Members of a statewide teachers' union want to limit high-stakes student testing to fifth and eighth grades to refocus teacher time on broader learning rather than test-taking.
Education Minnesota released a report Monday detailing how to improve assessments as state leaders engage in a larger debate about the issue.
"Too many policy debates are shaped by people who don't work in schools," union President Denise Specht said. "We believe it's time to bring in experts, educators, to make policy recommendations that are grounded in their real work experiences."
Teachers in the state and across the nation have been critical of high-stakes testing, saying the exams do not accurately reflect how well a student is learning.
Members of Congress and state legislators are considering changes to standardized testing. In Minnesota, the state Department of Education and school districts say they will administer fewer tests that take time away from instruction. Meanwhile, Congress is rewriting the federal No Child Left Behind law, which requires states to test every student.
Elizabeth Proepper, an elementary school teacher in Proctor and one of the report's authors, said reducing the number of exams would help the save the state money. The state could then invest that money in buying a more well-rounded assessment, one that would allow students to explain their thinking and learning and not merely select an answer on a computer.
"It should not just be an A or B selection, but students should be assessed on showing their thinking process," Proepper said. "It could be a writing piece or a project. There are many varied assessments that are better than a multiple-choice test."
A key finding in the report says tests should be limited to two years. "Testing in fifth grade allows for an assessment of where students are as they leave elementary school, and testing in eighth grade allows for a similar assessment at the end of middle school," the report said.