When the Student is Smarter than the Teacherby Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger 23 Feb 2009 03:22 PM Or in this case, smarter than standardized test designers. Seventeen-year-old Geoffrey Stanford royally schooled some test makers in Kansas recently, and his efforts not only sent him to the head of the class, but he also got a free ride to Hollywood to appear on various talk shows. It all started when the high school junior saw something that didn't make sense while taking his state writing test earlier this month: The word "emission" -- as in "the emission of greenhouse gases" -- was spelled "omission." Remembering a lesson about test-taking that his teacher drilled into him years ago--"Read every carefully, every word, every sentence, slow down and make sure you understand what's being asked, and then proceed"--Stanford alerted test proctors. "I thought, 'Surely they're not talking about leaving out carbon dioxide altogether.' It just didn't make sense," Stanford told local news reporters. "It had to be a mistake." Sure enough... it was. After the teen alerted officials about the mistake, they notified the district test coordinator, who alerted state education administrators, who were, well, not exactly apologetic. Reps from the State Department of Education brushed off Stanford's revelation and chocked it up to "human error." Interestingly, those same educators changed their tune once the media caught wind of Stanford's eagle eye. Within days of the teen appearing in local newspapers, the DOE e-mailed test coordinators across the state to alert them to the error, and provided a corrected version of the exam. According to DOE officials, a committee of more than 30 teachers from across the state developed the test. Even more startling is the fact that the erroneous test question was written almost two years ago and given to 50 high schools last spring. Meaning that hundreds of other students across the state of Kansas already took the exam prior to Stanford reporting the error. "It amazes me," Stanford's English teacher told local reporters. "This went through all the channels, and the pilot project, and nobody caught it." Except for a teen, who prefers math to literature and plans to study mechanical engineering or sports medicine in college. Who knows... maybe Stanford will end up at Stanford. Related Articles: Colorado Making it Easier to Support Kids in School Do You Punish Your Kids for Bad Grades? Are You a Teacher's Worst Nightmare? Learn more about Michele Cheplic  Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism. Relevanteducation tags User Comments gmcof05 (116) 25 Feb 2009 04:00 PMI dont think a student is smarter than a teacher. thats why the teachers teach and student listen and learn from what the teacher is telling them. For Geoffrey the teacher give him advice about when taking a test read everything slow and carefully. Now it was good that he found that error on the test, but that don't make him smarter than a teacher.  Michele Cheplic |
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