12 adults rediscover school days with student achievement test

On April 19, a group of 12 men and women spent their morning taking a sample Missouri Assessment Program test -- the test the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education uses to judge student performance throughout the state each year.

Cape Girardeau School District superintendent Dan Steska called the adults who accepted his challenge courageous to take the test, which covers the areas of math, science, social studies and language arts.

Students in grades three through seven and nine through eleven take the test each year. The test questions Steska gave to the group were samples of the math and science tests for grades ten and eleven.

Steska released the test takers scores Friday, but withheld the names, "to protect the innocent."

The lowest score was an 82 percent and the highest was a 100 percent.

"I just kept thinking 'What have I gotten myself into?'" said test-taker Jeff Glenn, director of membership development for the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce. "It was like pulling teeth."

Glenn said he went into the test banking on the thought that he had been out of high school for only 14 years -- a much shorter time in comparison to some of the test takers.

"I was quickly corrected," he said, laughing. "I just hoped I did well. And since I passed I think they're going to let me graduate."

Some of the 12 said taking the MAP was a wake-up call.

Steve Rickard, an Internal Revenue Service agent, said he took the test because he likes to challenge himself.

"The test was a little more challenging that I thought it would be," he said. "I think I got a 100 percent in the math section."

School board member Sharon Mueller said it really made her think.

"I have a lot more respect for what the students have to know," Mueller said. "We're no longer living in a day when all you have to know is your multiplication tables."

The test requires students to show their work and write out their answers instead of just filling in a bubble next to the correct answer.

"The math was the most intimidating for me because I haven't used those formulas in 30 years," said Steska, who also took the test. "I had to figure out the answer and then go back and fit the formula to it."

hkronmueller@semissourian.com

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