An official report of MHS’s EOC results has not been made available to MHS yet, but Juli Rust, testing coordinator, said the scores look consistent with years past.
“I wasn’t surprised,” Rust said. “Every teacher, student, administrator and counselor worked hard this year to prepare for these tests and it is evident in the preliminary data.”
The Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) End-of-Course (EOC) testing this year experienced a time change. It was lowered from last year’s 159 minutes to 90 minutes because of changes in the EOC exam, Rust said.
Rust said in years past, students were required to take two parts for an EOC exam: a multiple choice session and a performance event like an essay, so more time was arranged to complete the exams.
“Students this year were only required to take one session, the multiple choice, for each required EOC exam,” Rust said. “Because we are now only required to administer the multiple choice session, the decision was made to reduce the testing session time.”
Rust said after discussion with the testing coordinators and head principals from the four Rockwood high schools, she created drafts that were then provided to MHS faculty. It was also decided if the time allotted was insufficient, students would be allowed to finish after the class period.
“[If] a student needs more time, they are escorted from their classroom to the library in order to complete any remaining questions,” Rust said. “Students are given as much time as needed to complete the test to [their] satisfaction.”
There were four EOCs this year: Algebra I, English II, Government, and Biology. Of these exams, English II and Algebra took longest to complete.
“I think these students are needing more time because students are required to answer questions based on a number of reading passages for English II,” Rust said. “Students also have to work out complete math problems during Algebra 1’s exam.”
Amy Hollinger, math teacher, said eight out of her twenty Algebra I students needed more time to finish the exam.
“I think some of my students needed the extra time, because they were working so hard to do well,” Hollinger said. “I think that they understood the importance of the test – to the school and to their final grade – and they wanted to work hard to be successful.”
Hollinger said her students scored “exceptionally well” regardless of time restraints.
“I don’t think that time played a factor for my students because they were all warned ahead of time that they may not finish,” Hollinger said. “I would rather they go over on time and do well, than hurry through at the end and not score as well.”
