In the documentary, LIKE A SCAPEGOAT ON A PENDULUM, retired physics teacher and author, Rog Lucido, explains the process involved in creating a standardized test.
The methodology clearly creates the pool of "winners" and "losers" desired by educational policy makers who favor learning symbolism over learning substance.
Please link to the following website. STAR SAMPLE QUESTIONS WEBSITE
The most intriguing aspect of this site is that you can see the evidence of questions which have "performance levels" built directly into them.
In other words, instead of the test-maker creating a test with straight forward grade level questions, there are questions which are advanced, proficient, basic, and below basic.
Look through the varying levels. You will see that when questions are "basic", a great majority of students get them right.
Hooray!
But that is not what the test maker wants. They want that "curve".
Remember, in most other states "basic" is just fine.
California seems to glory in teaching students a mass multitude of developmentally inappropriate standards (which they deem to be "world class"), which only work against many children and their academic futures.
