Student Testing Improvement and Accountability Act

Student Testing Improvement and Accountability Act - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to eliminate the requirement that students be tested against state academic content and achievement standards in mathematics and reading or language arts in each of grades three through eight.

Requires, instead, that those tests be administered at least once during: (1) grades 3 through 5, (2) grades 6 through 9, and
(3) grades 10 through 12.

[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4172 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4172

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to clarify 
        when certain academic assessments shall be administered.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 6, 2014

Mr. Gibson (for himself and Ms. Sinema) introduced the following bill; 
   which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to clarify 
        when certain academic assessments shall be administered.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Student Testing Improvement and 
Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Prior to 2001, Federal law required States only to test 
        students once per grade span.
            (2) Following the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act 
        of 2001, Federal education policy has placed an increased 
        emphasis on testing assessments, requiring students to undergo 
        standardized testing every year in grades 3-8.
            (3) Reducing the frequency of federally required testing 
        would allow more time for classroom instruction, decrease the 
        burden on educational resources associated with testing, and 
        move our public education system away from the practice of 
        ``teaching to the test''.
            (4) The yearly testing currently required by Federal law 
        should be replaced with grade span testing.

SEC. 3. ACADEMIC ASSESSMENTS.

    Section 1111(b)(3)(C) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6311(b)(3)(C)) is amended--
            (1) in clause (v)(I)--
                    (A) by striking ``except as otherwise provided for 
                grades 3 through 8 under clause vii,''; and
                    (B) by inserting ``and the achievement of students 
                against the challenging State academic content and 
                student academic achievement standards'' after 
                ``proficiency of students'';
            (2) by striking clause (vii); and
            (3) in clause (viii), by striking ``, (vi), (vii)'' and 
        inserting ``and (vi)''.
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