Proposed bill would create MSPAP study

An influential Baltimore County delegate has introduced a bill that would create a task force to examine the state's annual testing program for third-, fifth- and eighth-graders.

The task force proposed by Democratic Del. Thomas E. Dewberry, speaker pro tem, would survey all kindergarten through eighth-grade teachers about the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program and recommend changes to the State Department of Education. The 15-member task force would issue reports before the 2002 and 2003 General Assembly sessions.

The legislation was proposed after a critical report last fall by an academic panel commissioned by the Abell Foundation. State education officials say the MSPAP tests have been subjected to more than 200 studies, and the education department is doing a review of Maryland's 10-year reform effort.