We are in standardized test season, and all across the country, students are taking the Big Standardized Test by which they, their schools, and their teachers will all be judged. How absurd are these tests? Meet Sara Holbrook, the writer who couldn't answer test questions about her own work.
It's a simple, sharp moment that captures an emotional picture in some simple images. It's hard to imagine dissecting this with test questions without beating some of the life out of it. Yet Mentoring Minds LD has come up with eight questions.
I cannot reproduce any of the eight questions accompanying the poem here, because the materials include a robust copyright notice that includes phrases such as"maximum extent of the law." But once again, the questions turn on the issue of word choice, central message, and which part of the poem does things"best," all of which hinge on the test taker's interpretation of the poet's intent.
Holbrook, as a poet and an educator, has several thoughts about remedies to these sorts of tests."Parents, demand to see the test prep materials. Teachers, don't waste time on test prep: you can't teach nonsense. Administrators, take the money you are spending on test prep and spend it on classroom libraries instead. There are no quick fixes. Kids need to read and write voluminously." She advocates for transparency.
To approach any poem with the notion that each word has one and only one correct reading when language at its most rich involves shades and layers or meaning--what my old college writing professor called"the ambiguity that enriches"--is one way to stifle thinking in students. In many states, we are doing it in grades K through 12.
There are so many layers to Holbrook's situation. The test manufacturers could have contacted her and talked to her about her poem , but they didn't. So here we sit, in a bizarre universe where the test writer knows the"correct" answer for a question about a poem, but the person who wrote the poem does not. And at least Holbrook has the option of publicly saying,"Hey, wait a minute," which is more than the deceased authors used for testing can do.
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