SAT scores hit record low

[hedgehog]

According to this story -

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/15/140513396/sat-reading-scores-reach-record-low

the reason students are doing so poorly on this ultimate test is that schools spend too much time "teaching to the test" due to No Child Left Behind programs!

[xchrom]

1. Attacking teachers is working out SO well for every one.

I'm sure some admin official will express 'sufprise'.

[WCGreen]

2. I think it has a little to do with more and more kids are taking the test..

[hedgehog]

4. The SAT is a real measure of educational disparities - those with the

money can pay for tutoring to guarantee a perfect score! That was something unheard of 30 years ago!
Meanwhile, kids educated in poorer school systems are doing worse and worse. Given that a college education is increasingly a requirement to enter the middle class, this is not good.

[bluestateguy]

3. Because more people are taking the test now

including a good many students, who 10-20 years ago, might not have been considered college material.

[Hippo_Tron]

5. The SAT is bullshit

Its only purpose is to create less work for college admissions people.

[hedgehog]

6. The SAT cracks me up. Years ago, white people scoffed at the notion

that it might be culturally biased. Now I know white people whose kids goofed off all through high school who tell me that the SAT is not a good measure of abilities!

The SAT can indicate general ability to enter college or willingness to work through a cram course!

[Hippo_Tron]

9. Here's an example of an SAT quantitative problem...

Question: If 2^x < 100 and x is an integer, how many of the 2^x + 2 integers will be divisible by 3 and by 2?

(a) 1

(b) 2

(c) 3

(d) 4

(d) 5


The vast majority of SAT takers, most of whom are perfectly capable math students, will answer this question B and thus get the problem wrong. The reason is that neither high school nor college math courses actually train students to solve math problems in this manner. They do train you to solve exponents, they train you to do addition, and they train you to figure out what is divisible by 2 or 3, all of which the SAT is presumably testing here.

What math courses don't train you to do, is to look at a list of multiple choices and figure out which one is the trick answer that our brains will automatically fixate on given the timed conditions. Most people will pick B because the way math classes teach you to solve for this is to do all of the exponents then add 2 to each one. So you do the exponents and get 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64. And then you see that two of these are divisible by 2 and 3, the answer B pops out at you, and move onto the next problem.

Math classes don't teach you that the better approach for this problem is to do 2^X + 2 for each integer, so that you don't forget to add 2 at the end and get sucked in by the trap answer. For that kind of teaching, you need to shell out $1000 for an SAT prep course.

[Starry Messenger]

7. Luckily college is too expensive anyway.

:sarcasm:

[villager]

8. "Teaching to the test" doesn't even work... for tests!

Figures.