President Obama has admitted that there are too many tests currently set for students that take up too out of teachers and students' time. This announcement was made after a study was revealed standardized tests are often redundant rather than strategic.
President Obama admitted the administration's own fault in encouraging more standardized tests and planned on to correct it, USA Today reports. Instead of cultivating creativity and learning, a lot of time is spent on tests that may not be necessary.
"Learning is about so much more than just filling in the right bubble,'' Obama said in a 3-minute video posted on Facebook. ''So we're going to work with states, school districts, teachers and parents to make sure that we're not obsessing about testing.''
The announcement comes after results of a study about student assessment exams in public schools were published on October 2015. President Obama plans on to limit the testing time to 2 percent of the overall instructional time in the classroom.
It's time to let our students focus on learning, our teachers focus on teaching, and bring standardized testing within reasonable limits.
— EricLuedtke (@EricLuedtke) March 21, 2016
What are the findings of the study?
The study conducted by the Council of Great City Schools revealed that students from big-city schools take around 112 mandatory standardized tests between pre-kindergarten and high school graduation. These data were gathered from 66 school districts across the country. New York Times added that each student takes on around 8 tests a year.
That translates to 25 hours or 2.3 percent of school time. The study reveals that there's no concrete relation between more time spent on tests and improved academic performance.
President Obama's action plans
In response, the administration will issue guidance to help educators make assessments easier. This will end some of the tests that are not beneficial to both the students and the educators.
The Obama administration would like to see tests that will clearly assess students' learning taken in a time-limited fashion. This announcement was favored by the American Federation of Teachers and a majority of Americans.
This move will move the focus on standardized testing as the sole evaluation of a student, teacher or school's performance. Check out the video of President Obama's announcement as captured by Newsy:
