Every year in March juniors from all over the state of Arkansas sit down for two days for the Literacy Exam. Every junior in the state of Arkansas is required to take the test on March 8-9 of this year regardless of ability to speak English or course rigour.
Because of this policy, many students struggle with the test and as a result scores are low. When schools’ test scores are low, the score can get put on academic probation until the scores are raised.
Students who are not fluent in English should not be required to take the exam because there is no way to fully comprehend the material. It is near impossible for a student to perform at a proficient level on a test when they don’t speak the language in which the test is written.
Advanced Placement students also struggle with the Literacy Exam, but for other reasons. In AP classes, students are taught to analyze every single piece of a reading passage and then write a complex essay over it. However, the Literacy Exam tests solely on whether or not the reading passage was comprehended. The people who are grading the test count off if there is anything analytical about the answer.
Because AP students are conditioned to write more complex writings based on assumptions about a work, it is second nature to do the same with a simple reading passage, which causes scores to be lower. This causes AP English teachers to take valuable classroom time that should be used to prepare students for their AP exams, and teach students how to pass the Literacy Exam.
Snow days also pose a problem for Literacy Exam scores. The state sets the test day far and advanced and does not move the test for any reason, including severe weather. There is an increased time crunch to prepare for not only the Literacy Exam and AP Exams.
All the Literacy Exam wants to know is if the student can read and if the student can answer a question found in the reading. It is a simple reading comprehension test that shouldn’t be taken by students who don’t understand the language and is over analyzed by advanced students. There has to be an easier way to test how literate students in Arkansas are.