Thursday, September 11, 2008

CollegeBoard to Debut an Eighth-Grade PSAT Exam


Princeton Review's Kanarek, however, said eighth grade is too late to begin pulling together a college prep portfolio."Eighth grade is not the key year for college assessment. That's sixth grade," he said."

By Gale HollandLos Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 8, 2008

High school students already face a battery of standardized tests on their way to college. Now, the college testing frenzy is reaching into middle school.

The College Board, which owns the SAT, PSAT and other tests, plans to introduce an eighth-grade college assessment exam in 2010, a topCollege Board official said this week.



The new test would be voluntary, said Wayne Camara, the vice president for research and analysis at the New York-based nonprofit, who spoke at a college enrollment conference at USC early this week. But critics noted that the PSAT, which also is voluntary, was taken last year by3.4 million students, and said the new test would just boost the pressures for students considering college.




5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is the PSAT voluntary in NYC? I think not. The writing is on the wall for future 8th graders. Oy vey.

Anonymous said...

i recently read alexandra robbin's "Overachievers", and it showed how stressed out teenagers are. the emphasis on student achievement is scary, thus putting more tests on them is insane. we need to let kids be kids. the more they are forced to be indoors practicing for tests the less social skills they will develop, which is an issue thay seems to be put aside.- kucic

Anonymous said...

Yes this is definitely a program that needs to be funded! Nevermind struggling readers, students who have lost an enthusiasm for learning, or students who simply need more attention regardless of academic skills.

Let's pour tons of money into poorly designed, biased, and out of touch testing. Let's expand it to lower and lower grades. I know that if we can get to the point where we can predict skills in-utero, the stem cell field will soar. I'm moving to Middle School where true progressivism reigns.

Testingly yours,
Woolsey

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