Decorated folders give area students privacy, encouragement while they write

Family photos and words of encouragement from mom and dad might seem like good ways to take the edge off a stressful test, but erecting decorated privacy walls on student desktops appears to conflict with Nevada testing procedures, which don't leave much room for fun or creativity.

The privacy walls are simply two manila folders taped together and placed upright on the desk, but the Nevada Department of Education manual for the fifth-grade writing test emphasizes that desktops should be clear of all materials except for the test itself, scratch paper and a No. 2 pencil.

The fifth-grade writing test is a measure of student progress for No Child Left Behind, the federal school accountability law. State officials stress "uniformity" in testing procedures for the sake of equity and to keep students from gaining an unfair advantage over their peers.

Lindee Witt, the literacy specialist at Gray Elementary School, south of Sahara Avenue near Torrey Pines Drive, came up with the idea for the privacy walls. She was unaware the idea might not comply with state testing regulations.

"I don't know," Witt said. "These are privacy folders. It keeps kids from looking at another test. So I think it would be to their benefit."

When first told of the privacy walls, Carol Mason, director of testing security for the Nevada Department of Education, said they might violate Nevada testing procedures.

"Upon further review, we decided they were not an irregularity," Mason said Thursday. "We will, however, be making some recommendations to the school."

Mason wouldn't discuss the recommendations because she wanted to talk to school officials first. Corrective action varies from situation to situation, Mason said. It might include reviewing testing procedures with school officials or monitoring future tests.

Nevada elementary schools wrapped up a two-week window for administering the writing test to fifth graders in the last week of January and first week of February. Test results won't be known for at least a month.

Because schools will be judged on their students' performance, many Clark County schools, including Gray, have spent grant and federal stimulus funding to prepare students with extra practice sessions on Saturday mornings.

The writing test itself is about three hours long and given on three consecutive school days. The first day is the introduction of the essay topic and some classroom discussion on how to approach the topic. The second day is for writing and revision. The third day is for final editing and writing the essay on a single page of the test form.

Essays are assessed on four criteria: organization, ideas, voice and convention. Students can get as many as five points in each category, so 20 is a perfect score and 12 is the lowest passing grade.

"It's a Nevada test for Nevada kids, designed by Nevada teachers and scored by Nevada teachers," said Darrin Hardman, the state's writing and reading consultant for elementary education.

All essays are mailed to Carson City. Each test is scored by two different teachers from across the state. The grade is an average of the two scores. A third teacher is asked to grade a test if it's on the borderline of not passing, Hardman said.

Because of the high-stakes pressure, Rylee Gomez, 10, a student at Gray Elementary School, said, "Everybody was nervous about it."

Rylee said teachers reduced that anxiety in two ways: a classroom party and the privacy walls.

On the day before the test, a teacher read "Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!" to motivate students. In the book, Diffendoofer students must take a standardized test to prove their school's worth or face being sent to Flobbertown, where everyone does everything the same way. The Dr. Seuss tale was expanded by writers Jack Prelutsky and Lane Smith.

Rylee's privacy walls were decorated with pictures of mom and dad, Sondra and Mike Gomez, as well as photos of Rylee's favorite singer, Justin Bieber, and movie star, Taylor Lautner of "Twilight."

Witt said she reviewed parents' messages, which were limited to words of encouragement. Sondra Gomez said she wrote a reminder to Rylee to organize her thoughts.

Sondra Gomez said she wanted to keep her daughter "relaxed, make her smile."

"Of course, she's Daddy's little girl. So we wrote on there, 'We love you, We're proud of you.'''

Sondra Gomez said she is grateful to the teacher "for thinking of us."

"By sending (the folders) home, it allowed us to be included," Gomez said. "So we played a part (in the test). I loved that."

Rylee wrote an essay about learning how to ride a bike. She is confident of success.

When she went home from school, "I told my Dad I think I aced it."

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@reviewjournal.com or 702-374-7917.