MISSOURI, USA — Some Missouri parents are crying foul when it comes to Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) testing in schools this year.
Parents who have chosen to educate their children virtually due to COVID-19 are reacting to reports that their children will be required to go to school to take the MAP Test.
Due to concerns about health, Fort Zumwalt parent Willow Wideman and her husband have chosen to educate their son, a sixth-grader, online from home.
Wideman is concerned about a March 1 administrative memo on the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, or DESE, website. Page 2, under “test administration” indicates “all students should be tested on-site.”
“So as far as the MAP testing goes, we received an email saying we are required to show up in person for two days of MAP testing, despite being virtual," Wideman said. "There was no option for virtual students to take the test online.”
DESE Communications Chief Mallory McGowin said there is no mechanism in place to allow for standardized tests to be taken virtually.
“There also comes into play some question about when you really want a standard response to these standardized tests, you really have to think about providing as standard an environment as you can," McGowin said. "So, you really have to think about the viability of proctoring a test at home.”
DESE officials said it is an option for parents to have their children opt-out of MAP testing.
“What we want to be sure families understand, though,” said McGowin, “is really the importance of why we think tests are so critical this year. We are at an important point where we need data on hand, and standardized data across the state.”
Wideman believes that, like last year, state officials should push pause on MAP testing.
“Think about how stressed they already are right now,” she said. “So, we’re going to dump this extra pile of MAP test stress on them – with social distancing, with mask-wearing, with all the other things they have to do. It’s too much.”
That DESE administrative memo indicates that historically, state assessment results are used for accountability, accreditation and district-level decision making. Because of the pandemic, the state board of education has suspended the use of assessment results from state and federal accountability systems.