Following President's Call, New York Touts Efforts to Reduce Overtesting

President Obama over the weekend admitted that too many schools have over-emphasized standardized testing, which has sapped the joy out of teaching and learning. 

His administration acknowledged in a "Testing Action Plan" that it bore some of the responsibility for over-testing and creating "undue stress" for teachers and students.

NPR's Anya Kamenetz reports that the president's announcement on the need to eliminate over-testing coincided with the release of a survey by the Council of Great City Schools, which found that the average student will take 112 standardized tests between pre-kindergarten and graduation from high school. 

In New York, state education officials have taken steps to reduce over-testing, and indeed the Obama administration called New York a leader in this effort. These steps include limiting the amount of time students spend on required standardized tests and establishing a grant to allow administrators to review the assessments given to students.

But while New York state may be working to limit the actual number of tests students must take, many critics say an emphasis on testing has affected teaching and learning by narrowing the curriculum to tested subjects; put undue pressure on results, since teacher evaluations are tied to test scores; and enriched testing companies.

In protest, an increasing number of families over the past few years opted out of the state tests. This past spring, the number swelled to about 20 percent of students opting out statewide. 

New York's new state education commissioner, MaryEllen Elia, said she planned at least one change: she said next year's tests would be shorter, following criticism that the assessments, aligned to the Common Core standards, were far too long.