How the COVID-19 Pandemic has Affected State Testing

 



How the COVID-19 Pandemic has Affected State Testing

By Corinne Bishop, Director of Strategy and Business Development, Education Advanced, Inc.

    

The COVID-19 pandemic has left lasting changes on our educational system including the shift to online learning, new health and safety protocols, and concerns around learning loss. We also saw states cancelling end of year testing in 2020 for the first time since the No Child Left Behind Act was enacted in 2002. In 2021, testing resumed with its own set of changes. Below we explore three key ways the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted state testing.


1.    An accelerated shift to online testing

    The shift to online testing has been underway for many years, but COVID-19 accelerated the trend. Schools moved to remote and hybrid learning environments, making devices and ecosystems of education technology tools an integral part of the learning experience. This school year, every single state will be offering online testing for at least one subject area, with many states, such as California, Virginia, and Missouri providing all tests online. While paper pencil options remain for particular use cases, such as K-2 writing in California, as well as for students with specific accommodations, an expectation to deliver end-of-year tests online is now the norm.

2.    Alternative testing schedules

    The return to testing in 2021 came with a variety of challenges. As a result, the federal government accepted waivers for unique testing schedules in certain states leading to a mishmash of state-by-state testing processes. The state of New Jersey received a waiver to deliver shorter, “Start Strong”, assessments this fall in lieu of end-of-year tests in the spring of 2021. Additionally, Washington, D.C. was the only school system approved by the Biden administration to forgo state testing for the 2020-2021 school year due to a large percentage of students learning in an entirely remote environment as of March 2021. The state of Oregon took a different approach, gaining approval by the federal government to reduce testing for students by decreasing the number of grade levels and subject areas tested.  In Florida, all end of year tests were administered, but the windows of time for delivery were elongated to provide greater flexibility amidst the logistical challenges due to COVID-19.  It remains to be seen what the spring 2022 schedules will look like and what exceptions, if any, the federal government will approve.

3.    An increased focus on more frequent, smaller assessments

    The passing of ESSA in 2015 led to an increased focus on innovative assessment and a shift towards shorter, formative assessments as opposed to high-stakes summative tests.  Many states, including Kansas and Oklahoma, beefed up their formative assessment initiatives and supports for local school districts. In light of COVID-19, some states, such as Michigan and Montana, sought approval for local benchmark or interim assessments to count towards federal accountability measures typically tied to end of year state testing. These requests were rejected, but Michigan passed state legislation requiring districts to select and deliver benchmark assessments twice a year in an effort to identify and mitigate learning loss due to COVID-19. It is safe to say that shorter, more frequent, local assessments are here to stay.

At Education Advanced, we know how much time, effort, and planning goes into ensuring a smooth testing season for your staff and students. The pandemic has added a new level of uncertainty and rapidly changing circumstances to end of year testing, exacerbating the logistical challenge that comes along with it. Our testing enablement platform, TestHound, helps manage the logistics of not only state-level end-of-year testing, but also district-level benchmark and interim assessments. 

TestHound can help you seamlessly navigate the many uncertainties of testing due to COVID-19, saving your district testing staff weeks of time so they can focus on what matters most: helping students learn.

 

References:

State Departments of Education

California Assessment Information: https://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/ai/

Virginia Standards of Learning and Testing: https://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/index.shtml

Missouri Assessment Program: https://dese.mo.gov/college-career-readiness/assessment/guide-missouri-assessment-program

Michigan Benchmark Assessments: https://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,4615,7-140-22709_102327---,00.html

New Jersey “Start Strong” Assessments: https://www.nj.gov/education/broadcasts/2021/april/USEDsDeterminationRegardingNJsRequirementstoAdminister2020-2021StatewideAssessments.pdf

Florida Statewide Assessment Program 2020-2021 Schedule: https://www.fldoe.org/core/fileparse.php/5663/urlt/2021StatewideAssessmentSchedule.pdf

News Articles

Biden Administration Rejects State Testing Requests: https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/biden-education-department-approves-one-request-to-cancel-state-tests-but-rejects-others/2021/04

About No Child Left Behind: https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/no-child-left-behind-an-overview/2015/04

Biden Administration Approves DCPS Waiver to Not Deliver Standardized Tests in 2021: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/dc-standardized-tests-waiver/2021/04/07/bd4bc928-97f3-11eb-a6d0-13d207aadb78_story.html

Center for Standards, Assessment, & Accountability

State Resources for Formative Assessment: https://csaa.wested.org/spotlight/formative-assessment-state-resources/

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