Word: kindergartens
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...There's so much that you and I take for granted," says Glass, who has developed a special math program for blind children from kindergarten to second grade. "Things you take for granted like reading the daily newspaper" are only now becoming available to the blind, he says...
...first grade. This year Georgia became the first state to require a standardized written exam as part of a "readiness assessment" that determines who passes and who fails kindergarten. Testing of various kinds is prevalent in three-fourths of the other states for evaluating aspiring first- graders. In Minneapolis, for example, kindergartners must answer a set of 56 verbal questions put to them on a one-to-one basis (last year 13% failed). Many Connecticut and Michigan youngsters face similar tests. But only Georgia asks all its tots -- in both public and private schools -- to sit down, No. 2 pencils...
...perils of early testing became clear last summer to administrators of the Norwood-Norfolk central school district in New York. A shocking 61% of children hoping to enter kindergarten there failed a standard test for readiness. After they were consigned to a special two-year kindergarten, a study showed that the test had a 50% margin of error...
Still, there is little question that some sort of evaluation is needed for youngsters in any grade. "The big value is identifying kids who need help," says Ken Rustad, of the Minneapolis school district, where children who "fail" kindergarten are placed in transitional classes. Defenders of the Georgia test policy point out that the CAT is not the only tool used to determine who passes and who stays behind: the kindergarten teachers' recommendations are given equal weight. Edward F. Zigler, Sterling Professor of Psychology at Yale, nonetheless worries about the lasting impact of flunking a formalized test: "If a child...
That idealistic sentiment began as part of the catechism of democracy, but through generations of rote it has degenerated into a kindergarten fable. Adults, of course, know the truth. The presidency is reserved for white men who have held high office and who have almost always avoided embracing a cause or expressing a sentiment that is far outside the mainstream of established opinion...