AUSTIN (WBAP/KLIF News) – The Texas House passed a bill Wednesday that would scale back the number of standardized tests that students in public school would have to take.
Representative Gary VanDeaver’s (R-New Boston) House Bill 515 said his bill would cut the number of standardized tests to the minimum number required by federal law.
According to the Dallas Morning News, if passed, the bill would change the way STAAR writing tests for fourth and seventh graders are evaluated by 2021.
It will also reduce the number of tests high school students have to take from five to three, while replacing the required United States History exam with a civics test.
Advocates for less testing said they would have liked to see the bill go further, including eliminating the 8th grade STAAR social studies test and end-of-course high school English and United States History exams.
In response to the vote, The Texans Advocating for Meaningful Student Assessment posted a message from its president, Theresa Trevino, on it’s Facebook page.
The statement read in part:
“TAMSA applauds Rep. VanDeaver-R for his effort to reduce standardized testing in Texas, however, we far preferred the original version of the bill (HB 515) that eliminated all testing not required under federal law… We do not support a statewide implementation of the writing pilot in 2021 which is timed, high stakes, and will likely add more tests to an already onerous system.”
The House is expected to conduct one final vote on the measure Thursday before it heads to the Senate.
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