Quality Control Idea:

Have Your Child Tested

With a Private School Entrance Exam

 

A smart thing for parents of children in public schools to do once a year is to visit a competing private school. Just do a little comparison shopping! Look at the schoolwork at your child's grade level, the art work on the walls, the conduct of the teachers and students . . . just get an idea of how your child's public school experience might be stacking up.

 

But here's an even smarter idea: have your child assessed by the local private school!

 

Private school entrance exams are being given this time of year. They're usually free, though you probably should pre-register in advance. The entrance exam for Grades 1-6 at Brownell Talbot is at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 21, for example. Parochial schools all are offering pre-admission assessments at about this time of year.

 

If your child does great, that tells you something. But if your child bombs. . . .

 

An even smarter, bigger idea would be to offer free assessments city-wide. That would give parents a true idea of where their child stands, and where there might be major gaps in the child's skills, understanding and progress that aren't reflected under our current overstandardized system.

 

Since math curricula are ''aligned,'' or closely tailored, to the assessments that the kids are given in our public schools, all the scores tell us is that the student mastered that particular curriculum. But if that particular curriculum is dumbed-down, then the score is basically meaningless. A student who gets an 80% on a really challenging test may actually be doing significantly better than a student who gets a 100% on an easy one.

 

And that's what's happening, bigtime. The math stats from public-school standardized tests are really not that reflective of the students' real math knowledge and skills. But most private schools are using more rigorous curricula that is closer to the standards of the past and internationally-accepted standards used in countries with which we compete.

 

Wish we had someone on the ball in this arena the way they do in Spokane, Wash. My friend, education activist Laurie Rogers, and Debbie Knutson, who runs a tutoring business, are offering free math assessments for students in Grades 2-12 on March 21 in Spokane. Each test will take 30-45 minutes.

 

The assessment will be ''aligned'' with traditional math standards at the various grade levels and rigorous international math standards. These assessments will NOT be dumbed down. But the organizers are predicting that test results may expose the weaknesses of the math curriculum in the public schools, if a lot of kids do poorly who, in contrast, get A's at school.

 

The March timing is intended to give parents a head's up on how far behind their child may be and in what areas. That way, they can arrange for summertime tutoring - preferably outside of the school system, since its curricular choices are what have most likely hampered the child's progress.

 

See: www.educationnwresources.com