How we measure student progress

Few topics in education spark as much debate — or hold as much potential for impact — as student assessment. It’s the lens through which we interpret learning, the data that informs decisions, and often, the evidence that drives accountability.

In this issue of Kappan, we bring together a set of timely articles that offer fresh perspectives on how we measure student progress.

Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey examine the use of priority standards. While focusing on key goals can support clarity and planning, it may unintentionally lead to learning loss for students over time.

Bryan Drost and Char Shryock explore how artificial intelligence has the potential to provide deeper insights into student learning patterns and progress.

Ken O’Connor and Matt Townsley tackle a persistent myth in assessment: that professional judgment is inherently subjective and unreliable. Their article makes a case for trusting teachers’ expertise, offering strategies to make professional judgment more transparent, consistent, and defensible — especially in grading and feedback practices.

Kristen Panzarella and Angela Walmsley consider the impact of test format on student performance. Their research shows that computer testing and paper testing can produce different outcomes in ways that have nothing to do with what students actually know.

Our Educators Rising students contribute to the assessment conversation in Students Speak by giving us their thoughts on test anxiety. Nearly all the responses showed that text anxiety is an issue for these students, and they believe it impacts their performance. They provide suggestions on how teachers could help to alleviate that stress.

Also in this issue, we feature an interview with the 2024 National Teacher of the Year Missy Testerman. Testerman was a first and second grade teacher at a rural East Tennessee school for 30 years before getting an additional certification in English as a second language (ESL). She now is the district’s ESL specialist and director. Her interview is also featured in episode 15 of PDK’s podcast “There’s Power in Teaching.” You can subscribe via Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify podcasts. Or you can subscribe directly using our RSS feed.

If you are a Kappan print subscriber or PDK member, you might have noticed some changes. Kappan has changed its frequency this year. You can expect new print issues to arrive in March, May, September, and December. Since Kappan is now a quarterly publication, we are renaming these issues as Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.

These double issues will deliver the same amount of content as before, and we are posting new articles at Kappanonline.org before they are published in print. Our digital-first publishing approach is designed to ensure our readers have access to our most recent articles while also enjoying the print edition.

Looking ahead, our Fall issue will focus on the next generation of educators, and the Winter issue will look at how artificial intelligence and other emerging educational technology will impact the future of education.

Please consider contributing to these and other future issues. Our writers’ guidelines are available at kappanonline.org/write/write-for-kappan.

This article appears in the Summer 2025 issue of Phi Delta Kappan, 106 (7-8), 4