The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • B1

A one-question test on testing in Charlotte- Mecklenburg Schools: How many hours does a typical fourth- grader spend on tests in a year? talking assessment tests End of Grade tests, National Assessment of Educational Progress tests also known as the only tests kids tend to like more than parents. Kids like the tests because not graded, and because their teach- ers often assign homework the night before so students can be test-fresh. Parents, however, range from fretful to impatient that the emphasis on these tests seem to be leaving less room on the chalkboard each year for other kinds of learning. This week, some of those parents along with many CMS teachers are spitting paper clips with the administering of 52 new which are part of a program that eventually will supply another measure of how well teachers are contributing to student progress. Parents threatened to pull students from the tests.

Teachers complained about the time spent on them. Even some test-weary high school students threatened to muck things up by filling in wrong answers. Enough, everyone seems to be saying. But is it? The field tests, called Summatives, will be given in subjects that are not covered by N.C. End-of-Grade and End-of-Course tests, CMS says, which means that teachers can be better evaluated in most every class, not just the current 10 percent.

Plus, officials say, those tests will add only one to three hours of testing time per year for students depend- ing on grade. Which brings us back to your one- question test: How many hours a year does a fourth-grader spend filling in the bubbles and such? That number is 17, says CMS. Out of 1,035 instructional hours. less time test-taking than some of us fourth-graders spent reading Sports Illustrated inside our textbook. (Sorry, Mrs.

Berry.) Except that 17 hours really what students lose to testing. not even says Jenn Fenk, a teacher at Ardrey Kell High School and mother of a CMS elementary student. What the 17 hours include are those homework-less nights before and during testing days or the intentionally light workload students get during testing days. It in- clude how some schools pretty much take the month of May to prepare for End of Grade tests often at the expense of other subjects and topics. It also include the annual exhale near the end of the school year the weeks of field trips and movies that fill the time after EOGs, when there a test to teach to anymore.

still trying to determine the educational significance my third-grader received from watching twice after EOGs were through. Add to all that the new Summa- tives. pretty much kills your whole says Fenk. Superintendent Peter Gorman and his staff say the numbers gained from the new tests are worth it that they provide more precise insight into CMS assessments are atest of our patience IN MY OPINION PETER ST. ONGE SEE ST.

ONGE, 5B SECTION charlotteobserver.com/local JINWRIGHTS Feds begin seizing assets of former church co-pastors. 3B DEATHS Sidney Lumet directed other films. 5B TRIAL LAWYERS FEEL EXCLUDED They want a voice in changes to liability laws, including medical malpractice. Republicans say listening. 2B WEATHER OUR WEATHER GUY KNOWS WHICH WAY THE WIND BLOWS.

OBSWEATHERGUY By Kathy Haight hree-year-old Rebecca Catlow searched for dogs in paintings at the Mint Museum Uptown, petted the tail of a cat sculpture at The Green and drew a picture to take home as a souvenir. She was among hundreds of kids and parents exploring uptown Saturday at Family Fun and Education Day, hosted by the Charlotte- Mecklenburg Schools and the Arts Science Council. Visitors got free or reduced admission to venues including the Mint, the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts Culture and the Levine Museum of the New South. They also attended performances, exhibits or hands-on workshops at Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, N.C.

Dance Theatre and other locations mostly along Tryon Street. goal is to help introduce families to the arts and arts said Jerri Haigler, executive director of Parent University. may not know all available WassaCatlow, 36, a New York transplant who studied art in college, appreciated the chance to show her daughter creative side. think without boundaries, where there is no right or wrong Catlow said. have an open mind.

To know that everyone has a different interpretation of art. I want to instill that in her from a young Catlow said, watching her daughter touch colorful tiles on a Nikide Saint Kids their inner artists uptown T. ORTEGA Madison Bacon, 8, takes note of another young artist while she paints her own design Saturday. Family Fun and Education Day gave families an opportunity to explore museums and other cultural sites for free or reduced admission. SEE ARTS, 5B By Michael Biesecker and Bruce Siceloff michael.biesecker@newsobserver.com bruce.siceloff@newsobserver.com RALEIGH A Republican push to reject $461mil- lion in federal railroad improvement grants for North Carolina appears to have collapsed.

Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger said Saturday that he think the project could be stopped. statement came a day after Sen. Bob Rucho, a Republican from Matthews, said GOP leaders have agreed they should accept the money. The bill to kill high-speed rail sponsored by Rep. Ric Killian of Charlotte was pulled Friday from the agenda of the House Transportation Committee, which had been scheduled to vote on the measure this week.

bill was attacked in a committee meeting last week by Democrats, business advocates and big-city mayors. Efforts to reach Killian on Saturday were unsuccessful. Rep. Frank Iler, chairman of the transportation committee, said the bill had been pulled at request. said he needed a little more time on said Iler, an Oak Island Republican.

been some Even if bill were to win approval in the House, there does not appear to be enough support among Republicans in the state Senate to send it to the desk of Gov. Bev Perdue, much less override a likely veto from the Democrat. Berger said in a statement his office released Saturday that legislators should have been consulted before the N.C. Department of Transporta- bid to reject rail funds SEE RAIL, 5B Rep. Ric Killian of Charlotte asks to have the bill he sponsored withdrawn from the agenda of the House Transportation Committee.

DIEDRA LAIRD- Nicole Sullivan enters the fifth annual Joy Prom on Saturday at Carmel Baptist Church. More than 800 teens with developmental or physical impairments came. More photos at charlotteobserver.com NIGHT TO REMEMBER By Joe DePriest GASTONIA No matter how thin the trail, the three searchers follow it. They comb Gaston County fields and woods, knock on doors and cruise back roads. The three women are on a mission to solve the mystery of 22-year-old Jamie Fraley, who disappeared from her apartment near Gastonia three years ago, on April 9, 2008.

One is aunt; the second is a close family friend, and the third is a retired forensic detective with the Gastonia Police Department. Several times a week, they put on jeans and boots and gloves. They spend the day interviewing people and passing out fliers. They dig holes, roll over rotten logs and scan the ground with a metal detector. Although searching for a body, they hope a clue may turn up that could lead to finding Fraley alive.

Disappointed with police efforts, the women began their own probe about six months ago. delving into a strange case a young woman with no apparent reason to run away, last heard from in the early morning hours of April 9, leaving behind a locked apartment with no sign of a struggle. all have unique aunt, Stacy Dennis, says of the investigative trio. put us All three have expertise in law enforcement. Dennis, 46, spent 16 years as a deputy and police officer.

Family friend Linda Roots, 56, of Fayetteville is studying policing online and works as a North Carolina Victims Assistant Service Provider. And Rheta Conley, 51, retired after 20 years with the Gastonia Police Department. The Fraley family has been looking for their missing loved one since 2008, even enlisting help from private investigators. Missing angels give up the search Three women form their own investigative team, hoping to discover what happened to Jamie Fraley. SEE MISSING, 4B Fraley By Ann Doss Helms Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials remain optimistic about last rollout of new exams, despite teacher complaints, parent protests and student threats to sabotage results.

Some of the issues that emerged during the ranging from errors in questions to prolonged testing of young children, will be ironed out when students take the exams in May, said Chris Cobitz, the CMS official in charge of developing dozens of new tests. Parents, teachers and students have complained that the 52 new tests, which are designed partly to rate teacher effectiveness, squeeze out time for learning. They also say CMS should spend test-development money on saving teacher jobs. am furious that $2 million is being spent to develop and administer these tests when we are looking at so many layoffs next year due to budget CMS test week ends amid protests, reassurances SEE CMS, 5B.