Jasey,
Vainieri Huttle, Mainor, Watson Coleman, Wimberly, Oliver Bill requires public
& charter schools to inform parents of new exams used to evaluate student
achievement
(TRENTON) – An Assembly panel on
Thursday released legislation sponsored by Assembly Democrats Mila Jasey,
Valerie Vainieri Huttle, Charles Mainor, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Benjie Wimberly
and Sheila Oliver that would require public and charter schools to annually
inform parents early in the school year of new state exams that will be
administered to K-12 students.
The
current state tests given to public school students to evaluate student
achievement will be replaced with assessments developed by the Partnership for
Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers specifically designed to test
for the Common Core State Standards. The purpose of the bill is to ensure that
all parents and guardians of K-12 students are provided timely, clear, and
accessible information about the purposes, costs, frequency, and length of the
assessments that students will be required to take during the school year, and
the rules and policies associated with those assessments.
“There
is a serious concern among parents about testing in general, the new assessments
and the academic impact the tests will have on their children,” said Jasey
(D-Essex/Morris). “This bill attempts to ease those concerns by requiring school
districts to keep parents fully informed about the new tests as well as all
required state tests and what this means for our state’s students and schools.”
“This
is new territory for parents, who have been accustomed to a specific type of
test to measure how well their children are learning in school,” said Vainieri
Huttle (D-Bergen). “We owe it to parents who want to be involved in their
children’s education to keep them informed.”
“Parents
are understandably hesitant about these new evaluations and how they will impact
their children academically,” said Mainor (D-Hudson). “This bill can help ease
some of those fears by making parents aware of how these evaluations will work
before they are administered to students.”
The bill
(A-3077) provides that no later than October 1 of every school year, a school
district and a charter school must provide parents or guardians of a student
information on any State assessment or commercially-developed standardized
assessment that will be administered to the student in that school year. The
information will include, but need not be limited to, the
following:
·
the subject area of the assessment and grade levels
covered by the assessment;
·
the date or dates of the administration of the
assessment;
·
whether the assessment has been screened for
bias;
·
the time in which a student is expected to take and
complete the assessment;
·
whether students are required to take the assessment
online or have the option of using paper and pencil;
·
the special accommodations available for qualifying
students;
·
how the assessment results will be used, including
whether results will be used for placement in gifted and talented programs,
placement in other programs or interventions, grade promotion, graduation, or in
any other district or school decisions affecting students;
·
information on how and when the student and his
parent or guardian can access both the assessment and the results;
·
the cost to the district associated with the
purchase of the assessment from a commercial vendor, if applicable; and
·
whether the assessment is required by the State, the
federal government or both, or is required only by the district or charter
school.
“Giving
parents this information early in the school year helps them better understand
the material being taught in the classroom, and helps avoid any confusion or
misunderstanding when the time comes to administer these new tests,” said Watson
Coleman (D-Mercer/Hunterdon).
“These
tests measure student achievement, so parents are obviously apprehensive” said
Wimberly (D-Bergen/Passaic). “It is only fair that we give parents as much
information as possible about these new evaluations so they will be better able
to help and advocate for their children.”
“There
is a lot of conflicting information about these new assessments,” said Oliver
(D-Essex). “Having schools supply information directly to parents can help clear
up any half-truths and make parents feel better about the decisions that are
being made on behalf of their children.”
The
Commissioner of Education must provide a model document to each school district
and charter school to provide the required information to parents or
guardians.
The
information provided annually to parents or guardians must also be available at
the meeting of the board of education of the school district or the meeting of
the board of trustees of the charter school at which the annual School
Performance Reports are presented to the public.
The bill
was approved by the Assembly Education Committee.
