DENVER—Colorado students hoping to avoid taking hours of comprehensive tests every year are going to be disappointed.
The Legislature rejected a measure Wednesday that would have eliminated those tests and replaced them with assessments to find out what students know and what they learned during the school year. A diagnostic test would have helped teachers tailor instruction.
Rep. Judy Solano, D-Brighton, says the bill died because the Department of Education and Gov. Bill Ritter wanted their own school assessment program to replace the Colorado Student Assessment Program tests, or CSAPs, that students are required to take each year.
She says thousands of students, their parents and teachers will be forced to continue taking tests that they all agree aren’t working.
“They’re not looking at the problem. They are not listening to schools, parents or teachers. Legislators and the governor promised people CSAPs were going away, and they’re not going away. They have a vision of the governor’s program, and nothing is going to stop them,” said Solano.
Teachers said the CSAP tests are a poor measure of student progress, and they fought attempts to use the tests to measure their teaching ability. Lawmakers agreed the education system was broken and complained teachers were teaching to the tests with little student improvement.
Instead, educators are waiting for a report from a task force set up by Gov. Bill Ritter, expected later this year.
