The Independent Schools Admissions Association of Greater New York (ISAAGNY) announced today that it will no longer endorse the WPPSI-IV test for Kindergarten and 1st Grade admissions once it’s current contract with the Educational Records Bureau (ERB) ends in spring 2014. The decision comes after months of evaluation of the WPPSI-IV’s use as an assessment test for Kindergarten and 1st grade entry into many of the city’s private elementary schools.
The ISAAGNY created a Task Force of early childhood and admissions directors to evaluate the usefulness of the WPPSI as an assessment test for very young children. After deliberation with more than 60 different school members, the Task Force concluded that the WPPSI provided little insight into a child’s cognitive abilities and did not predict academic success and was therefore not effective for making admissions judgments.
The ISAAGNY also stated that its decision to stop using the WPPSI does not exclude private school from using ERB and WPPSI for admissions evaluation on an individual basis. The ISAAGNY will be meeting in the coming months to determine how best to assess children for private school admissions and will announce the new testing procedures (including any replacement tests) in February 2014.
Since these admissions tests are given to pre-reading, typically under 7-year-old children, the various IQ tests have many overlapping features (like Analogies, Categorization, Descriptive Language, Pattern Recognition, etc). Preparing for one test typically benefits other tests so there will still be benefits to preparing for the WPPSI until the new test is announced. Also, Aristotle Circle has prep materials and tutoring for most IQ tests that the ISAAGNY may choose to use in the future.
For more information on the ERB and WPPSI-IV, please contact us or call 1.800.467.0895.