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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Responding to pressure from parents and teachers upset with the troubled rollout of a new statewide test that grade-school students are taking this spring, Assembly Republicans said Thursday they will pass a bill next month ensuring the results aren't used to measure performance.
The announcement comes a month after the GOP-led Senate passed a similar bill with no opposition. But the Republican-controlled Assembly has been slower to act, leading to concerns that the Badger Exam test results could end up being used to evaluate teachers and be publicized on school report cards as part of the formula assigning performance categories to schools.
"I would like to calm the school districts down a little bit," said Rep. Joel Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay, at a Capitol news conference.
The test is being given this spring to all public school students in grades 3-8, as well as students attending private schools using taxpayer-funded vouchers. Schools have until May 22 to complete the tests, which cover English and math.
Under the bill discussed Thursday, expected to be passed May 13, there would be no school report cards in the fall with the test results. They would still be reported to comply with federal law, and the results would be available on the state Department of Public Instruction website, but they could not be used against schools or teachers.
The exam has drawn widespread consternation from parents and schools about whether the results would be used because of implementation problems that led to delays, a writing portion of the language arts section being deleted and a key interactive feature being dropped because it didn't work right.
"This rollout has been a complete disaster, unlike anything we've seen since 'Obamacare,'" Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke said.
Lawmakers are talking with Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel about possible legal remedies the state has so it does not have to pay any more money for the tests, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said.
So far, the state has paid about $1.2 million of $2.7 million expected to be owed to the California-based testing consortium Smarter Balanced, which developed questions for the test. The state has halted payments and is seeking a reduction in what has been spent already, said Department of Public Instruction spokesman Tom McCarthy.
Wisconsin was to owe another $8.8 million to New Jersey-based Educational Testing Service, which holds the contract to provide the test, but has not yet paid anything, McCarthy said.
Because the test is tied to the more rigorous Common Core academic standards, scores were expected to be lower than they had been in previous years. That, along with implementation problems, also raised concerns about how the results would be viewed and used.
Gov. Scott Walker proposed dropping the test after this year and moving to a new one.
Because the test likely will only be in use one year, support has coalesced around not issuing a report card with the results. Groups that typically don't align on education issues — including state superintendent Tony Evers, school choice advocates and public schools — agree the results should not be used this year.
Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt, a Republican from Fond du Lac who is chairman of the Assembly's Education Committee, said he also wanted to clarify in state law that any student who does not want to take the test can opt out.
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