Surely has to be joke

On April 1, there was a front-page article on the new ATLAS test for assessing Arkansas students. I was hoping it was an April Fool’s joke; it wasn’t. I have three issues with this new test.

First, Education Secretary Jacob Oliva said that this test will be “Arkansas specific.” Are English/language arts, math and science different in Arkansas than in our country at large? Pertinent questions and correct responses shouldn’t change at our state’s border. Why do Arkansans need “Arkansas specific” tests? One of the purposes of a nationwide standardized test has been to compare achievement in one state to the achievement in other states. This new test will make that impossible on a yearly basis.

Second, the new test is going to be “adaptive.” To quote from the April 1 article, “a student’s response to a question determines the difficulty level of the next question—easier or harder.” Answer correctly, the next question will be harder. Answer incorrectly, the next question will be easier. This means that it is possible that no two students are taking identical tests. How, then, can a student’s knowledge or lack of be compared to another students?

Third, the meaning of the results will not be determined until after the test is given and scored. When I was in school, we knew before we tested that a score above 90 percent would be an “A,” above 80 percent would be a “B,” and so on. Generally, you needed a score above 60 percent in order to pass. With the new ATLAS test, once all the exams are completed, the raw test results will be analyzed, and levels set for satisfactory or unsatisfactory achievement. This means that once we see how students do, we will decide how to score the results. This seems a little backwards to me.

DENMAN GILLETT

Little Rock