[whipitgood]

Show me a school where the standardized test is that big of a secret and I will show you a school with something to hide. Why are they so intent on keeping it hidden from the media? If my kids were in this school district I would be VERY interested in finding out the content of the test, and making certain every parent in the district had a copy.

[VietVet]

"Show me a school where the standardized test is that big of a secret, and and I will show you a school with something to hide."

Actually, the test has to be kept secret before it is taken, or lazy or unscrupulous teachers will just have the kids memorize the answers. Teachers hate standardized tests because, on the whole, they tend to show up the ones who have not been doing their job. Parents hate standardized tests because, due to the nature of testing and measurement, half the children will score below average, and every parent wants to believe that his offspring are, like the children of Lake Woebegone, all above average.

Stealing this test, and giving it to the media to publish, presumably, was a serious crime. It takes thousands of man-hours, and consequently a lot of money to develop a standardized test. With the results potentially compromised by the giving out of the stolen test questions, it must have cost the school district thousands of dollars to revise the test so it could be used.

But I wouldn't have pegged the parents' group as the likely suspects. I would have looked closely at a teacher or administrator who would have looked bad when the results showed that the pupils for whom he was responsible did not do as well as the other students, locally, statewide, or nationally.

VietVet