The state school superintendent is recommending cutting out some mandated state tests, and suggesting that local districts consider trimming tests for teacher evaluations.
Deputy state schools superintendent John Richard told the state board of education that though people complain about required state tests, they only comprise 71 hours of the 215 hours of testing from kindergarten through senior year. “144 of those hours are due to local tests,” Richard said.
Superintendent Paolo DeMaria suggested state lawmakers eliminate the fourth-grade social studies test and high school end-of-course exams in English I and American government, and he’d also like to scrap the WorkKeys career tech test. DeMaria said local district exams done just for teacher evaluations could be cut, but also said other state tests should stay, while noting his testing workgroup wanted to eliminate more than he did.
