Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Wednesday suspending mandatory school testing for a year as the state transitions to new curriculum standards and computer-based assessments.
The Democratic governor pushed for the bill before its passage in the Legislature, despite a threat by the Obama administration to withhold federal funds.
Assembly Bill 484, by Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, suspends K-12 standardized testing requirements for the school year now underway and the public posting of that data for potentially two years.
Proponents of the bill said it would spare students and educators from "double-testing" students during a period of transition. Opponents said it could potentially put schools out of compliance with No Child Left Behind.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/10/jerry-brown-signs-school-testing-reprieve.html
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My Take: Though parents may not like not having data from a test they have been familiar with (STAR), it helps in a multiple of ways:
- Allows schools to focus solely on the implementation of Common Core standards
- Provides schools time to prepare students for the rigorous or different style of questions they will be seeing on the Common Core test
- Relieves teachers from having to prepare for the STAR Test (which would have been eliminated) AND the Common Core test
- Readies parents for the coming changes associated with Common Core
Do you want to take the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium practice test which will be somewhat similar to what students will be taking on computers in 2014-15?
Click here: http://sbac.portal.airast.org/practice-test/
You'll quickly see why we need this year to prepare the students for a new test.
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