People often ask me if it matters if you have a connected preschool director. The answer: less than it used to. As kindergarten admission has become more competitive, schools are less beholden to individual nursery school directors, and are drawing from a wider pool of applicants from lots of schools.
One advantage of a connected preschool director remains, however. In my experience, kids at preschools with with-it directors often manage to get ERB retakes, unlike the rest of the applicant population who can only take it once per admissions season. Said preschool director argues that the score is not representative of the child’s true abilities, so child gets to retake.
It’s a disgrace that the ERB is such a critical part of the admissions process for a myriad of reasons. However, if the schools are going to require it, they ought to be fair about it. Let everyone, connected or not, get a retake and be open about this behind-the-scenes dealing.