BingsCop retweeted
I am speechless. Thomas Aquinas College just dropped a study on the rigor of the new SAT.
It compares the 1980/87 test with 2026. The findings should terrify every parent and teacher...
Vocabulary has collapsed.
Old SAT: 70.6% of questions tested vocab.
New SAT: 15%.
The old test forced students to know a wide range of words through analogies, antonyms, and sentence completions. The new test abandoned that. Most vocab questions now just ask students to fill in one blank from context.
Reading passages also got radically shorter (average ~97 words vs 300–340).
The new test uses short expository passages and hands you the necessary background knowledge inside the text. The older tests leaned much more heavily on argumentative and persuasive writing, assumed far more historical, scientific, and cultural knowledge, and penalized students who lacked it.
This is a redefinition of what "college readiness" means.
If you believe that kids should develop rigorous vocabulary, be capable of sustained reading, and possess background knowledge, I have bad news for you. The SAT no longer measures these.
If you want a future where children can actually read difficult texts and construct complex arguments, the SAT must be replaced now.
This cannot go on.
We were concerned that the SAT has become a less reliable measure of student preparedness for a rigorous college curriculum.
So, we commissioned a study from Johns Hopkins University. What does this study tell us about the state of higher education?
The results are shocking. thaq.co/4iLThZ0
BingsCop retweeted
The anti-memorization movement has left millions of students unable to think. Every little operation consumes their working memory. Higher-order thinking becomes impossible.
Here’s an example:
Solving an equation is like moving puzzle pieces around. When basic arithmetic is automatic, the pieces are easy to move. You can focus on figuring out how they fit together.
But If you have to recalculate every basic fact, then every puzzle piece becomes a heavy weight. All your effort goes into lifting it. You have little brainpower left to figure out where it belongs. You can’t see the forest for the trees.
The same thing happens all the way up math, from arithmetic to algebra to calculus and beyond.
Each level builds on the skills below it. If those skills aren’t automatic, they’ll consume your brainpower. None will be left for higher-order thinking.
BingsCop retweeted
This video is doing the rounds again because a critic has questioned whether the pupils here are really learning anything. The quality of this class’s questions can reveal a lot here. So, strap in for a thread! 🧵 1/9
BingsCop retweeted
My prayers go out to all those who were injured or lost their lives last Friday in the terrorist attack on worshippers at the Orthodox Church of Saint George in Hamoud, Jordan. I express my closeness to the community and the entire country, which is known for its peaceful coexistence and respect between different religions.
BingsCop retweeted
BREAKING: New video shows Islamists in Africa hacking to death Christians.
Do not stop talking about the slaughter of Christians in Nigeria.
BingsCop retweeted
An education theorist argued grouping kids by ability creates unfair “racially segregated classrooms.”
Her book helped fuel a movement to put beginners and advanced kids in the same classroom.
Here’s how that push has held smart kids back:
BingsCop retweeted
NEW POST: The Untold Story of Bloom's Taxonomy and the Pyramid That Never Was.
- link in reply ⤵️
🤖 Made with AI
BingsCop retweeted
A big shout out to @PCSnow1604 (and @MrZachG) again, as well as @C_Hendrick for the inspo!
xanderathienitis.substack.co…
BingsCop retweeted
What are the most effective methods of improving student achievement? An NYT investigation.
For me, the data point in the bottom left quadrant is absolutely critical to understanding why student achievement goes wrong so often: teachers making up their own curriculum.
nytimes.com/2026/09/28/upsho…
BingsCop retweeted
Math needs a phonics-style reckoning. This is a fantastic article by @mattyglesias. Thank you for writing this piece on math and for the shout out. You've explained my position perfectly.
Drilling & mastering the basics isn't the enemy of understanding. It's a prerequisite!
open.substack.com/pub/matthe…
BingsCop retweeted
A new review of texts from US grad schools of education asks: what are new teachers actually being taught? Some of the advice is quite concerning.
aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2…
BingsCop retweeted
It's difficult to overestimate how damaging this view of teaching and learning has been for so many kids.
Virtually every teacher trained over the last 50 years was taught that knowing stuff is the least important part of thinking.
This image taken from Utica University's assessment resources for faculty:
utica.edu/academic/Assessmen…
BingsCop retweeted
Many schools today hold smart kids back.
They’ve eliminated gifted classes to address “historical inequity.”
“This is so misguided,” says @MichaelPetrilli, of @educationgadfly.
We show how that hurts ALL kids:
BingsCop retweeted
'Reading comprehension is not a “skill” like riding a bike or making free throws in basketball. It’s heavily dependent on the background knowledge readers bring to a text.
Thus your ability to make a correct inference when reading about baseball, for example, does not mean you can make correct inferences when reading about a Japanese tea ceremony.
There’s no abstract skill called “inferencing” that you can practice, master, and apply with equal effect on whatever you read. This places strict limits on reading strategies.
That said, test score gains have long been associated with Reading Comprehension Strategies (RCS). “The funny thing about reading comprehension strategy instruction is that it really shouldn’t work, but it does,” the pair note. But once kids get the big idea behind RCS—that a piece of text is trying to tell us something—there’s zero evidence that repeated practice has any beneficial effect. Ten lessons are as good as fifty. “The implication seems obvious,” they conclude. “RCS instruction should be explicit and brief.”'
@rpondiscio with a tight description of a central insight in comprehension.
BingsCop retweeted
NHJ couldn’t be a more perfect example of Thomas Sowell’s The Vision of the Annointed.
BingsCop retweeted
The crazy thing is that Roland Fryer did a lot of research on what works for helping kids in impoverished areas to have better outcomes:
youtu.be/dnOi0w8rgYs?t=797&i…
