News Headlines

Source: KSBA eNews Service, Frankfort, March 12, 2010

Commissioner Holliday to recommend delaying spring testing, with or without federal OK

Stresses need to make up instructional days missed due to flu, winter weather

By Brad Hughes

Education Commissioner Terry Holliday will ask the Kentucky Board of Education to approve an extended student assessment testing window from April into late May, regardless of whether the U.S. Department of Education (USED) has acted on his earlier request to do so. The state board meets on April 13.

If USED officials don’t approve the delayed testing and resulting delay in getting scores to schools, the state could face a reprimand up to and including a reduction in the state’s Title I funding.

In a March 10 letter to Gov. Steve Beshear and leaders of the General Assembly, Holliday said that while he understands the importance of federal requirements to get test results to schools prior to Aug. 1, “I am gravely concerned about the amount of lost instructional time that many of our school districts have incurred and its impact on student performance on the Kentucky Core Content Test.” Holliday released the letter in his regular weekly e-mail, Fast Five on Friday, to education leaders across the state.

The state Department of Education estimates that 18 percent of Kentucky school systems have lost three or more weeks of instructional time; 21 percent have been out at least two weeks; and 37 percent have missed at least a week’s worth of class time. About one in four school systems have been closed for less than a week due to the combination of high absenteeism related to last fall’s H1N1 flu outbreak and this winter’s snowy and icy conditions.

“If we extend the testing window from April into May but required our testing vendor to return the results to districts by Aug. 1, the cost of this change exceeds the availability of state resources,” Holliday wrote. “My proposal provides additional instructional days before testing occurs, holds all schools accountable in a fair and equitable manner and does not cost the state additional dollars.”

The commissioner noted that a similar request in 2009, which was granted by USED, took four months to gain approval. “I do not have the luxury of waiting four months to make a decision,” Holliday said. “My decision must be based on what is best for students. I feel that I must come down on the side of student learning.”

Holliday formally requested federal approval for the testing delay on March 1.