Duncan announced Thursday a policy change that would release some states from the requirement that they begin incorporating student test scores into teacher evaluations this coming school year. In exchange for receiving waivers from No Child Left Behind – which have been extended to 43 states and the District of Columbia – states are required to provide plans for implementing choice education reforms, including teacher and principal evaluation systems in which student growth measurements make up a significant amount. That created problems as many states were already adopting and implementing the Common Core State Standards and aligned assessments. Teachers’ unions, who have accused the Department of Education of having a fixation on over-testing, have lobbied for a moratorium on the high-stakes consequences of the tests until schools and teachers have ample time to adjust to the new assessments.
As a result of Duncan’s decision, states with waivers can request an additional year before tying evaluations to test scores, until the 2015-16 school year.
“I believe testing issues today are sucking the oxygen out of the room in a lot of schools – oxygen that is needed for a healthy transition to higher standards, improved systems for data, better aligned assessments, teacher professional development, evaluation and support and more,” Duncan said at the Jefferson Academy Middle School in Washington.
Duncan said there is a recognized and growing concern that the quantity of required testing is troubling, in some cases repetitive or “not sufficiently helpful for instruction.” He said the department will work through the fall to reduce over-testing.
“Too much testing can rob school buildings of joy, and cause unnecessary stress,” Duncan said.