Abacus Mom

Why You May Want to Start Your Child's ISEE Prep this Spring

Many of our educational consulting clients from public school and even many private schools complain that their children's vocabulary, writing skills and/or math skills are lacking.  For these students, early prep can help not only with ISEE or SSAT test scores, but also with school grades and essay writing.

Here's what we offer at Private School Authority:

Jump Start Math Program

For students who need that extra bit of help with their math performance, we provide our Jump Start Math Program.  During this program, we focus on the fundamentals of the quantitative reasoning portions of each exam, teaching our students strategies, formulas, tactics, and processes to improve their scores and lower their anxiety.  Students in our Jump Start Math program receive full, comprehensive instruction in all areas where they need the help most.

Jump Start Verbal Program

For students who need that extra bit of help on the verbal portions of the exam, we provide our Jump Start Verbal Program.  During this program, we focus on the fundamentals of the verbal  reasoning portions of each exam, teaching our students strategies, vocabulary, tactics, and grammatical concepts to improve their scores and lower their anxiety.  Students in our Jump Start Verbal program receive full, comprehensive instruction in all areas where they need the help most.

 Jump Start Writing Program

For students who need help writing their ISEE / SSAT essays, we offer the Jump Start Writing program.  Our 10-hour program teaches students the fundamentals of proper essay writing, introducing them to such topics as thesis construction, topic sentence formation, and general essay structure.  The benefits of this program reach far beyond test scores - Jump Start Writing will teach your child how to construct and edit perfect essays for the rest of his or her academic career.

My Child Has to Take the ERB! Wait, What is the ERB?

If your child is applying to prekindergarten (at many, but not all, private schools), kindergarten (at almost all schools) or 1st grade, she will be asked to take the ERB.  Other ERB names you may encounter are WPPSI or ECAA. 

The ERB is supposedly an IQ test, but if you ask around you will find that you know a lot of bright  people who bombed the test as preschoolers.  Research indicates that ERB scores have no bearing on future success.  That said, NYC private schools persist in using the ERB as a screening device.  Even the people who make the ERB never intended it to be a private school screening device.

So what is the ERB?  Briefly:

Verbal Section

Children have to define words, explain how words are similar, answer riddles, and explain social conventions and general knowledge.

Performance Section

Children use block cubes to replicate the tester's design, select pictures that are conceptually similar, copy symbols from a key, and figure out what's missing from an incomplete table of objects.

Parents I work with are always amazed what preschoolers are supposed to be able to accomplish.

Why ERB Prep Will Not Get Your Preschooler Banished from Exclusive Private School Kindergartens

There is an urban myth, kept alive by some in the NYC private schools community, that if you prep your preschooler for the ERB (WPPSI), she will be sussed out by her omniscient ERB tester.  The ERB tester will then write up her score report, using damning language written in a private code, and little Sally will be forever blocked from admission to prestigious Manhattan (or Brooklyn or Riverdale) private school.

Fortunately, it isn't true.

I know this because I have read the ERB score reports of nearly a thousand children.  In recent years, almost 100% (not including the ones from children of  naive parents who call me, bereft, when their unprepped kids flop on the exam) have prepped, either using toys, workbooks, tutoring, or a combination.  Not a single child has been outed.  I worried about one client's child--the tester was unusually explicit about her being oddly familiar with the test materials--who later, somehow, got into a very sought-after downtown private school.

The point is that in 2012 we live at a time when nursery schools themselves often quietly directly or indirectly prep and even sometimes recommend tutors for the test.  The Educational Records Bureau releases its own test prep booklet.  So almost everyone is prepping in one way or another.  Discreetly.

The concept of four year olds prepping for an exam is abhorrent.  But as long as NYC private schools use the ERB as a sorting mechanism--the root of the problem--parents will try to help their children succeed.

Many of my educational consulting clients have liked these materials for ERB prep:

Aristotle Circle ERB Test Prep Workbook

or

Bright Kids ERB Test Prep Workbook

However, other families are opposed to subjecting their kids to test prep workbooks.  Those families prefer to go around the problem: that is, prep their preschoolers in the skills and capabilities the ERB / WPPSI performance section tests rather than specifically working on the test questions themselves.   Many kids and parents have liked the educational toys and workbooks below.

ERB PERFORMANCE TEST PREP KIT

Coding

The Write Start: A Guide to Nurturing Writing at Every Stage, from Scribbling to Forming Letters and Writing Stories 

I Can Draw Animals (Kid Kits)

Melissa & Doug Jumbo Triangular Colored Pencils 24 pack 

Melissa & Doug Triangular Crayons - 24 pack 

Matrix Reasoning

Building Thinking Skills Primary

Early Visual Skills

Colorama Game

Picture Concepts

Same or Different Workbook

Block Design

Block Buddies

Tangoes Jr.

Picture Perfect

Magna Tiles

For more:

Kindergarten Private School Interviews / ERB: Educational Prep Toys?

Kindergarten Private School Interviews / ERB: Educational Prep Toys?

More and more families have been asking me about useful toys and activities to prep their children for private school kindergarten interviews.  Let me be clear: I am against kindergarten interview prepping.  Just by attending nursery school, your child is getting excellent exposure to educational toys and activities similar to what he or she will see at private school kindergarten interviews.  That said, if you're looking for fun, stimulating toys to round out your family's collection, here are some suggestions that my clients' kids have enjoyed:

DRAWING, WRITING

The Write Start: A Guide to Nurturing Writing at Every Stage, from Scribbling to Forming Letters and Writing Stories 

I Can Draw Animals (Kid Kits)

Melissa & Doug Jumbo Triangular Colored Pencils 24 pack 

Melissa & Doug Triangular Crayons - 24 pack

MATH

MindWare Pattern Play

Blue Orange Pengoloo

MindWare Imaginets

Learning Resources Pizza Fractions

BUILDING / THINKING

Block Buddies

Tangoes Jr.

Picture Perfect

Magna Tiles

Magna-Tiles Translucent Colors 

Mighty Mind

Tangoes

BrainQuest Cards

Kindergarten ERB Prep: Complete ERB Performance Section Prep Kit

Reposted below is a popular blog entry from April that got buried on my site:

Parents tend to worry about the performance section of the ERB / WPPSI test used in NYC private school kindergarten admission.

"No question Joe is verbal.  But can he perform? What is the ERB performance section anyway?"

The ERB / WPPSI performance section tests children's eye hand coordination, processing speed and accuracy, and non-verbal reasoning skills.

Nowadays you can buy ERB test prep books specifically designed to crack the ERB performance section:

Aristotle Circle ERB Test Prep Workbook

Bright Kids ERB Test Prep Workbook

However, some families prefer to go around the problem: that is, prep their preschoolers in the skills and capabilities the ERB / WPPSI performance section tests rather than specifically working on the test questions themselves. 

If you fall into this camp, here are some useful ERB prep performance section books and toys.

ERB PERFORMANCE TEST PREP KIT

Coding

The Write Start: A Guide to Nurturing Writing at Every Stage, from Scribbling to Forming Letters and Writing Stories 

I Can Draw Animals (Kid Kits)

Melissa & Doug Jumbo Triangular Colored Pencils 24 pack 

Melissa & Doug Triangular Crayons - 24 pack 

Matrix Reasoning

Building Thinking Skills Primary

Early Visual Skills

Colorama Game

Picture Concepts

Same or Different Workbook

Block Design

Block Buddies

Tangoes Jr.

Picture Perfect

Magna Tiles

Which NYC Private Schools Don't Require the ERB for Kindergarten?

Little Red?

Village Community School?

Ramaz?

Lycee Francais?

Corlears?

Sorry, these Manhattan private schools changed their entrance policies.  They want the ERB for kindergarten.

So which private schools don't?

• Saint Ann's
• City and Country
• Manhattan Country School
• Bank Street
• Calhoun
• Mandell

and a few more which I share with my School Selection clients.  I also help them determine less competitive private school possibilities and strategies given a disappointing ERB score.

Private School Authority Relocating Clients Accepted Into Top New York City Private Schools

ERB / ISEE tutor Anthony-James Green and I are delighted that a number of our Private School Authority clients whom we assisted with ISEE test prep, interviewing, applications, and essays have just been accepted into elite Manhattan private schools off the regular admissions cycle.  One client just emailed me this afternoon:

<Child's name> has been accepted to the school starting in September so it is fantastic news for us. Let me take this opportunity to thank you for your assistance which has been great for us. It has been a pleasure to work this through with you and please add me on your reference list of happy clients. Again thank you very much.

More on When Should My Child Start Kindergarten

Thanks to Jessica Kelmon of GreatSchools for her excellent article, When should kids start kindergarten?  Kelmon writes:

Yet another part of the equation with today’s high-stakes testing is that we expect more of kindergartners. Unfortunately, they’re less prepared for success. "Kindergarten is much more academic than ever," says Emily Glickman, a Manhattan-based educational consultant. "Many people feel that kindergarten is the new first grade."

Kelmon has also written a worthwhile new story about When Should Kids Repeat a Grade.

Private School Authority Snags Renowned ISEE and SSAT Tutor Nick Ordway

Abacus Guide's ERB / ISEE and SSAT tutoring division, Private School Authority, is expanding rapidly.  Families throughout Manhattan (and also interestingly Westchester, Boston, LA, Germany, and Singapore) are signing up for our uniquely personalized and efficient program, geared exclusively toward ERB /ISEE and SSAT test success. 

Our specialty is motivating our students - progress can only be made once a student wants to make progress.  We internalize students’ desire for success, and then from there we develop strategies and tactics to improve ERB / ISEE and SSAT test scores.

We're delighted that Nick Ordway is joining our team as Master Tutor.  Since 2003, Nick Ordway has been a tutor specializing in standardized test prep, quickly gaining gratitude from his students and respect from his peers.  Nick received a BA in English literature, with a minor in theater, from Princeton University and an MFA in film production from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. When he’s not tutoring, Nick teaches film at the Lee Strasberg Institute.

Nick started his teaching career with an established tutoring company, working in their offices in Connecticut and Thailand. Later he began tutoring independently, with families hearing about him from satisfied friends.  Besides the SSAT and ISEE, Nick has tutored the SAT, ACT, GRE, TOEFL, various SAT II subject tests, physics, chemistry, writing, and mathematics from pre-algebra all the way through to calculus.  

Nick combines exceptional warmth, listening skills and flexibility, teaching to students' individual levels and helping them reach them their greatest potential.  He is a favorite of both students and parents.

If your child will be taking the ERB / ISEE or SSAT now is the time to call for our Jump Start or Blaster Program.  212-712-2228 or email info(at)privateschoolauthority.com

NYC ERB / ISEE and SSAT Test Prep and Tutoring: Now is the Time to Book for Fall 2011

If you live in NYC and you're still dithering about ERB/ ISEE or SSATtest prep for Manhattan or Riverdale private high school or middle school admission, now is the time to get cracking. 

We know your child is about to leave for camp.  Unfortunately the ERB / ISEE is still right around the corner.  Tutoring definitely helps improve scores, and you want to hire a compassionate, savvy, efficient tutor who can get the job done right, minimizing your family's stress.

Luckily, in many cases, tutoring can start in the fall, but you want to book now because the best ERB / ISEE tutors can service only a limited number of students.  Private School Authority's Anthony-James Green is already nearly at full ERB capacity, and our second-in-command, Nick, is right behind him.

Right now, you can get a free ERB ISEE Guide for a limited time.  The guide demystifies the testing process.

If you sign up in the next few weeks for ERB ISEE tutoring, we will work our hardest to ensure that Anthony or Nick come to you at the day and time that work best for your family's fall schedule.  We give scheduling priority on a first-come, first-served basis, recognizing that your fall may not be finalized yet.

We look forward to hearing from you about your ISEE needs:  212-712-2228 or info@privateschoolauthority.com