[etni] Regarding SAT's, Bagrut and other standard tests
- From: Judy Cohen <cwejudy@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2014 10:17:42 +0200
I recently had the experience of working for an assessment company. They
were hired by schools in the USA - apparently Jewish day schools, but we
weren't supposed to know who the clients were. I and several other
freelance writers created Hebrew test items. My employers did not know
Hebrew. They hired freelance readers and editors. They also, apparently,
knew nothing about Israel and Israeli culture. About a month into the
program everything was put on hold because they "hadn't been clear on what
the clients wanted" - including age and level. Then we kept getting into
conflict over cultural differences, and eventually we were writing texts
that had no cultural context of any kind ("let's celebrate a birthday and
not Shabbat"). In addition, I'm not sure about their English either, as
they said things like "School supplies? Can't you say school material?"
Worst of all, we kept having to make everything easier, again and again
and again. I eventually left them, but the program is still going on as
they record listening comprehension in American accents.
Think about that the next time you wish to extoll "objective" standard
testing from outside sources.
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- » [etni] Regarding SAT's, Bagrut and other standard tests - Judy Cohen