High-Quality College and Career Ready Assessments
By Michael Martin, Standards and Accountability Specialist, The Hunt Institute
As debate heats up in Washington, D.C. over the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), testing has taken center stage – particularly the number of tests required by the federal government under the current law. While some lawmakers are considering doing away with the annual grade-level testing requirements of ESEA in favor of grade-band testing (testing once in elementary, middle, and high school), many civil rights groups and others education advocates strongly support continuing annual testing. The issue is challenging. Critics raise concerns that testing influences schooling in outsized and sometimes problematic ways (for example, narrowing curriculum and increasing student stress), but the measures of achievement and growth that annual testing provide are part of current state accountability systems and give educators and parents vital information. Complicating the matter, federal policy isn’t the only factor influencing time spent of testing. District assessments contribute significantly to student testing load.
Read More →On the Road to Success with Higher Standards and an Aligned Assessment in Tennessee
By Cicely Woodard, Mathematics Teacher, Nashville Public Schools
“Will this test be multiple-choice?” I heard a student ask as I passed out an assessment to the class. “No. Why do you want a multiple-choice test?” I responded. “Because multiple choice tests are easier,” he said.
I thought about the student’s response, and it was more than merely wanting a simpler test. He knew that in our math class, high level thinking on assessments was an expectation. On assessments, students in my classes were asked to create tables, equations, and graphs that modeled real, relevant situations. They may have been invited to select from responses, but an explanation eminently followed. They would get the opportunity to construct answers on their own. Students knew that they would justify their thinking and critique the reasoning of others. They knew that they would get a chance to problem solve, analyze, reason, and write. My student’s definition of easy was simply bubbling in the right answer and remain in the easy comfort zone of a low-level, multiple-choice test.
Read More →If Tests Aren’t Working for Teachers and Families, They’re Not Working
By Aimee Rogstad Guidera, Executive Director, Data Quality Campaign
Guidera was a panelist and resource expert on testing and assessments at The Hunt Institute’s 2014 Holshouser Legislators Retreat. (To learn more about this issue, see The Institute’s special re:VISION series on educator effectiveness here.) She is also the founder of Data Quality Campaign and leads the efforts to encourage policymakers to increase the availability and use of high-quality education data to improve student achievement. Below she shares how effective student assessments are crucial to improving student outcomes and educator effectiveness.
Read More →RECAP: The 2014 Holshouser Legislators Retreat
By The Hunt Team
Sweeping education legislation in 2013 has resulted in monumental changes for teaching and student assessment in North Carolina’s public schools. Local school districts are working hard to implement these new policies and are calling on policymakers to re-examine the pace of change, the efficacy of these reforms, and the expectations being placed on classroom teachers.
Last month, The Hunt Institute convened North Carolina legislators in Greensboro, NC, for the 2014 Holshouser Legislators Retreat amidst this backdrop of trepidation and change. This bi-partisan group of 60 policymakers spent two days with national and state education experts discussing key topics such as teacher effectiveness and compensation, student assessments, school accountability, partnerships that promote college and career readiness, and the role rigorous standards play in securing North Carolina’s economic future.
Read More →All Students Deserve the Full Benefit of Math and English Assessments
By Rick Miller, Executive Director, California Office to Reform Education (CORE)
Transitioning from California’s old standards to the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS) over the past three years has been both exciting and challenging. Implementing an assessment system that is aligned to the new standards is a critical next step in this process as it will provide both accountability and important information to our teachers and administrators.
To address this need, California’s Governor signed a bill last month that eliminates the multiple choice standardized tests in reading, math, and social science that California public school students have been taking since 1999. Assembly Bill (AB) 484 replaces these pencil-and-paper exams with new computer-based adaptive tests. The new assessment system, called the California Measurement of Academic Progress and Performance (CalMAPP), includes the Smarter Balanced CCSS-aligned assessments for English language arts and mathematics.
Read More →EdTrust-West Speaks Out Against CA Testing Ban
The Education Trust-West – a statewide educational policy, research, and advocacy organization that works for the high academic achievement of all students at all levels – spoke out in support of the Obama Administration’s efforts to protect the rights of students, parents and educators in the following article, “National and State Organizations Respond to Elimination […]
Read More →N.C. Takes A Sound, Balanced Approach to Student Performance and Teacher Assessment
By The Hunt Team
The North Carolina State Board of Education has taken a bold approach to accurately measuring student performance while sensibly delaying high-stakes school and teacher evaluation changes based on new test results.
Across the state, North Carolina teachers have been hard at work teaching their students to new, more rigorous standards. Last school year, students were assessed against these standards for the first time. Scores typically drop when new tests are introduced, and as expected, lower student scores on the 2012-2013 tests reflect the more challenging standards and assessments. It’s not that students are performing worse—they aren’t —they are just being measured against a higher bar.
Read More →AFT President Calls for Making Common Core Standards Work before They Count
By Ann Bradley, Director, AFT Innovation Fund
AFT President Randi Weingarten is calling for a moratorium on high stakes associated with Common Core assessments until states and districts have worked with educators to properly implement them. These standards, she said, will result in one of two outcomes: They will lead to a revolution in teaching and learning, or end up in the dustbin of abandoned reforms.
Read More →Riddile Sets Expectations for Georgia Performance Standards Test Scores
In The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Mel Riddile, the associate director for high school services at the National Association of Secondary School Principals, addresses questions of interest for Georgia residents in Maureen Downey’s Get Schooled blog. Riddile acknowledges that there will be a significant drop in the first year of the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) assessments, but that should be expected.
Read More →A Milestone on the Road to Next-Generation Assessments
By Joe Willhoft, Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium
We are at an exciting time in the development of the Smarter Balanced assessment system. After extensive collaboration with educators and content experts, the Consortium released a set of sample items and performance tasks in early October. This release provides an advance look at the rigor and complexity of the English language arts/literacy and mathematics questions that will appear on the assessments in the 2014-15 school year. With more than 100,000 unique visitors to the Smarter Balanced website in just the first few weeks, it is clear that this has been a highly anticipated release for educators and stakeholders.
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