Nebraska’s Legislature Approves Statewide Testing

Jeffrey Robb:

Giving up Nebraska’s unique way of measuring academic accountability for uniform statewide tests would have a different impact depending on which school district your child attends.
Take the neighboring Millard and Papillion-La Vista school districts, for example.
In Millard, the district’s system includes tests taken at the end of a grade level, similar to the type of tests that the Legislature gave final approval Monday. If new statewide reading, math and science tests are added, the district would consider dropping one of its current tests for every new statewide test put in place, Superintendent Keith Lutz said.
“It shouldn’t be overly burdensome,” he said.
But Jef Johnston, Papillion-La Vista’s assistant superintendent for curriculum, said the statewide tests would mean an additional layer of testing for his district.
Papillion-La Vista’s current tests are given throughout a course, similar to unit tests. Johnston said that type of testing would continue because it matches up best with the district’s curriculum and better measures what students are learning.
“We’ll have to continue testing what we teach,” he said.
Johnston said time will be taken away from instruction for the statewide tests.
Both sides of Nebraska’s testing debate have tried to portray their opponents as burdening the state’s classrooms with tests.