Childhood Achievement test

Cece Waters, a mother of three in Menlo Park, Calif., says she's glad to cart the kids to soccer matches and other organized activities. But with the structure has also come heightened competition, and she sometimes feels she needs to buffer her children from a "win, win, all the time" attitude.

• E-mail marjorie@csmonitor.com

The ordeal that New York City parents go through to get their children into the right kindergarten has become a bit of a national joke. Stories abound of 3-year-olds with résumés, 6-month-olds taking foreign-language instruction, and admissions counseling that begins during pregnancy.

But competitive New Yorkers are not unique when it comes to testing tots. Private schools across the United States generally require test scores for admissions, even for their youngest applicants.

The government is getting into the act as well, with the Bush administration announcing that all 500,000 4-year-olds enrolled in Head Start will be given standardized tests.

Of course, there are differences. The government testing would be done to determine what children have learned. The tests relied on by private schools generally attempt to measure intelligence.

The most popular of the latter category is the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence - better known as the WPPSI. Taking between 45 and 60 minutes, it includes a verbal portion - designed to test a child's vocabulary and overall verbal skills - and a performance-based section, in which a child completes tasks such as drawing a line through a maze or using scissors to cut a paper spiral.

Despite widespread use of tests for the under-5 set, their reliability remains a point of debate.

"It's a very flawed system," says Samuel Meisels, president of Erikson Institute, a graduate school of child development in Chicago. In children so young, intellectual development is still fluid, changing almost monthly, he says.

Some suggest WPPSI reveals much more about social class than intelligence.

"It doesn't mean that kids who don't do well on this aren't bright," Dr. Meisels says. "Part of the tragedy of this is that the stakes become very high very early in children's lives."

http://preparingforcollege.usc.edu

WHAT: A site created by the University of Southern California to help middle and high school students navigate the college- preparation process.

BEST POINTS: The site covers college-prep course schedules, homework requirements, standardized testing, college research, financial aid, teacher recommendations, interview tips, and summer plans. There is also a searchable database of "success stories" written by graduates who studied a variety of subjects at different colleges.

There are separate navigation portals for students, parents, and guidance counselors. The site offers grade-by-grade checklists of steps students need to take to get into college based on their grade level, grade-point average, and the courses they've taken. It suggests starting early, advising eighth-graders to take a foreign language and algebra.

What you should know: Full access to the site's resources requires registration. The site asks for personal information including a mailing address, ethnicity, and whether the student is the first generation in the family planning to attend college.

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