New York Times Article about the Redesigned SAT

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
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This is an important question but it is a side issue in comparison to what is happening with Common Core, in which entire courses are going into software packages with videos, recorded voice-overs and automated exercises.

If you want to see what works well in education, it’s a good idea to look outside the US. The US is not keeping up with other countries.

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2015/dec/02/schools-that-ban-tablets-traditional-education-silicon-valley-london

The OECD’s education director, Andreas Schleicher says: “If you look at the best-performing education systems, such as those in East Asia, they’ve been very cautious about using technology in their classroom.”

“Those students who use tablets and computers very often tend to do worse than those who use them moderately,” he adds.

Amico claims one of the reasons parents working in the digital industry are choosing a lo-tech, no-tech education for their children is that it teaches students the innovative thinking skills many employers desire. She adds that students weaned on technology often lack that ability to think outside the box and problem solve.

The antidote to poor teaching is encouraging and facilitating parental support at home, private tutoring, raising teachers’ salaries so that better people will go into teaching, and not putting teachers into harsh straitjackets.

http://www.c-span.org/video/?328464-1/book-discussion-drilling-core

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I am afraid I failed to convey that I do not think that technology is the solution to our lacking performance. It represents the utopia for the masses of unprepared teachers in our schools.

To be clear, I do not support the use of CAS calculator for the regular SAT.

143

This is a reasonable opinion. Alternately, CB should write questions that are less CAS hackable. These would probably not be Common Core math questions.

And would you allow CAS for SAT Subject Test in Math Level 2 and AP Calculus? CAS is an even bigger help for those. If CB ruled out CAS for those tests, students might be angry. Wouldn’t that be changing the rules in the middle of the game? On the other hand, if CB allowed CAS for those tests but ruled CAS out for the regular SAT, wouldn’t that mean that students had to buy … 2 calculators? Further, ruling out CAS for the regular SAT would have been tantamount to admitting that the math on the calculator part of the rSAT was dumber than was the math on the old SAT.

144

They have taken out all the literature - it is all non-fiction passages. I guess one doesn’t need to read and understand great works of fiction to be “college or career ready.” Bummer.

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@glido - the first passage in every rSAT reading section is a narrative passage, and some are from literature.

146

There can be literary texts on the rSAT, but there is a backstory here.

One of the hallmarks of Common Core is a sharp decrease in literary and an increase in “informational” texts, especially in the upper grades. The claim of Common Core proponents is that non-fiction is more important for college- and career-readiness than is fiction. The emphasis on non-fiction is also connected to the changed vocabulary landscape of the rSAT, because complex literary texts generally contain different vocabulary items than do informational texts.

Many ELA experts have criticized these aspects of Common Core. They have pointed out that literature strengthens imagination, moral sense, and a certain kind of creative critical thinking in ways that non-fiction does not. Sandra Stotsky, the member of the Common Core ELA Validation Committee with the most academic qualifications, refused to sign off on the standards and has since become a vehement critic. She also strongly disagrees with the Common Core approach to vocabulary; she claims numerous studies have show that vocabulary is the foundation of reading comprehension, and that crucial vocabulary is built not in only context but by looking words up in the dictionary. Peter Wood, president of the National Association of Scholars, has said that the excessive emphasis on rhetoric, evidence, and argumentation in Common Core ELA tries to turn students into lawyers.

You can see a video with some of their criticisms here:

http://www.c-span.org/video/?328464-1/book-discussion-drilling-core

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Yes, and Ms. Stotsky is dead right on all of that. That said, it’s eminently clear that the new test still relies on “SAT vocab” despite not testing it as explicitly as did the old exam.

148

There are some relatively high complexity vocabulary words in the rPSAT readings, but many fewer than in the old PSAT. The very high complexity academic vocabulary has been eliminated completely with the elimination of the sentence completions. For example, PSAT October 12, 2011 question 8 is

James Reavis was an opportunist with an arsenal of schemes, for even he ran out of … when his … regarding the fictional Peralta land grant was exposed.

A. remedies … clemency
B. gambits … bellicosity
C. ruses…artifice
D. mishaps…colpability
E. foibles … sycophancy

The October 2015 PSAT’s have few or no words like “foibles”, “sycophancy”, “bellicosity”, or “gambits” – words that were on only ONE old PSAT question. These are words that only someone who is well read is likely to know.

Further, the old PSAT had reading comprehension meaning in context questions about high complexity words. For example, question 41 of the same October 2011 PSAT asks, "In line 53, ‘broach’ most nearly means
A. pierce B. shape C. veer D. bring up E. draw off

It is true that there are some medium to medium-high complexity vocabulary words in the new PSAT passages. But there are no questions about them. No question asks the students what an even medium-high complexity word means.
The new PSAT has reading comprehension meaning in context questions about words that are more common in informal, every day idioms.

PSAT October 14, 2015, Section 1 Question 6: “scouring” most nearly means?
Question 15: “sheer” most nearly means?
Question 16: “regular” most nearly means?
Question 38: “state” most nearly means?
Question 40: “arrangement” most nearly means?
Question 41: “host” most nearly means?

So we have gone from “sycophancy” and “beliicosity” to “sheer” and “scouring”.

This change effectively “narrows the gap” between high-functioning native speakers of English who know words such as “sycophancy” and “bellicosity” and those who have no idea what these words mean, but know the various idiomatic uses of “scouring” and “state”.

However, I am sorry to say that this change seems to me also to introduce test bias against high-functioning internationals. Some high-functioning internationals use English only in academic contexts – at school, or when studying privately – and speak another language when talking informally with their families and friends.
There are plenty of high-functioning internationals who are more likely to know “sycophancy” than “scouring”, because they read widely and deeply in English but do not talk in English about cleaning out the bathtub.

149

When Norway wanted to radically increase the performance of their students, they took two important steps. They required all teachers to have a masters degree and radically limited the number of schools offering that degree program. In that way, they made it very competitive (and high status) to become a teacher. They also significantly increased teacher salaries. Those measures led Norway to become a world leader in high school education. That would not solve all of our educational challenges in the US because of our vast wealth distribution disparity and the impact of poverty on student performance, but it sure would help if we raised the bar and prestige for teaching as well as the salaries.

150

@pittsburghscribe

Common Core means taking the OPPOSITE approach: INCREASING the number of students heading off to college and DECREASING the amount of money going into teachers’ salaries so that those funds can go to technology in the classroom.

151

Yes, I know.

152

(and to ever-bloating school administrations)

153

[QUOTE=""]
When Norway wanted to radically increase the performance of their students, they took two important steps. They required all teachers to have a masters degree and radically limited the number of schools offering that degree program. In that way, they made it very competitive (and high status) to become a teacher. They also significantly increased teacher salaries. Those measures led Norway to become a world leader in high school education. That would not solve all of our educational challenges in the US because of our vast wealth distribution disparity and the impact of poverty on student performance, but it sure would help if we raised the bar and prestige for teaching as well as the salaries. <<

[/QUOTE]

I believe that this example describes Finland with a couple of caveats. They required the Masters’ degree to be in the subject taught (as opposed to be in pedagogy) and did not have to substantially raise the salaries as they were sufficiently competitive for a Nordic country. What they did do is refrain the generalists to attain the higher levels in the education sector. In so many words, their reform is as the antipode of the US changes in the past 60 years. Finland rewards excellence, competence, and performance. Our system rewards allegiance and planned mediocrity.

154

On the new PSAT10 test my DD just took, not one passage was fiction. All were non-fiction.

155

The new SAT Reading section is pretty easy. 65 minutes and 52 questions means you have plenty of time per question, if you use the correct strategies and take advantage of the “question pairs” where the second question gives you places to look for the answer to the first. Plus it’s the very first section of the test.

Yes, it’s long, but at least you get it out of the way early. And much more time per question than the ACT reading.

156

“The shift is leading some educators and college admissions officers to fear that the revised test will penalize students who have not been exposed to a lot of reading”

Good?
Shouldn’t they be?

157

The poor don’t have access to test prep(…110$ an hour,seriously?)

158

What about Khan Academy? It’s World Class test prep, official, and free…

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^ first, if it were enough to use Khan Academy for merit- or Ivy -worthy scores, you’d be out of business Plotinus.
Second, most lower income kids in lower performing (urban or rural) don’t even know the tests exist or that they’re supposed to prepare for them or that Khan exists. Not to mention all the kids who live in ACT states.

I agree that some of the new decisions on the test are, to say the least, curious.

Also, I’m wondering why ell’s don’t get extended time to even out the playing field, when every problem you can think of is accommodated.

160

I wonder why the College Board doesn’t do outreach programs in poor communities to give the kids the heads up about the PSAT & SAT. How hard could it be to send a brochure home w the kids.