I just read that ACT is developing a test of college-and career-readiness for children in kindergarten.
When I read something like this, my first reaction is to think it is a joke, a parody, a satire.
Surely, no adult can take this nonsense seriously.
But it is not a joke.
Someone is laying out millions of dollars to find out whether 5-year-olds are ready for college or career.
ACT expects that entire states will use the tests they develop.
This is madness.
There are differences among five-year-olds, but so what?
Children of this age grow and develop over time.
They learn new interests. They develop new skills. They discover things they never dreamed of when they were five.
Once again, I ask, knowing no one will answer: Have we lost our minds?
Diane
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Yes, Dr. Ravitch, we may very well have lost our minds! If not, we’re getting frighteningly close to doing so. On the surface this appears to be another opportunity to publish and draw profits from a test. Below the surface it is indicative of the profound disconnect between those in power and those who are served. As I say in a recent blog post of my own: Our children have become unwitting hosts to a plethora of parasitic interests that see them not as the end of all means, but merely as means to the parasites’ ends.
Yes, this true! I heard it straight from John White’s mouth 2 months ago!
It’s wrong, and one needs to ask whose agenda this is and who plans to gain? It strikes me as another way to damage children: add needless anxiety; wipe out critical thinking in the young; make another route to labeling winners/losers. Surely no educator aware of the differences in developmental and behavioral growth would promote this. Beware.
…. and states will buy the test. Not to mention that some hyper-competitive parents will begin test-prepping their kids. Pure greed and insanity.
The reason is so obvious. What’s the profit margin PER grade level?
One of my favorite stories is Leo the Late Bloomer by Jose Aruego. I’m sure the “testers” would not approve. I read it to my students and used it to reassure my anxious parents. I miss teaching:( http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=129939
Imagine a world full of paleontologists, princesses, and Disney Imagineers. That’s the world I want to see.
Our young children will lose their childhood earlier and earlier, as parents want to ensure that they are prepped for collage in their formative years. As a kindergarten teacher (although not in public school) I abhor the craziness about all this testing and how it will impact education in general and children specifically.
Did you not see the recent “Nightline” which followed several NYC families having their children take tests to get into preschool/kindergarten?! If not, Google it! Horrendous!!! I used to teach Early Childhood/Sp.Ed., & was criticized for beginning each day w/a half-hour of socialization/free play. I asked visitors to observe–with me–as to what was happening. I would write observations while the children were playing, as well as watch & write notes to parents during this time. Visitors came to realize that this was an important–if not THE most important–part of the E.C.E. curriculum.
I believe it was Vivian Paley (U. of Chicago E.C. pioneer) who said,
“The work of children is play.”
Indeed.
My SID/PIDS also got free socialization periods although we did it after lunch. The interactions were very interesting. I will never forget my 3 boys in New Orleans. One who was supposed to be non-verbal and had many autistic ways got with the other ambulatory one and the one with the wheelchair and announced, “We’re going in the bathroom”. They proceeded to do just that, parading like a second line and having a short squealing party enjoying the echos off the tile. Another teacher who was really better suited to autistics than multihandicapped students and might have had OCD criticized my sometimes low structure, but my multihandicapped boy was reading on a high first grade level by the end of the year. My child who said only 3 words could say 27 and 4 short, sensible sentences and could do most of the clothes washing sequence and my runner quit running and talked quite sensibly when he chose to, although never a lot.
More emphasis definitely needs to go to secondary reading/math for the students who are reading at the primary levels in high school. We simply cannot give up on secondary students who cannot adequately read/cipher.
That is true, but they need to be reading in the context of other subject matter, not in a disconnected way so they get credit for other subjects. Also, if they are that old and still reading at a primary level, they need to be assessed for eligibility for special education. They are likely to have a cognitive or learning disability and need help from the experts and accommodations.
Perhaps the objective is to “prove” that children with certain backgrounds are suitable for college, and that children of other backgrounds are not? What else can you determine from a test of a child when they are 5? Not much.
My colleague’s son was recently tested in order to enter a school. Instead of drawing a picture of his family, he drew a fantastic picture of a dragon. Was he rewarded for his imagination? No, because the criterion of the test were too narrow, which will be the same problem with this ACT test.
An unintended consequence is that parents, knowing that their child is about to take a test, will “prepare” them for it, and instead of doing what 5 year old kids should be doing, playing, they will spend time preparing the “pre-academic skills.”
Just pure insanity
My five year old daughter is about the enter kindergarten. When she grows up she wants to be “a fairy princess queen mom” because they “can change into stuff” and she could be “anything (she) wants.” So, I am thinking she is college and career ready.
To Iain’s point, I am going to document the experiences of my kindergartner starting day one…curricular expectations, tests administered, etc. She is my third child and I suspect that what she will be expected to do will be worse than it was for my nine year old four years ago. And that was bad enough.
This new test will probably be given orally because most K-children can’t read. The key word is “career”. No doubt, this test will be a combination of IQ and an Aptitude Test. Why you may ask? An Aptitude Test definition: “a test for special fitness; a test to find out what sort of work a person has the ability to learn, such as clerical work, mechanical work, etc”. (The American College Dictionary). Can anyone get a copy of the test?
The test may also be used to convince parents to place their child in a particular career path. School-to-Work states “no later than fifth grade”.
The first experimental test designed to use in AZ had no right or wrong answers. I was able to get the researh for the test; it was designed from a vocational test given in the military. I believe it came in under America 2000. Try not “insane” but sick to describe this devious plan.
I should have added that I later researched vocational educational, military testing, and it was overall negative. I wonder if this same old research is still being used by ACT and other testing companies to measure the aptitude of children and adults!
And to think how many children would benefit if the amount of money we put into academic testing was instead put into children’s healthcare….
This is true madness. What will they think of next?
and a child who tests he/she is not college ready in K..what do we do..throw that child away or banish him/her to shoveling coal?
I have three children. Not one of them hit their stride until they were well into their 20’s and one of them was 30 and he’s probably still developing.
this is dreadful news.
my mother who fought the school board in 56 when everyone was worrying about beating the Russians because of Sputnik would be devastated. She was thrown out of the meeting for suggesting we have more classes in ethics and civics than math and science because she told them if you can’t be human, knowledge is wasted. She was removed and banned from future meetings. To this day I could not be prouder of anyone else I know.
Let’s start with what’s probably one of the justifications for this: that the achievement gap begins before children even enter school. Thus, the sooner any gaps or deficiencies are caught and addressed, the better. What’s more, if the tests are made with an eye to college and career readiness, then the kids will get on a track that can continue seamlessly.
All right. Now, take your college graduates from some of the best public and private institutions. Backtrack to their kindergarten days. What do you find? Were they all on track, doing everything just so? You can bet your bloomers they were not.
Some didn’t like working in groups. Others were late readers (but had a tremendous memory for what was read to them). Others were physically clumsy and developed grace later (or stayed clumsy). Others would not, could not follow directions. They did things their own way and didn’t see why they should do otherwise. Others had a logic and imagination that the adults around them did niot understand. And yet, not despite but because of these singularities, they did interesting things with their lives.
Whee’s my evidence? My own experience and the experience of many with whom I have spoken over the years. Childhood is not a streamlined thing. May those early years stay unstreamlined. Of course children learn to do certain things in kindergarten, but their singular thoughts and ways should not be held against them.
I have not lost MY mind! If a parent wishes to pay for this test, then I say go for it; but further diversion of taxpayer dollars to fuel the test making industry, imposing more tests on schools to be used to collect more student data, is fiscally irresponsible. Who pays? Who benefits?
When did childhood become not important?
I taught Kindergarten for 12 years and often invited a parent to come in and discuss their job to the class, which is commonly part of curriculum on Community Helpers, in preprimary education, and I did it when I taught Preschool as well. There was never any talk about income and few parents mentioned the downsides to their jobs. Invariably, after each session, most kids in the class aspired to that particular job, including house painter and garbage collector. A career test for 5 year olds is just plain silly, and I have to wonder how it could be considered valid and reliable. I don’t think this is about kids, education or careers.
Look at the big picture: ACT competes with SAT. I think this is about corporate profits from tests and which corporation will have the largest lifelong data-mining bank on Americans. A Preschool test is sure to follow, as well as SAT versions.
Just looked back at my “career readiness” from my primary years, recorded in my own handwriting no less:
Kindergarten–a cowboy
1st grade–a racecar driver
2nd grade–captain of the starship Enterprise
Now 20 years into a career with two college degrees, my five year old self sure wishes I could have taken that test.
May I propose we initiate this program on every politician and reformers’ children first? Obviously, their parents, and subsequently the rest of us, surely would have benefited from such an ingenious plan.
First and foremost congratulations to Ms Ravitch on a wonderful blog. I am now reading your book on the death of the american school system and it is an eye opener. Yes I concur it is someone’s sick agenda to make another testing company rich. What purpose can testing at that age serve? None whatsoever that I can see. This is my 5th year teaching and now I know I have found my true calling but I am saddened by the current state of affairs that envelop the profession today. These are dark times indeed for us.
You have got to be kidding me? I feel like the funny kool aide has gotten into our water system.
Does someone have the holidays mixed up? Its Independence day not April fool’s day.
I must say this is an indication of how we are as Americans are just plain dumb to be so easily manipulated by the media. Career test? College readiness? Its so sad that so many miss the boat. The most esssential element that will ensure a child’s success is LOVE. Love your child for who they are, not conditionally as if they pass some test, get in some school, etc… I have a 6 yr old and 2 month old. My 6yr old is sharp but more importantly, well loved and self-assured, any school will be lucky to have him, and he has been accepted to many schools already. I see some friends tutor their 4 & 5 yr olds to get in some, usually pretentious, school so the parents can proclaim my child goes to ……
I obtained my masters from Columbia after being in & out of CUNY for years, I also have a GED, so figure that one out, people & kids are ready when they are ready.
When the student is ready, the teacher shall appear.
Young children are also notoriously unpredictable. Breakfast, an argument, being excited or upset, or how they slept can totally change their ability to think and remember. They just don’t have the kind of off/on switch older people do where they can segment their lives. That is why in special ed we have a category of disability called Preschool Non-categorical. What that means is that a child is not labeled with a particular learning or cognitive disability until he or she is 8 years old. They are too changeable. Special ed people have known how the little ones are for years.
It is pretty easy to tell if a child is high verbal or learns quickly, but to predict readiness for college or career at 5? Well, he or she would just about have to have an IQ in the upper gifted range and be reading well beyond his years. Even then some very bright, high achieving children also have Aspergers or learning, neurological or emotional disabilities that may keep them from using their minds as well as they could.
Formal testing and the tracking it is sure to result in is unfair to the child as well as expensive. John White, Louisiana’s hand picked state superintendent is not a teacher. His suggestions that such testing could be used demonstrates his lack of professional maturity and background.
In a corporatocracy, children are simply a market. In fact, they’re the best market because they have the most long-term buying power, and because they aren’t yet able to think critically about the marketers’ messages.
I’m sure we’ll be seeing prenatal college and career readiness tests soon.
When empires reach the end of their power cycles, they self-destruct. This is a major pattern in history. They simply do mad things such as using up their resources, relying on mercenaries, and demanding the unreal to become real.
Five year olds? Demanding accountability and uniformity of five year olds?
The answer to your question is within the question. Madness.
The guy who lived across the hall from me in my college dorm—and who became a very close friend—was a misfit as a grade schooler. He barely made it out of kindergarten. He was always lagging behind. And he came from a solid, upper middle class family, with two well-educated parents and a father who was employed in a very lucrative position.
Had he been “tested” at the age of 5 or 6 or 7, he would have undoubtedly been classified as “future janitor or fast food assistant manager”.
However, in REAL life, he developed over time. By 4th grade he had become an average student. By sixth grade, he remained average, but a passion was clearly emerging in history and geography.
It took him 4 years to figure it out, but by his senior year of high school, he was a honor student. And he did well on the SAT’s, which is why we met at our very good college.
Today, this “6 year old failure” is a prominent doctor of internal medicine, living in a Connecticut suburb, with three beautiful children and a loving spouse.
Such a shame that our public schools didn’t have all of that private, for-profit, eh, I mean, uh, “proven”, “scientific” testing back in my day…
I have not had computer access for two day, so I’m trying to catch up. Don’t you just love us who love children and individualism and have the courage and take the time to speak up? As a former teacher, I’m so proud of you for taking your time and speaking for the vast majority of Americans. (I believe). Testing Kindergarden children for a career path, in my opinion, is not insane but sick as I stated before. Research shows that such test are totally invalid and worthless.
The answer to that question is no, we haven’t recently lost our minds. Those who are not educators, but think they know how to fix education lost their minds years ago. In CT we just adopted an evaluation plan for teachers that includes anonymous parent and student feed back. Now there is a bright idea!!!!! As a teacher you better not hold students accountable, or you might get a poor review. My question is, when do teachers get to evaluate parents and their parenting skills? When did it become okay to have kids but. expect someone else to raise them? Oh, and that’s only if they approve of what you are teaching the kid. I actually had a parent threaten to sue the school because I asked my students to only bring healthy snacks to school. No candy, cookies etc. The school backed the parent and made me change my class policy. Even better I got a reprimand for having a student stay in from her recess to work on something she was having difficulty with. Many parents are viewing schools as a place to baby sit their kid so they don’t have to be responsible for them. If you want to fix education, start by educating parents about the responsibilities of raising a child. Teacher cannot, and should not do it alone. If thats what todays parent want, then get out of the way and let us do our job! Either that, or better yet, join us as partners and lets do it together.
Both of my sons who now have masters degrees would have “flunked” kdg. tests. They are perfect examples, as Deb posted, of “Leo the Late Bloomer” when it came to testing, drills, and skills. They just weren’t interested in school & no amount of threats, cajoling, or discussions about the importance of school from mom (me) were going to change that. It wasn’t until HS for one and after HS for the other that they both turned into super achievers who cared about what they were being taught and worked hard to succeed. My 36 year old son just got his master’s degree from UTEP. He sent me all his papers to read (and edit if necessary). Excelling was his goal.
I am sick, sick, sick over the current emphasis on testing. It is so ridiculous, especially in the early grades. I wish every parent would opt-out of having their young children go through this unnecessary nonsense.