PeterW

@Mean Old Lady “Standardized” tests are useful only for measuring against a standard/average/typical model - and they certainly are predictive of future performances against that same model. But that doesn’t mean they are useless. I decided I’d like to be a high school teacher - at the tender age of 60 - and ended up teaching Algebra, Geometry, Physics and assorted other classes as required - for five years at a Boarding School in which all of the students were euphemistically described as “learning different,” We didn’t use “IQ” tests - but I’m sure we would not have produced a standard “bell curve” had we done so. Many were “diagnosed” as ADD or ADHD or OCD or other of the disabilities and abnormalities so often OVER-diagnosed. But, in my experience almost all had unique strengths hidden somewhere. (Only two were acknowledged as complete wastes of time and resources. Both were the spawn of uber-rich parents or grandparents who just didn’t have time for them.) My job was to find those unique strengths and work with them. It was an experience I would not have missed for the world - but it was also an experience I would not choose to repeat for the world.