Education

Rep. Zeldin making call for less testing in schools

Congressman Lee Zeldin is holding a press conference this afternoon to discuss legislation he’s co-sponsoring aimed at rolling back federally-mandated testing.

Mr. Zeldin (R-Shirley) is meeting at Comsewogue High School in Port Jefferson Station with Comsewogue School District superintendent Dr. Joseph Rella, an outspoken critic of standardized testing, as well as educators and parents, to call on congress to pass the Student Testing Improvement & Accountability Act.

The bill Mr. Zeldin supports, which is sponsored by New York Congressman Christopher Gibson (R-Kinderhook), aims at reducing the amount of federally-mandated assessments in U.S. schools.

“I believe in challenging our students, but there’s too much over testing in our classrooms and it really needs to be rolled back,” Mr. Zeldin said in an interview Saturday. “There are just way too many tests and I don’t believe the federal government should be mandating as much as they are. The federally-mandated tests coupled with the testing that’s mandated at a state level is really too much.”

Today’s press conference will be held at 1:30 p.m. in the atrium area at Comsewogue High School, located at 565 Bicycle Path in Port Jefferson Station.

Members of the public are invited to attend.

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