Minnesota's battery of required school tests is getting bigger with the launch of new high school exams in reading and math. The tests will measure schools' progress on the state graduation standards, but some students might not yet have all the skills they need for the math test.

	Ellen Blank, director of teaching and learning for the Roseville school district, says the long wait for test scores is also frustrating. "We won't get the information from the MCAs until October. And, really, schools would like that to turn around and have that information in August so that teachers would be aware of where kids were when they came into their classes in the fall and could use it for informing their instruction," says Blank. (MPR Photo/Tim Pugmire)

The new 10th grade reading test and 11th grade math test are part of the state exams known as the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments, or MCAs. Third- and fifth-grade students have been taking MCAs for four years. Unlike the state's Basic Standards Tests, which measure minimum literacy and are required for graduation, the MCAs measure the higher skills linked to the Profile of Learning graduation standards.

Reg Allen, statewide assessment director at the Department of Children, Families and Learning, says the results provide valuable information.

"Statewide testing is one of the ways in which you find out what it is, on a statewide basis, that students know and can do. And then that feeds into accountability process, saying to schools and districts: this is where your students are, these are the schools and districts who need extra help and support to bring students's achievement up to the standards Minnesota has defined," according to Allen.

The reading test will measure a student's ability to understand complex information found in non-fiction passages.

The math test will assess their understanding of concepts, procedures and problem solving in the five high school mathematics standards. Those standards, found in the Profile of Learning, are: algebraic patterns; chance and data analysis; discrete math; shape, space and measurement; and technical applications. Under the Profile, students need only meet five of the three standards before graduation.

In a classroom at Roseville Area High School, teacher Korky Heinen helps her students with a math work sheet. This integrated math class is part of sequence designed specifically to cover the five graduation standards.

"All I'm really going to do is give out some sample questions so when they go into it they're not scared and taken aback right away, so it looks familiar. But the way the questions are asked, it's just like they do in the integrated curriculum. It's just like what they do every single day," says Heinen.

	Roseville principal Bob Rygh says the new reading and math exams should provide high schools with important data they can use to make curriculum adjustments. But he also has concerns about the addition of more tests. As president of the Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals, Rygh joined leaders of other key education groups last fall to call for changes in the state's testing program. They said the tests take away valuable instruction time, and the results do little to help students. (MPR Photo/Tim Pugmire)

School districts must offer students all the state content standards, but they aren't yet uniformly required for graduation. Roseville, like many Minnesota high schools, still gives students a choice between taking the bundled approach of integrated math, and the more traditional sequence that includes algebra, geometry and trigonometry.

Principal Bob Rygh says some juniors will have a tough time with the MCA math test. "I think it would be fair to say that there will be some items tested in there that will not be as familiar to the students in the traditional track as it is to the students that are in the integrated curriculum, because of the way that curriculum has been designed," says Rygh.

Rygh says the new reading and math exams should provide high schools with important data they can use to make curriculum adjustments. But he also has concerns about the addition of more tests. As president of the Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals, Rygh joined leaders of other key education groups last fall to call for changes in the state's testing program. They said the tests take away valuable instruction time, and the results do little to help students.

Ellen Blank, director of teaching and learning for the Roseville school district, says the long wait for test scores is also frustrating. "We won't get the information from the MCAs until October. And, really, schools would like that to turn around and have that information in August so that teachers would be aware of where kids were when they came into their classes in the fall and could use it for informing their instruction," says Blank.

State education officials say they understand the concerns and are working on ways to improve the testing system. They recently announced a new company will take over scoring the existing battery of tests, as well as development of the next required exam. A seventh-grade reading test is scheduled to hit Minnesota classrooms in 2003.