The level of discourse and debate around student testing and standards and assessments has been at a heightened level for many months - here in Colorado and across the country.  Last session the General Assembly passed legislation creating a Task Force focused on evaluating the types of tests, the curriculum areas measured and how often they are administered to ascertain if Colorado was testing too much, too little or just enough.  

From the business community's standpoint, to ensure accountability in our education system - and to provide parents, students and educators with sound information regarding our future workforce's knowledge base and skills at key points in time - four key points must be top of mind in this debate. Colorado's education system must:  

• Maintain rigorous academic standards that are comparable across states (Ensure our academic approach is equal to, or more rigorous than, other states).
• Make sure the state assessments accurately measure student academic growth (How do our students stack up, and are they progressing?).
• Protect accountability structures for schools, districts and educators (Preserve strides made in education reform).
• Ensure that the state assessments allow for comparison across schools districts and states (How are our schools compared with their peers in Colorado, and across the country?).

Certainly it is worthwhile to assess our system to ensure we are testing on the right academic topics at the appropriate time.  And perhaps the approach currently administered at schools across our state is deserving of change.  That said, stepping away from any kind of testing - or data collection that allows for the ability to compare how a student is doing with his or her peers - is detrimental in the long run.  In this global marketplace ensuring our kids are appropriately educated and competitive is the greatest gift we can give them, and our state as a whole.

To date more than 30 bills dealing with specific components of this topic have been introduced in the Colorado General Assembly.  Comprehensive legislation based on the work of the Task Force is expected in the coming month, and the business community believes a focused approach based on the work of that diverse group of stakeholders is a preferable path forward.  The guidelines noted above will be a screen utilized in review of that legislation.   

Simultaneously, the State Board of Education has been wrestling with these issues, and where their authority begins and ends around setting standards and providing opt-out opportunities for districts around student testing. The legality of recent actions by the Board has been questioned by the state's Attorney General, and questions regarding the impact of some decisions - such as allowing school districts to opt-out of nationally mandated tests - on federal education funding, have been raised.  The discussion and debate both on the legislative approach, and actions by the State Board, will continue to be an area to watch closely.  We will keep you up to speed on any important actions. 

Should you have questions about this topic, or any other public policy issue of interest, please do not hesitate to contact me at tamra@coloradoconcern.com.