COVINGTON — Motivational speakers. Pep rallies. Prizes. A chance to spike a teacher's head with colored hairspray.

        Educators have been using a combination of strategies to get students prepared for the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System — CATS, which kicks off Monday and ends April 26.

Tom Jones uses a ball and flashlight to demonstrate the phases of the moon to Ami Carpenter (left). (Patrick Reddy photo) | ZOOM |

        “You hate to put so much emphasis on something like this ... because I think everyday should be just as important as the next 10 testing days,” said Karen Lyon, principal of Thomas Edison Elementary.

        “I don't want (the students) to be scared, but I want them to take this test seriously. I want them to come in ... and say this is a piece of cake.”

        Schools have a lot riding on the high-stakes tests: from cash awards for high scores to being audited by the state for consistently low scores.

        Each school has a growth chart that plots the progress needed each year to reach the goal determining whether the school gets cash awards or varying levels of state assistance. State assistance can come as money for improvement, a state audit or assignment of a “highly skilled educator,” one of the Kentucky educators trained to help low-performing schools improve.

        Scores on CATS tests taken this month will be made public in the fall.

TEST QUESTIONS

Grade 10 Reading     Students will read an excerpt from Leonard Nimoy's book, I Am Not Spock, in which the author explains how his connection with Spock has changed his perspective.     Discuss what Nimoy views as the positive and negative aspects of his connection with Spock. Support your analysis with specific evidence from the excerpt. Grade 7 Science     Plant/Animal Interrelations     Plants and animals rely on one another for the production of oxygen and carbon dioxide.     a. Describe this relationship.     b. Use a diagram or flow chart to illustrate your description of the relationship. Grade 4 Science     In spring, ice and snow change and become liquid water. In summer, when it rains on the sidewalk, the water “dries up” and becomes vapor which is a gas.     a. Tell what happens to make the ice and snow become liquid and the water on the sidewalk become water vapor.     b. Give TWO examples of ways that these changes to water are important in people's lives.    Source: Kentucky Department of Education

        CATS scores were up last time around in 17 of the 18 school districts in Boone, Campbell, Gallatin, Grant, Kenton and Pendleton counties, according to results released in October.

        Scores from this year's and last year's tests will be combined to decide each school's fate as the current two-year cycle ends. By 2014, the goal is for every school in Kentucky to reach the proficiency mark of 100 on a 140-point scale.

        Debbie McIntosh, one of the Kentucky Department of Education's designated highly skilled educators, is working with students and staff at the new Thomas Edison Elementary, which is part of Covington Independent Schools.

        She helped organize last week's four-day “CATS Camp,” a set of structured games and activities to help the students practice for testing.

        Thomas Edison fourth-grader Darrell Parson said the camp helped him prepare for the tests. “It'll help us learn more about science and we'll probably get a higher grade than we got before on the tests,” the 10-year-old said.

        School officials say they have been preparing for the exam all year long, in part by ensuring that the curriculum reflects material that will be on the tests.

        “We use those results (from last year's tests) to adjust our instruction,” said Pam Rye, director of curriculum for Newport Independent Schools.

        Even the administrators are getting into the act. At Fort Wright Elementary, principal Margaret Hoffman this week will wear a T-shirt that says “Pass the CATS — Slam Dunk It!.” Pat Murray, director of curriculum and assessment for Boone County Schools, has a simple but important message for students: “Get some sleep, eat a good breakfast, be here on time, don't be absent.”
       

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