When I was a teaching assistant at Penn State, the unwritten standard to which we were held when we accounted for the grading of our classes was a seven percent failure rate — no more, no less. This was indicative to our supervising professors of an acceptable level of difficulty.
As we approach a standard of 80% passing on the EOG’s and EOC’s, with a 100% passing rate required by the year 2014 under the so-called “No Child Left Behind” law, I pose this simple question: Is a test that everyone can pass truly meaningful?
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