How States are Evolving their Approaches to Testing Under ESSA
February 24, 2020
According to Chris Minnich, it’s time for state accountability assessments to evolve. Since passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, Minnich notes, testing has increased steadily in K-12. However, due to the timing of most assessments, there is not enough time for parents and educators to respond to or make changes based on test results. By leveraging new approaches to accountability assessments that “gather data throughout the year, not just at year’s end, states will be able to see how much academic growth occurred for each student during the school year.” Five states—Nebraska, North Carolina, Georgia, New Hampshire, and Louisiana—are working to “explore alternative assessment opportunities” that will provide a “more complete picture of student academic health.”