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Testing to look at gap in students' learning

What do you say to people like this, people who mean well and . . . and . . . what?

And "whatever," the answer isn't to give them more tests. Has anyone in St. Cloud heard about how unreliable early testing is?

The residents of St. Cloud should ask how many books they could buy with that $5,000, books for children to take home, books that could be their very own.

When we see a lie we should announce it, so here goes: That test will help us see where each student is. It gives us excellent data>

For shame.

Shame.

Shame.

By Dave Aeikens

Kindergartners in three St. Cloud schools with growing minority populations will take math and reading tests this year to help the school district get a better handle on a success gap between white and minority students.
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The tests at Discovery Community, Talahi Community and Madison Elementary schools will be paid for with a $5,000 grant from Create CommUNITY, a group working to improve racial harmony in St. Cloud.

"If we can follow them from kindergarten, it will show us a pattern of what intervention needs to happen," said Hedy Tripp, coordinator for Create CommUNITY.

St. Cloud school district has about a 23 precent minority population. It has struggled to get its minority students, many of them new to the United States and English, to reach success levels similar to its white population. In 2008-09, white students are passing the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment reading tests at a rate 41 percentage points higher than black students and by 39 percentage points higher in math.

"We've got to get the black students to catch up, absolutely, that is our goal," said Julia Espe, director of curriculum, instruction and assessment for St. Cloud school district.

St. Cloud is already testing students in grades two through nine three times a year using tests called Measures of Academic Progress.

Many school districts including Sartell-St. Stephen and Sauk Rapids-Rice use the MAP. St. Cloud used federal stimulus dollars to pay for the tests for those grades.

Some older students already have taken the first round of computerized tests. Staff use the results to follow student progress in reading and math and adjust and change curriculum and individual instruction to better meet the needs of the students.

Kindergarten classes will take the tests later at Madison and will get some instruction on taking what might be their first test in school, Madison Principal Paula Henry said.

"We want to do the very, very best we can for every child. That test will help us see where each student is. It gives us excellent data," Henry said.

The grant will allow St. Cloud school district to start evaluating students in three of its eight elementary schools two years sooner and begin developing a base of information.

"I'm looking forward to having access to this data. It will help us not only in long-range planning, it will help us look where students are so we can help them earlier," Espe said.

— Dave Aeikens
St. Cloud Times
2009-09-17
http://www.sctimes.com/article/20090917/NEWS01/109170031/1009/Testing-to-look-at-gap-in-students--learning

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