MMAT Format Changes

by Julia Metelski

The Missouri Mastery Achievement Tests ( MMAT ) are changing. The once multiple-choice test is slowly evolving into a new and improved test. It will evaluate the student's problem solving capabilities and will give them partial credits. They will not call the test the MMAT's instead it will be called the Show-me test. This new change will aid in the production of better teaching methods in the classrooms throughout the state of Missouri. The introduction of the complete test is expected to occur in the year 2000 to grades four, eight, and ten.

Many complaints were made by the teachers in the state of Missouri about how the MMATs were designed and for what types of students they were structured for. They were said to have been bias toward different races, expecting different results from each group. This has resulted in an inadequate and inefficient means of evaluating the students' performance in the classroom. This has forced the state of Missouri to consider a better way to evaluate the students' performances. To solve this problem, the state has put together a team of people from the department of education and teachers from across the state of Missouri to create a test that is fair to everyone.

"I believe the (new) test is better but I believe the test is also a change that is radically different from what the students have been expected to do," says Ann Mulvihill, science teacher and participant in the construction of the science section of the Show-me test.

The new Show-me test will grade students more on performance rather than correct answers. Not only do they have to read and write down the answer, they also have to show the complete process of how they found their answer. Students are expected to take the knowledge that they have learned ver the years and apply it to an every day practical situation such as building a bird house or buying a C.D. player.

New standards come with new tests. The old MMAT objectives are strictly based on what the students have learned in each subject area. Students will no longer be given a national or state percentile after their tests are graded: they will be given back a report on how well they did on the tests. Since the test requires written work, it is scored differently. Students' answers will be rated on a scale from one to four. Each rating has a multiple variety of possible answers which enable the students to write down any process and receive partial credit for the answer. 

Teachers will need to adjust their curriculum because some test subjects in the Show-me test will crossover into other subject areas. Math teachers will need to talk to English teachers, Since the math section of the new test requires a little bit of written English in the answers. Social studies teachers will need to speak with the economics teachers, because some social studies areas deals with a little bit of economics. This will lead to more communication among the teaching staff and should lead to a better education for the students.

"As a staff we have to make sure that we are doing a good job of teaching the skills necessary, so our students can reach and exceed the standards that the state has outlined," says Ed Stewart, assistant principal of Hancock High School. The complete Show-me test will be given to grades four, eight, and ten, which the state's new performance standards require for the fall of 2000. The Hancock school district, however, has voluntarily agreed to give the test to all of the required grades from now until 2000 to prepare the student to take the complete test when it comes. Scores are expected to drop during the first few trail tests since this is a form of a test that the students haven't seen before. Each year new sections of the test will be "phased" in. Students will then test twice in that subject. For example, in the Spring of 1997, fourth, eighth, and tenth grades will take the new math test and all of the old MMATs including the math section. The following year students will take the new math, communications, and science sections of the Show-me test and all of the old MMATs excluding its math section. The same introduction method will be used for social studies in 1999 and health and fine arts in 2000.

For those grades not taking the Show-me test, the Hancock School District will develop their own evaluation test to see where each student stands and to see what each student has learned at the end of each year. Giving the MMATs would entirely counteract with what the state has been working toward.

The new Show-me test is a program developed to understand the knowledge of students instead of placing them in a category according to their percentages. The state is moving forward by developing young minds and disregarding the traditional test score scenario. By 2000 colleges will look at a graduate's test scores and can comprehend what type of student they are.

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