Schools across the state could see a major change in testing requirements for fourth-graders if an area legislator gets his way.

A bill to eliminate portfolio requirements for fourth-graders was introduced last week in the state House by Rep. Jim DeCesare, R-Bowling Green. DeCesare said fourth-graders need to spend more time learning basic skills - and less time training for tests.

“Language development comes through primary grades, and grammatical skills, which are learned through practice, should be second nature,” he said. “Twenty-five percent of the portfolios are graded incorrectly, and at fourth grade, the students are still learning.”

Under the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System, fourth-graders are required to complete a writing portfolio. The bill, which would not repeal the testing system for middle and high school students, would remove the portfolio requirement for elementary students.

So much time, DeCesare said, is focused on preparation for the state's accountability model, and it's stressful for teachers as well as students.

“It's a headache,” said Penny Morgan, a fourth-grade teacher at Warren Elementary. “There's not enough time in the day to sit down with all the students and conference with them.”

Morgan thinks it a good idea to end the portfolios, which require students to write between eight and 10 pieces. The students then pick four writing samples to be graded.

“I think with the writing, we should be teaching them how to write,” she said. “The portfolios will mean more in middle and high school because they'll be more independent and held more accountable for their work.”

Jennifer Baker, fourth-grade teacher at Adairville Elementary School in Logan County, likes the portfolios because they show the students' abilities - though she admits such an extensive piece of work is a lot of stress for a 9-year-old. Still, with professional development, teachers are improving as well as students.

“There is a fear that if we took away the portfolios, writing would be lost again where the main focus would be reading and math,” she said. “And writing is an important aspect.”

Simpson County's Lincoln Elementary School Principal Patrick J. Vejr said the arguments for and against portfolios are complex.

“In elementary education, we're always wagering on when should be the time to start testing - especially on skilled areas like writing, instead of content areas like science,” Vejr said. “But if children don't have skills by fourth grade, developmentally they'll struggle as they go on to higher grades.”

In past years, he said, many components of the portfolio requirements have been problematic, but the state Board of Education has taken steps to make it a more worthwhile process.

“I think fourth grade is a good time to check skills like writing and reading,” he said. “In terms of pressures on students and teachers, then to eliminate that portion would be beneficial. For the academic development of students, however, by fourth grade they should be practiced readers and writers.”

If the portfolio requirement is eliminated, he said, there should be an alternative way of assessing where students are.

DeCesare sponsored a similar bill a couple of years ago, though it never got into law.

Research last year, DeCesare said, showed if the portfolio requirement for fourth-graders was eliminated, students, teachers and parents would be happy, and it would not hurt a student's academic development in later school years.

“The problem is the state has driven itself into corner when it comes to testing, and I think they should be drilled on the skills to build proper portfolios,” he said. “Both students and teachers lose so much time in classrooms. And in fourth grade, writing their memoirs is too much. They should be learning how to spell and correct punctuation. The primary years should be used to teach the basics.”

With such emphasis on writing in high school, DeCesare said, those who go on to college find themselves having to take remedial classes because they didn't get enough time on the basic skills.

“(Portfolios) are just a burden, and they wear fourth-grade teachers out,” he said, pointing to experience with his own child. “I think that CATS is out of whack, and because we overassess our kids, I think they miss out on a lot. And I think we're setting our kids up for failure.”