Local school officials react to President Obama’s call to put cap on standardized test taking.
“In Grand Rapids people are very frustrated with the amount, and even with my cabinet, and students know. Students know that we’re testing them too much.”
Grand Rapids Public Schools Superintendent, Teresa Weatherall Neal echoes the sentiment of many school officials throughout the state about the number of tests students are taking and the number of hours they spend on them. So she says she was happy when President Barack Obama, over this past weekend, called for a cap on standardized testing to two percent of classroom time.
“Because we’ve said in education far too long that we spend so much time on the tests, that we’re missing out on valuable time of teaching, for teaching and learning.”
A study by the Council of the Great City Schools, released the same day as the President’s call for a cap, says an average student will take an average of 112.3 tests between Pre-K and grade 12. That adds up to about 20 to 25 hours of testing in a school year.
“We’re chasing the tests, and it’s not so much as prepping for the test, we don’t have enough room for teachers to actually teach.”
Superintendent Neal does caution that some testing proves very valuable and should remain in place.
“Formative assessments in Grand Rapids, we use those, we believe in them because it informs the teaching and it informs where students are.”
Some Federal guidance is expected in January.
