The law requires each district to sign a contract with the state outlining standards and goals to be met over a six-year period. Districts that fall behind may get technical help from the state. Those that fail to take corrective action could lose their accreditation. Colorado's new education law makes districts responsible for student progress. One goal of the legislation was to push districts to give up their own testing programs in favor of the state assessments, which eventually will cover 3rd grade reading, 4th grade reading and mathematics, 8th grade math and science, and 10th grade reading, writing, and math.
Most districts have a raft of norm-referenced tests they are very comfortable with.
Such tests compare students against a national average, rather than gauge their knowledge of specified subject matter, as the state tests will do. But some districts are starting to scrap their existing assessments to cut down on the amount of time students spend taking tests, Moloney adds. The legislature left it up to the state school board to hammer out most of the particulars of the accountability standards for districts. Both his group and the Colorado Association of School Boards lobbied to moderate the accreditation bill. They wanted to make sure local school boards still decided graduation requirements, and they successfully fought proposals to mandate what time of day the basics would be taught and what teaching methods could be used.