European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 30, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday january 30, 1989 the stars and stripes Page Battle be Ween sat fest coach no expert raises ethical issues  new York times Call it a Katzman and mouse game. The predator is John Katzman who has won Fame and Fortune showing col lege bound students How to trick the Scholastic aptitude test. His prey is the educational testing service which develops the test and administers it to More than 1 million col lege applicants annually. For seven years Katzman founder of the Princeton review test coaching com Pany has been developing tricks that give his clients an Edge Over other test takers while the testing service has been scratching its corporate head to devise ways to foil his efforts. The result has been pretty much a draw with Katzman forced to modify his teaching methods and the service its tests. To outsiders the situation May be Amus ing but it also raises some ethical issues. Test makers argue that by teaching students to rely on what they see As tricks rather than on the substantive education Al knowledge Princeton review is in effect engaged in the academic equivalent of providing steroids to athletes. He s teaching students to try to beat the system look for shortcuts find the easy Way said Donald Stewart presi Dent of the College Board which Spon sors the sat. As a Parent and an Educa Tor this concerns  Katzman says he has made the pro Cess More honest by exposing what the tests actually measure. They Aren t just tests of the verbal and mathematics skills taught in the schools he said. They also measure How Good you Are at understanding the particular language that ets uses to Frame questions. That kind of a test i inherently  one Staple Princeton review trick concerned the experimental Section slipped into every test Booklet. It s the test maker s Way of developing future questions. Answers do not count on the student s score. Katzman argues that students should not have to endure the frustration of having to Cope with questions Many of them exceptionally difficult that will not affect their scores. So he taught his clients to spot and avoid the experimental Section. Techniques for identifying the unsfored Section used to be remarkably simple. The experimental math Section for instance used to be six pages Long the real one four. Once it found out what was going on the testing service made the Section Lay outs identical. We be hidden the experimental Section said Arthur Kroll vice president of the testing service. On this one Katzman concedes  be stopped teaching it he said. In another change ets now prints the number of each Section in Large bold Type across the top of each Page so that proc tors can be sure students Are working on the Correct timed Section. This grows out of the allegations de Nied by Katzman that Princeton re View clients used the time they saved on the. Experimental Section to cast the Reyes elsewhere. Princeton review also used to teach students that they could rip off the Cor Ner of one Page and use it As a form of crude protractor for estimating the an Swers to geometry problems. To combat the practice the testing service reduced the number of geometry problems drawn to scale and added a Rule against ripping test booklets. Another Princeton review trademark was its hit Parade of words that appeared frequently on past tests. Kroll insists that ets now makes a Point of not repeating those words but Katzman asserts that somewhat to his Surprise the list still works. Kroll concedes that Katzman has identified some inconsistencies in for mat and layout in the sat and that he has forced the testing service to make cosmetic changes. Katzman asserts some of the changes Are substantive. The easiest algebra questions to coach Are the Short ones he said. Now they have doubled the number of questions that have four or More lines. They Are not test ing math so much As they Are the ability thread ets  Katzman concedes that in part be cause of the Wiles of the testing service we now spend less time on test taking techniques and More on teaching Basic math and  for its part ets has let it be known that it is considering major changes in the test that would put More emphasis on sustained Reading open ended mat questions and writing. " is Dave Didio Victoria Smith a 17-year-old Junior at Giessen High school in West Germany wears safety goggles As she concentrates on adjusting a Clamp in Elizabeth Stewart s chemistry Laboratory. The student is the daughter of set. 1st class James and Marie Kirker. Nea lauds teacher Merit pay plan in a. By the Washington Post the head of the nation s largest teach ers Union which has Long considered Merit pay anathema has warmly embraced the pay for performance program of Fairfax county va., calling it a Model for school systems nationwide. Other districts around the nation might learn something from Fairfax county said the president of the National education association Mary hat Wood Futrell in a speech to the Fairfax chamber of Commerce. If this feb. 14, the school Board votes to fully fund the teacher evaluation performance pay plan then that Day will truly become historic. The fact is that full funding would mean that Fairfax county had succeeded at precisely that juncture where other school districts have so often failed. Fairfax will probably be the first county in the country to make performance based pay a  Futrell s statements could prove to be a major boost for a program that has habits share of rough sailing. Although most Fairfax teachers have voted to continue the program which is being phased in there have been bitter complaints from some educators that the evaluation system erodes morale is too subjective and has soured relationships among instructors who used to share teaching tips but now compete for Money. Futrell s remarks placed her in the ironic position of supporting the same Merit pay system that on previous Occa Sions has drawn Praise from former pres ident Reagan and her group s Arch enemy former Secretary of education William j. Bennett. The Nea traditionally has resisted Merit pay plans arguing that salaries should be raised for All teachers instead of just the top rated ones and that evaluations conducted by principals could be subjective and unfair. Although the group s local affiliate the Fairfax education association has quarrelled with aspects of the program the group has backed the program since the inception of it in Fairfax in 1986. The National group however has kept at Arm s length at least publicly. She kind of broke out today said the Fairfax superintendent of schools Robert r. Spillane who is the prime mover behind Merit pay in the county. The Nea s move was seen by some education experts in part As a Way to counteract its smaller rival Union the american federation of teachers which has adopted a much publicized Reform movement under Way in Rochester . Both unions have Felt pressure in re cent years because Bennett put them into position of opposing change. Linda Darling Hammond director of the education program at the Rand corp., said the speech represents the Evo Lution in the unions positions As the National education Reform movement has caught fire. But at the same time she noted it also represents How school districts like Fairfax have Learned to design Merit pay plans that Are More sensitive to teachers concerns. Traditionally Merit pay plans have fallen by the Wayside in District after District because they were hurriedly implemented lacked teacher support used quota systems As their foundations or tried to build on salary Scales that were too inadequate to begin with