The proceedings of this blog began back in September with an invocation of the metaphor of exorcism. Some might have found that strange, but the comparison seemed apt to this old altar boy because impressions and ideas, objections and observations, frustrations and fancying associated with the world of testing do afflict me like distracting spirits. […]
The Complete Posts
Are Problems With Tests Really Problems With Authority?
An unexpected telephone conversation this morning, on the 27th day of for this blog, exposed me to a loved one who trusts what Joe Rogan and his guests say about the pandemic. In other words, that person believes that those voices speak with authority. To do so requires a corresponding belief that the so-called official […]
The failure to reconcile social learning with competitive testing schemes
Hard to believe that seven years have passed since Alina Von Davier and I with the expert assistance of Sue Borchardt created this brief animated video on collaborative assessment as part of the Pulling to the Edge series to accelerate innovation in educational measurement. Alina offers some glittering insights in this short film such as “We (educational measurement scientists) measure very very well what we […]
Two Stories of Failed Testing — And Teaching
Stories Day 2 is made much easier because two friends shared stories from their own personal histories of testing that allow me to riff off of them. First, my dear friend and former colleague, Vasu Murti related this example: Sharing my testing story while pursuing Bachelors in India vs. Masters in the US. Bachelors: 5-years Naval Architecure B.Tech program (Focus: ship design, construction […]
Claims matter the most for those deemed different
In the first days of this blog, Testing: A Personal History, a reader who is also a friend wrote me this reaction: “ I’ve really enjoyed your writing on testing. I’ve always hated tests, but I think its’s more an issue of what is done with those test results that informed my experience than the […]
Too Early for Apgar
I was born early. My mother, by then familiar with the routine of births via my four older brothers, insisted the nurse admitting her had made a wrong turn in the corridor at Union Hospital in the Bronx; the labor room was in the other direction. But the nurse replied that there was no need […]
Prophecy Made Easy; Answers Remain Elusive
Nex-Gen Bureaucratization Is Doing The Damage Predicted: Now What? The entry in my mother-in-law JoAnn Kocher’s 1946 edition of Smith’s Smaller Classical Dictionary on Cassandra points out that the beauty of this future sister-in-law of Helen of Troy was so powerful as to persuade “Apollo to confer upon her the gift of prophecy, upon her […]
Next-Gen Bureaucratization
Opinion by T.J. Elliott The earliest known use of the phrase ‘love-hate relationship‘ in the English language comes from a Joan Riviere’s 1925 translation of the Collected Works of Sigmund Freud. Obviously, many other stimuli had elicited a love-hate reaction long before Doctor Freud used the German ’Liebe-Hass’ to try to explain how screwed-up we […]
Nothing to be done?
Wondering about authority in the aftermath of 11/06/2024 (and my personal prequel ‘Summer of Confusion’), I wandered thorough a few posts mainly as a reaction to all the pundits telling me why millions of people voted for a self-admitted sexual abuser also a convicted felon with a plan (Project 2025, which he glibly and unconvincingly […]
Last Will & Testament A Memoir In Poetry And Prose
This isn’t just about a book, it’s also about someone I think is extraordinary: the Reverend R Cameron Miller. I know Cam, but we haven’t met in person or even shared a phone conversation in forty years. We first met in 1976 when I was the alcoholism counselor for Saratoga County at the foothills of […]
Curating My Consumption
Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Matthew 3:12, KJV Nothing like a fiery biblical quote to get the attention, eh? Today is January 6th, The Feast of the Epiphany for Christians, and […]
Maslow vs. Manufactured Consent
The mystery for me is still unsolved. Oh, not that one! They caught the guy at a McDonalds in Altoona. I refer to the puzzle of the narrow but nonetheless decisive electoral victory of DJT. This case is hot rather than cold considering all the amateur sleuths and officially designated democracy detectives declaring that this […]
The InterWeb: Mechanism of Authority or Comfort Blanket?
In this post, we keep digging as to what the mechanism would be if this often repeated accusation that the voters heeded the messages from a right-wing sound system and that was why they ended up choosing a convicted felon, verified sex assaulter, and indicted insurrection inciter to be the 47th President of the USA.
Where Does Your Authority Live These Days?
A Mystery Story Series How Much Control Do We have Over Our Lives Anymore? And Do We Care? Is it the Internet? Part 1 Detective stories always appealed to me. Hardy Boys books were often a quarter or less at the used books dealer in the tented emporium known as Frankie’s Market in North Jersey, […]
This is a Test: Maybe Everything Is
Four and a half hours on hold. That was the experience Friday afternoon that led me back to this argument: everything is a test. I had come across the phrase again recently reading the letters of Seamus Heaney. He cited his friend and sometime collaborator and my playwriting model, Brian Friel as the source of […]
Taking the Straight job to Pursue the Creator’s Arc
What an inspiring obituary of Frank Auerbach, the great British painter! His art invites powerful perceptions, but the patience of his life also animates strong feelings in me this morning as I keep rewriting the latest play and consider other projects.