Lawmakers Pare Down Assessment Testing

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Byline: Anne Williams The Register-Guard

The future of Oregon's student assessment system just got simpler, thanks to a new law that limits required testing to three key subjects.

The law, which took effect July 1, drops social studies, second language and the arts from the list of subjects in which students have to pass tests to earn a Certificate of Initial Mastery, or CIM, at graduation.

Testing in those subjects was scheduled to be phased in during the next several years.

Instead, the requirements will stay as they are, with students having to show proficiency in math, language arts and science to earn a CIM.

School districts are allowed to offer CIM …