My school began MAP testing yesterday. The annual assessment is Missouri's benchmark program to purportedly rate the improvement of its 524 school districts. Because it compares each class of students with those coming before and after them, it does not provide an accurate picture of the progress, but the idea is at least commendable - they're trying to make the public THINK that comparing apples and oranges is adequate. While the debate about the usefulness of MAP scores in any comparison (between different groups of students, different districts, different buildings, etc.) will continue until something new comes out of Jeff City, we'll keep plugging away, trying our best to teach the concepts and content of the test and bribing students to do their best each year.

Being a MAP administrator is not always a bad thing. It allows content area teachers to see what is tested so they can better understand the expectations of the test. It also gives us a chance to see how students answer the questions, write for prompts, and test in general. As exciting as all of that may seem, the last two days have provided a couple of "chuckle moments" for me.

This morning, as I was reading the prescribed instructions that "must be read verbatim," I noticed that the students were having to close and open their test books a lot. At one point, I smiled as I realized that I had just asked them to look over a part of the session and close their books, and then ten seconds later, I was asking them to open their books to the next part of the session. As amusing as that was to me, a separate set of instructions was even funnier: "Stop. Please close your test books. Please open your test books to . . . ." In almost the SAME BREATH, I was asking them to close and open their books. No wonder MAP testing is so exhausting!

A few of my funny moments can't be shared because they were answers that I noticed students writing. Because there are no "released items" on this year's test, I can't talk about those answers until the items finally are released and the questions are made public. Until then, I'll just remember them from time to time and smile inside as I think about how funny they were.

Our teachers and counselors have found that many pencils do not erase very well - especially Papermate. The absolute best pencil we've found is the Dixon Ticonderoga. There's something about the "lead" and eraser that makes this a great choice for any situation - especially testing. Yesterday, as I was looking at the box that my pencils were in, I noticed the words "An American Original" emblazoned on the front. Feeling my patriotic side tweaked just a bit, I felt proud that our nation had produced such a wonderful product. The pride lasted only a second as I glanced a little lower on the box to notice a sticker that had been haphazardly affixed: "Made in Mexico."

Then there's this . . . with all the concern about terrorism and illegal immigration, you'd think states would have citizenship requirements for its public school teachers. A couple of weeks ago in my School Law class, Dr. Kiehne brought up the topic and asked if I would do a little research. He said there is a lawsuit in New York over a requirement that public school teachers must be US citizens. I'll reference it later when I remember (or find out again) the name of the case. Apparently some states are looking at their requirements for teachers and realizing that no such citizenship requirement exists. The very people who are teaching our children about American government and history . . . about citizenship . . . are not required to be American citizens themselves.

The next morning, I searched the Missouri Revised Statutes and only found that the Commissioner of Education must be a citizen of Missouri, and school board members must be residents of the district on whose board they serve. Other than that, I could find no residency or citizenship requirements in the law. Next, I emailed my information source at MSTA headquarters to find out if DESE had a policy, rule or guideline (or if I had just overlooked something in the law.) She passed my request to someone at DESE who replied that there is nothing that says you must be a US citizen to have a certificate to teach in the state.

After I reported my findings to Dr. Kiehne, he spoke with his state representative, who was not aware that such a loophole existed. He vowed to "check in to it" and see if something could be done. In an effort to see what our Republican House leadership will do when this issue is brought to their attention, I will mention it to Speaker Rod Jetton when I meet with him next Wednesday. Since the current leaders are pandering to their conservative base with resolutions guaranteeing students' rights to silent prayer in public schools and making every possible attempt to push vouchers and private school initiatives, my money is on seeing a bill on next year's calendar making US citizenship a requirement for Missouri teacher certification. Anything less would just be un-American.