What the heck is CRAMAS, anyway?
CRAMAS is the Comprehensive Reading and Mathematical Assessment Survey.

Is that anything like a test?
Yes.

So, why don't you call it a test?
Credibility.  Assessments and surveys carry a lot more weight, and "assessment survey" is a double whammy.  Pretty neat, huh?

Who has to take this test?
Assessment survey.

Assessment survey.
Every kid from 3rd grade through high school.

Didn't we already have a standardized test?  I mean assessment.  Why CRAMAS?
The old assessment was too easy.  We needed a harder a harder one.

Why do we need a harder test?  Uh, survey?
Too many kids were passing.  A good test - I mean survey - has a body count.

I beg your pardon?
Well, that isn't a very good FAQ, but a certain percentage of people are losers.  A good assessment survey has to weed out the losers.

What percentage is that?
Could be 10%.  Could be 25%.  Depends on the instrument.  The precise percentage has yet to be determined.

Instrument?
Assessment survey.

Exactly what do you mean by "weed out?"
Any kid that fails the survey assessment is held back.

Isn't that "assessment survey?"
Whatever.

Holding children back increases their risk of dropping out of school.  Isn't this ... instrument supposed to reduce the drop-out rate?
That is a common misconception.  Children need to learn to accept failure early.  It prepares them for the real world.

Does this assessment thing have a disproportionate impact on minority children?
Just say "CRAMAS."  We believe that the impact on minority children will be less severe than on white kids.  That's because we have already taught minority kids a lot about failure, so what's a little more?

Apart from teaching children about failure, is there any other reason for CRAMAS?
CRAMAS is standards based.  It reflects our new societal standards:  Get Tough and No Tolerance.

What are we "getting tough" on?
We're getting tough on our kids.  We have to get tough so they'll be tough.  If we don't get tough, they'll take drugs and drop out of school.

But CRAMAS is going to accelerate the drop-out rate.
That's not a FAQ.  Next FAQ.

What about "no tolerance?"  No tolerance of what?
No tolerance of failure, of course.

But I thought we were teaching them about failure.
That's not a FAQ.

Ok, how can CRAMAS be both an instrument for teaching failure and an instrument for the nontolerance of failure at the same time?
Simple.  We get rid of the losers, who learn that they're failures.  The others - we like to think of them as "losers in waiting" - learn that we won't tolerate failures.  It's just about perfect.