Academic Readiness

Exams can be nerve-wracking at any age. So, show your child where exams fit in and, more importantly, how to prepare for them. Beginning at an early age, your child will encounter various methods teachers use to assess whether she has learned and understood the material being taught.

The Purpose of Exams

Exams are a formal, structured method of assessment. Unfortunately, what makes exams stressful in high school, college, and in our professional lives is that so much is riding on them. For example, you must pass the LSAT to get into law school. Then, you must pass a state bar exam to practice law. The pressure to succeed is enormous. That's why I recommend you tell your child how you handled preparing for and taking the exam. The more your child understands how exams work and how to handle them, the more successful she is likely to be.

Exams and tests are a great way to assess what the students have learned with regards to particular subjects. Exams will show what part of the lesson each student seems to have taken the most interest in and has remembered. Source: Edu-Quip

Understand Your Learning Style

As soon as you can, identify your child's learning style. Observe her preferences and tendencies in how she processes and retains information. Contrast that with how you learn and what has worked for you. Sharing how you learned will help her understand how she knows. Understanding how

What is ACT?

The California Department of Education answers that question as follows:

The ACT test is designed to assess a high school student's general educational development and ability to complete college-level work.

How do colleges use ACT?

Many colleges use the ACT results as one factor in the admissions process. ACT, a non-profit organization, has developed the test administered in locations around the world.

This video explains ACT.

What does the test cover?

From the ACT website:

"The ACT test covers four subject areas: English, mathematics, reading, and science. Each subject area test receives a score ranging from 1 to 36. The composite score is the average of all four subject area test scores. Many colleges and universities use ACT scores as one factor in making admissions decisions."

When can you take the test?

The ACT is administered here in the United States seven times a year. International testing takes place five times a year. Be sure to consult ACT's website to confirm upcoming test dates and register. Don't wait until the last minute to register.

How much does the test cost?

In 2021 ACT costs $85 for the test and the writing component. If you cannot afford the test, you can apply for a fee waiver.

What if I am homeschooled or require special accommodations?

Homeschooled students will

One of the primary reasons parents send their children to private school is for the individual attention students receive. Private schools can provide that sort of attention because their class sizes are small. Small class sizes work. Small class sizes are one of the main reasons you send your child to private school. With that in mind, let's look at why small class sizes are so important.

1. There's nowhere to hide in a small class.

Imagine your child in a large high school class of 30-35 students. She's not good at math. Most of the students in her class don't understand math and could care less about it. So your daughter hangs out in the back of the room, keeps quiet, and tries to pay attention. The distractions and cutting up around her mitigate against any meaningful learning. Consequently, your daughter falls further and further behind in math. Sadly, public school class sizes increase as school districts struggle with budget deficits. As a result, class sizes of 30-35 students are common.

Contrast that learning environment with 12-14 students seated around a Harkness Table in a boarding school. A Harkness Table is an oval table. The teacher sits at the table with his students. This arrangement places students in a situation where they have no choice but to engage and interact with each other and with their teacher. A Harkness table creates a climate for learning.

This video discusses teaching in large versus small classes.

Implicit in the

The 2019 college admissions scandal proved that cheating is endemic throughout the secondary and tertiary levels of education. Cheating is not restricted to college admissions tests and applications. We find examples in the classroom, on term papers, projects, and more. I will omit a discussion of cheating in elementary school in this essay and cover it in another article.

In 2011, when I read about students paying another person to take their SATs, I was appalled. What were they thinking? And how did they pull it off? Looking back on my high school and university years, I realize now that it was tough to cheat in the 50s and 60s. That was because all of my examinations required us to write out our answers in pen. We didn't have multiple choice exams. No punch cards. I did occasionally hear of students who wrote out formulas on their palms or who looked over at a neighbor's answer book. But that was about it. Fast forward to the age of smartphones, and cheating has gone digital.

This video explains what contract cheating is and how it works.

Our role as parents

I will confess that I was, and, indeed, still am, a somewhat naive parent. I assume good things will happen. I also believe that my children will do the right thing. For the most part, and I can say this after long years

Should you send your child to a school which prepares its students to take either the SAT or ACT? That's a decision which you will face when you evaluate schools on your shortlist. At that point, you will have to choose schools which teach to the test or progressive schools which do not.

Schools which offer SAT or ACT preparation spend two or three years preparing their students to take those examinations in their senior year. In addition, most of these schools will offer Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Progressive schools prepare their students for college with experiential learning and the development of portfolios demonstrating academic accomplishments. Naturally, each educational approach has its proponents and its opponents.

Some people think that good test scores on standardized admissions tests are the only way to get into a competitive college such as Harvard or Princeton. The reality is that these days, college admissions departments look at much more than test scores when determining which applicants to admit.

Background: History of the SAT and ACT

The SAT, or Scholastic Aptitude Test as it used to be called, has been around since 1926. A Brief History of the SAT explains how the SAT evolved from an Army IQ test to a college admissions test. The original idea behind that college admissions test was to level the admissions playing field by evaluating scholarship students seeking admission to Harvard. Back in the early part of the 20th-century, the elite New