Professor Van Ry

Some local lawmakers are leading a charge to reduce the number of standardized tests that Virginia students must take and to transform the tests themselves to assess more advanced skills.

Del. Rob Krupicka (D-Alexandria) introduced a bill to reduce the number of end-of-year tests and allow teachers to use project-based assessments instead.

“A lot of folks are tired of the incredible testing machine that we are turning our schools into,” Krupicka said in an interview.

Testing reform promises to be one of the biggest education policy changes the legislature will consider this year. It has a groundswell of support from frustrated parents and an incoming governor, who campaigned on updating the tests.

Krupicka’s bill would replace one social studies and one science test in elementary school and two social studies tests in middle school, bringing the total number of required Standards of Learning tests down from 34 to 30. The bill would also create the option to replace high school social studies and science tests with alternative assessments. <Read more.>

Via Michael Alison Chandler, The Washington Post.