<p>We tend to obsess about the the SATs and problems associated with that test, the administration, scoring and test prep, but the standardized test industry and it's associated problems are far greater than just the SAT. The article chronicles many test company mistakes that resulted in teachers losing their jobs, brokers losing their jobs, and elementary schools being unjustly put on probation, which of course affects neighborhood property values. </p>
<p>The article also points out that the real profit is in the test prep side of the business, not the test administration. Unfortunately the article does not mention the profitabilty of the score reporting side (for College Board) of the business!</p>
<p>This is totally off the topic of the linked article, which is very interesting and provides some very disturbing information, but thing that most caught my eye was the alcohol-themed room decor of the featured student whose SAT had been scored incorrectly. Since he graduated from high school last spring, he is definitely underage. Is it considered no big deal for an 18 or 19 year old to pose in his room with decorations from Coors, Miller High Life, and Jack Daniels on the walls?</p>
<p>DS did very well on the SAT and SAT II.... and I still think the tests are overrated. My sister-in-law teaches SAT prep classes, and she says the whole thing is a big money-making racket. She does believe she can help students score higher on the SAT, but that won't make them any better prepared for college itself. I'm thrilled that DS's scores are going to help him get into a good school, but I think his transcript shows much more about his abilities as a student than a score on any given test ever could.</p>
<p>My heart breaks for all those kids whose SATs were scored wrong last year. I've read of kids who didn't bother to submit applications to their dream schools because their scores were too low... who found out far too late that their scores were actually much higher. The collegeboard has done serious damage to the dreams and maybe the lives of dozens of bright young people, but will they ever be held accountable?</p>
<p>Motheroftwo, I'm pretty liberal, but I agree with you about the alcohol themed decor!</p>
<p>Standardized tests are degrading the quality of education our schools are providing. Since school funding is on the line, due to the results of standardized tests, the teachers teach to the test – they teach what’s on the test only. Students may do better on the tests, but what is that good for. These tests only examine extremely specific skills and knowledge. Students are learning less and less about what needs to be taught as more time is devoted to knowing the specifics on the SAT or the Star Test, (in California). This is lowering the standards of a lot of our schools because students are graduating knowing less. As Reg Weaver put it, “Teachers and parents worry that more and more of the important things that prepare us for life will be pushed off the curriculum plate to make room for test preparation” (Weaver, 615-616). Even worse the tests are supposed to present students to colleges, and while students may look smart on the tests, they really haven’t learned much else. It’s contradictory to the purpose of tests, but the schools can’t help it if their funding depends on it. “If states persist in making a student’s fate rest on a single test, the result over the next few years will be nothing short of catastrophic”, Alfie Kohn stresses (Kohn, 602). Kohn claims this not only because one stressful test isn’t an accurate representative of knowledge, but because students learn less to understand this single test. Although some teachers, who are directly affected by their student’s scores, still teach a real course, standardized tests are ruining the quality of our educational system as a whole. Our education is already considered poor and to degrade it even more is a serious issue.</p>