When the New York City Department of Education attempted to ban words like “dinosaur” and “Halloween” on standardized tests, perhaps they should have considered including the word “pineapple.” Last week, thousands of New York eighth graders sat for their state standardized tests. In classrooms across the state, students looked up in confusion after reading a passage in which a pineapple challenges a hare to a race.

The passage was an adaptation of a story written by children’s book author Daniel Pinkwater, who has said, “It’s hilarious on the face of it that anybody creating a test would use a passage of mine, because I’m an advocate of nonsense.” In the adapted passage, a pineapple challenges a hare to a race. The other animals all decide that the pineapple must have some sort of trick up his sleeve that will allow him to win, so they all root for the pineapple. When the hare wins the race and the pineapple just sits motionless by the starting line, the animals all eat the pineapple. Of the questions referencing the passage, two sparked comment: 1) Why did the animals eat the pineapple? and 2) Which animal was the wisest? (You can see the original test passage and questions here – they are certainly good for a laugh!)

New York’s school children weren’t the only ones confused by the questions. In fact, the widespread confusion led the state education commissioner to announce that the questions would be tossed when the tests were scored. While this is likely a huge relief to the students and teachers whose futures depend on these test scores, it fails to address the larger problem. These tests were created as part of a $32 million contract with Pearson, one of the world’s largest test publishers. In the wake of the scandal, Pearson has directed all questions to the state, claiming that company policy forbids them from commenting. Continue reading →