Scantron: the Little Green Sheet that Ruined Education

What this episode covers

This week we're joined by Brandon Romano to learn about Scantron: the company that made ubiquitous standardized testing possible. Find out:How standardized tests were graded in the 1500s (hint: it involved throwing corpses over walls)Why the hideous pseudoscience of eugenics is weirdly load-bearing for the SATHow Scantron uses infrared light to transmute those little number-2 pencil marks into college rejection lettersReferences:https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/09/schools-standardized-testing-assessment-ai-future/675366/ https://blog.collegeboard.org/everything-you-need-know-about-digital-sat https://edscoop.com/scantron-how-colleges-handle-old-unwanted-tech/ https://edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2016/12/scantron-technology-creates-more-efficient-testing https://gizmodo.com/5908833/the-birth-of-scantrons-the-bane-of-standardized-testing https://patents.google.com/patent/US3050248A/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US3900961A/en https://scantron.com/ScanToolsPlus/Help/v8/LINK/content/apicontent/overview/scanner_technology_overview.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20120403020015/http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/testscore/ https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/10/LazarinOvertestingReport.pdf https://www.cxomagazine.com/reimagining-data-intelligence-through-human-centered-innovation-and-ethical-ai/ https://www.edutopia.org/blog/dark-history-of-multiple-choice-ainissa-ramirez https://www.ipmetrics.net/blog/litigation/case-law/scantron-patent-marking/ https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/latimes/name/william-sanders-obituary?id=17291417 https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/orangecounty/name/michael-sokolski-obituary?id=8415721&fhid=3071 https://www.newspapers.com/image/402857246/?match=1&terms=Scantron https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/s/BdPM5tl48r https://www.reddit.com/r/fgcu/comments/320qqk/whats_up_with_having_to_buy_our_own_scantron/ https://www.scantron.com/blog/meet-mary-michael-sellers/ https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300026399/chinas-examination-hell/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85gAfiJGpVM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqRdrXUaESg

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This episode is 1 hour and 15 minutes long.

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This episode was published on December 31, 2025.

What is this episode about?

This week we're joined by Brandon Romano to learn about Scantron: the company that made ubiquitous standardized testing possible. Find out:How standardized tests were graded in the 1500s (hint: it involved throwing corpses over walls)Why the hideous...

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