The nation's class of 2006 have a choice to make - the new SAT, or the old SAT? The majority of schools will accept scores from either one, and students might feel their performance would be better on one of the two. And the two largest test-prep companies, Kaplan and The Princeton Review, are already sniping at one another about the best method of test preparation.
------
The subheadline for this story says it all: "District fears total collapse; voters tired of poor test scores." How poor? Considering that Southfield (MI) Public Schools is one of the most highly funded districts in Oakland County, pretty poor:
If the June millage passes, the owner of a $200,000 home in Southfield would pay $1,963.45 for schools in each of the next five years.
In West Bloomfield, where the tax on homes is almost 4 mills, the owner of a $200,000 home pays about $400 a year.
Despite the heavy tax burden, only 48 percent of all tested Southfield students passed the standardized Michigan Educational Assessment Program, or MEAP, test. That compares to 78.4 percent in Bloomfield Hills and 72.4 percent in West Bloomfield, according to Standard & Poor’s School Evaluation Services. The figure is a percentage of all students in grades four, five, seven, eight and 11 who meet or exceed state standards.
Some say the demographic specifics of Southfield mean that students just don't have opportunity. But with this tax crunch, pretty soon, there won't be any students left. A testing opponent is quoted as saying that Southfield's poor test scores aren't actually a reflection of ability, but instead of the amount of "opportunity" available to students. Why parents should pay so much money in taxes for schools that don't seem to be doing much to provide opportunity goes unexplained.
------
In Ontario they're disputing the 10th-grade literacy test because it "discourages" those who fail it. Presumably, those who who fail to attain a 10th-grade literacy level but are still awarded a high school diploma will not be "discouraged" by their subsequent life experiences. Apparently, there are tons of jobs in Canada that don't require tenth-grade reading skills. Who knew?
-----
They start young in Texas: Fifth-grade students to begin SAT test prep.
Posted by kswygert at May 10, 2004 09:52 AM