Colorado student testing debate down to 2 bills

DENVER (AP) - Plans to reduce standardized testing requirements in public schools have been debated all year in the Colorado Legislature.

With less than two weeks to go, lawmakers have whittled the ideas to two major proposals. And it’s way too soon to say which one will prevail, or if the whole effort fails.

“You’d have to be hiding under a rock not to know this is a big issue this session,” said Rep. Jim Wilson, A Republican from Salida and a sponsor of one of the testing measures.

The House and Senate both approved testing bills this week, but the proposals have significant differences. Chief among them is whether Colorado should scrap math and English tests for 9th graders.

Unlike most topics of debate at the Legislature, the testing debate does not break along party lines. Both bills have strong supporters and opponents in both parties. With less than two weeks before lawmakers finish work for the year, it’s too soon to say which proposal will prevail.

A look at the highlights in both proposals:

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REDUCE TESTS SLIGHTLY

The House testing bill reduces required tests, but not to the extent some testing critics would like.

The bill would get rid of tests in 11th and 12th grades and make social studies tests optional in all grades. It would also give public school teachers a year’s delay in having their annual assessments rely 50 percent on their students’ test scores.

Supporters of the House version say the measure decreases testing to address widespread complaints from teachers and parents that students are too heavily tested. But they argue that most tests should remain, because they give parents and educators a diagnostic tool for student learning.

“We’re trying to walk a very fine line of reducing testing, making sure there’s relief for our teachers, and also ensuring that we have comparability and high standards for our kids,” said Rep. Brittany Pettersen, D-Lakewood.

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REDUCE TESTS DRAMATICALLY

The Senate testing measure axes more tests and gives local school districts more options than the House proposal.

The Senate bill eliminates all social studies tests and statewide tests in any subject in 9th grade.

The Senate bill also gives local school districts the option to try crafting their own tests, instead of using the statewide assessments.

The testing flexibility piece has the support of the Rural School Alliance, which fears the statewide tests and teacher assessments don’t work when their sample sizes are so small.

Superintendent Bruce Hawkins of Dove Creek schools in Dolores County said that rural districts should have a chance to shape their own solutions.

“We’re asking for more assessments, but meaningful assessments,” he said.

Some Senate Democrats tried and failed to fight the local testing option.

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Lawmakers in both chambers have openly questioned whether they’ll be able to agree on any testing reduction before the final gavels fall May 6.

“The competing visions are irreconcilable in almost every possible way,” warned Rep. Paul Lundeen, R-Colorado Springs.

Even if lawmakers agree to a testing-reduction measure, the final result may look like neither bill. The testing debate is likely to land in a conference committee, a panel of legislative negotiators appointed when lawmakers can’t agree on a bill to send to the governor.

“It’s like the weather. If you wait five minutes, there will be another testing bill,” Johnston quipped during the Senate debate.

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Associated Press Writer Donna Bryson contributed to this report.

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Online:

House Bill 1323: https://bit.ly/1DkSOyo

Senate Bill 257: https://bit.ly/1EootnH