VIDALIA &045; Testing began Monday and will continue through Friday for more than 3,000 Concordia Parish students.

And, at least in the case of the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program Test, the stakes are quite high.

&uot;From all I’ve heard, the first day (of testing) went pretty smoothly,&uot;

Superintendent Lester &uot;Pete&uot; Peterman said.

Before testing, teachers led their students through special work designed to prepare them for the LEAP Test. Schools also held pep rallies and other events designed to psych students up to take the test, Peterman said.

Fourth- and eighth-graders must pass both the English and math sections of the test now or during a summer retest to pass to the next grade.

But the state holds not only individual students, but schools and districts accountable for scores.

Each school is given an accountability score based mostly on LEAP scores and, to a lesser extent, Iowa Test scores and attendance figures.

Schools that don’t meet state-set goals for improving scores would have to write up an improvement plan. The state would assign educators as consultants to each school to help formulate strategies for raising scores.

Eventually, schools that don’t meet their improvement targets could see enrollment fall as parents are given the right to transfer their children to schools that meet testing goals.

After that, schools that still don’t meet such goals could lose their state funding.

LEAP scores for individual students should be available by the third week in May, while school scores will be available next fall, Peterman said.

Students in other grades are also taking the Iowa Test of Basic Skills and the Graduate Exit Exam.

The Iowa Test is being given to kindergarten and first, second, third, fifth and seventh grades. That is a national test of student achievement in reading, language arts, math, social studies, science and use of reference materials. The GEE is being given to 10th and 11th graders.