Friday, February 26, 2010
By Abby Watkins
Staff Writer
The annual Standardized Testing and Reporting Tests will take place on May 18, 19 and 20, with two sections of testing the first day and two sections on the second day. On the third day, sophomores will take the two-hour life science test.
Homeroom teachers will administer the tests each day and release students at 1:45 p.m. Make-up tests will be held May 21.
Administrators hope this new schedule will improve scores and better suit the needs of teachers and students.
“Our intentions are to make the tests as quick, easy and painless as possible, and to put students in a classroom with a teacher that they feel pretty comfortable with,” Vice Principal Jaime Mancilla said.
Because seniors are not required to take STAR tests, the issue arises of what they will do during this time. This year, on the first day of testing, seniors will be expected to attend school from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to attend seminars conducted by teachers, former Mira Costa students and a financial advisor. On the second day, seniors have the option of going to Magic Mountain on an all-day trip for $35.
“It’s mandatory that students go to these days. If they do not attend the first day but have signed up for the Magic Mountain trip, they will be dropped from the trip,” Mancilla said.
“The idea of Magic Mountain was trying to do something positive for the seniors, as well as the seminars, which will hopefully be fun and interesting.”
Last year, testing occurred over three weeks and students took all of their tests with the corresponding subject teacher.
“Last year was an experiment to see if putting students with their subject teachers would change their scores at all,” Mancilla said. “In order to do that, though, we had to drag out the tests over a long period of time.”
Some students believe that this year’s schedule will be an improvement.
“I like this schedule a lot better than last year’s,” junior Katie O’Reilly said. “I like that we can get it over with quickly.”
This view is shared by some of the staff as well. They believe that the STAR testing will be a much more efficient use of time.
“I think the schedule will be advantageous to help kids with their STAR scores and to help our school look good, and I think that there will be some interesting opportunities for motivated seniors to have a good experience,” math teacher Dan Debevec said.
There are many seniors, however, that still believe that the schedule is unfair.
“I feel like I’ve paid my dues for the last three years to STAR testing and that seniors shouldn’t have to show up,” senior Alex Norocea said.
Despite this, if seniors do not attend school for these two days, Mira Costa could stand to lose significant revenue.
“We’re encouraging parents as well as seniors to show up for these days because we collectively would lose about $18,000,” Mancilla said. “I’ve been trying to figure out ways to make it more beneficial to everyone. If the senior component doesn’t work out and they don’t come, we’ll have to rethink our plans.”
In order to encourage students to attend, raffles are being offered to both seniors and underclassmen. Prizes for seniors will include yearbooks, prom bids, G.R.A.D. Nite tickets and preferred seating at graduation. Underclassmen could win gift certificates or free parking passes for the coming school year.
“We’re planning these just as rewards for students being here,” Mancilla said.
Currently, the administration is waiting to see how successful this year’s schedule is before they decide whether or not to make it a permanent feature.
“If this works out well, I won’t have to reinvent the wheel like we have for the last three or four years,” Mancilla said.
Despite the intentions of the administration, some students feel that the constant alterations to the STAR schedule are not beneficial for students in the long run.
“I don’t enjoy being the test subject of the administration’s constantly changing testing schemes,” junior Alec Kane said.
Though this year’s STAR testing schedule is still a work in progress, the administration is hoping that the current design will be a success.
“Ultimately, my main goal is to ensure that we continue to improve in our STAR testing scores. We’re just looking for any new ways to tweak it and make it even better and to have as little impact on regular class time as possible,” Mancilla said.
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