More School Districts Look to “Through-Year” Assessments to Inform Instruction
October 31, 2019
School districts in Georgia and Nebraska will be implementing new testing models under ESSA’s Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority program in the coming months and years, according to Linda Jacobson for Education Dive. The goal of these new “through-year” assessments is to “phase out reliance” on end-of-year, “summative” assessments, which some educators have claimed “are not useful because the results are not available until fall when their students have moved on to the next grade.” In Georgia schools, instead of one end-of-year test, “three tests spread across the school year will ‘culminate’ in a score after the spring assessment.” The ultimate goal is to allow educators to better assess and respond to student needs and gaps in proficiency.