The New Jersey Assembly passed a bill Monday that would delay the use of new state standardized tests to determine student placement for three years, NJ.com reports.
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Bill A4190 would prohibit the Department of Education from using Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exam results to evaluate students and teachers during the 2015-2016 through 2017-2018 school years.
"This is not a Democratic bill, this is not a Republican bill, this is not a conservative bill, this is not a liberal bill," said Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan (D-Middlesex), who introduced the legislation. "This is a bill that really basically puts a time out on the process of PARCC, which is out of control at this particular point."
The new computerized tests for students in grades 3-11 will be used this year as a 10 percent weight in the evaluations of some teachers, but will not be used to determine the placement or promotion of students. The tests will not be a graduation requirement until 2019 but are one option students can use to meet graduation criteria.
The bill, which was approved 63-7-3, now heads to the state Senate.