Connecticut education officials are curbing the amount of time students in grades three through eight spend on standardized tests.
Governor Dannel Malloy announced Thursday that state education officials are eliminating one of two components of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) exam. Malloy said they are getting rid of a Math and English assessment test that duplicates another test.
“Students and teachers can spend their time better doing things in the classroom, rather than proving twice that they’ve mastered one thing,” said Malloy, “So I think this is a great opportunity for us.”
Eliminating the test will reduce testing time by as much as 1 hour 45 minutes for each student.
Federal law requires that students in grades three to eight take year-end standardized tests.
State Department of Education officials found that the computer-only tests remain very reliable, without the essay portion of the English Language Arts exam.
Malloy says the new step will expand learning time in the classroom for about 200,000 Connecticut children across more than 800 schools.
