Lynda

Another reason the tests don't mean much is some folks are good at taking
tests and some aren't. I'm a whiz at them, unfortunately! Back in the dark
ages, at least in CA, if you reached the ol' Mensa level once they tested
the heck out of you for the balance of your years in p.s.

If a child isn't a visual learner they are going to have a harder time with
the tests. Doesn't mean their IQ is any lower, simply that they don't do as
well with that type of test.

A guy I went ot high school with was the most brilliant person I ever knew
and scored barely above the 70s. If you set a test in front of him, he
froze! He never did that well in school because of testing but four years
out of high school he had retired on a part he invented for the space
program.

IMNSHO, tests are just one more thing straight out of the inquisition and
probably invented by the same guy that invented hospital gowns! Cruel and
unusual punishment <g>

Lynda
----- Original Message -----
From: Bridget E Coffman <rumpleteasermom@...>
>
> I mentioned it because it was part of the point that they are
> meaningless. Easy to say if you score badly, harder to say if you score
> well. "Tests" because we consider them games. We LIKE taking them.
> "Usually" because if we are tired or run down or having a bad day or
> distracted or not really paying attention we sometimes don't break the
> MENSA level.
>
> Bridget
>

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In a message dated 9/30/01 10:04:24 PM, lurine@... writes:

<< If a child isn't a visual learner they are going to have a harder time with
the tests. >>

The tests we had in 8th grade had a visual section. it was kind of an
engineering/spatial-looking thing. They'd show a shape/object, and you chose
the one that would fit into it/next to it. I thought those were fun. I
think it was Stanford-Binet, but maybe ITBS.

<<A guy I went ot high school with was the most brilliant person I ever knew
and scored barely above the 70s. If you set a test in front of him, he
froze! He never did that well in school because of testing but four years
out of high school he had retired on a part he invented for the space
program.>>

I have a friend named Ted Martinez. When we were in sixth grade, his dad was
a fireman in Los Alamos, and died rescuing someone from a housefire. He was
a big hero, but Ted got quiet. All the rest of Jr. High and High school and
college I was around Ted, and watched him as he scored average, 80th
percentile, didn't pay attention and got Bs in English, and forgot when his
test was, and I could see his dad in his eyes a lot.

Ted finished college without a glitch, went to law school, married a really
sweet and bright lady, lost his right arm in an accident while he was hanging
bunting or flags over a road for a parade once, is a lawyer in the federal
courts here and everyone who knows him loves him.

If test scores determined life, Ted would be working at Taco Bell, but he's
one of the most successful and happy people I know.

I really hate tests. Since homeschoolers don't have paychecks to justify and
aren't applying for federal, state, or district funding (usually), and we
don't need to identify some of our kids for special ed or gifted programs, I
think we should just say no to testing.



Sandra

"Everything counts."
http://expage.com/SandraDoddArticles
http://expage.com/SandraDodd

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<I think we should just say no to testing.>

I agree. I live in a state that does not require testing for
homeschoolers and some parents still request it. I really don't
understand this.
Deb L