ERIE,PA. Tackling standardized tests

Schools review math in gym class to improve test scores.
ERIE, Pa. (AP) -- Gym class started with jumping jacks and stretches and ended with math problems and essays.
"We've got to get their blood flowing," said Strong Vincent High School gym teacher Scott Burbee, before calling the pupils to the bleachers for a different kind of drill -- a math lesson.
Pupils sprawled out on the bleachers, looking bored as Burbee started the second half of gym class.
"You divide your minutes by the ... ," he intoned, as pupils -- most clad in shorts and T-shirts -- dutifully took out pens and paper.
In this era of standardized testing, math is taught during gym.
It's part of the Erie School District's all-out effort to improve its standardized testing scores.
City teachers in every class in every grade are teaching skills to improve scores on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, a statewide exam that's given each year to fifth-, eighth-, and 11th-graders.
The stakes are high, for if the district fails to improve its scores it risks being taken over by the state.
"All teachers are having to answer the questions: 'What skills are you teaching? What's the impact? Would your student know why [it's important]?"' Erie Assistant Superintendent John Linden said.
Various approaches
Schools within the district have dealt with the new guidelines in different ways.
Some schools gave pupils sample tests, and the pupils who performed poorly had their schedules rearranged to fit in remedial math or reading classes in spaces where they once learned art and music.
Other schools have developed extensive after-school programs or instituted a school-wide vocabulary list of "high-impact" words pupils can use in PSSA essays.
And some, like Strong Vincent, have pledged to dedicate half of every class -- including gym, social studies, science and home economics -- to practice the types of reading, writing and math problems found on PSSA tests.
Strong Vincent's test scores for eighth- and 11th-graders were below the state average.
Whether all this effort is successful won't be known until test results are released next fall.
While Burbee teaches high school pupils in one gym, a second gym teacher, Michelle Acke, starts her lesson with her eighth-grade pupils in the school's other gym.
They, like the pupils in Burbee's class, sit on the bleachers in their gym clothes awaiting instruction.
Pupil Shelby Kitchener said no one likes the new gym classes.
"I hate it," she said. "This isn't math class -- we're supposed to be getting physical fitness [instruction]. We should be exercising."
Persevering
Despite the unpopularity of the school's decision to teach PSSA skills in gym and in other elective classes, teachers persevere.
"Do you have your PSSA test?" Acke asked Shelby and the other eighth-graders, after reading a passage along with pupils about sportsmanship. "What do we need? Don't forget: Include detail, summarize central ideas, write neatly and clearly and use only the space provided."
Those are the rules for the grading of the open-ended questions.
Comprehension is the key, not spelling or grammar.
Scott Baldwin, the dean of the education school at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, said schools aren't to blame for the steps they're taking to improve pupil performance on standardized tests.
"There are very powerful consequences for everybody in education if the tests aren't passed," he said. "The entire focus of No Child Left Behind is on reading and mathematics ... under those conditions it narrows the curriculum. It's not the schools' fault -- the government is forcing it on them."
Mandating success
The sweeping legislation signed into law in 2001 by President Bush called No Child Left Behind mandates pupil success on state standardized tests.
Those schools that fail are at risk for being taken over by the state or federal government.
Baldwin said that although he believes some type of standardized testing is necessary, the current emphasis is a detriment in the classroom.
Because pupils are tested only in math, reading and writing, their knowledge in other subjects is certain to suffer, he said.
"You're seeing [PSSA skills] taught in the natural sciences, in physical education," he said. "You might see higher test scores immediately, but a couple of years from now we're all going to wonder why students can't find Harrisburg on a map of Pennsylvania."
Focus too narrow?
Matthew Wolfram, a parent of a fifth-grader at Emerson-Gridley Elementary School, said the majority of his son's science, history and social studies classes are spent working on PSSA skills.
His son, like all fifth-, eighth- and 11th-graders, will take the 2002-03 school year PSSA tests in February, March and April.
"That's all his teachers focus on," Wolfram said. "I don't think my son is getting a well-rounded education."
Baldwin said Wolfram has a valid concern. Unless the current focus changes, Baldwin said, it is likely that pupil scores on the SAT might suffer down the road.
"Reading and math are extremely important, obviously," Baldwin said. "But if you crowd out other important areas of study they'll be less prepared in the future. ... Colleges want students to be well-rounded."
Baldwin said that although success in school is dependent on reading, writing and math skills, the state has set too high a standard for all pupils to succeed.
"We in education are not afraid of raising standards and being better -- we aspire to that. But it is possible to set the bar so high that failure is inevitable," he said.
Sees ulterior motive
He, like other proponents of public education, believe former Gov. Tom Ridge's administration set the minimum scores too high for the PSSA tests, making it impossible for pupils -- especially those in urban settings -- to perform well on the tests.
"They knew exactly what they were doing," Baldwin said. "They were designed to make public schools fail."
Ridge's Republican administration -- like that of President Bush -- was in favor of charter schools and vouchers.
Baldwin and administrators in the Erie School District believe that the Republican administration's belief is that if the public believes public schools are failing, support of charter schools and voucher programs will grow.
For their part, Strong Vincent teachers seem to understand the school district's focus -- even if they don't like it.
"It's things we've been doing all along but with more emphasis," said Jim Rutkowksi, the head of the school's science department. "The power of the PSSA scores has changed our perception of teaching the skills."