Another Test is Dropped to Save Money

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@EARTHLINK.NET>]

 And another one's gone --  with more yet to come. Yesterday's St. Louis
Post Dispatch reports that similar budget cutting pressures may result
in Missouri cutting back its state testing program.

             STATE CANCELS THIRD-GRADE WRITING TESTS
               The Associated Press -- Oregon Wire
                         March 20, 2002

    Portland --  To save money, the state has axed this year's
third-grade writing test.
    Canceling the test will save about $400,000 --  roughly $200,000 is
needed to print and mail 40,000 test forms and results and the other
half to train and pay teachers to grade the essays.
    During two special budget-cutting sessions in February, the
Legislature cut $4.5 million from the testing budget that covers this
school year and next.
    State officials are deciding how they'll cut another $4.1 million
worth of testing during the 2002-03 school year. That would represent
nearly 60 percent of what the state planned to spend on testing, said
Bill Auty, interim associate superintendent who oversees testing.
    Coincidentally, the federal government is slated to give Oregon $5.4
million in July to help the state meet special new testing requirements
from the Bush administration's new Elementary and Secondary Education
Act, said Barbara Wolfe, a department spokeswoman.
    Oregon tests students in grades three, five, eight and 10. The Bush
plan would require the state to give reading and math tests in grades
four, six and seven.
    State test-makers chose the third-grade essay test, one of 18 state
tests given in Oregon schools each year, because it is the only one that
had not been printed already or given to some students when the
Legislature cut the testing budget.
    Karen McColloch, a third-grade teacher at Oak Grove Elementary in
Milwaukie, said she and her colleagues have mixed feelings about the
cancellation.
    "Our third-grade teachers happened to pick writing as our big focus
this year, and we're really ready. This test was going to be our chance
to shine," she said.

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