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U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown
Ensuring
Testing Does Not Take Away From Student Learning
In too many school districts, parents and teachers feel overwhelmed by
the amount of student testing that is going on in our classrooms.
Annual testing can be a useful yardstick to measure student progress
and achievement, but too often our kids are inundated with duplicative
tests that actually take time away from learning and instruction.
Right now students take an average of 10 tests each year in grades 3
through 8. But the amount of testing can vary wildly by state and by
district — students in some districts spend 100 more hours a year
taking tests.
More of our students’ time in the classroom should be spent on
learning, not on unnecessary and redundant testing.
That’s why I have introduced the Support Making Assessments Reliable
and Timely, or (SMART) Act, which would help to streamline and improve
testing. The SMART Act would give states and school districts the tools
they need to ensure that statewide and local tests are reliable and
efficient, and would help them to eliminate outdated and redundant
tests.
In Ohio, federally-mandated tests are responsible for 32 percent of
testing time, and 26 percent of testing time is devoted to new
assessments developed by the state to implement the new teacher
evaluation system. That leaves the remaining 42 percent of testing time
devoted to tests required by the state of Ohio and by local school
districts — not the federal government.
The average student in Ohio spends almost 20 hours taking tests each
year and another 15 additional hours practicing for tests. We need to
give states and school districts more freedom to make sure testing is
effective, efficient, and doesn’t take away from time spent learning.
That’s what the SMART Act would do, allowing states to audit their
testing practices to eliminate tests are that are unnecessary and
redundant. The bill would use an existing grant formula to increase the
amount of support states and school districts receive to help them
align testing materials to college- and career-ready standards.
The new grant formula would also allow states additional funds to audit
existing testing practices, design more effective systems, and speed
delivery of testing data to educators and parents.
And the SMART Act has broad support — it’s been endorsed by education
supporters across the country, including the Ohio Education Association
and the Ohio Federation of Teachers.
Tests are an important tool, and it’s critically important that we
continue to assess every child’s learning. But tests are only a means
to an end — ensuring our kids get a good education.
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