Friday, March 13, 2009

Agreement Reached on Scraping CATS

“It’s a great bill. It’s exactly what we wanted.”
---Rep. Carl Rollins, D-Midway

That according to House Education Chair Carl Rollins as agreement was reached this afternoon on on a bill to replace the CATS accountability testing system.

This from Tom Loftus at C-J:

...Under the compromise, students will take the current test this spring in the areas of math, science, reading, social studies and on-demand writing.

Districts can choose to test in the areas of practical living and career studies and arts and humanities.The exam won’t be used for state assessment purposes, and writing portfolios will be used for instruction only.

The exam will last for seven days instead of the current 10.

In the 2009-10 school year, schools will use the current test in math, science, reading, social studies and on-demand writing.

A national test will be given for the purpose of providing parents and students a measure of individual student performance.

The exam in 2009-10 will last six days.

In 2010-11, schools will use the current test in science, reading, social studies and on-demand writing and will give a national test.

In addition, a math exam based on new standards, to be developed by the Department of Education, will be given as a sort of test run. The testing schedule will drop to five days.

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