The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) voted 4-3 on Tuesday on a proposal that would allow 10 schools to opt out of standardized tests and test preparation starting in the 2025-26 school year.
LAUSD President Jackie Goldberg read during the board meeting on Tuesday morning. The proposal provides for this Once schools develop and administer assessments that are “innovative, authentic, rigorous, and relevant,” schools will be “exempt from any standardized testing with the exception of state and federally mandated assessments.”
Goldberg, who “hoped” the measure would pass before leaving the presidency, said the measure would “begin to change the way we look at student assessments.” He added that he is “not against assessments.”
However, the official, who has 18 years of experience in teaching, pointed to what she calls the “testing industry,” which spends billions of dollars each year to “constantly find ways to raise scores on standardized tests by a few points.”
He said during the board meeting that “corporate America” had decided that standardized tests would “evaluate everything that goes on in schools.”
Goldberg said that “we have an industry that puts out a tremendous amount of material: tests, practice tests, practice-practice tests and field tests; middle-school-year tests, end-of-year tests; tests on the way to school; tests in the toilet — tests wherever possible.”
In addition, Goldberg, who is not running for re-election and will retire at the end of the year, said standardized tests undermine the “joy of education,” among other things.
“Because the whole goal of life is not the love of learning, not the joy of education, not the exchange of ideas, but whether or not your school can move up in its test scores.”
“I've found this disgusting for at least 20 years,” Goldberg said.
“We're going to have everybody up for testing all the time. And I think we're doing a huge disservice.”
Goldberg's colleagues criticized the measure.
One board member who voted no on the measure disagreed with Goldberg, citing “declining enrollment” and “limited resources.”
“I appreciate what you’re trying to do,” board member Nick Melvoin said.
“One of the challenges is that … there are some different stressors in the district right now … I think you can’t manage what you can’t measure.”
“We’re entering a period of limited resources and declining enrollment, and trying to understand what works, and having a common language about what works, is essential,” he said.
“University professors won’t stand it and test them,” said George McKenna, who voted against it. “You have to take tests to work in the post office.”
“Depriving kids of assessments is not a gift. It’s also a political statement that says we don’t want our teachers’ reputations exposed,” McKenna added.
They’re not really teaching our kids to be competitive, because standardized testing says all kids in the country are going to take the same test at the same time.”
Rocío Rivas, another board member, read letters from fifth-grade students who objected to standardized tests.
The proposal requires the district to establish a Supporting meaningful teaching and learning initiativesUp to 10 schools can demonstrate that the assessment measures can be implemented locally by teachers and administrators.
School staff can track students' academic performance without the burden of preparing for standardized tests.
The initiative will appoint a “lead teacher” who will receive additional professional development from community school instructors and the University of California Los Angeles Community Schools Center.
According to the proposal, the 10 schools must also integrate “culturally relevant curriculum, community- and project-based learning, and civic engagement” into their programs.
The nation's second largest school district, LAUSD serves more than 600,000 students in more than 1,000 schools.
The Los Angeles Times reported This measure may conflict with the LAUSD superintendent's standard of analyzing test scores as data to evaluate schools.
LAUSD officials did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
