{"id":20565,"date":"2023-12-12T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/?p=20565"},"modified":"2024-07-16T09:49:40","modified_gmt":"2024-07-16T16:49:40","slug":"listening-to-teachers-to-fix-the-state-testing-quagmire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/2023\/listening-to-teachers-to-fix-the-state-testing-quagmire\/","title":{"rendered":"Listening to teachers to fix the state testing quagmire"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Across the country, teachers are beginning to plan for instruction after winter break. At some point during the second half of the school year, their calendars are marked \u201cstate assessments.\u201d They\u2019ve blocked off several days\u2014maybe a week or more\u2014for lessons to prepare students for the content on those tests. For some, it will be a race to the finish; for others, the tests will be a distraction from the curricular focus that has engaged students so far this school year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve heard from teachers that, though they believe deeply in measuring student learning, many existing state testing models can disrupt the flow of their instruction and don\u2019t always deliver actionable information they can use<\/a> to improve the learning experience for the students in their classroom. They want innovative assessment models that provide results sooner, limit the disruption in their classroom, and can still be used to ensure schools are serving all students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An old problem<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It is no secret in American education that our approach to summative assessment needs to change. Federal law requires schools to assess students from grades 3 through 8 and, once in high school, measure their achievement against state standards. Test developers try to design those summative tests so the results will help teachers and principals identify students who are falling behind and how to help them recover. But the data needs to be more precise, be more aligned to instruction, take less class time to gather, and arrive sooner to transform a teacher\u2019s instructional approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Test developers have created innovative assessments that are shorter, more frequent, and able to deliver results on a quicker timetable. However, federal rules and procedures must change before states can pilot and adopt these creative solutions, and the assessments must be implemented in a way that ensures they still provide a valid end-of-year summative score that can be compared across schools and districts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, teachers must build their schedules around assessments they don\u2019t consider helpful. As the summative assessments near, they may have to pause a series of lessons that engage their students deeply and switch to less exciting content on the test. When the results come back too late to have an impact, the testing feels like an exercise in frustration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exploring solutions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the coming months, teachers who are members of Educators for Excellence<\/a>\u2019s (E4E) National Teacher Leader Council<\/a> (NTLC) will explain to Teach. Learn. Grow. <\/em>readers how assessments affect their classroom practice and how to improve them so they can use assessments to help their students. They will explain that they want a summative measure of student learning but don\u2019t currently fully trust the data that comes back, can\u2019t use that data to support their students, and find that the time to prepare and administer these tests is too disruptive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The teachers\u2019 articles will illuminate key findings in E4E\u2019s national teacher survey, Voices from the Classroom<\/a>. In the 2023 survey of 1,000 teachers in districts or public charter schools, E4E found the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n