The fact is that WE used to be pretty good. What went wrong??  Maybe Education Departments?

Ted    www.tedklein-ESL.com

     

 1895 Eighth Grade Final Exam 

 

 

      Remember when our grandparents, great-grandparents, and such stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. - - - 

 

      This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, KS, USA. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS, and reprinted by the Salina Journal. 

 

      8th GRADE FINAL EXAM

 

 

      Grammar (Time, one hour) 

 

      1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters. 

 

      2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no Modifications.

 

      3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.

 

      4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of. Lie, lay and run 

 

      5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case. 

 

      6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.

 

      7. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar. 

 

 

 

      Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours) 

 

      1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.

 

      2. A wagon box is 2 ft deep, 10 feet long! , and 3 ft. Wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold? 

 

      3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1050lbs. For tare? 

 

      4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?

 

     5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. Coal at $6.00 per ton. 

 

      6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent. 

 

      7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. Long at $20 per meter? 

 

      8 Find bank discount on $300 for! 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent. 

 

      9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance  

 

      Around which is 640 rods? 

 

      10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt. 

 

 

 

      U. S. History (Time, 45 minutes) 

 

      1. Give the epochs into which U. S. History is divided. 

 

      2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.

 

      3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War. 

 

      4. Show the territorial growth of the United States. 

 

      5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas. 

 

      6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.

 

      7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe? 

 

      8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865. 

 

 

 

      Orthography (Time, one hour) 

 

      1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication?

 

      2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?

 

      3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, sub vocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?

 

      4. Give four substitutes for caret 'U! '. 

 

      5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two 

 

      Exceptions under each rule. 

 

      6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each. 

 

      7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup 

 

      8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last. 

 

      9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, 

 

      Fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays. 

 

      10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

 

 

 

      Geography (Time, one hour) 

 

      1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend? 

 

      2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas? 

 

      3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean? 

 

      4. Describe the mountains of North America.

 

      5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, 

 

      Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall & Orinoco. 

 

      6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S. 

 

      7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each. 

 

      8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?

 

      9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.

 

 

      10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth. 

 

 

 

 

      Also notice that the exam took five hours to complete.

 

      Gives the saying "she/he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new meaning, doesn't it? 

 

 

 

      What happened to us??? It is kind of humbling, isn't it?

     

             

     

 ----- Original Message ----- 

  From: David J. Rosen 
  To: The Assessment Discussion List 
  Sent: Monday, June 09, 2008 8:26 AM
  Subject: [Assessment 1333] Re: Tests vs. Self Assessments of Literacy


  Tom, and others,


  Thank you for pointing out the Henningsen research and asking for additional research on adults' perceptions of their own literacy and numeracy skills and the discrepancy between the NALS, NAAL, IALS, ALL and adults' own perceptions.  I would like to raise another set of questions to consider about adult literacy and numeracy needs assessments:


  Why do countries assess literacy and numeracy need? What have they learned? What is the added value of these assessments to low-literacy or low-numeracy residents? To their governments and societies? Have the data had an impact on policy (yet)? What has been the "return on investment" for national/international needs assessments of adult literacy and numeracy?


  Why are we measuring need but not demand? Even if 40-50% of a population is in need, we can be certain that 40-50% will not be interested in getting education services to address the need. What percent or number of people see that they have basic skills needs -- and want to pursue classes, tutorials or online learning to address it? Would that be a more useful figure for public policy decisions than needs data?  Some states have begun to count the number of people who want classes but are put on waiting lists. This is one measure of demand. Should these states be supported to improve/refine their data collecting and reporting so we can have confidence in this measure, so it can be used for decision making? Should we be looking at other measures of demand? If so, what?


  For example, in public transportation I understand that it is common to do "latent demand" studies, that is, to survey people about whether if a service were offered or extended they would take advantage of it? ("If the #49 bus hour schedule were extended to midnight instead of 11:00 PM would you use it at that time?") Should we do latent demand studies in adult education? ("If English classes -- or GED Prep -- were offered on Saturday mornings would you attend?") If so, should we do these studies systematically?


  Meanwhile, one thing we know for sure from the long waiting lists in many states for English Language classes: there is a big demand for these services, and the public sector has not come close to meeting the actual demand, not to mention potential or latent demand for these services. Perhaps we should work on addressing the actual demand staring us in the face and worry about measuring latent demand -- and need -- later.


  David J. Rosen
  djrosen at comcast.net




  On Jun 8, 2008, at 5:45 PM, tsticht at znet.com wrote:


    June 8, 2008


    The Great Adult Literacy Skills Debate: Tests vs. Self Assessments


    Tom Sticht
    International Consultant in Adult Education


    In 2006, Inge Henningsen of the Department of Statistics in the University
    of Copenhagen presented a paper entitled: "Adults just don't know how
    stupid they are: Dubious statistics in studies of adult literacy and
    numeracy."
    (online at www.alm online.org/ALM13/programma%20alm13.pdf ).


    In this paper Henningsen comments on the many problems, conceptual,
    methodological, and statistical, with the International Adult Literacy
    Survey (IALS) of the mid-1990s and the Adult Literacy and Lifeskills (ALL)
    survey of 2003-06. One of the major factors in these assessments that
    Henningsen addresses is the finding in various nations of a wide gap
    between the literacy and numeracy
    skills of adults when the literacy test scores are taken as indicators of
    people's skill, and the skills that adults assign to themselves when asked
    to self-assess their literacy or numeracy skills.


    Though Henningsen focuses primarily on the data from these international
    adult literacy surveys for Denmark, similar gaps are found in various other
    nations. For instance, in Australia, based on the IALS test scores the
    report writers declared some 46 percent of adults to possess low literacy
    skills, whereas only 4 percent of the adults themselves thought they had
    low skills.


    In Canada and the United States, similar discrepancies were found, with 42
    percent of Canadians and 47 percent of U.S. adults being declared low in
    literacy based on the test scores, while only 5 percent of Canadian and 7
    percent of U.S. adults rated their literacy low.


    In New Zealand, using just the numeracy data from the ALL, 51 percent of
    adults were declared low in numeracy based on test scores, while only 19
    percent rated their numeracy skills as low. Finally, in England, using a
    special test developed for the Skills for Life strategy in that nation, 16
    percent of adults were declared low in literacy based on their test scores
    but only 4 percent thought they had low test scores.


    Henningsen  noted that the discrepancy between the self assessed proficiency
    and the conclusions based on test scores is not treated seriously in the
    reports and asks, "Is it ethically defensible to disregard the opinions and
    statements of the adults regarding their own skills and "narrate" big groups
    of adults in the labour market as excluded from society and lacking in basic
    skills." Answering this rhetorical question, Henningsen goes on to say, "I
    find it disturbing that the reports send the message that the experiences
    and assessments of the test persons themselves have no validity compared to
    the test results. Is it a viable for the adult education community to let
    surveys convey the impression that "adults just don't know how stupid they
    are."?


    One important consequence of adults' thinking that their literacy and
    numeracy skills are pretty good is that they will choose to not participate
    in language, literacy, and numeracy (LLN) provision to improve their skills.
    For instance, from various sources I can make rough estimates of the
    percentage of adults that the government says are in need of LLN provision
    that actually take part in LLN provision in a given year. In  Australia the
    percentage of those the governments say are in need of LLN provision who
    actually enroll in LLN provision in a given year is around 4%, in Canada
    10%, England 5%, New Zealand 11%, and the U.S. 3%. These (admittedly
    roughly estimated) percentages of participation are more in line with the
    self assessed needs of adults than the needs based on the paper and pencil
    tests.


    In the United States, the National Center for Education Statistics reports
    in the 2008 Conditions of Education that the percentages of adults aged 16
    or older who participated in adult education activities consisting of basic
    skills, English as a second language, or apprenticeships in 1995, 1999, 2001
    and 2005 were 3, 4, 4, and 3 percent respectively. Without the category of
    "apprenticeships" the percentages would be even lower. These low
    percentages of self reported participation in LLN are again more in line
    with the self assessments of adults regarding their literacy and numeracy
    skills than with the percentages declared to be "at risk" for low literacy
    based on the adult literacy survey tests.


    The large discrepancies between the percentages of adults needing basic
    skills education as given by governments based on the international adult
    literacy surveys, and the much smaller percentages of adults who perceive
    their literacy and numeracy skills to be so low that they are unable to
    progress in the societies in which they live pose problems for adult
    education. Some have suggested that adults may be too embarrassed to admit
    that they have a literacy or numeracy problem and that is why there is a
    large discrepancy between the adults' test scores and their self
    assessments of literacy. If this is so, then research is needed to
    establish that this is so. In general, major efforts are needed to better
    understand the genuine needs of adults for LLN provision, what sorts of
    educational programs would best meet these needs,  and the sorts of
    activities that are needed to let
    adults understand the educational opportunities available to them.




    Thomas G. Sticht
    International Consultant in Adult Education
    2062 Valley View Blvd.
    El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
    Tel/fax: (619)444-9595,
    Email tsticht at aznet.net








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