I think test prep is essential if you want to keep up with all the other red-shirted kids and the test-prepped kids.

There were too many red-shirted kids (some are 5 y/o) in DC's 3 y/o pre-school class. DC is very bright so we enrolled her in Junior Kumon plus E. nopi plus multiple enrichments and reading supplements, to keep up with those red shirted kids in her pre-school class. DC just turned 4 and is now performing at 1 st grade level for math, reading, writing, and knows Spanish, French, and Chinese, and academically ahead or everyone else in her class and got accepted to a couple of Big 3 schools for pre-K this year.

Anonymous wrote:

I did not say prep your child by putting them in kumon or paying for some ERB prep class. I just said that since the "practice" ERB is taken in 2nd grade, it is best not to be in "la la land" . I would suggest, reading instead of TV and video games and one of the on line math websites, but have it your way. Perhaps you are at a k-12 school and the only place your child's ERB's will show up is in their file and as a tool for class placement , math and reading group placement. If a child is having learning difficulties, the ERB scores become part of their SST. However, many people on this forum have children in a K-3 or k-6 school, so they should be aware. Take the advice or not. For us the process is over.

How is your recommended prep different from kumon or some ERB prep class .... "prep with reading or online math"? What is the difference and does it matter how you do it, if you just do it (upscale fancy tutor or low scale on the cheap)? Are you trying to assign value judgement on how kids prep?

To me, the whole premise that first graders should be spending their summers on test prep of any kind (and that if they aren't, they're no doubt devoting all their time to TV and video games!) is really screwed up.

And if one role of the tests is to flag learning difficulties or to provide an appropriate placement, why on earth would you want to prep your kid to improve his or her scores?

Obviously (I'd hope), there are a wealth of ways kids learn and breaks from school aren't breaks from learning but opportunities for different kinds of learning. That's why it seems to me so wrong-headed to take the least inspiring/meaningful aspect of school (standardized testing) and up the dose of that over the summer.

And, geez, what a view of the world this represents: the rat race starts at age 5 or 6 and you better spend every chance you get running it or you'll be trampled. And it's just a rat race -- your goal isn't mastery or to do or create something insanely great. It's to fill in more bubbles correctly than the other kids. Sad and scary.

I did not say prep your child by putting them in kumon or paying for some ERB prep class. I just said that since the "practice" ERB is taken in 2nd grade, it is best not to be in "la la land" . I would suggest, reading instead of TV and video games and one of the on line math websites, but have it your way. Perhaps you are at a k-12 school and the only place your child's ERB's will show up is in their file and as a tool for class placement , math and reading group placement. If a child is having learning difficulties, the ERB scores become part of their SST. However, many people on this forum have children in a K-3 or k-6 school, so they should be aware. Take the advice or not. For us the process is over.

How is your recommended prep different from kumon or some ERB prep class .... "prep with reading or online math"? What is the difference and does it matter how you do it, if you just do it (upscale fancy tutor or low scale on the cheap)? Are you trying to assign value judgement on how kids prep?

Anonymous wrote:Does Beauvoir report ERB results to NCS/St Albans? I though NCS/St Albans do their own ERB testing?

Yes, third grade results are reported. Beauvoir says that second grade results are not reported, but frankly I do not believe that. Not sure about NCS, but St. Albans does its own testing during visit.

I think Holton also does their own ERB testing or 3rd grade applicants. Do they look at ERB practice test results?

Does Beauvoir report ERB results to NCS/St Albans? I though NCS/St Albans do their own ERB testing?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is not true at my child's school....

It is very possible that we are both referring to the same school. I did not say that teachers and admin talk openly about scores, but believe me, they all know and being human they make some mental notes. It is as if your child is suddenly state champ or something for all the sudden raising of their profile.

Between this comment and the same poster's early suggestion that the summer after first grade is no time to be in la la land (vs. engaging in standardized test prep), I gotta wonder whether said poster is just bat shit crazy or on a personal mission to sow as much anxiety and paranoia as possible. Could be both, I suppose.

I did not say prep your child by putting them in kumon or paying for some ERB prep class. I just said that since the "practice" ERB is taken in 2nd grade, it is best not to be in "la la land" . I would suggest, reading instead of TV and video games and one of the on line math websites, but have it your way. Perhaps you are at a k-12 school and the only place your child's ERB's will show up is in their file and as a tool for class placement , math and reading group placement. If a child is having learning difficulties, the ERB scores become part of their SST. However, many people on this forum have children in a K-3 or k-6 school, so they should be aware. Take the advice or not. For us the process is over.

Private schools dabbling in the same cess pool of standardized testing along with their public school brethen. I'm shocked. What's happened since my days of private school education in the 60s? Sounds like the schools are all the same.

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure you get what you pay for. You join an aggressive, big-3 competitive environment (or a feeder) then believe me, this tests matters.

We did; it doesn't.

And I wouldn't be so sure.

I'm sure you get what you pay for. You join an aggressive, big-3 competitive environment (or a feeder) then believe me, this tests matters.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is not true at my child's school....

It is very possible that we are both referring to the same school. I did not say that teachers and admin talk openly about scores, but believe me, they all know and being human they make some mental notes. It is as if your child is suddenly state champ or something for all the sudden raising of their profile.

Between this comment and the same poster's early suggestion that the summer after first grade is no time to be in la la land (vs. engaging in standardized test prep), I gotta wonder whether said poster is just bat shit crazy or on a personal mission to sow as much anxiety and paranoia as possible. Could be both, I suppose.

I'd be really interested in finding out what kind of school is that aggressive about ERB scores...

Anonymous wrote:That is not true at my child's school. The head makes it very clear that 2nd grade is used solely for letting a child see how a standardized test goes. Head also makes it very clear that scorse always go up significantly in 3rd so no worries if 2nd grade is not what one expeceted. Also, although you can call the lower school head and get the full results, they only mail an overall summary, not all the percentages and statnines. Most parenst do not even know you can call and get the full scores so most peopke do not. Lastly, NOONE at my children's school discusses them in any way but generally and the teachers not at all. The adminsitration does/will go over your child's individual teats and compare it to the overall class scores but that would be a very discrete meeting set up for a worried parents.

It is very possible that we are both referring to the same school. I did not say that teachers and admin talk openly about scores, but believe me, they all know and being human they make some mental notes. It is as if your child is suddenly state champ or something for all the sudden raising of their profile.

That is not true at my child's school. The head makes it very clear that 2nd grade is used solely for letting a child see how a standardized test goes. Head also makes it very clear that scorse always go up significantly in 3rd so no worries if 2nd grade is not what one expeceted. Also, although you can call the lower school head and get the full results, they only mail an overall summary, not all the percentages and statnines. Most parenst do not even know you can call and get the full scores so most peopke do not. Lastly, NOONE at my children's school discusses them in any way but generally and the teachers not at all. The adminsitration does/will go over your child's individual teats and compare it to the overall class scores but that would be a very discrete meeting set up for a worried parents.

Anonymous wrote:If your school is any good, they should prepare the students for their first standardized test. Many privates do a prep test in 2nd grade to prepare the kids for the first real ERB in 3rd. If your school is not doing this, yiou should ask them to consider it. The ERB is actually pretty important and, if taken correctly, very accurate in assessing where your child is in relation to his peers. Unlike many other standardized tests, the individual results are ranked in accordance with the other local privates (good way to assess how your child's school is doing as well as your child), privates nationally, and certain suburban publics (usually the most highly regarded). If your child is aplnning on applying to a different school for 4th or 6th or 7th or 9th, the ERBs will be part of his/her application and are weighted pretty heavily by many ADs.

on word of caution: Many schools give a "practice ERB" the year before the apply out year. You might be told that these scores are only used to eval the curriculum and not passed onto schools. The scores may not be passed on, but teachers are human, and when the 2nd grade ERB scores come out, despite it being a " practice test" you can just feel the calculations being made all around your child from the teachers, from the outplacement director, from other people in the school who make it their business to know what kids did really well ( ie moved the curve from previous years) vs did so bad they made the curriculum look bad.

I would hate to see a 2nd grader ( or 1st grader, for that matter) taking a test prep course, but 1st grade and summer of same is no time to lay around in la la land either. If your kid does poorly on 2nd grade ERB, some people will start to make assumptions that may be hard to overcome later in 3rd grade. This affects younger sibs in the pipeline too.