And another thing . . .

[ritaxis]

So we get in the mail this thing from the state, a report on the STAR test (as opposed to the CAT-9 or the CAT-6 or the HSEE or whatever other test). She's over the edge into what they call "advanced" in English-Language Arts and "Summative High School Mathematics," and just under the edge in History-Social Science, and has no score in Science because she didn't take a test -- she wasn't in a science class that term (her school does three or four "year-long" courses each term [like a semester] instead of six each year, so you take English or Physics or whatever for half the year: it's a good system, actually). Okay, that's a 99th percentile in math (she's had the equivalent of six or seven years of high school math as it is reckoned in California, since many students don't take Algebra till 9th grade). But the report has to tell us what her weakest area is, so they recommend that we focus on bringing up her Algebra 1 skills. At the time she took that test, she was passing the AP Calculus test (more tests) to get college credit. Why are we supposed to drill her on the order of operations, again?

They did the same thing in History-Social Science. They chose the one area which was lowest to tell her to bone up on, even though it was, by their own reckoning, a perfectly fine result.

And now for the really stupid part. I mean really stupid. I mean so stupid I guarantee you'll consider wetting your pants.

You know that science test? The one she didn't take because she wasn't in a science class?

They recorded her as having a 99th percentile on it.