Considering the ruckus that Act 60, has caused with its promise of education equality for all, it should come as no surprise that the Education Department was hoping to stifle the mediocre results of April's statewide New Standards Reference Exam. The numbers are less than stellar. Releasing individual scores would certainly put the lie to Act 60's basic premise that more money equals a better education. The test itself has always been controversial. While the New Standards assessment has a multiple-choice section, the task section has raised the most questions.
Children read a lengthy word problem, and then perform a pencil and paper explanation.
While the multiple- choice section can be machine scored, the tasks portion must be scored by people, who have neither the unbiased processes nor emotional detachment of a computer. They are trained by Harcourt Brace, the New Standards testing contractor, assigning a score by using a pre-ordained standard. This standard is copyrighted, as is the test, and layfolk can see neither. Dissembling bad news is a hallmark of the education bureaucracy. It hasn't just happened with the reading test.