Region’s Fourth-Graders To Take More Complex Assessment Tests More Expensive And Time-Consuming, But More In-Depth Results Anticipated

Thousands of Eastern Washington fourth-graders will soon be among the first students in the state to take dramatically different assessment tests.

They can no longer just guess “C” when they don’t know an answer. Questions aren’t all multiple choice.

They can’t simply darken circles with a No. 2 pencil. Some questions now call for short essays.

The new, more complex tests are one part of the state’s education reform plan and will hit classrooms shortly after spring break.

Unlike traditional assessments, the new ones will measure how students solve problems, as well as whether they give correct answers.

Teachers, in turn, will modify their teaching to make sure children can demonstrate those problem-solving skills.

“It is more time-consuming and more expensive,” said Joe Kinney, District 81’s testing coordinator. “But you do get a more in-depth picture of what the kids can and can’t do.”

Seventh-graders will take the new assessments next month, too, although theirs is a pilot version and scores won’t be returned to them.

Fourth-grade results will be available in August. Spokane, Mead, Central Valley, West Valley and East Valley are among 250 districts statewide that are voluntarily giving students the new assessments next month.

Starting in the 2000-2001 school year, all students will be required to take the tests in grades 4, 7 and 10. Only those with severe handicaps will be exempt.

Spokane schools didn’t want to wait, said Fran Mester, instructional programs director for District 81.

“In order to be ready by the year 2000, it’s going to take us time to figure it out,” said Mester. “These aren’t necessarily the same skills our teachers have right now.”

The assessments will be scored by an Iowa company with special training, Mester said. But local teachers will begin preparing children for the assessments - especially the essay questions - by giving similar assignments in class.

Finding out how they score on next month’s assessments now will help them decide what to emphasize, Mester said. Already, teachers know there’ll need to be heavy emphasis on communication.

“Kids are going to need to write much more than they ever did before,” said Mester.

Grammar, spelling and punctuation lessons aren’t nearly enough, she said. “We need to say, ‘How do you read manuals? How do you read graphs and charts?”’

In mathematics, students will be asked to explain the logic behind their answers.

“That really ups the ante,” said George Kersul, District 81’s mathematics coordinator. “Kids aren’t used to doing that.”

Students will eventually be more enthusiastic about their classwork, administrators predict, because teachers will be encouraging them to put it to practical use.

For now, at least, the tests will be used in addition to traditional assessments such as the CTBS (Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills).

The new assessments were developed by Riverside Publishing Company in Chicago and based on goals created by the Commission on Student Learning established by Washington state legislators.

The commission was charged with deciding what is essential for students to know and how to test that knowledge.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: New state testing methods

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: MEETINGS SET People can learn more about the new state assessments students will take after spring break. Spokane School District 81 has set informational meetings in two high school cafeterias: 7 p.m. Thursday at Shadle Park and 7 p.m. April 2 at Ferris. A third meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the West Valley High School auditorium.