On the recordFebruary 26, 2015
This amendment requires school districts to be transparent in providing information to parents at the beginning of the school year on mandated assessments the students will have to take during the school year and any school district policy on assessment participation. As a former teacher and elementary school principal, I have seen firsthand the damage caused by the pervasive overuse of high-stakes standardized testing. For the sake of our students and our education system, we need to move towards a more balanced form of assessment that effectively measures diverse kinds of success in teaching and student learning. Unfortunately, H.R. 5 fails to address schools' excessive dependence on deeply problematic standardized tests. As someone who has dedicated decades of my career and my life to my students and their success, I can tell you that teachers do not join the profession to teach to the test; yet more and more educators are forced to spend time preparing students for tests, administering tests, and reviewing the results of those tests. By some estimates, almost one-third of a teacher's time is spent preparing students to take standardized tests. This is unacceptable. That is why this amendment is so important. By providing parents with information about the standardized tests their students will be taking and providing them with the policies regarding student participation, we begin to hold the system accountable for the dramatic overuse of these tests.…
