Do you have a standardized test question that is developmentally inappropriate? If you aren’t sure what I mean by that, watch this little video of a little girl who just can’t master such easy math concepts. What’s wrong with her?
Indiana ISTEP for 3rd grade, 2011:
I probably had to write a thank-you letter when I was 8 years old, but I doubt I ever had to write an invitation. Why would a third-grader know these conventions (which by the way are as obsolete as sending a telegram)? And now that I look at it, I have NO IDEA which answer they are looking for. I thought it was “B” – but now I see there is no mention of a lake in the rest of the letter. So maybe I put this question in the wrong category. Please advise.
Tested to Despair 
March 12, 2013 at 5:23 pm
You simply cannot say “by this age they should understand conservation.” Understanding comes when it comes. What a teacher does is expose children to the opportunity to experience, count, reinforce, talk about, practice and, as I have seen in my many yearts of teaching experience, seemingly suddenly understand. You can’t make children understand things before their brains are ready to understand them. Can’t be done. What a teacher has to figure out is what do they need to understand BEFORE they can understand this new concept.
March 12, 2013 at 9:27 pm
And sometimes what they need to understand it is simply some time, preferably spent messing around with stuff.
March 13, 2013 at 8:58 am
Just wondering why they are going canoeing “down by the river” as opposed to IN the river…?
March 13, 2013 at 1:38 pm
What??? Why aren’t all of these answers right?
June 18, 2013 at 12:57 pm
While I agree that this is a ridiculous question, I think the answer they are looking for is C. Both A and B refer to a lake, whereas the rest of the letter refers only to a river. D is inappropriate because there is never a mention of fishing made.