By Lux Sheplee, Staff Writer
Settling in after a stress-free spring break, students at River Hill are getting back into their daily school routine. On April 17th and 18th, however, sophomores’ routines were interrupted by the Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP). MCAP has four different types of tests; English, math, science and social studies. The sophomores had to complete a two-day English assessment that consisted of four sections, each lasting from 40-70 minutes.
The assessment is a requirement in Maryland even though it doesn’t affect the GPA or graduation of a student. The point of the assessment is to gauge how schools are doing as a whole in order to determine what curriculums need help. Successful schools are determined by students’ high academic performance. Many people like sophomore Ryan McPhee believe that schools’ success should also be tested on the mental and emotional status of their students, and the effect of their school’s environment on students.Regarding MCAP, Ryan explains, “I don’t see a point in it, if they want to do state testing they should take polls about mental health.”
Many students don’t see a point in the testing, as it does not affect their grades, so they don’t take the time to put their best effort forward. Sophomore Bella Hildreth, who completed the testing on Monday and Tuesday, describes, “I’ll read all the questions and paragraphs, but I won’t go in depth to analyze responses.” Ryan also shared that a student “went on their phone ten minutes before the test ended, and got disqualified.”
MCAP also takes considerable time out of a student’s day. Sophomore Zoe Pachoca explains, “I missed four periods and had an assessment in one of my classes.” Although the sophomores were required to take the MCAP assessments, teachers continued on with their curriculum. Sophomore Suhani Patel describes that “some teachers are also teaching content during the MCAP testing, so we’re missing a lot of content we could be using for tests.”
Missing classes as a result of required MCAP testing causes lots of stress among students.Suhani details, “I missed an entire assessment, and while my teacher is giving us time to make it up it just makes things more difficult.”
Students are also only allowed to have a book in the testing environment to prevent cheating. When they are finished testing, students may not work on homework or missed classwork. Bella goes more in depth about the time constraints, expressing that “we are given too much time for 8 questions that take 20 minutes to do, and you can’t do anything besides read a book or sleep.”
Maryland requires several standardized tests throughout the course of a student’s grade school career. Although standardized testing varies from state to state, their main purpose is to measure the effectiveness of a school’s curriculum and teaching compared to other schools. Many students are negatively impacted by these tests, as time is taken out of their day while their teachers move on with their lessons. Despite varying opinions on standardized tests, for now, they are here to stay.