Yearlong preparations for MAP put to the test this week

There is no last-minute cramming for the MAP.

As local schools and those throughout Missouri begin taking the state's achievement tests this week, educators say the focus is on keeping students calm and confident, not hardcore review of lessons.

"Preparation is a yearlong thing. If you haven't prepared for the MAP throughout the year, you can't prepare for it," said Dr. Rita Fisher, assistant superintendent of the Jackson School District.

Among other things, schools send home notes advising parents to make sure their children get a good night's sleep and have breakfast on testing days. Principals are finalizing reward systems for those students who show effort and perform well on the tests.

In Scott City, where middle school students will begin testing April 12, teachers are handing out practice questions that are similar to those asked on the MAP.

"It's just to make sure the kids understand the format. That goes on all year but there's a big push right now," said Paul Sharp, principal at Scott City Middle School.

Since 2002, with the passage of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the stakes have risen dramatically for schools whose students are not performing well on the achievement tests.

Under NCLB, all students must score at proficient or higher on the MAP's communication arts and math tests by the year 2014. The state has set annual proficiency goals that individual school's must meet in order to make adequate yearly progress, or AYP, under No Child Left Behind.

The proficiency goals jump each year until they reach 100 percent in 2014. Meeting this year's goals will not be as difficult as originally anticipated for Missouri schools.

In January, Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education officials announced that the adequate yearly progress goals for 2005 had been lowered in both communication arts and math.

Originally, schools would have been required to have 38.8 percent of students proficient in communication arts and 31.1 percent in math to make AYP. Now, those goals have been dropped to 26.6 percent and 17.5 percent respectively.

Officials in local districts say the smaller targets mean little in the long run because No Child Left Behind's requirement that all students score proficient or higher on state tests by the year 2014 has not changed.

"It came as a surprise to me. It offers us a little breathing room but we encouraged staff not to sit back and take it easy because we eventually have to meet that 2014 target of all kids performing at proficient," said Pat Fanger, director of curriculum with the Cape Girardeau School District.

Even as they prepare for this year's tests, local educators are already considering the changes that will come with the 2006 MAP.

In early May, students in Cape Girardeau and other local school districts will participate in field tests for the new MAP that will be implemented next spring.

The new assessment program, which is patterned after the National Assessment of Educational Progress, will include communication arts and math tests for all students in grades three through eight. The current tests only include students in third, fouth, seventh, eighth, 10th and 11th grades.

In following with NAEP, the scoring guide for the MAP will also change from five levels of achievement to four: Below Basic, Basic, Proficient and Advanced.

Fanger welcomes the changes to the testing format.

"I'm glad its finally here because I think it will bring consistency to the test scores," Fanger said. "When it's not year-by-year comparisons, it makes it difficult to base decisions on the scores."

In Jackson, Fisher said work has gone on all year to revamp curriculum to meet the new grade level expectations attached to next year's MAP.

"The advantage will be seeing the progress of students yearly," said Fisher. "I think that accountability each and the continuity of the tests is something that will help us."

cmiller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128