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Newtonite
◆ Monday, Oct. 5, 2015 • Volume 94
Newton North High School, 457 Walnut St., Newtonville, Mass. 02460
Wednesday PSAT date raises concerns Maya Metser Faculty and students across this school have expressed anger and frustration about next week’s cancellation of classes due to PSAT testing. The College Board decided last year to administer the PSATs on two select Wednesdays instead of including a Saturday test date. This change created the need to cancel classes and rearrange the schedule, according to interim principal Mark Aronson. “I do not think there are a lot of benefits. I think the majority of our students are able to figure out a way to get to school on a Saturday with minimal interruption to their Saturday’s work, theatre, or athletic schedules,” said Aronson. Aronson, South principal Joel Stembridge, and assistant superintendent of secondary education Toby Romer made a joint decision to open school late for students not taking the exam and to give seniors the day off to work on postgraduate plans. English department head Melissa Dilworth said, “This is the fewest number of school days for seniors that I remember in all my years of teaching.” Aronson said—if he were a teacher— spending part of his day proctoring the test instead of working with students “would be frustrating. I certainly am not thrilled with that.” Advanced Placement teachers, in particular, expressed concern about the loss of instructional time. “Our AP teachers have a much shorter year than most parts of the country,” said interim vice principal Amy Winston. Math teacher Jennifer Letourneau, who teaches two sections of AP Calculus BC, said, “It’s sad to say the loss of instructional time is because of a College Board decision.” Because the test will now be offered during the school day, Aronson said that he expects about 700 students to take the exam. As a result of this influx of students, students not taking the exam will need to stay home in order to have enough testing space, and teachers will come in to proctor. History teacher Anthony Patelis, test site supervisor, usually hires proctors from the community. Teachers will not receive an additional stipend for proctoring this year as the test is during their contracted work hours. Newton Teacher’s Association president Mike Zilles said, “We agreed that we didn’t have a choice because of the fact that if we didn’t do it the students would suffer. It would be an unfair outby
come. We would not want students to be in the position of not taking the test and to deny them the opportunity.” Zilles added, “What the administration and teachers are concerned about is that the College Board made a decision unilaterally, and now we’re basically throwing away a day. I don’t think anyone should be required to do this during school hours.” The plan is that only full-time teachers will be proctoring, according to Winston. The administration hopes to put teachers into teams so they can split up the times among themselves. “We don’t want a teacher to be proctoring for four hours and then have them go teach,” said Winston. According to Winston, the school has traditionally charged $30 to take the PSAT because the school uses extra funds to pay the proctors. This year, students will only pay $16. Every year, the College Board charges $15 to score the test, and online registration and organization—rosters, assigning rooms, and logistics—cost $1.50 per student. Even with the students’ PSAT fees, the school subsidizes the cost, according to Winston. Additionally, the College Board is mandating that students take the test at their respective schools, whereas in previous years, students could go to any test site. On a more personal level, Aronson said he thinks this “is something the teachers should really not have to do. In spite of that, our teachers will do the best they can to ensure that the students have a positive test-taking time.” Winston said, “We are basically asking our teachers to be agents for the College Board for a day. The Newton Teacher’s Association has agreed to it because they knew that we basically had no choice. We’re asking teachers to do work for the College Board without getting paid by the College Board.” Beals house secretary Cheryl Stover has proctored the PSAT for six to seven years. She said she is “very disappointed” that she will not have the opportunity to supplement her salary this year. On the other hand, she said it is not unfair to the teachers because they are paid to be here as teachers anyway. Aronson said, “I think it would be wrong not to acknowledge that this is a business,” contrary to the College Board’s mission statement, which claims that it is a “national, non-profit organization dedicated to preparing, inspiring, and connecting students to college and opportunity,” according to the College Board’s website.
Josh Shub-Seltzer
Ultimate: Sophomore Noah Adler passes the disc past junior Aaron Stone during an ultimate scrimmage Friday, Sept. 25. Winston said the College Board does a lot of good work for low-income school districts in urban areas, as they offer a lot of extra professional development for teachers and AP preparatory courses for students. “But,” she said, “they have such a stranglehold on the country and the college application process that though their mission is a good one, it’s unfortunate that it is such a monopoly. They make a lot of money off of testing, which is really sad.” In the past, the College Board offered a Wednesday and Saturday date, as well as a makeup date. In order to offer three test dates, the College Board created three different versions of the test. Winston said, “the College Board claimed that they did not have enough time to be able to implement multiple days of the test, aligned with the new SAT, which is why the Saturday option is not open this year.” To give students a chance to practice and get comfortable with the new SAT, the College Board had to design new versions of the PSAT. On the website it says,“ Doing this, however, meant we could support only two test dates in 2015, instead of two test dates and a makeup date as in the past.” According to the College Board,
Wednesday testing enables students to take the exam without worrying about transportation or missing extracurriculars that occur on Saturdays, and also avoids conflicts with religious observances. Additionally, over the past four years, there has been an increase in the number of schools requesting to administer the PSAT on a second Wednesday because of scheduling conflicts. Although the College Board decided to administer the test only on a Wednesday this year, next year districts will have the option to choose between a Saturday and Wednesday test date, as in the past. “I think the College Board does have a point. If kids are coming to school anyway, more kids will be able to take it,” said Patelis. Aronson said, “We now have to lose another day of teaching and learning to a standardized test.” Aronson added, “I’m always uncomfortable with the idea of a test being the measure of what a student can do without any feedback from the individuals who work with the student. Ultimately, I know admissions officers look at the test score, and it just goes into the pile with everyone else, and they’re not going to examine who the student is.”
Club Day features diverse student opportunities This year’s Club Day will showcase over 70 clubs, displaying the varied interests and passions of students across the board. All clubs are current as of press time.
◆ Club listings 2015-2016 ◆ Art Club
Devin Perlo
Theatre Ink Costumes: Sophomore Juliette Spitaels looks through outfits while designing costumes Monday, Sept. 21.
What: Students make creative art projects to benefit charities. When: Wednesdays after school. Goals: “To do art projects and be able to sell them. With the money we earn, we will donate to Horizons for Homeless Children,” said senior Mel Gross, an officer. Officers: Gross and senior Mary Solovyeva. Adviser: Art teacher Shannon Slattery. Contact: Facebook group “Art Club of NNHS (horizons for homeless children)” or marynightingale97@gmail.com. —Amy Morrill
Asian Culture Club
What: Students engage in activities relating to Asian cultures. When: Monday X-blocks in 353. Goal: To create “a welcoming environment that shares and learns about the cultures, lives and accomplishments of the Asian and Asian-American experiences locally and globally,” said senior Fiona Yang, an officer. Officers: Yang, senior Sabrina Ng, and sophomores Wendy Li and Li Shan. Advisers: English teachers Charlene Beh and Michele Leong. Contact: fiona.tae.yang@gmail.com. —Jane Alandydy ◆ continued on page 3