Education Committee Co-Chair Rep. Andy Fleischmann and Senate Co-Chair Gayle Slossberg heard teachers’ and parents’ concerns about SBAC testing and took action by advancing this legislation.
A bill that eliminates SBAC testing for eleventh graders and calls for an examination of SBAC’s impact on younger students tonight passed the State House of Representatives after passing the Senate last week. Education Committee Co-Chair Rep. Andy Fleischmann called Substitute Senate Bill 1095 “an important step forward for all students affected by mastery testing [SBAC] in Connecticut.”
CEA President Sheila Cohen thanked legislators for listening, taking action, and passing the bill. “The passage of Sub. Senate Bill 1095 makes us optimistic that further improvements to provide less testing and more learning in our public schools are in the future,” she said.
Cohen commended teachers for making their voices heard at a rally at the State Capitol, via a CEA survey on SBAC, and in correspondence and conversations with legislators. The legislation creates a task force to improve the state testing program to maximize learning time for students and teachers, while ensuring student progress is effectively monitored.
Rep. Gail Lavielle, Education Committee ranking member, said, “Teachers are eager to spend more time in the classroom really being able to help children learn instead of preparing for a test.”
Education Commitee member Rep. Gayle Mulligan said, “We’ve heard time and time again from constituents how much time is being taken up by testing.”
The legislation now heads to Governor Malloy’s desk for his signature.
Fleischmann really referred to the SBAC as ‘mastery testing’….? WOW!
The term “mastery test” is the statutory name for the state test required under NCLB. SBAC is the state’s current mastery test. Previously the mastery tests were the CMT and CAPT.
Fleischmann also called CCS a curriculum a while back. He’s got the lingo down, but not the understanding we have, the real teachers that is.
I truly hope teachers are allowed the time do do what they went to school for. Teaching students and ensuring a good education not wasting days preparing for tests. If a child has a bad day all the preparation in the world is not going to guarantee a good test score but a compassionate teacher will get through a students bad day and not waste any time accomplishing a productive day.