The days of children taking the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test may soon be numbered as state lawmakers push for a different end-of-the-year accountability test.

A bill introduced in the House would replace the PACT with a test that would be more closely aligned with the federal No Child Left Behind standards. The proposed test would give teachers better feedback on their students' strengths and weaknesses, something that educators have long been clamoring for.

The PACT tests reading, math, science and social studies for grades 3-8. Performance on the PACT carries enormous weight in how schools are rated on state report cards. South Carolina is widely considered by the educational community to have one of the most rigorous assessment tests in the nation.



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State Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, says it is about time that state lawmakers listen to the people on the frontlines of education. She believes the PACT test is too expensive to administer and doesn't give enough insight into students' abilities.

"It doesn't monitor and measure in a way that lends itself to improving performance," Cobb-Hunter said.

Cobb-Hunter is not alone in that assessment, as the bill has strong bipartisan support in the House. The bill is expected to go up for debate next week and could reach the Senate the following week.

The proposed test is called the Elementary and Middle School Assessment Program and will help teachers analyze student performance, according to House Education Committee Chairman Bob Walker, R-Spartanburg,

It will feature multiple-choice questions and a writing section. The bill also requires schools to give an assessment test at the beginning of each year.

If approved, the four categories of performance on PACT will be consolidated into three on the new test, which would be: not met standard, met standard and exemplary.

That move could make it easier for school districts to have all their students meet the NCLB requirement of scoring proficient in reading, math and science by 2014. Scoring in the "met standard" category would be considered proficient, Walker said.

It's important that the definition of proficiency remains the same, said Denver Merrill of the pro-school choice group South Carolinians for Responsible Government. He says the proposed test seems to be a misrepresentation of proficiency if the new standards are tied to NCLB.

State Rep. Jerry Govan, D-Orangeburg, believes the new categories will have an immediate effect.

"It would have a positive impact in the number of schools that right now would go in the proficient category," Govan said.

State Superintendent of Education Dr. Jim Rex says that depends on where the lines are drawn between the three categories.

Rex said he is happy with current legislation. However, he is not delighted over what is being left out of the bill that would have greatly revised the state's Education Accountability Act.

The first thing Rex views as a problem is that the bill calls for the new test to begin in 2010. He believes the new test can start next year.

He also favors changing the way schools are labeled on the state report card. Currently, schools are rated as either excellent, good, average, below average or unsatisfactory.

One draft of the bill supported by Rex included a provision to rename the categories as academic distinction, academic recognition, academic progress, academic review or academic priority.

The bill that emerged left out that provision after some lawmakers, including House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, said the new naming system watered down the EAA. Harrell said the proposed system was filled with feel good terms that dismantled accountability.

Rex said that the current report card labels can turn away businesses, industries and teachers from an area if a school is deemed unsatisfactory. He thinks his proposed labeling terms would provide a clear understanding of how a school is performing and said other states use those terms.

It also eliminates the negative stigma associated with "below average" and "unsatisfactory" ratings, Rex said.

"One of the unintended consequences is that it makes it more difficult to turn things around," Rex said of the current labels.

House Minority Leader Harry Ott, D-St. Matthews, says he can see both sides of the argument, but is comfortable with the status quo.

"If you have an unsatisfactory rating, people know what that means," Ott said.

The original draft bill also cut out social studies from the test because it isn't required by NCLB, while the current draft k.jpg social studies in.

"I will not vote to take social studies out," Ott said.

Rex supports taking social studies off the new test not only so it is aligned with NCLB, but to cut down on the amount of testing students must endure each year.

A consensus among Rex, many lawmakers and most in the education field statewide is that there is too much testing.

At Bamberg-Ehrhardt Middle School, students can take up to four standardized tests per year.

Principal Robert Kearse said it takes the school two weeks just to administer PACT. Students also take the diagnostic Measure of Academic Progress test twice and every other year they take the National Assessment of Educational Progress test.

"I think the amount of testing is too much," Kearse said.

T&D Staff Writer Lee Tant can be reached by e-mail at ltant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-534-1060.

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