HSPT® Prep: A Superintendent’s Response to an HSPT® Test Prep Provider

As you may know, STS does not support or endorse any formal student test preparation for the High School Placement Test. This view is also shared by many of the schools who use HSPT® every year. See below for a clearly articulated view of HSPT® test preparation from a superintendent.

Dear Test Prep Provider,

I received a copy of your flyer from one of our principals.  The Catholic High School administrators and I have discussed your test prep program on several occasions over the past few years.

It has been my understanding from Dr. John Kauffman, STS, that he neither endorses nor recommends that students from Catholic elementary schools take a test prep course for the HSPT®.  Dr. Kauffmann believes that 8 or 9 years of Catholic school education is all that is necessary for students to do well on the HSPT®.  As a matter of fact, all of the qualified 8th grade students in our Catholic elementary schools are accepted into one of our Catholic high schools.

Additionally, I am concerned about the message this sends to our parents. Your message implies that the investment they have made in their child’s Catholic elementary school education now needs augmenting in order to get into a Catholic high school. Parents and students are anxious enough about the prospect of going to high school.  It appears to me that your HSPT® prep program is feeding on their anxiety and creating a need where none exists.

I suspect that you are well intended.  However, I will discourage our elementary school principals from offering, supporting, or endorsing your test prep program to our eighth grade students and their parents.

Sincerely yours,
Ms. Maureen Huntington
Superintendent of Catholic Schools
Archdiocese of San Francisco

The Truth About HSPT® Test Prep

For over 50 years, the STS HSPT® has assisted high schools with admissions, student placement, scholarship selection, and remediation. And every fall as eighth graders prepare to take the HSPT®, STS receives a barrage of phone calls about test preparation.

When we discuss test preparation, we emphasize that a solid elementary school education usually is enough, and that most students have had several years of standardized testing under their belts by the time they take the HSPT®.  It’s also important for parents to keep in mind that “spurious” scores from test prep courses may lead to great unhappiness if a school places the student into more rigorous classes than appropriate for their current ability/achievement levels.

We also emphasize that there are no HSPT® test preparation courses, books, or other media endorsed by STS. Additionally, the schools who administer the HSPT® depend upon secure results from students whose first acquaintance with the test is on test day. Therefore, HSPT® tests are only sent to our authorized schools.

Any student test preparation should only be focused on general achievement improvement or remediation based on the most current information from the elementary school or previous test results.  If you have comments or questions about the HSPT®  or test preparation, please contact us at sts@ststesting.com

Using TTCT to Test the Whole Mind

by Garnet Millar, Christine Dahl, and John Kauffman

As excerpted with permission from “Testing the Whole Mind – Educating the Whole Child” in the IAGC Journal 2011

 

It was in 1958 when E. Paul Torrance, “The Creativity Man,” embarked on his lifelong study of creativity.  As director of the Bureau of Educational Research in the College of Education at the University of Minnesota, he was tasked to identify and quantify intellectual giftedness during America’s post-Sputnik days.  While most of his peers focused on traditional intelligence, Torrance chose to study creativity, which he believed was at least as important – if not more so.  Before coming to Minnesota, Torrance had been a teacher, counselor, and psychologist.  Working with the U.S. Air Force, he trained air crew and pilots in ways to evade and escape the enemy.  He learned that the underlying element of survival is creativity and that risk-taking and other creative skills are essential to constructive behavior and unusual achievement.  Drawing on this experience, Torrance devised what has been called his survival definition of creativity: “Whenever one is faced with a problem for which he has no practiced or learned solution, some degree of creativity is required” (Millar, 2007, p. 37).

 

At the University of Minnesota, Torrance and his doctoral students designed and developed the Minnesota Test of Creative Thinking.  They studied the biographies of creative individuals and identified four rational factors that contributed to their achievements: fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration.  One of Torrance’s great contributions to standardized testing was to ask examinees to “show me something that I have not seen before.”  Thinking of something unique and different means – quite literally – that the Torrance Tests have no correct answer.  The Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) come in two forms: verbal and figural.  Students who took the test in the 1950 and 60s, the so-called “Torrance Kids,” have participated in several follow-up studies that have allowed Torrance to refine the tests and evaluate their predictive validity. 

 

During the follow-up study (Torrance, 1980), the wealth of information coming from the figural tests pointed to a more thorough definition of creativity.  Not only were creative individuals demonstrating fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration, they also showed remarkable openness to new ideas, which they processed in diverse ways.  The analysis led Torrance to identify an additional set of 13 creative strengths that fall outside the realm of pure reason:

• Emotional expressiveness
• Articulate storytelling
• Generating expressive titles
• Employing movement or action
• Combining and synthesizing
• Using rich and colorful imagery
• Fantasizing
• Having an unusual visual perspective
• Having an internal visual perspective
• Breaking through and extending boundaries
• Having a sense of humor
• Decentrism – glimpsing infinity.

 

Torrance incorporated these factors into the scoring scheme of his creativity index (C.I.) or creativity quotient (C.Q.) measured by the TTCT. Today the TTCT is translated into over 50 languages and used in many countries in the world.

 

Torrance believed that the TTCT could be used diagnostically and, even more so, that the skills of creativity were teachable.  Many creative skills are already embedded in classroom curricula, but may not be emphasized enough to develop and nurture creativity in students.  Torrance showed that creative skills themselves could serve as rubrics to evaluate and encourage students.  The tests accurately assess their intended parameters and are applicable to real life.  By this measure, the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking score exceedingly well.  Not only do they identify creative abilities, they have proven to have predictive validity.  Several longitudinal studies (Torrance 1980, 2002; Millar 2007, 2010) confirm that children’s TTCT scores predict creative achievement in adults. 

 

A wise person has said that while human potential is universal, opportunity is not.  Giving students the opportunity to achieve their potential is our greatest legacy as teachers.  It is time to test and assess for both C.Q. and I.Q. and to intentionally teach creative skills along with basic knowledge.  Creative skills will give our students the edge they need to survive and thrive, now and in the future. 

 

For further information on E. Paul Torrance and the TTCT, please contact Scott Rich at Scholastic Testing Service, Inc. at srich@ststesting.com or 1-800-642-6787. 

 

Works Cited

 

Millar, G. W. (2007) E. Paul Torrance – The Creativity Man: An Authorized biography.  Bensenville, Illinois: Scholastic Testing Service, Inc.

 

Millar, G. W. (2010) The Power of Creativity: Results of the 50-Year Follow-up to the Torrance Longitudinal Study of Creative Behavior.  Bensenville, Illinois: Scholastic Testing Service, Inc.

 

Torrance, E. P. (1980). Growing Up Creatively Gifted: A 22-year Longitudinal Study of Creative Behavior.  Creative child and Adult Quarterly, 5 (1980): 148-158, 170. 

 

Torrance, E. P. (2002). The Manifesto: A Guide to Developing a Creative Career.  Westport, CT: Ablex Publishing Corp.

Torrance Legacy Awards – Deadline Approaching!

Attention creative writers and artists, only three and one half more weeks for submitting entries for the 2011 Torrance Legacy Awards—Creative Writing and Visual Arts Categories.

Entries have been received from all around the world.

Don’t let this opportunity to “showcase your talent”  and be a part of the global experience pass you by!

The deadline is August 15, 2011. Competition details are available at The Torrance Legacy website.

Choosing an Appropriate Readiness Test

Educators know that research suggests that the achievement gap found in later school years is already present when children enter school. Educators are also facing increased accountability pressures in elementary school and early education settings. Because of these dual concerns, readiness assessment is becoming increasingly important for younger and younger children.

Prior to President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act, the National Education Goals Panel (NEGP) Report (Shepard, Kagan, & Wurtz 1998) defined five purposes for assessing young children, which remains highly regarded today. These goals are to:

Improve Learning – Educators assess student skills to gather information on the strengths and needs of each child in their class and help adapt their teaching, with assessment content closely tied to the classroom curriculum.

Identify Children with Special Needs – Many early care programs and public schools routinely conduct screenings of young children upon program entry. If screening suggests that a child’s development is atypical, the child is referred for a more thorough assessment to determine specific needs and eligibility for special education or related services. Screening assessments generally cover developmental milestones in multiple areas and must meet high standards of technical adequacy because they will be used to help make important decisions about children.

Evaluate Programs – Assessment of a child’s skills are often included in evaluations todetermine the effectiveness of early childhood programs. Assessments chosen for this purpose should reflect program goals and be appropriate for the children attending the program. Generally, child assessments for the purpose of program evaluation need only include a sample of children rather than all. Effectiveness is determined through assessment by showing that a representative group of children improved, which does not necessarily demonstrate success for each child.

Monitor Trends Over Time – Schools choose to conduct readiness assessments to provide a snapshot of children as they enter kindergarten and beyond. Were this snapshot taken of a new group of kindergartners every few years, then administrators can monitor readiness trends. This allows the policy makers to determine whether early childhood investments are affecting school readiness

Use for High Stakes Accountability – Because they are used to make important decisions about students, assessment for this purpose must meet rigorous standards of technical accuracy. While most state testing programs do not occur until 3^rd grade, educators may use assessments that meet the high standards of technical adequacy to test school readiness in students and evaluate teacher effectiveness.

As we enter this new era in assessment, choosing the appropriate readiness test is of ever-increasing importance. STS’s suite of screening and readiness assessments assists educators in obtaining a clear indication of a student’s abilities compared with children of a similar age. Our Comprehensive Identification Process (CIP) screening assists in identification of children who may need educational assistance to function at their highest level upon school entry; the Kindergarten Readiness Test (KRT) assists in determining readiness for beginning kindergarten; the School Readiness Test (SRT) assists in determining readiness to begin first grade; the Diagnostic Mathematics Assessment (DMA) evaluates areas of strength and weakness in math for grades one and two; and the Diagnostic Reading Assessment (DRA) helps 1^st grade teachers in assessing readiness for 2^nd grade instruction in reading/language arts. While each STS screening and readiness tool varies in purpose and design, all are intended to promote learning, and development by identifying what students already know as well as what they need help with. If your school needs assistance in matching an assessment to one or all of the purposes outlined in the NEGP report above, please contact Scott Rich at srich@ststesting.com for further information.

Ready for Kindergarten?

KRI - Parent Edition

With the arrival of spring, many schools are beginning to assess the readiness of children entering kindergarten. While kindergarten assessments take different forms from school to school, their collective purpose is to get a picture of a child’s development that will guide decisions about placement, additional services, special needs, and instruction. This is a time of great anxiety for many parents, which is marked by worry about preparing their child for school and concerns about whether their child is indeed ready to begin formal education.

Research continues to show that strong language development during early childhood is vitally important for success in school. While children don’t need to know how to read before kindergarten, they do need practice with reading skills. Parents can help prepare children for reading instruction with two main activities – talking to their child and reading aloud. As children continue to develop, those who hear a variety of words from adults recognize and understand important concepts when they begin to read. When you read to your child, you teach them how letters and words work, how to hold a book, turn pages, and how to listen and gain meaning from the written words. Children’s play is their work, and they learn by doing and experimenting. Fascinated by the world around them, they love to ask questions and talk about everything. Parents increase their curiosity by showing interest in what they are saying. At this age, children are also beginning to develop a basic understanding of numbers, shapes, colors, and spatial concepts.

It’s important to remember that development differs from one child to the next. Your child’s development may be a little faster or a little slower in a certain area. Likewise, school readiness differs from child to child, and does not need to be a source of uncertainty or worry for parents. For assistance in gauging a child’s readiness, STS’s Kindergarten Readiness Inventory Parent Edition (KRI) allows parents to assess skills such as vocabulary, phonemics, comprehension, and interpretation from the comfort of their own home.

When it comes to preparing for school or readiness assessment, parents must remember to have patience, trust their judgment and refrain from being overly critical. If we make time for our children and have fun, then the rest will follow. For further information regarding the KRI or for general questions on readiness assessment, please call Scott Rich at 800-642-6787 or email sts@ststesting.com

HSPT® SCORE RESULTS’ DISTRIBUTION

With the beginning of a new year, many parents may be wondering about their child’s HSPT® results. While many assume that the HSPT® score distribution system is similar to college entrance exams, it is actually quite different because there is no national coding system for the HSPT®.

Many high schools test independently, so the results for the students that test there are sent only to that school. In some geographic regions, a cooperative of high schools test collectively, often under the direction of a Catholic diocesan education department. In these cases, students may be presented with the option of sending their scores to several different high schools by coding them on their answer sheet on that test day. These answer sheets need to be correctly coded to ensure that the results are sent to the appropriate school(s).

When testing in a cooperative program, the scoring of test results is often delayed until all of the program’s answer sheets are in. When the STS Scoring Center has completed the scoring, results are then sent back to the school where the child tested as well as to the school(s) the child coded. Whether the school tests individually or cooperatively, the act of distributing test results to students and their families are always determined by the school or diocese. Therefore,  results are often not sent directly to the student’s home.

If you have not yet received a copy of your test results and you believe you should have or if you need to have your scores sent to another high school, the first step is to contact the school where the child tested. Since the schools and dioceses determine their own score distribution system, we cannot send results to a student or parent.

Comic Books as a Writing Tool?

Why do a great number of students have trouble writing words on the page? Is it a problem with language, underdeveloped literacy skills, or just a reluctance to write?  To counter these difficulties, some educators are using the art of comic books to give young authors a creative new way to dive into literacy learning.

Although generations of kids grew up with the impression that comic books don’t make the grade with parents and teachers, comic books are gaining new-found respectability in the learning community.  Increasingly popular creative programs boost kids’ literacy skills and self-esteem through the creation of their own fantasy-based characters and comic books. Kids love comic books and superheroes, and educators are exploiting the genre to teach literacy skills with material that students are fully invested in.

Arts-based literacy and learning programs such as the Comic Book Project are allowing students to create, develop, and publish their own comic books. The 12 Comics Learning Support program offers literacy services to organizations through creation of comic books and short films to support development of literacy, math, science, history, and oral communication skills. These thoughtfully designed programs are fine examples of using an art-based genre as the common tool to spark a child’s creativity while enhancing their learning potential.

Other organizations like 826NYC offer support to students with their writing skills by providing free tutoring and after school workshops in their writing center.  826NYC is also home to the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company, where 100% of the proceeds from the sale of capes, x-ray glasses and crime fighting novelties goes directly back to funding 826NYC educational programs.

Click the image to view a short video about 826NYC hosted on MSNBC.com.

Through these new visionary programs, educators have taken notice of the vital benefits an arts-based literacy and learning program can provide.  Do you think comic books and superheroes have a place in the classroom?

Distribution of HSPT® Scores

At this time of year, many 8th graders and their families are making final decisions about which high school they will attend for the following school year. If your prospective high school uses the HSPT® as a part of their admissions process, then making sure your HSPT® scores get where they need to be is a big concern.

While many assume that the HSPT® score distribution system is similar to college entrance exams like the SAT and ACT, it is actually quite different. There is no national coding system for the HSPT®. Many high schools test independently, so the results for the students that test there are sent only to that location. In some geographic regions, a cooperative of high schools test collectively, often under the direction of a Catholic diocesan education department. In these cases, students may be presented with the option of sending their scores to several different high schools by coding them on their answer sheet on test day.

Whether your high school tests individually or cooperatively, the distribution of test results to students and their families is always determined by the school or diocese.

If you have not yet received a copy of your test scores, and you believe you should have, or if you need to have your scores sent to another high school, the first step is always to contact the high school where you or your student tested. Because the schools and dioceses determine their own score distribution systems, we can never send results to a student unless the request is made by the school or diocese that administered the test to the student.

STS congratulates all graduating 8th graders on the upcoming completion of their elementary education and wishes them the best of luck as they embark on the adventure of an enriching high school education at any one of the excellent high schools that utilize the HSPT® as a part of their admissions process.

Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults (ATTA) – Spanish Version

The ATTA is now available for purchase from Scholastic Testing Service, Inc. Much like our TTCT® with Spanish language directions, the ATTA can be purchased online, via the phone at 1.800.642.6787, fax at 1.866.766.8054 or by mail [Scholastic Testing Service, Inc. 480 Meyer Road, Bensenville, IL 60106–1617]. Visit our store website for pricing.