Asking the wrong questions about the 2021 standardized test scores
By Dale Chu Is testing a failed strategy? This was the implication by a prominent testing critic in a recent piece for The Washington Post’s Valerie Strauss, in which he outlined eleven pointed questions for state lawmakers and other policymakers as part of what he called an “assessment of the assessors.” Punctuated with an emphatic […]
Florida man causes stir on state assessments
By Dale Chu All eyes are on the Sunshine State in the wake of Governor Ron DeSantis’ call for retiring the state’s annual assessment system in favor of shorter “progress monitoring” tests. The move took some of the heat off of the state’s contentious mask debate while generating broad support within Florida’s education community. Is […]
The role of assessment data in driving educational opportunity
By Dale Chu The National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) recently published an interview with Dr. Sean Reardon, Professor of Poverty and Inequality in Education at Stanford University. Reardon is known for his scholarship and commitment to measuring educational opportunity, as well as bucking conventional wisdom with studies like the one he did […]
Rising above the zero sum, anti-testing din
By Dale Chu Today, an impressive coalition of fifteen leading policy, advocacy, and member organizations wrote a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona asking for clarity on how the federal government will provide guidance and oversight to states in fulfilling ESSA’s testing requirements for the 2021-2022 school year. Importantly, the group includes recommendations […]
Cheers, jeers, and chandeliers: Assessment edition
By Dale Chu The assessment-related news keeps on coming! Here are some noteworthy happenings in three states: Cheers Arkansas — Add another state to the list of five that are “doing it!” Last month, Arkansas reported that 97 percent of students participated in state assessments. Astute readers will remember that the state earned a […]
Five states that are “doing it” on testing and recovery
By Dale Chu Tracking the dismaying trend in states like Texas and Indiana, test results in Florida, Tennessee, and now Louisiana have also shown dramatic dips in student performance—with bigger drops in math than in reading. In Florida, 52 percent of students are on grade level in ELA and 51 percent in math. In […]
Are another round of federal assessment waivers in the cards?
By Dale Chu As state testing data continues to roll in and as schools gear up for a new academic year, it’s not too soon to ask how the feds might handle assessment waivers in 2022. Indeed, the question is almost certainly not if, but when states will begin lining up for flexibility in […]
A bitter pill makes for strong medicine in Texas and Indiana
By Dale Chu On the heels of some particularly depressing test results from Texas, last week saw the release of another state’s spring assessment scores where the picture was no less grim. Results from Indiana revealed steep declines, highlighting the uneven toll of the pandemic that adversely affected low-income students and families in particular. Although […]
Is it time for “forward-looking” assessments?
By Dale Chu As predicted, two consecutive years without state testing has provided the permission structure for some to begin questioning the utility of statewide standardized assessments. Take California as a prime example, where Uncle Sam afforded local jurisdictions an escape hatch from federal testing requirements via some dizzying verbal gymnastics, which resulted in many […]
The complexities of K-12 testing
By Dale Chu The original eduwonk, Andy Rotherham, penned a worthwhile read recently on where we find ourselves on K-12 testing, along with the inescapable tensions that are part and parcel of the competing interests and aspirations involved. Rotherham correctly observes that the “holy grail” are exams that can “yield good information for parents, teachers, […]