Senate Votes to Require States to Set Limit on Time Spent Testing
On July 14, 2015, the Senate passed by voice vote a bill sponsored by Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) requiring states to establish a limit on the maximum total time students are to spend taking standardized tests– for ESEA or otherwise; to represent that limit as a percentage of instructional time, and to notify parents once the percentage of testing time has been used up:
SA 2210. Mr. BENNET submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 2089 submitted by Mr. Alexander (for himself and Mrs. Murray) to the bill S. 1177, to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to ensure that every child achieves; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:On page 52, between lines 9 and 10, insert the following:“(L) Limitation on assessment time.—“(i) In general.–As a condition of receiving an allocation under this part for any fiscal year, each State shall—“(I) set a limit on the aggregate amount of time devoted to the administration of assessments (including assessments adopted pursuant to this subsection, other assessments rquired by the State, and assessments required districtwide by the local educational agency) for each grade, expressed as a percentage of annual instructional hours; and“(II) ensure that each local educational agency in the State will notify theSenate Votes to Require States to Set Limit on Time Spent Testing | deutsch29:
