Educators create new reading assessment By MARIAN A. MARAYA

The Pacific Resources for Education and Learning, with help from the local community, is assisting the Public School System develop Reading tests that would accurately gauge the reading aptitude of public school students.

PREL program specialist Don Burger, during an assessment workshop gathering over 40 community members yesterday, said the tests being developed by design teams have deviated from the typical “bubble” test normally used on state-imposed evaluations.

“This is a real reading test. Kids will have a real reading passage that asks them questions which they will respond to by writing short answers about what they have read,” said Mr. Burger.

According the expert, the proposed type of test intends to measure the Reading standards and benchmarks for particular grade levels..
Unlike the nationally-normed Stanford Achievement Test-9th edition, the new Reading evaluation would be able to tap specific areas of concern directly relevant to the CNMI situation, according to Education Commissioner Rita H. Inos.

“So here’s another way to look at achievements with our students. To me, this is a better way of knowing how well we’ve been doing in teaching the kids those we identify as standards that are important to us in the CNMI,” said Dr. Inos.

“Under SAT9, it closely aligns with national standards but we did not develop it. And so there are always arguments of whether that’s the true picture of our kids. But when the development of this test is completed, it will show us what the CNMI’s true achievements are,” Dr. Inos added.

Meanwhile, yesterday’s Reading assessment workshop drew interested community members who reviewed a draft of tests based on inputs developed by principal and teacher design teams last May.

Parents, teachers, principals, government officials, and business professionals closely conferred yesterday on state assessments in Reading designed for grades 4, 8, and 11.

“We are after the community perspective today. This is a chance for the community to get some valuable feedback back to the test designers,” said Mr. Burger.

“The participation has been great, they have been asking questions,” said Ms. Monica Mann, another PREL facilitator at yesterday’s workshop.

“I am pleased because community members are questioning, arguing, and I foresee that it’s going to be a rich and good instrument in the end. I am really happy with the openness of our community by sharing their insights on this,” said Dr. Inos.

In September, the design team is scheduled to present a revised draft of the Reading assessments based on collective feedback from the ongoing workshop.