This spring, test only to assess

For those of us struggling to cope with the unprecedented challenges of the current school year, annual testing probably isn’t top of mind. But it should be, particularly for state policy makers, who need to act now to ensure that schools and districts will be ready to collect critical information about students’ academic progress and their access to learning opportunities.

Some testing critics argue that we should simply toss aside state summative tests this year (as we did last year, when COVID-19 brought in-person schooling to a halt). However, that would be a harmful mistake. Those tests shine much-needed light on the performance of our schools and the children who attend them. During the present crisis, we need to know how our students are doing — especially those who are most at risk of falling behind, such as students with disabilities and those from historically marginalized groups.

However, it would also be a mistake to press ahead with accountability as usual, as if this were an ordinary school year.

As my colleagues and I at The Aspen Institute (in partnership with the National Center for the Improvement of Education Assessment) argued in a recent report, we can’t just return to high-stakes testing and hope for the best. For one thing, given that many students are learning remotely or in hybrid settings, we can’t assume that this spring’s assessments can be administered in person. And while some vendors say they’ll soon be able to test students remotely, it will be difficult, to say the least, to establish the validity of those tests (Keng, Boyer, & Marion, 2020). Further, it’s hard to see how the results can be compared to those from tests administered in-person this year or in the past. And important questions have yet to be answered about the security and accessibility of online tests, how they will accommodate English learners and students with disabilities, and more.

For state policy makers, then, the right call is to announce (the sooner the better) that while tests will be administered this spring, scores will be not be used for accountability purposes, but only to monitor students’ progress and assess their needs. No doubt, that will be controversial, but it’s the only workable approach under these circumstances.

Focus on opportunity-to-learn data

While schools and districts should not be held accountable for this spring’s test scores, they should be held accountable for their efforts to provide students with equitable and high-quality opportunities to learn during this difficult time. For many, perhaps most students, schooling has been sub-par during the pandemic. Researchers have estimated that as many as one-third of students essentially disengaged from school last spring, with disproportionate impact among students of color and students experiencing economic hardship (Dorn et al., 2020). Thus, it is imperative that states create systems for collecting robust data about the resources and learning experiences schools and districts have made available. We need to know, for instance, whether all students have computers and broadband access, whether they are attending classes regularly, what kinds of instruction they’re receiving, how frequently they have meaningful interactions with teachers and peers, and to what extent they experience a sense of safety and belonging within their school community (whether online or in-person).

State leaders can collect this kind of information, known as opportunity-to-learn (OTL) data, in various ways, such as by conducting surveys of students, parents, and educators, for example, or by examining school attendance records, curricular offerings, and course assignments. And, in turn, they can use this information to guide their decisions about resource allocation, ensuring that the most vulnerable children have real opportunities for meaningful learning.

This can’t wait

State leaders need to act now. In addition to figuring out how best to administer this spring’s tests and assess students’ opportunities to learn during the pandemic, they may have to pursue changes to state regulations and/or seek waivers from federal requirements. While the U.S. Department of Education recently sent a letter to chief state school officers indicating there would be no blanket state testing waivers, the letter acknowledged that assessment and data collection may need to look different this year. So the door is open to innovation.

The events of 2020 have forced every American to navigate uncertainty, and there likely will be more twists and turns in the weeks and months ahead, but there can be no ambiguity about the fact that every child in this country has a right to a high-quality public education. Assessing for learning, and collecting information about opportunities to learn, is vital to upholding that principle.

References

Aspen Institute & Center for Assessment. (2020). This is not a test, this is an emergency: Special considerations for assessing and advancing equity in school-year 2020-21. Washington, DC: Authors.

Dorn, E., Hancock, B., Sarakatsannis, J., Viruleg, E. (2020), COVID-19 and student learning in the United States: The hurt could last a lifetime. Washington, DC: McKinsey & Co.

Keng, L., Boyer, M., & Marion, S. (2020). Into the unknown: Assessments in Spring 2021. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 39 (3).