Senator Kennedy Commends Decision to End Double-Testing for 60,000 Students in Math

Kennedy: With today’s news, about 60,000 students across New York State will have some relief from the stress of double-testing in mathematics.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Senator Tim Kennedy, D-Buffalo, commended a decision announced today that will help end the practice of “double-testing” thousands of students. The U.S. Department of Education approved of a request from the NYS Education Department to exempt seventh and eighth grade students who take Regents exams in Algebra or Geometry from also being required to take the state’s year-end mathematics assessment.

“With today’s news, about 60,000 students across New York State will have some relief from the stress of double-testing in mathematics,” said Senator Kennedy. “Families in Western New York and throughout the state have been coming together to demand that New York State do more to get testing right. The New York State Education Department heeded parents’ calls and requested this urgently-needed waiver, and the U.S. Department of Education rightfully granted approval. Teachers will no longer be forced to prepare students for multiple year-end assessments in this one subject area, and students will now have more flexibility to dedicate their energies to the other tests they must take at the end of the school year. It’s a much-needed reduction in testing, but it will also lead to a stress reduction for students, teachers and parents.

“This is an important step in the right direction,” Kennedy added, “but our work is far from over. Students, parents and educators continue to stand together to demand reform of high-stakes, high-pressure testing. The state must continue working to improve the quality of testing, and make sure parents and educators are getting useful feedback on their children’s progress. We have a limited amount of time to educate our children, and every minute of testing should be purposeful.”  

In October, Senator Kennedy teamed up with Assemblyman Sean Ryan and Senator George Maziarz to host the Summit for Smarter Schools, which gathered approximately 2,500 Western New Yorkers who are concerned about the future of our state’s schools. The Summit has proven to be a watershed moment – uniting thousands of parents, educators, experts and public officials behind the cause of reducing the high-stakes nature of standardized tests and improving the quality of education across the state.

For more information about this announcement, visit the state Education Department’s website at http://www.oms.nysed.gov/press/waiver-to-eliminate-double-testing.html. 

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Senator Timothy M. Kennedy represents the New York State Senate’s 63rd District, which is comprised of the town of Cheektowaga, the city of Lackawanna and nearly all of the city of Buffalo. More information is available at http://kennedy.nysenate.gov.