Kaplan Offers New Tools for Student Facing California's Challenging State Tests

New York, November 21, 2000 – Kaplan, Inc., the premier provider of test preparation services, announces the publication of new materials to help students perform their best on California's challenging Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program. The California Star Program Workbooks for Grade 3, Grade 8, and Grade 9 (Kaplan, Inc., and Simon & Schuster; December 2000; $12.00 each) offer a confidence-building combination of review, practice and strategy for students facing these important tests.
 
In California, performance on the STAR test has a significant impact on both school districts and students. Based on test performance, the state ranks all schools, showing how well or how poorly their students fared on the test. Beginning January 1, 2001, schools that performed well on the 2000 STAR tests may begin to reap significant monetary rewards, currently budgeted at $677 million statewide, for teachers and campuses. This represents the largest amount of money ever awarded, by any state, to its schools and teachers on the basis of the results of a single test. As for the students, it is up to each district to decide whether students who fail the STAR tests can be promoted. more than half the students who took the California STAR tests over the past two years scored below the national average in reading, mathematics, and language arts.
 
About 4.4 million California children in grades 2 to 11 will take the STAR tests-California's augmented Stanford 9-next spring. the Stanford 9 measures the performance of students against a national sample. In addition to that basic skills exam, California students answer questions specifically tied to the state standards in English-language arts and math.
 
Even with potentially so much at stake , California law prohibits schools from offering test preparation in the classrooms. While the motivation for this law may be to leave more classroom-time for teaching important material and concepts, it has the effect of putting much of the responsibility for preparing for the tests on children and families. Therefore, easy-to -use, clear and concise workbooks such as Kaplan's are essential.
 
The Kaplan California STAR Program Workbooks provide a complete program for understanding the exams, as well as confidence building tools for students preparing to take the tests. Features include:

Two sample tests with in-depth explanations
Test-taking strategies for each type of question
User-friendly format

In addition, Kaplan, Inc. introduced the Parent's Guide to the California STAR Program: Grades 3-4 (Kaplan, Inc. and Simon & Schuster Publishing, ISBN: 0-7432-0178-7) in September of this year. This new 64-page guide provides parents with valuable information and tools as their children face these challenging tests. In addition to explaining the basic structure of the tests and the objectives measured, this concise guide offers a range of activities designed to introduce students to basic test-taking techniques and to help them develop the basic skills measured by the test.
 
About the authors: This book taps collective expertise of the staff of Kaplan Learning Services. Kaplan, Inc. has been the leader in test preparation for 60 years.
 
Kaplan, Inc. (www.kaplan.com) is a premier provider of educational and career services for individuals, schools and businesses. Kaplan, Inc. offers test prep and admissions services (www.kaptest.com);K-12 educational programs for kids and parents through SCORE! Learning, Inc. and www.eSCORE.com; on-site education and professional development at schools and universities; books and software; professional education services; and an extensive array of distance learning programs (www.kaplanCollege.com). Kaplan, Inc. is also a shareholder in BrassRing, Inc. (www.brassRing.com), the business-to-business recruitment and hiring company that helps employers find and hire the right candidates faster. Kaplan, Inc. is a subsidiary of The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO).
 

CALIFORNIA STAR PROGRAM WORKBOOKS
GRADE 3: ISBN: 0-7432-0487-5
GRADE 8: ISBN: 0-7432-0488-3
GRADE 9: ISBN: 0-7432-0489-1
Publication date: December 2000
Price: Each workbook is $12.00
Press Contact: pubrel@kaplan.com, (212) 492-5965