Common Core Testing: Creating New Consumers
From the Washington Post's The Answer Sheet, a guest column by an 8th grader, Isaiah Schrader, in New York (he is a gifted student so the essay reads very well).
Guess what kids? The new Common Core assessments developed by the mega-uber education group Pearson? Contains brand-names (complete with trademark logos) in test questions.
What does Isaiah have to say (bold mine)?
The “busboy” passage in the eighth grade test I took was fictional, written about a dishwasher at a pizza restaurant. In it, the busboy neglects to notice a large puddle of root beer under a table that he clears. His irate employer notifies him about the mess, and he cleans it up. It seems alright at first glace. However, the root beer was referred to at one point as Mug™ Root Beer. It was followed by a footnote, which informed test-takers that Mug™ was a registered trademark of PepsiCo. The brand of soda, the type of soda, and, come to think of it, the exact beverage was not necessary to the development of the story, nor was it mentioned in any of the confusing and analytical questions following the passage.
Non-fictional passages in the test I took included an article about robots, where the brands IBM™, Lego®,
Guess what kids? The new Common Core assessments developed by the mega-uber education group Pearson? Contains brand-names (complete with trademark logos) in test questions.
What does Isaiah have to say (bold mine)?
The “busboy” passage in the eighth grade test I took was fictional, written about a dishwasher at a pizza restaurant. In it, the busboy neglects to notice a large puddle of root beer under a table that he clears. His irate employer notifies him about the mess, and he cleans it up. It seems alright at first glace. However, the root beer was referred to at one point as Mug™ Root Beer. It was followed by a footnote, which informed test-takers that Mug™ was a registered trademark of PepsiCo. The brand of soda, the type of soda, and, come to think of it, the exact beverage was not necessary to the development of the story, nor was it mentioned in any of the confusing and analytical questions following the passage.
Non-fictional passages in the test I took included an article about robots, where the brands IBM™, Lego®,