WASHINGTON, D.C. – With Ohio children in the midst of annual testing, U.S. Senator. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has announced new legislation to streamline and improve testing practices in our nation’s classrooms. During a news conference call today, Brown was joined by Courtney Johnson, a teacher at Columbus City Schools and parent of a Hilliard City Schools student, to discuss efforts to improve reliability and effectiveness of mandatory tests.
Duplicative testing reduces instruction and learning time for Ohio students. According to the Center for American Progress, students take 10 standardized tests each year in grades 3-8. Federally-mandated tests are responsible for 32 percent of testing time in Ohio, while another 26 percent of testing time is devoted to new assessments developed by the State of Ohio to implement a teacher evaluation system. The remaining 42 percent of testing time is devoted to tests required not by the federal government, but by the state or local school districts. The average student in Ohio spends almost 20 hours taking tests each year and another 15 additional hours practicing for tests each year.
Brown announced support for the Support Making Assessments Reliable and Timely (SMART) Act, which would help states ensure statewide and local assessments are reliable and timely, while eliminating outdated or duplicative tests.
