Testing

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Testing Gone Wild

Education Week Reality Check Blog By Walt Gardner on December 26, 2011 6:59 AM

The news that New York State will lengthen its math and language arts tests for elementary and middle school students to three hours beginning this April is another reminder that common sense is woefully lacking in the accountability movement. According to John King Jr., the state's education commissioner, the change is part of the effort to "fine-tune tests of student performance" ("State Tests Extended to About Three Hours," The New York Times, Dec. 19).

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/walt_gardners_reality_check/

 

Posted at 08:00 AM ET, 12/26/2011

The Quiz: Test yourself on education in 2011

Washington Post Answer Sheet Blog By Valerie Strauss

The year 2011 was monumental in education — monumentally good or monumentally bad, depending on your view.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/the-quiz-test-yourself-on-education-in-2011/2011/12/25/gIQA9t2jHP_blog.html

 

Exit Exams Less Popular As States Shift To College- And Career-Readiness Tests

Huffington Post - First Posted: 12/ 9/11 01:51 PM ET 

Fewer states are requiring students to pass high school exit exams to graduate, but more states are increasing standardized testing in college- and career-readiness assessment efforts, according to a report released Thursday.

The report by the Center on Education Policy reveals that in the 2010-11 school year, 25 states have or plan to implement policies that require students to pass end-of-grade or end-of-course exams to earn a high school diploma -- a figure down from 28 the year before. Six more have or plan to implement exit exams that do not mandate a minimum passing standard for graduation. The change comes as Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee changed their exit exam requirements that instead factor student scores from those tests into the student's final grade in a course required for graduation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/09/exit-exams-less-popular-a_n_1139384.html

PUBLISHED: DECEMBER 24, 2011 12:01 AM EST
Erie Catholic school officials still hope for vouchers

BY SEAN MCCRACKEN, Erie Times-News  sean.mccracken@timesnews.com

The push for private school vouchers took a big hit last week, but local private school officials say the fight isn't over.  On Dec. 14, Republican leaders in the state House of Representatives declared there wasn't enough support for school vouchers and instead voted only on a scaled-back version of Gov. Tom Corbett's school-reform package.

Even that plan, which would have expanded the Education Improvement Tax Credit program and change the oversight and approval process for charter schools, was voted down 105-90.

http://www.goerie.com/article/20111224/NEWS02/312249962/Erie-Catholic-school-officials-still-hope-for-vouchers