Akane Otani of The Wall Street Journal gives the new NYC Private School Thinking and Engagement (T&E) Assessment a more apt moniker: the Zoom Test.
In Elite New York Private Schools to Test Preschoolers Over Zoom, Otani writes:
But experts have doubts about how well parents can truly prepare their children and how the tests can capture a child’s true potential at such an early age.
Those in the kindergarten age range typically have more loose behavior at home than they do in a classroom away from their parents, said Emily Glickman, president of Abacus Guide Educational Consulting.
“I think it’s inevitable that there are going to be some very difficult situations, some tantrums, and some parents who are really upset after this test takes place,” Ms. Glickman said.
In prior years, a child who misbehaved at an interview at one school might have been able to make up for it by doing well on an interview at another school, she said. But this year, the one Zoom assessment a child takes will be used by all the schools the child applies to, meaning parents will be at the mercy of their child’s mood and behavior on test day.
Otani notes, “According to the guidelines for the assessment, children will be expected to participate in “a variety of developmentally appropriate activities” for up to 45 minutes while their parent or caregiver sits silently behind and to the side—there only to provide technological assistance if needed.”
Clearly, this is oxymoronic. It isn’t developmentally appropriate for 4-year-olds to engage in 45-minute Zoom calls.