An Act Concerning Student State-wide Assessments.
HB 7011 revises Connecticut’s statewide student assessment requirements, primarily by changing which grades must take annual mastery examinations in English/language arts and mathematics. Beginning with the 2025-26 school year, the bill shifts the required testing grades from 3-8 and 11 to grades 4, 6, 8, and 11 for reading, writing, and mathematics. It also keeps the existing science testing schedule in place for grades 5, 8, and 11, and continues to require a nationally recognized college readiness assessment for 11th graders.
The bill preserves the State Board of Education’s role in approving, providing, and supervising these assessments, and it maintains rules allowing 11th-grade college-readiness scores to appear on transcripts and permanent records, with certificates issued when students meet the statewide mastery goal. It also continues the prohibition on using mastery exam performance as the sole basis for promotion or graduation decisions. For multilingual learners, the bill retains protections that exclude certain recent arrivals’ scores from accountability calculations and requires tests to be offered in the most common native language when available and federally approved.
The bill amends Section 10-14n of the general statutes, changing the grade levels subject to annual statewide mastery examinations and updating related administrative provisions effective July 1, 2025. Its practical effect is to reduce the number of grades taking English/language arts and math mastery exams each year while preserving science testing and college-readiness testing requirements. It continues to affect public schools, local and regional boards of education, the State Board of Education, students in tested grades, and multilingual learners, while leaving in place existing limits on how test scores may be used for promotion, graduation, accountability, and student records.
The available voting history suggests the bill was generally well received in committee, passing the Education Committee on a joint favorable substitute basis by a 39-5 vote. That margin indicates broad support for the assessment changes, likely reflecting interest in adjusting the testing schedule without eliminating statewide accountability altogether. No committee transcript is available here, so the record does not show detailed debate, but the vote suggests the proposal was viewed favorably by a strong majority.
The main point of contention appears to be the reduction and restructuring of annual testing, especially the shift away from testing grades 3, 5, and 7 in English/language arts and mathematics. Supporters likely see this as a way to streamline assessments and reduce testing burden, while opponents may worry it weakens early-grade accountability or creates gaps in longitudinal measurement. Another likely area of concern is the continued reliance on standardized assessments for accountability and college readiness, though the bill preserves existing protections for promotion and graduation decisions and maintains accommodations for multilingual learners.