“The data moment has arrived,” says Data Quality Campaign President and CEO Jennifer Bell-Ellwanger in a piece for the 74 Million. Citing the prioritization of data collection and use throughout a number of Executive Orders and strategies employed by President Joe Biden, Bell-Ellwanger says, “it’s...
Members of the California State Board seemed finally ready to push the state’s data and accountability system to track student progress over time, an action that has been urged in the state by experts, advocates, and even federal education officials since 2015. Due to the...
Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane says that the state’s focus for spring testing this school year is to collect data on students’ academic needs in order to address pandemic disruption as schools reopen. Lane made the comments in a video shared by the...
Education Week’s Andrew Ujifusa says “a disconnect has emerged between the federal government requiring states to offer their tests, and districts’ power to exempt students from taking them,” citing the nuanced path federal education officials have taken in responding to individual state requests for scaling...
Colorado education officials were given approval to pause much of its accountability system this school year by the Biden administration. Instead, the state was told to be prepared to meet federal accountability requirements by 2022. Because of the shift, Colorado officials will not have to...
The Education Commission of the States published the final piece in a 3-part series on school accountability, exploring how rapidly state accountability systems had to adapt to the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic and the abrupt halt of data collection systems typically used to inform...
As spring testing kicked off across the sunshine state this week, Florida education officials confirmed that typical “high-stakes” consequences of the exams, like grade promotions and school accountability measures, would be paused this school year. Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said the move would alleviate the...
D.C. is now the only state to have its waiver request for federally-required assessments approved by the Education Department, even as handfuls of other states saw their requests to cancel spring tests this school year denied. Deputy Education Secretary Ian Rosenblum cited D.C. having among...
Abby Javurek, a vice president at prominent national nonprofit assessment provider NWEA, takes a look at ESSA’s Innovative Assessment provisions in a new piece in the 74 Million. She argues that the pilot program was on the right path in principle but was not implemented...
Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn discussed her state’s rationale for moving forward with assessments this spring in a Q&A with the Collaborative for Student Success. Schwinn detailed why data collection, in her department’s view, is so important to guide efforts to accelerate learning amid the...
