AN STYLE='font-size: 100%; color: #990000; font-weight: bold; '>Inside the New Sats
"It's high time we test students' actual knowledge and not how well they have learned to respond to multiple-choice questions."
GUILLERMO HERNANDEZ
Darien, Conn.
The new SAT is a disaster [OCT. 27]. At least the old SAT tested general reasoning, but the fresh emphasis on advanced math will force schools to speed up the math progression, which will cause even more students to fall behind and become mathphobic. We should achieve our current standards before we up the ante; if students are already stumbling, the New SAT may cause them to fall flat on their faces.
ABNER MINTZ
Laurel, Md.
Aptitude, achievement, potential and prediction are just recycled words in educational testing. The College Entrance Examination Board shouldn't waste money and energy worrying high school students and their parents with the New SAT. The test, in any incarnation, is simply another item for colleges to consider. The Ivies and other elite universities will continue to use an academic index, reject students with perfect SATs and accept whomever they want to achieve their ideal, perfectly diverse freshman class. Let's stop the charade; abolish the SAT.
BILL TOUMEY
Long Beach, N.Y.
The changes to the SAT may or may not have a positive impact on high school curriculums and on students' preparation for success in college. What high school teachers, guidance counselors, prospective college students and their parents need to know, however, is that successful performance, both in college and life, depends on being able to apply one's knowledge and skills to new problems — problems that are not scripted. Assessments of students' learning should focus on the ability to deal with unscripted problems, not just on finding (or guessing) the one right answer. Standardized testing should never be the primary focus of a student's journey to college.
CAROL GEARY SCHNEIDER, PRESIDENT
ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
Washington
John Cloud's view of the new SAT provided a compelling account of the social politics behind high-stakes standardized testing. He also exposes an important tension within the New SAT's guiding principles. The College Board is right to be concerned about performance gaps among different demographic groups, but making the SAT more of an achievement test than a so-called aptitude test may exacerbate the problem. Changing the test to produce socially desirable results can distract attention from a greater problem: unequal access to excellence in education. Until the nation's schools begin providing equal education to all, affordable, effective test preparation may be students' best shot at leveling the academic playing field.
BENJAMIN PARIS
DIRECTOR, TEST PREPARATION PETERSON'S
Lawrenceville, N.J.
I'm a high school junior. I've taken SAT prep courses but have a hard time remembering what I did last week. That doesn't mean I don't deserve to go to a first-rate college, just that I don't have a good short-term memory. The SAT ought to measure one's creativity and find out what an individual has experienced because that is what shapes a person's life.
MEGAN WOLCOTT
Pittsburgh, Pa.
The new SATs are testing more advanced math and higher-level reading skills, and to that I say, Finally! The controversy over possibly declining scores proves that it is right to make these substantive changes. It's a test; it's supposed to be hard!
PETER MOTTOLA
Neptune City, N.J.
As an English teacher at an 85% minority high school where an SAT score several hundred points lower than a perfect 1600 is a reason for celebration, I have seen many of our students with low scores make the dean's list at respected universities. Why? Because they have a passionate desire to succeed. That is the only standard by which they should be judged. The key indicators of a student's success in college are his or her determination and work ethic in high school. Perhaps college admissions officers should rely less on standardized-test results and more on making phone calls to high school teachers. We know our students' potential better than any test.
STACY HAINES
Tucson, Ariz.
Whose Right to Life?
The Schindlers' fight to keep their unconscious daughter Terri Schiavo on a feeding tube [Oct. 27] demonstrates how you can bring up a child only to discover that if she becomes seriously ill, you could have virtually no rights over her care. This is because if the child is married, you, the parents, aren't legally the next of kin. In the Schiavo case, who could possibly stand by while their offspring is starved and dehydrated because of the decisions of a spouse who has, rightfully or not, gone on with his life? The Schindlers are doing what they have to do. They cannot replace their daughter.
SANDRA SUMMER-PARKS
Yonkers, N.Y.
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