President Obama has come up with a new plan to make testing play a smaller role in schools. President Obama proposed a plan that would limit students time taking tests to about 2 percent of classroom time. President Obama and the Secretary of Education (Arne Duncan), planned an Oval Office Arne Duncan meeting Oct. 26, to discuss the new plan wit
h teachers and school officials.

President Obama’s plan wants Congress to lower the amount of testing for students until they can come up with
a plan that works for every state and school district. Overall students spend around 20 to 25 hours during their school year in their classroom testing. Starting in pre-k all the way through 12 grade, students take about 112 standardized exams. In the eighth grade where students really get started with testing, they spend about 2.3 percent of class time spent towards testing during the eighth grade.

The administration will guide states on how they can reduce the testing in their school districts so that they meet the federal requirement. The administration will also provide school districts with waivers to the No Child Left Behind Act that can help limit students time in the classroom testing.

Instead of having lots of test for students to take during the year based on a specific information that is repetitive and does not show a student’s true skills, the plan proposes that teachers give students fewer test that covers the full range of standards and give students a chance to show their knowledge and skills on the test.