at something or have trouble with something it's just part of who you are and you need to deal with that your entire life. Not every issue we have is a disability you know, sometimes people just aren't good at something. Maybe they will figure it out or learn to work around it, maybe they won't. Maybe tutroring will help but if you get better are you no longer "disabled"? I never could figure it all out.
"Standardized Tests" are either standard or they aren't. So my answer is no.
For all of you who feel kids like my son have an unfair advantage because of a learning disability, do you think highly gifted, genius IQ, photographic memory students also have an unfair advantage? Should they be given a more difficult test, or a shorter time period to take the SAT? I'm betting nobody says yes.
No, this is a standardized test we're discussing. I believe that to continue to call the test standardized then everyone should take the same test within the same time period.
If they get extra time, for whatever reason, that SHOULD be notated on their record.
In NM, special education student's transcripts look like everyone elses, btw. For example, they take "Algebra" but only complete 4 chapters. They are only graded on the work they completed. The next year, they take Algebra again - for spec ed students, the second year is "Algebra II" - no notation on their record that it's a spec ed class. So these kids apply to college with a 3.5 GPA, but very little knowledge compared to their counterparts who ACTUALLY took Algebra II.
IMO, this contributes to the HIGH drop-out rate of first and second year college students in that state. It doesn't help that EVERYONE there has an opportunity to attend college for free - whether or not they should be.
I will say again - too many want SPECIAL treatment, not equal treatment. It's getting ridiculous.
When I was in the 7th grade, we read a short story. Society had de-evolved to the point where EVERYONE was "equal". If you were born pretty, you were required to wear a mask - so ugly people wouldn't feel bad. Almost everyone wore weights so that we all weighed the same. Smart people were given drugs to dumb them down. And the newscasters were stammerers who received raises based on their efforts. In the end, the main characters of the story watched their son, an activist, get shot to death on TV for speaking out against extreme politically correct tyranny. A few minutes later, their pills kicked in and they forgot why they were crying.
While I don't believe we'll ever get that extreme, I believe too many people aren't as horrified by the thought of that as they should be.
When I was in the 7th grade, we read a short story. Society had de-evolved to the point where EVERYONE was "equal". If you were born pretty, you were required to wear a mask - so ugly people wouldn't feel bad. Almost everyone wore weights so that we all weighed the same. Smart people were given drugs to dumb them down. And the newscasters were stammerers who received raises based on their efforts. In the end, the main characters of the story watched their son, an activist, get shot to death on TV for speaking out against extreme politically correct tyranny. A few minutes later, their pills kicked in and they forgot why they were crying.
While I don't believe we'll ever get that extreme, I believe too many people aren't as horrified by the thought of that as they should be.
That would be Kurt Vonnegut's short story Harrison Bergeron. It was also made into a TV movie starring Sean Austin. I think about that ALL THE TIME.
I think we should actually do less testing of kids.
Then you don't need to worry whether some kids need more time than others.
Sure its good for the bean counters and the publicservants and the political parties make use of it to beat each other up in the media.
But you just need to ask a teacher, who are the bright kids, who are the lazy kids, who are the dumb, who tries and who doesn't etc. The teachers know.
All the testing does is remind the kids where they fall on the ladder. You know for some kids, they take a while to blossum. If we keep pruning their expectations by reminding them that they are a 50% or a 60% or a 70% student then they will not strive to achieve.
We should empower teachers to encourage and motivate kids. We need to get some discipline in the class room so the kids even get an opportunity to learn.
Personally, I would go for less testing and less homework. Work hard in school time. Do exciting things outside of school time. (Sport, hobbies, earn some pocket money - whatever)
I wanted to point out that the increase in the number of kids being diagnosed with learning disabilities, ADHD, etc. is probably not only due to research and increased knowledge of how the brain works, but also because a lot more babies are saved now than decades ago. Premies and babies with other complications that may not have made it are living and could account for a lot of cases of these disabilities.
Personally, I would go for less testing and less homework. Work hard in school time. Do exciting things outside of school time. (Sport, hobbies, earn some pocket money - whatever)
I wish you could see how big the smile on my face is.
You get one of these:
Your whole post was a Beauty Newk. (Do you still say that in Oz?)
Last edited by DewDropInn; 11-09-2010 at 06:37 PM..
Yep...I'm not a big fan of standardized tests to begin with. Very often all they measure is how well kids take standardized tests. I used to do exceptionally well on them ...neither of my kids ever did particularly well on them. They would get tested every so often, I would open the envelope 6 weeks later, glance at the results and into the circular file they'd go. So far, they haven't been a particularly good predictor of their successes in school or in life...<shrugs>.
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