DH> Good lord man! I thought I had a large family(four beautiful girls),
DH> but you put me to shame. I have been suspicious of state mandated
DH> testing for some time now, and stories such as yours, just adds to the
DH> suspicion. In Mississippi high school juniors are required to take a
DH> functional literacy exam(FLE). This examination tests the kids ability
DH> to function on an eighth grade level. Problem is, about 25% of the kid
DH> fail the test, and schools have started giving FLE prep classes!
    
    These things start with the best of intentions, a comparative
performance test to pin point specific areas needing greater attention.
However, even the public sector is not entirely immune to the nature of
competition and when these tests are compared those administrators
responsible are motivated to place better among their peers.
    Unfortunately the public sector also reacts differently than the
private sector to competitition because its goals, its abilities, and
its capability of neglecting other primary functions while
concentrating on a subject of interest all allow it to produce odd and
often unpredictable outcomes.  What happened in the case of testing is
that the test itself, not the performance the test was initially
designed to measure, becomes the all consuming priority.
     This is why, in the public sector, when competitive tests are
employed, the result is things like special classes teaching kids how
to take the tests, lunch menus on test day designed to enhances
concentration, and even study sheets, specifically designed for the
test itself, being sent out to parents days before the tests to enlist
their aid in making the responsible administrators look better.
 
      If anything, all statewide testing in Texas has done is
demonstrate to me, in the boldest of terms, why it is imperative that
we remove education from the public sector.  We simply cannot entrust
this nations most valuable resource, our children, to civil servants
whose priorities, inevitably, center upon perpetuation of their own
absolute control and personal job security. 
 
                                          /\/\ike
--- RBBSMail/386 v0.997
---------------