Greg Ryberg wants to claim credit for doing away with the PACT test. Witness this release:
Senator Greg Ryberg today hailed an agreement between himself and senate leaders to eliminate PACT and move forward on a new accountability system for South Carolina. “PACT is dead,” Ryberg said. “The bill we passed today kills it as of July 1, 2008.”
Ryberg added that, “Other senators, Republicans and Democrats, agreed with me that the creation and administration of our statewide assessment test belongs with the people at the State Department of Education, the State Board of Education and the Education Oversight Committee (EOC) whose sole focus is education and not the General Assembly. I am glad that we have left it in their hands.”
Ryberg also welcomed the decision to remove mandatory formative assessment testing for six and seven year-olds. He said that, “I opposed the 100% increase in standardized testing for our youngest students, and I thank the senators who worked with me to prevent that extra burden upon them.”
Ryberg noted that it is now time for the superintendent, the State Board and the EOC to get to work and move us forward. “I encourage the superintendent, the State Board and the EOC to act now that the General Assembly has spoken.”
I’m not at all sure what he means by saying first, it’s dead; then saying this is in the hands of the state DOE. It reads a little like, I’m sick and damned tired of hearing about this thing, so YOU deal with it. But Sen. Ryberg is generally not the shirker sort, so I reject that interpretation and await another.
Perhaps elucidation will be forthcoming.
Related Posts
Ding dong the PACT is dead.
Which old PACT?
The wicked PACT.
Ding dong the wicked PACT is dead.
And not a moment too soon. That test failed many a student. 🙂
Jim Rex could have begun the process of replacing PACT his first day in office. Too bad he tried to dove tail cuts in EAA as part of his “reforms.” It is unfortunate that the Senate had to do this, but well past time they did.
The “Tech” track for high school students was hailed as 21st education back in the early 90s. It’s now gone. PACT was hailed as part of our new tough standards and accountability. It’s now gone. The immediate years after Sputnik propelled high school students like Brad to learn “new math” which soon fizzled out. NCLB was W’s greatest contribution (besides boosting oil prices for OPEC) and it’s on the way out.
Now we wait for the next 10 experiment to boost education in SC.
It’s a shame that the Tech Prep track is gone. Many students will fall by the wayside in a College Prep class. In my TP classes, I was able to tailor the class to meet the needs of those students not planning to go to a four-year college. Many of my TP’s planned just to go straight into the workplace. Now, they will have to take a more rigorous curriculum and may not do well as a result.
I have no problem challenging students, but some just aren’t the formal education students others are.
As Randy says, let’s sit back and wait for the next gimmick to come along.
No failed government program is ever dead.
It becomes a zombie program, keeps employees and funding.
Then a new Silver Bullet program is ginned up, funded, and runs its course of being undermined by the bureaucrats who don’t want real numbers and real accountability for public schools.