KLSD Wants to Reduce Student Testing
It is a call – again – for more local control. The Kings Local School District is joining other area districts that are members of the Greater Cincinnati School Advocacy Network (GCSAN) in voicing concern that state edicts continue to provide for extensive overreach in testing, and the district is sending a strong message to state legislators regarding implementation of the recent Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Let our teachers teach. According to the U.S. Department of Education, ESSA – the federal education act that replaced No Child Left Behind in December 2015 – builds on key areas of progress in recent years, made possible by the efforts of educators, communities, parents, and students across the country. In practice ESSA was established in part to allow for more state-driven measures on student performance targets and school ratings, with state-developed identification and intervention for district accountability.
“Federal mandated testing has reduced classroom instruction time,” said Kings Superintendent Tim Ackermann. “Our hope is to gain more local control by asking our state legislators to reduce testing requirements.”
Currently the federal testing requirements include reading and math in grades 3-8 and one high school test. The state of Ohio expands on those minimum requirements to include testing in reading, math, science and social studies in grades 5-8, and multiple end-of-course exams for high school.
“The simple message here is that we need to allow our teachers to teach, and let our children learn,” said Ackermann. “One way to make that happen is to give back local control to our Board of Education.”
The district wants to ensure our community’s voice is heard regarding Ohio’s implementation of ESSA. The Ohio Department of Education will be hosting several ESSA stakeholder meetings – with one in Cincinnati scheduled for 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29. Visit this site https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cincinnati-essa-stakeholder-meeting-registration-26762080102 to see full details for the event and to register.
“We are proud of the accomplishments of the Kings Local School District, as directed by our local Board of Education. We are looking forward to presenting our district story of the work we do in the areas of academics, arts, student leadership and activities, fiscal stewardship, student services, and parent and community involvement in the upcoming September release of the annual Quality Profile,” said Ackermann.
About GCSAN
The more than 50-district strong Greater Cincinnati School Advocacy Network (GCSAN) was developed in 2015 to build a collective voice of school districts advocating for students with lawmakers in Columbus and Washington D.C.
