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By Ry Rivard CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Every school system in West Virginia should ask for a reprieve from strict federal accountability standards for at least one year while students and teachers adjust to a new standardized test, according to the superintendent of one county that has already done so. Marion County Superintendent James Phares says counties should have a year or two to adjust to a new statewide test of student achievement, the WESTEST 2. Officials around the state say the new and more rigorous test along with a new, more rigorous curriculum could cause test scores to decline temporarily. This could throw a wrench in some schools' compliance with federal No Child Left Behind standards. Because federal funding is tied to the outcome of test scores, Marion County wants the state Department of Education to ask the federal government to put a moratorium on accountability sanctions. Any move by the state to temporarily avoid accountability sanctions comes amid a handover of power in Washington to a new administration that is likely to change national education policy. Superintendent Phares said that if all counties get on board with Marion County's plan, "this will send a note very quickly we are looking for changes to No Child Left Behind." "I think school systems are trying to say enough is enough," he said. "The high-stake standards are starting to eat into time for music and fine arts and other things." Other county school systems may follow Phares' lead. Kanawha County Superintendent Ron Duerring said it hasn't been discussed but asking for time to adjust to a new testing tool is something to consider. When a new test is used, scores are automatically going to drop, he said. "This isn't like asking for a period to relax and say, 'Oh gosh, we don't have to worry about it,' " he said. Without the time to figure out how the new test works in the field, comparing testing data from the new and old WESTEST would be like comparing apples to oranges, said Marsha Carr-Lambert, the superintendent of Grant County Schools. She assumes tests scores will decline at first. But even if scores increase, scores from the test wouldn't be realistic without something to compare results. Carr-Lambert would like her school board to support a resolution like the one passed by Marion County. But even if all 55 counties passed similar resolutions and the state asked the federal education department for some time to adjust, it's not clear what the federal government would do. "I'm not sure it's so simple to say, 'We have this new test so we're going to give everybody a bye and pick it up next year,' " said Kenna Seal, the head of the state board of education's Office of Education Performance and Audits. In the past, his office would routinely give counties a period to adjust to a new test before using it to assess performance. Now, Seal says, the federal government doesn't give states very much wiggle room. No Child Left Behind law has been controversial from its beginning in the first years of the Bush administration. Critics say the law puts too much emphasis on high-stakes standardized tests. This has led to "isolated, atomistic and fragmented instruction," said Eric Cooper, president of the National Urban Alliance, an organization that advocates for students and provides professional development for teachers. Cooper said he isn't anti-high-stakes tests, but that accountability standards need to take into account other things, like student portfolios and performances. "How well students do on projects is so critical but not captured," he said. West Virginia's state curriculum policy is moving toward teaching "21st century skills," like problem-solving and effective communication. Classroom content standards and objectives have been updated to increase rigor and relevance and to "move beyond No Child Left Behind." The WESTEST 2 is meant to test the new curriculum. |
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