Introducing the KRT or “Kindergarten Readiness Task”, the new iPad-administered test-in-development that will be given this fall to NYC private school kindergarten applicants at a number of Manhattan and Brooklyn schools.
You’ve heard that NYC public school kids act as guinea pigs for testing companies; now private school kindergarten applicants will too!
The 5-7 minute KRT /”Kindergarten Readiness Task” purports to be a non-content based test that “measures a set of brain-based skills including attention, impulse control, and cognitive flexibly. This brief task assesses thinking skills in a “content-free” way and does not rely on specific knowledge or vocabulary.”
What were these NYC private school admissions people thinking?
“All these preschoolers! How do we separate the wheat from the chaff?”
“We need a “kindergarten readiness task”!”
“But not one that enriches those darned test prep companies! This kindergarten test has got to be content-free!”
“I’ve got it! An iPad administered, NON-content-based exam!”
“That makes a lot of sense! But this KRT test is being developed by a university-branded testing company that was founded in July, so the claim sounds plausible!”
“The founder of the testing company is interested in “the brain basis of self control”. Sounds like that famous Stanford marshmallow experiment.”
“I’m in!”
Why a 6 minute test of a preschoolers’ swiping skills measures anything of value in school admissions is anyone’s guess. Certainly even the NYC private schools and the University of Minnesota and Reflections Sciences LLC don’t know, since this year children’s results will be used as beta research.
Fortunately the KRT test is relatively short.