Potpourri – Embrace the Absurd

How the Grinch Stole Testing

Everyone in the state house likes State Tests a lot, But to the west at the uni, the Grinch he did not! The Grinch hated State Tests! The whole testing season! Now, please don’t ask why. To ask would be treason. It could be, perhaps, he was wound up too tight. It could be hisContinue reading “How the Grinch Stole Testing”

Thinking Outside of the Ballot Box

If there is one thing that we can agree on in this divided country it is that 2020 has sucked. If the cascading crises were not bad enough, we have also lost almost all of the distractions and diversions we normally rely on to escape and reduce stress: attending sporting events, live concerts, and musicalContinue reading “Thinking Outside of the Ballot Box”

Look What You Made Me Do

A 2018 Blog Year in Review Charlie DePascale We have reached the end of 2018 and another year of posts on Embrace the Absurd. When I look back at the ten essays posted this year, I think that the phrase that best sums up this year of posts is look what you made me doContinue reading “Look What You Made Me Do”

A Letter to Santa

Dear Santa, I am the next generation of large-scale assessment and I am 4 1/2 years old. I have been very good this year. At least I have tried very hard to be good. I have been reliable and fair. I think that I have been valid, but Uncle Steve says that’s not forContinue reading “A Letter to Santa”

Remember the Alamo

Charlie DePascale This spring I returned to San Antonio to attend the 2017 NCME conference. The trip brought back memories of my many visits to the Harcourt office there as a member of the MCAS management team for the Massachusetts Department of Education. My last MCAS trip was in August 2002. Some things inContinue reading “Remember the Alamo”

If it’s Tuesday, this must be …

Charlie DePascale 12 days, 3 conferences: PowerPoint presentations, posters, uncomfortable chairs, and a few random thoughts. Conference presentations are an art form: whether it’s a keynote address, a 15-minute research presentation, an “electronic board” or a poster a good presentation must tell a story, make a point, and deliver a message. A picture canContinue reading “If it’s Tuesday, this must be …”

You Can’t Always Get What You Want – A Blog Year in Review

Charlie DePascale As I look back at the thirteen essays that I posted in 2016, it is clear that the dominant theme of the blog this year was that we need to acknowledge and accept our limitations. Specifically, across the essays there were three messages: As psychometricians, we need to embrace rather than run fromContinue reading “You Can’t Always Get What You Want – A Blog Year in Review”

Don’t Look Back – A Blog Year in Review

As 2015 comes to an end, it is futile to resist the temptation to reflect briefly on this first year of the Embrace the Absurd blog. Reflections, after all, are the lifeblood of the blog. As advertised, the fifteen essays posted in 2015 addressed assessment, accountability, and other important stuff. There were posts onContinue reading “Don’t Look Back – A Blog Year in Review”