achievement test are
refueling the debate over that state's groundbreaking effort to give laptop
computers to students. Middle-school students who used laptops for two years
performed about the same on a standardized test as students in the past who
did not have access to computers, the results indicate--though
laptop-equipped students did show gains in writing.
Testing Companies Mine for Gold -
There has been little public outcry over the fact that private,
multinational companies operating beyond public oversight are
determining which students, schools, and districts in the United
States are deemed "failures" and which are deemed "successes." Given
the secrecy that shrouds testing company operations, information is
negligible. What the public doesn't know, the public doesn't complain
Read the article "Schools:
Many who failed MCAS quit" - Boston
school officials announced findings yesterday that a significant
number of the students in the Class of 2003 who failed the high-stakes
MCAS exam in the spring of 2001 and who did not take the retest in
December of 2001 have dropped out of high school.
TestPrepReview - TestPrepReview.com is a free service "created
to provide free practice test questions for students in a variety of
career situations." Includes online review for ACT, SAT, GED, LSAT,
GMAT, MCAT, ParaPro, Nursing, and many more.
The 500-Pound Gorilla
- Privatizing education is predicated on an almost childlike
faith in competition:let self-interested
people struggle against one another, and somehow all of them -- even
their children, presumably -- will benefit. It is closely related to a
second ideological underpinning: a pronounced individualism in which
there is no us, just you and her and him and me. Perhaps it was the
implications of this threat to the value of community that led the
political philosopher Benjamin Barber to observe, "Privatization is
not about limiting government; it is about terminating democracy."
Low Income & Low Test Scores Linked in Colorado - Students from Colorado's poorest families scored significantly lower onthis year's state proficiency exams than their better-off peers, a reviewof stateDepartment of Education data show. In
most cases, the gapsbetween high-performing
low-incomestudents and all other students on theColorado Student Assessment Program exams were more than 30percentagepoints.
SAT Camp Offers Pay to Study for Exam - Some high
school students will be paid $5.25 an hour to attend an SAT
prep course at Coppin State University this summer, the latest
step in the school's attempt to reach out to the neighborhoods
around the West Baltimore campus. Fifty students will get
breakfast, lunch, bus passes and three hours a day of SAT
coaching for two weeks this month. The students, most from
nearby high schools, will be paid at the end of the course.
With SAT Changing, Questions Multiply -
The new SAT college entrance exam will be
administered for the first time in March 2005. But with less
than a year until launch, many questions about how colleges
will handle the conversion remain unanswered. The uncertainty
is raising stress levels for some parents and college-bound
students, but it also could provide unique opportunities for
students to maximize test scores.
Students in Alaska Sue Over Exam - Disabled children and their parents
filed a federal class-action lawsuit yesterday against the Alaska Board of
Education, the latest in a string of challenges to laws of various states
requiring students to pass an exit exam to earn a high school diploma.
Read the article "A
Hurdle Too High" - Iam not your average kid with a learning
disability. I am a unique kid with a different style of learning. I
did not choose to have this learning disability. It chose me. Because
I am stuck with this, I am not going to let this problem get in the
way of my success.
Ends Flagging Tests of Disabled - The maker
of the ACT college entrance test followed the lead of its rival
Friday, and announced that the scores of disabled students who need
extra time to take the ACT exam will no longer be specially mar