Do the Math Test Limbo

By Matt Wood in News on Jan 5, 2006 7:48PM

It's a time-tested strategy of every drunken Chad who's feeling lonely and horny near closing time. You lower your standards. Can't make a move on the leggy model sitting amidst a self-generated glow in the corner with her equally stylish and sexy friends? Why don't you hit on the girl who just stumbled out of the bathroom, you know, the one with just a little puke on her hair? It's all pass/fail at this point right? Don't the ends justify the means?

The state of Illinois is considering their own version of strapping on the beer goggles and picking up some strobelight honeys to solve their problem with eighth-graders who can't pass the Illinois Standards Achievement Tests. Feeling pressure to meet requirements of the No Child Left Untested law, a state committee proposed lowering the passing grade on the ISAT's eighth-grade math section from the 67th percentile to the 38th. Supporters of the plan say that the standards were out of whack because the national passing average on the test is about 50 percent. Last year, 54 percent of Illinois students passed, but they want to set the bar nice and low just to be sure. Watch your shins Kaitlin.

Chicagoist has made our feelings about standardized testing known time and time again, but could there be a more blatant example of why these programs are doomed to failure? Manipulating measuring sticks like this defeats the purpose of the testing regime in the first place, making them an even more colossal waste of time and resources. Hey our students beat 38 percent of the curve! Huzzah! Chalk one up for pushing the limits.