A is for Average: footnotes from chapter 10

66) Here’s the link to the study. It’s important work; standardized tests are easy to demonize and throw under the bus, as they often are, for mostly performative reasons. Although it’s a technical paper, the abstract is very approachable and will tell you what you need to know.

67) Here’s the link to the May 2020 announcement by the University of California that they were going “test blind” but were considering making their own test.

68) Here’s the link to the report by the “Feasibility Study Steering Committee and Feasibility Study Work Group” recommending against creating a new standardized test.

And here’s a link to a good EdSource article discussing the subsequent November 2021 announcement.

69) Here’s the link to the MAP test if you want to read more about it. It’s a primitive version of the test we could design if we had the political will to do so.

70) Here’s the link to the site where you can see the Sun’s spectra. And here’s the link to spectroweb, where you can look up spectra for a lot of stars. Stars are unique, and their spectra are the equivalent of fingerprints: each star has its own unique set!

71) Here’s the link to the absorption spectra for Betelgeuse, which is also known as “The Valentine’s Day star” because it appears red and because it reaches its highest point in the sky every Valentine’s night.

72) Here’s a much more detailed version of what an “individualized pathway” standardized test could look like:

73) Here’s a link to a Wikipedia page on Florentine painting, including a reference to a late 13th century piece by Duccio, which is featured in a standardized test passage I often use for teaching reading comprehension. You can read this Wikipedia page to decide for yourself if the subject is as boring as I claim.