The latest twists in testing

Charlotte-Mecklenburg third-graders will have a broader menu of reading tests to help them earn promotion without summer school,  assuming the snow-crossed school board approves at a meeting this morning (after snow canceled the Jan. 28 meeting,  tonight's regularly scheduled meeting has been bumped up to 11 a.m. to avoid a repeat).

As you may recall,  districts around the state are trying to put the Read to Achieve law into practice without sending thousands of children to summer school or drowning them in exams. The goal is ensuring that students who move up to fourth grade have grade-level reading skills.

More than 2,500 of this year's CMS third-graders can relax:  They tested at third-grade level on new state reading exams given at the start of this year,  so they don't have to worry about being retained or sent to summer school based on an end-of-grade reading score. The rest,  about 78 percent of the class,  will have these options to demonstrate proficiency:

* MAP tests being given in most elementary schools.

*  Discovery Education reading tests being used at Project LIFT schools.

* Reading 3D tests created by Amplify  (where former Superintendent Peter Gorman went to work).

*  Or the state's "portfolio"  reading tests,  which sparked controversy because they require students to pass quizzes on 36 passages.

Students who don't make the grade on any of these options will have to see if they pass the End of Grade exam.  If not,  they'll have to take summer reading camp to be promoted.

The state granted the request of CMS and 15 other districts,  including Cabarrus,  Gaston,  Hickory,  Kannapolis,  Mooresville and Union County,  to have additional testing options.  But you can see why testing is such a thorny topic in the state,  with Gov. Pat McCrory saying the volume  "borders on the absolute ridiculous."

But former Gov. Jim Hunt, hosting an Emerging Issues Forum focused on teachers, warned against a knee-jerk reaction to overtesting.  He recalled a day when too many were oblivious to how little students were learning.

"The whole issue of testing is one that we've got to do a lot of hard thinking about,"  Hunt said.  "We must figure out whether students are learning and how to help them learn more."

Teachers cite techbook challenges

After a recent article about the move toward digital  "techbooks,"  I heard from a couple of teachers who talked about challenges they're facing.

Sherri Garside,  a history teacher at Alexander Graham Middle,  said the social studies digital programs created by Discovery Education remain incomplete.  Sixth-graders have a full curriculum,  but whole centuries are still being developed for seventh- and eighth-graders,  she said.

"To say teachers are frustrated is an understatement!"  she said.  "What they have is great, but useless unless it is updated."

I also heard from a teacher at a high-poverty middle school,  who asked not to be named for fear his principal would take offense.  I visited Community House Middle,  a low-poverty school in the southern suburbs,  for the article.  This teacher said his students are far less likely to be able to do the techbook work from home.  They may have smartphones,  he said,  but they're not likely to have laptops or home computers that are conducive to moving among multiple items and doing online work.

Both teachers said a shortage of classroom devices poses challenges.  Unlike Mooresville Graded Schools,  which provides each student with a MacBook they can use in class and take home,  Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools relies on classroom laptops or carts of devices that can be rolled between classrooms.  The teacher at the high-poverty school said that doesn't provide enough consistent access for students to get comfortable with the digital programs.

"The more you use Discovery Education,  the better you get with it,"  he said.  "Discovery Education itself is great."