Dive Brief:

• Fed up with standardized testing policies, the Vermont State Board of Education is putting its foot down and asking Congress and the Obama administration to cut testing mandates from the Bush-era No Child Left Behind act.  
• The board's five-page resolution argues that research shows "an over-emphasis on standardized testing has caused considerable collateral damage in areas such as narrowing the curriculum, teaching to the test, reducing love of learning, pushing students out of school, and undermining school climate."
• The statement comes weeks after state officials announced that 97% of Vermont schools were deemed "low-performing" under NCLB after failing to meet the federal performance goals.

Dive Insight:

Under NCLB, students in grades three through eight must be tested in reading and writing each year. Additionally, they must be tested at least once in high school.  

While the statement came just weeks after almost every district in Vermont was categorized as "low-performing" based on tests, it was actually in the works for months. And, in fact, Vermont Education Secretary Rebecca Holcombe has come out in support of the board's stance. Holcombe says that the goal of public education in the state is, “Well-educated Vermonters who can thrive in the workplace, thrive in college and thrive in their communities.” Test scores don't seem to be a part of that.

It will be interesting to see how the federal government responds to Vermont's stance — especially after U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan gave a little more leeway on the nation's testing and teacher eval requirements last week, saying, "I believe testing issues today are sucking the oxygen out of the room in a lot of schools."