1st Limit To Colorado Student Tests Clears Senate

DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Senate has voted to remove teacher penalties when students skip statewide standardized tests.

The Senate voted 28-7 for a bill to stating that teachers and school districts shouldn't be penalized when students opt out of statewide assessment tests.

The bill won bipartisan support as an opening salvo in the debate about how to measure student performance.

Current testing requirements require an overwhelming majority of students to take the standardized tests. Without that requirement, some fear schools would encourage low-performing students to skip certain exams.

A small group of mostly Democrats voted against the bill because they called it a broad attack on Colorado's student testing regime.

Several other measures related to student testing await votes in the Legislature.

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