State Test's

[dem00n]

These things are so hard!

I mean i aced the one last year but the one i just had a hour ago was ****ing hard...i cant imagine how those other kids are doing on this test.

 

Be happy you old dudes dont have to take like 10 of these a year.

[Cruznolfart]

These things are so hard!

I mean i aced the one last year but the one i just had a hour ago was ****ing hard...i cant imagine how those other kids are doing on this test.

 

Be happy you old dudes dont have to take like 10 of these a year.

 

Was there a section on the use of apostrophes?

[Bluemoon]

We old dudes had similar tests back in the day. Part of life, kid.

[ShredAstaire]

Was there a section on the use of apostrophes?

 

LOL! I thought the same thing.....oh dem00n!

[Shnate McDuanus]

I finished mine up last year, man. Which ones are you taking?

[LPguitarman]

These things are so hard!

I mean i aced the one last year but the one i just had a hour ago was ****ing hard...i cant imagine how those other kids are doing on this test.

 

Be happy you old dudes dont have to take like 10 of these a year.

 

Been There' date= Done That. Grin and Bear it kiddo, you'll get through it. An edjamacation is a great thing.

[grampa]

The schools are putting out students who can pass a "test" yet they also put out students who don't know how to think. These "tests" are window dressing to make the schools look like they are effective.

[albertjohn]

O levels, A levels, University degree, 4 lots of professional exams. 15 years all up. It's a way of life for some.

 

I even had a go a marking professional exams. Try marking tax papers. Now that's tough........on the students anyway, when I marked them!

 

And I've got a School quiz night on Friday. I have Geography degree and only know one state capital. Springfield.

 

Doh!

[Laaz]

The schools down here have new stadardized tests. That is all the school district cares about. Hell... tell me how a kid can learn anything these days with 30 students crammed into one room ? I think this state is still last in the country. Thats the biggest thing I miss about moving here from upstate NY. My kids struggle with this nonsense.

[Cruznolfart]

The schools are putting out students who can pass a "test" yet they also put out students who don't know how to think. These "tests" are window dressing to make the schools look like they are effective.

 

Our leadership reflects this. And I mean from grass-roots to the very top. Same damn thing.

[EVOL!]

No child left behind, right?

[GibsonAlmighty]

Just give it your best and GOOD LUCK!!!!

[Andre S]

O levels' date=' A levels, University degree, 4 lots of professional exams. 15 years all up. It's a way of life for some.

 

I even had a go a marking professional exams. Try marking tax papers. Now that's tough........on the students anyway, when I marked them!

 

And I've got a School quiz night on Friday. I have Geography degree and only know one state capital. Springfield.

 

Doh![/quote']

 

Did O's last year....doing A's this year and next

[DanvillRob]

Be happy you old dudes dont have to take like 10 of these a year.

 

I always figure I'm taking a test every day at my job... I'm proving I'm worth what I'm paid, and that I save/make the company enough profits to keep me, (and 750 others) employed. Oh, for the days when my only problem was giving answers on a piece of paper...at least I know I'd still be able to eat!

[milod]

In the US, yes, there are a lot more tests in the US than when I was a kid, and I was in a school that used more "tests" than others of the time.

 

Problem is - and this is a non-political comment since Democrat Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton got in trouble for similar insistence on competency of education of children in the public school system - that we had a real drop in teacher competency on various "political" criteria from the 1960s into the 1980s. Clinton got into trouble for insisting that public school teachers be able, for all intents, to speak and write in some degree of "grammatical" English.

 

So... one way or another, it seems inevitable that a national testing would be established that is not dissimilar to that in other "developed" nations. One advantage is that tests are "color blind," although arguably not "culture-neutral."

 

Anyway, our younger members here and their state-supported schools are put into far more testing, and that testing has far more to do with how schools are run, than when I was a kid.

 

On the other hand...

 

In schools that really care, the testing results can provide impetus to improving training for teachers, and improve some "target sectors" of the student body. The test used here has some 29 "groups" of race, sex, income, etc.

 

For example, our "middle school" had problems with math and reading for "low income" students. That put the whole school into a "you're in trouble" category, but also brought some federal cash to teach teachers and target "low income" kids with some new programs. It actually does help, at least in school districts where folks care about their kids whether they're rich or poor.

 

So... It's kinda a mixed blessing. OTOH, I think school is less "fun" and diverse even if one has good teachers, thanks to "one size fits all" national systems.

 

m

[Blackie]

In the US' date=' yes, there are a lot more tests in the US than when I was a kid, and I was in a school that used more "tests" than others of the time.

 

Problem is - and this is a non-political comment since Democrat Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton got in trouble for similar insistence on competency of education of children in the public school system - that we had a real drop in teacher competency on various "political" criteria from the 1960s into the 1980s. Clinton got into trouble for insisting that public school teachers be able, for all intents, to speak and write in some degree of "grammatical" English.

 

So... one way or another, it seems inevitable that a national testing would be established that is not dissimilar to that in other "developed" nations. One advantage is that tests are "color blind," although arguably not "culture-neutral."

 

Anyway, our younger members here and their state-supported schools are put into far more testing, and that testing has far more to do with how schools are run, than when I was a kid.

 

On the other hand...

 

In schools that really care, the testing results can provide impetus to improving training for teachers, and improve some "target sectors" of the student body. The test used here has some 29 "groups" of race, sex, income, etc.

 

For example, our "middle school" had problems with math and reading for "low income" students. That put the whole school into a "you're in trouble" category, but also brought some federal cash to teach teachers and target "low income" kids with some new programs. It actually does help, at least in school districts where folks care about their kids whether they're rich or poor.

 

So... It's kinda a mixed blessing. OTOH, I think school is less "fun" and diverse even if one has good teachers, thanks to "one size fits all" national systems.

 

m

[/quote']

 

I agree that the teachers should be the ones that need to be tested and if they are qualified then let them teach.

My mother who retired after 40 years of teaching in the city of Norfolk VA still does part time work when they are doing these state and federal tests on the children. These tests and how to take them is what is being taught now and it is

completely counterintuitive to actual learning and providing an education to our children..............ARRRRRGGGGHHHHHH

[DAS44]

those tests are so damn easy man. Just saying.

[Laaz]

These tests and how to take them is what is being taught now and it is

completely

 

Thats why they keep pushing this BS ==> www.degreeinpjs.com

[MikeRom]

Clinton got into trouble for insisting that public school teachers be able' date=' for all intents, to speak and write in some degree of "grammatical" English.

[/quote']

 

 

I remember that. Got side tracked into the whole ebnonics thing. Damn shame.

[pohatu771]

These things are so hard!

I mean i aced the one last year but the one i just had a hour ago was ****ing hard...i cant imagine how those other kids are doing on this test.

 

Be happy you old dudes dont have to take like 10 of these a year.

If you're taking 10 state exams per year you must have failed a lot of them.

 

I took fewer than 10 NYS Regents Exams in my entire high school career. You might be able to take ten total if you took every Regents course.

[Shnate McDuanus]

I took ten--Math A, Math B, Earth Science, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Comprehensive English, U.S. History, Global History and French.

 

I did pretty well on most of them--surprisingly enough, my highest grade was on French.

[pohatu771]

My list was Math A, Math B, Biology, Earth Science, Physics, Global History, US History, English, and Spanish.

 

The only other Regents I could have taken were French and Chemistry, although I'm sure I could have taken the languages my school didn't offer.

 

Someone in high school now would take Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry instead of Math A/B.

[rocketman]

My mother who retired after 40 years of teaching in the city of Norfolk VA still does part time work when they are doing these state and federal tests on the children. These tests and how to take them is what is being taught now and it is completely counterintuitive to actual learning and providing an education to our children.

 

I get the end products of the current model. In engineering we only accept students with very high standardized exam scores. All the students have GPA's well over 90 as well. Yet nearly 40% of them drop out of our program.

 

I've talked to many high school teachers who feel that they are too busy teaching to the standardized exams instead of teaching the actual material. This does not work in the real world as most of us know. Unlike high school' date=' our exam problems at the university level are NOT like the homework problems. We teach them theory and expect them to use that theory to solve a problem they've never seen before. The theory still applies to that problem though. So in a way we teach creativity. I find that students today are good "problem mappers" in the sense they tend to use the solution of one problem to try to help them solve another. This works fine for the standardized exams, but dies a quick death where it really counts at our level.

 

Think this isn't a big issue? Well NASA (well it was actually built by TRW) lost a huge spacecraft because the engineers who designed the control system used the "problem mapping" approach. See here for more details. If they just did a simple 5 minute "back of the envelope" calculation using some basic theory, then this spacecraft would not have been lost. How these engineers ever graduated is beyond me (they never would have passed my mandatory course). The problem is that issues like this are becoming more frequent. So it's starting to creep into the university level too. Not me though; I have no problems failing a Senior!

 

I don't necessarily blame the kids on this one. A colleague on mine is about to give a presentation to Congress on the "geek shortage" and his results do not paint a pretty picture. In a lot of ways we've already lost the technology race. Schools today are more worried about federal funding than what is truly the right way to teach. Grade inflation is another huge issue.

 

Well I could go on and on (don't even get me started on why I hate calculators), but I'll stop here. It's obvious that the current system is broken. The solution actually isn't that hard, but I don't want to sound too political.

[dem00n]

I get the end products of the current model. In engineering we only accept students with very high standardized exam scores. All the students have GPA's well over 90 as well. Yet nearly 40% of them drop out of our program.

 

I've talked to many high school teachers who feel that they are too busy teaching to the standardized exams instead of teaching the actual material. This does not work in the real world as most of us know. Unlike high school' date=' our exam problems at the university level are NOT like the homework problems. We teach them theory and expect them to use that theory to solve a problem they've never seen before. The theory still applies to that problem though. So in a way we teach creativity. I find that students today are good "problem mappers" in the sense they tend to use the solution of one problem to try to help them solve another. This works fine for the standardized exams, but dies a quick death where it really counts at our level.

 

Think this isn't a big issue? Well NASA (well it was actually built by TRW) lost a huge spacecraft because the engineers who designed the control system used the "problem mapping" approach. See here for more details. If they just did a simple 5 minute "back of the envelope" calculation using some basic theory, then this spacecraft would not have been lost. How these engineers ever graduated is beyond me (they never would have passed my mandatory course). The problem is that issues like this are becoming more frequent. So it's starting to creep into the university level too. Not me though; I have no problems failing a Senior!

 

I don't necessarily blame the kids on this one. A colleague on mine is about to give a presentation to Congress on the "geek shortage" and his results do not paint a pretty picture. In a lot of ways we've already lost the technology race. Schools today are more worried about federal funding than what is truly the right way to teach. Grade inflation is another huge issue.

 

Well I could go on and on (don't even get me started on why I hate calculators), but I'll stop here. It's obvious that the current system is broken. The solution actually isn't that hard, but I don't want to sound too political.

 

 

 

We need more nerds in todays world.

Our meaning of nerds here is kids who play video games all the time. I mean the nerds that can swipe your credit card from your comptuer in 5 secs across the world....i know a few like that but its few in nubmers.

Later on in the nerds life he can take the role of offering hack protecting services and such and possible work for NASA, goverment and so on.

[MojoRedFoot]

We need more nerds in todays world.

.... I mean the nerds that can swipe your credit card from your comptuer in 5 secs across the world....i know a few like that but its few in nubmers.

Yeah, that's exactly what we need. Remember not long ago a few people got busted for that for swiping CC #s and using them at Best Buy? More people to crowd jail cells and get pounded in the a$$. Yeah that just what this world needs. More of those losers.