Posted on 05/29/2006 4:05:52 AM PDT by .cnI redruM
Colleges across the country are reporting a drop in SAT scores this year. I've been tutoring students in New York City for the SAT since 1989, and I have watched the numbers rise and fall. This year, though, the scores of my best students dropped about 50 points total in the math and verbal portions of the test (each on a scale of 200 to 800). Colleges and parents are wondering: Is there something wrong with the new test? Or are our children not being taught what they should know?
Before 1994, the verbal section of the SAT was about 65% vocabulary (55 out of 85 questions) and 35% reading comprehension. Then the Educational Testing Service shortened and reworked the test, devoting half of the 78 questions to each area. Last year ETS changed the test again, and now it is heavily skewed toward reading: 49 of the 68 items require students to read, synthesize and answer questions.
In such a way, ETS has increased the penalty for not reading throughout one's school years.
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
ping
Just throw more and more money at the schools and towards the teachers unions.
Seems to have worked well up to now.
And drop any and all attempts at holding teachers accountable for their students.
Also keep allowing disruptive and criminal students to remain in normal classrooms to disrupt normal education for those caring to learn.
FOOLS.
Couldn't they administer last years test and compare scores? That would eliminate or convict the changes made to this years test.
LLS
Race is not even mentioned in this article! LOL
No, American industry just needs to stop hiring what American schools produce. Given the current state of our immigration debate and given the typical composition of a grad school class at a major American university, that is already happening in a big way.
I meant seventy four percent not seventeen.
The fact that both the ACT and SAT folks feel that they've had to dumb down their tests is the most telling indicator that most, not all mind you, but most teachers aren't doing their jobs. The NEA has totally abandoned the idea of teaching the Three R's in favor of the two M's(More Money).
I've always taken standardized test scores with a grain of salt because you score points on the test simply for filling in the bubbles on the scantron that spell your name. Some of the dimmest bulbs in my senior class aced the ACT, while our valedictorian had to take it twice just to get into college(it turned out she had filled in the wrong bubble where it asked which version of the test she was taking and the computer crucified her for the error).
I took the SAT as a high school sophomore in 1985 and scored a 1300. Of course, I spent a couple of weeks prepping for it, then was surprised at how easy it was- except for some of the math questions, but I hadn't taken algebraII or trig at that point. I took the old ACT one blustery fall morning the day after my senior homecoming. Went in still half-drunk, hungover, and was struggling just to stay awake. Result? Highest score in my class(high enough to get into nearly any college I wanted, including a couple of Ivy League schools). I guess I managed to spell my name right on the scantron. ;^)
You may very well be correct, and I think that you are.
A controlled test group (taking the old test) would prove or disprove your thesis.
LLS
kjo,
I am not a teacher, but your post conforms to what I think I know about our schools.
In the final analysis, it all starts in the home and home includes church, society as a whole, etc. Teachers cannot be expected to solve all of society's shortcomings that appear on their doorsteps in the form of students.
Having said that, there are problems with some, certainly not all, teachers and the teachers' union.
That makes your post even more tragic. I have heard the same type of thing from teacher friends. Thanks for staying in the field.
It's tough and it gets worse. I used to teach mathematics. I left to work as a civil servant. Within four years, I had more than doubled what I would have earned teaching high school. Bad enough, right?
But getting out of the classroom caused my entire health and outlook on life to improve considerably. Teachers are paid far too low for a job that can quite literally wreck their lives, if they take it all too personally.
If parents were required to pay for the education of their children, only then will America see a dramatic increase in scholastic ability. I think it was Milton Freidman who pointed this out: product quality is the most important when you spend your own money on a product for yourself; product quality is least important when you spend another person's money for a product for someone else. What america needs is seperation of education and state.
I blame the schools, but I also blame the culture. Let's face it, kids don't read like they used to. They don't study, either. They just IM.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.