PLACE Test

Well, since I moved to Colorado, I had to, once again, go through the whole process of having my license transferred to another state. Colorado is pretty easy, but I was, unfortunately, still not "experienced" enough to not have to take the content area test to prove that I'm "highly qualified." I don't have a problem with taking the test, I suppose, but I do have one question, who the hell writes these things?

These tests are supposed to be relevant to what I high school teacher would teach in their classrooms, yet there were questions that I never even heard about until I got into my college theatre history class. Very seriously, there was vocab here that college students might not know, and questions about names that do exist now, but, again, hold no real relevance in a high school theatre classroom. They must have had trouble coming up with questions and just looked at a program from a broadway and included some of the names.

Also, this was the thing that ticked me off the most about this test, they ask very specific questions about topics that are very subjective and probably won't be the same depending on who you ask. They ask what the best way to show certain things, such as passage of time, yet fail to specify anything. A lot is left to the imagination in the answer. We're not told, on a proscenium stage, or we're not told how many actors are on stage, or the style of the show, we're just asked what the best way is to do this. I find that an absolutely absurd questioning process. I picture some guy with a college text book, sitting in a corner of an office looking for questions to put on this high school teacher's test and looking for the most difficult things possible.

Well, at any rate, I got my scores today, and I passed. So it's nice to know that I won't have to spend another 90 bucks to take an 80 question test. Now I just wait for the CDE (Colorado Department of Education) to send me my full license, as I currently just have an interim license. Getting excited for the start of the year!