Missouri Students Use Tests to Protest Schedule Change

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

 STUDENTS USE MAP TESTS AS PROTEST
St. Louis Post-Dispatch -- June 11, 2007
by Shane Anthony

St. Charles County Some Wentzville School District students quietly 
protested
a schedule change by intentionally failing state tests.

District leaders won't know for sure how many until August, but some 
students
filled out their Missouri Assessment Program tests with gibberish.
Administrators say an additional 10 students at each of the district's 
two high
schools left their answers blank this spring. Elizabeth Miller, 17, who 
just
finished her junior year at Holt High School, was among them.

"The students had to think of a way that they could tell the administration
that they didn't like what they were doing in a way that would affect 
them,"
she said.

Students who opposed the schedule change said they feared shorter class 
periods
might lead to less depth — particularly in science classes.

Melody Marcantonio, assistant superintendent of student services, said 
blank
tests aren't anything new, and she has seen it happen in other school 
districts.

"There are kids every year that do that because they are nearing 
adulthood, and
it's a way they can protest," she said. Some students simply don't want 
to take
the tests and don't, she added.

Marcantonio said educators have been concerned for years about the fact 
that
MAP tests hold schools accountable, but, particularly at the high school 
level,
there is no accountability for students. MAP was designed to measure 
schools'
performance, but students aren't graded individually on them.

That isn't the case in other states. Illinois, for example, incorporates 
the
ACT in its Prairie State Achievement Exams, and those scores can be 
looked at
by colleges.

Missouri plans to change its approach, too. Michael Muenks, director of
assessment for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary 
Education, said
state officials are looking for companies to provide a new test for high 
school
students.

MAP currently is given to sophomores in mathematics and juniors in
communication arts. The tests — like their counterparts for elementary and
middle school students — include multiple choice and written response
questions. Because the written portion can't be graded by machine, the test
results aren't reported to districts until August.

Also, school officials aren't allowed to copy students' tests or review 
their
answers before they are sent away for scoring. So, it isn't possible 
right now
for students to be graded on their MAP scores.

But the state school board voted in February to change high school tests to
end-of-course exams in 2008-2009. Muenks said the tests would be given 
whenever
a student finishes algebra I, English II or biology. The state also is 
looking
at requiring tests for English I, algebra II, geometry, integrated math 
II and
III, physical science, algebra-based physics, physics II, chemistry, 
government
and American history.

Muenks said the idea would be for teachers to be able to take copies of the
written tests as soon as the students finish them. Meanwhile, results from
multiple-choice questions would be scored quickly and returned to 
schools in
time to affect students' grades.

Muenks said the state board discussed making the tests worth 10 percent 
of a
student's grade, but stopped short of requiring it. It will be up to local
schools to decide how they want to use the tests, he said, which 
balances the
idea of an exit exam with the idea that one test may not show everything a
student has learned.

"I think schools will be excited about it just because the kids will 
know it's
part of their local grade," he said. "But we all know there's more to 
what a
student learns than what you can get off a test that's an hour long."

Elizabeth — a straight-A student — sat quietly at her desk for an hour 
and a
half each day during MAP testing. She said she never opened her test 
booklet.
Her approach departed drastically from MAP tests she took in the past, 
she said.

"Before the administration stabbed us in the back, I took it very 
seriously,"
she said. "I know most students really tried because they wanted to show 
how
much they learned."

Wentzville's school board voted Feb. 5 to change high school and middle 
school
block schedules. Starting this fall, students at Holt and Timberland high
schools will have seven-period days. Their school day had four blocks. Next
school year, they'll take each of their classes every day instead of every
other day.

That decision angered some students, who packed school board meetings along
with their parents and teachers. Elizabeth attended one meeting wearing 
a shirt
that compared Superintendent Terry Adams to Hitler and Stalin.

Adams promoted the schedule change as a way for the district to save $1 
million
to $2 million that could be spent on teacher salaries and to provide daily
instruction for students in core classes such as math, communication 
arts and
science.

Elizabeth said she and other students felt the school board and 
administration
didn't listen to them. "I don't think they really noticed or cared about us
wearing T-shirts or saying anything or writing letters," she said. But MAP
tests, she said, reflect on the administration and board.

The protest didn't sit well with all students. Sam Disney, 15, who just
finished her sophomore year at Holt, said the protest was immature.

"When unhappy with a decision, they should voice their opinion like a young
adult would; not by throwing a temper tantrum," she said, adding that the
scheduling decision already had been made.

"The board members have been clear that they are not changing their minds.
"Therefore, this 'protest' never had anywhere to go," she said.

For now, the tests are likely in a warehouse in Indiana or California, 
awaiting
grading. "We're anxious for our scores," Marcantonio said.


http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stcharles/story/A483EF53C24F45C0862572F700172758?OpenDocument