Ehehehe, yeah, MC stuff was always fun. I still fondly remember the test I took in a dual-enrolled class -- college level american history, of all things -- where I had missed like the entire week beforehand, had no idea what particular subject class was on, nor any outside-school exposure to it, came back on a test day and ended up scoring as something like one of the top five or so of a 25-30-something person class. Had no bloody clue what the answers actually were, coming in to the test. Didn't matter.
Now mind you, it's very possible to design a multiple-choice test that actually tests retention and knowledge. It's just that, well. People generally don't, and when they
do the incredible stink that gets roused by students and parents is just almost physically palpable. Being fair to them, a well designed MC test
is generally absolute
hell for any student that has anxiety issues and whatnot when it comes to test taking.
teachers figured out that their continued funding/employment rested overwhelmingly on the scores they produced.
Not just that, actually. The students often end up significantly bettered by being taught to the test, too, from what I've seen. Particularly those that have greater trouble with taking tests -- the ones that might know the material, but just can't get it out on test day. There's definite detriments, and it certainly shouldn't be done in the
place of actual teaching, but making sure the student is capable of performing well for evaluation purposes, even if they're less proficient in other areas, does have its benefits (including a great deal of stress reduction, oft times). It's particularly true for those students that frankly don't need or want the education itself, but
do need the diploma for employment purposes.
