On January 31, the Houston Independent School District announced annual instructor bonuses through its ASPIRE program, a merit pay program for teachers funded through state and federal grants and partly through local funds. Statistical analysis suggests that schools with the highest bonuses on average were wealthier, whiter and more selectiveRead More

The preeminent camp for smart kids is coming to Rice University beginning this summer. Duke’s Talent Identification Program (TIP) announced that it has partnered with Rice to offer its prestigious 3-week “Academy” Summer Studies Program beginning June 8, 2014. The residential enrichment program will host 325 high-achieving 8, 9, andRead More

The 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress Scores for math and reading are in, and the results for Houston are definitely mixed. Locally, the conventional wisdom is that Houston continues its steady improvement in math, but lags behind in reading. HISD Superintendent Terry Grier is working with administrators and (presumably)Read More

Ever since standardized test results became tied to school success and teacher performance, there has been a correlating rise of complaint that teachers are only teaching to the test. What exactly does teaching to the test mean and is it a bad thing? Teaching to the test means that curriculumRead More

I do a lot of test prep tutoring, and it amazes me how similar my students’ concerns are regardless of age, gender, skill foundation, and even the test they’re taking. This is for them. An open letter to the kids taking standardized tests: You are somewhere in the middle ofRead More

This article was updated on 12/15/14 to reflect the latest score requirements. One of the most widely espoused figures schools will use to promote their graduates’ level of college-readiness is the number of National Merit Semi-Finalists their junior class had in the annual National Merit Scholarship Competition.  This competition takesRead More

Last week, the ACT released disconcerting data about the quality of a typical high school education in America. Of the 54% of high school graduates who took the college entrance exam, 1 in 3 were not prepared for any college-level coursework requiring English, science, math or reading skills (the 4Read More

Most high school juniors, and many sophomores and freshmen, will be sitting for the PSAT this year on either October 16 or 19.  Short for Preliminary SAT, the PSAT / National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMQST) serves two primary purposes—to provide students a heads up on how they will performRead More

The High School Placement Test (HSPT) Scholastic Testing Service’s HSPT is an admissions test for entry into Catholic High Schools.  The HSPT contains five multiple-choice sections: Verbal, Quantitative Skills, Reading, Mathematics, and Language Skills.  Depending on the school, the HSPT might also feature an optional section covering Science, Mechanical AptitudeRead More

The Education Records Bureau’s (ERB) ISEE features three levels: Lower Level (Applicants to 5th and 6th grade), Middle Level (Applicants to 7th and 8th grade), and Upper Level (Applicants to 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade).  The structure of each test is the same.  However, time limitations and the difficultyRead More

Reading strategically is an important skill for mastering reading comprehension sections of standardized tests at any level. Teaching reading strategically, especially to younger students, can be difficult. This article will illustrate an effective method for teaching students how to efficiently read and mark up a passage, as well as identifyRead More

Fewer than 45% of seniors from the class of 2012 are prepared for college according to the College Board, the non-profit organization that administers the SAT.  Students needed to score an aggregate score of 1550 out of 2400 to indicate that they would have a 65% chance of maintaining atRead More

According to the New York Times, the Educational Resource Board–the company that administers the Independent School Entrance Exam–admitted that it had wrongly scored at least 7,000 upper level tests.  Some of the re-graded tests resulted in dramatically higher scores.  This admission of error comes after most parents have already decidedRead More

The market for Private Schools in Houston is very competitive and the Independent School Entrance Exam, the ISEE, is an important part of the application process.  By excelling on the ISEE, the student achieves an edge over the other students applying to the same school, very much like the SAT,Read More

In high school, it’s important to decide whether or not you should take AP Classes and AP Exams.  You have to decide if you can handle the difficulty level of an AP course, determine if an AP course will hurt your GPA, and figure out how an AP Exam willRead More