If your next-door neighbor didn’t come running in your front door this morning to tell you, and you didn’t read it in Techcrunch because you live under a rock, let me be the first to say, we’ve got a new CEO and we are super friggin’ excited!

Roy Gilbert is his name and operational bad-ass is his game. Recently he worked at a local bay-area business called Google. They do cool things on the internet. Before that he drove a nuclear submarine around the planet. While Roy was scaling Google’s India operations from 20 to 1000 in a country he had never been in that spoke a language he didn’t know, he took some time to help his wife start a school in one of the most underprivileged areas of Hyderabad. This might sound impressive but it’s just part of being a Boy Scout, which he is. #great_success

Personally, I’m really geeked about running Grockit with Roy and I wish it meant less work for me but it really just means we’ll get way more done. My roles as president and chairman of the board are still in full effect and because we like chiefs at Grockit, I’ll also be our Chief Product Officer.

Roy, welcome to Grockit!!

Roy on Submarine

Rainbow Primary School in Hyderabad

We’re happy to announce that we’ve just introduced one of the most-requested, most-anticipated features for Grockit GMAT members: full-length Computer Adaptive Tests (CATs). Every Grockit GMAT Member who purchased a Standard Membership, a Tutoring Package, or a Course will have access to 5 CATs, complete with a GMAT score projection based on your performance.

Grockit models its CAT on the official GMAC(R) literature and its score projections on the collected item response data from all Grockit users and score-reporting graduates. We recommend that you complete CATs periodically throughout the course of your studies leading up to your test date to get experience with a Computer Adaptive Test and to give you feedback on your performance and progress over time. In conjunction with Diagnostics (abbreviated CATs of 10 to 12 questions), Challenges, and an extensive library of practice questions, students on Grockit have access to the most comprehensive, personal platform for GMAT prep.

Full-length GMAT CATs now appear in the “Solo Practice” section for Grockit Premium Members:

After completing a CAT, you’ll see your test results and score projection based on your performance:

We asked a group of our users to tell us how they would describe Grockit to a friend. We read each comment in detail and then our Chief Scientist, Dr. Ari Bader-Natal thought it might be interesting to enter all the student responses into Wordle (typos included, but that’s ok, these were Algebra students). Wordle is helpful because ‘The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text’. It was cool to see ‘Fun’, ‘Math’ and ‘Helps’ as some of the biggest words.

We’re huge fans of big buttons at Grockit and that has led us to have a really iPad (or tablet) friendly web app. We’ve also tried to keep Grockit browser friendly and generally Flash free. All this bodes well for the iPad as a great, slick and easy way to use Grockit to collaborate live with students all over the world. Try out our SAT network at grockit.com/sat

Check out this YouTube video. Don’t forget to download the Grockit SAT Flashcard app, we’ve got a great update coming out for it and you’ll get that for free. Also, stay tuned for more Grockit apps on the iPad.

*this is an email i wrote to someone that does not like standardized tests.

Standards are not going away. Standardized tests are just a method of assessing the extent to which students and schools are meeting standards. There is no difference between a standardized test and a regular test other than how they are scored. We have used tests for in school standards since the beginning of education.

There is no option that will ever involve eliminating standards or the tests that measure them. The efforts of those wishing to do away with them would be far better suited to steering the standards and the methods we use to attain them. The number of these tests will increase every year and this will never end. The sociological reasons for this have to do with an ever increasing population size and the increasing complexity and difficulty in evaluating and comparing individuals and groups in the population. The only interesting option to me is getting us to the point where every student can easily meet the standards that we lay out as a society for what we expect someone to learn while in school.

Grockit’s vision is not about standardized tests. Our vision is one of collaborative learning and a technologically advanced learning platform for individuals, groups and experts. We believe this educational design is so powerful that it can help us get closer to a vision of every student passing standards. We also believe this vision is just as well applied to all forms of collaborative learning, not just standardized tests. We’ve even begun piloting Grockit in schools as part of a general learning platform that has nothing to do with standardized tests.

The problem in education is not standardized tests. It’s the system design itself. Industrialized mass education is a recent educational design that’s just over a hundred years old. It is a design that moves students through school as though it were a factory and teachers the factory workers. This design is the root cause of schools being boring and un-motivating for students. A better system design will get every kid passing standards.

Standards are, of course, necessary and useful. The problem lies in thinking that just by applying standards things will improve. That is to say that implementing a national and state level standardized testing plan will not itself improve standards. It’s the remediation of students that will improve standards and that has to do with educational system design, not the existence or not of standardized tests.

I think we’ll get a lot more mileage out of evaluating and re-designing our educational system and emphasizing collaborative learning than we will by eliminating or promoting standardized tests.

We’re excited to announce the release of the Grockit ACT game!  For students studying for the ACT exam, the game offers Grockit’s full range of test prep features including analytics, custom games, and access to expert tutors.  Did you know the ACT exam is required for admission by more four-year colleges than any other exam?  It is not an aptitude test like the SAT.  The questions are directly related to what high school students learn in their English, science, and math curriculum.  Grockit will now be a one stop solution for students studying for both the ACT and SAT.  Be one of the first to play the ACT Game and you’ll have a chance to quickly rise to the top of the points leaderboard!

Every year a new child prodigy seems to pop up and battle both puberty and the challenge of earning multiple degrees before they can see an R-rated movie at the theater.  We’ve highlighted the latest crop of young geniuses who are real-life, present day Doogie Howsers (minus the IBM computer diary).

March Tian Boedihardjo, the Doogie Howser of Mathematics

March Tian Boedihardjo is a Chinese prodigy who was born in 1998. At the age of 9 he was accepted into the Hong Kong Baptist University to study mathematics, making him the youngest university student in Hong Kong. He is currently enrolled in a custom five-year course that will earn him an undergraduate and a masters degree.

How He Compares to an Average Kid
March at 9: Studying mathematics at the university level
Average 9-Year Old: Learning fractions, decimal placement, and basic multiplication and division

Wendy Vo, the Doogie Howser of Linguistics

Currently 9 years old, Wendy Vo is a Vietnamese-American child prodigy who is already fluent in 11 languages: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Hindi, Arabic and Russian. The little wunderkind also composes her own music, having already created over 40 songs.

How She Compares to an Average Kid
Wendy at 5: Composing music and beginning to master multiple languages
Average 5-Year Old: Learning correct grammar usage and basic sentence structure and listening to Kidz Bop.

Michael Kearney, the Doogie Howser of Academics

Currently in his mid-twenties, Michael Kearney  graduated from high school at the age of 6 and enrolled at Santa Rosa Junior College, emerging with an Associate of Science degree in Geology by the time he was 8. By 10 years old he graduated from the University of South Alabama with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, earning him the Guinness Record for being the world’s youngest university graduate. Michael also earned a master’s in biochemistry from Middle Tennessee State University when he was 14 and another master’s in computer science from Vanderbilt (where he also taught) at the age of 17.

How He Compares to an Average Kid:
Michael at 8: Earning an Associate of Science degree in Geology
Average 8-Year Old: Learning about worms and different kinds of soil

Adora Svitak, the Doogie Howser of Writing

Adora Svitak, born in 1997, is an internationally published author who has written novels, short stories, poems and essays since she was just 6 years old. By the age of 7 she could type over 70 words per minute and published her first novel, Flying Fingers. She’s lectured about writing and literacy at Whitney Young and Depaul University in Chicago. In addition to being a spokesperson for various reading campaigns, Adora currently blogs over at adorasvitak.com and aspires to someday win the Nobel Prize in Literature and Peace.

How She Compares to an Average Kid:
Adora at 6: Writing a multitude of essays and short stories
Average 6-year old: Learning to write clear, coherent sentences and paragraphs that form a central idea.

Akrit Jaswal, the Doogie Howser of…well, Medicine

Indian-born Akrit Jaswal has gained international attention for performing surgery at just 7 years old. Born in 1993, Akrit developed a strong interest for science and anatomy at an early age and was allowed to observe surgeries by the time he was 6.  Later he became the youngest university student ever in India, studying for a Bachelor of Science degree. Akrit hopes to find a cure for cancer and is currently researching various theories of gene therapy.

How He Compares to an Average Kid:
Akrit at 7: Performing major surgery
Average 7-Year Old: Learning about germs and how to properly wash their hands

Kathleen Holtz, the Doogie Howser of Law

California native Kathleen Holtz enrolled at Cal State Los Angeles when she was just 10 years old. When she was 15 she earned a spot on the law review at UCLA Law, and in fall 2007 she passed the bar at the age of 18, becoming the youngest lawyer in the state of California and one of the youngest in U.S. history.

How She Compares to an Average Kid:
Kathleen at 15: Entering Law School
Average 15-year old: Learning the laws of driving

Tathagat Avatar Tulsi, the Doogie Howser of Physics

Born in India in 1987, Tathagat Avatar Tulsi powered through school at a young age, completing high school when he was 9, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree by age 10 and earning a Master of Science degree by the time he was 12. Labeled a physics prodigy by The Times, Tathagat wrote a well-received research paper about quantum search algorithms when he was 17. When not impressing people with his speedy mental calculations, Tathagat develops quantum algorithm software.

How He Compares to an Average Kid:
Tathagat at 12: Earning a Master of Science degree
Average 12-year old kid: Learning about molds, algae and fungus

Alia Sabur, the Doogie Howser of Everything

Alia Sabur has the distinction of being the world’s youngest professor according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Born in 1989 to Iranian immigrants, Alia enrolled at Stony Brook University when she was 10 years old and at 14 became the youngest female in U.S. history to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics. She then earned an M.S. and PH.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Drexel University, and she is currently a professor of Advanced Technology Fusion at Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea. In addition to her mathematics prowess, Alia is also a music prodigy and has performed with orchestras since she was 11. She has also contributed groundbreaking work to the medical world with her research and development of nanotube-based cellular probes.

How She Compares to an Average Kid:
Alia at 14: Earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics
Average 14-year old: Learning how to simplify expressions using integers, exponents, and radicals

Grockit SAT and GMAT Test Prep

Sources:
http://www.aliasabur.com/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alia_Sabur
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tathagat_Avatar_Tulsi
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/11/19/18-year-old-kathleen-holtz-passes-the-california-bar/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akrit_Jaswal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adora_Svitak
http://www.adorasvitak.com/Main.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Kearney
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_Tian_Boedihardjo
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1561260/Maths-boy-9-wins-university-place.html