State of Oklahoma

House of Representatives

May 1, 2013

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Representative Ben Sherrer

State Capitol Building Rm. 500

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma  73105

405-557-7364

 

Sherrer Criticizes Proposal to Address Online Testing Problems

OKLAHOMA CITY – The State Department of Education’s proposal to use partially completed test results is intolerable, state Rep. Ben Sherrer said today.

“The determination that unanswered questions will be scored as incorrect answers is absolutely intolerable,” said Sherrer, D-Chouteau. “The interruption of the test should invalidate the test. No student should be penalized as a result of the failure of the State Department of Education or its paid contractor to properly deliver the online test.”

Sherrer said the testing scores under the proposal would be grossly different from what the students would have achieved on the test.

“I find it offensive that this proposal is deemed by the State Department to ‘. . . assist in a small way with the disruption.’ The algebra EOI test is high-stakes for our students. Our local schools’ A-F grades depend upon student performance on these tests. I can’t believe the State Superintendent would propose to solve testing malfunction problems by using incomplete testing results and rating unanswered questions as incorrect.”

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