After announcing on Friday that 10th and 11th graders would be exempt from the state’s annual standardized testing, education officials walked back the policy. The state Department of Education now says all students will have to take at least one standardized math test during high school, in either Algebra I, Algebra II or Geometry.
The state is reducing requirements for PARCC, the annual state test of English and Mathematics, in the hope that more students will take PSAT and SAT exams, which increases the likelihood of applying to college.
But State Education Commissioner Ken Wagner says the policy was never intended to create an incentive for schools to delay Algebra courses until after 9th grade, as a way to avoid state testing.
