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Health & Fitness

Testing - When is enough, enough?

For those asleep at the education wheel, right now, a current bill in Congress: "Student Testing Improvement and Accountability Act" (H.R. 4172) by Reps. Chris Gibson (R-NY) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) would reduce the federal role in testing to the pre-No Child Left Behind (NCLB) status known as grade-span testing, giving educators more time to teach and students more time to learn. Or would it? Take an inventory of what test are being given to our children. That figure varies with the grade from elementary, middle, to high school. The tests in concern are the "outside" tests, those given by the City, State, or Federal Government.  I am concerned about this act and what information is available to our congressmembers in determining their position. While I am not against testing, I am concerned about unnecessary/duplicate testing. For example, here in NYC, what is the current battery of tests given for each of the grades? I would assume in high school for example, there are the usual midterm and final exams, if a regents course, add a NYS Regents exam. I am not sure if the federal exams, given to a random sampling of students applies to high schools but I know they are given in elementary. middle schools. I have asked our congressional representative to  share what they know about this bill and their position or feelings.
The proposed change to "grade-span" testing – meaning once in elementary, once in middle, and once in high school – the number of federally-mandated standardized tests students take during their K-12 years would drop from 14 to 6. States or school districts could choose to administer their own assessments more frequently, particularly to help improve instruction in a timely manner. I'm not sure it this is a good solution?

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