{"id":178,"date":"2016-10-10T04:02:35","date_gmt":"2016-10-10T04:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/?p=178"},"modified":"2016-10-10T04:02:35","modified_gmt":"2016-10-10T04:02:35","slug":"elsies-exams-an-indiana-8th-grade-reading-assessment-from-105-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/?p=178","title":{"rendered":"Elsie’s Exams – An Indiana 8th Grade Reading Assessment from 105 Years Ago"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 6 Sep 2015.<\/p>\n

Tests and schools go hand and hand.\u00a0 Lately there has been much parent backlash regarding the number of and amount of time spent on school assessments.\u00a0 The validity and reliability of the assessments are also an issue.\u00a0 Last spring in my state, students were still completing their online state required end of course assessments when the legislature decided that the results couldn\u2019t be used as they had not been normed.\u00a0 Duh!\u00a0 Teachers and administrators had been complaining about how unfair the tests were but no one listened until the 12th hour.<\/p>\n

Another major educational concern is the use of a common core curriculum.\u00a0\u00a0States\u00a0rights advocates complain about Federal meddling.\u00a0 Some educators complain that the common core doesn\u2019t address what\u2019s most important.<\/p>\n

Personally, I\u2019m over all of the testing requirements \u2013 it\u2019s way too much and I wish politicians could witness the stress their mandates are causing children.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad I never had the pressure at 8 years old that today’s kids have. \u00a0For the past 15 years in Florida, if a child didn’t score high enough on a standardized test administered in the spring, the student can be retained even though the child had performed adequately all year in class. \u00a0For many students, the test was the first time he\/she ever was given a test formatted in that particular way so the unfairness of the retention is even greater.<\/p>\n

I truly am an advocate of a nationwide curriculum\u00a0and testing program with regional elements added.\u00a0 Genealogists know that families don\u2019t stay in one place for long and transitioning for children is hard enough without having to adapt to a new curriculum. \u00a0I’m not saying every child in America should be on the same page in the same book every day. \u00a0Children learn at different rates; humans are not automated and differentiation is necessary and beneficial. \u00a0Comparing learning, however, does need to be uniform. When I first started teaching in Florida I was appalled at the\u00a0standardized test questions that asked about tobogganing and ice skating.\u00a0 Seriously, most of my students had no experience with northern winter weather.\u00a0 How unfair!<\/p>\n

My husband\u2019s grandmother, Elsie Wilhelmina Johnson attended school in Lake County, Indiana in the first decade of the 20th century.\u00a0 A first generation American with Swedish spoken at home, I am amazed at how well she performed academically. \u00a0We have copies of her graduation exams and they were tough!. \u00a0Take a look at the testing rules:<\/p>\n

\"cover-sheet\"<\/p>\n

Rule 10 states that a student needs a 75% on the exam AND classwork above 60% to pass for the year. \u00a0A 60% today equates to a grade of F so in Elsie’s day, good test takers who slacked throughout the school year could pass. \u00a0We had that problem in middle school and the way our district fixed it was that students had to gain a minimum of 2 points a semester, which at the lowest, is two D’s. Prior to the change we had darlings getting an A first grading period and then failing the next 3 grading periods. \u00a0The old rule was a student must earn 4 points a year in a subject to pass and the A equaled 4 points. \u00a0Our rule change eliminated slackers.<\/p>\n

Elsie’s exams were for completion of the 8th grade which was the highest grade she attended. \u00a0High School was available through 12th grade but was not mandatory. \u00a0Exams, though, were state mandated with the final test question “to be determined” by the local district. \u00a0Wish we still did that today! \u00a0This would allow for local differences yet still give educators a better idea of how a child had progressed in comparison with a broader group.<\/p>\n

When I first began to teach I was a reading teacher so Elsie’s reading tests are of particular interest to me. \u00a0My husband and I attended school in the 1970’s in the same district as Elsie and we did not read the selections on her exam until high school. \u00a0In Florida, only Don Quxiote is still read and that is at the high school level:<\/p>\n

\"rdg-final\"<\/p>\n

Elsie’s reading test was in two parts. \u00a0Here’s the 2nd section:<\/p>\n

\n\"rdg\"<\/p>\n

I particularly like how the reading selections crossed curriculum areas, Pilgrim’s Progress with US History, Burn’s with science and Longfellow with philosophy. \u00a0\u00a0In that case, the crafty teacher could have easily taught reading through the other core classes.<\/p>\n

It appears that Elsie had one teacher all day who taught all lessons. \u00a0WOW! This would certainly not occur today unless it was through a homeschool environment. \u00a0Teachers are prohibited from having to develop more than 3 different plans for levels or classes.<\/p>\n

Think also of how much time was saved in not having students transition from room to room. \u00a0Five minutes passing time for 7 periods would save 30 minutes a day!<\/p>\n

Next time we’ll look at Elsie’s math…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 6 Sep 2015. Tests and schools go hand and hand.\u00a0 Lately there has been much parent backlash regarding the number of and amount of time spent on school assessments.\u00a0 The validity and reliability of the assessments are also an issue.\u00a0 Last spring in my state, students were still completing their … Continue reading “Elsie’s Exams – An Indiana 8th Grade Reading Assessment from 105 Years Ago”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[158,156,134,157],"class_list":["post-178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","tag-exam","tag-reading","tag-school","tag-test"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=178"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":182,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178\/revisions\/182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}