Once students make it to college they generally do not have to put up with the standardized testing they experienced in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Now that could change.

In five states, including Illinois, a statewide testing pilot initiative is underway to make standardized testing optional at private and public universities.

The testing involves each program or academic discipline developing exams or other measures to assess what students have learned during the first two years of college and closer to graduation, according to a January Illinois Board of Higher Education press release.

The plan is part of a national project sponsored by The Pew Charitable Trusts, a foundation based out of Philadelphia, “to develop a model for assessing college-level learning,” the press release said.

“The plan also requires institutions to demonstrate how they have used the assessments to improve curriculum, teaching and learning.”

Overall, the initiative is in developmental stages, but will be a “far-reaching plan to test what students have learned in all undergraduate and graduate academic programs,” the press release said.

Two University Professionals of Illinois leaders at the state level and Eastern have voiced concerns about testing college students.

UPI state president Sue Kaufman said in a report to the IBHE that the press release wording is misleading.

“If I were back in my role of hiring new college graduates … I probably would have reacted to the story saying ‘About time!'” she said. “Seventeen years later I can tell you that I understand the problem to be far more complex than I could have imagined.”

Kaufman questioned the testing pilot’s ability to measure and account for student learning.

“The prime question I submit to you today in the name of the faculty and academic support staff who work with students is this: ‘Is it truly possible to assess student learning by way of a national test? …'” she said. “Hours and hours of faculty, staff, student, and, yes, in many instances, administrative work could be shuffled aside as we move to yet another platform of assessment.”

She said the testing could also “degenerate into bureaucratic make-work,” or lead to a narrow testing method.

For those and other concerns, Kaufman recommended postponing the IBHE vote on the testing plan earlier this month.

Eastern’s local UPI chapter president David Radavich said the testing was discussed last weekend at the Illinois Federation of Teachers conference, held every two years.

He is against the testing at Eastern and said the diversity of college departments does not compare to kindergarten through grade 12 education, so the tests should not be similar either.

Radavich said that was one objection shared at the conference.

“In college you have so many diverse areas that the assessment needs to be on a departmental basis,” he said. “It’s not clear to me how much more testing students need.”

Besides, Eastern is already experiencing an assessment in preparation for the accreditation visit from the North Central Association, he said.

Radavich said Black Hawk College in northern Illinois has advanced more toward the testing.

“(The pilot) is focused a lot on vocational teaching so it may be more appropriate for junior colleges,” he said.

The testing is also part of a goal under a plan called The Illinois Commitment adopted by the IBHE in 1999.

“By 2004, all academic programs will systematically assess student learning and use assessment results to improve programs,” the goal states.