Field Testing Nixed From State Writing Assessments

Oklahoma State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister said field testing is eliminated from this year's state writing assessments. The Oklahoma State Department of Education nixed the tests to free up valuable time for more classroom instruction, according to a press release Saturday.

Writing tests were being sent to districts by the testing vendor at the time of the announcement. Each test reportedly has two prompts; one that fulfills state requirements as well as a separate field test. The vendor will work with the districts' test coordinators to identify which prompts are the field tests, education officials said.

Keeping the field tests would have doubled the amount of time needed to complete the fifth- and eighth-grade writing exams and added an additional writing prompt, according to a press release. 

1/28/2015 Related Story: Oklahoma PTA Encourages Parents To Opt Out Of Field Tests