
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 7, 1995                   TAG: 9501090037
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

'84 TESTS FOR '95 STUDENTS JUST WON'T DO, STATE SAYS

Ask any schoolchildren about the Iowa Achievement Test of basic skills, and they're likely to tell you quickly.

It's the test with the booklets and answer sheets, they would say, the one they take in grades four, eight and 11, the one that tells who's a good pupil.

What the children might not know, however, is that the standardized test of reading, mathematics and other basic skills is expensive for the state.

Virginia will pay $1.8 million for a new version of the test, which will be given by 133 school systems to 215,000 pupils in the next school year.

Beverly Sgro, secretary of education, said a new version is needed because the one being used - from 1984 - puts Virginia pupils at a disadvantage compared with those who take the newer version.

``It's so out-of-date that we had to do something,'' Sgro said.

The state has to buy the test booklets, answer sheets and other materials from testing and publishing companies. It also is required to pay royalties.

The fees for buying the booklets and scoring the tests account for much of the costs.

Cam Harris, director of assessment and accountability for the Department of Education, said the newer version will enable Virginia's pupils to compete on a level playing field with those from other parts of the country.

``As we have acquired more knowledge, we have needed a newer test,'' Harris said.

She said the new test will provide a better yardstick to measure basic skills.``We need to be more current,'' she said.

Some states buy new versions of the test every few years, Harris said.

Virginia will have to spend another $1.2 million for a scheduled update of the Literacy Passport test for sixth-graders, which covers reading, writing and mathematics.

State law requires that pupils pass the passport tests to enter ninth grade.

Sixth-graders who fail any of the three tests are given additional opportunities in seventh and eighth grades to pass.

Money for both the Iowa and Literacy Passport tests is included in Gov. George Allen's budget for the next school year.

by CNB