Students in D.C. and 11 states -- including Maryland -- will spend less time next year taking tests based on the Common Core standards, a decision made in response to widespread opposition to testing requirements.
The Baltimore Sun reports that next year, students in grades 3 through 8 will take math and English tests once, instead of twice. The decision will cut test-taking time by about 90 minutes.
"We've listened to the voices of all stakeholders -- educators, parents, and students -- and are using the lessons learned," New Mexico Education Secretary Hanna Skandera said in a statement.
The changes came after a group made up of multiple states governing the newly introduced PARCC tests met and voted to reduce testing time.
The PARCC tests took effect this year, sparking a round of intense opposition from teachers, parents and students who said testing requirements take away from classroom instruction and put undue pressure on kids. Parents in pockets of the country opted their children out of test taking in PARCC states and elsewhere.
Maryland State Superintendent of Schools Lillian M. Lowery said next year's PARCC tests will take less time away from lessons and keep students on track for college.
Julia Sass Rubin, the mother of a seventh-grader in New Jersey and a founder of Save Our Schools New Jersey, a group that is critical of the test, said the reduced time is a good first step.
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But she said cutting the test back to once a year does not address all the lost instructional time and overarching concerns about "narrowing of the curriculum and teaching to the test."
In addition to D.C. and Maryland, the other states involved are Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio and Rhode Island.
