The Board of Regents has proposed an amendment to state Education Law that explicitly would require school districts to participate in “field testing.” State Education Department officials maintain the action is necessary to offset the increasing number of parents keeping their children from participating in field testing, which is the practice of administering test questions that aren’t scored but serve to generate feedback and help testing companies enhance future exams.
Please consider visiting the NYSUT Member Action Center to email your comments about mandatory field testing to SED.
Points to Consider in Your Comments:
-Students should not be subjected to over-testing or burdened with field tests.
-The main purpose of field tests is to benefit for-profit test makers.
-Mandatory field testing would only further the erosion of learning time.
-Parents and teachers want more time spent on teaching and learning and less time spent on testing.
-The state’s priorities need to be recalibrated to emphasize teaching and learning, not more standardized testing.