For more than a decade, teachers, administrators, students, and even parents have criticized the No Child Left Behind Act鈥攁nd, now, the Obama administration鈥檚 waivers under that law鈥攆or giving too much weight to standardized testing and forcing students to take too many exams.
That critique hasn鈥檛 gotten very far in Washington. But there are signs that the movement to limit the number of federally mandated tests students take may be gaining momentum鈥攁nd it could pick up more steam as the Obama administration draws to a close and the 2016 presidential election begins in earnest.
Proposals to cut down on the number of assessments of students include fairly dramatic departures from the NCLB regime, such as legislation in Congress backed by teachers鈥� unions that would allow states to give summative tests in math and English/language arts only in certain grade spans. They also include more-limited, deliberately constructed approaches taking shape in individual states.
For instance, New Hampshire is in talks with the U.S. Department of 91制片厂视频 about establishing a pilot program that would allow a handful of districts to take the state鈥檚 summative assessment only in certain grades, provided that those districts offer local 鈥渃ompetency-based鈥� tests, which gauge whether students have mastered a particular skill. The local tests would then be 鈥渕apped back鈥� to the state exam.
The Council of Chief State School Officers is interested in working with the department to explore pilot projects along the lines of what the Granite State is considering, said Carissa Miller, the deputy executive director of the CCSSO.
鈥淲e support kids and teachers and parents getting information every year,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e open to the idea that there are states who want to pilot something鈥� different as long as they continue to test kids every year.
Rhetorical Shift
Also, in Connecticut, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, last month wrote a letter to U.S. Secretary of 91制片厂视频 Arne Duncan, saying he would like to 鈥渟tart a dialogue鈥� between the Obama administration and his state on ways to 鈥渞educe the testing burden.鈥�
The Nutmeg State is mulling allowing 11th graders to take the SAT college-entrance exam during the school day, in lieu of the high school exam aligned with the Common Core State Standards and developed by the federally funded Smarter Balanced consortium. That would cut down on the number of exams 鈥渙vertested鈥� high school juniors have to take, he said.
The idea of using a college-entrance exam for accountability purposes isn鈥檛 new鈥攕ome states including Maine and Kentucky use the SAT or ACT in gauging schools鈥� progress鈥攂ut Mr. Malloy cites it as a way to cut down on the number of tests.
Mr. Malloy was inspired, he wrote in the letter, by a blog post that Secretary Duncan authored in August, announcing the department鈥檚 decision to allow states with NCLB waivers to delay incorporating the results of standardized tests into teacher evaluations for one year.
In that post, Mr. Duncan said he shared teachers鈥� concerns that 鈥渢esting鈥攁nd test preparation鈥攖akes up too much time,鈥� a line Gov. Malloy quoted in his letter.
The blog post was something of a departure for Mr. Duncan. During President Barack Obama鈥檚 first term, the 91制片厂视频 Department showed no signs of letting up on the requirement that states test students in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school, as required by the NCLB law.
In fact, the administration arguably doubled down on testing, by calling for states to incorporate student outcomes on state tests into teacher evaluations to an NCLB waiver.
The argument for less frequent testing has gotten a sympathetic hearing from some lawmakers in Congress. A bill introduced in March by Reps. Chris Gibson, R-N.Y, and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., would let states test students in certain grade spans, instead of in reading and math in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school. That would reduce the number of federally mandated standardized tests from 14 to six.
And a bill by Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., introduced last month, would require students in grades 3 through 8 to take only one test per year, instead of two. Under the legislation, reading tests would be given in grades 3, 5, and 7, and math in grades 4, 6, and 8.
Staggering the Tests
Such so-called 鈥渟taggered testing,鈥� or 鈥済rade span鈥� testing, has strong backing from teachers鈥� unions.
鈥淚t鈥檚 about giving teachers more time to teach the kids who are most in need,鈥� said Mary Kusler, the director of government relations for the National 91制片厂视频 Association, a 3 million-member union.
91制片厂视频 analysts including Marc Tucker, the president of the National Center on 91制片厂视频 and the Economy, a research organization in Washington, have argued that higher-performing countries, such as Finland, don鈥檛 test their students every year, and that tests can be of higher quality if they are given less frequently. (Mr. Tucker also writes an opinion blog for 91制片厂视频 Week.)
But there are some big downsides to less-than-annual state summative testing, said Sandy Kress, an education policy adviser to President George W. Bush during the development of the NCLB law, who is now a senior counsel at Akin Gump, a law firm with offices around the globe.
For one thing, locally developed assessments generally don鈥檛 have the same objectivity as state tests, making it a lot tougher to measure student growth from year-to-year, he said.
And schools will sometimes use staggered testing to game the system, Mr. Kress said, putting all of their most-effective teachers in the tested grades, for example.
鈥淚 think the net effect of [staggered testing] is to make fair and sophisticated accountability impossible,鈥� he said.
So far, the idea has yet to make it into any major piece of legislation aimed at reauthorizing the NCLB law.
The issue could become more prominent as the 2016 presidential campaign draws near.
Recently, former President Bill Clinton said he would be in favor of fewer tests鈥攑erhaps once in elementary school, once in middle school, and once in high school. That testing regime is 鈥渜uite enough if you do it right,鈥� Mr. Clinton said, according to the Huffington Post.
Mr. Clinton鈥檚 remarks pack a political punch: His wife, Hillary Clinton, is considered a likely candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016.
