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What Tests Do College Presidents and Public School Principals Like?
By Richard
Innes
Some
interesting comments were made in yesterday’s Elementary and Secondary Education
Subcommittee meeting in Frankfort.
Dr. Wayne Andrews, the president of Morehead State University, discussed the
inadequate preparation of many Morehead freshmen. He said about 40 percent of
each new class requires remediation in at least one subject, usually math.
To combat this problem, Morehead started a cooperative program with public
schools called the College Algebra Program. What is particularly interesting is
the way Morehead measures the success of students that complete it. Morehead
isn’t using the state’s CATS for this. Instead, they use the ACT college
entrance test.
Other comments came from Tim Bobrowski, principal of Sebastian Middle School in
Breathitt County. Bobrowski is very favorably impressed with the EXPLORE test,
also created by ACT, Incorporated. He pointed out that EXPLORE shows kids where
they stand in eighth grade, soon enough to give students a chance to repair some
of their deficiencies.
Why is this interesting? During and after the debate on
Senate Bill 1 from this year’s regular session, a rather concerted attack on
these ACT created tests was launched by a group the Paducah Sun has dubbed the
“KERA Amen Chorus.” The misguided crowd in the “Chorus” issued several papers
attacking the validity of the ACT’s tests for eighth and tenth graders while
taking swipes at the ACT college entrance test, as well. Among other things, it
looks like the “Chorus” covets the money spent on these ACT tests and would
prefer us to dump all of that cash into their beloved, though already bloated,
CATS assessments, instead.
What was reiterated yesterday is that many don’t sing along with the “Chorus.”
At least one practicing public school educator does not agree. At least one
college in the state knows where to go when it needs to evaluate math
preparation for college, as well, and that isn’t to the state’s home-grown CATS
assessment, either. And, since school principals and college presidents are on
the leading edge of dealing with the real issues in KERA, we probably need to
give those folks more credence in preference to a group of ideologues who just
seem to be singing off-tune.
Bluegrass policy blog
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