The MUST Test, an updated version of the PARCC benchmark assessments, has received mixed reviews from the students and teachers of ERHS. Opinions of the test differ based on the subject, but student and teachers alike share a common feeling of discontent.

Junior Hannah Sutton says  “It only measured one aspect of students capabilities.They should measure different parts of students aptitude and measure it on aptitude.” Junior Malik McDermott agrees, saying that  “It’s not an accurate representation of academic aptitude considering the fact that there are multiple errors and it does not accurately represent the learning style or curriculum that people do daily.”

Teachers also don’t think highly of the MUST tests. English Dept. Teacher William Manion believes “The recent ones weren’t as well constructed as we wanted. I think there’s way too many tests that students have to take. Too many tests are taking away from class time that could be spent learning more important things.”

Math Dept. Teacher Meghan Kovach stresses that “MUST tests are very long and frustrate students as well as me, because we haven’t covered a lot of topics yet. What we did cover they did well on but there’s a lot that they’re missing and students are frustrated. Long tests are draining for our kids and they discourage them.” Freshman Shiloh Martin supports her claim, adding ” The math section was hard. The test shows what we’re going to learn.”

Another factor that discouraged students and staff from supporting the MUST tests are that they were poorly constructed.  Manion adds “The problem is PARCC has never given any samples so the county is trying to provide their own.”  And as Hannah Sutton claims  “The quality they put into the test results in the quality that is put out. The effort put into the school system is what they will get out.”