We had no school today. But dozens of staff, and over 100 students, were at school today for the SAT.
How does this happen?
1) The school collected the money for the College Board.
2) The school ordered the test materials (on the clock, and hence on the taxpayer dime).
3) School staff organized and administered today's test. Even though today was not an at-school day, it was one of our work days and hence, we essentially worked for the College Board today--on the taxpayer dime.
4) All the testing materials will have to be boxed up and shipped back to the College Board by school staff during the work day--on the taxpayer dime.
Pretty good gig for the College Board, no?
Ha! Never thought of it that way! So I assume the same is true for AP exams!
ReplyDeleteIts not too tough to run a business when you get free labor!
Same goes for Turnitin.com . They make money off of student work without having to pay for it. What a racket!
ReplyDeleteAt least College Board is doing for its students what it's paid to do.
ReplyDeleteOur schools weren't open for kids to learn, but were on Saturdays for test taking. Yeah they wore a mask, but four hours in the same room, and No one died. no one got sick.
So who had the real racket? CB? Or the teachers and their unions that did everything they could to ruin kids lives because they don't want to do their job?
Allison, while I get your point, MY point is that the College Board is getting free taxpayer work! That's a separate issue from weasel-y school district administrations and their sickening teachers unions regarding the 'rona.
ReplyDeleteThe entire testing industry is a money making game. AP tests are ridiculously expensive, offering cost breaks to low income students, but effectively locking out middle class students who have to bear the costs on their own. Because I had a pretty ambitious bunch of students from Korea, we had students paying over $500 for tests because they were taking multiple AP courses. The same thing applies to SAT's where students are "encouraged" to take the test their Junior year and then pay to take it again, allegedly improving their scores. Then there's state testing. I've proctered all these tests and even the sample questions were vague and misleading. The social studies test is stupidly easy, while English and Science are stumbling blocks for all demographics. In order to graduate in Texas, you have to pass the STAAR test. The "state" pays for that using property tax money funneled to school districts. But how do you improve your "sales" if you have a test publishing company? You need repeat customers! And you can "create" that need by making tests at lower levels artificially and needlessly hard-which creates the demand for remedial material to prep for retesting. I've seen kids caught in this cycle and it's really destructive. If states were really interested in seeing what kids learned, we would test them on the first day, score the test and file it. Then the last day we would give them the same test an assess their improvement. That's real and meaningful testing, not this game theory and strategy and tactics we have to teach instead of material.
ReplyDeleteEllen - I like that idea, but I can see them seizing on that opportunity as well. What is your opinion of STAAR math?
ReplyDeleteIn regard to spending $$$ for the AP tests, passing those ostensibly earns you credit for college courses which would cost more.