Karen Dillard and SAT Prep

There have been stories in the local press and the national press about the lawsuit the College Board has filed against Karen Dillard.

I heard a report about this lawsuit on Channel 5 news, which made it sound awful that Karen Dillard had the PSAT test.

There are hundreds of copies of the PSAT test floating around Plano. I have two copies of the test, along with the answers! If you are not familiar with the test, you might not know that the students get their test booklets and the answers to the test.

I recommend every parent look over the test, work the math problems their child got wrong, and coach your child on how to get past the trickery of the College Board. And if you cannot solve all the problems your child got wrong on math, how can you help your child? Why, you have to go to a school like Karen Dillard's.

The benefits of Karen Dillard's program go beyond the preparation material she uses. I believe the advice she gives on how to look at the test results and how to handle the complexities of the college application process is good advice.

We are lucky to have her in Plano. And I believe we are lucky to have Michael Novotny as Principal of Jasper High School.

As I read the articles in the newspapers I was reminded of an article in the Wall Street Journal, Wed. Feb. 20, 2008, "Big Retail Chains Dun Mere Suspects in Theft," by Ann Zimmerman. This article gave an account of how Glenn Rudge was accused by Home Depot of stealing an $8 set of drill bits. The store would not listen to him when he said he had a receipt. The prosecutor dropped the charges when Mr. Rudge showed his receipt for the drill bits, but Home Depot still gave his name to a collection agency that tried to shake him down for over $6,000.

Can you believe this? Home Depot and their collection agency wanted $6,000 payment in a dispute over a $8 set of drill bits. Eventually the handy man had to get a lawyer and sue Home Depot. Just because a big business wants money, that does not mean it is entitled to that money. I hope the College Board is mistaken in their lawsuit.

This does give us all an opportunity to talk to our children about intellectual property rights.

The PSAT/SAT/ACT tests are an important part of our kids' high school experience. The story is a good reminder that parents should stay involved with their children's education, including helping them prepare for the SAT, which is tricky.

The story is also a reminder that we can improve the Plano ISD curriculum to better prepare our children for the SAT. For example, the district policy of telling kids to guess the meaning of words instead of looking them up in a dictionary is bad for our children. This policy reduces their vocabulary and reduces their SAT verbal scores.

Robert