The Complete Posts

NO Tests But For Learning: The Provocation Proceeds

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. […]

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 […]

TO OUR DEMOCRATIC PARTY REPRESENTATIVES: THERE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS THAN GETTING REELECTED

The last words that F Scott Fitzgerald ever wrote, were ‘ACTION IS CHARACTER.’ He wrote those words in block letters in his notebook. The quintessential American novelist saw through the BS at the last and then sadly died of a heart attack. But his wisdom lives. Action is required to pass the current test. Not words. And certainly not fundraising appeals. Make a difference then ask for money. ACTION IS CHARACTER

Promises Broken, Misinformation Spread: Daylight Savings Edition

Today’s​ Washington Post carries a story about how our current president has broken his promise to end daylight savings time. You can read more about ​h​is perfidy here.​ (Yes, perfidy — le mot juste — from the Latin perfidus that breaks faith or promise​. The Testing: A Personal History Substack is classical)  Beyond his admission of that […]

Who on our side doesn’t love a good joke about Trump voters?

Sarcasm is the lowest form of humor AND an ineffective influencing tool Haha. Points scored. Jordan Klepper has thrown down every kind of dunk on Trump voters: Tomahawk Windmill, Elbow Hang, Between the Legs… Endless points scored by emphasizing (definitely not EMPATHIZING) how stupid someone must’ve been to vote for Donald Trump The phrase “trump voters are […]

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 […]