NY State Plans To Shorten Spring Common Core Tests

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — New York state's education commissioner says the Common Core tests to be given in the spring will be shorter than in previous years.

Speaking to the Board of Regents at its monthly meeting Wednesday in Albany, Commissioner MaryEllen Elia said that some of the writing and reading passages will be removed from the English assessments and the math assessments will lose some multiple choice questions.

The tests are given statewide to third- through eighth-grade students each spring to measure student and teacher performance.

Elia says the tests' length is why some parents sat their kids out during the last school year.

She says teachers will have a greater role in developing the tests when the state begins working with new vendor Questar for the 2017 school year. Pearson is the current vendor.