藤儿点评：现世很多人不知道的一个事实，就是在崇尚个人自由精神的堂堂美国，也有人间地狱：一考定终生！而且是针对的仅仅年满4岁的幼子们。规模之大，持续时间之长，令人叹为观止！大家相信吗？

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来源：http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_Records_Bureau#Membership

Educational Records Bureau

Educational Records Bureau (ERB) is the only not-for-profit educational services organization offering assessments for both admission and achievement for independent and selective public schools for Pre K-grade 12.

Founded in 1927, ERB's mission is to create testing and learning solutions that help schools develop improved curriculum, teaching, and learning through diagnosis of assessment results that address essential learning standards.

ERB is headquartered in New York City and has over 2000 independent school and public school members globally.

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来源：2013-09-20 大纪元

纽约知名私校将废除入学招生测试

【大纪元2013年09月20日讯】（大纪元记者林南综合报导）纽约知名私校将废除入学招生测试的呼声越来越高，预计明年春天，大多数私立及独立学校可能会放弃统一标准化ERB(Educational Records Bureau)招生测试。    

《纽约时报》报导，代表大纽约地区130所私立和独立学校的大纽约独立学校招生协会（Independent School Admissions Association of Greater New York）本周表示，考虑到ERB考试补习及考前辅导泛滥，让测试结果变得失去意义。该协会将不再建议其会员学校使用这个测验。

专家表示，因为考前辅导泛滥，导致其“无法对儿童的阅读潜能、智商和成绩做出有效的推论，校方也清楚这项测试漏洞百出。”

该协会负责人海伊特（Patricia Hayot）说， 该协会跟考试管理者的合同将于明年春天结束。预计绝大多数学校将取消入学测试，但各学校在招生时可自由选择是否针对学生继续进行ERB测试。

自1966年参与管理ERB测试的一家非盈利组织ERB(Educational Records Bureau) 捍卫了其测试的功能。该组织的副主席曼加斯（Elizabeth Mangas）说:“我们认为，一个统一的评估标准符合学校、家长和儿童的最佳利益。”

过去数十年来，私校招生通常采用ERB测试，去年,3,173学生参加了该测试。最近在一项针对纽约市私立学校的调查中，80%报告说，他们发现,E.R.B.是有用的。

至少有一所学校迄今表示 ，它将坚持使用ERB入学测试。

海伊特说, 该协会正与一些专家共开发一项新的评估方案，可能考虑针对学生提供书面的评估标准，而不是只靠一个测试分数。

纽约市私立学校总是不愁生源，总是报名人数超过招生名额。根据全国独立学校协会2012年的数据，纽约41所12年制私立学校学费过去十年来一年级学生学费按通胀调整之后上升48%，而全美私立学校同一年级学费上升35%；常青藤高校学费上涨24%。

在 纽约市名牌私立学校中，哥伦比亚语法和预科学校（Columbia Grammar and Preparatory）今年12年级的年学费为38,340美元，霍雷斯曼（Horace Mann）高年级学费37,275美元，均高于哈佛的年学费36,305美元。 

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来源：2013-09-20 Staff New York Business Journal

Getting Junior into that elite Manhattan kindergarten might require a new strategy

A group of New York City private schools plans to stop using an entrance exam derived from the Weschler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, and offered by the Educational Records Bureau.

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, that test has been used for almost 50 years as a tool to help schools select students for kindergarten or first grade, and last year 3,173 prospective students took the test, at a cost to parents of $568 per test. However, the Journal reported, officials at those schools now say doing away with that component in admissions will actually lead to fairer choices, since standardized testing of children that young isn’t all that reliable a measure of their overall abilities, and because those officials believe the test-preparation industry is skewing results.

Representatives of testing and tutoring companies countered that such tests represent an objective measure of all applicants, perhaps the only one that can be applied to all of them in reasonably similar circumstances, the Journal said. Furthermore, one tutoring company representative told the New York Times, concerned parents could simply turn to different forms of preparation in their quest to land spots in the most desirable private schools.

The schools group, the Independent School Admissions Association of Greater New York, represents 130 schools, and its agreement with ERB runs through March 2014, the Journal said.