Revisions proposed in state's testing standards

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Grading of the state's standardized tests would be revised to measure Missouri schools' performances more precisely against national norms, under bills filed Thursday in the House and Senate.

Sponsors of the legislation said the intended result would be fewer schools whose students score below the "proficient" level on the Missouri Assessment Program tests. State education officials have said Missouri's standards are more stringent than those of some other states.

The legislation was prompted by the effects of the federal government's 2002 No Child Left Behind act, which aims to have 100 percent of the nation's students "proficient" in math and English by 2014.

But the federal law lets each state define "proficient" for itself, chart its schools' progress toward that goal and report the results to the federal government. Schools that fail to show "adequate yearly progress" toward raising students' proficiency risk being penalized.

Missouri has administered the MAP tests since 1998. Members of the state board of education have said Missouri's current definition of "proficient" applies to students who actually perform ahead of their grade level on the tests.

The result is that about half of the state's schools failed to make "adequate yearly progress" last year under No Child Left Behind.

Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin, said his bill would probably allow more Missouri schools to hit the performance benchmark required under the federal law.

Nodler acknowledged that some could criticize the bill as watering down the standards, but added: "I'm not making qualification judgments on if they're better or worse. They are the national standards."

A House version of the bill was filed by Rep. Maynard Wallace, R-Thornfield, who is a former teacher and superintendent.

"Educators across this state don't want to lower the standards, but they do feel we need to make some adjustments in the way we look at the data," Wallace said.

Nodler's bill has 26 co-sponsors in the Senate, while Wallace said he had the support of more than 60 members in the 163-seat House.

Groups representing teachers, school administrators and school boards also back the bills.

The legislation also provides for testing children yearly starting in 2006, as required by the federal law. Currently, the MAP tests are administered only in certain grades.

State Education Commissioner Kent King said bringing state tests to national levels "probably is a good move."

"There's a national comparison that is clearer to everybody than it is right now," he said.

He said state standards are similar to the national ones but are figured differently, and in some cases state standards are higher.

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Bills on testing standards are SB 1080, HB 1102.

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