Are all paradigms good or do some go in the wrong direction?

State exams now count towards high school grades for many Missouri students
By Valerie Schremp Hahn
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Thursday, Jan. 15 2009
It's a dirty little high school secret.For as much as state and federal officials rely on standardized test scores to rate and compare high school quality, they know the exam results are flawed.The reality is that students — particularly those in high school — have known for years that a bad score on a state standardized exam may mean a lot to a principal or teacher, but little to them. So it was tempting for some students not to care too much about how they performed, or to even resort to random bubble-filling.But that's all changing this year.For the first time in Missouri, high school students could see their grade take a hit in certain subjects if they disregard state standardized exams.Under the new system, state exams, now called end-of-course exams, will be part of semester finals for many classes. And the state highly encourages districts to make exams count for at least 10 percent but no more than 25 percent of a student's final class grade.State education officials and St. Louis area school administrators applaud the move as a way to invest students in a state school assessment."There was a value attached to it," said Ron Helms, principal of Lindbergh High School, where students recently took their first end-of-course exams. "The kids didn't look at it as a state assessment alone. They saw it as a part of their final exam."The test also makes it easier for teachers to see exactly what students learned in the course. If a particular teacher or school gets especially good results, others can learn why — though schools shouldn't use the scores to evaluate teachers, says Ann Jarrett, teaching and learning director with the Missouri National Education Association. But some educators say the approach has drawbacks, including scheduling state exams to conform with a district's calendar. Because it could take a week or so to get results, schools have to schedule exam times earlier in order to tally final grades — especially important for graduating seniors or students who might have to enroll in summer school. And while educators agree it's good to test kids on what the state wants them to learn, there's some danger in focusing too much on that goal. A biology teacher, for example, may have less flexibility to personalize her instruction, because she has to administer an exam given to every other biology student in the state. "There is that pitfall of 'I'm only going to teach to this level of the test' rather than 'let's make this a rigorous course,'" said Sara Torres, a supervisory director with the Science Teachers of Missouri. But overall, said Torres, teachers generally think the new tests are a move in the right direction.The Missouri State Board of Education approved the new rules in February 2007, and gave the go-ahead to develop exams for Algebra I, English II and biology. Exams for at least seven other classes are being developed to use next school year and beyond. The changes do not affect testing in elementary or middle school grades.The new high school exams replace the Missouri Assessment Program tests given to sophomores for math and juniors for science and communication arts. Aside from concerns about students not taking tests seriously, critics say the old system didn't test students at the right time, sometimes months after they had covered a topic.Illinois has tried a different approach to making high school exams more meaningful for students. The Prairie State Achievement Exam is built around the ACT college entrance exam. Students who take the exam also receive an ACT score, giving them a motive to perform well. All Missouri public high schools will experience the change by spring. Some are getting the first taste now, because certain courses are structured to end after the fall semester. About 70 of the state's 524 school districts have given their first end-of-course exams this semester. Brentwood High School students took the exams this week. On Wednesday morning, teacher Kelly Javier cheerfully distributed pencils, rulers and even peppermints to her honors Algebra I students before handing out their end-of-course exam. Students knew it would count for 20 percent of their final grade."You always ask me, 'Can I have a drink? Can I go to the bathroom?'" she said. "You better do that. You better hustle. I need all of you and your brain cells before you start."Afterward, students said they found the test challenging but not too tough, and some said the wording was different than what they're used to.Chris Reichert, 15, said that while he took the old MAP exam seriously, it was hard to study for it because nobody knew exactly what would be on it and it covered a huge range of topics. "This is a lot better because it will tell how much we learned in class," he said.Nationwide, more states are turning toward end-of-course exams or exit exams, says the Center on Education Policy. While it's a challenge for some districts to fit so many separate exams into their schedule, many expect the exams to improve accountability and give students immediate feedback on what they have learned."There's a great attraction to these exams, because they seem to be like capstones," said Jack Jennings, founder of the Center on Education Policy, a nonprofit group that researches education issues. And educators hope the exams will result in higher scores."In the end, that should result in better, cleaner data about what is the quality of instruction at the high school," said Michael Muenks, coordinator of curriculum and assessment for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. "We expect that we should see higher numbers of kids being proficient. It should be fascinating to watch."vhahn@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8228
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