The Homa Files

Spring 2021 plan: Federal gov’t tells states to do standardized testing to measure students’ learning levels in math & reading.
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In a prior post, we reported results from a survey done in Fall 2020 that indicated, for example:

• Students in 5th & 6th grades started the 2020-2021 school year 12 or more weeks behind their expected learning levels in math.
• Students in grades 4 to 7 started the 2020-2021 school year 4 or more weeks behind their expected learning levels in reading.

Of course, we opined: It be useful to give students standardized tests this spring, as more of them  return to school?

Well, maybe, just maybe, that will materialize.

According to USA Today…

Under federal law, states must administer annual exams in key subjects including reading and math to students in third through eighth grade and once in high school.

The requirement to administer state exams was waived by in spring 2020, when most U.S. schools shut down as a result of COVID-19.

But, a recent letter from Biden’s Education Dept. advised states that they will need to administer  the annual standardized achievement exams to students this year.

There is some “wiggle room” to shorten the annual exams, administer them remotely or delay giving them until summer or fall … but, “the Biden administration will not consider blanket waivers of assessments this year.”

Of course, not all sides agree with the announcement.

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The Council of Chief State School Officers supports the federal requirement, saying that the testing requirement “acknowledges the real, varied challenges that educators, students, and families are facing across the country.”

And, based on a survey done by the National Parent Teacher Association,   a majority of parents surveyed favored end-of-year testing this spring “to measure the impact of the pandemic on student learning.”

Parents and educators alike expressed a desire for “meaningful data on student learning and progress to tailor learning going forward.”

That makes complete sense since the testing would calibrate how much ground students lost during the schools’ shutdown … and, since some schools remained opened (i.e. some private schools and some local districts), would measure the relative effectiveness of in-person versus online learning.

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But predictably, teacher’s unions aren’t keen on the idea of spring testing.

For example, the American Federation of Teachers (the nation’s second largest teachers’ union) called the announcement a “frustrating turn” for the Biden administration, arguing:

As the educators in the classroom, we have always known that standardized tests are not the best way to measure a child’s development, nor do they particularly help kids or inform best practices for teaching and learning.

That is especially true in these unprecedented times, when students and teachers alike are remaking the school experience in the most unlikely of circumstances.

Specifically, some opponents say:

The testing would take precious time away from in-person instruction this spring just when teachers are trying to reestablish normal relationships with their students.

Students are craving time with teachers and friends, and don’t want to spend hours taking tests.

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Of course, the big question is whether Biden will hang tough on required testing this spring, or cave again to the teachers’ unions … as he’s done on schools re-opening.

You can guess how I’m betting on that one…

This entry was posted on March 5, 2021 at 10:00 am and is filed under Education - Academics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.