Louisiana, whose governor, Bobby Jindal, has been a leader in standardized-test based school reform, announced late last week that it would delay the way students, teachers and schools are held accountable under the standards, the Times-Picayune reported. The high stakes for students that were supposed to be linked to the test scores of new tests designed to assess student progress under Core standards will not take effect in 2015 as previously planned, meaning that younger students won’t be held back based solely on a score and high school students won’t take the tests in 2015. Furthermore, until at least 2016, students in third and fourth graders will no longer be required to take Core-aligned tests on a computer.
Massachusetts has long been at or near the top of rankings of states with excellent public schools and high curriculum standards, so its adoption in 2010 of the Common Core State Standards and its agreement to use Core-aligned standardized tests were seen as boosting the Core initiative’s credibility. Now, a decision by state officials to slow down implementation of the new tests and assess whether they should be used at all could have a different effect on the Core.
It is time for Missouri to slow down its implementation of Common Core Standards and I am fully expecting that to be a major topic of concern when the 2014 legislative session opens in January.
No comments:
Post a Comment