The U.S. Department of Education and acting Education Secretary John B. King Jr. have announced efforts to help states reduce the number of standardized tests in schools by helping to create better assessments.

"Acting U.S. Education Secretary John B. King Jr. wants states and districts to focus on streamlined, higher-quality tests in a broader effort to win back some classroom time,” NPR said.

The department will be using federal dollars to help make this happen.

"To help schools cut down, the Education Department has announced more details of how federal money could be used to ‘audit' testing programs, to eliminate redundancy and get rid of 'low-quality' tests. The department included links to resources on how to conduct such an audit,” NPR said.

The Education Department has been compelled to act after a report last year revealed students in grades K-12 annually take an average of eight tests, far over the one required per year. 

This over-emphasis on testing has helped to push respected teachers out the door, and the Education Department has announced its commitment to work to retain quality teachers. '

"As the department notes in its letter, improving testing is a path to 'help schools recruit and retain highly qualified teachers.' That's because overtesting has become a huge sore point for teacher morale nationwide. It has also drawn ire from families,” NPR said.

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Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

2/4/2016