Teamwork Skills

Interpersonal Intelligence Inventory (III)

Learning to work in groups is essential for interdependence. Team skills can support cohesion and productivity, as well as help members become successful and self-directed individuals. In the workplace and in the classroom, peer and self-evaluations are a highly effective means to establish accountability and improve team performance.
The III focuses on twenty-five items clustered into these five categories­­—attends to teamwork, seeks and shares information, communicates with teammates, thinks critically and creatively, and gets along with others. The inventory presents formative and summative feedback, monitors progress, and recognizes achievement of an individual in a team setting.

The electronic version of the Interpersonal Intelligence Inventory (III) will also be available as the Teamwork Skills test later in 2009. Watch the STS website (www.ststesting.com) for upcoming news about this product’s development and availability.

The hard copy version of the III is available for purchase online at ststesting.com.

For more information please contact Scott Rich or call us at 1.800.642.6787.

HSPT® SCORE RESULTS’ DISTRIBUTION

With the beginning of a new year, many parents may be wondering on their child’s HSPT® results. 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 that test day. In addition, 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 schools answer sheets are in. When the scoring center has completed the scoring, results are then sent back to the school where the child tested and 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, many times results are not sent directly to their 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 always 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.

Happy New Year!

Jeanne Lively
HSPT® Program Coordinator

Cash for Grades: Are you buying it?

Educators have long said that learning is its own reward. But these days, many students are finding that good grades and behavior can bring them cash and gifts. School districts across the country are taking part in controversial incentive programs known as ‘cash for grades’. In these districts, students who earn top marks are receiving much more than gratitude and praise for their hard work, i.e.: $500 for improved test scores, $100 for passing grades, hourly pay for after-school study programs, and even iPods, pre-paid cell phones and flat screen televisions for good behavior. But critics of these programs, many of which are privately funded through corporate or philanthropic donors, believe the payments amount to little more than bribes.

Does using money and lavish gifts as a motivator send the wrong message to students about their responsibility to learn, and what happens to a child’s motivation to do quality work when they are not being paid? Paying students for performance may show short-term improvement, but the long-term effects are unknown. The argument has been made that ‘cash for grades’ teaches real life lessons, just as students will some day work for a paycheck. Many supporters feel that the efficacy of ‘cash for grades’ programs should not be judged if students learn that through hard work they can accomplish something they didn’t believe was possible, regardless if the initial motivation was a monetary reward.

Only further research will show if paying for performance is effective or destructive. Do you think it is better to reward cash or compliments?

Related links: Washington Schools offers ‘cash for grades’

New York Times video: Blogginheads: Cash for Grades

Chicago Tribune: Earn an A? Here’s $50

Cell Phones, Schools and Safety

Are your younger students heading back to school with cell phones? According to the Center on Media and Child Health website, 54% of 8-12 year olds will have a cell phone within the next 3 years. The rise in cell phone usage among younger children may have a lot to do with parents feeling safer if they are able to contact their children at all times. But cell phones don’t necessarily make children safer in emergencies, and there’s a lot of concern about the possible link between cell phone use and increased cancer risk.

How do you feel about cell phones at school? For more information on this issue, click on the links below.

Links

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/08/11/cellphones.kids/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25874070/

Beyond the Numbers Game in Education

Something very important is about to happen in the educational establishment. Enlightened teachers and administrators are protesting the current government focus on measuring and testing as the sole basis for assessing learning. They understand that real learning is more complicated than scoring on standardized tests with their principal measurement of short term memory and right answer skills while overlooking evidence of higher order learning and thinking qualities in individual students.

Successful teachers know that quality learning, which depends upon connecting the learner in some realistic way to the lesson, is a critical piece of the teaching process. Qualitative factors of learning like spirit, expectations, self-esteem, confidence, and self-expression have long been recognized features of effective teaching by many teachers. The current government pressure on educators for assessment of learning, based essentially on repeated standardized testing of students, is raising voices of protest among serious educators. I want to add my voice to their protest in the hope that official centers of education will begin to act more upon the understanding that what is not countable really counts in the educational experience and that accounting for the uncountable is an educational obligation.

Philosophers and educationists have been doing their best to bring about a better balance in education between quantitative thinking and qualitative thinking in the way we teach and learn. A long time ago William Blake gave us the theory of “The Doors of Perception.” Some years later Fantini and Weinstein made the case for a balance between symbol-based learning and experience-based learning in their theory of the “Cone of Experience.” John P. Guilford contributed his comprehensive theory in his “Model of the Structure of Intellect” that gave us a window into the understanding of intellectual levels and how to recognize and cultivate complex thinking that includes equal parts of quantitative and qualitative thought. He gave us a road map for understanding that it’s not about a number that tells us “How smart are you”? It’s a way of understanding “How are YOU smart”?

Then came the genius of Dr. E. Paul Torrance who labored for fifty years to produce and teach the understanding of the special qualities of thought that prepare the mind to make maximum use of its potential for qualitative and especially creative thinking. His legacy continues to lead the world in the educational breakthrough for a balance between the dependence on counting and measuring and the qualitative factors that define the individual creative thinking aptitudes present in everyone. The Torrance® Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) are of increasing attention as we continue to look for answers to the overriding problems of the Achievement Gap in test scores of students of different ethnicities and the alarming school dropout rate.

The Torrance message of the nature and nurture of creative potential in education begun during his seven years of leadership at the University of Minnesota, producing a vast following of students and colleagues that reached worldwide and continues its commitment to the Torrance Legacy. Official University response was based on traditions of standardized educational practices and quantitative research with no perception of the individual qualitative factors that influence thought and learning. With little or no support from the academic centers, the Torrance leadership continues to serve the dedicated and enlightened educational community without acknowledgment from official academia, and the government continues its standardized testing and retesting, comparing and punishing with little or no change in curriculum and instruction. A recent statement by a retired member of the Minnesota Office of Education reflects the attitude of many educational power centers when confronted with a new idea for improved education. “Many of the Socialists dropped out once they were through pushing their agenda. But just think what we would have missed without these interesting people.” The belittling nature of this statement is a clue to the kind of dismissal that traditional authority often offers to new ideas and educational practices; it testifies to the reason the educational system continues to fail so many students and all of society.

Now add the arrival on the scene of a popular best seller that is bringing the message of differences and possibilities of human thought to public attention. “A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future” by Daniel Pink is expanding the studies of human differences in thinking processes to apply across the broad sweep of human society and its evolving picture. His argument for a balance between right- and left-brain dominance applies directly to teaching and learning principles and is reaching the public mind for demanding attention to the failure of traditional educational practices.

Bee Bleedorn, Ph.D.

Summer Reading Programs

For students, reading in the summer can be a mandatory exercise issued by parents or required by a school. Some students even participate in summer reading programs just for fun.

As an alternative to television, video games or on-line activities, reading is convenient, relaxing and can transport the reader to a foreign place and time.

To engage your summer readers, try the following links for recommended titles and reading programs.

Have a great summer!

Reading is Fundamental (RIF)

B&N Junior (Barnes & Noble)

Paper Back Swap (book exchange club)

Standardized Testing and Early Education

Recently, I have been reading about standardized testing, including reviews of the Reading First program. There are some studies reporting it does not improve reading in early elementary school children any better than regular programs. Other studies report that it does positively effect early reading test scores. There is so much controversy about the program, that I wonder why we are forgetting about the children. I continually read that the teacher is the one who makes the difference in children’s learning, nearly regardless of the material used. I think that the important feature of early education is how carefully the teacher monitors students’ progress – not how well they have been prepped to take a test. If the test has validity, meaning it is aligned to the skills/standards/objectives of the curriculum, the results will show how well they know the material.
What about early school testing? I think that it can show what children have learned from instruction as well as show where they need review or further instruction. Most early school testing is designed so that the few who need additional work are diagnosed and can be assisted.

What do you think?

The HSPT® E-Score is now available!

STS is pleased to announce the debut of the HSPT® E-Score CD-Rom. The E-Score allows schools to test students individually or to provide make-up tests and receive immediate results. STS ships the CD-Rom for free and schools may purchase test sessions in groups of 5 or 10. All that is required for testing is a PC that runs Windows 2000, XP or Vista. For more information on the E-Score, call 1.800.642.6STS.

Tribute to Dr. O. F. Anderhalter

How many of our nation’s CEOs or leading businessmen can be described as simply “a very nice guy”? Dr. O.F. “Bud” Anderhalter, the late president and co-founder of Scholastic Testing Service, Inc. (STS), was one of the rare few who was described simply and powerfully as a very nice guy. Many of those who knew Dr. Anderhalter had no idea that he’d founded a successful testing company. They knew him instead as a dedicated family man, golfer, and liturgist, who was almost always wearing a suit. Dr. Anderhalter passed away on February 11, 2008 just three days before his 86th birthday. He was a beloved figure at Scholastic Testing Service, a former mathematics professor at St. Louis University, and the proud grandfather of 10 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. He will continue to be dearly missed by his loved ones as well as his STS and church families. With fondest memories, John D. Kauffman, Ph.D. Scholastic Testing Service, Inc.

Torrance® Tests of Creative Thinking–Now Available in Spanish

In response to inquires from educators regarding our gifted assessments, Scholastic Testing Service, Inc. now offers the Torrance® Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT), Figural Forms A & B in Spanish. This new edition provides a Spanish edition of the Directions Manual and Response Booklets to help students who are not yet proficient in English.

The Figural TTCT is available at all levels, kindergarten through adult. This instrument has been used widely throughout the world to help in the identification of the creatively gifted. The TTCT has also been proven to be effective with diverse student populations because examinees draw their responses from their own personal experiences.

Order the Torrance® Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) in English or Spanish to help with your gifted assessments. Two forms are available for those schools that wish to pre- and posttest.

STS also offers its bestselling School Readiness Test (SRT) and Kindergarten Readiness Test (KRT) in Spanish as well.