Parents have been complaining about a question on the SAT their children took recently.Keep this story in mind and consider that California is considering replacing its 11th grade standardized tests with the SAT.
Two parents reported a question about a speech given by Bernie Sanders that was asked on the SAT.
The first parent asked on social media:
1) Why was there an Essay Question on my daughter’s SAT test asking her to explain why Bernie Sanders speech was effective??
Regardless of any political beliefs this is underhanded and just wrong.
2) The whole country takes mandatory SAT’s yesterday and my daughter was one of them….she told me that the last question was critiquing a speech that Bernie Sanders made on not privatizing the post offices. His arguments/opinions put out there without any opposing views.
It’s a good time to remind you that David Coleman, one of the Chief Architects of the Common Core Standards, is now the President of the College Board. Since he was elevated to this position there has been much controversy surrounding the SAT/ACT and Advanced Placement Program.
Education, politics, and anything else that catches my attention.
Sunday, April 28, 2019
The Snake Tightens Its Hold
First, the background:
It disturbs me, but doesn't surprise me. Someone is deeply invested in not just prolonging testing, but in using testing as a means to indoctrinate kids. I've been very concerned for a long time over the bias in history texts. That the social studies department on my campus is the most liberal by far, goes without saying. But to see a candidate mentioned by name is not keeping material current, it's an attempt to align that candidate with the norm in student minds at a time when they are just starting to get involved in politics and independent thinking with the vote. Disturbing indeed.
ReplyDeleteIt's a wicked, tangled web that does our students harm. The ELA CCSS are ridiculous--too many. Coleman seems to have never met a literary work he loved; non-fiction rules in his world. We must prepare our students to be widgets that fit into their jobs instead of flourishing, well-rounded, intelligent people.
ReplyDeleteYet, if the SAT were to use an article refuting the claims of the cult of Anthropogenic Global Warming, they would be chastised for being “deniers”. I would love to see them use BOTH sides of an argument for a question and ask test-takers to identify the literary devices used in both to support the arguments being made. Better yet, include facts versus opinions in no matter which article/essay/speech they analyze.
ReplyDelete