Maker of SAT Aims New Test at 8th Graders (continued)

“I would be willing to bet future generations of unborn children that it wouldn’t be any different from their other tests,” he said.

K-12 educators’ reactions to the new test were mixed.

Anthony Cody, an instructional coach in the 39,000-student Oakland, Calif., school district, said he didn’t believe that a multiple-choice test costing less than $10 per student could be a high-quality assessment.

“There is no such thing as too much information on student achievement, but there is a problem of quality,” said Mr. Cody, an instructional coach with certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards who taught middle school science for 18 years. “We need much more emphasis on classroom-based assessments, rather than drive-by, snapshot, multiple-choice tests.”

Nancy Poulos, an assistant principal at the public World Journalism Preparatory School—a 440-student school serving grades 6-11 in the Queens section of New York City—said that as word got out that her school was among those piloting the test, “there was a big demand from the parent community.”

“This was an attention grabber—I even got calls from parents all over Queens wondering if there was some way they could get their kids in to take it,” she said.

Elena Silva, a senior policy analyst at Education Sector, a Washington-based education policy think tank, said, “I don’t think anyone wants more tests.” But she added that ReadiStep might well help to alert students earlier that they need to think about taking college-prep courses.

“I think what it can do is signal to the school community earlier that college is a priority,” Ms. Silva said. Nonetheless, she said, “I don’t think that that’s helping prepare [students] for what they need to know for college.”

Kati Haycock, the director of the Education Trust, a research and advocacy organization based in Washington that advocates for poor and minority students, said that while extending early awareness about college is key to increasing the number of college graduates, “that is not about adding new tests, but making sure that those tests line up with that goal.”

Though Mr. Jones of the College Board disagreed with critics’ characterization of ReadiStep as a “pre-pre-SAT,” Ms. Poulos said that from what she saw of the exam when it was administered at her school this month, it was “very similar to the PSAT” and “a very rigorous exam.” And that judgment was apparently confirmed by the students who took the two-hour test.

“They were overwhelmed,” Ms. Poulos said. “They were wiped.”

Vol. 28, Issue 10, Pages 1,11

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