A complicated bill intended to improve how Wyoming tracks education progress has passed the legislature.
The Education Accountability bill passed following a closed door caucus in the House of Representatives. It was approved with no public debate on the House floor.
The primary concern of opponents is over how much testing Wyoming will use to both assess student progress and how particular districts or schools are doing. Earlier in the day the Senate agreed to changes in the bill.
Laramie Democrat Chris Rothfuss said under the new system, students will actually spend less time taking tests…
“Sometimes we’ve been presented with numbers that are a little bit misleading as far as an increase in testing. That’s counting the number of tests that come into this system rather than the number of hours.”
The bill is the first step in a two pronged approach for improving overall education in the state. The next step will be addressed next year.