Stories Related to Learning Curve: Officials Wanted A New Exam, And Maybe They'll Finally Get It

For three days in March, science teacher Amy Jabens began her mornings in Prairie High School’s guidance office, where copies of the Iowa Assessments were kept under lock and key. There, she collected a stack of the state-mandated exams to haul back to her classroom. She handed out the 100-page booklets to students, along with sheets for them to “bubble” in their answers to questions about reading, math and science concepts. During the school districtwide testing period, students were urged to get a good night’s sleep, eat a healthy breakfast and be in class each day. Teachers’ comments before the hour-and-20-minute testing period were scripted, so every student heard directions on how to shade in answers, ask for scratch paper or fix a mistake. “In every room, it will be the exact same paragraph,” said Jabens, who works in the College Community School District in Cedar Rapids. Five years after the search for a new test began, 360,000 students still take tests believed by officials to produce poor reflections of Iowa classrooms.     At the close of the day’s testing, teachers collected the booklets and walked them back to the guidance office, where they were locked up until the next day’s test. The next morning, teachers and students did it all again. Jabens picked up the tests.