MAP test questions get high security treatment

For about a month each spring, Dr. Sam Duncan's job as director of state and federal programs in the Jackson School District starts to seem a little like that of a top-secret agent.

Duncan is in charge of security for the annual Missouri Assessment Program tests given in March and April, and local districts such as Jackson go to extremes to ensure that the tests aren't accessed before the proper administration date.

Jackson's 3,000 MAP tests arrived March 8 and are now locked up in a location that Duncan declines to reveal.

"But I will say the building has an awesome security system," he said.

Duncan is the only person with a key to the room where the shrink-wrapped tests are stored. A special lock box is installed on the door to override the regular lock. Not even custodians are allowed in.

Districts across the state will take the MAP between March 29 and April 30 this year. Depending on what week they're scheduled to test, some districts have to keep up the security for over a month.

The protection isn't so much to prevent students from accessing the tests; they have little stake in the scores. More than anything, it's to stop school officials from sneaking a peek and gaining an unfair advantage in preparing students for the test questions.

With the implementation of the federal No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, teacher and administrator accountability for student performance has escalated. If students don't fare well on the annual tests, schools now face punishments.

That increased accountability can put pressure of school officials, said Pat Fanger, director of curriculum for the Cape Girardeau School District.

Cape Girardeau's tests also arrived March 8, and Fanger is in charge of security.

"It's just a way to prevent any tests from getting out so that all kids have an equal chance, and it keeps a grip on cheating," Fanger said. "If that type of information got out, it would cause problems for the whole state, because they use some of the test questions year after year."

Cape Girardeau fourth-grade teacher Julie Antil has heard teachers talk about the pressure that comes with the MAP, but said she doesn't feel it personally.

"I think progress is going to be made using instructional techniques in the classroom, so I don't worry about it too much," said Antil, who works at Franklin Elementary and administers the math and social studies MAP. "We don't want to teach to a test. We want to be able to teach thinking skills that students can apply to any question on these tests."

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education spells out specific testing procedures, including security requirements, in their testing coordinator manual. The manual says that tests must remain locked up until the administration date. At that time, teachers administering the bar-coded tests check out their packets and then return them immediately when test time is up.

Duncan said his district follows DESE's regulations and also stricter ones set up by the school board.

"We do have excellent scores, and there's no need to open the door for anyone to speculate that we're not doing things right," Duncan said. "It's nothing against the teachers or buildings, it's just a safeguard."

cclark@semissourian.com

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