SAT Will Now Give Students “Adversity Scores” Based on Social & Economic Background

by Shahrzad WarkentinMay 17, 2019

There are a lot of factors that go into a student’s success. Now the College Board wants universities to consider the socioeconomic background of a prospective student by implementing an SAT adversity score.

As the Wall Street Journal is repotting, the College Board is launching the “Environmental Context Dashboard,” which would measure factors like the crime rate and poverty levels of a student’s neighborhood, to provide a more well-rounded picture of their “resourcefulness to overcome challenges and achieve more with less.”

The College Board says it's been testing a tool that will give students who take the SATs a score that measures their economic hardships and other disadvantages. https://t.co/2CtrYAUDjD

— NPR (@NPR) May 17, 2019

The score will not take into account a student’s race, but it will look at things like average class size and the percentage of students eligible for free and reduced lunch. Colleges will be able to see this new score in addition to the standard SAT score, but students will only be given the standard number.

The change comes in light of the recent scandal over wealthy families allegedly paying bribes to have the SAT taken by others in order to get their kids into high-profile universities.

“There is talent and potential waiting to be discovered in every community — the children of poor rural families, kids navigating the challenges of life in the inner city, and military dependents who face the daily difficulties of low income and frequent deployments as part of their family’s service to our country,” David Coleman, chief executive officer of the College Board said in a statement sent to CNN, adding, “No single test score should ever be examined without paying attention to this critical context.”

—Shahrzad Warkentin

Featured photo: F1Digitals via Pixabay

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Here’s Why Superhero Play Is Good for Your Child’s Development

by Erica LoopApril 23, 2019

The littles zip across the playroom floor, swishing capes trailing behind them. They run, tumble, jump and whirl in an elaborate superhero-fueled scene. Whether they’re acting out the newest Marvel movie or are imagining their own scenario starring Spiderman, your kids are majorly into this kind of pretend play. And science says it’s okay.

When it comes to superhero play, science may actually say it’s more than okay. As it turns out, what seems like a simple good versus bad guy routine may benefit your pre-k kiddo in some pretty impressive ways.

photo: Porapak Apichodilok via Pexels

So what can superhero play do for your young child? According to a 2015 article on the subject, published in the journal Pastoral Care in Education, superhero play can help children improve language skills, social skills and problem-solving abilities. Beyond these developmental benefits, this type of pretend fantasy play can also help preschool-aged kids cope with fears.

Your preschooler doesn’t have the cognitive ability to process scary or uncertain situations in the same way that you do. Don’t worry, they will—just not right now. Superhero play allows the young child to take on a powerful role and basically defeat evil. This gives the child the chance to explore a new role and feel a sense of power.

Dr. Gene Beresin, executive director of the Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital, told Romper, “They are beginning to appreciate that in many situations, they feel helpless, fearful, powerless, unable to overcome many obstacles. Many are afraid of the dark, monsters, being separated from parents, or harmed by ‘bad guys.’ They look for ominous creatures under their beds. They worry and fear about being helpless and weak in the face of adversity.”

Beresin sums up this powerful benefit, telling Romper, “By identifying with superheroes, they become strong, invincible, use superpowers, aggression, and other skills to protect themselves, and ally fears.”

—Erica Loop

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Watch This Single Mom Make “Shark Tank” Investors Cry with Her Powerful Pitch

by Shahrzad WarkentinFebruary 3, 2019

It’s not often that contestants on ABC’s Shark Tank elicit a shocking reaction from the investors, but a single mom managed to leave them in tears with her incredible story.

On a recent episode of Shark Tank, mom and entrepreneur Whitney Lundeen from Palo Alto, California pitched the investors on a stake in her clothing company, Sonnet James. As Whitney explained, the idea for her company came about when she got tired of mom-look staples like yoga pants and wanted to come up with something fashionable, but easy to clean.

“I was going through a difficult time in my life, and so I had this idea of making a dress that my mom could have worn that could have reminded her to play with me when I was little,” Lundeen says. “And I said, ‘Alright, this year, I’m going to take the idea, and I’m going to teach myself how to sew, and I’m going to pattern draft.’ And every night, I would pretty much sit on the kitchen floor crying, trying to teach myself how to do two things I didn’t know how to do.”

The Sharks asked Lundeen to explain what she meant by the idea of the dress reminding her mom to play with her. Holding back tears, Lundeen says that she had a challenging childhood that included some abuse. “My parents did the best they could with what they had,” she explained. “I found when I became a mom, I couldn’t engage with my kids as much as I wanted to. And I wanted something that could help me be the mother that I had always wanted to be, and something that could remind me every day when I put it on what my priorities were.”

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Her words sent several of the Sharks into tears. “How fantastic that you took adversity, and you said, ‘That’s not going to pull me down, it’s only going to rise me up,’” investor Lori Greiner responded. Needless to say, Lundeen walked away with a happy ending and the investment she was hoping for.

Check out all the super chic collections of Lundeen’s dresses at the Sonnet James website.

—Shahrzad Warkentin

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SAT Will Now Give Students “Adversity Scores” Based on Social & Economic Background

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