Career Tracking for Kindergartners. Parody or Fact?

ACT assesses kindergartners for college/career track so they can reach full potential?

Is this from The Onion or fact?

WASHINGTON -- A new digital tool to test academic and behavioral skills will target students starting in kindergarten.

ACT, the organization that developed the ACT college-entrance exam, will start testing the tool in the fall. It will be available to schools starting in 2014.The tool tracks students' career interests, academic performance and progress toward goals. It's designed to follow students from kindergarten through high school.

Jon Erickson, president of ACT's education division, said the goal is to identify and address gaps in skills needed for college and the workforce. The assessment combines traditional testing with teacher-led projects to generate an instant, digital score.

It's a multimillion dollar project, ACT officials said, but will be affordable and easily accessible.

Schools won't be compelled to use the new tool, but Erickson said he anticipates that entire states or groups of states will choose to utilize it. The tool can be customized to include state-specific benchmarks and other performance measures.

This was reported by The Huffington Post,  The Denver Post, and The San Francisco Chronicle.  The articles are identically written so the information must have come from an ACT press release.  Looking at the ACT website I can't find this particular information on kindergartners, however, there is enough for the casual reader to understand the ACT's purpose:

• 

  from http://www.act.org/

  We're building the first integrated lifelong assessment system so we can help millions reach their full potential.

Lifelong assessments are the longitudinal data systems connecting state educational records (which include personal non-academic information) to various state and federal agencies to track your child and your family.  Think of it as the cookies used in your computer or debit card to track your daily life. Your human capital (kindergarten or first grade...it doesn't matter) is tracked by organizations such as the ACT, Pearson, etc to determine what career your child should follow...and what the government will pay for in your child's schooling.

Read again the last paragraphs from the ACT information supplied to news outlets:

It's a multimillion dollar project, ACT officials said, but will be affordable and easily accessible.

Schools won't be compelled to use the new tool, but Erickson said he anticipates that entire states or groups of states will choose to utilize it. The tool can be customized to include state-specific benchmarks and other performance measures.

Obvious questions:

• How is a multimillion dollar project affordable and easily accessible?
• Who is paying for it?  Stimulus money? State budgets? If ACT is paying for it, how much money will it cost for the states to "buy in"?
• Don't common core standards mandate (rather than 'compel') the use of longitudinal data systems regardless of the cost?

How do you feel about your child being tracked by private companies and this information is supplied to the government?  Is this the main goal of education?

What did kindergarten ago look like 50 years ago?  From The Cooperative Parent:

A very quick post as I continue to read through my school story, as told through my report cards and transcripts.

From the front and back of my kindergarten report card, 1963/64:

OUR GOAL IN EDUCATION:

Because a child is composed of a body and a soul he is a PERSON. As a PERSON he has special attributes to be developed. These are intellectual and emotional, physical, social, artistic and spiritual. These different aspects of life are not nicely cut off from each other, but inter-penetrate to form one’s complete personality. The best education is that which aims to develop the WHOLE MAN.

We should all make sure that no aspect of the child’s personality is under-developed. (Words in UPPER CASE letters appear as such in the original text)

 HOW PARENTS MAY CO-OPERATE 

By providing for your child plenty of sleep—12 hours (7 o’clock bedtime).

1. By developing habits of regularity (!) and personal cleanliness.
2. By providing well balanced meals.
3. By providing clothes, rubbers and galoshes which are easily managed by him in dressing and undressing.
4. By marking your child’s name on clothes and galoshes.

TO THE PARENT

A pupil is required to bring a note from home explaining absence or lateness.

Punctual and regular attendance is absolutely necessary for progress.

Today taxpayers, parents, students and the workforce need multi-million assessment systems and governmental mandates to ascertain what teachers were empowered to do in kindergarten.

The word "spiritual" is the word that should not be mentioned in today's assessments.  Silly word.  When you are seen as capital for the workforce instead as a human being, being spiritual or nurturing the soul is bothersome, tedious and unnecessary.   Reaching a student's full potential is dictated by ACT assessments, NOT dictated by any immeasurable spiritual depth.  Your worth is measured for the workforce, not for some innate level of spirit.

In 1963 the "Whole man" was to be developed?  Were these educators kidding?  Children today are groomed primarily for the workforce, not for their  intellectual and emotional, physical, social, artistic and spiritual attributes.  Education today is a multi-billion enterprise designed not for personal development, but for business/governmental purposes.