Get Your #2s Ready for the CMT!

In the midst of all our snow closings and delays and sub-freezing temperatures, the CMT tests arrived in Central Office – all 48 cartons!  Ann Marie DePetto inventoried every barcode on every Math, Writing, Reading, and Science test booklet, in addition to counting the Test Examiner manuals, writing prompts, rulers, and so on, readying them for delivery to the schools.  In fact, by the time you read this, the cartons will have been reinventoried in the offices of our Principals who, in addition to their regular duties, are also serving as our Test Coordinators.  And, in the meantime, our Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Colleen Murray, took on the overall responsibility for the CMT’s, setting up the administration schedule and making certain each State guideline is followed to the letter.

Every farmer knows you can’t get the little pig fatter by weighing him.   I sometimes use this statement as an analogy to the obvious limits of standardized tests such as the CMT.   We certainly won’t make our children more 21st Century-skilled or more academically successful simply by testing them.   And while, this blog is an inside look at the time and effort that goes into the “weighing,” we all know the real work is what our teachers do every day in their classrooms to help our students achieve. When they teach students to explain their thinking in solving a complex word problem in math or to repsond in writing to a text-dependent question, they are not "teaching to the test," they are imparting important real-life skills. 

On the other hand, I’d also like you to know that preparing for these tests is no simple task … and our efforts in Orange are replicated in every school district across Connecticut.   Each year when our Coordinators and our Principals check-in our boxes, (which inevitably arrive wet and sandy), I remind myself that some districts are receiving 100’s of boxes and need a whole storage facility to store them.

Here are some facts to ponder!   Based on last year’s data, we can expect to spend a total of 58.5 total hours in actual testing. Our third graders have the least amount of testing -- 7.5 hours. Our fifth graders have the most – 13 hours!   We will likely administer about 250 make-up tests for students who were sick or away from school during test administration.   We will work with over 100 official accommodations, such as for those students who need a reader or scribe, or large print materials, or extended time and an alternate setting, per their special education Individualized Education Plan (IEP).   We will need about 90 teachers as trained proctors during the various exams.

The three school Principals, Colleen, and Ann Marie will spend about 175 hours on the various administrative tasks, including 50 hours in unpacking and inventorying tests and supplies, 15 hours training proctors and readers, 15 hours in phone or email correspondence with Measurement Incorporated over interesting testing ‘issues,’ and 30 hours repacking the test booklets for scoring.    We'll send back and forth about 140 emails.  Lest you think even the inventory is simple, at each school the principals will count hundreds of small blue paper rulers and formula sheets. 

There are individualized bar code labels for each student’s testing booklets. In addition, your school Principals, and sometimes even their PTO’s and parent volunteers, will spend many hours re-doing the bell schedule, planning whole school assemblies or pep talks, finding appropriate space for small group accommodations, scheduling proctors and substitutes, writing letters home, and even arranging healthy snacks for our test-takers.

At the end of March, we’ll count it and box it all up again – the completed tests and all the materials -- and each box will be taped shut, numbered, and affixed with its two security seals and two address labels routing it back to Measurement Incorporated.

No one is complaining!! (Well, maybe a little!) But, in Orange, we take this time very seriously, intending that every detail is well planned and every eventuality is controlled. It’s important to us that this community continue to enjoy its excellent test scores.   But, more importantly, it’s crucial to us that your children continue to master the math, reading, writing, science, and analytical problem-solving skills that the Connecticut tests measure.   We want them to feel confident going into these tests and proud of their accomplishments afterwards.  It wouldn’t be fair of us to send them into a testing situation feeling overwhelmed or underprepared.  

Over the summer, we'll study our results and make changes in curriculum and instruction that will help more children reach the goal.  We'll report back to you on the results.  In a few weeks, I'll blog about the new test, the SBAC, headed our way.  In the meantime, we've posted March's CMT schedule and some easy-to-follow tips on the webpage.