[Phys-L] Re: California Physics Standards Test

[Jack Uretsky <jlu@HEP.ANL.GOV>]

        Private message;
        I would not send that, although I sympathize with your feelings.
        You are addressing a bureacrat who deals in specifics.  Give
him/her specifics to deal with.
        Sleep on it until the "road rage" goes away.  Then rewrite it.
                                Best,
                                        Jack
On Mon, 11 Apr 2005, John Denker wrote:

> I wrote up some thoughts on this subject. I'd like to get
> comments from this group before sending them on to Baird
> and Hernandez:
>
> My remarks are at
>    http://www.av8n.com/physics/ca-test-questions.htm
>
> They begin like this:
>
> I was asked to comment on
> http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sr/documents/css05rtqphysics.pdf
>
> Executive summary: These questions have many flaws. (Details can be
> found in section 2 i.e.
> http://www.av8n.com/physics/ca-test-questions.htm#sec-specifics )
> But you presumably already knew that. Anybody with rudimentary physics
> knowledge and teaching ability could see that in an instant.
>
> It is not important to quantify just how awful this test is, or to see
> how/whether we can improve specific test-questions. The real issue has
> to do with the process. How can the system be so broken as to produce
> questions like this? How can we improve the process?
>
> This is called a “Standards Test”. Where is the standardization? What
> standards are being upheld?
>
> I am informed that the taxpayers paid some company to produce these
> questions. Well, they should demand a refund. Whoever prepared these
> questions should be disqualified from doing so in the future.
>
> More generally, whoever prepares questions in the future should provide,
> for each question, a brief statement as to its rationale. That is, they
> ought to tell us what the question is supposed to test for. Also the
> preparer should be responsible for vetting the questions, and should
> provide evidence of validity and sensitivity. That is, does the question
> do what it is supposed to do? This includes making sure the intended
> answer really is better than the others, and that each of the
> distractors really serves some purpose.

--
"Trust me.  I have a lot of experience at this."
                General Custer's unremembered message to his men,
                just before leading them into the Little Big Horn Valley
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