Scripps Howard News Service

Dear Dr. Fournier: I just received my son's 11th-grade achievement-test scores, and he scored much lower than on past achievement tests. He has always done well in school and on his achievement tests. He is a responsible A-B student who enjoys sports and plays trumpet in the band. He is also very well rounded and mature for his age, showing confidence and never afraid to stand up for his personal views. Overall, I feel my son is on a path for success, but I am afraid that this low score will go on his transcript and negatively affect his chances for college admission. What should I do?

Assessment: Malcolm Baldrige, the father of the quality movement in education, said that using an achievement test to measure a student's future academic success was the equivalent of judging a person's ability to arrive at his destination by looking in his rearview mirror. I completely agree. Our future leaders can't navigate the future with their sights focused on the past.

Achievement tests demonstrate the facts children have memorized or the skills they have learned. These tests don't evaluate a student's ability to solve new problems that could have many potential answers. In life, there is rarely just one right answer. In most cases, several possible solutions exist, and the challenge is to choose the best answer for that particular moment. Variables in life change — especially in a technology-driven global work force — and our students must be trained to adapt. In the real world, we don't solve problems by choosing an answer out of four possibilities. More often, we are asked to create new solutions to unique, ever-changing problems.

However, choosing the right answer is not the only skill required for success in our new world. Asking the right questions is a much more valuable skill. In a time when information is seemingly infinite for anyone who can deftly use a computer, knowing the right questions to ask is the skill that will help define leadership. People who excel at this will be the ones to lead us into the future.

What to do: Your child's achievement-test scores are not on the transcript sent to college, so one low achievement-test score will not impact your child's chances of admission to the school of his choice. In this case, your child appears to have always done well in other academic areas, and this score is most likely a statistical error called a "by chance" finding.

While this singular instance is nothing to worry about, parents always want to pay attention to trends. If your child has taken the same tests three or four years in a row with average scores and no improvement, then you may need to evaluate his progress. Once you see a trend, you have adequate data to ask: Does my child have the math skills to do well on the ACT and SAT, or does my child lack the test-taking strategies? After all, if your child is in the 11th-grade, these college-admission exams are the only test scores that truly matter.

You have adequate proof that your child has done well in school. Have him concentrate on preparing for the ACT and SAT. In life, there aren't timed achievement tests with only one right answer to each question. Don't let your son drive down the highway of life with his focus on the rearview mirror. Instead, encourage him to keep his focus on the road ahead, learning to navigate turns and other obstacles in his path.

-Write Dr. Yvonne Fournier, Fournier Learning Strategies Inc., 5900 Poplar, Memphis, Tenn. 38119. E-mail her at drfournier@hfhw.net.