Introduced in the 2023-24 school year, the Testing Center has served as a place for students with 504 and IEP plans to take tests and use their accommodations. The small, stress-free setting is uninterrupted by the bell schedule allowing for students to use their extra time accommodations to their full extent.
The Testing Center and supportive staff is a unique resource provided to M-A students with learning difficulties. However, it may not be providing the extra assistance and quiet these students need.
The most common complaint about the Testing Center is the room’s hectic environment. “It’s surprisingly busy,” former proctor Nicole Ho said. “A lot of the 504 kids come in around the same time, and it can be a bit disrupting for a lot of students who get easily anxious, which is obviously the majority of students in the room.”
The M-A Chronicle reached out to the current Testing Center proctor, Anacristina Ramirez, but she wasn’t available for an interview.
Students with ADHD, dyslexia, anxiety, or other learning difficulties need a distraction-free space to put their all into their academic performance. “I would say it’s frustrating at the beginning of tests, but I think once people get settled, it’s a little bit better. But then, if you stay over [into the next class] it happens all over again,” junior Jace Thomases said.
“I feel like there’s always kids in the backpack corner talking with friends before they start their test or when they finish. Sometimes I can overhear them talking about the test or weekend plans and I think that should try to be saved outside of the room if we can,” junior Bee Stone said.
“The Testing Center should be mainly for 504 and IEP students, and its purpose is to serve their special accommodations specifically,” Ho said.
If students are disrespecting the environment by having conversations with friends, classmates, and proctors before and after tests, distracting the other students, then it takes away from students’ accommodations and the environment the Testing Center needs to be.
“I did have a lot of students that would come to visit during brunch and lunch, but it is a bit disruptive to other students, especially when they have extended time that goes through brunch or lunch as well. They’re trying to focus and get the last 15 to 20 minutes left on their test,” Ho said.
While no environment can be completely distraction-free, proctors have made an effort to reduce disruptions in the Testing Center. “This year people aren’t lingering as much because the proctors are writing more passes to go back to class which is nice, but it’s still not great when people are getting their things together and talking,” Stone said.
Despite these improvements, the Testing Center is still often disrupted. “It’s definitely less social in the room this year, but there’s still people in there talking a lot, so there’s more we could do,” Stone said.
The Testing Center’s location has also been a problem for students. The D-24 room is right on the Green and next to the ceramics classrooms, known for being lively social spaces.
“I find the outside hallway very distracting, especially when you’re taking a test at lunch. The door always opens and it’s so loud. It’s only open for a second, which is okay, but it still takes whatever focus I had on my test away,” Stone said.
For students who stay through fourth period and into lunch, trying to crank out the last few problems on a test with music streaming in from the Green and students hanging out with friends in the hallway can be difficult.
“I feel like there’s just a lot that happens right next to the Testing Center. If there’s Feel Good Friday, or when Leadership plays music, it always reverberates into the testing room and takes me away from my test,” recent M-A alum and Testing Center TA, Adie Pecson, said. Other current students interviewed also shared similar experiences.
In an attempt to help students, M-A made some adjustments to the Testing Center, like providing noise-canceling headphones and clearing students outside. “The headphones help me focus, but they can’t really take out the distractions of other people talking in the room and the bass from music outside,” Stone said.
“I would love it if people could just try to settle into their test so people around them can focus too,” Stone said.
“I would ask that the students are more respectful to one another. If you know a student’s taking a test, please be more self-aware,” Ho said.
