Since I am the author of the post, I feel like I need to respond. I actually welcome questions like this to be made directly on my blog or to me because I am very open to answering them, no speculation needed.

Google Master was right. No one had to memorize anything. The test was assessing the skill of how to read a simple map. All the children had to do was count pictures. They also had to know a little bit about a compass. That was it.

As for this test itself, it might seem harsh, but this is precisely the kind of questions they need to answer on the NJ Ask and tests just like it all across the country. I'm not saying that sometimes some of the material isn't tough sometimes but this is not an example of such material. My job is to try to get them to understand stipulated grade level material as well as they possibly can.

This is where my somewhat sarcastic attitude came in. If you were in my classroom you would know I have done anything BUT give up on these children. The problem is bigger than this post alone can measure, and that is why I plan to address it in multiple posts that I'm spacing out over time. In short though, there are many contributing factors to the frustration: homogeneous grouping and low motivation just being two of them.

If there are any additional questions about my particular classroom, I would be more than happy to answer them.