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Plunging test scores are a slow-moving catastrophe

207 points · 414 comments · vinni2

  1. vincent-uden · · focus · HN ↗
    This very much echoes the region of critical slowing down present in a dynamical system after its equilibrium states have disappeared due to a change in the system (a bifurcation).
    1. misterchocolat · · focus · HN ↗
      Holy sentence... George Orwell must be turning in his grave right now.
      1. vincent-uden · · focus · HN ↗
        A sentence isn't Orwellian just because you are unfamiliar with its terms. I though dynamical systems theory was quite common knowledge among engineers
        1. andsoitis · · focus · HN ↗
          The issue is that you're talking in abstraction and it isn't clear what the concrete thing is you're thinking of. Bluntly: you're being obscure rather than illuminating.

          For instance, with respect to this article, which is about test scores, how does dynamical systems theory describe what's going on or predict consequences?

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