A Brief History of Standardized Testing

The ACT and its counterpart, the SAT, have become one of the largest determining factors in the college-admissions process, particularly for élite schools. At least this year's applicants should be familiar with the format by now: students in the U.S. are taking more standardized tests than ever before, and at ages long before college beckons. (FULL ARTICLE HERE)

When do the October 2009 PSAT scores come back?

The October PSAT scores for Miami-Dade and Broward county come back any day now, here in the middle of December. many parents don't know much about the PSAT and it is important for them to become knowledgeable about this important test.

Check out this article to find out some basics about the exam.

The New GRE, Redux

ETS, the company who puts out the GRE is making some changes to the test in 2011. Students will be able to back to questions on the computer based tests, something they cannot do on the current iteration of the exam. They will alos be increasing the amount of reading comprehension on the test. This will be global so it will directly affect South Florida test takers. Read more at the Inside Higher Ed blog.

The College Search - The ACT/SAT Tests

David Murphy weighs in on the SAT and the ACT:

December 8, 2009 (WPVI) -- "Any student who wants to go to college must take either the SAT or the ACT standardized tests. But there are some misconceptions out there about this process that I want to dispel. (read the full article here)"

Graduate Schools Win Chinese Protection Against Test Cheaters

"Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- A Chinese court barred a Beijing- based Internet site from selling materials such as questions from the Graduate Management Admission Test, bolstering business schools’ efforts to combat cheating by applicants."

Finally the Chinese government is getting in line with the rest of the world to prevent cheating on the business school admission test.

City clears self in bizarre test spike

An investigation into test scores at a school in the Bronx that skyrocketed and then plummeted back to earth after a principal received a $15k bonus and then retired has closed with no evidence of wrongdoing, despite the principal in question never being interviewed.

Top Students are choosing community colleges

In these tough economic times, more top students are choosing to attend community college. A lot of these students are flocking to honors programs that had previously been difficult to fill.

NYC's Rubber Rooms

What do you do with a teacher who has been accused of violating a policy, but whose case has not been decided? In NYC, the teachers are put into what are known as rubber rooms, sitting idly by, sometimes for years until a complex system of appeals is resolved.

The New Yorker has an excellent piece on it.

Upcoming Holiday Break on your Wallets!

JLP Education Services would like to wish all of you a Happy Holiday Season! During these next few weeks, students will be released from school and it will become the perfect time to not only reconnect with family and friends, but to also catch-up and get ahead on school projects, standardized test-prep, and college applications, without the added stress of long school days and extracurricular activities.

JLP staff is here to help your students take advantage of the Holiday Break!


Anyone who signs up during the month of December for SAT/ACT/GED/GRE test-prep, K-12 top-tiered customized tutoring, college admission essay help, and/or personalized family college consultations will receive huge discounts. Our prices for this holiday season have never been lower!

• $25/hour reduction on test-prep
• $15/hour reduction on JLP customized tutoring
• $30/hour reduction on admission essays
• $10/hour reduction on college consultations

*This holiday promotion also applies to JLP's group classes; no other company offers these in-home semi-private groups at this rate.


Generally, test-preparation and tutoring can have astronomical prices with little to no customer service, but with JLP's platform and beliefs, you can save hundreds, and at the same time receive boutique style customer service during your stressful holiday season. Call our office at (305) 894.6024 to see how we can help.

JLP looks forward to earning your trust and delivering you the best service in the industry. We also look forward to helping students achieve their personal best, the most wonderful gift they can give themselves and their parents during the holiday season!

Perfect Scores on the ACT and SAT

Rajiv Tarigopula scored a perfect mark on both the ACT and the SAT, the two most commonly used standardized tests in the United States. This is a very rare and special occurence that was achieved through diligent test preparation. Test prep works!

The Mayor, the Teachers and the Tests

The debate in NYC over how to measure school teachers' effectiveness continues on in the Op-Ed section of the NY Times. One reader objects to Mayor Bloomberg's attempts to link teacher tenure to test results.