Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 2:37PM | Elianna Mintz
In the US Department of Education’s first ever Twitter Town Hall meeting Wednesday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan stated that standardized testing requirements under the “No Child Left Behind” act are too rigid.
While Duncan was adamant that testing is critical to measure reading levels and annual improvements, he did admit that “the law is too punitive” and schools need to be granted “more flexibility and autonomy.”
“Students shouldn’t even be tested 10 days out of the year. It is too much,” Duncan said.
“Growth and gain need to be evaluated,” Duncan continued,” but that doesn’t mean excessive testing.”
Duncan noted that good teachers need to be rewarded for their hard work and bad teachers need to improve. He even suggested implementing a reward system with higher pay for schools with higher performance. He maintained, however, that the only way to measure this is through testing.
The “No Child Left Behind” act was signed into law in January 2002 and requires that publicly funded schools administer standardized tests annually to measure students’ performance.
However, a remarkable number of states have expressed opposition to the law, claiming that it has unrealistic requirements and is causing more harm than good to the school system.
Education Secretary Wants Less Standardized Testing
In the US Department of Education’s first ever Twitter Town Hall meeting Wednesday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan stated that standardized testing requirements under the “No Child Left Behind” act are too rigid.
While Duncan was adamant that testing is critical to measure reading levels and annual improvements, he did admit that “the law is too punitive” and schools need to be granted “more flexibility and autonomy.”
“Students shouldn’t even be tested 10 days out of the year. It is too much,” Duncan said.
“Growth and gain need to be evaluated,” Duncan continued,” but that doesn’t mean excessive testing.”
Duncan noted that good teachers need to be rewarded for their hard work and bad teachers need to improve. He even suggested implementing a reward system with higher pay for schools with higher performance. He maintained, however, that the only way to measure this is through testing.
The “No Child Left Behind” act was signed into law in January 2002 and requires that publicly funded schools administer standardized tests annually to measure students’ performance.
However, a remarkable number of states have expressed opposition to the law, claiming that it has unrealistic requirements and is causing more harm than good to the school system.