Are You Smarter than a 3rd Grader ?
New Jersey’s new test for third-graders tough even for reporter
FEBRUARY 17, 2015, 9:44 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2015, 9:46 PM
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
With two weeks to go before New Jersey schoolchildren face new tests that have sparked outrage and panic in some parents and teachers, it fell to me as The Record’s education reporter to determine if these exams are as tough as they have been made out to be.
As a parent of a third-grader, I had an added incentive for getting an early look at the source of all the angst – both the English and math tests that are going to be given to third-graders.
I talked to experts, educators and parents to get their opinions, and I took the test myself to see how I would do — first with about 50 educators and parents at a forum on taking the test, then at the office, answering multiple-choice questions, typing short answers on a computer and writing an essay.
It wasn’t a cakewalk. The 13 third-grade practice questions in English language arts and the 17 questions in math were challenging, and the answers were almost never obvious. Still, I’m happy to report that all my hair is still intact on my head, I did not dissolve into tears, and I got all but a few answers right. Although to be fair, I’m not in third grade.
The new tests will be given to students in Grades 3-11 beginning in March. They are the result of New Jersey adopting new standards of what students should know at each grade level. The exams are designed to be more rigorous than previous tests, but they will not count against students until 2019, when they become a graduation requirement for 11th-graders.
https://www.corestandards.org/
If you have to learn something in order to help your kids with their homework, blame your lack of education. Suck it up, and learn with them. Or you could make an obscure reference to a bad horror movie and complain about the federal government meddling in education.
Funny how you don’t hear about parents in China / India freaking out about tougher education standards. They want their kids to be competitive.
Funniest part is that the author assumes third graders cant type. They should be able to type better than most adults by the time they are in third grade.