SAT Bronx
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Do You Know What Bronx Kids Know?

By students from Bronx Leadership Academy 2, BLA2 teachers Shannon O’Grady and Kristin Ferrales, and Kathleen Cushman

May 2008 — Paperback — 80 pages — ISBN: 0-9815595-0-6 — $9.95 (USD)

ORDER NOW! Amazon.com or contact Next Generation Press. Bulk discounts available.

 
TEST ALERT!

Take te hot new test on the complex problems facing urban youth . . .

    • Study the vocabulary
    • Read the passages
    • Answer the questions
    • See how well you score!

Fourteen Bronx public high school students turn the tables on high-stakes testers in SAT Bronx, uncovering the strengths and skills that urban youth call on every day.

Can you decode the lingo of the streets? Account for how public transit fares treat some riders better than others? Get out of a fight without making yourself a target? Stay true to your culture and your national identity? Figure out the reality behind a military recruiter’s pitch? Get yourself the education you deserve?

SAT Bronx asks readers to pay close attention to the words and experiences of urban youth—then to analyze the implications of the solutions they choose. Answering its multiple-choice questions, test-takers must consider important issues of multiculturalism and equity, knowledge and skills, and the assumptions that underlie our thinking about what urban youth know and can do.

Discussion questions for both youth and adults follow each section.

Click here to download a PDF version.

Early praise from SAT Bronx test takers:

“This test combines two codes and cultural lingos—that of urban youth and that of the test-making establishment. It helps adults understand the codeswitching necessary to take standardized tests. They may not easily comprehend certain passages by students in SAT Bronx, yet they must answer questions about them.”

“It reminded me that similar values could lead to different actions and similar actions could come from different values.”

“SAT Bronx provides adults with a different entry point for conversations about equity. It reminds us that urban youth can conduct sharp analysis of complex factors and situations that are not cut-and-dried.”


 

 

“The village life Kambi ya Simba's youth document is at once ordinary and surprising, entrepreneurial and backward. Its dreams  are both wide and narrow, its times both good and bad.”
– www.allafrica.com

 

 

“Using curiosity as their credentials, the teenagers—who are recent immigrants and still learning English—took tape recorders and digital cameras to document the lives of their neighbors, friends, and even family members.”
– Stephen Wolgast, NewsPhotographer

 

 

"The scientific components are as good as any I've seen, while the poems and personal reflections on nature, science and place help to bring the San Diego Bay area alive. Taken together, they capture the essence of not just a region, but of the deep connections between nature, science and humanity..."
– Thomas Hayden,
US News & World Report

 

 

“First in the Family is PERFECT for our student population! I couldn’t imagine anything more useful or inspiring or informative.”
–   Lynne Marie Bruce,
Golden Gate HS

 

 

“This book is a bible for college preparatory services! There is really nothing else like this out there--there are tons of reports, but nothing else with faces, names, and the emotional resonance of First in theFamily.”
– Emily Steinberg,
Admission Control

 

 

“Sent to the Principal captures the essence of what Breaking Ranks II
means by personalization. Giving students voice so that they can have an impact on their schooling and be engaged in the school community is an integral part of the school reform process.”
– John Nori,
National Assoc. of Secondary School Principals

 

 

“Read every word of What We Can’t Tell You, as I did, and you’ll get to know these articulate teens by name. Consult it often, and you’ll become an accomplished and empathetic mentor.”
– Cathi Dunn MacRae,
Voices of Youth Advocates

 

 

“Hip Deep is a glory of refreshing, honest voices! Here is a collection to wipe the sorrowful spin of news from our eyes and ears, to remind us there is truth out there somewhere, and it's young as well as timeless.”
– Naomi Shihab Nye,
Poet, Essayist, Teacher