What I do for a living...

[Jedieb]

If you're interested in seeing if you've got the skills to pass the standardized test my 5th graders are forced to take then head on over. You'll get an idea of the brainwashing my job forces me to do.

http://www.roanoke.k12.va.us./morningside/released.htm

If you happen to find any mistakes let me know. These were brutal to create and I haven't had the time to check every question for any potential bugs.

[darth_mcbain]

That's really cool EB - good job. I wish we had stuff like that back when I was in 5th grade...

[Admiral Lebron]

ACK! SOLs do not remind me! Only like 3 weeks until them! Ick! Bad! Bad Person!

[Jedieb]

"We don't need no thougth control...."

I really don't like them, but I don't have much of a choice. Sometimes I feel like I'm just a multiple choice test trainer, not a teacher. I try to make it as much fun as possible. So what does everybody think of my school's web master?

[Admiral Lebron]

Nice job. I personally find Standardized tests bad, because teachers teach around the SOL and for the SOL and not for like teachings sake. It's bad. It's getting worse to, with more needed to graduate. Not to mention our Superintendant is a freak and is trying to get us to have no holidays from January to Spring break and Spring break is 3 days long.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I'd think they look pretty cool Jedieb, still I agree with you I don't think the standarize test show anything really about how intelligent they are and I wish they could be done away with, but our government unfortuntely think its the only way to see if the teachers are teaching the correct things.

[Jedieb]

One of my biggest problems with them is that they only measure intelligence in one manner. I'm speaking as someone who has always done well on stardardized tests. If you take enough of them, you learn the tricks. You learn how to eliminate certain responses, make educated guesses, etc. But what about the tactile learner? Or the verbal learner? Stop and think of the skills needed to pass any standardized test. When exactly are those skills used in the real world? Are they used in business meetings, conference calls, presentations, or muliti-step problems? Do they measure leadership skills or other interpersonal skills? Do you have any idea how many millionaire entrepenuers out there never even broke 1,000 on their SAT's? My cousin only scored in the 900's and a couple of years ago she won 4 cases, each bringing in more than a quarter million into her firm. Now she practices out of her home and helps her husbands small law practice whenever he needs a hand. Scores only matter in school, no one asks about them once you leave a classroom, trust me. People want to see what you can do in the flesh, not what you did on a Saturday morning while you were in highschool.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I agree with you Jedieb and wish they would get rid of these standarize tests, they really don't show everything about a person's intelligence.

[sirdizzy]

wow 10 broken links was the test to see if ya'd try em all

[Jedieb]

dizzy, did you have trouble accessing one of the pages? I just double checked and I didn't have any trouble loading the pages. if you had any problems could you tell me what kind of browser you're using? I haven't really tested the links on different kinds of browsers and I'd like to know if certain kinds of browsers have trouble reading the pages. The pages were created with an educational shareware program called hotpotatoes.

[BUFFJEDI]

How the HE11, Do you expect Anyone to pass that Dam^ 5th grade English!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jedieb]

Relax buff, I'll have the 3rd grade version up and running in a few months. That should be more your speed. ;)

[BUFFJEDI]

:lol Whew!! Thank Goodness

[JonathanLB]

That writing thing is insulting, haha, j/k. Most fifth graders are not that stupid though are they?!

I was quite intelligent as a fifth grader and at my school we started writing research papers of a significant length in 4th grade. By 5th grade I was already a fairly good writer for that age anyway and those questions seem more like they would be right for 2nd graders perhaps (I could barely read in second grade, haha, but in 5th? Come on, we were reading encyclopedias by that time...).

[sirdizzy]

well i am running ie and couldn't get any of them to work


although it could be my computer because i upgraded to win2000 and evidently iot hates PCI simple communications control so win2000 won't let my modem work so when i am at home i have to use win ME but i messed that up in the upgrade by deleting duplicates of software in made for win2000 so it doesn't work %100 any more and i have downloaded 6 drivers for the PCI control and still nothing


but my ethernet card works on 2000 when i go to the college so go figure

[Jedieb]

I tried it on my computer's copy of IE and the pages ran just fine. I'm running Windows XP, but I wouldn't be surprised if some older browsers have trouble running the pages. The sad part is probably 1-3 of the 23 students I have will probably have computers at home that are new enough to run those tests. Most of my students will take the tests at school during computer lab.

[JMK]

I briefly visited the first page and didn't see the image that was supposed to be there. Of course, my reading skills might be a hair higher than Buff's. ;) Which would put me half way through the 3rd grade.

[sirdizzy]

i took the math one and got 50 out of 50 right

[Morgan Evanar]

Dizzy: Never, ever upgrade Windows.

Always fdisk and do a clean install.

[Master Yoghurt]

Those tests are very easy! Anything less than 100 is a defeat. :)

2001 English: Reading/literature test, question 2. Pardon me for possible stupidity (English is not my native tongue), but is not the word brittle supposed to mean "likely to break" instead of "long and strong"?

2001 Science test, question 1. I don't see any picture!

2001 Math test 23/50. Figure D got 14, not 18 units, or am I missing something, lol

Btw, the tests seem to load fine in my Opera 6.0 browser.

[Jedieb]

Thanks for spotting that mistake in the English test Yogurt! I looked back at the original test and it seems I cut pasted the responses in the wrong order. I'll be fixing that later today.
Math 2001 #23
That answer is correct. Two of the sides are 4 units, the other 2 are 5 giving you a perimeter of 18 and an area of 20. I hope this teaches you to stop copying off buff's paper! ;)
Science
The image loaded up fine for me so there must have been some problem with a server when you tried to take it.

Thanks again guys. I just don't have the time to proof these and your feedback is well appreciated.

[Master Yoghurt]

Oh I see, :rolleyes I was mislead by the word "units". I thought it was referring to the number of squares forming up the perimeter. A unit is the side of a geometric shape then.

[Jedieb]

I don't even want to tell you what buff thought when he saw the word "units." ;)

I do see now where you got your 14. That's something I'll have to point out to my students when we review the test.