Cramming for 'the Test'

摘要

The students at peirce school in West Newton, Mass., are sharpening their pencils. They're practicing topic sentences and rememorizing the scientific method. It sounds like the cramming that goes on at the colleges that dot the surrounding Boston suburbs. The big difference: these kids are in fourth grade. But the test they're studying for, the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, feels just as weighty as any college exam.