[Transcript]
George Yorns:
From the news center in Washington this is AFRTS News. The Department
of Defense Education Activity says it plans to monitor student
progress more closely than ever. Children in grades three through
eleven will continue taking the Terra Nova test, which compares
their scores with students across the country. Students in fifth,
seventh, and ninth grades will still take the DoDEA Writing
Assessment, but school officials say several new tests will
make their debuts this year. Tenth-grade students will take
the PSAT and DoDEA will pick up the bill. Any student taking
an algebra course will now take an end of course exam designed
not only to gauge their progress, but to help teachers tailor
their programs to students' needs. Finally, criterion-based
exams in math and language arts will be given to students in
fourth, eighth, and tenth grades. Officials say these tests
are a departure from the exams most students have come to expect.
Dr. Janet Rope:
The kids are not just selecting an answer, they're actually
creating answers to problems. And that's a very different kind
of testing than when you just choose answers off of multiple
choice. So we think it's going to be more rigorous, we think
it's going to be more challenging, and I think the items will
actually serve as models for classroom assessment as well.
Yorns: That's
our report. From the News Center in Washington, I'm George Yorn.
