Now live: 2023-24 state assessment results
By Dale Chu With the election and Thanksgiving in the rearview mirror and the end of the year right around the corner, Assessment HQ enthusiasts can take heart in today’s release of 2023-24 state assessment scores for 41 states (and D.C.). With this update, Assessment HQ now features four years of post-pandemic results for most […]
The obfuscation of student data
By Dale Chu There’s a long list of grievances when it comes to standardized testing. Among these are the glacial pace of returning results to parents, the politics of setting cut scores, and the user unfriendliness of state report cards. But perhaps the most foundational sticking point is what parents experience when it comes to […]
Oklahoma’s fictional test score gains
By Dale Chu The assessment world was set alight last week with the news of skyrocketing test gains in the Sooner State. Reading scores for Oklahoma’s third graders jumped from 29 percent proficient last year to 51 percent this year. Eighth graders bested their previous mark by double, spiking from 20 percent proficiency to 40 […]
A myopic view of standardized testing
By Dale Chu Coinciding with this week’s convention, the Democrats just released its party platform, a document that provides plenty of political comfort food, but nothing appetizing when it comes to annual assessments. Turn to page 26 in the platform to see for yourself the off-putting dish on serve: The Administration supports a multitude of […]
Assessment headline blitz
By Dale Chu There’s less than ninety days before voters head to the polls, but no shortage of assessment headlines worth flagging. Let’s go: States have started releasing 2024 state results: Texas, Tennessee, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, and Missouri have issued their most recent assessment data. Overall, the scores are a mixed bag, but kudos […]
If more schools would only look to the data…
By Dale Chu Two policy wonks I respect and admire, Charlie Barone and Rianna Saslow, recently co-authored an article in The 74 highlighting the key strategies used by “spotlight schools” in Colorado and Massachusetts to help lift student achievement. Notable among these is the centrality of assessment data and its role in guiding strategy and […]
The best of a bad lot: Weighing updates to annual testing
By Dale Chu One of the most frustrating aspects of the future of assessment conversation is the absence of specifics. So much of the talk is about the shortcomings of the current testing regime (e.g., too punitive, too expensive) and how we need something “better” (e.g., less time intensive, more instructionally useful, more innovative). But […]
Boosting parental support for standardized testing
By Dale Chu Today, the Collaborative for Student Success, the National Parents Union (NPU), and EdTrust announced the results of a joint effort to bridge the gap between parents and policymakers on the important question of how state assessment results are used to smartly and efficiently drive resources in service of raising student achievement. Two […]
We all want assessment innovation, but at what cost?
By Chad Aldeman and Dale Chu In a report for FutureEd last month, Lynn Olson and Tom Toch advocate for a “matrix sampling” approach to federally required achievement tests. Basically, instead of testing all kids in grades 3-8, states could test just a sample of students and still get high-level accountability results. As Dale noted […]
Breaking the assessment stalemate
By Dale Chu The fine folks at FutureEd, specifically Lynn Olson and Tom Toch, just released a thoughtful new report titled, “None of the Above: A New Vision for State Standardized Testing.” (Intrepid readers of this blog will recall my interview with Olson a few years back.) The authors provide a primer on the history […]