Replace PACT with a new test
5/13/2008 9:37 AM   1 comment(s) on this story E-mail this story to a friend



Students in Aiken County are bearing down this morning to take the annual Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test - better known in the schools of South Carolina as PACT.

These are the tests which tell whether students meet the standards for their grade level and whether schools pass or fail in the eyes of the public. Unfortunately the tests do not give educators or students an understanding of specific areas that need to be improved, frustrating efforts to help students improve.

Few in the education arena believe the state's PACT tests are as effective as they could be. Even many legislators are convinced that a revamped state testing program needs to be established to repair the flaws inherent in PACT. The S.C. House of Representatives has already approved a bill that will allow for a change in the state's testing program, but there is a hangup in the State Senate.

Some senators believe that Superintendent of Education Dr. Jim Rex already has the authority to effect changes to the state's testing program. Dr. Rex, they say, can work with the State Board of Education and the Education Oversight Committee and cause the changes to happen.

That may or may not be the case, and Dr. Rex believes that going through those organizations would cause unnecessary delays. What is sure is that the Senate has the power to adopt the House plan and ensure that PACT comes to an end and a new instrument replaces it.

Why should South Carolina's students and teachers have to wait for the State Board and EOC to hash out the PACT situation when it can be corrected with a vote in the Senate? Senate leaders should take a vote on this matter of vital importance. Delays affect real children working their way through the educational system. We cannot afford for political gamesmanship in Columbia to hold them back.

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