How to Screw Up High-Stakes Testing

You'll love this. I spend since January working with the kids in math, getting them to work problems, show their work, use strategies to help work through test questions. In one fell swoop the principal destroys all that work.

Honor Roll assembly on Friday - one of the many unfortunate things - the principal and the counselors couldn't pronounce most of the kids' names. And then, in a "pep" talk about AIMS, the principal says, "if you have no idea of the answer, put C. If you can't figure the problem out, just mark C."

Say what? Or, as they say on line, WTF? Not "Do your best." Not "Work through all the problems," but "Pick C."

So all the kids walked out of the assembly and into class prepared to choose C - one boy actually said, "The principal says to pick C."

So do you think we'll lose the failing label this year??????