TO THE EDITOR:

While I realize that I've exceeded the required space for "Letters to the Editor," by about 200 or so words, I feel that the topic I'm addressing, and the knowledge I'm offering the community are terribly important. Please take consideration in printing it in its entirety, as it shows our community how dedicated its school system is to its children and provides valuable information meant to make our community proud.

This morning I was asked to participate in a Vox Pop question that was printed in the January 18, 2007, edition of the newspaper, and to my surprise the question was directly related to my field - education. Fortunately, the question was one that addressed a topic about which I feel very passionate, as do my colleagues. Unfortunately, the space provided to answer such a question was limited, and I must say I felt slighted in that I couldn't respond accurately and accordingly due to that space limitation.

The question addressed Georgia's standings compared to other states with regard to standardized testing. First of all, the question itself bothered me a bit, in that it implied the statistics that are publicly reported accurately represent our state's students. To the best of my ability would like to explain standardized testing to our community, and I'm hoping that in doing so our community will continue to support the efforts of our teachers and students, not to mention feel proud to say our children come from a place that employs people who have your children's best interests at heart.

There are numerous standardized tests that our children take from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Some of these tests include, but are not limited to, ITBS, Georgia High School Writing Test, Georgia High School Graduation Test, CRCTs, and the list goes on and on. In my answer to The News-Reporter, my focal point was on national standardized tests since the question included comparisons to other states, and most importantly my answer was in response to the ACT and SAT scores, partly because these results are most widely criticized in the state of Georgia, and it is with these that I'm most familiar.

First, it is important to understand that there is a process schools take when administering the ACT and SAT, and this process is virtually unknown to those outside the field of education. All schools have a school code, and when students take these tests the code is included on the grading form. This is where the largest problem occurs in the misrepresentation of such tests! Some schools will not give that code to students they think might score low, so those students' scores get reported independently, rather than with their school's scores. Some schools won't allow students to take the test unless they take a prerequisite course, and even then they are sometimes not invited to take tests or made aware of testing opportunities, depending on how they fared in the prerequisite course. The end result is that the scores that eventually do get reported represent only certain students (usually the top 10 or 20 percent). In other words, many schools "pick and choose" who gets to take the ACT or SAT out of fear that their rankings statewide and nationwide will drop statistically.

I am proud to say that Wilkes County schools allow ALL of their students to take such tests. All students receive our school code, and they are all allowed the opportunity to take the test together regardless of their class ranking. We do not discriminate, nor do we fear the repercussions. I truly believe that as a system, we send a message to our students that says we think they all have the ability to be college bound. We would never allow our students to feel as though they aren't "good enough" to take a test that represents our school as a whole. If this affects our ranking, or the ranking of the State of Georgia, then so be it; but if all schools across the nation took the tests and reported as we did, then I'm quite confident we'd be in a fight for a top spot in our nation's ranking. I can only hope that we never resort to the tactics that other schools use for political gain, but rather that we instill in our children the idea that equal opportunity does exist, even at the youngest ages. On a final note, there is clear evidence that honesty, equality, and integrity do pay off - Washington-Wilkes Comprehensive High School very recently received the Governor's Cup for the largest gains in test scores on the SAT for our region!

MICHELLE MICKENS English teacher, W-WCHS