I'd like to see a foundation pay to deliver the same quality of test prep to the Head Start school that was mentioned, and maybe 1-2 other pre-schools as well. In the face of some hard evidence on the impact of test prep, it would be harder to justify continuing a system that discriminates--as this one seems to--based on socio-economic class.
Oooh! What a great idea! I think I'd even contribute $$$ to help make that study happen.
Actually, studies like this have been done. They find what a lot of people have been discussing here: you can prep someone into getting a higher score, but prepping doesn't raise IQ (long-term studies how this effect).
This could be one reason for why some kids identified as gifted at one time don't test as gifted later.
Another thing the city could do would be to use real IQ tests, which are more immune to the effects of prepping (how many numbers can you remember forwards? Backwards? Can you put the pictures in order to make a story? Here's a list of symbols and the letters they stand for. Now, solve the code below as fast as you can!)
Val
