Re: Standardized tests : Study skills

[Peter Godoy <pgodoy1@SAN.RR.COM>]

Eons ago, when  I was in college, one of the things we had to read was _The
Saber Tooth Curriculum_, which made the point that you don't teach saber
tooth tiger hunting when saber tooth tigers are extinct.  With the card
catalog on its way to extinction (it still exists at my school, but I'm
looking forward to its extinction), it seems useless to teach card catalog
skills.  It also puts teachers in the position of teaching to the test,
instead of teaching real life skills--eg. addressing an envelope or using
an electronic catalog.  And now that I've been reading through this thread,
I have some more questions.  Can't pressure be put on the standardized
tests makers to update their tests?   After all, if the PO doesn't set the
standard for addressing envelopes, who does?  (I thought the response of
ITBS was totally ridiculous.)

As far as an electronic catalog is concerned, don't students still need to
be able to identify subject, title, author and call #?  Please pardon my
naivete, I've used only my public library's EC so far.

Donna Godoy, Librarian
Hage Elementary School
San Diego USD
PGODOY1@san.rr.com