Fordham Asks House To Hold Off On Proposal To Cut Time Spent On Student Testing The Thomas B. Fordham Institute on Thursday cautioned a House committee against its proposed answer to over-testing of students, calling instead for patience. The testimony before the House Education Committee followed more proponent testimony on a bill (HB 228*) that would reduce state standardized testing time to four hours per student per year. The panel also adopted a technical amendment to address a drafting error and rejected on party lines two amendments from Rep. Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) that would have: provided a three-year safe harbor on student performance ratings and academic growth ratings; and allowed additional time for teachers to enter testing data. Chad Aldis, vice president of Ohio policy and advocacy for the Fordham Institute, said he is generally supportive of the bill but opposes the limitation of state assessments to four hours. He said the change is a quick fix that might not solve the issue of over-testing. He pointed to a mid-biennium review requirement that the superintendent of public instruction study the states assessments and report back by Jan. 15, 2015. I urge you to be patient and wait for the results of this report before you codify testing limitations, Mr. Aldis said. He said districts use of diagnostic assessments, guidelines used for the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System, and exams designed by teachers are not included in the bill but contribute to the amount of testing students experience. Before placing the blame solely on state tests, its important that we understand the value and necessity of the myriad of tests that are given to students, the witness said. He also pointed out that comments from stakeholders complaining about the preponderance of exams and the related stress for students are preceding the switch to the new Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career tests. The legislation could unduly impose limits on the new assessments, he said. The measure, however, would not impose limits on testing until the 2015-16 school year, so the PARCC tests slated for spring would move forward under existing time guidelines. It is absolutely critical that we get beyond the drill-and-kill mentality and the endless hours of test prep, Mr. Aldis said. The next generation of assessments could potentially do that. Time will tell. Mr. Aldis said the importance of the state accountability system is also at play in the discussion. He said the data from testing is used by Ohio leaders to understand how schools are doing and to determine education policy. Families should know what schools are most effective, he added. He also emphasized the need for high-quality tests that measures what children truly know. Answering Rep. Fedor, Mr. Aldis said the Ohio Achievement Assessment, which will be replaced by PARCC, has been administered at 2.5 hours per subject, and the bill allows for four hours. He told Rep. Andy Brenner (R-Powell) that there is nothing magical about four hours. He said it might be a bad idea to put a number in revised code because the state could come upon a better diagnostic test that goes beyond that time limit, and therefore, Ohio would be blocked from using it. Mr. Brenner asked what language should be put in its place, to which Mr. Aldis said not to substitute anything and instead wait on the ODE study. Scott DiMauro, vice president of the Ohio Education Association, said the union supports the bill that aims to address the overuse of standardized testing. The time tied to exams has crowded out time for teaching and engaging students and the assessments are causing anxiety for students and parents, he said. He said the bills provision to allow districts to administer the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment up to two weeks prior to the start of school would free up time for teachers to engage with their class. By prohibiting ODE from requiring online tests for the 2015-16 school year, the measure recognizes that schools are not ready for the testing platform, Mr. DiMauro said. OEA has heard of issues such as a lack of computers, out-of-date software, and a lack of broadband access that make online testing impractical. OEA is generally supportive of the four hours per student per year limit on testing in the bill, but is still concerned about the over-reliance on standardized tests and the misuse of data from them, he said. It is the emphasis placed on test scores and the high-stakes decisions tied to them that results in the preponderance of diagnostic tests, test preparation time and the phenomenon of teaching to the test that is sucking so much oxygen out of our education system, Mr. DiMauro said. He advocated for Rep. Fedors failed amendment for a three-year suspension of high-stakes decisions tied to the exams. Tom Ash, director of governmental relations for the Buckeye Association of School Administrators, said his group and the Ohio Association of School Business Officials and Ohio School Boards Association support the efforts in the bill. He said the myriad of tests in Ohio schools is used to determine whether a student: has earned a diploma, is prepared for college, should be promoted to fourth grade, has particular skills when entering kindergarten, has not yet mastered a content skill, has made a years worth of progress, and should participate in a gifted program. Exams are also used to compare Ohio with other states and to compare the U.S. with other nations, Mr. Ash said. OSBA, OASBO, and BASA therefore support a reduction in testing time starting in 2015-16 because it is too late to make such a major change in the current school year, the witness said. They also support changing the requirement to allow the KRA to be administered before the start of school, Mr. Ash said. Although the groups support requiring ODE to determine which components of performance-based assessment for the resident educator program might be used in place of other tests, they said the end-of-grade and end-of-course exams would probably be more useful. The organizations also support giving schools the option of an online or paper-and-pencil version of the tests. Chairman Rep. Gerald Stebelton (R-Lancaster) asked if the paper option should be provided permanently, to which Mr. Ash said the groups seek the option for an interim period. Joyce Malainy, superintendent of Career and Technology Education Centers of Licking County and representing the Ohio Association of Career-Technical Superintendents and the Ohio Association of Career-Technical Education, said those groups think the web exam testing mandate for career-tech should be reduced for certain students. High school CTE students must take a minimum of 14 different assessments to graduate using the career-ready pathway under the new diploma requirements, she said. Four web exams are part of the requirements and they are not meaningful nor considered by employers in hiring decisions. The witness asked that the web exam requirements be eliminated for students who seek the career-credentials path. Ms. Malainy told Rep. Bill Hayes (R-Harrison Twp.) the web exams came about as a state report card measure for CTE and technical skill attainment.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 01:30:59 +0000
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