Standardized testing to be reduced in New York schools

AP MICHAEL GORMLEY

ALBANY -- Some standardized tests in New York public schools will be eliminated, state Education Commissioner John King has told superintendents, citing "a variety of pressures" that may have hurt instruction. The move comes after years of criticism from teachers and parents.

The first target will be an eighth-grade math test, which comes at the same time as a federally required standardized test in math, King states in a letter sent Thursday and obtained by The Associated Press.

The Board of Regents is considering eliminating this test and others where possible in other grades, King said. Some tests, however, are required by the federal government. Grants will be provided to help school districts reduce local standardized tests, the letter states.

"While the number and frequency of state assessments has remained relatively constant over the last decade (and is largely dictated by requirements in federal law), the Board of Regents, the State Education Department (SED), and I recognize that a variety of pressures at the state and local level may have resulted in more testing than is needed and in rote test preparation that crowds out quality instruction," King states in the letter.


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