notes.3, cr 03 may 1997 by rha

david owen
none of the above:
  the myth of scholastic aptitude
houghton mifflin, boston, 1985

intro. high anxiety

tells the story of the author's
experience taking the SAT, the mystique
of the SAT, summary of Banesh Hoffman,
the cult of mental measurement,
introducing goliath (ETS), it is an illusion.

1. the kettle defense

the astonishing growth and financial
strength of the ETS, truly a goliath.

2. holistic grading

essays abandoned in favor of multiple choice

the difficulty of grading essays, and
how ETS has tried to get around it

3. multiple guess

MC tests not objective
only one answer is corect
NY state truth-in-testing law
ETS challenged in 1981: more than one correct answer
many more bad questions
evasions by ETS
ref to his article for harper's ca 1984
ref to banesh hoffman

4. numbers

flawed questions, flawed grading,
  flawed statistical defenses of ETS

5. tempting the medicine freaks

how stupid questions get by the review process
the resistance of test makers

6. coaching

coaching works
ets denies that it works 
that coaching works contradicts the main
  case of ets that sat measures aptitude
several articles incl FTC castigate
  ets for dishonesty
ets sells coaching materials

7. beating the test

many coaching materials are worthless
but princeton review schools work
  and raise scores 150 points or so
time for a quote (p. 140)

The message in this case is that the SAT
is not the test that ETS and the College Board
have always claimed it to be. 
It's not neutral and objective.
It's not curriculum-free.
It's not uncoachable.
It's not the same test for everyone who takes it.
It's not a measure of preparation for college.

8. test security

test proctoring is poor
essentially an honor system
70% of candidates cheat
ETS cheating detection systems do not work

9. the cult of mental measurement
10. brains
11. mythology
12. testing and teachers
13. testing and society: what can be done?
app a. a poisoned question
app b. illegal test use

end: notes.3