Time Tested

The Department of Education announced that it was taking steps to decrease the amount of time public school students spend preparing for and taking standardized tests -- and called for Congress to follow its lead as it rewrites the nation’s federal education laws.

The DEA laid out new guidelines for standardized tests, eased federal rules on testing, and promised new commitments to states and local governments to help them reevaluate their testing programs. The new recommendation to school districts is that testing should take up no more than 2% of classroom time.