By Eric Stock

NORMAL – President Barack Obama is calling to less time on testing and more time on learning in our nation’s school.

Unit 5 superintendent Mark Daniel give the plan high marks.

PODCAST: Listen to Scott and Colleen’s interview with Daniel on WJBC.

“I believe we are going too much testing,” Daniel said. “Testing for the sake of testing does little good.”

Daniel told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin the standardized testing movement has gone too far, following the ‘Nation at Risk’ movement in the 1980s.

“We had a major push to go toward common assessments,” Daniel said. “It sounds like we have hit that pendulum and it’s starting to swing back.”

Daniel said there are two main tests worth keeping, the ACT college entrance exam and NWEA MAP (Northwest Evaluation Association’s Measures of Academic Progress), a computerized test which provides instant feedback to help teachers determine where students might been special attention in a particular subject.

“We use that immediately because we get results within a couple days,” Daniel said.

Daniel said testing will be included in the district’s strategic planning discussions.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].