Sara Q&A:
Seek feedback from primary school system teachers about any Stanford 10 (SAT10) test changes status?

Oh, that the HSAs will be shorter. 3-1/2 hour tests are brutal and prove nothing other than test stamina.

Our first day, after giving the first two sessions we had to evacuate the building. The kids seem great and are doing more than we asked, as always rising to the occasion. The stress it causes makes me wonder about the value.

One thing that's interesting is that I keep hearing how MSA will help teachers figure out what kids and and what to teach - that's a bunch of BS. The results of the assessment are worthless to teachers - the info is so general that it really tells us nothing except, as VT said, who can sit in their seat without flipping out.

This is my fourth year in BCPSS, and I believe that the test is shorter--the reading was only 55 questions total, as long as the third benchmark. There were 2.5 hours of test time spread over two mornings.

The kids rose to the occasion during test time, and with their attendance. My school hovers around the 82%-87% attendance rate, but we've been at 94% the last two days, with every 7th grader coming both days.

After the test the school climate is a different story, but with word that the 7th grade MSA may count for high school entrance criteria, those kids put their hearts into it.

It always seems shorter than it should for me. We spend SO MUCH TIME preparing the kids for it and talking about it, then it's just four 35ish minute sections for Reading and then for Math.

But the kids definitely take it seriously. How can we make them realize the whole rest of the year is just as important as these four days?

Steph, you'd have to enlist the cooperation of MSDE to do that, because it would have to involve year-round testing. To that end:

Why couldn't the MSA be a series of benchmark tests?

Why can't the existing benchmarks stand as the MSA?

Given the success of the Bridges program, what about a portfolio-like system for more students (which is the way Alt-MSA works)?

If standardized testing is incorporated througout the school year rather than as a single, do-or-die situation, then the students would have to be on a kind of High Alert for a greater portion of the year. The problem that we have now is that there's just so much inertia with the current system that it's nearly impossible to break the existing model.

My daughter is in the 4th grade and is taking the MSA. She said it was fast. She also said it was "a breeze." I'll see what "a breeze" means when they distribute the scores later this year.

Shorter and easier! It's MSDE's way of ensuring that the state will show steady improvement each year. They played the same game back in the MSPAP days. Once we start to approach the ceiling they change the test. On the same note - kids do better each year as teachers get better at teaching to the test - not necessarily teaching.

I have taught for many years,kept very current both in MD and another state and can honestly say that despite increasing test scores, (we all know how tests and data can be manipulated) I have not noticed that students are reading, writing, or doing basic math better than fifteen years ago.What has increased is teacher and student stress. I'm not sure the money spent and the stress incurred has had a big payoff. Testing is a big industry.Who really benefits. Have you weeded a library or book room lately?Books are certainly not as meaty.Just wondering.

@wise educator -
I'm not going to argue about tests and stress and how go a job they do at measuring what they try to measure - that's too hard for me. I will argue about the quality of kids books in the library, though. I am astounded at the number of high quality, meaty books my kids have to choose from. If I wanted a science fiction/fantasy book as a child, they were few and far between, and there was not a single female hero to be found, at least not in books that I liked. Now, my kids (who bounce between juvenile and young adult sections at the library) have tons of books to choose from and if it turns out a book isn't exactly what they were looking for they put it aside and go to the next.

@a parent. I was referring to the reading difficulty levels of books. It is common knowledge that books and newspapers have been dumbed down. However, I totally agree with you that children's books are more diverse, inclusive, and attractive to children. Sadly, many City Schools students have inadequate libraries. Many are not staffed with qualified librarians. The city itself is struggling with keeping public libraries opem, cutting hours, and so on. The only point I was trying to make was that for all the testing, do we really have better readers and writers? I was also questioning whether we can believe the reports of increased test scores.If the test is shorter, does it still equate?(just one example of test inconsistencies) Really, I'm sick of test discussions. Just show me the results;kids that can read and write well.