The Report Card

Nora recalls reading about a 1964 experiment at an elementary school in which the organizers gave teachers a list of students who they expect to make tremendous progress throughout the year based on test scores. They discovered that those students did make tremendous progress. However, in reality, the organizers didn’t create the list from test scores, but rather at random; just the fact that the teachers expected certain students to do well impacted whether or not those students did improve. Nora intends to confuse the adults’ new expectations of her now that they know she is highly intelligent. In each class, she showcases her full intelligence, spoiling her teachers’ lessons and correcting her teachers with obscure caveats. She is nervous about finally receiving the attention she’s avoided her whole life, but Stephen’s support encourages her. By the day’s end, the teachers have stories to swap, and Nora prepares to shatter the expectations she has built.

On Friday, Nora gets a zero on every test she takes. She doesn’t expect repercussions until Monday, but Mrs. Hackney calls her to the office that afternoon. Mrs. Hackney asks why she failed those tests on purpose, and Nora responds, “Because all three of these tests are nothing but simple memorization, same as almost all the other tests we take.