Click here to learn about Dave Moursund's free book on science and technology education for teaches and parents of K-8 children.

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As you know, it is easy to construct a test that most students will fail. Or, for a test that already exists,  it is easy to adjust the passing mark so that many students will fail.

I am on the Distribution List for the Oregon Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The following is quoted from a 9/13/2010 posting to this list:

[The Oregon Department of Education] “is poised to adopt new Math performance standards for grades 3-10. The performance standards for grades 3-8 are 6 to 7 points greater than the previous performance standards. These standards will be effective for the 2010-2011 school year. Based on impact data when they applied the new standards to student performances on OAKS [Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills], last year, approximately 50% of the students in grades 3-8 will not meet the new standards."

Of course, I don’t know whether this plan will be adopted, and I don’t know if it will lead to a larger number of students failing the test. But, this situation certainly makes me wonder who contemplates such actions. The underlying goal is to improve our educational system. I suppose the thinking is that by raising the score required to pass the test, the result will be that teachers will better prepare students on the content covered in the test and students will be motivated to study harder on these specific materials.

I don’t know about you, but this type of thinking brings me to tears. For more information about the OAKS test, see http://www.oaks.k12.or.us/.

Final Remarks

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Links to Related IAE Documents

 Alfie Kohn’s ideas about improving education.

Are high schools seriously misleading our students?

Being "Proficient" with 50 Percent Correct Answers. Math competence and math maturity.  Newsletter Issue 23, August 2009.  

Changing the world of education by failing more students.

Creating academic standards that that may be inappropriate and unattainable.

Discussion about US Education Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recent statement: “I fundamentally believe that our school day is too short, our school week is too short, and our school year is too short.”  Newsletter Issue 15, April 2009. 

Student assessment in the science and non-science of science and non-science courses.

Test anxiety and use of non-test methods to measure learning.

Using a spell checker when taking a test.