Are PAWS tests too long?

By Janice Kurbjun
Times staff writer

With Wyoming’s PAWS testing finished, the consensus among Carbon County teachers is that the tests were too long.

The Wyoming Department of Education initially issued estimated times to guide teachers, which were supposed to be shorter this year. The test is supposed to gauge each school’s proficiency in reading, writing, math and science.

After one week of testing, though, the state department had to nearly double the time estimates. According to Linda Duncan, counselor at Little Snake River Valley School, the reissued time was 625 minutes.

“That amounts to 10 and a half hours,” Duncan said. “The length concerned staff and administration both.”

Compared to the ACT test’s four-hour time limit, the PAWS test time shocked many teachers.
In the math portion, Denise Ashline’s eighth-grade class at Rawlins Middle School took between 140 and 210 minutes to take tests that were estimated by the state to run a maximum of 80 minutes.

“That’s a long time when middle-schoolers should be doing things in 15-minute increments,” Ashline said.

Melissa Irvin at the department of education said that, based on continued negative feedback from across the state, the test times will be adjusted next year.

Other post-test complaints arose as well. Jim Catlin, counselor at Hanna Elk Mountain Medicine Bow Junior Senior High School, said, “There are high stakes for the schools, but not the students. The problem is that schools are held accountable for tests that students don’t take as seriously.”

Teachers district-wide acknowledge this, and some have reacted. For instance, Ashline’s eighth-grade students will get awarded for their effort with a DVD, video game and snow cone party on Friday. Ashline measured effort by evaluating each student’s preparation work.

“They really tried hard, even though the tests were grueling,” she said.

Teachers did find some improvements this year. As the Wyoming Department of Education pushes toward computer testing, efforts to streamline the system seem to be working.
“Our kids seemed to function well with the online testing,” Duncan said of the 11th-grade students who took most of the test online this year.

“The software was easier to navigate this year,” said Shelley Cooper, a Medicine Bow Elementary School math teacher.

Saratoga, Rawlins and HEM also saw significant improvements in the computer portion of the test. Fewer students were booted off the system this year and the teachers could more easily monitor how quickly students were moving through the tests. Some tests had nearly immediate scores.