College Board expands testing racket

It is interesting to note that the College Board testing wizards are
still using mathematics questions that are still multiple-choice. With
a graphing calculator, many problems can be answered by simply
checking which choice is correct. The December 1992 issue of FOCUS,
the newsletter of the Mathematical Association of America, contained a
copy of a Japanese University Entrance Examination in mathematics.
This examination is machine-graded, but it is not multiple-choice like
our idiotic tests. The students must enter the answer to each problem
in a grid, just as they do on a few math problems on our SATs. Why is
it that the testing-racket crowd does not use the Japanese answer
sheets? Is this crowd afraid that the pseudo-education of American
students would be exposed more fully?
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www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/state/all-a5_5collegeboard.6640579oct23...2659426

themorningcall.com
College Board offers new diagnostic test for 8th-graders
At least one area school official doesn't like the idea.
By Genevieve Marshall

Of The Morning Call

October 23, 2008

The College Board, owner of the SAT college admissions test taken by
1.5 million high school students last year, announced Wednesday it has
created a standardized test for eighth-graders to gauge their college
readiness.

The optional test,

ReadiStep, will enter the testing market next fall in a time when
eighth-graders are already given state math and reading tests.

ReadiStep is a multiple-choice test with math, critical reading and
writing sections. It differs from state tests like the Pennsylvania
System of School Assessment in that it will ''provide real information
that students, parents and instructors can use to help drive
instruction,'' said Kristopher John, executive director of college
readiness product development at the New York-based nonprofit
organization.

The test is meant to be a diagnostic tool, with the results reported
only to school districts, teachers, parents and students. It can help
schools determine which students are on the right track for college
preparatory work, John said.

A potential benefit of a college-readiness test for eighth-graders is
reaching more students who would otherwise not consider college
earlier, giving them more time to ''at least think about it,'' said
Don Heller, director of Penn State University's Center for the Study
of Higher Education.

''We know that the more time students have to prepare themselves for
college, the more likely they will be ready to go when they
graduate,'' Heller said. ''But I'm not sure giving them another test
is the way to do that.''

ReadiStep is ''primarily a new revenue stream for the College Board,''
he said.

John said there was ''strong interest'' from half of 1,000 districts
surveyed, but he and other College Board officials declined to provide
names of Pennsylvania school districts that asked for an eighth-grade
assessment.

''We created it at the request of schools and districts who wanted
[it],'' said Lee Jones, senior vice president of college readiness
products. ''Many of them already use the PSAT in 10th grade to
determine academic strengths in their sophomores. They wanted an
earlier test.''

Critics questioned the value of yet another standardized test for
middle school students.

American public school students take at least 14 standardized tests
required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act by the time they
leave middle school, said Robert Schaeffer of Fair Test, a Boston-
based advocacy group that opposes high-stakes testing.

''Even if standardized tests could tell you anything important about
who has college talent and who needs help, there is more than enough
of that information already,'' Schaeffer said.

The College Board plans to charge less than $10 per student for the
test, which is to be proctored in the classroom in 40-minute
increments over two hours.

ReadiStep's main competition in the pre-high school testing arena is
also its rival for college entrance exams, ACT, an Iowa nonprofit that
also owns Explore, a similar test for middle school students.

More than 980,000 eighth- and ninth-graders took ACT's Explore test
last year, and eight states offer the exam to all of the students in
those grades, said spokesman Ed Colby. Explore is a voluntary,
curriculum-based exam for schools to determine a student's college
readiness with a ''career guidance element.''

As for how ReadiStep differs from Explore, ''We feel it does it in a
much more superior way to any other assessment that is out there,''
said Jones of the College Board.

The Explore exam has been around since 1991, well before standardized
testing became required under the No Child Left Behind Act six years
ago.

''To be honest, I don't think we need any more assessments for our
children,'' said Doug Wells, principal of Eyer Middle School in the
East Penn School District. ''It's just not something we're looking to
add right now.''