San Diego Unified school board member John Lee Evans is proposing a moratorium on district testing today, roughly a month after asking the school district to study whether the tests were helpful to teachers.
Testing has been a hot topic this year. The school district imposes a number of additional tests besides those required by the state under No Child Left Behind. They are meant to help teachers diagnose problems and tailor their instruction, unlike the state tests, which are used to evaluate schools and are graded too late to impact teaching.
But with many teachers complaining that the volume of testing is excessive, the teachers union pushing for a halt to the practice. Union President Camille Zombro said last month that studying the issue wasn’t enough.
“It needs to stop,” she said.
Surveys done by the school district show mixed opinions among teachers about the tests.
Some tests are more popular than others. The same surveys show that principals generally tend to be more sanguine about the assessments and whether they are useful.
The school board is slated to discuss Evans’ proposal tonight at its meeting.