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WPPSI - Caught Cheating?
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Anonymous
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Nonsense! We are "wealthy DC parents" with a child that scored closed to 99.9 and we didn't buy the test or have any knowledge of what would be on the test prior.
___________________________________________________________________________________ Did you shop or get consultation from friends and schools about who will test your child? Does your child read? Does your child play with computers? Does your child play with numbers ? Does your child play a musical instrument? I'm surprised your child only got "close to 99.9%" . Most in your setting are off the usual scales > 99.9%. I wouldn't sound so arrogant and proud. |
Anonymous
Pot and kettle, prattling away. |
Anonymous
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This is from a tutoring company in NYC that does do WPPSI stuff. Thought this would be of interest, particularly the bit about how much scores have improved over the last couple years.
Privates need to do away with the WPPSI as a screening tool. Either that, or everyone should prep... ========================= Bright Kids NYC is the only comprehensive test-tutoring program dedicated to the Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 2 age group in New York City. We prepare young students to perform their best on standardized tests such as the ERB, the Stanford-Binet and the OLSAT. There are so many things to worry about when applying to top public and private schools in NYC. We, at Bright Kids NYC, will take away the anxiety associated with prepping for the appropriate tests so that you as parents can focus on the rest of the admissions process. It is brutal out there for parents with young children. The public gifted and the private school entry in New York City is getting increasingly competitive, particularly for young kids. If you are serious about gaining admissions to a top school, you must get serious about preparing your child for the appropriate tests. Let's look at the facts: ?Average Kindergarten acceptance rates are at an all time low of 7%. It is easier to get into Harvard than to some of top tier private schools in New York City. Applications are up as much as 40% for some schools and the kids are scoring higher on the private school admissions test known as the ERB every year. ?This year, 14,822 kids took the OLSAT, the test required by the Department of Education (DOE) to qualify for the Gifted and Talented Programs(G&T) in NYC, up from 12,410 in 2008, reflecting over almost a 20% increase from the previous year. However, children who qualified for the G&T programs increased 45% from 2,230 in 2008 to 3,230 in 2009. Although G&T programs have a 90% cut-off for the district programs and a 97% cut-off the citywide programs, it looks like once again only 99% will make it into the citywide programs and some of the most popular district schools like Lower Lab. There are approximately 435 Kindergarten seats for 1,345 kids who scored 97% or above for citywide G&T programs. ?Hunter Elementary reported the highest cut-off score for the Stanford-Binet test in years, topping at 148. For the first time this year, Hunter switched to Sum of Scaled Scores from percentiles, which reduced the number of kids that qualified for the on-site testing. 98 percentile ranking was no longer good enough to be invited for on-site testing. Given the level of competitiveness, it would be unfair to your child to take the appropriate tests without adequate preparation. You would not let your child take the SAT or other tests without preparation and neither should you let your 4 year old get tested without giving him the appropriate tools and the skills to succeed. We at Bright Kids NYC have a tester and teacher approved methodology that delivers results. Our services are highly customized and tailored to each child. Our instructors' are "cherry-picked" from New York City's top schools and specialize in teaching very young kids. Most important of all, children have fun while mastering basic test taking skills under a relaxed time table. |
Anonymous
You'd think a company advertising its ability to increase scores would know how to use an apostrophe. |
Anonymous
| D.C. is not N.Y.C. We don't study, prep or cheat here. We believe in fun and games for our children, a good night sleep and a full breakfast the day of. Are kids all score 99.9% and we all attend a Big 3 school. Every private school here qualifies for Big 3 designation so there is really no adverse competitive behaviour. |
Anonymous
| I do think there is a difference between DC and NY. As bad as the competitiveness is here, it is so much worse there. We don't want it to get that bad here, do we? |
Anonymous
We're already there, just more discreet. |
Anonymous
good one! love it! |
Anonymous
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I do think there is a difference between DC and NY. As bad as the competitiveness is here, it is so much worse there. We don't want it to get that bad here, do we?
We're already there, just more discreet. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ...or so some would like to think. Discretion does not equal cheating. |
Anonymous
| I think you also run the risk of turning a child 3-5 years old off to the work if you prep them. Besides aren't you really paying for an accurate picture. I do testing for Kindergarten and we use a readiness test because we saw a difference in the scores based on the tester. Some testers across the board gave higher scores I am sorry to say. This does not accurately predict their success with an advanced curriculum. It is better to look at their attention span, speech and language development, listening skills and reading and math aptitude. I have not read all of the posts so this could have been mentioned. |
Anonymous
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Yes, one does risk turning the child off from swimming if you put him in the pool, or off the piano if the child is prepped with piano lessons; or off from lacrosse if he practices with a lacrosse stick; or off languages, if the child is immersed at a young age ...
I'm not risk adverse so I'll take the risk. It's all about the risk/benefit ratio. |
Anonymous
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You actually do run the risk of turning your child off from these things if you make them practice. We turned our daughter off of violin that way, and she had real talent. With her new instrument we never mention practice and she is drawn to do so because she wants to. Lesson learned. I can totally see that if you tell your child to practice skills for the test, you will turn them off from learning.
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Anonymous
| It sounds like she still practices but you've disguised the motive by not using the word/term practice or harassing her. Nothing wrong with that...sagacity of parenthood. But, she must play the instument to ultimately perform. We all have our methods. |
Anonymous
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Eventually (and maybe sooner rather than later) where this leads is ADs ignoring WPPSI results. Wouldn't surprise me if we're already at the point where they are used more to disqualify than to qualify kids. But disqualification isn't happening at the > 90% level, so the distinctions people are making here probably aren't that meaningful to begin with and are likely to become less so over time.
Abstractly, I think experienced teachers would do a better job assessing 3-4 year olds than WPPSI would. But that could mean that more hinges on playdates. Concretely, if test scores drop out as a major factor, who knows what fills the void. And the answer will probably vary from school to school. |
Anonymous
| Mother of girl with instrument again -- and this is really a digression -- but if not saying a word to her about practicing is a method, I'm really good at it. I'm not being entirely sarcastic. My husband and I chose this approach very consciously, so maybe it is a method. |