Beach seeks to use own test instead of state SOL exams

VIRGINIA BEACH

Virginia’s fourth-grade reading test asks students to pick the meaning of the word “enjoy.”

A test Virginia Beach schools developed for their fourth-graders asks them to explain in writing how either a salad bar or fitness course would improve student health at their school. The first test, which is multiple choice, is given to fourth-graders statewide every spring. The results help determine whether schools are labeled as passing or failing by the state and federal governments.

The Beach School Board would like the state to allow it to use “performance-based” tests, like the salad bar problem, instead of the Standards of Learning tests in three grades. In July, the board included that request in its list of legislative priorities for 2011.

The division plans to roll out the tests to more schools each year, regardless of what the legislature decides. It hopes the tests will spur classroom teachers to place greater emphasis on thinking skills.

“We know teachers will teach to a test,” said Jared Cotton, the assistant superintendent who oversees testing for Beach schools. “We want to create a test that’s worth teaching to.”

The idea of using tests to measure skills such as problem-solving, writing and critical thinking is not new. In the 1990s, Kentucky used performance-based tests. However, states had a difficult time producing tests that could be graded quickly and produce reliable results, said Ron Dietel, an assistant director with the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing at UCLA.

Over the summer, groups representing 46 states applied for federal grants to develop better national tests, though Virginia did not participate.

The proposed tests would go beyond the multiple-choice format, including performance tasks and online exams.

Shelley Loving-Ryder, Virginia’s assistant superintendent for student assessment and school improvement, said adding long-form tasks to tests is “not where we’re going.” The state instead is working on online click-and-drag math problems and short-answer questions that could be graded by computer.

“We want to still have rapid return of results for our students,” she said. State writing tests already must be graded by hand. The performance tests given in a few Beach schools last year are still being scored, Cotton said.

The 12th-grade performance test, known as the College and Work Readiness Assessment, is scored by the testmaker. And teachers from other division schools are scoring the fourth and seventh grades performance tests on critical thinking, problem solving and written communication to create a baseline for next year.

Beach Superintendent James Merrill told the board at its annual retreat that the school division is on “a solitary journey.”

“Our state Department of Education has made it clear that SOLs rule. We understand there is a higher purpose to what we do,” he said. “We in Virginia Beach do hold our students to a higher standard.”

Lauren Roth, (757) 222-5133, lauren.roth@pilotonline.com