DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
P.O.
SUPTS. MEMO NO. 184
September 15, 2006
INFORMATIONAL
|
TO: |
Division
Superintendents |
|
FROM: |
Billy K. Cannaday, Jr. Superintendent
of Public Instruction |
|
SUBJECT: |
VirginiaMentor SAT and ACT Test
Preparation |
The Virginia Department of
Education is pleased to announce statewide availability of a test preparation
module through VirginiaMentor at www.virginiamentor.org.
The VirginiaMentor
Test Prep feature provides easy-to-use tutorials for each subject area covered
by the ACT, the SAT, and the Graduate Record Exam (GRE). This new feature on the VirginiaMentor
website is funded through the Commonwealths National Governors Association
(NGA) Honor States grant and is available to all students preparing for these
key tests.
Students may establish
accounts on the site by pressing the Create an Account button under the VirginiaMentor logo at the top of the main page. Students will then have access to customized
test preparation courses. The websites
feature a series of tutorials covering all the subject areas and/or question
types seen on the various tests. Each
tutorial provides between 30 and 90 minutes of instructional material. Students are able to refine their academic
skills by working through practice questions in each subject or question
type. Practice sessions dynamically
adapt to each user's response patterns, providing questions that are tailored
to each students ability level. At the
end of each practice session students receive a percentile ranking.
Users will have their own
personalized test preparation home page that will record their progress across
a number of different categories and include comparative performance
ratings. Students will also be able to
select a parent, teacher, or counselor as "coach who will be able to
monitor the student's performance and receive e-mail updates about the student's
progress.
For additional information,
please contact Deborah Kiger Bliss, mathematics
coordinator, Office of Middle and High School Instruction, by e-mail at Deborah.Bliss@doe.virginia.gov,
or by telephone at (804) 786-6418.
BKC/DB/yba