Teacher Advisory Committee Presents Testing Recommendations to Governor McCrory | Eastern NC Now

    Raleigh, NC     Members of the Governor's Teacher Advisory Committee presented nine major recommendations on testing standards and assessments to Governor Pat McCrory today at a meeting at the Executive Mansion.

    "Since I took office, superintendents, principals and teachers have told me that the testing burden in our classrooms threatens to turn our teachers into proctors," Governor McCrory said. "Burdensome testing deprives our students of the talent and creativity our teachers have spent their careers to develop. Just as they did on teacher pay, members of the Governor's Teacher Advisory Committee looked at the issue of testing and have produced some innovative recommendations and I look forward to studying them in depth. Long lasting and meaningful education reform will not come from politicians in Raleigh, but from the teachers in our classrooms."

    The recommendations on standards and assessments presented to Governor McCrory and Education Advisor Eric Guckian are:

1. Prioritize student learning: The first and most important reason for assessment is to support student growth and achievement. Assessment practices should be structured around this fact.
2. Use multiple measures: North Carolina's testing system should include multiple measures of mastery to ensure robust evaluation of student learning.
3. Strengthen teacher evaluation: Improve and supplement metrics used to evaluate educator's impact on student growth.
4. Promote developmentally appropriate testing: Ensure that assessment systems are aligned with what we know about student developmental learning capacity and the environments in which students perform best.
5. Reduce or eliminate redundant, impractical, or weak assessments: Ensure all assessments implemented are necessary, aligned to standards, and relevant to college and career-readiness.
6. Respond to local needs: Allow for additional flexibility around assessment to ensure local priorities and needs are reflected in student learning.
7. Ensure clear communication: Pursue adequate communication and engagement with educators and community regarding standards and assessments before implementing changes.
8. Support capacity for online assessment: Ensure adequate resources and capacity in all schools before mandating online assessment.
9. Improve Read to Achieve requirements: Modify assessment practices around Read to Achieve to promote strong implementation and student success.

    Extensive details on these recommendations were also provided.

    In addition to receiving these recommendations, the governor also updated members on significant education reforms initiated during the short legislative session.

    Governor McCrory re-established the Teacher Advisory Committee in September 2013. The committee, made up of 24 teachers from various parts of the state and disciplines across the K-12 spectrum, was charged with tackling substantive issues such as teacher pay, retention, teacher performance measures, testing and technology in the classroom.

• Contact: Crystal Feldman
•     govpress@nc.gov