APS holding final meeting to discuss testing changes

From KOB-TV.com - bBy: Erica Zucco KOB Eyewitness News 4- The New Mexico Public Education Department recently enacted some testing changes for students and a new plan to evaluate teachers. But some of the changes are confusing and complicated, and some parents and teachers want the department to slow down.
     Some of the changes include students taking double the number of end of course tests as compared to last year and future changes to standards based testing. APS says PED has changed the requirements twice in October alone.
     For teachers, student growth will constitute 50 percent of their evaluation score. Evaluations will happen three times a year, and principals will be in charge of the work. Teacher and parent Jeff Tuttle says the biggest problem with all of this is that it eats up classroom time. "We want to teach children to think dynamically and be flexible in their thinking," Tuttle said. "Filling in bubbles is not realproblem solving."
     The Public Education Department says standards-based assessments and end of course exams take up only 1.2 percent of classroom time, but some teachers disagree. "We're getting ready to get ready to get ready to take the test and it draws the focus away from learning and it becomes an issue of testing," Tuttle said. More

APS holding final meeting to discuss testing changes