Idaho’s state Department of Education has agreed to cut 30 minutes each off the time required for ISAT testing in both math and English language arts, state Superintendent Sherri Ybarra told lawmakers today; she’s hoping a budget request she’s made for $50,000 for a committee to study student assessments next year will lead to further changes for the better.

Ybarra said a committee of stakeholders came together over the summer to review concerns about the test, which was developed by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, or SBAC. “They came together on their own time,” Ybarra told reporters after her budget presentation to lawmakers this morning. “One of the concerns was the length of the test. … We had SBAC actually at the table with us as well. They had heard that concern nationally.”

According to department estimates, Idaho students spent between two and a half hours and nearly four hours on the English test last year, and between two and three hours on the math test.

“We are going to continue with the SBAC testing,” Ybarra told reporters. “The parental concerns and stakeholder concerns that we had were valid. My concern is that we have data that is consistent. If we keep changing tests,” the state won’t have consistent data to track student achievement, she said. Idaho has two years remaining on a five-year contract with SBAC for the Idaho Standards Achievement Test, which students take in the spring and is tied to the Idaho Core standards for learning at each grade level.

Ybarra’s $50,000 request is for a committee to study assessments and “review various testing opportunities for Idaho students.” Her department would lead the effort.

She was also questioned by reporters about differences between her budget proposal and Gov. Butch Otter’s recommendation. “We are on the same page, we are on the same paragraph,” she said. “We just may not be on the same line item, which is not uncommon.”

Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, co-chair of JFAC, “I think the differences are how they get to the same goals.”