Statewide testing measure passes in Legislature

 19 comment(s)  
 E-mail Story
 Print Story
  Share

 digg it!
 Facebook
 del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit

Text Size: 

Tools Sponsor

By TIMBERLY ROSS / The Associated Press

OMAHA — Nebraska’s unique approach to measuring student achievement appears to be history.

State lawmakers on Monday gave final-round approval to a bill (LB1157) that would require uniform, statewide tests in reading, math and science in many elementary and high school grades.

Thirty-three senators voted for the bill — enough to override a veto, were one to come from Gov. Dave Heineman. His spokeswoman said the governor will review the bill in detail.

[+]Enlarge

Nebraska’s current system of assessments, which Commissioner of Education Doug Christensen has fought long and hard to keep, lets school districts create their own tests to measure achievement for the federal No Child Left Behind Act and for state purposes.

But Sen. Ron Raikes of Lincoln, chairman of the Education Committee and sponsor of the bill, has said local assessments fail to provide results that indicate what students are learning and how they compare with their peers.

A call to Raikes at his office Monday by The Associated Press was not immediately returned.

If signed into law, the legislation would replace a 2007 law mandating state tests in reading, math, science and social studies beginning in the 2009-10 school year.

Raikes and other advocates of the bill have said last year’s law gives the State Board of Education the ability to require both state tests and local assessments, which they say overloads school districts. The latest measure would prevent the board from requiring anything other than state tests.

Christensen, who announced last week he’ll step down in July, was not available to comment Monday.

Brian Halstead, in the department’s general counsel office, said staff members have been revising the state’s education standards in compliance with the 2007 law. He said that work would still be necessary under the new legislation. The additional work would come mainly from expanding the standardized tests from three grades to seven.

“There’s a lot of questions on how one implements this. ... That will all have to be fleshed out as we go ahead,” he said.

No Child Left Behind was passed in 2001 in an effort make sure children receive an adequate education. States were called upon to devise and offer the same tests in reading and math for every child each year in third through eighth grades, as well as one year of high school.

Nebraska is the only state that uses local assessments to monitor student achievement.

While those assessments are allowed under the federal law, the state has failed to show that they are a valid measure of students’ knowledge, according to several letters sent to Christensen by the U.S. Department of Education since December 2005.

The state’s testing remains under review, with approval pending. Failure to get approval would put the state at risk of losing federal funding.

Christensen has said he has until May 1 to submit a plan that would explain the state’s testing plans for the next two years, which would include implementation of standardized tests.

Halstead said Monday that a testing plan was being devised, but he didn’t think it would be delayed in light of the Legislature’s action.

Christensen, who’s called standardized tests the “worst public policy you could ever put in place,” has spent years advocating the use of district-created assessments — even butting heads with federal education officials who’ve tried to force standardized tests.

Christensen said local assessments are superior to statewide testing because they include student performance on things such as presentations and projects in addition to exams. He said they also rely on individual teachers to determine whether students have learned class lessons.

Associated Press Writer Anna Jo Bratton in Lincoln contributed to this report.