Anonymous wrote:
The quotes below never gets old in this forum. Really, they don't.

Anonymous wrote:

In every zip code in America the children of recent immigrants are outperforming children of the entitled culture. This has created an ever expanding performance and achievement gap in education as the entitled culture witnesses in every zip code these children taking their self anointed spots in every AAP, gifted program, IB, AP and Honors program in the land.

This is the root cause of this furor. And the entitled culture will go to any unethical length to disrupt this trend -- including voter fraud and suppression

I have to agree here.

This is the fundamental cause of the 45 page catharsis.

Excuses, rationalization, and cries about "prepping" and "cheating" are a red herring.

The dye is cast and the performance gap has exploded wide open.

There is no where for the entitled to hide.

Anonymous wrote:
The quotes below never gets old in this forum. Really, they don't.

Anonymous wrote:

In every zip code in America the children of recent immigrants are outperforming children of the entitled culture. This has created an ever expanding performance and achievement gap in education as the entitled culture witnesses in every zip code these children taking their self anointed spots in every AAP, gifted program, IB, AP and Honors program in the land.

This is the root cause of this furor. And the entitled culture will go to any unethical length to disrupt this trend -- including voter fraud and suppression

I have to agree here.

This is the fundamental cause of the 45 page catharsis.

Excuses, rationalization, and cries about "prepping" and "cheating" are a red herring.

The dye is cast and the performance gap has exploded wide open.

There is no where for the entitled to hide.

Anonymous wrote:

In every zip code in America the children of recent immigrants are outperforming children of the entitled culture. This has created an ever expanding performance and achievement gap in education as the entitled culture witnesses in every zip code these children taking their self anointed spots in every AAP, gifted program, IB, AP and Honors program in the land.

This is the root cause of this furor. And the entitled culture will go to any unethical length to disrupt this trend -- including voter fraud and suppression

I have to agree here.

This is the fundamental cause of the 45 page catharsis.

Excuses, rationalization, and cries about "prepping" and "cheating" are a red herring.

The dye is cast and the performance gap has exploded wide open.

There is no where for the entitled to hide.

Please go back and read the prior 87 pages of this thread. It will answer all your questions, and more. If, and only if, you still have a question, you can post. Thank you.

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read all 87 pages, but what constitutes prepping? We live in DC, so testing well does not do us any immediate good. However, I have always worked with my child on many skills, such as reading, writing, math, and testing. Whether we like it or not, the ability to take standardized tests is an important one to have in our lives. I actually think that it gives you more than just a score. I think that it helps you learn to frame issues, narrow options, and understand the meaning behind questions. I don't think it is a skill to be disregarded, so of course I will ensure that my child gets experience early and often (although never to the detriment of the other skills that she needs to learn; I am not advocating replacing traditional teaching with testing).

The point of studying for weeks at a time for the SOLs is to boost the school and teachers rankings. Teachers now spend hours and days teaching to the test instead of engaging in general learning. Giving students the actual writing prompts to the reading SOL in advance of the test and then spending hours of class time practicing as many of them as possible is an exercise in score boosting not learning. Regarding AAP test prep, pot meet kettle.

This is great: The Superintendent, the schools and the teachers can "system prep" to boost rankings and make the cut, but students are not allowed to prep to booast their rankings and make the cut (e.g., AAP). Where is Ms Carol Horn? Aren't these rankings therefore fake and gained immorally and unethically? Where can students go to report the teachers doing this so there will be repercussions? The students need a union (like the teachers) to protect their interests. Afterall, it's their family taxes paying for all this foolishness.

And that is a drop in the bucket compared to TJ test prep. Many outfits around here offer year-long courses. Any there are many others who start earlier than 8th grade prepping for the TJ admissions process. So it's a multi-year test prep marathon for some students.

Anonymous wrote:

Test prep produces no real learning, just spit-out-the-answer for the test capability.You can answer test questions correctly without having mastered the subject matter.

AAP test prep is nothing but a drop in the bucket compared to SOL test prep. Teachers spend weeks of student's time prepping for the SOL tests.

Test prep produces no real learning, just spit-out-the-answer for the test capability.You can answer test questions correctly without having mastered the subject matter.

Wow. Someone who values their kids more than money is likened to the Boston bombers? Weird.

Such a comparison is inappropriate, to say the least, and trivializes an event that was horrific for the victims and their families and friends.

People know the difference between general practice and preparation and "test prep."

If people didn't know the difference, there would not have been so much bristling at the idea of asking the school AART to take a look at their CogAt prep materials. They wouldn't feel the need to hide what they are doing from the school.

If people truly felt it was fine, they'd tell their child's second grade teacher all about it. But they don't, because they know it would affect the teacher's view of the reliability of the child's score.

There's a very good reason that "test prep" is referred to as scamming or gaming the test.

Anonymous wrote:

If I had such disdain for the teachers and the school system, I would get my kids out! I would quit my job or go to part time and I would homeschool my kids.

No amount of money would be more important to me than getting my kids out of a system that I had such a low opinion of. My kids mean way more to me than that.

Good for you and the Boston bomber. To each your own. I subscribe to neither avenue.