AccuTutor

Good article in today's Times about the value of going to college: "Is College Worth It? Clearly, New Data Say" http://nyti.ms/1hsyj9r

Is College Worth It? Clearly, New Data Say The pay gap between college graduates and everyone else rose to a record high last year, suggesting there are too few graduates.

Dear High School Students: you can get a jump on college by making sure you're resisting this lure now!

Can College Students Resist The Lure Of Facebook, Twitter During Class? : NPR What's a professor to do when students are more focused on their electronic gadgets than on class? Commentator and William and Mary professor Barbara J. King writes an open letter to students, and issues them a challenge.

Tomorrow, AccuTutor launches a new test prep course for middle schoolers applying to private schools, boarding schools or NYC's Specialized High Schools. The course will cover the ISEE, SSAT and SHSAT so that students taking any or all of them will be prepared to do their best on test day. If you would like your school to host this custom course or the AccuTutor customized, hosted SAT course, please contact the office.

Very interesting pieces in yesterday's NY Times with insight into the impact of homework and lack of sleep on teenagers, mentioning Michael's alma mater, Trinity School. Follow this link, along with this one: http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/let-sleepy-students-lie. Do you feel like kids have too much homework now (do they really have 5 hours?)? Or do kids, especially teens, simply have too many activities in the hope of improving their well-roundedness for college applications?

Tough New York Private Schools Try to Lighten Load Some of New York City’s most competitive high schools, like Dalton, Trinity and Horace Mann, are working to address student stress.

Many people still enjoy having books in their hands--but for textbooks, it looks like the shift has begun towards electronic versions, which can be interactive and inexpensively updated and distributed. Do kids already have too much screen time? What will be the impact on learning when you're no longer "hitting the books" but instead clicking on links?

An Indiana School System Goes Digital In Munster, Ind., a school system turned to laptops and interactive computer programs in a million-dollar digital makeover that included a rental laptop for every student.

Nick Kristof is an excellent advocate for Third World countries--and for those left behind in our own. Read his thoughts about how one of the least expensive ways to reduce inequality in the U.S. is to educate all children early.

Occupy the Classroom Want to close the equality gap? Providing early childhood education would be a great place to start, and it might even pay for itself.

AccuTutor will have a booth at the 3rd Avenue Street Fair this Saturday, 9/9 between 79th-80th Streets. If you're in the area, please stop by to say hello.

Interesting article about information recall, and how testing may be a powerful way to remember things later. Perhaps a test functions a little like a vaccine? Not much fun, but a way for your brain/body to remember things later on?

Test-Taking Cements Knowledge Better Than Studying, Researchers Say Test-taking actually helps people learn, and it works better than repeated studying and “concept mapping.”

It's been busy at AccuTutor lately, with the start of an SAT course, but I could not resist posting the links to these commentaries and the original article [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html] about "extreme parenting." I would never dare attempt this with my children; does anyone know of someone who has done so successfully?

Is Extreme Parenting Effective? - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com Does strict control of a child's life lead to greater success or can it be counterproductive?