Posted on 05/11/2012 10:17:57 AM PDT by Daffynition
Some Garden State parents are furious after learning their 3rd graders were asked during the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge exam, NJ ASK, to disclose a secret about their lives – and why it’s hard to keep.
Dr. Richard Goldberg – a Marlboro father of twin boys in the 3rd grade – says the youngsters were asked “The Secret” question, and ” I was kind of shocked because it was just a very – it was an outrageous question…to ask an 8-year-old, a 9-year-old to start revealing secrets in the middle of an exam – I thought was really inappropriate… these children – they want to answer the question, they want to ask it correctly, they don’t want to get a bad grade- but at the same time…think about the things a child might know – about themselves or their family.”
He says many other parents were also upset by the question, and “whoever put this question forward really needs to be called to account…I find it incredible that someone could not possibly understand how dangerous or how uncomfortable a question like this might be…somebody was either very stupid or very arrogant.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nj1015.com ...
Some? Just *some*???? I would think legions would be marching on the state capitol!?!
Paging Chris Christie. Where are you on this?
Cue the story of the much-celebrated NorK camp hero who eventually escaped after ratting out his mother and brother who were executed in front of him.....
He’s waiting for word from his campaign manager....A Coulter.
Welcome to public education in America. Dismantle it.
There have been writing prompts similar to this on the Texas TAAS test. For example: “Tell about a time you felt proud of yourself. Explain why.” I’m sure that the state of NJ will be very sorry it asked about a “secret.” Dumb, dumb, dumb.
More Marxist or Nazi influence in the government schools.
This is not a question Americans would put on a test.
I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the notion that for a *good* grade...a third grader feels obligated to reveal a personal secret. Jaw dropping. Obscene.
how will they be able to tell whether the ‘secret’ is even true? kids will make stuff up, some of which will be misinterpreted...
At the end of the article it describes the question on a portion of the tests as *field testing*...and it takes 2 years for a review? That would mean that next year, this will continue...unless there is a huge outrage from parents.
Pitchforks to the capitol!
My granddaughter is in 3rd grade [not NJ]. She & I are going to have a *little* talk tonight b/c she’s a very compliant student and I want her know she has *options*.
**Our teacher spends a lot of time in the supply closet with Jimmy from the 6th grade. From the noises coming inside, I think they must be moving a lot of stuff around.**
Many States have laws about abuse, neglect, and exploitation of children. I would file a criminal complaint about that if I were a parent.
1) It's New Jersey.
2) It's "for the children"
It is all about conditioning people to do as they are told, to answer any and all questions : |
Dear Lord, give us strength to win this battle.
Tatt
If you follow the link, you will see the testing company is not from NJ. Their site has a map with clients across the country. I'm wondering if it is being tested in all these other states, as well.
43% of the poll responses think asking kids to tell family secrets is ok. Really? What planet do these morons live? Every one of them is probably the reason America is so screwed up and DC is filled with deviants.
We taught our kids to NEVER answer anything personal on those tests and surveys. If the teacher demanded an answer, we told them to make up the most outlandish answer they could. It’s not that we have anything to hide but bottom line is it’s no one’s business and teachers will gossip.
This used to be done in the Soviet Union.
Rat on your parents.
Then the parents would dissappear and the child was praised as a hero of the revolution.
Well, all my life I was bullied by coaches and English teachers so one day I decided enough was enough. I deserve better from society. It was then that I began torturing bugs and little birds. I gained self-satisfaction and confidence in my new found power! Soon after, I advanced to larger animals such as the neighbors' pet cats and dogs. Now, I'm perfecting my technique for teachers. My proudest day is yet to come but it will be here soon because I can feel the tingle down my leg when my face will be broadcast across every news outlet across the country for making such a joke of this moronic question.
Think that might get some reaction from the school? How fast do you think little Johnny would be called down to the office?
For the life of me, I cannot understand why all of the people who reviewed that question did not hear alarm bells going off.
The two years of field testing allows them to have enough students answering that question— the article said only 4% of students had the question on this test— to be able to get useful statistics on students’ ability to respond to it in a proper writing fashion. [Believe it or not, it can be very difficult to write test questions that students understand they way you intended them to understand.]
In Texas, we have a few field questions nearly every year. And only a few students get any one field test question.
In order to evaluate writing ability, they have to come up with questions of this kind, which require no information that the student has *learned* anywhere, because the students cannot be assumed to have any standard knowledge base.
Here’s what we did:
Throughout the school year, as students were preparing to do any writing assignment, we made it clear to them that their writing need to be academically appropriate, that they should only write what they would be willing to share with the teacher and/or classmates. If their writing was going to be part of a display, they were told in advance.
As I said in earlier posts, I do not understand how so many people at so many levels read the question and thought it acceptable.
Little Johnny Doe answered that his father eats light bulbs!
Guess the punch line.
:^}
And they couldn’t come up with a less intrusive question? Oh, that’s right, they were educated by the same public education system. As I said before; US public education should be dismantled.
“”Works pretty well at the airports!””
Agreed. I have long held that TSA is no longer a security program, but rather, is for training Americans to submit : |
May God give us the strength to right this ship.
Tatt
I assume that you’d have a problem if the student were questioned about a response like that.
Assuming that a student wrote something like that:
1) If (s)he was serious, wouldn’t (s)he need some kind of counseling and some parent involvement?
2)If (s)he wasn’t serious, wouldn’t (s)he need to be told to get serious? That words have meanings?
Austin ISD is looking for a way out of the TAKS test claiming it costs the district too much and takes away from teaching. I agree. Hopefully, more TX districts will see the light and move away from spending all their time teaching to the test.
they were all bullied by Mitt Romney.
Do they all use the same rubric in assessing the student’s work?
In Texas, yes.
Actually, this year, TAKS has become STAAR. Multiple school districts in our region are doing the same as Austin. The number of school days spent on practice testing and then testing is absurd. It’s all gotten out of hand.
STAAR. Yeah, knew that... forgot.
Teacher! Teacher! You didn't say there was going to be a pop-quiz today!
Hence, my concern, b/c my GD was raised to obey; listen in school; and do what the teacher[s] tell you.
I can imagine that the students are told to answer *all* of the questions [to the best of their ability] ...well, our *little talk* tonight should be interesting.
We had the event of the visit to the pediatrician’s office, you know the one, where s/he asks * do you have any guns in the house*? We role-played her answer...*Nope, none that I know of* ...*I know they were all lost when the canoe tipped over on the lake.*
I would think, even with a rubric, the scoring would be subjective.
Teach the kids to make up a secret about the teacher, or principal. Tell that in writing. Pass it around.
Tell your kids the school is the government. You don’t answer personal questions about yourself without your parents or a lawyer present.
I like that. Anything requiring a name or signature must first be covered by a lawyer.
There is a certain amount of subjectivity to it, even with a clear set of descriptors for each score.
Well, my 3rd grader GD had our little *talk*....we had fun brainstorming ideas for outrageous secrets we could write about that would fulfill the test and throw off the prying PTB.
Actually, for a prompt like this, I’d have encouraged my students to write about a secret that’s not too serious or that is even funny. If they couldn’t think of one, I’d have them make one up.
The whole point is to demonstrate writing ability. I told my students that it wasn’t as though I was going to investigate what they said in their papers to see if it was true. It just needed to be well written.
Since we’re sharng *bad* jokes...here’s yours for the evening....
A black guy,
An illegal alien,
A Muslim, and
A Communist
Walk into a bar.
The bartender asks,
“What can I get you
Mr. President?”
And you would be *allowed* to deviate from the prompt, not give exactly what was written? Schools in CT would have your hide, if you did that, [which I consider a very sensible thing to do; kids are under enough stress taking these dang tests, why compound it?].
Sounds as if you are are a wonderful teacher!
And the reply was,” the BIG guy at the corner table.”
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