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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Lawmakers are moving toward approving a plan to eliminate some standardized tests in the state's schools. However, any implementation of the plan is at least a year away.
State Schools Superintendent Patti Harrington says she'd like to replace exams such as Criterion-Referenced Tests, the Directed Writing Assessment, Iowa Test of Basic Skills and the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test with adaptive, online tests. Several lawmakers are urging her to continue working on the plan.
Instead of the standardized tests, Harrington and an alliance of state education leaders would like to see students take adaptive, online tests at least three times a year. Adaptive tests are exams that change in difficulty as students take them. That means questions could get progressively easier or harder depending on a student's ability. The idea is to measure each student's progress and areas of need. Teachers also would be able to get results more quickly, and the tests could be given in hour-long sessions.
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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
