This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, July 5, 2011 - If a proposed schedule of exams for Missouri students becomes reality, high schoolers who now take four state-mandated tests would take 12.
That's a big jump in the number of tests -- and it's also a big if, judging by the comments of educators and others convened to give feedback on the latest proposals for a new version of the Missouri School Improvement Plan, known as MSIP5.
In Tuesday's second of three regional meetings to be held in St. Louis -- one of five sites around the state where opinions about the new plan will be gathered -- officials from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education discussed feedback from last month's initial session.
They also talked about how information gathered at these meetings will be used to put together a new version of MSIP5 to be presented to the state Board of Education next month.
The purpose of the exercise is to formulate a plan with more support from statewide education groups than one that had to be withdrawn at the last minute earlier this year because of widespread criticism. That false start followed another one two years earlier.
This time around, state education officials are trying to make sure that a wide spectrum of those interested in education -- teachers, administrators, lawmakers, parents, students and more -- will help shape the plan so it is more acceptable. Once it is in place, it will be used to judge whether school districts across Missouri are moving forward and helping the state reach its goal of being ranked in the top 10 nationwide by the year 2020
Most people involved in the process agree that the goal is worthy. But Tuesday morning's session showed once again a wide array of opinions on the best way to get there.
For example, when Sharon Hoge, assistant commissioner of the Office of College and Career Readiness, waded into the issue of how many tests should be required of high school graduates, not everyone was sure that the increase she proposed is the best way to go.
High school students who will graduate in the next three years will be required to take four EOC, or end-of-course, exams: in English, algebra, biology and government. Between 2014 and 2018, the number of tests required would steadily increase, with the addition of EOHS tests, for the end of high school, and CE tests, competency exams in advanced lab-based sciences.
So the student graduating in the class of 2018 would take two EOC tests and one EOHS test in English; one EOC algebra test, another EOC test in a course above algebra I, such as geometry or algebra II, and an EOHS mathematics summative exam; an EOC test in biology and two science CEs at or above the level of biology; and a government EOC final exam, a U.S. history EOC final exam and a world history EOC final exam.
And those don't even count possible tests in fine arts, physical education and social studies. Officials haven't yet determined whether exams in those areas will be included.
On the topics of who will develop these tests, who will pay to have them graded, who will provide the money to increase computer bandwidth so students can take them online and so forth, Hoge and other officials had to acknowledge that answers to those financial questions are yet to be determined. And with federal guidelines on No Child Left Behind still up in the air, when and whether all of this would happen is unclear as well.
Despite dealing with such a moving target, Hoge said that what is clear is the purpose of the tests.
"This will let us know how Missouri kids compare with kids all over the country," she said. "We need to be sure we are challenging our kids the way they need to be challenged.
"MSIP5 is a plan for the future, and every step of this plan is designed to raise rigor for our students."
But that lofty goal didn't erase concerns in the minds of those brought together to help crystallize the plan.
"As a parent," said Myra Burris, who lives in the Hazelwood School District, "it's confusing to me. I'm not sure what an end-of-course exam is supposed to be. Is it supposed to take the place of what we used to take as a final exam? Does it become a requirement to graduate?"
To Brad Coleman, principal of the high school in Park Hills, it's an issue of resources.
"The more tests you add," he said, "the more money will come out of our budgets."
Testing wasn't the only major concern that members of the advisory panel brought up. Others challenged the distinction being made between students who were expected to go on to college and those who expected to go directly into a job. Treating the second group differently means treating them unfairly, said Kathy Frederking, director of the Lewis and Clark Career Center in St. Charles.
"I'd like to know whoever said that students attending career education classes are not going to college," she said.
Students taking such classes, Frederking said, often need extra time to find what it is they would love to do, but once they find it, they also find they need additional schooling to get ahead.
"They never thought they would find their passion," she said. "Then they find it, and they say I never thought I could go to college. Why take that away from them?"
"In high school, a lot of times you're learning from a textbook, but it's not being applied to what you are going to do."
Mike Jones, the newest member of the state Board of Education, said the big goal should be to make sure students learn how to learn and learn how to think, because a lot of the careers they will eventually fill may not even exist today.
"I've never had a job I ever went to school for," said Jones, who is senior policy adviser to St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley. "But without education, I don't think I'd have been able to do any of the jobs I've had."
The St. Louis advisory committee will meet for the final time on July 18. Information from it and the other panels will then be incorporated into the proposed guidelines to be considered by the state board in August. If the board gives initial approval to the plan, they will go out for more public comment before final passage.