The first science, technology, and engineering portion of the MCAS was administered to students in Massachusetts this past year, and the public schools hope to use the exam as a guide to curriculum changes:
While other students were taking Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System tests in English and math last spring, fifth- and eighth-grade students took the first science, technology and engineering exam, which will be a permanent fixture on the test schedule from now on...
Statewide only 32 percent of eighth-graders scored in the top two categories [in science], with 4 percent at advanced and 28 percent at proficient. Thirty-seven percent need improvement and 30 percent are at warning level...
The science test is 63 percent multiple choice and 37 percent open response questions, according to documents from the DOE. The questions are split evenly among earth science, life sciences, physical sciences and technology/engineering...
The tests help to prepare students to take science MCAS tests in 10th grade, which will become a requirement for graduation in 2006. Subject-specific tests in biology, chemistry, physics and technology/engineering will be given to 10th-graders as a pilot program in 2004 and 2005, but scores count in 2006.
Here are the disclosed 2003 science test forms for Grade 5 and Grade 8, if you're interested. The multiple-choice items seem pretty straightforward, although the subject material covered is so broad that the items seem to really jump around in terms of content, from ecosystems to the earth's crust to biology to auto mechanics. Really - item 12 on the eighth-grade exam asks which car part belongs to its control system, and if the answer is not, "Fuel tank," then I feel really stupid. [Update: Reader Chris tactfully points out that the control system probably involves the steering wheel, not the fuel tank. I tell you, my days with no caffeine just keep getting better and better.]
The open-ended items seem a bit tougher. Students must list the necessary items and steps for conducting experiments, describe animal and plant cell functions, and describe wind patterns. Straightforward, but certainly not something the students can BS or fudge answers to, I would think. The 32% number for the proficient/advanced group, while not stellar, is about what I would expect from today's public school students.
Posted by kswygert at September 29, 2003 12:08 PM