tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post7486057309550655731..comments2024-03-23T12:05:13.464-07:00Comments on Ideas: Making Life Harder for Home Schooled StudentsDavid Friedmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06543763515095867595noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-35037486236951008822021-11-24T11:44:02.702-08:002021-11-24T11:44:02.702-08:00Fortunately, nowadays there are a wide array of pr...Fortunately, nowadays there are a wide array of programs/courses from legitimate colleges/universities and partnerships with colleges & high schools that allow any half-way competent homeschooled child in their teens (or even traditionally schooled child) to earn 1 to 2 years worth of college credits online by the time they are 18. If the child is on the precocious side of things, has a good sense of self-discipline, and supportive parents with the means (it's important to note that this is not beyond reach for most middle-class Americans if they truly desire it) they could earn a Bachelor of Arts by the time they are 18 with only a modicum of effort and drive.<br /><br />I almost envy my son for the educational opportunities he has before him -- it's just unfortunate that it is coupled with increasing turbulent times and a world going insane -- he will definitely need to keep his head down.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17350414511767606503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-61431311803380816832021-11-23T21:23:00.126-08:002021-11-23T21:23:00.126-08:00At first I thought that it seems like a particular...At first I thought that it seems like a particularly bad time to do this. I haven't looked up any stats on it, but I wouldn't be surprised if the number of people homeschooling has went up dramatically over the past year+ because of covid.<br /><br />On further consideration though, it seems unlikely that many high school students switched to homeschooling so we've got years to see if the College Board backtracks on this or if others come up with other solutions...Dustinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06160408758024554522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-76666742424980641492021-11-23T15:27:13.136-08:002021-11-23T15:27:13.136-08:00What you learn from the subject test is what the ...What you learn from the subject test is what the student knows about that subject. The SAT verbal and math tell you nothing about how well the student knows Spanish, or American history, or physics, or ...David Friedmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06543763515095867595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-62011119092245295302021-11-23T15:24:53.476-08:002021-11-23T15:24:53.476-08:00I agree on the essay, for the sort of reasons you ...I agree on the essay, for the sort of reasons you cite. Knowing whether a student can write is useful, however, and doing it by having the student send in an essay, which is the current system, means that the school has no way of knowing if the student wrote the essay himself, with or without help. There are people in the business of helping students write application essays — I discussed that in an old blog post.<br /><br />http://daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/2013/11/how-to-admit-students-to-college.html<br /><br />My solution is to put the student in a room — in the college if the student visits — with a computer and word processing program, paper and ink, and a short list of alternative topics. Give him an hour and see what he writes. No attempt at standardized grading as with the SAT essays — the essay goes to the college admissions people. So far as I know, no college does that, and I don't know why.David Friedmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06543763515095867595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-65574585813385568652021-11-23T10:43:36.540-08:002021-11-23T10:43:36.540-08:00The elimination of the essay portion is likely for...The elimination of the essay portion is likely for the better, as I would guess evaluating the essays are where a lot of error is generated. The variability of the avg. grade by different graders, the variability of values, principles, and personal reactions of different graders, and the random irrelevant factors affecting the graders would certainly make the essay portion more noisy as signal of capability than the multiple choice portion.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-91911791190627040862021-11-23T07:33:32.785-08:002021-11-23T07:33:32.785-08:00What do you learn from someone's SAT Subject T...What do you learn from someone's SAT Subject Test score that you don't learn from their score on the SAT proper? Haven't they long been basically identical in terms of psychometrics?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-79303462822887015672021-11-23T04:13:53.548-08:002021-11-23T04:13:53.548-08:00In addition, the AP exam was never intended to be ...In addition, the AP exam was never intended to be used for college <i>admission</i>, only for course <i>placement</i>, allowing students with strong backgrounds in a particular area to skip the most-basic classes in that area and start with more-advanced classes.<br /><br />(I didn't exactly use it this way: I took AP exams in 7 different subjects, and used most of them to completely skip my college course requirements in a particular field; only in Math did I actually start with more-advanced classes.)<br /><br />I'm pretty sure the general SAT (the "verbal" and "math" sections) <i>was</i> intended to be used for college admission, but I'm not sure what purpose they had in mind for the subject SAT's. Perhaps the College Board felt they were actually serving the same purpose as AP, so there was no point in keeping both. But as you point out, they also have much finer granularity, so eliminating them would be justified only if the error bar was large enough to make that added granularity an illusion. Which, of course, is possible, but I'd be surprised to see the College Board admit it.SBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09786720503589745463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19727420.post-4244502723587720422021-11-23T01:56:21.681-08:002021-11-23T01:56:21.681-08:00I don't know if the College Board thought abou...I don't know if the College Board thought about the difficulties they were created for home schooled students, but if they did, they may have regarded them as a feature rather than a bug, given the widespread assumption that home schooling is a Christian and/or conservative practice.William H. Stoddardnoreply@blogger.com