ACTAAP: Arkansas Comprehensive Testing, Assessment and Accountability Program

Teaching is stressful enough. Then along comes legislation that makes it law to test students yearly. Arkansas put into action Act 999 back in 1999, not long after I started teaching. It caused a lot of stress and panic attacks for me. What is really disturbing is the fact that the students have added stress and do suffer from panic attacks because of the mandated testing.

So, how do we deal with something that probably won't go away? The best way teachers know how: modify and adjust.

Types of Testing

The tests are broken down into groups. For kindergarten through second grade and then skipping up to ninth grade, they get the SAT10. For grades third through eighth, they get the augmented benchmark exams. These are for literacy and math.

Thrown into the mix for added stress are the Science benchmarks for fifth and seventh grades.

For the high school grades, they get the end of course testing.

Modifications for Special Needs Students

I hate to tell you this, but no, there are none. All students, from special education to regular education to gifted and talented students, will take the same test on their grade level. This is especially frustrating because all throughout the year teachers must modify for the special needs students. It is very obvious with most of them that they simply cannot do the work that a regular ed. student does. That's why they are called special needs. But when it comes to the mandatory state testing, modifications are not allowed.

We can small group test them, though. This means that they can go to a smaller group, outside of the regular education classroom and test with a different teacher. If the students are used to the resource teacher working with them, then they need to be tested there and not in the regular education teachers classroom. This will help to reduce the stress levels for the students.

Even in the small group testing, all the rules of the test are the same. Each section will tell you, the teacher, if you can read aloud to them or not. Make sure you follow all the rules that your administration will go over with you prior to testing.

How to Prepare for the Testing

This is probably one of the saddest things, but we must teach to the test. Teachers are not given a choice with this. If test scores are low, then the teacher is going to be ultimately held responsible. The students will also have to deal with the possibility of being held back a grade or go into tutoring the following year. So, you must prepare yourself as the teacher and prepare your students.

Use your state frameworks. When I first started teaching, I thought that the text books would teach everything they needed to know. That is not true. Before the school year even starts, you need to be looking over your frameworks for the subject or subjects you teach and map out when and how you'll teach each topic.

Most school districts do a summer workshop doing exactly that. Curriculum mapping is tedious and will be stressful, but it must be done. So much of your work for the year goes into the mapping. This way, you make sure that you cover everything that needs to be covered in the right amount of time. Pacing guides will help you to know how much time you should allot to each topic. Of course, if the students are not understanding a concept, make sure you go back and reteach it. Some concepts are just harder for the students to understand.

Make sure that you ask for help from veteran teachers. Most are more than willing to share helpful information. Some will even offer it before you ask. Don't ignore them, they've been doing it for a long time and know how to get it all done. Use your own judgment, though, and use the information you can and just file away the rest.

Other Resources for Help

In Garland County, where I work, we have a company called TLI: The Learning Institute. It was started by the Hot Springs School District, but has been separated into it's own company in recent years. It now services most of the county schools, including Lake Hamilton School District.

Last year was the first year that Lake Hamilton started working with TLI. The teachers were not happy about it at first, but have come to realize that it is a good tool to use to prepare students for all of the spring testing.

TLI works with the Arkansas State Frameworks to create "practice tests" for the benchmark. Several times throughout the school year, students are given tests to see how their progress is coming along. They work with the same subject matter as the benchmark: literacy, math and science. They break the topics up into what are called modules. There are a total of seven modules used throughout the year beginning in October and ending in May.

Teachers use the modules along with the pacing guides to help know what to teach and when. It has become a very valuable tool in the classroom.

Another place you can go to is the Arkansas Department of Education website for help. There you can pull up released items from past tests. Currently, I believe they have 2005, 2006 and 2007 released items. These are questions that were on those tests and will not be on the current one. But they offer great help because they will have questions like it on the current one.

Early Intervention

Once the TLI test has been taken, the teachers then put the test scores into the portal through the TLI website. Using the results from the test, they can determine what skills need to be worked on more.

I am working with resource students this year, so when we saw how low their TLI scores were, we decided extra work would be needed to help them out. Just like the state mandated benchmark, we do not modify the TLI for the resource students. This helps to prepare them for the "real test".

As part of my intervention, I can go to the TLI website and pull up practice questions from the current module that we are working on. One by one, I work on the questions and help the students to understand what is being asked and how to get that answer.

Working with the resource students can be very difficult, though, because they just cannot comprehend all that a regular ed student can.

Failing the Benchmark

Unfortunately, not everyone will receive passing scores on the benchmark exam. For the Lake Hamilton School District, we have overwhelming success in our regular education population and receive awards for their academic achievement on the benchmark. But, for our special education population, we have been placed on academic improvement.

For every student, regular ed or special ed, if they fail the benchmark, which means they received a "basic" or "below basic" score, an AIP will be created. An AIP is an individual file for each student meaning Academic Improvement Program. We must come up with resources and extra help to improve the scores for that student the following year.

At the beginning of the school year, the student's new teacher will get the AIP and go over it with the parents. It has to be signed by parents, teacher and principal. The AIP must be followed and documented proof must be obtained that all is being done to help the student out. This help can be through extra computer time, extra help from an aide or teacher, and even after school tutoring.

Once the student has achieved the goal of "proficient" or "advanced", then the AIP will no longer be needed.

If a school cannot get the student population, for example, the special ed, scores up after a certain amount of time, then the state is allowed to come in and take over. Which is a very scary thought for school districts because the state will do whatever they want to do. That means teachers and administration can be fired and all extracurricular activities will be gone. It is a very bleak picture for students and staff if the state has to come in.

Closing Thoughts

Testing is something that I have never liked and probably never will. I have never liked teaching to the test, but the government forces us to do so. Until parents and the general public speak out against it, nothing will change. Keep in mind that these tests are made by people that have not been in the classroom for a very long time or have never been in the classroom as a teacher at all.

Looking at foreign countries, their academic achievement is a lot higher than ours in the United States of America. It's a shame that public officials believe that mandated testing is the answer to improvement. Other countries of equal status to us, do not do any mandated testing, yet they achieve much more than we do. To me, that is a sign that something is wrong with our educational belief system in the United States and it needs to be overhauled. It's not bad teachers, because most of the teachers I know are very dedicated and do their best. It's not the students because most I have worked with try their hardest. It's the system itself saying that everyone should meet an equal standard.