FutureEd report proposes new vision for state standardized testing
FutureEd, a leading education policy think tank, has published a groundbreaking report titled None of the Above: A New Vision for State Standardized Testing. The report addresses the ongoing conflict surrounding state tests and offers a fresh approach to improve the current state of standardized testing.
The report, co-authored by FutureEd Senior Fellow Lynn Olson and FutureEd Director Thomas Toch, highlights the inherent challenges of expecting a single test to provide both a big-picture overview of school performance for accountability purposes and detailed insights for educators and families to enhance teaching and learning.
This clash of objectives plays into the hands of those advocating to strip all state testing provisions from federal law. Such a move would put the future of state testing at risk — and with it, testing’s vital contributions to instructional improvement, school quality, research and educational equity.
FutureEd's report offers a solution to break free from this impasse: decoupling state tests from federally-required school accountability systems; using state tests to illuminate student and school performance and drive improvement tied to high standards, without carrying high-stakes consequences for students and schools, which, for practical purposes, ended when Congress ended meaningful school sanctions in 2015. The new testing model outlined in the report would enable many improvements in state and local testing and help preserve the many contributions of state testing in the face of critics who would abolish it.
The goal of the report is to spur a much-needed conversation about how best to resolve the years-long stalemate on this critical issue. None of the Above is a call to action for policymakers, educators, and stakeholders to rethink the role of state standardized testing and make room for much-needed innovation.
Read the report, None of the Above: A New Vision for State Standardized Testing, at https://www.future-ed.org/none-of-the-above-a-new-vision-for-state-stan….
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