Alternative Assessments for Read to Achieve approved by NC State Board of Education

Click here for article about the Read to Achieve waiver

The State Board approved 30 districts' proposals to use their own tests assess 3rd graders' reading. 
"The board also made provisions to allow other districts to adopt their own reading tests if the district’s local school board signs off on the test’s ability to accurately demonstrate students’ reading ability. The vote on both measures was unanimous."

The good news:  This measure should give districts more flexibility in determining whether students are on grade level in reading.  In theory, this means no more constant "portfolio" testing since teachers should be able to use assessments they already have in place.  Hopefully we will see this happen quickly so students can stop wasting their learning time taking tests.  Maybe teachers will have time to get back to instilling a love of reading in their students.  This was a major victory--many thanks to parents and school districts who insisted on this change!

The bad news:  There are still many problems with Read to Achieve.  School districts say the summer school component is grossly underfunded and going to be a huge burden for families, especially for working parents. Most educational experts agree that retention is not an answer in boosting student achievement and that there are better alternatives.  Overall, Read to Achieve remains an unfunded mandate handed down from Raleigh by out of touch politicians who obviously are not aware of what goes on in classrooms.
Article from Mooresville about alternative assessments

Here is a follow-up on this post which listed an advisory committee's recommendations about improving Read to Achieve.  One of the suggestions was to consider this school year a "trial year."  The senator behind Read to Achieve, Phil Berger, is not amenable to that suggestion:
“No,” Berger said in a statement. “It’s wrong to let another class of third graders slip through the cracks. Passing them along unprepared has not solved the problem before, and it is not a solution now.”  (I have to interject here and say that retention has also not solved student achievement problems before and also will not solve them now.  In fact, it is one of the highest predictors of dropping out of school.) Link to story is here

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/02/04/3590879/berger-pops-read-to-achieve-trial.html#storylink=cpy