really big numbers

Just found this at de Havilland blog, while looking around for the post on the Frederick Hess article I want to link (is that clear?)

Remember really big numbers?

In Trailblazers?

The slides in this YouTube are set to what is possibly my favorite movie theme of all time, from what is possibly the most romantic movie of all time, Last of the Mohicans.

Half of this video is a blast; the other half is 21st century fear and loathing set to music - fun!

...predictions are that by 2049 a $1,000 computer will exceed the computational capabilities of the human race...

Sure, sure.

But will a $1,000 computer be able to read the wavy letters in the Comments window?

That's the question.

If you can't improve results, make the test easier

This is just galling.

The difficulty of a reading test used to judge students across New York State dropped by as many as six grade levels between 2004 and 2005, according to an internal study by the New York City teachers union obtained by The New York Sun.

The study, written in March 2006, found that passages in the 2005 test hovered around third- and fourth-grade reading levels, down from a ninth-grade level in 2004. It also found that the 2004 test was characterized by longer passages, smaller print, crammed text, and more complex questions, such as asking a student to make an inference versus asking the main idea. Despite this apparent drop in difficulty, however, the number of correct answers needed to pass -- known as the "cut score" -- was just slightly higher in 2005 than in 2004.

Many states have reduced the difficulty of their assessments in order to post better results without actually improving - see here for more on that. But the boldness of what was done in New York - whether it's reducing reading difficulty by six grade levels or five - is simply unbelievable.

Update: It's not just reading, either.

Cross-posted at The DeHavilland Blog.


2005 math scores in NY state - test far easier
if you can't improve the results, make the test easier (2005 reading scores in NY)