Page 6 - Priorities #21 2003-January

The revisions are measuring precisely those things our students do well.
Academics
included). Intheshortandlongpassages,students will be asked to ascertain the intent or position of the author, respond to questions about the main ideas in the text, and describe relationships between various components of the text.
A completely new section, the Writing test, will continue to include questions about grammar, usage, and word choice, but the biggest development is the inclusion of a student-generated writing sample. Students will be given 25 minutes in which to write an essay about a particular topic, and will be scored on the basis of the organization of their ideas, their clarity of expression, the cohesiveness of the essay, and their use of standard written English.
Priory students will undoubtedly find the new format to be in alignment with the strong skills our curriculumdevelopsintheseareas. Theymay, however, balk at the added time involved in this modification. Thenewtestwilltakeapproximately one additional hour to complete, bringing total testing time to three hours and thirty-five minutes.
Some educators have voiced concerns that students who are most comfortable taking a test for which they have been coached will now feel the need to add essay-writing seminars to their lists of “things to sign up for.” Again, a very positive factor for Priory students is that they are continually engaged in this type of writing in the course of their school day. They will be at a distinct advantage in that regard.
Our current freshmen will be the first to experience the completely revised SAT. A revised version of the PSAT exam will debut in the fall of 2004; however, this practice test will not include the student-written essay portion of the actual SAT I.
We are sure to encounter more information about the effects of this modification as the coming years unfold. Fornow,however,studentsandparentsneed notbecomeanxiousaboutthiscomingchange. Itis measuring precisely those things our students do well, and quite possibly the only disappointment is that students must give up one extra hour on a Saturday in exchange for the opportunity to show more of their stuff!
More Writing and Algebra In the ‘New’ SAT
By Jennifer Martin, Academic Dean
If you are like many people, you have never thrilled to the sense of fun and accomplishment to be found in the analogies section of the SAT I exam. Or,perhapsyou’vealwayshadayearningto encounter SAT mathematics questions at the level of AlgebraII. Ifso,youwilllovethenewandimproved SAT I that’s being rolled out in the spring of 2005. Analogies are out, Algebra II is in. If you always enjoyed “quantitativecomparisons”—sorry,that’s out, too.
The decision to revise the SAT I exam comes after several years of research, discussion, and debate among those constituents for whom the exam is very important. Thelistof“players”includeseducatorsat the high school and college levels, psychometricians at the College Board, guidance professionals, and college admissions offers.
Their goal is to more closely align the test with the actual high school curriculum, to bring a student’s writing skills into the admissions picture, and to reflect the greater emphasis placed upon writing skills throughout education.
The SAT I exam has been modified about ten timessinceitsinceptionover76yearsago. Most
recently the exam was “re-centered” in the mid-1990’s to bring national averages closer totheactualmidpointofthescorerange. At that time, educators feared that the re-centering process manipulated and falsely inflated scores—an unlikely concern with the current revisions.
The changes are no cause for concern at the Priory. In math, our students can begin taking Algebra II as soon as eighth grade; they will not be tested on unfamiliar territory.
The former Verbal section will be re-named the Critical Reading section, and the analogies questions will give way to the addition of short reading passages (in addition to the lengthier passages already
Academic Dean Jennifer Martin also teaches a class in the Social Studies Department.
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