Test Fourth-Graders

    Like all the other fourth-graders in the state, nearly 400 young students between Bridgehampton and Montauk are facing what educators say is their toughest academic challenge to date. The first of several new examinations the Board of Regents will require in coming years, the three-day test next week will determine how well 9 and 10-year-olds are meeting more stringent academic standards.

     In 2005, when the new program takes full effect, high school seniors will have to pass five Regents exams with a minimum grade of 65 in order to graduate.

Statewide Testing

     Altogether, 205,584 public school students and 37,665 children who attend nonpublic schools will sit for the test, according to William Hirschen, a State Education Department spokesman. Some 110 pupils are in the John Marshall Elementary School alone.

     "Everyone's concerned, state wide," said Anthony Correale, the East Hampton School District's assistant superintendent. "We have to remember, though, that this is a test of the [state] program, not the students, per se. We'll see how they do."

     The same fourth-graders are slated to sit for a new, harder math test in June.

More Than Bubbles

     Replacing the older, easier, third-grade English PEP test, the new E.L.A., as it is called, will involve more than filling in bubbles on multiple-choice answer sheets, as in the past.

     This time, students will be asked to use complete sentences and to "demonstrate critical as well as inferential thinking," said Thomas Lamorgese, John Marshall's principal.

     "The state has made this a high-stakes test," Mr. Lamorgese said, noting that results, which will not be known until April, will be used to compare the performance of "similar" schools - those in a comparable socioeconomic category.

Four-Tier Grading

     As Mr. Hirschen put it, the test is intended in part "to give communities an idea as to how similar schools are faring," though "not necessarily to rank or compare."

     "I am expecting it to show a lot," Mr. Lamorgese said. "It will give us an idea of where we need to improve."

     "The whole outcome will be interesting to look at as a district," said Cathy Cafiso, a John Marshall fourth-grade teacher.

     Grading will be in four tiers, the highest, "with distinction," or what used to be called "mastery," and the lowest, below a minimum "reference point." That means the student will need remediation.

     The two middle tiers are "above minimum standards" and "meeting minimum standards."

Preparations

     Mr. Lamorgese said his school's four fourth-grade teachers spent about an hour a week last fall readying students for the test. For the past three weeks, they have intensified the preparation to about 45 minutes a day.

     "We've worked very hard preparing," said Ms. Cafiso. Yes, she said, "I think the kids are a little anxious."

     "We really don't build it up," said Colleen McGowan-Whelan, one of four teachers of the Springs School's 90 fourth-graders. "The children are not anxious about it yet because we are not creating that type of environment for them."

     But according to Susan Agudo, another Springs fourth-grade teacher, "The time constraints are unrealistic for 9-year-olds."

Narrative Answers

     On the first testing day, students will take a 45-minute comprehension test asking them to read three different passages and answer 28 multiple-choice questions.

    The second session, an hour long, will test listening skills. Teachers will read a passage twice. The second time, students will take notes, which they will use to write narrative answers to three or four questions. Spelling, grammar, and punctuation will all be graded.

     The third section, generally thought to be the hardest, is on a "content-specific passage" involving an academic subject such as science or social studies. Again, students will write narrative answers to three or four questions, which may ask them to compare and contrast information and reach a conclusion.

     The hour-long test could include a map, graph, or footnotes.

Since September

     "I'm not as worried" as some in other schools, said Jack Perna, the Montauk School Superintendent, where 42 students in Colette Clancy and Tracey Waleko's fourth grades have been preparing since September, with special attention to comprehensive essay-writing.

     Ms. Clancy said that while the revised format will be tough on students used to multiple choice, "We knew it was coming, and the students were told, 'There's no time to fool around this year.' "

     For her part, Daisy Bowe, the Bridgehampton School's fourth-grade teacher, has been working with her 11 students since the week before Christmas vacation, in daily 40-minute after-school sessions.

    She said the reading and listening comprehension will probably be her students' greatest challenge.

     "I've been stressing to them to be as descriptive and detailed as possible" when analyzing a reading passage, Ms. Bowe said. She said the timing of the test, on the heels of winter break, was unfortunate.

     Ms. Bowe's students have done dozens of dry runs, critiquing one another's work and scoring their tests.

     "You have to ease" tensions, the teacher said, and "allow them to become comfortable with the test."

"Sophisticated Skill"

     In Sag Harbor, where 88 students will sit for the exam, "everyone is anticipating a difficult test coming down the road," said Joan Frisicano, the elementary school principal.

     "The pressure has been on our fourth-grade teachers" to prepare the students, she said, adding that the school has adopted some curriculum modifications with the new tests in mind.

     Mrs. Frisicano said students were well practiced in the four components of English - reading, writing, listening, and speaking - that will be tested. However, the note-taking that will be required is what she called a "pretty sophisticated skill" that the young students may find difficult.

     "No one is opposed to higher standards," said the principal. "You just want a fair measure."

"No Surprises"

     "I don't see anything" on the tests "that is not moving in the direction we want to see if we're really committed to creating 12th-graders who can read and write well," said Barbara Darvin, the instructional specialist at the Amagansett School.

     Ms. Darvin found "no surprises" in the results of practice tests taken by 25 fourth-graders after Thanksgiving.

     "You're not going to find everyone playing at the top of their game," Ms. Darvin said, echoing the opinion of several educators that in coming years, with increased preparation in lower grades, fourth-grade test scores will rise.

     Students who are ill during the regular testing will have two days in which to make up the test the following week.

With reporting by Conor Berry, Chris Harris, Janis Hewitt,

Stephen J. Kotz, Joanne Pilgrim