The test questions are all multiple choice. Everyone knows how to use a #2 pencil to fill in the circle next to the answer selected.
Even so, my job was to read a script, as written, about identifying the list of possible answers to the questions provided and directing the proper handling of the provided #2 pencil to completely fill in the circle bubble next to the desired answer.
This same “fill in the bubble” instruction was repeated at the start of each of the three sections of the test I proctored. I was also instructed to make sure that every question in every booklet had at least one selected answer properly #2 penciled.
What the STAR test instructions didn’t tell me (or maybe it did but I missed it) is what to do with the “independent thinkers” in class.
You know, the student who might:
- Carefully draw a line through each of the test provided multiple choice answers and write in “None of these answers” above the list.
- Carefully mark an answer she added to the list of provided possible answers that included an amazingly proper sized circle bubble to mark.
In both cases, I exercised a common sense interpretation of the rules and instructed them to choose only from the provided test answers listed and erase anything they added to the test booklet.
(…I’m expecting to be hauled away in handcuffs by the STAR police as soon as this confession hits the blogosphere.)