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I am very close to obtaining an elementary school teaching degree (46 of 49 credits completed), and as of this year I am a full time teacher at a private school
by Wowfunhappy 3y ago
I am very close to obtaining an elementary school teaching degree (46 of 49 credits completed), and as of this year I am a full time teacher at a private school (which doesn't have to care whether I officially have a license). My masters program is considered among the best in the state.
Unfortunately, I don't have many good things to say about my masters program. The majority of my classes have been interesting but useless in a real classroom. Teaching is just one of those things that you largely learn by doing.
Teaching does take a lot of skill and practice—I am surrounded at work by more experienced colleagues, and watching them always leaves me impressed—but I don't think it's something you can learn from a textbook.
Similarly, the licensure exams are just awful, at least in New York. I will leave you with a real practice test question from the official preparation materials. This is for the content knowledge test on "Science and Technology".
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A construction company is evaluating proposals for the creation of a new playground. They are using the following scale to assess the relevant criteria:
+--------------+------------------------+
| Scale number | Scale score assessment |
+--------------+------------------------+
| 1 | Far below standards |
| 2 | Below Standard |
| 3 | Meeting standard |
| 4 | Exceeding standard |
+--------------+------------------------+
Use the chart below to answer the question that follows:
+----------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| Criteria | Company 1 | Company 2 | Company 3 | Company 4 |
+----------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| Safety | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| Quality | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Creativity | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Sustainability | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Utility | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
+----------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
According to the evaluation detailed in the chart, which company should be awarded the project?
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Ready for the answer? Take a moment to think about it before looking...
The answer key says it's company four, because they have "the highest overall score. We are not told any information about categories being weighted and therefore we cannot pay special attention to the low safety score."
- red_admiral 3y agoThat seems to match some real-world examples. "plug doors" anyone?
- s1artibartfast 3y agoThe correct answer is obviously "insufficient information" Maybe company 4 is the best, but I don't see why no information on weights implies equal weights. Edit: After thinking about this phenomenon for a while, I think there is an argument for testing implied or unstated prompts. It is frustrating to have to read minds, and quess what expectations are in different contexts. However, building a mental models of other people is an important skill. I dont know that I would want to hire someone entirely incapable of it, who routinely required complete and explicit instruction. That said, I dont think this kind of cognitive test is what they were going for
- throwaway421967 3y agoBut you were given "information about categories", Anything under 3 should be an auto-reject because it does not meet the standard. "standard" usually implies that it's an outside rule from a regulatory body/certification agency that you need to conform to. It's such a weird question to ask in the first place.
- s1artibartfast 3y agoI dont think standard usually means codified. It is also frequently used to mean typical, or within expectation. It this example, outside law or regulation on standard creativity and utility seem pretty unlikely. There is also a pretty big difference between standard (singular) and standards (plural), where the latter is more likely to imply a set of minimum requirements.
- ang_cire 3y agoThe very first line item (Scale number 1) uses "standards" plural: "Far below standards"
- 3y ago