A Look Into the Top-Secret World of High-Stakes Testing
There is such a degree of secrecy surrounding N.Y.S. Common-Core tests that you might mistake it for the Manhattan Project. Teachers are not privy to share any of the specific questions with the public. Nonetheless, one can find many generalized criticisms of the exams on the internet (likehere and here). One can also speak with teachers who proctored the exams as well as the children who took them at the different grade levels. I haven't heard one person praise the exams. A friend noted, however, that the readings seemed reasonable, but the questions were not. I can only go on hearsay.
In case you're wondering why Common-Core tests are classified, I have absolutely no idea. But I can take some educated guesses.
The Top Ten Reasons for Keeping the Content of the N.Y.S. Common-Core Tests Secret:
10. P.A.R.C.C. or Pearson may intend to use these questions again. If they can recycle the same trash, there is no need for creativity on their account or on our account.
9. These questions may cause controversy if it is discovered that they were borrowed, in part, as in the past, from the testing company's purchasable review books.
8. If parents learn the length and content of the exams, they make seek to shelter their children before the six-day cycle of suffering has ended.
7. People with a Ph.D. really don't need to know at an advanced age that they couldn't pass a third NYC Educator: A Look Into the Top-Secret World of High-Stakes Testing: