“Only the school district’s test coordinator can order tests,” says a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Education Department. Make that test coordinators and ten-year-olds. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review tells how a boy recently managed to order a batch of state assessment tests.
Rebecca Costello, director of pupil services at Hempfield, confirmed the student simply faxed an order from his home for the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests, commonly known as the PSSAs. Costello said the Hempfield boy sent the order to Data Recognition Corp. of Maple Grove, Minn., the company that produces the exams for Pennsylvania, Ohio and several other states.
The boy reportedly meant no harm and was not attempting to cheat on the PSSA. School officials say he simply wanted the test so he could “play school.” The paper misses the obvious takeaway of this story, but Teacher Magazine’s Anthony Rebora does not. “Does it say something about schools today that a kid who wants to play teacher thinks he needs to have authentic standardized tests on hand?” he asks.
When I was a kid and we wanted to play school, we wanted a chalkboard.
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