States Look to Curb Standardized Testing; Opposition Forces Gain Ground as Officials Look to Limit Time Devoted to Exams

States Look to Curb Standardized Testing

Opposition Forces Gain Ground as Officials Look to Limit Time Devoted to Exams

STEPHANIE BANCHERO

Feb. 28, 2014 7:09 p.m. ET

A long-simmering movement to scale back the use of standardized tests in K-12 education is beginning to see results, with policy makers and politicians in several states limiting—or trying to limit—the time used for assessments, or delaying the consequences tied to them.

In recent months, officials in Missouri have cut back on allocated testing time while New York capped it. Connecticut agreed to let districts delay, for a year, linking teacher evaluations to state test scores. Tennessee officials rescinded a plan to deny teacher licenses based, in part, on their students’ growth on state tests.

Meanwhile, 179 bills related to K-12 testing—a number of them seeking to curb it—have been introduced in statehouses nationwide this legislative session, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, which hadn’t tracked such bills so comprehensively until this year.

School Days

January 2002 President George W. Bush signs the No Child Left Behind law, requiring that states test students in math and reading in third through eighth grade and once in high school. Schools that fail to improve face sanctions.

July 2009 President Barack Obama launches Race to the Top, a competition that prodded dozens of states to link teacher evaluations to student test scores to compete for a share of a $4.35 billion pie.

September 2010 The U.S. Department of Education awards $330 million to two state coalitions to help design assessments aligned with the Common Core math and reading standards. The District of Columbia and 44 states intended to use the common exams, but some have since backed out.

March 2013 Dozens of Atlanta educators, including a former superintendent, are indicted on multiple charges in a cheating scandal tied to school testing.

February 2014 Teachers at two Chicago schools say they will boycott giving the Illinois Standards Achievement Test to their students.

While opposition to testing isn’t new, an odd pairing has helped the cause take root recently. Tea-party activists, who loathe the Common Core math and reading standards and tests adopted by 45 states, have coalesced with more progressive teachers and parents, who say standardized exams zap the creativity out of teaching and turn schools into test factories.

In the middle sit teachers unions, whose support for Common Core tests has waned as more districts evaluate, pay and fire teachers based on test scores.

Proponents say tests are necessary to gauge how students are performing, hold educators accountable and guide instruction. But the antitesting movement is gathering steam. Five national groups launched the “Testing Resistance & Reform Spring 2014” a week ago to provide a template for parents to stage local protests, opt children out of standardized exams and win state policy changes.

The Network for Public Education, a nonprofit that opposes an overreliance on standardized assessments, will hold a convention beginning Saturday with panels dedicated to testing. Earlier this past week, teachers at two Chicago public schools took the rare step of refusing to give the state-mandated exam.

“We are taking a stand against testing, against using them to close down our schools and fire good, experienced teachers,” said Sarah Chambers, a special-education teacher at Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy, where teachers unanimously voted to boycott giving the state exam in the coming week.

Chicago Public Schools responded by warning teachers the state can revoke certification if they encourage students to boycott the exam, and threatened to discipline those who “advocate against” the exam on work time.

John Barker, chief accountability officer for Chicago Public Schools, said federal law requires schools to give the exam even though CPS is using a different test for student promotion decisions this year. He noted the city decreased to 10 from 25 the number of district-mandated assessments.

“Good instruction is informed by the results of testing,” Mr. Barker said, adding the results let parents see how their children stack up against others statewide.

Standardized exams have been around for decades but took on increasing importance with the 2002 No Child Left Behind law, which mandated schools assess students in math and reading in third through eighth grade and once in high school. Schools that failed to show enough progress faced sanctions from having to bus students to better campuses to closure. States can design their own exams and determine how much time students spend taking them.

The Obama administration embraced testing with its Race to the Top competition, which dangled $4.35 billion in front of states to agree to policy changes it favored, including linking teacher evaluations to student test scores. Districts are increasingly using test scores as a basis to promote students and close low-performing schools, and some are creating new exams to help evaluate teachers in nontested subjects, such as art and music.

There have been testing fights recently in several states, including New York, where Gov.Andrew Cuomo skirmished with state education officials over a plan that would have made it easier for low-performing teachers to protest evaluations, which are linked, in part, to student test scores. State officials put the plan on hold to gather public feedback.

Dorie Nolt, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Education, said the agency “takes very seriously the concerns of educators, parents and students about assessment,” and said “there are absolutely places that are giving too many tests.”

But she added, “a yardstick isn’t optional. When we fail to consider kids’ measurable progress, it’s the most vulnerable who get hurt most.”

But opponents, such as Cassie Creswell, see it differently. She said she transferred her daughter to a private school from a Chicago public school because she felt the second-grader was spending too much time being assessed.

“These public schools are becoming glorified test prep, and I did not want to subject my child to that,” said Ms. Creswell, who has kept her younger daughter at the public preschool.

But some experts worry the debate isn’t necessarily about what is best for kids.

“You’ve got some strange bedfellows here and I think the issue is getting co-opted by the extremes,” said Michelle Rhee, the former chancellor of Washington, D.C., public schools and founder of StudentsFirst, a nonprofit that works to promote state policies it favors, such as judging teachers on student test scores.

Ms. Rhee said testing is necessary but worries the practice has “become an end-all, be-all instead of an ends to a means” in some schools.