RBHS will participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Feb. 6, 2019 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.. Because of this, the Media Center will close for non participating students.
The NAEP provides the national report card, a widespread representation of what students in the United States are capable of in subjects such as mathematics, reading, science, writing, technology and engineering literacy, arts, civics, geography, economics and U.S. history.
RBHS will test on mathematics, reading and science, RBHS head counselor Betsy Jones said. Other than the specific subjects, Jones said there are other factors the NAEP will be testing.
“About two thirds of the kids will take it on a tablet and one third will take it paper pencil,” Jones said.
75 random seniors received a letter asking for participation; however, parents could exempt their student from participating.
“So the original was 75 kids,” Jones said, “but when we whittled away people who opted out and kids who are no longer active or no longer on campus. I think we are testing 58 seniors.”
While RBHS has not been chosen in recent history, Jones said other Columbia Public Schools (CPS) have, such as Jefferson Middle School and Hickman High School.
“This is my eleventh year as director,” Jones said. “This is the first time I’ve ever done it.”
Senior Kiren Macleod received the letter to take the exam. Although he will miss class time, Macleod said withdrawing from the test never crossed his mind.