ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / February 26, 2000

LAPLACE – With less than a month to go before fourth- and eighth-graders have to take those all-important, high-stake Louisiana Educational Assessment Program tests, the state’s Department of Education is sponsoring Feb. 29 as “Take the Test Day,” or Take the LEAP Test on LeapDay.

The idea is to get students prepared for the big event on March 13-17 by taking a practice test Tuesday.

But because the LEAP test has a lot of students and parents anxious because failing the test means fourth- and eighth-graders will not pass on to the next grade, St. John the Baptist Parish Schools Superintendent ChrisDonaldson said there won’t be any special student activities for “Take the Test Day” in St. John Parish.”We’re doing our best to limit the anxiety around the test,” said Donaldson.

“The more hype there is, just increases the anxiety, and so we don’t plan any activities.”Besides, Donaldson said the school board has done a lot to help out the students who have to take the LEAP test. There are special after-schooltutoring sessions at most of the schools to help students study for LEAP.

Organizations like the New Wine Christian Fellowship Church have been holding special tutoring sessions every Saturday for public school students.

“We’ve done a lot to get the students prepared,” said Donaldson.

Instead of having the students test Tuesday, school system officials will be going out and talking to the parents and teachers. Kathy McWaters,curriculum and staff coordinator for the school system, will make three important presentations that day.

First she will meet with the Parents’ Advisory Council, made up of the presidents of all the Parent/Teacher Organizations in the parish, to explain to them what the LEAP test is and what is expected of the children and the parents.

After that McWaters will meet with parents at Fifth Ward Elementary to give them a hands-on workshop with the LEAP test.

Finally, McWaters will meet with teachers to practice scoring on the written part of the exam using a similar scoring guide that will be used on the actual LEAP exam.

“I don’t think the kids need to be any more stressed out,” said McWaters.

“What I will be trying to do is encourage and reassure parents and teachers that this test is do-able.”Another part of LEAP preparation is getting the community involved. At themonthly Business, Industry and Government Council meeting Thursday morning, the school system made a presentation to community and business leaders explaining what the LEAP test is and how it will affect students and the community.

McWaters told the BIG council that LEAP is necessary to not only asses a student’s progress but also to assess a school’s ability to teach children.

Unlike other standardized tests LEAP is criterion-related. Most tests justrank a student among other students, but LEAP is designed to test a child’s knowledge in reference to benchmarks. In other words, LEAP finds outexactly what a student knows.

Getting kids to pass LEAP is very important, not only for the school system but also for the community.

“Giving the LEAP test increases a student’s expectations to succeed,” said McWaters. “This leads to more successful students who will increase ourworkforce.” McWaters also said statistics show that crime decreases in areas where LEAP-style tests are administered and where school accountability is stressed.

LEAP, according to McWaters, is just one of four requirements needed by a school system to produce well-educated students. Other factors include anallocation of resources, development of a good curriculum, staff development and strong community involvement.

Even if schools in the area aren’t participating in “Take the Test Day,” the Louisiana State Department of Education urges parents and their children to practice LEAP questions at home. Read to your children or have them read. Show your children how to look up resource material. Discuss test questionsand homework around the dinner table.

There are five achievement levels to the LEAP test – advanced, proficient, basic, approaching basic and unsatisfactory. In order to “pass” the LEAPtest, a student must score in the approaching basic or above levels.

There are four parts to the exam, English, math, science and social studies, and the test will take two days to complete.

Following are sample test questions: Fourth-Grade Math Peggy Sue is 3 years old. Her grandfather is 21 times as old as she is. Whichof the following tells how old her grandfather is? A. 3 + 21B. 21 – 3C. 3 X 21D. 21 3

Eighth-Grade Math The seventh- and eighth-grade classes each have 120 students. If three-quarters of the seventh grade class and two-thirds of the eighth grade class went to the pep rally, how many more seventh-graders than eighth-graders went to the rally? A. 10B. 80C. 90D. 170

In the math section there will be multiple-choice like those above and there will be four open-response questions. The answers to these questions will benumerical, short written answers, or graphs and geometrical patterns.

In order to ease student’s anxieties and fears about the exam, the State Department of Education suggests the following tips for parents to help their children take the LEAP test: Reassure your child that he or she does not have to answer all the questions correctly to pass. It is not expected that students answer everyquestion correctly.

Tell your child to attempt to answer all of the questions and not to leave any blanks. There is no penalty for guessing, and students can get partialcredit on the open-ended items.

Remind your child the test is important.

Explain to your child the importance of using time wisely. If your child getsstuck on a question, encourage him or her to make the best guess or place a mark in the test booklet by that item and go back to it after finishing that section of the test.

Make certain your child gets a good night’s sleep and a good breakfast before taking the test.

Try to make the morning of the test a pleasant one. Do not add to yourchild’s stress.

Get your child to school on time the day of the test.

Remind your child to listen carefully to the instructions from the teacher and to read the directions to each question correctly.

Encourage your child to stay focused on the test, even if other students finish early.

Remind your child it is OK to mark in the test booklet as a help in taking the test, i.e. underlining important words,etc, and to mark all answers on theanswer sheet.

If parents or students would like to take the sample test, booklets are available at the parish library or at parish public schools. Free copies of thebooklet are also available on the web at www.doe.state.la.us or by calling theDepartment of Education’s toll-free helpline at 1-877-453-2721.

Return To News Stories