If there's going to be an SAT, it's probably practical to invest in a book or perhaps in a course, but I'm sorry to say, I went to some classes that my kids took and it was clear in school that what they were doing was just SAT training.
I was looking for a good quote about the SAT, the standardized test I took before I went to college. This quote is perfect and wraps up a big problem in education and that is "teaching for the test" and wrapping our lessons around certain standards. We discussed this in class, and Grace recognized this as disheartening. I am very familiar with feeling this way, but as I was harshly informed by a Title 1-Public School English teacher, my response was "That's your job." After critically thinking about those words, this English teacher was right. Teaching is NOT easy and it's part of my job description to connect the standards to my lesson planning.
For a long time I always considered standards and standardized tests to be bologna. The main reason for this is because of the hysteria of "teaching for the text." I think we, as teachers, have a huge responsibility; to educate future youth and expose them to all four knowledge dimensions (factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive). I think in effectively setting our global, educational and instructional goals, the objectives we have for our students could be more clear and make learning meaningful.
As far as computers and their use on standardized tests, I would say there must be a consistency between the schools form of assessment versus the states form of assessment. I would think if a public school uses all paper tests for assessment, then the standardized test would most likely need to be paper. And if...computers...then,....computers. I say this because if any of the former were criss-crossed, then results may be drastically changed due to the "extra stress" of the non familiarity For me, consistency is always key!.
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