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Christian Crayton had three words to describe the test prep he did for the ACT college entrance exam as a junior at Chicago Vocational Career Academy: "It was boring."
Crayton, who is 17 and now a senior, said the daily drills "really didn’t do anything for me." He ended up with a 17 out of a possible 36 on the ACT and is unsure whether he’ll go to college.
That intense test prep has been the norm at many Chicago public high schools determined to increase student scores.But a new study to be released today finds that kind of test prep does little to help. In fact, the study found the more schools do test prep during class, the worse students score on the test.
"Across the board, scores were lower in schools that emphasized more ACT prep," said Elaine Allensworth, lead author of the report by the University of Chicago’s Consortium on Chicago School Research. "They are spending all this time and energy on work that doesn’t help their scores."
The findings may seem counterintuitive, but the researchers said what was important was not the frequency of the prep but actually teaching college-level skills throughout high school.
From High School to the Future: ACT Preparation--Too Much, Too Late
36 comments:
The main reason that test prep works when it does work, is by motivating someone to study.
In the verbal part, it's designed to make you learn vocabulary. In the math part, it's designed to make you do homework problems to mastery.
It's highly likely that test prep in a school setting just doesn't do that: it doesn't provide enough problems to teach anyone to mastery; it still provides no instruction to help those who don't understand the method to get to mastery; it doesn't motivate at all in the first place.
Only a teacher would think "it may seem counterintuitive" that teaching college level skills would help you prepare for a test. Then there's this stunning quote in the article
The emphasis on test prep is so strong that more than 8 of 10 students surveyed by the consortium believed scores were primarily determined by test-taking skills, "a misconception widely shared by their teachers." Good grades, not test prep, are the strongest predictor of success on the test, the researchers said.
Gee, either you have the vocabulary to read at college level or you don't; either you have the mastery of algebra and trig or you don't, etc. teaching "Testing Strategies" might improve your guessing, but you're still guessing.
Then there's a similar sentence where the students thought taking practice tests would improve their scores. Why? It's not like taking a test closes the loop on teaching you what you did WRONG. Why would anyone think otherwise?
But I don't know much about the ACT. Does anyone know if it's been changed as the SAT has in terms of content? If it's been renormed? I wonder if test prep is even teaching to the current test...certainly the new SAT writing portion has required some massive re-teaching of test prep in SATland..
I don't think the ACT has been re-normed, but that makes sense given the Murray/Hernnstein article Linda Seebach left the reference for (I was able to pull it - I can email it to you).
The SAT population has been more accomplished.
Don't know whether that's still the case, but it was for many years.
I remember that from when I was in high school. I took both the ACT & the SAT because I lived in central IL. But no one at Wellesley or Dartmouth had taken the ACT. Just the SAT.
The report itself looks pretty useful.
It really is extraordinary that these folks don't seem to grasp the fact that the ACT tests something.
There is an actual subject matter being tested in the case of math; in the case of reading what is being tested is background knowledge and, of course, years of experience ACTUALLY READING AND COMPREHENDING WHAT YOU'VE READ.
Test prep works mainly for math, and then it works only when what you're doing is reviewing math you semi-learned but have now forgotten.
Our good friends in LA, whose son had PURE fuzzy math and still can't do long division as an adult, says you absolutely cannot "tutor" your way into a decent SAT math score. Their son had something like an 800 Verbal and may have started in the 500s on math. Very, very brainy kid.
He had probably a year of test prep; I'm sure they paid an arm and a leg.
He got into the .... mid to low 600s as a result, I think. Maybe low 600s. (Or high 500s??? Wish I'd written it down.)
Point is, you should never see that kind of gap between verbal and math. The verbal test, on the SAT, is the hard one.
You have to learn math and everything else in a coherent, sequential curriculum.
Which is why "interdisciplinary studies" are going to further erode performance...
Let's say it again!
High SAT scores come from a coherent, sequential education in the liberal arts disciplines.
Not the interdisciplines.
There are no interdisciplines.
Test prep worked for me for the analytical portion of the GRE--it was basically learning a bunch of different math/logic puzzles, once you had learned the major types, you could ace the test. I'm not sure if they still have that section. (I took the GRE in 1991, and my score went up 150 or 200 hundred points in that section from practice tests.) They worded them differently, but they were all basically variations of the same few puzzles.
A friend who studied Latin word roots throughout high school did extremely well on the verbal compared to his math--he did better than 500 on his math, though, but his Latin knowledge allowed him to excel on the verbal portion.
He's a nurse, and has said that his Latin has also been very helpful for his advanced nursing schooling.
They're homeschooling, and have purchased some Latin materials already.
Hey, without that test prep maybe the kid would have made a 14.
Having done a lot of ACT and some SAT prep work with math kid, I find the ACT a little more direct and less "tricky." It's also shorter. Since my kid is a middle-schooler, I also have the option of having him take the ACT/no writing version. His little middle school essay would have probably dropped his composite quite a bit.
With the new writing section on the SAT, It seems more difficult for certain kids to just slip through. It's not just the essay part, but there are writing multiple choice and, of course, more emphasis on vocabulary.
I have heard that more colleges are allowing either ACT or SAT scores.
I can't imagine not prepping him for it, though. The first time he did fine, but a few months later he significantly upped his math score. I think he just relaxed and was more famliar with the timed aspect of it.
SusanS
Test prep worked for me for the analytical portion of the GRE--it was basically learning a bunch of different math/logic puzzles, once you had learned the major types, you could ace the test.
Right.
Math/logic puzzles aren't taught in school; those you need "test prep" for.
In that case, though, I'm not so sure you're really talking about test prep, precisely.
You're talking about learning how to do math/logic puzzles.
Interesting about the Latin.
Our SAT scores here are somewhat higher than the average for our SES, at a statistically significant level assuming I'm reading the College Board documents correctly.
Some parents credit the 4-year Latin program for this.
Not many kids take the 4-year Latin program, but huge numbers of kids take Latin freshman year. The guidance counselor directly told C. to sign up for it (which he would have done anyway, but hadn't mentioned).
At his new school he can take Latin or Greek. We're considering advising him to take Latin all 4 years. As I understand it, Latin in the 2nd, 3rd, & 4th years is primarily reading --- yes?
We're thinking that some heavy-duty reading in Latin could (partially) make up for the lack of reading he's done for the first 9 years of his schooling.
Another factoid: I keep mentioning my friend whose kids attended Catholic schools, had no help with homework & no tutoring, & both got into very good, competitive colleges -- one of those colleges being Yale.
The Yale kid took four years of Latin in high school. She says Yale is "easy."
SusanS,
Are you going to have him take the test(s?) every year? How does he feel about it?
My son took the SCAT test for Johns Hopkins last year which gave him some practice, but I haven't thought much about having him take the SAT or ACT test in middle school. From what I understand, SAT is a west/east coast thing and ACT is big in the midwest. Being from New England, everything is about the SAT.
Also, speaking of practice over time, (I know this came up before), does anyone know some internet resources (daily email questions?) that are available? My son likes to get email, so maybe this would work. Actually, I don't worry too much about math (other than speed and dumb mistakes), but it's the reading comprehension and writing that's the problem. He is in 6th grade and instead of writing a book report, they had to construct a paper bird that flies. Everything is art work.
Hey Steve,
I'm sure you're right about the west coast/east coast thing, but I will say that my friend's daughter is going to Boston University based only on her ACT scores, so it may be opening up more on the coasts.
When I started this last year with my son, I hired a tutor (whiz kid from the city) to help make him feel more comfortable about the whole thing. The tutor also taught him some trig stuff to help with those problems.
The other prep was just with me and the big prep books they sell at the stores. I used several of them including the Dummies ACT one. That one has the typical humorous bits that my son found hilarious.
In the fall, I just had the scores sent to me. Northwestern told me that the median 7th grade talent search score for ACT math was 17. ACT reading was 19. I told my son that if he hit those numbers we'd be thrilled. If he broke the 20's we'd be extra thrilled. If he bombed, we weren't going to care 'cause he's just 13.
I really tried to make it a game. No more, no less.
The first time out he didn't finish anything but the math. He said he guessed at around 10 on each of the other subtests (English, Science, and Reading).
When the scores came in he made a 23 on the math, but they break it down even more for you, so I could see that he missed a few of the easy pre-algebra ones. This is typical for him. The other scores were above 20 also, so we patted him on the back for a good effort first time out and considering that he did a lot of guessing.
He was very nervous because he saw no other middle-schoolers in the fall. He was surrounded by big high-schoolers.
In winter for the Feb test we didn't do any tutoring, just a couple of weeks with the prep books. This time he was signed up for the Midwest Academic Talent Search, so there were a lot of kids his age participating and he wasn't alone.
This time the math jumped to a 29, landing him into the top 5%, so he got to go to the medal ceremonies with a couple of hundred other kids. He really enjoyed it and became aware of how many kids were doing this.
For Nortwestern's MATS, 27,000 kids 3rd grade thru 8th in IL and neighboring states participated through EXPLORE/SAT/ACT tests that spring, so he was quite thrilled to have scored in the 99th percentile. I'm assuming the other talent searches are roughly the same size.
Later, Northwestern sends a detailed packet about how your kid did and what you should then do about his education. I immediately shared it with his teachers, who were fascinated by the amount of information. Hopefully, as a school, they'll start encouraging certain kids to go ahead and take the plunge.
I'm working with him on the SAT at the moment, but in all honesty, I may just stick with the ACT/no writing since it is shorter (the fatigue factor for middle schoolers is big) and he sees it almost as a fun game. I'm still up in the air about it.
SusanS
Thanks for the feedback Susan. There is nothing like using the real test to give you real information, and the sooner the better.
This year I taught two after-school SSAT test prep sessions. All I could do was to help the kids with the test-taking process. I could do nothing about content. When we went over the answers to practice tests, I wanted to review some math basics, but there was no time.
Steve,
One of the interesting things to come from all of this is how many people want to know the score.
For instance, we were looking at a Catholic prep school for high school. While talking to the head of the math department, I remarked on the fact that he had just taken the ACTs and what his score was. He immediately said, "Oh, well, he's in then. He would also qualify for our Talent Math program which has around 15 kids in it." I was a little surprised, but that was just one thing that came of it.
Another interesting develpment was that the public high school said that he can take honors bio, as well as Alg II based on the ACT scores as an 8th grader next year. No one would have thought of accelerating him in science if it weren't for the scores.
Several math camps have asked about the scores, also. We ended up not sending him to any of them, but they would have been needed for some places.
Also, Northwestern's Honors/AP classes for high school credit have ACT/SAT cutoff scores to qualify (although there might be some with teacher recommendation). Most of the ACT math scores have to be around 19 or 20 to qualify for honors science or math courses that they have going on during the year and summer.
And yet with all of these opportunities that have come his way since taking the test, I had to figure it all out on my own.
And you're right about the test giving you real information. I knew my son was strong in math, but I realize now that he reads pretty well, too. I knew he was fine, but it revealed that he comprehends at a higher level than I had previously thought.
The good thing about the ACT science test is that you don't have to know a whole lot about science. Once he got over the shock of the big words, he realized that most of the time the info was contained in the question. It was more about logic at times than science. There's also a lot of chart reading which is fairly easy for him.
So, all in all I'm glad I stuck to my guns.
SusanS
This reminds me of school comments about the importance of parental involvement. When you see their list, however, it includes things like having a nice work area and stressing the importance of good work habits. We at KTM know that it means so much more than that.
When I go out to our high school's web site in the Guidance Department section, they have a list for parents about how they have to start planning and helping (academically) starting in 7th grade. There is nothing like this information given out on our middle school's web site. Parents have to figure it out themselves.
"So, all in all I'm glad I stuck to my guns."
Did you get very many raised eyebrows about having your son take these tests? It's interesting for me to see so many parents who want to let their kids be kids and don't stress academics. However, many of these parents spend their whole weekend carting their kids to "travel team" sporting events.
I can argue either perspective, (to push or not to push), but my wife and I spend a lot of time making those decisions. My son has been playing in piano competitions for years and sometimes I get raised eyebrows about that. (i.e. Do you think he's going to be some sort of concert pianist?) I get the feeling from some parents that this is a game and that extra parental support is equivalent to cheating, or that it's unnatural or bad for the child.
I'd take as many years of Latin as possible but at least one year of Greek.
I found an interesting site about how to teach Latin/Greek roots when trying to find the percentage of English words that have Latin roots and Greek roots. He says it's 60 to 70% of all words (no Latin/Greek breakout.)
http://www.tnellen.com/ted/nyt-vety.html
Hmm...looks like ACT in middle school and 4 yrs latin in high school is optimal. I'm going to have to add these to my to do list in a couple of years.
Did you get very many raised eyebrows about having your son take these tests?
Yes. Everyone, actually. His math teacher got this disapproving look on her face and said, "Why would you want to do THAT?" I just told her that it was for practice and that there was no pressure, which was actually true. If he had bombed, I probably wouldn't have gone through the MATS one in the winter.
The thing is my kid isn't particularly precocious, so I think they're always surprised that he does as well as he does.
Still, Northwestern (and I'm sure John Hopkins, Duke and Stanford) suggests that if your kid is in the 95th percentile in any area, (97th for 6th graders) then you might want to take the ACT or SAT because there is no ceiling.
The other concern I had was that his state test percentile was dropping somewhat, and we all know that they do, in fact, use those against kids as far as placement goes. Normally, I wouldn't have thought too much about it (his math score dropped to the 95th percentile from the 99th two years in a row), but I noticed that kids who were two and three years behind him were scoring higher. With the ACT score, no one is going to try to hold him back based on the state test. That was what initially got me over my fear.
I'm just glad I didn't wait for someone to tell me to do it.
We have the same attitude around here about academics. But I know that my son has a lot of down time, playing sports and hanging out with friends. If he showed true unhappiness I would have stopped immediately.
Also, when schools have that kind of attitude, they often don't realize that another school nearby may be sending a handful of students over to the high school to take the test every year. I made a point of telling them where the other kids were from in the MATS, so they could see that this wasn't some weird thing I was fixating on.
One last thing and I'll quite babbling. I think taking the test helped my son largely because it gave him a clue about what colleges were interested in and it wasn't his coloring ability. He has really relaxed about all of the goofy stuff that goes on because he realizes now that no one at college will really care, at least not in the math department. That was the surprise benefit that came from going through this.
SusanS
My kids have also participated in the Midwest Area Talent Search. I am having them take the Explore test in 6th grade and the ACT in grades 7-9 (ACT b/c you can do it w/o the writing).
I have nothing but great things to say about this experience. It gives us parent-teachers some real feedback as to how the kids are doing in math. It also is the first time they will have to sit through a long test--good practice. The Explore test in 5th or 6th grade (normally administered in grade 8 or 9) is a good, medium-length prelude to the ACT.
One really important thing I discovered from the tests was that my older son had a vision issue. He was always a slow reader, but had never met a test he couldn't finish. When he encountered the ACT reading test, he could only finish half the questions. A year of vision therapy ensued, and when he retook the ACT the following year he finished, and his reading score went from a 13 to a 33. Guess that was worth the price of admission.
I probably took an even more laid back approach than Susan; I just had my kids take the tests cold (no test prep). My older son was willing to work through a practice ACT; that was about it. My personal philosophy on test prep is that I'm going to try to avoid it and just prepare them by taking practice tests (in this case, through the talent search program). Maybe I'll get more nervous as they become juniors and seniors.
My older son enjoyed taking the tests. My younger one puts up with it. That's all I ask for.
Like Susan, I had to find out about this opportunity all by myself. None of my kids' schools participated in the talent search programs. Luckily, you can nominate your own kid and sign them up without any trouble.
looks like ACT in middle school and 4 yrs latin in high school is optimal
loll
Well, I'm a believer at the moment. It would never have occurred to me to have my kid take 4 years of Latin except for living here (4 years of Latin at the high school) and, now, the fact that C. is transferring to a school that also has 4 years of Latin. The new school takes Latin & Greek very seriously.
I wonder if there's some way to get him into Greek??
The new school doesn't have too many elective slots, I don't think...
Another interesting develpment was that the public high school said that he can take honors bio, as well as Alg II based on the ACT scores as an 8th grader next year.
Objective evidence that a kid might actually have something on the ball cut no ice around here.
The other advantage to Latin (and Greek) courses is that they are now the only foreign language courses in which you child is guaranteed solid instruction in grammar. "Living languages" like French and Spanish have had their instruction (in this country) corrupted by Krashen and his acolytes, who take a sort of Reform Math approach to foreign language learning (incidental, child-centered learning, minimal explicit instruction).
"...Reform Math approach to foreign language learning..."
I've also noticed that culture is gradually taking the place of actual language learning. It's like taking the math out of math.
The kid with the 29 on the math ACT would be deemed "prepared for calculus." I believe that the cut-off for calculus (real, engineering calculus) is either a 26 or a 28 (I forget which).
Unfortunately many students that attend vocational/technical training (that is off-campus, serving many different schools) spend alot of time in transit. As a result, what is lost is adequate time spent studying college prep material.
We need more voc/tech training IN our schools so that students have an opportunity to learn in both arenas. Computer programming especially (imo).
Interesting that Susan’s school was interested in the scores.
Our public school does not want to know and doesn’t seem to care. Actually, they explicitly told me that they don’t take the scores into account at all. Maybe it’s because they would feel pressured to accelerate a student with a high score. Our middle school (and elementary school) is more focused on inclusiveness.
My son's old private school changed their policy so that they did NOT tell parents that their kids qualified to take the Johns Hopkins test based on their ERB scores. When asked about this policy, the headmaster told me that he didn't care for their courses. Specifically, he had a problem in the past with kids who took a Johns Hopkins math course and then wanted to be accelerated. I told him that they still had the responsibility to tell parents of the opportunity.
When my son came back to our town's public school the principal did care about his SCAT scores. That, plus a test, allowed him to skip a grade in math and avoid 6th grade EM. A few people in the right position can make a big difference (in a positive or negative sense).
"Why would you want to do THAT?"
"I think taking the test helped my son largely because it gave him a clue about what colleges were interested in and it wasn't his coloring ability."
That's a good answer.
Our public school does not want to know and doesn’t seem to care. Actually, they explicitly told me that they don’t take the scores into account at all. Maybe it’s because they would feel pressured to accelerate a student with a high score. Our middle school (and elementary school) is more focused on inclusiveness.
Wow - Janteloven in action. I guess I'm a bit naive, but I really can't understand this approach to education. And I bet a school like this would be one of the first ones to crow about their commitment to "excellence in education" or some other equally toothless mantra.
"Living languages" like French and Spanish have had their instruction (in this country) corrupted by Krashen and his acolytes
Tell us more!
Ed has mentioned the whole "immersion" movement --- which I had never managed to connect to constsructivism, wholeism, "learning via osmosis" etc., but which is obvious once you think about it for two seconds.
concerned
I would love to hear more about vocational education.
My school is now bringing in Project Lead the Way, which has been pitched to the community as an "engineering curriculum for the high school."
After several emails & fliers went out with this wording, the phrase was changed to "pre-engineering curriculum" shortly before the budget vote.
I've now looked into it enough to see that it is what I would call pretend vocational ed.
Or pre-vocational ed, maybe.
I don't see how there can be such a thing as "pre"-vocational ed.
Certainly not for $100K.
The program is supposed to prepare students for "two and four-year" college programs.
Our public school does not want to know and doesn’t seem to care. Actually, they explicitly told me that they don’t take the scores into account at all.
ditto here
They have no interest, and if you just so happen to have some standardized test scores for your child they look at you blankly.
District personnel here are extremely good at erasing all human expression from their facial features.
The principal of the middle school can go blank so fast he's like an actor who can cry on cue.
Oh my gosh!!!
Wordsmith!!!
That's IT!
Jante Law.
That's my district.
I've come to believe that's the nature of a lot of high-performing districts - in Westchester, at least.
Krashen: simulated language immersion--for 45 min/day.
"Language acquisition does not require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require tedious drill." Stephen Krashen
When asked about this policy, the headmaster told me that he didn't care for their courses. Specifically, he had a problem in the past with kids who took a Johns Hopkins math course and then wanted to be accelerated. I told him that they still had the responsibility to tell parents of the opportunity.
That is appalling.
I've heard stories about one of the private schools here in Westchester that would curl your hair. Unbelievable. This school is charging close to 30K a year tuition.
I think you're right about one person making a difference.
It's clearly the case that the wrong person in the superintendent's office can make a vast difference.
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