SAT Prep Fail

Friday was a very sad day for me. I worked with a small group of students on SAT prep for five hours. Most of them are reading at the sixth grade level so it was nearly impossible for them to read these college level passages. Most of them were tired and exhausted by the third hour, so it was a major struggle to even keep them awake by the end. Most other juniors were taking a full-length practice test, but we took these students aside to simply talk them through the test and introduce some basic test-taking strategies in hopes that would help them not freak out. While I believe a lot of the work we did was good, I'm not sure the students felt any better when they left. In fact, most of them were frustrated, discouraged, and frankly quite angry. We only did one writing section and one reading section, and that was enough to make them go a little crazy. We kept reminding them that they would have to sit in their seats for five hours without talking when they took the real test, but that was really appalling for most of them. They also didn't understand that we couldn't help them spell words, and we couldn't answer any of their questions. We kept saying, "When you take the real test, you won't be taking it at school, and you'll have some proctor that you won't know. You won't be able to ask them questions, and most of them will be very strict about when you can leave to use the restroom and whatnot." It was quite a stretch for most students, and I just kept wondering what this was all for. I mean, how much does the SAT really tell you? Why haven't colleges yet figured out how misinformed the test is? Why must they put my students through this torture?!? After talking to another teacher who has done a lot of research on the SAT for students in urban schools, she informed me that SAT scores from urban schools are much lower than their suburban counterparts. It's just so frustrating and depressing to know that my bright, intelligent students aren't being recognized for their hard work and critical thinking skills. That's not what the SAT tests! And it's even more depressing to see the direct correlation between family income level and SAT scores. It makes it impossible for my students or students at any urban school to do well! Why doesn't ETS care about social justice?!? Grrr!