I believe most parents think high school students already suffer through too many standardized tests before they can toss their No. 2 pencils.
Apparently the College Board, which makes loads of money off the the SAT, SAT subjects tests and the PSAT, has concluded that kids aren’t spending enough time filling little ovals into test booklets. The College Board has announced it will be unveiling a college readiness test for eight graders beginning in 2010. It’s voluntary, but so is the PSAT, which 3.4 million teenagers took last year.
Here’s what Robert Schaeffer, the public education director of FairTest, a organization critical of standardized testing, observed about the plan: “Now we’re going to have a preadmission test to get ready for the preadmission test? Get ready to get ready to get ready? To believe you need an eighth-grade test on top of the PSAT and SAT is just insane.”
You can read more about this new test at the Los Angeles Times.