Some private kindergartens dropping $510 entry test because 4/5 yr olds being prepped

[Liberal_in_LA]

Private School Screening Test Loses Some Clout

For legions of 4- and 5-year-olds and their parents, the test known as the E.R.B. is the entree into the world of private schooling, its pressure and price a taste of the expensive years to come.

But parents who grumble about a test that they fear could determine their children’s educational future now have company: some of the private schools themselves.

At least two schools in Manhattan have dropped the exam as a requirement for admission starting this fall, bucking a trend of more widespread use of such tests. More broadly, a powerful coalition of New York schools is contending that pretest preparation, which many believe skews the results, has become so widespread as to cast doubt on the value of the test.

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The test, which costs parents $510, is not going away; in fact, at least three schools have added it in recent years as a requirement for kindergarten or even pre-kindergarten admission. But at least two have taken the practically unheard-of step of dropping the test: the Mandell School and the Calhoun School, both on the Upper West Side.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/nyregion/07erb.html?src=me&ref=homepage


:eyes:

[pnwmom]

1. A $510 dollar kindergarten test. I'm in shock. n/t

[exboyfil]

2. It is more shocking the amount spent of the test prep

which I heard could be in the 10s of thousands of dollars.

It is amazing what these standardized tests can mean for opportunity and access. Children in our school district take the CogAT in 4th grade. The test is immediately used to decide pull outs for the Talented and Gifted Program. It is also used, in part, to decide if you will take Pre-Algebra in 7th grade (think about that for a moment - a 4th grade test deciding whether you will take Algebra in 8th grade). My daughter was rejected from taking Pre-Algebra in 7th grade because of her 106 CogAT (68%). I had her retested and she got a 121 (92%). Suddenly she is the belle of the ball. The fact that all of her other test scores had her in the upper 8% did not mean anything, or the fact that she had straight As in her classes. The world revolved around that one test score. Complete insanity.

Since the Gifted and Talented program is resource constrained (it is pull out from regular academic classes), I really don't have an issue if my children are not involved (my oldest was excluded in 5th grade, but was accepted in 6th grade and is probably one of the best students in the program - her team went the furthest in Problem Solvers and she has a 4.0 since going to Junior High). My oldest daughter had a 122 which was probably on the low side for the TAG program.

I do have a real problem with denying access to Algebra in 8th grade. For any girls/women considering the quant sciences as a career, it can be very damaging because they will not have access to Calculus in 12th grade. A study showed that a far larger percentage of men who do not take Calculus in High School still go on to a quant major versus women who do not take Calculus in High School.

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. interesting. I had no idea all this testing goes one