MAP testing begins

School district accreditation around the state hinges on what happens during the next five weeks as students take the Missouri Assessment Program, or MAP.

It's a standardized test given annually by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to students in grades 3-5 and 7-11 to compare progress in math, science, communication arts, social studies, health and physical education to state standards.

DESE's old standardized test, the Missouri Mastery and Achievement Test, or MMAT, only asked multiple choice questions. The MAP requires students to answer multiple choice, short answer and essay questions and show their calculations for some problems.

Group effort

All of that is why Walt Brown, assistant director of assessment at DESE, says it is so important for students, teachers, administrators and even parents to prepare for the test.

School districts in Southeast Missouri involve all those groups, plus maintenance crews, in the testing process.

Rhonda Dunham, principal of Franklin Elementary School in Cape Girardeau, used the April school newsletter to remind parents testing was just around the corner and sent a list of test dates and times home.

Cathy Evans, assistant superintendent in the Cape Girardeau district, said each of the schools in the district send a copy of their testing days and times to the board office so maintenance crews can be notified of the schedules.

"We're doing everything we can to ensure there are no distractions while the children are taking the tests," Evans said. "When there is testing at Franklin, or any other school, there won't be any mowing or maintenance work going on there."

DESE sets a testing window each year so all of the districts in the state have the same amount of time to administer the test, but within that time frame -- April 8 through May 10 this year -- the districts have the freedom to choose the days and times each class will be testing.

"Each individual principal works with teachers to fit the best schedule within the MAP window," said Sam Duncan, MAP coordinator for the Jackson School District. "The primary reason we do that is because we have different needs within each of the different buildings."

The birth of the MAP

The MAP was created after the Missouri legislature passed the Outstanding Schools Act in 1993, which required DESE to administer a test that measured student progress in the areas of knowledge and performance.

Since all of the questions on the MMAT were multiple choice, it only measured knowledge. The MAP, which districts first administered in 1997, also measures performance skills like writing and problem solving.

Every section of the MAP contains three parts, with the exception of the health and physical education section, which has two. DESE doesn't require the parts to be taken on separate days, but it strongly encourages it so students have a break.

Amy Surman, a third-grade teacher at Franklin Elementary, will spread her student's communication arts and science tests over several days.

She said student's performance on the test is important, but it's something that is often overemphasized, which causes unnecessary stress for the children.

"I tell my students it is important and they should do their best, but it is only a test," Surman said. "I tell them the test says very little about who they are as a person, and if they don't do well it's OK."

Tina Wright, a parent of a fifth-grader at Franklin Elementary, says Surman's way is the right way to approach the MAP. Wright's daughter, Jenease, has taken the MAP for the past two years.

"When you push it on the kids and worry about it, it makes them nervous," Wright said. "I just tell Jenease not to worry about it, take her time and do the best she can."

Brown, from DESE, agrees parents should not pressure their children by setting high standards, but encourage them to do their best.

"No one indicator, be it the MAP test or any other test, should be a red light to parents," he said. "Parents should look at the MAP scores, but they should not be alarmed if the results do not meet their expectations. They shouldn't make a big deal out of it."

Brown said there are no repercussions for students who do not perform well on the test. The only way student performance on the MAP affects school districts is through accreditation.

"Student achievement on the MAP test and showing improvement from one year to the next is a large part of the accreditation process," he said. "But there are other factors involved."

Other factors include curriculum, student-teacher ratio, methodology, climate and written policies.

Carl Sites, director of school accreditation for DESE, said student performance on the MAP weighs very heavily against the other areas because the test measures the primary goal of schools. He said the other accreditation areas are just tools to ensure a quality education is given to the students.

Making it fun

West Lane Elementary School in Jackson, Mo., tries to take the stress out of MAP testing by creating a fun theme each year for the week of testing.

This year's theme, You Can Survive, is based on the television reality show "Survivor."

Testing at West Lane starts April 22, but preparations will begin a few days earlier.

"We're going to have a kind of tribal counsel at the end of the week prior to the MAP testing to build excitement," said principal Stan Seiler. "We will also decorate the school and have different islands around the building. We've done it every year for the past several years, and the kids have really responded well to it. They get very excited."

Seiler said the school also offers an incentive to students who make it to school every day during the week of testing -- a free homework coupon, good for a day without homework.

He said making the week more fun than stressful is important because the children perform better when they are relaxed.

Every year DESE releases a list of questions from the previous year's MAP on its Web site, www.dese.state.mo.us/divimprove/assess/.

Cape Girardeau superintendent Dan Steska is going to use the questions to put local community and business leaders to the test.

At the Chamber of Commerce First Friday Coffee, Steska invited those in attendance to take the hour-long test with him at the Career and Technology Center on April 19.

He said about 16 people signed up and are excited about learning what the MAP test is all about and seeing how they perform.

Steska said the results of the overall group's performance will be released to the public, but individual results will be kept private.

When MAP testing for Missouri students is complete May 10, all of the testing materials will be sent back to DESE.

The results from the tests are made available to the districts during the fall semester, usually by October. Individual student results are sent home to the parents at that time.

hkronmueller@semissourian.com

335-6611 extension 128