Posted on May 12, 2020; Updated: May 12, 2020
By James Kirylo, [email protected]
Because of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Department of Education is allowing states to cancel standardized tests. As a result, 2020 is the first year without standardized tests required by the federal government in almost two decades. Education teacher James Kirylo writes for The Conversation that school systems can take advantage of this remarkable moment to look for alternatives to standardized tests.
The Department of Education is allowing states to cancel standardized tests. The change is practical: school buildings across the country are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, although distance learning efforts are widespread.
As a result, 2020 is the first year without standardized tests required by the federal government in almost two decades. Washington required all states to use these tests to assess students, teachers, principals, schools and entire school systems, first in accordance with the liability measures set out in the No Child Left Behind Act 2002 and later by the 2015 Law of Every Student Success.
Until now, students in the third through eighth grades have taken standardized tests annually for language arts and mathematics, and at least again in high school. In addition, they took at least one standardized science test in elementary, middle and high school. Altogether, not counting practical sessions and exercises, students spend between 20-25 hours a year taking standardized tests. By the time many Americans graduate from high school, they have taken approximately 112 of them.
As an educational researcher who explores the concept of assessment in my book “Teaching with Purpose: An Investigation of Who, Why and How We Teach” and the father of two schoolchildren, I believe students should be evaluated on a regular basis. But I wonder if they are taking a lot of standardized tests and if there are better ways to assess whether students are on the right track.
Evaluating teachers
States decide how their public schools use standardized test scores when evaluating teachers. For example, scores in New Mexico count as 35% for the assessment, while Florida school districts choose the weight they assign to test scores for that purpose. Some states, including Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and Oklahoma, no longer include scores in their teacher rating system.
Some states, including Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi, have suspended or dismissed teacher assessments entirely for the 2019-2020 school year. Others, such as Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, waived some of their requirements. And yet others, such as Ohio, Texas and Virginia, have given school systems flexibility and discretion.
Orientation instruction
Teachers can use test data to guide instruction. For example, if a student scores low on a portion of a standardized test, the teacher can focus on that area of weakness to better meet that student’s needs through individualized instruction or in small groups. However, this practice is not always useful because up to four months can elapse between the time when students take the tests and teachers can see their grades.
Telling parents about their children’s progress
In theory, at least, standardized test results should let parents and other caregivers know if their children are on the right track. In practice, this is not always the case. It is generally quite challenging for those unfamiliar with educational terms and metrics to decipher what the results indicate.
Alternatives
Standardized testing is a matter of concern. Many educators and parents are concerned that there are too many of them and that scores are misused. Another widespread concern is that schools are narrowing the curriculum by emphasizing too many subjects like math and reading and that high-risk tests are making children suffer from high levels of anxiety.
Many teachers and educational researchers question whether the test results say anything about the teacher’s performance and whether the costs of administering them are justified.
However, school systems cannot function without evaluating their students and teachers. They will need to figure out how to proceed without standardized tests.
In the future, in my view, school systems and other authorities can take advantage of this remarkable moment to seek alternatives to standardized tests. A good option is a portfolio-based assessment system that includes a wide range of student work, along with systematically giving students immediate feedback on their work.
For a broader sense of whether all students are learning, I think the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the Nation’s Bulletin, is very valuable in providing data on how students are progressing in reading and math. Large representative samples of fourth and eighth graders who attend public and private schools take this standardized test every two years.
This article was republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Banner image photo credit: Compassionate Eye Foundation / Robert Daly / OJO Images / Getty Images
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Topics: Faculty, Faculty of Education