Repost of my comment on the atlantic article: The fault lies with the college board. A useful standardized test would either: * not require a calculator at all

Repost of my comment on the atlantic article: The fault lies with the college board. A useful standardized test would either: * not require a calculator at all, testing understanding instead of computation or * allow access to real world tools-- including free ones like http://wolframalpha.com http://wolframalpha.com and http://desmos.com/calculator http://desmos.com/calculator (full disclosure-- I helped build the latter) How much time is wasted teaching the unnecessary skills of how to use an antiquated, expensive device merely because tests require it? We should be teaching our students which resources are available, which to use in which situations, and how to plug in the gaps between them