By Billy Davis

They call it the “thinking test.”

Mississippi public school students in grades 3 through 8 begin a three-day round of state testing today on the MCT-2.

2011 marks the third year students will face the MCT-2, a more rigorous replacement of the long-used MCT. The MCT acronym stands for Mississippi Curriculum Test.

Public school administrators have said Mississippi students are now facing more challenging test questions that often require a two- or three-step process — all meant to engage the brain.

“The old a-train-leaves-Chicago question – those days are gone,” Dr. Keith Shaffer, South Panola’s district superintendent, said last year.

Shaffer on Monday likened the MCT-2 to “snap shot” of student progress within the South Panola school system.

“It’s a one-shot assessment,” he said, noting that classroom teachers are already expected to monitor their students’ progress on a weekly basis.

But the annual test data is still helpful for teachers since test scores follow students to the next grade, Shaffer also said.

“The teacher, when she gets a new class of students, can look up Susie’s MCT-2 and see that she was struggling with vocabulary,” Shaffer further explained. “That helps her design instruction for the class.”

At South Panola, students are participating at Batesville Middle, Batesville Intermediate, Batesville Junior High and Pope School.

At North Panola, students at North Panola Junior High and at three elementary schools will take the MCT-2 Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

“The teachers are ready and the students are excited,” said Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Mock.

All grades are tested for vocabulary, reading, writing and grammar skills on the Language Arts section.

The Reading section is administered on day one and the Writing section is administered on day two, both part of the Language Arts curriculum. Mathematics is administered on day three.

Test results for students and their schools are released in August.