Education had become
the focus with one out of every 3 high school graduates going to college. To be honest, I never thought college was an
option. The next step after high school was
to enter college. I was lucky to be blessed with that opportunity and to have
parents that financed everything as I was never in debt to begin my adult life.
Standardized testing was done once a year or maybe every other year. They would
pull the whole school for two days and we were walked across the street to the
auditorium where long rows of tables were set up in the very large side room
for the testing. The Iowa Test of Basic Skills (a standardized test implemented
during that era) was a timed test for each segment. Teachers walked around as
monitors, and there was complete silence. I remember enjoying these test days
and the seemingly free time out of the classroom. It was never stressful, just something
we did every year. In two days we had completed a standardized test that
indicated our progress. There was certainly NEVER any prep work before these
tests. The only other big test that I remember taking was the SAT and the ACT
in order to get a ranking score. Larger universities had a cut-off point and I
was able to do well enough on those tests to gain admission.
