Horry County Board of Education discusses standardized testing limits, district gathering data

The Horry County Board of Education wants to know what educators think about the number of standardized tests given to students every year.

The board discussed limited the number of standardized tests given to students at its annual development workshop Monday. John Poston, district 8 representative, suggested capping the number of tests to just state- or nationally-mandated exams.

“We’re a very data driven district, but sometimes I don’t want to lose sight of the educational or learning part of what we’re doing,” Poston said. “Our children go through quite a regiment on testing.”

The ACT Aspire, WorkKeys and end-of-course tests are required by the state along with a few educational measurements for primary grades, said Teal Harding, Horry County Schools spokeswoman. S.C. jumpstarted the ACT Aspire test for students in grades three through eight in April and all 11th graders now take the ACT and a new ACT Workkeys test to evaluate job readiness.

The Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test is optional, but every district in the state gives students a MAP test, said Edward Boyd, chief officer of accountability and information. MAP tests cover writing, language and math, and are given to Horry students three times a year.

Some schools can opt out of the winter MAP testing if they choose, Boyd said.

“It gives you a national measure – a lot of parents want to know how their students are doing across the nation, not just compared to other districts in the state,” Boyd said.

It’s been a rough year for standardized testing in S.C. with the dismissal of the high school exit exam in 2014 and implementation of two new mandatory tests – ACT Aspire and WorkKeys – this year. About 88 percent of the state's 11th graders scored high enough on a work-skills test last spring to receive certificates they can take to employers, according to scores released Tuesday by the state's education agencies.

To keep a measurement “bridge” of student achievement from year to year, Boyd said the MAP testing is necessary.

“Right now, we still do need MAP until we get a better footing on what state testing will be long-term,” he said.

That doesn’t mean the district wants to test students just “for the sake of giving a test,” Boyd said.

Joe DeFeo, board chairman, said that teachers would know best if the tests are helpful to student learning or achievement. He said standardized exams just teach children how to test and don’t give them the ability to solve “real-life” problems in the work force.

“They don’t enhance the kids’ lives at all, and I don’t think it helps them solve real-life problems at all,” DeFeo said.

Educators in the classroom should know if his or her students have learned the material without an exam, DeFeo said, which is why he advocated for fewer tests depending on teacher opinion.

The district must first gather data from teachers to show the board, which will then devise a plan to reduce the number of tests if they deem it necessary. For now, the standardized exams – elective and mandatory – will continue throughout Horry County Schools.

This story was originally published September 23, 2015 at 4:49 PM with the headline "Horry County Board of Education discusses standardized testing limits, district gathering data."