Vol. 40, No. 12
April 10, 2006
ACT Instead of MAP?
State Officials Will Discuss Possible
Changes in Required High School Testing
Starting this week, state education officials will hold seven "town hall meetings" to discuss potential changes in Missouri’s testing requirements for public high schools.
The meetings begin Wednesday (April 12) with a morning session at Macon and an afternoon meeting at St. Joseph. Additional meetings will be held Thursday (April 13) at Liberty and Warrensburg; and next week (April 18-19) at Republic, Poplar Bluff and O’Fallon.
The meetings are open to the public. Each session will last two hours.
An advisory committee appointed last year by Commissioner of Education D. Kent King recently presented a recommendation to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education calling for the state to require all high school juniors to take a national college-entrance exam, such as the ACT or SAT, instead of the "MAP" tests that students currently take in grades 10 and 11.
The proposal also calls for a mandatory test of writing skills and for retaining the current MAP test in the area of science.
Stan Johnson, assistant commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, will moderate each meeting. He will outline the preliminary recommendations developed by the state-level advisory committee. Participants at each meeting will have an opportunity to ask questions and to express their views about the proposed changes.
The State Board of Education is expected to make a decision in May about whether to change its current testing requirements for high school students.