Rohrer: PA's Education Testing Standards "Too Rigid"

Republican gubernatorial candidate Sam Rohrer says he’d push for relaxed state-wide education testing standards, if elected.
Speaking to a Harrisburg education forum, Rohrer said Pennsylvania’s school curricula are centered too much around state and federal testing guidelines.

"You can’t test and measure, test and measure, test and measure, test and measure, the same way you do on a manufacturing line when you’re putting out a car. Because kids are different, and people are different, and teachers are different."

He said it’s a mistake to hold school districts accountable using only test scores.

"I believe that, yes – the state should have standards. But they ought to be goals of attainment. They ought not to be so specific that we are directing the hourly function of the teacher and the classroom, which is almost the way this has come."

Afterward, Rohrer argued Pennsylvania had been turning out well-educated students for hundreds of years, before federal benchmarks were put in place.
He says he’s in favor of setting standards, but argues they should be more flexible than the current guidelines put in place by the federal No Child Left Behind legislation.

UPDATE: Rohrer's opponent in the Gubernatorial Primary, Tom Corbett unveiled his education proposals May 3rd.