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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > April > 01 > Entry
Tests that endanger body parts?
I couldn’t resist a short post on this. An education writer colleague points out that the new test in New England is going to be called the New England Common Assessment Program.
Acronym? NECAP.
As in, “you don’t pass this test and one of Tony Soprano’s guys will bust up your NECAP.”
Which caused other colleagues to point out the funny names of their state test including:
- The Standards of Learning exam in Virginia. I guess if you fail you are SOL.
- The Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, or TAKS (pronounced TAX), a test given in mid April each year in Texas. One thing is for sure, you’ll pay if you fail this one.
- In California, you might want to be a star someday, but first you’ll have to pass under the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program.
- Washington’s test, the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, is nicknamed the WASL, which reminds some of the fruity Christmas drink wassel.
Come on Ohio. The Ohio Graduation Test (OGT) could really have a much sexier name. Maybe something like Test for Ohio Graduation and Assessment (TOGA)?
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Testing
Comments
By Oldprof
April 3, 2006 11:07 AM | Link to this
So Scott, you notice here that all the states use different tests? Ever heard of the Lake Woebegone pheonomenon—the one where “all the children are above average?” Each state picks the test that makes it look good—and we have no basis for comparison, so we don’t know what’s “average” and who’s really above it. Plus—with public education getting shattered by charter-voucher-home-cyber- and other lab experiments, there’s going to be even less basis for comparison.By Matt
April 2, 2006 4:21 PM | Link to this
Here’s one in another field. The original name for the invasion of Iraq? Operation Iraqi Liberation. Acronym: OIL Somebody thought to change it though.By Mary
April 1, 2006 11:37 AM | Link to this
Cutesy acronyms exist in all professions, perhaps as a diversion from focussing on the real job and emphasizing communicating within the herd. More questionable are the mascots of various animals and other symbols sometimes offensive to ethnic groups used by educational institutions. Then there is the cutesy baby talk that supposedly dumbs us down from birth.