ShawneeDispatch.com

Three grades of Riverview Elementary students got extra encouragement for taking tests from their younger fellow students.

To celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday, Principal Cathy Grube read a modified version of Dr. Seuss' "Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!" rewritten by Jack Prelutsky and Lane Smith. The story was modified to portray Riverview students and teachers being nervous about the state assessment tests being given throughout the state.

At the end of the story, the students do so well on their tests that the principal declares it "Riverview Day."

"Don't worry about doing well on the assessments," Grube told the students after the story. "Your teachers have taught you well. You'll do fine."

The students in third through eighth grade will be taking the tests this year, which determine the school's adequate yearly progress (AYP) as required by the No Child Left Behind Act. This is a change from last year, when the only elementary students to test were fourth graders for reading and fifth graders for math. At the high school level, 10th graders are tested in math and 11th graders test in reading, which is the same as last year.

Because they wouldn't be taking the test, kindergarteners through second graders at Riverview stood up and cheered the older students at the assembly.

All Shawnee schools are taking the tests this spring sometime from March 1 to April 21.

Kim Barney, coordinator of learning services for the De Soto School District, said the district was confident in the students' progress.

"It is high stakes and there's a lot of pressure with testing," she said. "But I feel like we've done everything we can to prepare the students."

At each De Soto school, the learning coaches train teachers to make sure they're aware of any changes in the state indicators, or items that will be on the state assessment test.

Most students in the district are taking the test by computer this year. Barney said the district is testing four times as many students as in previous years.

"I think there's some advantages to testing more students," she said. " If you give it to them each year, you can still measure progress and see if this particular student is improving."

Betsy Degen, curriculum and instruction administrator for the Shawnee Mission School District, said the changes were disconcerting for educators. Degen said the district would test about 22,000 students this year, in comparison with the 6,000 normally tested.

"A sample means you take a snapshot of a smaller group of students," she said. "They're not sampling us anymore, they're testing every individual student."

She said although the state is examining methods for funding additional tests, there was no funding from the federally mandated testing law.

Last year, Shawnee Mission schools as a whole didn't achieve AYP because of one subgroup at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School.

"Statistically, the larger the group of students you're testing, that means your average can tend to be a little lower because of the larger numbers," Degen said. "We're not worried about that though. We believe our students are prepared."

Degen's biggest concern is the change in testing for English as a second language students. She said in the past, students were able to take the test through audio help. Now, the students must take the same test as those proficient in English. Degen said research proves it takes five to seven years to develop enough mastery in a language to be able to understand an assessment test.

"It's unreasonable to expect an immigrant, after one year of school, could possibly be at 11th grade reading level," she said. "There isn't anything we could do in a year's time to get them to be successful on that test. Personally, I feel this is an unfair thing to do to students, they are setting them up for failure."

The results will take longer for each district because the state Department of Education must determine the "base" for the first year of testing all third- through eighth-grade students. Districts typically get results from assessments in October.