Parents, send your children out of the room. On no account let them read this post. I’m about to reveal something shocking.

Are they all gone? OK, here goes….

Scientists in Australia have discovered a positive correlation between playing online video games and higher exam scores in math, science and reading.

You read that right. According to the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, tests on over 12,000 Australian teenagers found that those who regularly played online games scored 15 points above average in maths and reading tests and 17 points above average in science.

Now, I don’t know what your family life is like, but mine is a daily battle over how much screen time the kids get. If my boys find out that playing games helps them at school, that battle may be lost forever. And this study is not an outlier; research by Columbia University linked video game playing in 6-11 year olds with “a greatly increased chance of high intellectual functioning and overall school competence.”

I have to admit that the reason we have a games console is that I’m rather partial to a spot of button-bashing myself. In fact I believe games to be emerging as the dominant narrative art form of the 21^st century. If video gaming still makes you think of Space Invaders and Pacman, you’re in for a shock. The best current video games have greater depth and subtlety, and better characterization, than the average Hollywood blockbuster. Sometimes I watch my kids playing, and marvel at the degree of cooperation and creativity that’s going on, whether they’re building castles in Minecraft or designing levels for Little Big Planet.

But correlation is not causation. Perhaps all the studies show is that the more intellectual children are spending time online, while the sporty kids are out playing ball. And academic success is not the only important thing in life. I want my boys to be fit and healthy, to be able to kick and throw and catch, to roam and explore within safe boundaries.

And not all online activity is good news. Heavy users of social media score lower on average, and the more frequent the use the greater the impact on academic achievement. They also have a shorter attention span. Shocking, isn’t it? Parents must be warned. I’d better go right now and post about it on Facebook and WeChat…

Photo: Chris Parfitt via Flickr

It happened again but this time to ACT. On Saturday, ACT tests in Korea and Hong Kong were cancelled due to compromised tests. It goes without saying now that more students from these two countries are focusing on ACT given the changes to the rSAT. It was only a matter of time before test prep companies focused their methods on the ACT. The question is, can a company like ACT handle this new attention? What actions will ACT now take to ensure security of materials? With their new bandwidth of test takers, can they handle these new pressures?

The real problem is testing. With delayed scores, cancelled tests and the uproar, the current climate affects every student from this part of the world. As mentioned in previous posts, it seems quite clear that test results from this part of the world have limited validity. This includes SSAT, SAT, ACT and TOEFL. Test prep has cornered the market and either by illicit means or not, invalidated any test score. Very few students choose not to employ test prep companies to help them “prepare” for these tests. While it is easy to come to the conclusion that a student who used test prep can memorize well, I seriously doubt whether a test score predicts academic performance on the level of critical and analytical thinking required for entry to boarding school or university.

But then there is the problem with the reports coming out of the University of Iowa, of companies that help students get through their undergraduate programs. What is most discouraging about all of this is that seemingly education is for sale, rather earned. When I started working in this area, the world was a much more complacent place. There was not the pressure to get into Ivy League schools to the extent it seems today.  Sure, there was test prep, but families seemed more at ease with the value of education from a wider variety of schools. This is not just an Asian thing, it affects students everywhere and has created multi-million dollar industries to enhance a student’s look – from companies providing community service projects to essay writing to whatever it takes to “get in.”

To say the least, the ramifications of the trend the education system is moving toward discourage me. Even more worrisome are the college leaders who seemingly turn a blind eye to the issues confronting them, leaders who continue to push for higher test scores, creating new applications, allow agents to provide students to enhance enrollment numbers, the use of ranking, and on and on.

Several weeks ago I came to the conclusion that all is not well on the education front. Having worked in this field for over 30 years, it seems that the news only provides more discouraging information about the state of affairs. I also recognize and realize that the problem does not affect everyone. My concern is that the pendulum is moving in the wrong direction, and as it does so, it affects the students most. They have few alternatives and perceive the only way to be “successful” is to follow the trend.

Increasingly school counselors are also caught in the middle as the tidal wave of parents push for more, colleges look for more and the criteria for acceptance gets harder and harder for those select few schools deemed the Holy Grail of future success.

The other day during a conversation with a reporter, I was called a dinosaur with my antiquated views of admission. Both sadly and joyfully I nodded acceptance of this moniker. But I also realize that the dinosaurs of the admission world are slowly becoming extinct. The role of college counselor is changing. This can be seen directly with the advent of the Coalition application that cuts out the specific tasks of what counselors do. While I admit that the admission process is in drastic need of change, this move away from counselors, who know their students and work with them in close context and work to help them understand the value of education, has undermined everything we stand for and hope to achieve.

I jokingly, with an undertone of seriousness, tell my students that everything I teach them will get undone when they go home. While I know that there are a lot of people fighting the good fight to curb the trends we see, it is very much in the hands of leaders in admission to affect a course change back to being student centered. Unfortunately, the changes would leave the system in a new era. In a different world – schools would stop participating in ranking, go test optional, set specific academic expectations like the British, provide multiple options in the admission process like NYU, require Third Party interviews like IntialView, and be more specific in the qualifications for admission rather than stating the look at Holistic Review.

Idealistic? True! But something does need to change to radically alter the course we are currently on. Given the events of the last two years around testing and the more recent revelations of how some students are getting through university, I am wondering where the uproar is? If anything similar were to happen in the corporate world there would be a very different response at the injustices current practices seem to be taking. When will educators take and make a stand against these issues? Students are why we are supposedly working in this field, yet as counselors we are being incapacitated by the lofty leaders unaware, or at least not paying attention to what is happening in the trenches.

Photo: channelnewsasia.com

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SAT and TOEFL Breached
Just the other day, news agency Thompson Reuters, posted an article about SAT and how College Board knowingly recycled tests in China and that, despite increased security measures, even the new Revised SAT will be compromised. Last year, the Chinese version of Newsweek, posted an article about how a reporter was able to purchase online a mechanism that held answers to the TOEFL test.  ETS has amazing security, from voice recognition to using students’ photos to identify the test taker.

When the Reuters article broke there was a immediate backlash from counselors around China. Personally, I stated that I was both disgusted and disheartened by the news. Even though I have known of the “breaches” and lived through the anxiety with my students over cancelled tests and delayed scores, this news, while not truly new, reaffirmed my conviction that testing on the level of SAT, TOEFL, and even SSAT is no longer truly valid.

No Longer A Level Field
To what extent does the leaked information go? Who really knows, but the reality is that the information is available to any student, whether they know it or not, if they are engaged in test preparation. Granted this is a generalization, and certainly not all test takers are “cheaters.” But the facts, as pointed out in the article, are that testing is compromised. If we go on that premise, what is the real value of standardized testing? Even if a majority of the test takers in Asia do not use errant methods, how can one truly ascertain the validity of their tests when put up against those who did use illicit means?

In my day-to-day work, I have students who have avoided test prep, and yet when compared to their applicant pool in the admission process they come out wanting. Their scores are not competitive and so they lose out in one way or another. But even still, students who may have come across real test material during their preparation are less competitive compared to those who used more aggressive prep providers.

What is further infuriating is whether a school, reading the application, is aware on any level of the unbalanced tests scores they are using. For a minute, lets assume they have no idea, and they are looking at scores without bias. Certainly with students presenting promising scores combined with grades and other materials, admission committees are accepting at face value what they see. Is that fair? Perhaps one could argue that given holistic review, one could say “sure”, but not really.

If admission committees accept that scores are skewed, to what extent do they count scores in the admission process? Do they down grade overall test scores? Subtract a percentage? To what extent is that fair?

Members of the school counseling arena have been decrying the testing environment in Asia for quite some time. Yet, universities and other schools continue to use testing as a factor in admission. Knowingly or not, they are complicit in the high stakes pursuit of “talented” youth. From ranking to accepting tainted scores, everyone marches on as if there is nothing to really do about it. Universities accept College Board and ETS practices, continue to use test scores in the admission process. High schools continue to administer the tests, hoping that students have not gained an unfair advantage in one way or another, all the while hoping that their students will score to gain entry to more selective schools. And the wheel goes around and around, year by year.

My question is this – when will everyone agree that this is not that answer? When will all the stakeholders say enough is enough? High schools are at the mercy of a broken system, yet those with the ability to make change – those on the receiving end of applications – continue to proceed as if nothing is wrong. Or if is wrong, make little effort to change. And, by the way it is not just an Asian problem. The system is broken, and no one seems capable of finding an appropriate fix to solve it.

We can all agree that the admission process is unfair, especially for highly selective schools. Counselors, parents and students, particularly this time of the year cry about how they did not get into their “dream” school with amazing resumes and materials to back up their applications. But if the system is broken from a fundamental level, and we all know it, why do we continue to rant and rave when it does not work in “our students” favor?  Blind faith?

Coming this April is the new Coalition application, which is supposed to change the playing field. Yet, I know of no counselor who has any idea what the application looks like or how the application will work. The Coalition has been particularly mute on the subject. But what will really change? It seems as if there is now just another thing to worry about, another system to game, continuing the inequality of the application system.

Elite schools will not change to become more inclusive. Why? They cannot accept all the qualified students who apply, even if the system did not have its major flaws. Yet, overall, until those who control the admission process take a stand and create true change, we will all continue to bemoan the system, roll our eyes, and march forward, hoping that one day it will change.

Real change will happen when ranking disappears and other means of evaluating students come into play – like performance on AP, IB, A Level and other measures of student ability that have true meaning, even interviewing students through processes like IntialView and Vericant. Schools should be applauded that have changed their admission criteria by becoming test optional or schools like NYU that have multiple entry criteria. Schools that are willing to go against the grain of a process and lead, not accept status quo.

Break free and lead! Bring some sanity back to the admission process. Please!

Photo: Diablomag.com

So I had a student unwittingly tell me today that she is convinced that her SAT score from December will be significantly higher because her SAT tutor also took the December SAT and they compared their performance. Since my student is not the sharpest tack, I would assume the worst. But when I pointed out that one, her tutor should not be taking the test, two, her tutor is not allowed to take the test and three, that this very act is one of the reasons why October, November, and December scores are being delayed, she looked at me with the deer in headlights “I don’t get the connection" kind of look. Were she a sharper tack, I might be enormously concerned that untoward behavior was involved.

I point back to my musing from the November test. My frustration with the whole situation makes me want to scream. At the same time I, like many of my peers, are receiving emails from universities boasting the increase in applications for early rounds and I have to wonder, how many students are getting away with pumped up scores to get in to schools? I know my colleague and good friend Clay will attest, testing is vigorously ensured and security paramount. But my point is this  lets say that a student is coached to miss a certain number of questions to not raise their score to something perceived to be outlandish. I know students who know exactly how many questions they missed. 1+1=2. It does not seem out of the realm of possibility that a student could answer just enough to score higher but not enough to get flagged.

Back to my student. She wrote me the other day saying she wanted to apply to X university, one significantly beyond her academic and linguistic ability. When asked why, her reply was that her scores were going to be higher. When I pointed out that her grades will not satisfy X University and that her current SAT scores are abysmal, (yes I used that term), she just looked at me and smiled. I know that part of the reason for this request comes from mother.

And therein lies the main issue. A test based culture; focusing on the test regardless of the other criteria for acceptance such as grades, essays, leadership, etc., all which play a role in admission. Schools do not help by continuing to focus on ranking rather than stating the value of learning and outcomes at their institutions or by continuing to use a system that has not kept up with technology (CD players anyone, Internet and WeChat).

I know that huge majority of students do not cheat, but what is it that we are really engaged in? How many counselors work with students to find a fit school only to come back to the same list for virtually every student? With stars in their eyes, (did I say I have students, nor they parents nor their parents, understand the vast depth of university offerings in the US and the world. But their myopic viewpoint is focused on testing and ranking.

Enough from me I feel much better. Sort of.

 Hamilton Gregg is the founder of International Educational Consulting and has worked in education since 1985. He helps students and their families understand their personal and educational needs and find the right school to meet their requirements. If you are a student or parent who would like to ask Gregg a question on our blog, please email hsgregg45@gmail.com

Photo: wikimedia commons

The maximum score is 1600. Essays are optional. No deductions for wrong answers. Vocabulary that you might actually use in real life. A complete change in focus. You might not believe it, but this will be the new face of the SAT Reasoning Test (colloquially known as just the “SAT”), starting in 2016. While this may not be the greatest news for today’s seniors, juniors, and sophomores (who will still have to take the test with the infamous archaic vocabulary),this is a sigh of relief for the freshmen and other students who do not plan to apply to university within the next two years.

For several decades, the SAT has become more prominent in the college admissions process, rivaling the ACT as the standardized test of choice in the United States. Roughly 800 of 3000 universities and colleges in the United States utilize the SAT and ACT as a possible supplements to university applications. Many Ivy League universities require applicants to submit SAT scores and have unconfirmedcutoffs for admissions based on these numerical scores – showing how integral these types of standardized testing are to the current state of the college admissions process. After all, we can only see it in black and white: either you’re accepted or you’re not. 

Thus, students such as you and I may start to stress over achieving high scores, with many wanting to at least be above the average SAT score of the previous year’sadmitted freshmen of our dream universities. We start to go to test prep courses, buy books, and do practce test after practice test. The Princeton Review and Kaplan have become almost household names for test prep books and courses thataim to maximize your SAT score, bringing it closer and closer to the famed 2400. Flash cards are commonplace when studying for the Critical Reading sections of the SAT plagued with the infamous archaic vocabulary – students “stop reading and start flipping”. Many now say that the SAT is no longer an accurate reflection of school curriculum – but instead a test of how well you can take a test. This “test-taking ability” stigma is further supported by longstanding criticisms of the SAT stating that “students from wealthier households do better on the exam because they can afford expensive test preparation classes”.

2016’s overhauled SAT aims to address all these problems by omitting and changing the nature of the SAT. Test prep will become accessible to all (not only students with a higher socio-economic status) through a College Board partnership with Khan Academy (a service that provides free step-by-step videos on topics ranging from mathematics to economics) and by reducing the dependence on SAT prep courses, leveling the playing field for all students, regardless of background. Arcane language is omitted in favor of more in-depth, contextual vocabulary. "If kids learn words richly in this way through wide reading rather than flashcards, they are deeply prepared to widen their appreciation of the nuances of language,” College Board President David Coleman writes.

History and Science are also to be integrated into reading comprehension questions, allowing for a greater scope of knowledge required instead of the traditional focus on only math, reading, and writing. Essays have become optional, as critics have said that a single piece of timed writing is a very limited way of judging an individual’s writing ability. In many ways, the SAT is adopting many characteristics of the ACT, which surpassed the SAT in 2012 as the most-popular standardized test in the United States and has maintained its spot to this day.

Despite its flaws, standardized testing is necessary and we have to live with the reality. “[Universities] absolutely need a standardized exam to compare students by,” Shaan Patel of Veritas Prep says. “It’s sort of a necessary evil. It’s something that will never go away."

Although the SAT is not the most perfect way to test students on the road to college admission, these changes, at least on paper, seem to allow the SAT to more accurately reflect what students are learning in school.

Unfortunately, 2016 can’t come any sooner. Time for the rest of us to buy some prep books.

Photo courtesy of ccarlstead (Flickr)

In the triennial international survey conducted by the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development under the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), test scores from 65 countries were matched up to discover the best but the city of Beijing did not feature.

Shanghai has the best test scores in the world but ranked fifth overall in the happy plus test score rank. Hong Kong and Macau also made the list. Singapore leads in having the world’s best schools and happiest kids according to Buzzfeed.com

How did they measure happiness? Children were asked the question,’Are you happy at School?’ Then the Happiness was ranked based on the percentage of students who agreed and disagreed. The test scores ranking were compiled on the combined individual rankings of math, reading and science scores.

Take a look at which other countries made the list from the best to the worst and from the happiest to the unhappiest.

Photos courtesy of acidcow.com

Zhang, who is Chinese and in year 13, participates in mathematics master classes, which is for top math students in Beijing international schools. He also runs the Intermediate Maths Challenge club for Harrow’s younger students. Zhang was also an elected House Captain and organized a table top charity sale for locals in the Anzhenxili area, where Harrow’s campus is located.

Our sister site thebeijinger.com has a new column, To Savor for Later, featuring interesting China related long reads, including a couple on Chinese education:

 “Cramming for College at Beijing’s Second High” by April Rabkin
Fast Company
Fascinating, funny account of Chinese students – those who defend the gaokao and those who don’t. Written by a foreign reporter who returns to the Beijing high school where she was an exchange student. (3900 words)

Excerpt: “For many years, long hair, perms, and hair dye were banned, though it could be a sign of China’s baby-step liberalization that girls may now grow out their locks. ‘Before, they didn’t. That was a violation of our human hair rights!’ says Yang Keyang, a senior with long braids whose English names include Coppelia, Pealina, Coco, and Rosalind. (English names being one of the few areas of total liberty for the students, she chose those–all of them.)”

“Stuck in the Middle: Inside China’s Art Cram Schools” by Guo Juan, translated by Michael Einar Engstrom
LEAP: The International Art Magazine of Contemporary China
What does it mean to cram for an art exam in China? Another article about the institutions and rituals that spring up in response to the pressure-cooker Chinese educational system, but from the angle of a niche field of study that one might expect to offer its students more of an outlet for creativity. (2849 words)

Excerpt: “In the materials room of one school there is a so-called ‘CAA Gray Series’ of colors, said to be made at the peculiar whim of a CAA [China Academy of Art] graduate according to the preferred pigmentations as mixed at CAA. Before, it was popular practice to have examinees mix their own watercolors, but now, even this step can be skipped. The phrase ‘a good sense of color’ is no longer applicable, as all a student has to do is use the existing colors correctly.”

 Read more here.