College Board's ReadiStep - A new test for middle school (university, county)

[jps-teacher]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/ed.../23sat.html?em

Snippets:
"The new test, called ReadiStep, can be completed within two hours and is divided into three multiple-choice sections of critical reading, writing skills and mathematics."


"College Board officials described the test as voluntary and “low-stakes,” and said the results would be shared only with teachers, parents, students and schools.


"Gaston Caperton, the president of the College Board, said the new test had been developed in response to the demand from schools and districts, which he said had requested a “tool that would help them determine before high school what measures should be taken to ensure that students are on the path to being college ready.”"

Sounds potentially reasonable up to this point. Though something that looked at more than just what the kids know already, but how they approach material, would be useful... This sounds like just another achievement test.

Mr. Caperton and other officials refused to identify any of the schools and districts that had requested the test. They said that they had done market research in “well over 1,000 schools and districts,” and that “well over 50 percent” of them had expressed strong interest in the new test.


Officials offered to provide the names of educators from interested schools and districts, and subsequently made available two people: Susan Rusk, the coordinator of counseling for the Washoe County School District in Reno, Nev., and James R. Choike, a professor of mathematics at Oklahoma State University.


Mrs. Rusk is on the College Board’s board of trustees, and Dr. Choike helped develop ReadiStep.

Wait a minute... if it is so heavily in demand, why is there nobody who is not deeply involved in the test who wishes to share why their school likes the new test?

Color me skeptical about this test's being anything other than an effort to make money.

[maf763]

Originally Posted by jps-teacher

Color me skeptical about this test's being anything other than an effort to make money.

Bingo.

[raising3boys]

Oh good grief, how much MORE testing can possibly take place in schools? ( I am not even talking about a teacher's weekly assessments.) I love how it says "Low-Stakes". We all know that there is no such thing left in the academic setting.

[llgator]

NO MORE TESTS! That's the last thing our children and their teachers need to worry about. College Board is a pitiful money-grubbing syndicate.

[aus10]

Any time you can pay a thousand dollars for a prep course and guarantee a raise of 100 pts on a test... it just proves that it is as worthless as the paper it's printed on........

I am so glad to see some schools not requiring it any more.

[Momma_bear]

IMO middle school is to early to "get ready" for college. It seems to me that if kids do what they are supposed to do in middle school they will be ready for high school.

Some kids will not be able to go to college. The sooner people realize that the sooner we can start to prepare the non college bound to be productive citizens. Right not the college prep process that we force on all kids leaves those who are not college bound without the skills they need to thrive. Pushing the college prep time into middle school only makes it worse.