BARTMAN PRAISES STATE'S NEW TESTING PLAN

Missouri's emerging performance-based testing system will motivate students to know more, do more and be competitive in school and their future careers, said state Commissioner of Education Dr. Robert Bartman.

Ultimately, the tests should also assess how effectively teachers are doing their jobs, he said.

Bartman promoted the state's developing Missouri Assessments Program to more than 300 educators, parents and business people who assembled in Cape Girardeau Thursday for the ninth of 10 regional educational conferences. The conferences are conducted annually by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to get community input on educational issues affecting Missouri schools.

"I believe that in education today we are at high tide," said Bartman. "We have raised the level not only of expectations but also in what a student is able to do."

MAP assessments are being developed as a requirement of the Outstanding Schools Act of 1993. The performance-based tests rate both knowledge of facts and mastery of skills. The math portion of MAP assessments already has been field tested and will be implemented this year. Other core tests are scheduled to be implemented through 2000.

Bartman said educators have been positive and supportive about the MAP program in other conferences. They have already accepted the responsibility of teaching students, he said, and now they will have to focus their energy on learning new teaching strategies.

"I think most teachers want to teach in this way, but because students had to take the multiple-choice test, they haven't been doing that," he said. "We're getting back to what good teaching is: Hands on, getting kids to apply what they learn."

Bartman met with 14 Cape Girardeau business people during a luncheon meeting Thursday. Most of them said they supported performance-based tests, student and teacher accountability for test results, and higher standards for students participating in extracurricular activities.

Opinions were divided on whether strict attendance guidelines should be set and whether employers should contact schools for information about a potential employee.

"It seems to me that the issue is keeping the students and the teachers moving forward," said Howard Meagle of KFVS 12. "No testing in my mind is going to work until you get both sides active in the process."

Doug Groesbeck of Union Electric agreed. He said the nation has its educational priorities in the wrong order.

"I think as a country, if we were to step back and look at our priorities, we would be embarrassed at the level of importance that has been placed on extracurricular activities," he said. "They have their place in the school, but the priorities are out of whack."

Bartman said it is important for employers to contact area school districts about potential employees. MAP assessments and other educational issues affect the business community as well, he said, and employers should get involved and help in policy-making.

"Send them the message that you will be contacting their school to get information about how they performed in school," he said. "The challenge is to get your community, the business community, involved in asking for that information. The message we're sending kids is they don't have to live with what they did in high school."

The next conference will take place Tuesday in Sedalia. Bartman will present a summary of the conferences to the Missouri School Board Association in two weeks, and in December he will make policy recommendations based on suggestions gained during the conferences.