Students required to take ASVAB

Sophomores and seniors at two of Yuma's high schools will be required for the first time to take a military test this week - unless their parents opt them out of the exam.

Kofa High School and Yuma High School students will be taking the Armed Services Vocational Battery (ASVAB) test.

This is the first time the Yuma Union High School District has given the ASVAB on a schoolwide level. The test has been available in the past to individual students who requested to take it.

The ASVAB is a national aptitude test provided to high schools and post-secondary schools since 1968, according to the Military Entrance Processing Center. MEPC personnel out of San Diego will be on hand to help the schools with the testing.

It was developed by the U.S. Department of Defense "to encourage students to increase their level of self-knowledge and to understand how that information could be linked to civilian and military occupational characteristics," according to the mission statement on the ASVAB Web site at www.asvabprogram.com.

Within the military, it is used to place soldiers in positions and jobs in the service. For students, whether or not they are planning to enter the armed services, it provides an idea of what careers would suit them.

All students in grades 10 and 12 will be tested unless their parents request otherwise, said Richard Rundhaug, YUHSD director of research and development.

Rundhaug said they are testing the sophomore and senior classes to get some longitudinal data on how students progress without overexposing them to the exam.

He said the district was not testing juniors because they did not want them to get burned out on the test. We wanted to keep the experience fresh for them.

Despite the military's involvement in the test, Rundhaug said it will not be used for recruiting. Although the district is already federally required to provide information about each student to the military, Rundhaug said recruiters receive no new demographic information about those who take the ASVAB.

"This whole process started out as a school improvement process," Rundhaug said. "We can figure out where kids want to go and design our curriculum to that, and we can identify places where we're not as a strong, compared to the national average.

He added that MEPC is strictly separated from military recruiting.

There is a wall of separation between those two, he said.

Griselda Baro, 17, a Yuma High senior , said she didn't mind taking the test. "It's an eye-opener on things you can do in the future.

Baro added, however, that she was concerned that it might increase her chances of being contacted by military recruiters. She said she had considered joining the U.S. Air Force but no longer thought she was going in that direction.

"It's not necessarily a waste of time but it's something I wouldn't want to do," she said.

Juan Lopez, whose son, Jeremy, is a Yuma High sophomore, said he didn't think a test could coerce young people to go into the military.

"It's up to the students," Lopez said. "It's not like they're going in if they take the test."

The test measures eight areas in verbal, math, science and technical skills. A student's interest in those areas is also gauged. The results can be compared to high school peers across the nation.

It's level of validity for measuring academic skills is just incredible, Rundhaug said.

Kofa Principal Gina Thompson said she understood why the "military" aspect associated with the test might unsettle some parents and students. It's unfortunate that there is that stigma, but it has nothing to do with recruiting or service or anything like that,

"I've been hoping for this, as an educator, for years," said Thompson. "I truly believe that kids do not always get to see the relevancy of school, because they don't know where they're headed."

Kofa principal Gina Thompson was one of several other district staffers who took the ASVAB at a district training sessions this spring. It was this session that motivated the district to offer the schoolwide testing at Yuma and Kofa.

My personality type fit exactly with education," she said. "That was my top. It prioritizes and gives you certain areas where you score highest.

Teachers will supervise the this week's test, but it will be administered and collected by MPEC personnel. They're doing all those logistics for us, Rundhaug said.

A district letter telling parents about the test was sent out by Kofa High and Yuma High two weeks ago, according to the district. Parents who do not want their children to take the ASVAB can contact their schools and request they be given an alternative activity.

Principal Mary Lynn Coleman of San Luis High School said it would host ASVAB tests on its campus at a later date for students who voluntarily sign up, which is how YUHSD schools have handled it in the past.

Coleman said she will wait to see the results of the testing at Yuma and Kofa before deciding if it's something that should be tried at San Luis

"We looked at how much testing takes place and we didn't want to take out one more day," Coleman said. "We wanted to see what the results of this kind of this would be before we took another day out.

He added that, because the interests of many might not be compatible with the armed services, the test may even cause fewer seniors to be contacted.

More information about the ASVAB test is available online at www.asvabprogram.com. Parents or students with questions about testing at an individual school should contact their principal's office.

Sarah Reynolds can be reached at sreynolds@yumasun.com or 539-6847.