Friday, December 16, 2016

California loses bid to skip science test for 2 years; feds reject waiver

The San Jose Mercury News reports:
Raising the specter of a possible loss of billions of dollars in federal funds, U.S. education officials on Tuesday rejected California’s request to skip standardized science testing for two years while test-driving a newer version of the exams.

Federal law requires states to administer and report annual tests in English, math and science. California’s proposal to suspend the science tests in 2017 and 2018 would deny schools and families data about science achievement and also violate federal education laws, U.S. officials wrote in a letter.

As a result, California’s Department of Education won’t be able to assess progress in science learning nor be able to communicate that to schools and the public, according to the letter by Ann Whalen, an adviser to Education Secretary John B. King Jr.

Since adopting the Next Generation Science Standards three years ago, California has been updating curriculum and moving toward retooling its annual science tests, given in the fifth, eighth and tenth grades. But it’s still developing those tests, and plans to try them out next spring and in 2018. At the same time, the state plans to stop administering its old tests, which its officials claim are no longer useful. They criticized the federal stance.

“The U.S. Education Department favors reporting tests to parents that do not match what should be taught and provides misleading information,” state Board of Education President Michael Kirst wrote in an email.

“We don’t think it makes sense to force schools to spend money on antiquated tests. This is an issue of local control,” said state Superintendent of Schools Tom Torlakson, who added the state will appeal the rejection, the second time the federal government has denied the state’s request for an exception.

The standoff is the latest incident in long-running tension between the Obama Education Department — which has pushed forcefully for more accountability and for dramatically improving the education of disadvantaged students — and a state heavily influenced by teacher union resistance to high-stakes testing.

According to federal officials, no other state has asked for a science test waiver.

Asked why California is standing alone, Torlakson responded, “We want to do it our way. We want to do it the right way.”
California might be happier being a separate country where they don't have to waste time speaking the English language.