St. Charles parents should not be too worried about impending LEAP tests

Published 12:00 am Saturday, February 19, 2000

LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / February 19, 2000

LULING – The biggest concern over the LEAP (Louisiana Educational Assessment Program) tests for students in grades four, eight and 10 isn’t whether they will advance to the next grade.

It’s becoming over-anxious.

Rachel Allemand, director of curriculum, instruction and assessment for St.

Charles Parish Schools, is a busy person these days. Her round-the-clockmeetings with teachers and principals in preparing for the LEAP tests, March 13-17, has kept her on the go.

Along the way, she’s also been rumor-control officer, putting out the flames of horror stories about “The Test.””I’m just worried people are becoming over-anxious. Eighty percent or betterwill pass the test,” she said. “They’re worrying unnecessarily.”The LEAP test is vital to advance to the next grade level for those particular students, measuring student performances as to the knowledge they should have at these points in their academic careers.

Test scores, though, aren’t of the A-to-F variety, but ranked according to the following: unsatisfactory, approaching basic, basic, proficient and advanced.

In the past, the state has given tests based upon what teachers should teach. LEAP’s difference is to assess what students should know and be ableto do.

However, teachers aren’t “teaching the test,” as some parents may believe.

The knowledge being assessed by LEAP are what students are learning along the way regardless.

“We started teaching skills in kindergarten to be tested on in fourth grade, so the whole responsibility isn’t on the fourth grade,” Allemand said. “It’s anongoing process.”So there isn’t any such thing going on as “teaching the test,” since, “If it’s important for LEAP, it’s important anyway.”In the field of language arts, students will be evaluated on reading and response, written composition skills, proofreading abilities and using information resources.

That last item, testing research abilities, is unique to Louisiana, Allemand said. “I haven’t found any other state that’s doing that.”The mathematics portion of the LEAP test includes two major parts, assessing concepts and skills with multiple-choice problem-solving and short- answer word problems where the students may be asked to explain how they reached the answers.

Teacher guides to the mathematics and language arts portions of LEAP have been made available as a tool in developing lesson plans, evaluating shortcomings among the students and addressing those needs in every grade. “We share the responsibility,” Allemand pointed out.A diagnostic test was given at the beginning of the school year to assist teachers on an individual basis to make those assessments.

However, what gives Allemand her biggest concern is the start of next school term.

Results for the March 13-17 tests will be received by May 15. A LEAP”summer school” is planned to handle those students who score unsatisfactory, with re-tests planned July 6 and 10-11. Results from thosetests will be received by Aug. 8 for eighth-graders and Aug. 14 for fourth-graders, with the start of the new school year set Aug. 17.To handle the scheduling crunch, those at-risk students will be double- scheduled at each grade level, up or down.

Anxiety among the students remains a problem but the area of most concern on the test is the mathematics portion, the area with the most students scoring unsatisfactory.

In earlier evaluations, 21 percent of eighth-graders scored unsatisfactory on the mathematics portion. However, this pre-test gave teachers anopportunity to address that need in time for this test.

Another concern is for those students in private or parochial schools intending to transfer to public school fifth or eighth grade. Those studentsstill need to take the LEAP test to be accepted in their new grade.

All sorts of preparations are under way for LEAP, with the Homework Hotline cable show focusing on test-taking strategies and skills throughout the month of February.

The show airs on Cox Cable Channel 8 each Tuesday at 6 p.m.However, Allemand concluded, “The best preparation is good teaching.”

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