I first found out about the AMC 8 test in this Herald-Leader catch-all web article.

The relevant Herald-Leader bullet item starts out saying:

“Austin Li and Mingxi Mao of Winburn Middle School earned the mark of distinction on the AMC 8, a 25-question, 40-minute multiple-choice math exam that promotes the development of problem-solving skills….(emphasis added).”

Got that? The AMC 8 test, which comes from the Mathematical Association of America, evaluates problem-solving using only multiple-choice questions.

Not: open-response written answer questions.

Not: more exotic “Performance Events,” “Performance Items,” or whatever term is currently in use.

But, we’ve been told that Kentucky has to use those more exotic, expensive and time-consuming test items to evaluate problem-solving.

Apparently, not everyone in the education world agrees. That includes the “university, college, and high school teachers; graduate and undergraduate students; pure and applied mathematicians; computer scientists; statisticians; and many others in academia, government, business, and industry” who make up the membership of the Mathematical Association of America.