The first tests, for second-semester freshman courses, were piloted last spring. Exams for first-semester courses for both freshmen and sophomores were piloted in January. Written by a dozen Chicago teachers, the exams eventually may count toward course grades and admission to special programs. He wants to prepare for the upcoming CASE exams, but isn't sure what to study. Hopefully she comes Monday.
Teachers are uneasy, too.
All week, another English teacher Sarah Levine has been reviewing the board-assigned literature with her students, going over terms and working on analysis. She's concerned that her students may not remember details of a text they read last quarter, but she is hopeful that the CASE will test higher-level thinking skills, the skills she feels she is supposed to be teaching. If a large proportion of the questions ask students to recall facts or draw simple inference, she says, the test result won't show whether a student is capable of higher-level thinking. She worries that such an exam might encourage teachers to teach more facts and fewer skills. For Curie, says Wallace, the challenge is incorporating the board-assigned texts into a thematic curriculum that stresses concepts like discrimination, and love and hate.