Fourth-grade comes to a head Tuesday.

It&8217;s do or die, pedal to the medal, make or break time.

All the special projects, all the learning games and all the relationships built either worked or didn&8217;t, and it all boils down to this.

By 8:40 a.m. on the very first day of school way back in August Mrs. Tuccio had mentioned the letters MCT. She told the new faces in her classroom what they&8217;d be learning this year and what the Mississippi Curriculum Test would expect them to know.

She outlined the year, and from what I can tell, she&8217;s stuck to the plan. Tuesday she&8217;ll stop being a teacher and become merely a proctor. She can&8217;t help them now, can&8217;t answer anything beyond procedural questions.

They are on their own.

Stressful? Yep.

&8220;Last year on the MCT test I almost cried,&8221; Nyelah said.

She was scared she&8217;d fail.

&8220;I was scared the first time I took it, and I&8217;m even scareder this time,&8221; Ayana said. &8220;Third-grade was easy, but this time&8230;&8221;

They have logical reasons for their fear, Destini said, like the fact that a lot of the questions on the test will be information the students learned in August or September.

&8220;We may forget,&8221; she said.

And there&8217;s the typical dread of doing something unpleasant, Jesse said.

&8220;There are too many problems on it, and it&8217;s going to take a lot of reading.&8221;

But their teachers have been preparing them, the students said. The letters MCT are getting mentioned in class more each day, and their MCT Coachbooks are being used so much they show signs of wear.

Students have used the practice test book since the beginning of the year but are working through it with more urgency now. It not only reviews the information they&8217;ve learned but familiarizes them with the way questions are worded.

&8220;If you study a lot, you won&8217;t be nervous,&8221; Travez said.

He&8217;s right, preparation is key, but the nerves are bound to be there by Monday afternoon, Tuesday morning.

Students in grades 2-8 at all Natchez public schools will take the state test Tuesday through Thursday. The reading portion is on the first day, followed by language and the dreaded math.

Students need to be in school and on time each of those three days. Only extreme emergencies or illness warrant missing a test day. (Makeup tests will be given Friday.)

Parents must take responsibility for ensuring their children eat a good breakfast and get plenty of sleep between now and the end of testing. Spend some time together as a family this weekend doing something special and relaxing. Hit the park, go swimming, fly a kite. Help them let loose.

Go easy on them at home next week. Avoid arguments and heap on the praise.

Come Tuesday morning, our future is on their shoulders.

The schools, teachers, parents and community have had all year to prepare them. Now we&8217;ll see how we did.

The MCT performance of Mrs. Tuccio&8217;s fourth-graders &8212; and all the students &8212; will affect Natchez for years to come. Our public schools will be ranked on how well our students do. And towns with low performing public schools don&8217;t get industries or big business.

Without those jobs for our children, our community fails the test.

Julie Finley

is the managing editor for The Natchez Democrat. She writes a weekly column based on experiences with Marty Tuccio&8217;s homeroom class at McLaurin Elementary. She can be reached at 601-445-3551 or

julie.finley@natchezdemocrat.com

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