The state Board of Regents on Monday is expected Monday to adopt a task force’s recommendation of eliminating the literacy exam, known as the Academic Literacy Skills Test. The literacy test was among four assessments introduced in the 2013-2014 school year as part of an effort to raise the level of elementary and secondary school teaching in the state. The reformers believe tests like New York’s Academic Literacy Skills Test can serve to weed out aspiring teachers who aren’t strong students. But the literacy test raised alarms from the beginning because just 46 per cent of Hispanic test takers and 41 per cent of black test takers passed it on the first try, compared with 64 per cent of white candidates. The Academic Literacy Skills Test consists of multiple-choice questions about a series of reading selections plus a written section.

Source: National Post March 11, 2017 15:11 UTC