Arizona’s budget crisis could temporarily eliminate the essay exam in the AIMS test for about half of the state’s elementary- and middle-school students.
It’s likely the essay section in the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards would be suspended for fourth-, fifth- and eighth-graders, but a final decision will be up to the State Board of Education when it meets April 27.
“We had to renew our testing contract this year, and bids have come in higher,” said Tom Horne, state superintendent of public instruction. “Given the state of the economy, I don’t feel it’s right for me to ask the Legislature to appropriate more money.”
Students in grades 3 through 8 and in high school now take an annual statewide AIMS reading, math and essay exam. Under the proposal, all students would continue to take the reading and math sections, but only students in Grades 3, 6 and 7 and high school would continue to take the essay section. Horne said the change would be temporary.
“If it lasts more than a year or two, it will damage the education of the students because the teachers will teach less writing if they (students) are not being tested in it,” he said.