The overwhelming vote in the state Senate Tuesday for a bill to protect students, teachers and schools from penalties when students opt out of standardized tests was unfortunate, but amendments passed earlier will at least minimize the impact.
One amendment, for example, says schools still have to “make good faith efforts to ensure that all students take” the tests. Another clarifies that scores can still affect accreditation and other ratings.
But the passage of Senate Bill 223 was nevertheless an overreaction to concern about testing.
As Sen. Mike Johnston, D-Denver, protested, it was “a vote against transparency and a vote against accountability” because you need a participation rate of at least 95 percent in order to develop meaningful data.
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