Earlier this week, Khan Academy, the College Board, and Turnitin released tools to give all students the chance to practice for the SAT without having to drop hundreds or even thousands of dollars to get the kind of relevant practice required. The companies have combined their technology tools to bring free Official SAT Practice to Khan Academy with added writing instructional tools provided by Turnitin. Read more details about the news here on The Tech Edvocate.
I’ve long been an outspoken advocate of technology tools for education. Technology can break down barriers, bring new materials and relevancy to instruction. It can excite students with its interactivity. It can help the teacher cut down on busy work and get right to the act of teaching and guiding students. And as in this case, technology--pretty exciting technology-- is leveling the playing field for every student willing to invest their time in preparing for the SAT.
Equity in education has long been an ideal of democracy. It’s an ideal celebrated in a variety of contexts, too. Even the Founding Fathers celebrated education as an ideal, something to which every citizen ought to be entitled. Unfortunately, though, the practice of equity in education has been less than effective. That is, equity is a difficult ideal to maintain and many strategies attempting to maintain it have fallen far short in the implementation.
That is why this partnership is so powerful. Three giants combined their best technologies to give students across the U.S. an equal footing when taking what may be the most important test of their lives. A college education means a better quality of life for low-income and minority students and an improved way of life for the rest of us, too. Using the Khan Academy platform, which on an average day delivers about four million lessons in 36 different languages, the Official SAT Practice may be the most weighted factor bringing equity to the SAT.
Using technology to improve writing is a smart way to prep students for the SAT, and college beyond it, and Khan Academy, the College Board, and Turnitin are all providing that much-needed service in an equitable way. Kudos to these organizations for helping to provide all low-income and minority students with a more equitable path to college.