As parents and students stocked up on school supplies and clothes for the new school year beginning this week, local district officials contemplated a new type of standardized testing for kids coming this year, with the help of a few local districts who signed up for a sneak peak last spring.
Called the Smarter Balanced Assessment, the new version of standardized measurement was field tested by elementary and middle school students in Aberdeen, Cosmopolis, Montesano and McCleary last year. The scores from the field test were not compiled or released.
The new tests, taken electronically, will replace math, reading and writing portions of the Measurement of Student Progress tests taken at many elementary and middle school grades, and the High School Proficiency Exam taken by 10th-graders.
Bad news for 10th graders who took the HSPE — they will have to join all 11th-graders around the state in taking the new tests, even though passing them is not a graduation requirement until the Class of 2019.
Testing can go on for two or three days to as long as a week, depending on how the school structures the test schedule.
The assessment is designed to gauge how well students are learning in relation to new “common core” standards, which require a real-life application of knowledge. It is also a way of standardizing the instruction in math and language arts so a student can move from school to school more easily.
“We have been working on it a couple of years now,” explained Montesano School District Superintendent Dan Winter.
The assessment
“I thought it was pretty good considering it was the first time everything was online,” said Judy Holliday, director of teaching and learning at the Aberdeen School District. Students took the new test in Aberdeen with a variety of electronic devices, including iPads, Chrome Books and laptops, she said.
“We felt good that we had the chance to take the test (even without scores) to get a look at the experience,” Winter said.
“You know, with it being a brand new test, from a technical standpoint there were some kinks,” but it was good that the students got to get a feel for it, Cosmopolis Superintendent Cherie Patterson said.
There were issues with the servers, but between their staff and the test vendor they were able to get students back online, Holliday and Patterson added.
With only 60 laptops to serve 100 students, Patterson said Cosmopolis staff had to rotate the children through the equipment. Also, the students noticed some children answered 30 questions while others got 45, which made them wonder if they were getting the same tests, she said.
Holliday singled out district Technical Director Mike Williams and his team for praise. They rotated through the schools to help make sure the experience went well.
In general, students were asked to critically think and write more in the new test, Patterson said.
“Students are asked to think and problem solve and analyze,” said Holliday added.
The officials noted they want to make sure all the students are comfortable with keyboarding skills because so much more writing is involved in the critical thinking and writing portions of the tests.
Some third-graders were particularly challenged by having to type their answers, Patterson said.
Some younger students had trouble reading and scrolling, Holliday said. Some preferred to use a laptop. Keyboarding skills will be emphasized to make sure students are not impacted negatively, she said.
Each segment of the test is given in “one period, so they don’t get to think about it — they go from start to end that day — it’s pretty demanding, pretty demanding,” Patterson said.
Patterson wondered if eventually everyone would be taking tests with voice recognition software, setting another challenge for educators to meet.
The administrators were sanguine about having to switch standardized testing every few years.
“It’s just one snapshot of how we are doing, the one the public sees the most. We take it seriously but it doesn’t definite what we are doing and how successful we are in teaching kids,” said Winter.
“The pendulum always swings in education from one to another graduation requirement,” said Holliday. Science and biology tests would probably be added to the assessment soon, too. That’s why they always watch the bulletins coming from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, she said with a laugh.
School start
“Oh, it’s always exciting. Every new year it’s like a new birth,” Holliday said last week looking ahead to the start of school.
“Its great to have everybody back, it always is, though (the students) probably wish summer would last a little longer,” Winter added.
Patterson noted they had a welcome barbecue and that four new bicycles were given away. Students are excited to get back to school.
“Parents are even more excited,” she said.
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