<= ![endif]>

9-3-2007

http://ww= w.star-telegram.com/business/story/221569.html

[Th= e SAT Reasoning Test has three parts: Writing, Critical Reading, and Mathematics. The Writing section has two subscor= es: (1) multiple-choice grammar/usage (graded objectively and referred to as "MC") and (2) the essay (graded subjectively). Th= e MC subscore counts 70% of the Writing score.&= nbsp; Therefore, it makes sense that if a student really wants to raise his Writing score, he should try to raise his MC subscore<= /span>.

In = contrast with these test-prep programs which cost upwards of $1,000, w= ww.MyStudyHall.com costs $35 per student/per year for a site license or $49.95 per grammar mod= ule for an individual subscription. Learners have access to the site 24 h= ours a day, 7 days a week; and they can work independently.

MyS= tudyHall.com is a fantastic buy and will not only raise SAT scores considerably but will give students good lifelong writing and speaking skills. -- Donna Garner]

<= /a>

Monday, Sep 3, 2007

Posted on Sun, Sep. 02, 2007

Standardized tests feed a misguided frenzy at schools

By Mitchell Schnurman
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

What are we teaching our children? And at what price?

The SAT was devised half a century ago to identify talented students who couldn't otherwise get the attention of top colleges. B= ut scheming for the SAT has become an end in itself.

Two recent examples: At Coppell High School= , administrators hired a private tutoring service for an after-school prep program, and they're charging $600 for each student -- $650 if they sign up late.

The Fort Worth school district could never pass along= such an expense, but its pupils have to keep up, right? So it hired the Princeton = Review, one of the best-known names in the testing business, and is absorbing the costs.

The price: $1.4 million for the current school year.

"We have some pretty low test scores, so we're going to see if some= one else can help us," says Risa Payne, second= ary coordinator in advanced academic services.

Payne has been at the Fort = Worth district for 35 years, and I could hear the exasperation in her voice.

Just about everyone complains about the out-of-whack emphasis on the SAT= and its rival entrance exam, the ACT. Parents, students, teachers, counselors, college admissions officers, think-tank experts -- they all dis it to varying degrees, and some colleges have stopped requiring the tests. =

But most keep playing the game and turning up the pressure. <= /p>
Fort Worth already has a successful summer SAT prep course at Paschal High and other sites, designed two decades ago by John Hamilton. Parents pay $150 for the 13-day program ($225 if they live outside the district), and it's staffed by moonlighting teachers.

This summer, 800 students participated at Paschal, and Payne says the course typically raises test scores by 25 to 75 poi= nts. That helps, but it doesn't move the needl= e much on a test that totals 2,400 points.

"If you really want to prepare for these tests, focus on the curriculum: algebra, writing and reading," Payne says. "Maybe a student should spend a Saturday morning on preparation -- take a practice test and learn the terminology. But that sho= uld be enough."

If only that were the case. Standardized test= s have long been criticized for penalizing immigrants and minorities. But the test-prep business, estimated at $250 million to $500 million a year, is wi= dely seen as one more way for affluent families to get a leg up.

Beyond that objection, don't we have more important ways to use our education resources? My beef is that the SAT commands way too much attention and feeds a college frenzy that's already out of control.

Add this to the cutthroat competition for admissions, the sticker shock = over college costs and big-dollar student loans, and families have yet another reason to stress out.

"It's the equivalent of a test-prep arms race," says Robert Schaeffer, public-education director at FairTest, a group that advocates for better forms of assessment. "We're wasting all this money to teach people how to bubble-in answers more strategically.&quo= t;

Because the tests carry so much weight -- in addition to admissions, mer= it scholarships are often based on them -- the marketplace has created an arra= y of products and services to boost scores. Mo= st prep courses conducted outside the schools cost about $1,000. Lots of how-to guides and software are available for about $50 or less.

For $21, you can buy a shower curtain with 500 SAT vocabulary words prin= ted on it.

In the Northeast and on the West Coast= , where competition is most keen, Schaeffer says some parents pay up to $20,000 to hire a coach to improve the admission odds for their high-school freshmen.

Charles Murray, co-author of The Bell Curve and long a fan of t= he SAT, recently called for abolishing the test. He had resisted this conclusi= on, in part because he had benefited from it; in 1961, as a boy from a small Iowa town, his s= cores helped him get into Harvard.

Today, other measures are more reliable predictors of college potential, including a student's high-school transcript and grade-point average. And although research shows that high-priced prep cours= es are not very effective, he wrote, a low-income student who can't afford a program "has the sense of being shut out of mysteries." =

"The evidence has become overwhelming that the SAT no longer serves= a democratizing purpose," M= urray wrote in The American magazine. "In an age when intellectual talent is increasingly concentrated among young people who are also privile= ged economically and socially, the last thing we nee= d are numbers that give these very, very lucky kids a sense of entitlement."=

Colleges bear as much responsibility as the testing industry and high schools. More are making the SAT optional, but large public universities mu= st sort through thousands of applications rapidly, and test scores are a differentiator.

Competition for class seats has also grown, because many more students a= re going to college -- and applying to more schools. At Texas Christian University, 4,800 a= pplied to enter in 2000; this year, the number was 11,884.

In that time, the college added just 157 seats for freshmen. =

At TCU, an applicant's SAT score accou= nts for 15 percent to 20 percent of the admission decision, says Raymond Brown, dean of admissions. He urges prospective students to focus on tough classes in high school and to do well in them -- and not waste much t= ime on test-taking techniques.

"It's worthwhile to take a practice test, so you don't have to spend time analyzing the instructions," Brown says. "But the long prep programs are not going to make = you smarter."

College leaders generally give similar advice, but schools often send a different message. All-important college rankings usually consider the SAT prominently, so students with higher scores are coveted -- and, when they arrive, they're touted.

Consider how the University of Texas at= Dallas describes itself in news releases: "The = school's freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of a= verage SAT scores."

At Baylor University, the headline on a recent release reads: "Highest-achieving freshman cl= ass arrives as Baylor attains its highest-ever ranking in <= b>U.S. News."

The entering class, the school states, "brings another record-breaking SAT average."

With that kind of publicity punch, it's not surprising that so many fixa= te on test scores. Unfortunately, that's not something to be so proud of.=

Don= na Garner
wgarner1@hot.rr.com

Writer/Consultant for MyStudyHall.com
http://www.mystudyhall.com