DENVER – Gov. John Hickenlooper joined two former governors at the Colorado Capitol on Wednesday to caution against a sweeping reduction in student testing.
The news conference – organized by former Govs. Bill Owens, a Republican, and Roy Romer, a Democrat – comes as the Legislature debates several measures aimed at reducing assessments and increasing flexibility.
“That system is under attack,” Owens said. “Our friends from both the left and the right, for differing reasons, don’t want to test, don’t want to measure, don’t want to have accountability. This is stunning to me.”
Only two proposals remain as frontrunners – House Bill 1323 and Senate Bill 257. The House measure perhaps has the greatest chance, as it closely models recommendations made earlier this year by a task force led by Durango School District 9-R Superintendent Dan Snowberger, which include eliminating several tests in 11th and 12th grades, other than the ACT. The Senate version is a bit more complicated by addressing greater flexibility for local districts. An unresolved issue is ninth-grade assessments.
“This is so nonsensical and illogical to raise the possibility you’re not going to test in ninth grade,” said Romer, who served as the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District from 2000 to 2007.
Other bills are less likely to pass, or already have been killed, because they would repeal Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, exams, and move the state toward federal minimum standards.
Hickenlooper is skeptical about another bill that would allow parents to opt their children out of tests without facing penalties. He stopped short of saying he would veto the measure if it lands on his desk, but he expressed serious concerns.
“The way a testing system works is everyone uses it,” Hickenlooper said, flanked by the two former governors. “If suddenly large segments of our population ... decide that they’re not going to take the test, you really invalidate the value of that test.”
Supporters of the effort say they are answering outcries. Much of the controversy revolves around federal Common Core, including PARCC.
“I challenge all three governors to show parents where anyone has lost their way, other than the frequency of assessments and the interference that has caused with learning,” said Sen. Chris Holbert, R-Parker.