Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2001 | 11:17 a.m.
Testing changes
Proposed changes that will make it tougher to get a high school diploma in Nevada starting next fall will get their first public test at an upcoming hearing.
Changes also are on tap for elementary school students, with the addition of new state exams in math and reading for grades three and five in May. State officials said the new tests might eventually replace the TerraNova as the tool for evaluating school performance.
Those issues will be debated at the hearing at 3:15 p.m. March 3 in Horizon South High School's student activities center, 5300 E. Russell Road.
One of the biggest changes calls for the addition of science to the High School Proficiency Exam next fall. Students must pass all portions of the High School Proficiency Exam -- currently reading, writing and math -- in order to earn a diploma. If the science portion is approved, next year's juniors will have to pass all four parts in order to graduate.
According to a proposed state Board of Education regulation, the science exam will be based on physical, life, Earth and environmental sciences. Nevada would be the only state in the country to include science on an exam required for high school graduation, state and local officials said.
"It's going to be a killer," Clark County School Board member Shirley Barber said. "We anticipate there will be more problems, especially in the at-risk schools. Science is not being taught properly because there is so much emphasis on reading."
Bill drafts coming before the state Legislature this session are seeking to block the addition of science to the exam. Another bill would allow parents to opt out of high-stakes testing for their children.
All of the proposed regulations coincide with state laws, said board President David Sheffield, who defended the tougher tests.
"We've agreed that this is at a proficiency level, not a mastery level," Sheffield said. "You don't have to be a rocket scientist."
He said school districts need "to be held accountable for teaching students basic skills." The skills students are being asked to perform, he said, were the result of two years of study and heavy input from the public.
"The parents and the school districts need to make sure the curriculum is being taught," Sheffield said.
Others expect a bumpy transition.
Keith Rheault, deputy superintendent for the state Department of Education, predicted some of the issues will rile the public. Even staff members aren't thrilled about the science exam, he said.
"There are some staff members who feel this was a rushed process," Rheault said. "We would have liked to have had at least another year before a new test is started and give everyone the opportunity to learn the material."
"This is all very political," Barber said. "We should have standards and students should be expected to know what they are being taught. But with all of this other nonsense I ask myself, 'What are we really trying to prove?' "
Science won't be the only change on the High School Proficiency Exam this fall.
A new version designed to reflect beefed-up state standards also will debut. Some of the higher-end skills on the math portion will include algebra, geometry and data analysis, including probability and statistics.
Last June, 700 seniors statewide -- about 11 percent -- did not get a diploma because they failed the math proficiency exam.
Some students may not even be able to take the exam.
A regulation coming before the state board bars students from taking the High School Proficiency Exam unless they have the proper number of class credits. In order to take the test, juniors have to have at least 11 credits and seniors 17.
Sheffield says that's common sense: Why take an exam if the material hasn't been covered?
But others see potential problems.
"If a student is lacking three or four credits, chances are good that those credits will be in math or English," Sue Strand, president of the Clark County Education Association, said. "Then, I can see it.
"But what if a student is missing one credit? Should we stop him from taking the test?"
The state also wants to reach out to students taking the test after graduation.
Students who fail the proficiency exam may take it any time after graduation, provided they show proof that they have had remedial training. A proposed state regulation requires school districts to provide remediation without charge for students who fail, including transportation.
The regulation states those things must be provided, unless a student's failure is traced to unauthorized absences or habitual truancy. Meanwhile, new state tests in reading and math for third and fifth grades are "ready to go," Rheault said.
Rheault and Sheffield both said the new tests would be a better tool to evaluate school performance than the TerraNova, which is the current standard. Schools that perform poorly on the TerraNova are placed on a list, and if they don't improve in three years, their education can be taken over by the state.
The main difference between the two tests is that the TerraNova compares Nevada students with those nationally. The state test, by contrast, will center on students' knowledge of the state's required curriculum.
For now, the state test results will be used only as diagnostic tools for the state and school districts. If the state replaces the TerraNova with its own test, it would probably still give the TerraNova, just not use it to rate schools, Rheault said.
The TerraNova is given in fourth, eighth and 10th grades.
With the new state tests, students will be tested every year in grades three through six.
More testing, Strand said, also means more work for teachers.
The emphasis on testing affects what goes on in the classroom, she said. For example, fractions being taught in the third grade instead of fifth, because they are on the TerraNova exam given in the fourth grade.
"We can't just keep testing more," Strand said. "There's not enough time to teach kids and just let them learn."
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