Lawmakers took a significant step toward compromise Monday on reducing and reforming standardized testing in Colorado, one of the most contentious and scrutinized issues of the legislative session.
The House and Senate education committees backed off from competing visions for testing reform advanced by each chamber and coalesced around a plan that borrowed something from both.
Most notably, the blueprint gives wide berth to districts that wish to develop their own alternative assessments — a victory to those who oppose Colorado’s place in a multistate testing effort called PARCC.
At the same time, the legislation would retain mandatory testing of ninth-graders in math and English, a major point of disagreement between education reformers and anti-testing forces.
“I think we are really close to an agreement because no one’s happy,” said Rep. Jim Wilson, R-Salida.
The middle ground is spelled out in a lengthy amendment to major testing reduction bills that passed out of both chambers last week.
The amended Senate bill easily cleared the Democratic-controlled House Education Committee, 9-2. The amended House bill had a rougher time in the Republican-majority Senate Education Committee, going through 5-4, with some on the losing side fuming at the House.
The House late Monday night gave preliminary approval to the Senate testing overhaul bill, SB 257, but not before caucusing to work though confusion and differences.
The bill was amended to break the local option pilot piece into two phases, with the first one allowing districts to “start small” with a limited number of grades or subjects tested. The second piece would empower the state Board of Education to anoint those “most likely to become the next state assessment” — potentially replacing PARCC.
The Senate is expected to take up the House version, HB 1323, on Tuesday. The issue may land in conference committee before the session ends Wednesday; it isn’t clear which of the bills will become the main vehicle for an overhaul.
The framework of a deal was forged because enough support existed to curtail testing in a way palatable to Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, who had held two press conferences — one featuring two former governors — to pledge his allegiance to Colorado-style education reform.
The legislation retains what had already been agreed upon: streamlined reading and literacy tests for the youngest students and no state tests for 12th-graders. The bills advanced Monday also would:
• Retain mandatory state English and math tests in ninth grade. Critics sensed an opportunity to eliminate tests that are not federally required, but others argued it would leave a hole in the state’s accountability system and provide an incomplete picture.
• Tenth-grade PARCC tests in English and math would be replaced with a shorter test called ACT Aspire — the bill doesn’t use the name of the actual product — that prepares students for the college entrance exam required by Colorado law. That would address one criticism of the status quo: that high school students have no reason to care.
• Any district or band of districts could propose pilot programs to develop their own tests, subject to approval by the state Department of Education. The districts would shoulder the costs. The original House Bill had a much narrower local test option. This opens it to all.
• Schools would need to spell out procedures for opting out of state tests, and parents and students could not be penalized for doing so. Last week, the House Education Committee killed a separate bill that would “hold harmless” teachers, districts and schools for opt-outs.
School reform advocates testified against the local option, arguing it could result in a patchwork of exams from any district — high-performing and low — with no guarantee of comparability.
The pilot program would amount to “changing the rules at halftime” for educators getting used to PARCC and initially require students to take both local tests and PARCC, said Chelsea Henkel, of the advocacy group Stand for Children.
On the other side of the spectrum, Colorado Education Association president Kerrie Dallman said the teachers union wants testing reduced further and teachers not punished for high opt-outs. Teachers’ evaluations can be impacted by large numbers of no-shows.
Rep. Millie Hamner, D-Dillon, said the compromise is “trying to strike that right balance” and “thread the needle just right.”
Eric Gorski: 303-954-1971, egorski@denverpost.com or twitter.com/egorski
