Testing in Georgia on my mind (er, the chopping block)
By Dale Chu In light of current events, it was bound to happen, but who knew it would happen so soon? Earlier today, Georgia became the first state to signal its intention to seek a federal waiver from 2021 testing requirements. In a joint announcement from Governor Brian Kemp and State Superintendent Richard Woods, the […]
The dishonesty of the assessment debate
By Dale Chu New Mexican students in grades 3 through 8 will be taking a new state assessment this upcoming spring. The “New Mexico Measure of Student Success and Achievement” — which also goes by the shorter though no more elucidating acronym “NM-MSSA” —replaces the PARCC test after it was scrapped with much fanfare. These […]
The future(?) of state assessment (Part II): A conversation with NWEA’s Abby Javurek
By Dale Chu Abby Javurek is the Senior Director of Large Scale Assessment Solutions at Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), an education services organization probably best known for their computerized adaptive “MAP” tests. They recently announced the development of an adaptive, “through-year” assessment, a new solution that NWEA says eliminates the need for states to administer […]
The future(?) of state assessment (Part I): A conversation with NWEA’s Abby Javurek
By Dale Chu Abby Javurek is the Senior Director of Large Scale Assessment Solutions at Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), an education services organization probably best known for their computerized adaptive “MAP” tests. They recently announced the development of an adaptive, “through-year” assessment, a new solution that NWEA says eliminates the need for states to administer […]
Rather than blaming the test, let’s lift up Maryland’s students
By Dale Chu A recent contention in the Baltimore Sun that Maryland’s standardized test is to blame for declining math scores doesn’t explain why math proficiency scores among Maryland students on both the NAEP and the ACT college readiness test are also falling. And it conveniently ignores several independent and governmental analyses, including two from […]
The new testing landscape: A conversation with FutureEd’s Lynn Olson
By Dale Chu Lynn Olson is an award-winning writer and editor, and a senior fellow at FutureEd, a think tank at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy. They recently released a new report called The New Testing Landscape: State Assessments Under ESSA, which includes a scan of state testing systems across the country, a […]
The lessons of assessment politics are often “ILEARNed” the hard way
By Dale Chu Tomorrow, the results from Indiana’s new state test—called “ILEARN”—will be released to the public at the Indiana State Board of Education’s monthly meeting. Wednesday’s release has been preceded by considerable hubbub because the scores are disappointingly low according to parents and school officials who already received their results last month. As a […]
Musical chairs and the politics of state assessments
By Dale Chu Over the summer, Tennessee signed a contract with their third company in five years to administer the state’s testing system. As demonstrated by the “Assessments by State” map on our homepage, the lack of consistency is hardly unique to the Volunteer State (though they’ve had a particularly bumpy ride). Not to be […]
States are closing the honesty gap, but will it last?
By Dale Chu Some honest-to-goodness good news today: The latest National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) study shows that states have raised the cut scores for proficiency on state tests. Both Education Week and U.S. News and World Report have strong write-ups on the study. What this news means is that the honesty gap—the discrepancy […]