Teacher takes part in summer scoring opportunity

Friday, June 20, 2008
submitted photo-- Truman Elementary teacher Myra Bond participates in scoring MAP tests.

It may be summer vacation for many students and teachers, but for, Truman Elementary teacher Myra Bond the weeks of June 3-6 and June 9-12 provided an opportunity to be involved in scoring the Missouri Assessment Program tests, better known as the MAP test. Mrs. Bond participated in scoring 4th Grade Mathematics at the Sikeston site.

Twelve school districts serve as host sites for the test-grading project. Approximately 600 teachers work to score a portion of the thousands of MAP tests that students took this spring. Sikeston was host to 43 teachers over the two-week period, with one team advancing on the area each week. The summer MAP scoring workshops are conducted each summer in collaboration with the test publisher, CTB/McGraw-Hill.

The goals of the program include training and qualifying Missouri teachers to score according to the standards, criteria, and goals of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and providing professional development to Missouri teachers regarding the MAP Scoring process.

The teachers spend the first two days training on the process under the direction of a MAP Regional Instructional Facilitator, a CTB Content Supervisor, and Missouri Teacher Table Leaders. Melenda Cayton, from North Pemiscot, and Kathy Schetter from Sikeston, served as table leaders at the Sikeston site. The tests are scored by the teachers through a secure Internet connection to school computer labs at the site. CTB/McGraw-Hill will compile all of the data for every student and provide the results to school districts later this summer.

While the actual test items are secure and unable to be shared, teachers are encouraged to share general knowledge gleaned from the scoring process.

Teachers in Sikeston identified mathematics vocabulary instruction, writing in the content area, and knowledge of correct mathematical processes as key information they would take back to their districts to share with other teachers.

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