State to Give New Schools Test

Thursday, April 16, 1998 | 11:31 a.m.

Nevada law requires testing of students in fourth, eighth, 10th and 11th grades. The 11th-grade test is the "high stakes" test because students can't graduate from high school unless they pass it.

State schools chief Mary Peterson says the 1997 Nevada Education Reform Act requires that new exams in reading and math be given to all 11th-grade students for the 1997-98 academic year. The new law also provides that science become part of the test, beginning at grade 11 in the 1999-2000 academic year.

The reading test covers three areas: literary experience, reading for information and reading to perform a task. The exam consists of 64 questions, with 45 minutes allowed for the completion of each part.

The math exam tests numbers and operations, measurement, geometry and spatial sense, statistics and data interpretation, algebra and functions. There are 72 questions divided into two parts, with 45 minutes allowed for completion.

Peterson said the new exams took two years to develop, and demonstrate the commitment to high academic standards in Nevada public schools.