The Maryland State Department of Education issued a document today advising parents in the state what they should know about testing in Maryland. This post is my personal, unsolicited, and non-endorsed response to the first five “things” on the list.
In the first five points, MSDE is simply providing information about what tests will be administered and what score reports parents will receive, assuming all goes according to the current plan.
Emergency legislation has been introduced in the General Assembly by Delegate Eric Luedtke, Democrat from Montgomery County, which could drop the Maryland School Assessment (MSA) in math and reading this school year.
Things are heating up politically over the MSA, because it’s not really testing kids on what their teachers are supposed to be teaching them. Everyone (including me) is asking why the kids are even taking it in the first place.
The only problem is, tests like the MSA are massive. It takes about three years to develop them, and you can’t exactly just stop the whole process two months before the end and expect to get all your money back as a state. So, if the state can get a waiver with respect to the federal law that requires the testing, which is unlikely, we might be able to stop the test. Otherwise, the emergency legislation is likely to be symbolic.
It’s like trying to stop a train with a push cart, and I have a feeling, even though every actual person in Maryland knows that giving the test just isn’t right, there’s going to be nothing anyone can do to stop it this late in the process.
An article by Liz Bowie in the Baltimore Sun explains the dilemma in which school officials find themselves over this issue:
Bill seeks halt to state testing for this year
By Liz Bowie of the Baltimore Sun