Schools deep into preparing for MAP

There are still three months to go before the Missouri Assessment Program tests are placed on local students' desks, but preparation started long ago in most schools.

There is no last-minute cramming for the MAP, the state's annual assessment in math, communication arts, science and social studies administered every spring to students in various grade levels.

Many schools begin training children for the test as young as first grade, though the test isn't actually given until third grade.

"It's not just, 'Ooh, that's a third-grade problem.' The whole building has taken responsibility for MAP," said Clay Vangilder, principal at Orchard Elementary in Jackson.

This is the time of year when preparation intensifies. Schools develop test-taking themes, decorate their hallways and hold pep rallies to emphasize how important the MAP is.

At Alma Schrader Elementary, principal Ruth Ann Orr said parents' understanding of the test is just as significant as students'.

Throughout the year, Orr has held special meetings to explain the MAP to parents. She has scheduled another one for February.

"Parents have to be aware that the MAP is not a multiple-choice test," Orr said. "They also have to know that the intent of MAP is not just that children recognize a correct answer but be able to correctly communicate how they derived the answer or support the answer they gave."

Getting students to master those requirements is a yearlong task.

"You cannot teach these testing skills in one short session, they have to be a part of the expectation all along in order for students to feel comfortable with the test format when they get to MAP," said Orr.

This will be the last time that Missouri schools will take the current MAP. Beginning in the spring of 2006, new tests in communication arts and math will be administered to all students in third through eighth grade.

Right now, communication arts is given to third, seventh and 11th grade while math is given in fourth, eighth and 10th grade.

Local educators say the additional tests are a welcome change.

"I think it will give a more accurate assessment of how we're doing if the test is given every year," Vangilder said. "It's a good thing."

Most local schools will take the tests between March and April.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128