State Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, listens Friday in Carson City as Craig Kadlub, a lobbyist for the Clark County School District, opposes Beers’ plan to limit the salaries of district administrators. Photo by The Associated Press

CARSON CITY -- A teacher advocate and a lawmaker suggested Friday that the 180-day school year should be extended to compensate for time lost because of excessive testing of students.

The testimony came on Senate Bill 110 by Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, who has proposed to limit the amount of high-stakes testing in the classroom to two exams per year per student. The bill would not affect college entrance tests.

Federal and state education accountability requirements mandate a number of tests, including criterion referenced tests, norm referenced tests and the high school proficiency exam, in various grades. Those tests are used to determine how schools measure up to federal No Child Left Behind Act standards and if high school students earn a diploma.

The Clark County School District also uses what it calls an interim assessment in kindergarten through 10th grade. The test in math and English is administered three times a year and is used to ensure students are learning the material being taught to them in the classroom.

"All I know is our kids are being subjected to too much standardized testing," Beers told the Senate Human Resources and Education Committee, which took no immediate action on the bill.

Beers said he would leave it to the more knowledgeable committee members to determine how best to reduce the number of tests.

Lynn Warne, a lobbyist with the Nevada State Education Association, suggested that testing in the 180-day school year be limited to some set number of minutes. School districts exceeding that time allotment, which has not yet been determined, would have to add a day or days to the school year, she said.

"A district would have to fence off some more instructional time," Warne said.

Warne, who last taught in the fourth grade in Washoe County several years ago, said she spent at least 20 days of the school year on testing. It is likely even more now, she said.

Adding a day or two to the school year would be costly, but it could be one part of the answer to the amount of testing, Warne said.

A review of all testing with an eye to eliminating duplicative exams is also worth pursuing, she said.

It would cost about $7.5 million to add one day to the school year statewide.

Sen. Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, also suggested the idea of adding days to the school year to compensate for instructional time lost to testing.

Horsford said he would be concerned about tying the hands of the school districts with a mandate from the Legislature on the amount of testing that could be administered.

But Beers said if this type of cost was added to his measure, it would probably guarantee its demise.

"It is my goal to consolidate those systems of standardized testing measuring accountability so that kids can spend more time learning," he said.

Karlene McCormick-Lee, associate superintendant of research, accountability and innovation for the Clark County School District, expressed a concern about the effect of the bill on its use of the intermediate assessments.

The assessments have proved valuable in helping teachers and principals assess how well their students are learning, she said.

Anne Loring, a representative of the Washoe County School District, said the district uses similar assessments. If they are viewed as one test, then the bill would not have an impact, she said. But the language in the measure is not clear.

Loring said the criterion referenced tests required by the state are akin to an autopsy. They tell educators after the fact where students have problems. But the interim assessments "fix problems before the patient dies," she said.