Because of Covid-19, we can probably all agree that distance learning proved challenging for school districts, parents and students across the country and that TE School District is no exception. This for some TESD parents makes the long-valued ERB assessment more important as a means to gauge their child’s learning during the past year.
Many in the community remain troubled by the recent disregard of public comments by the school board at the June 8 meeting regarding the elimination of ERB testing in the 2020-21 as a budget strategy (as well as salary increases and the 2.6% tax increase). There is the suggestion that the elimination of the ERB testing was purposeful in order to hide how the District performed and its students progressed.
For those who support ERB testing as a form of student assessment, and are disappointed by its elimination for 2020-21, BUILD T/E secured an option for parents to understand their child’s learning progress this past year. Although greatly disappointed by the school board’s vote to eliminate ERB assessments, BUILD moved quickly to secure a summer 2020 virtual option through Homeschool Testing Services. That saying “Don’t let grass grow under your feet” certainly applies to this dedicated group!
There are limited spaces available for this assessment – see the flyer below. If interested contact BUILD T/E by clicking this link.
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For those interested, the June 8 TESD School Board meeting is now available for viewing – click here for the link. It took the District solicitor nearly 1-1/2 hours to read the sixty public comments and remarkable how little our voices matter.
Pattye,
Thank you so much for sharing this information! BUILD was very disappointed in this decision. We are hearing that many parents are grateful for this opportunity.
TESD usually offers the ERB CTP (Comprehensive Testing Program) to students in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 8th grades in October. TESD has not been administering the writing portion of the assessment for several years and BUILD has heard from many families looking for tutors for their middle school students for writing instruction.
For the ERB-CTP assessment BUILD is coordinating, will have the option for parents to include the writing piece if they would like to know their child’s strengths/weaknesses in that area, as well.
As always, thank you for following the school district. We are all better for being well-informed parents and community members.
THANKS to Pattye for addressing this issue, and to BUILD for providing an alternative for those T/ESD families that want the ERB testing to continue to be available. Great solution!
I believe that the administration has decided not to offer the tests anymore because they would show a decline in academics in TESD at a district level and because parents of special education students were using them to show that the district was not helping their children.
I was sitting in an education meeting just a few years ago listening to the administration saying how great the ERBs were and how valuable they were. What changed?
The school board keeps talking about equity. I don’t think they understand what that word means.