California officials reject federal government's push to administer old science tests
California education officials have decided that students will take only one statewide test in science this spring, a pilot test based on new standards known as the Next Generation Science Standards.
The decision, made in recent weeks, pits state education officials against the U.S. Department of Education, which told California officials in a Sept. 30 letter that they must continue to administer an older science test based on standards adopted in 1998, and publish the scores on that test.
The State Board of Education adopted the new science standards in 2013, and educators had planned to administer a pilot version of a new online test aligned with those standards this spring. It had requested a federal waiver from having to give the old test as well, but the U.S. Department of Education denied its request.
Jessica Barr, an administrator in the California Department of Education’s Assessment Development and Administration Division, told teachers at the California Science Education Conference in Palm Springs on Saturday that California is forging its own path forward and plans to replace the old test with the pilot test this spring.
“We need to move on,” Barr said, an announcement that met with applause from 250 teachers in the room. “We need to transition, and we need to allow teachers themselves to transition to the new standards.”
“There’s no showdown” with the federal government, she emphasized in in an interview with EdSource. She did not elaborate.
The state plans to administer the pilot science test to students in the 5th and 8th grades and one high school grade this school year, then administer a more complete field test in the following year. Most students will take the full test in 2018-19; students with disabilities will take a specially designed test in California officials reject federal government’s push to administer old science tests | EdSource:
