Story of the Day 7/30/2011

I received a letter in the mail. From IU high school.
Remember that midterm exam that Sarah took? The one that took two trips down to IUPUI’s testing Center? Well, Sarah certainly remembers it.
Very well.
Very, very well.

The letter was from IU high school. They have a policy that, for the very first exam you take in your first IU high school course, you can do a retake. I think they reason that because the format will be new to many students, and for some it will be their first high school exam, the students will do relatively poorly and this retake will help to absorb the impact of that discomfort from the unfamiliar.

Well, I think that Sarah had more than the normal share of discomfort, and she also tested very low on it, lower than is normal for her. She received an 82%. She indubitably would have done better if she were more comfortable. Instead of doing what she should have and going through and solving the problems and then double checking, she rapidly did the test, and didn't double check, and left the room mostly just glad, not to be done with the test, but to be out of that office.
The test was suppose to take 90 minutes. Sarah is entitled to extra time – an extra 45 minutes, according to her IEP- well, they don’t specify the minutes, just that she can have time and a half - not pay, actual time.
She was done in less than 40 minutes, and she would have been done several minutes sooner, except there was a little calculator problem.
And she didn't breathe easily until she left that room.

So I opened up the envelope, and in it was a letter and a form from IU high school that I could submit so that she could re-take the exam.
And I thought, “Are they fucking nuts? We are not going back there an extra time!”
After we have recovered, maybe I will frame the letter.

In the meanwhile, in preparation for our trip down to the IUPUI Testing Center, on Thursday, for her final exam, I am thinking of carefully braiding some garlic necklaces and arming up with some crucifixes.