In recent weeks, several CenterLine posts have addressed how states, districts, and schools should consider using assessment to support instruction when school begins again in the fall. We are pleased to share this guest post by Kristen Huff of Curriculum Associates with her perspective on this important topic.

Since school closures and remote learning became the norm, I have received emails from school and district leaders relevant to COVID-19 achievement gaps asking some variation of this question:

All states closed their schools in March and suspended or canceled annual state assessments. While the US Department of Education (USED) immediately waived state testing requirements for 2020, some states are contemplating the administration of their summative state assessments next fall; purportedly to help leaders and educators better understand and respond to the impact of school closures on student learning. Although this may seem appealing, these assessments are no better suited to informing instructional decisions than they have been in the past.

Jal Mehta, author of In Search of Deeper Learning, was recently interviewed by Rick Hess about how to support deeper learning during the COVID-19 shutdown and remote learning.

In late winter-early spring 2020, COVID-19 school disruptions became mainstream across the U.S. States and communities implemented policies for “social distancing,” resulting in students schooling from home, which interrupted state assessment schedules in every state. 

Canceling state assessments and local schooling have implications for several other state policies and programs, ranging from federal school accountability designations to determining how students could earn credits and graduate.

The COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) global pandemic is having far-reaching effects in all facets of our lives. The impact on student education has been discussed in general terms in the media relative to school closures, and we at the Center for Assessment have been adding to the conversation by giving our thoughts on how changes to statewide assessment administrations may impact state efforts toward measuring student growth for the current and subsequent academic years. 

For those hoping for minimal disruption to ESSA school accountability, I have bad news and more bad news.    

The bad news is that school accountability as we know it is entirely offline for 2020. Before the calendar even flipped to April, the U.S. Department of Education granted waivers to all 50 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the Bureau of Indian Education.  

I have been uplifted by the dialogue that is occurring across the country as we deal with truly unprecedented extended school closures and minimized services to families and students. I consistently hear state education leaders focus on the need to provide support to families and their children to ensure they are safe, healthy, fed, and continue learning; which requires continuous flexibility and identifying innovative approaches to how services are provided. 

As of this writing, more than 80% of U.S. K-12 students will be home from school for at least multiple weeks. More likely, many or most could be out for the rest of the school year. Therefore, many states have decided to call off or suspend student testing for the 2019-2020 school year – and the number of states following suit are doing so by the day.

Like many of you, I’m closely following the news of the growing threat associated with the COVID-19 virus. Obviously, it is a difficult time for many and my primary thoughts are with those whose health or welfare are directly affected.  

During this time, education leaders are grappling with tough decisions regarding whether to close schools or suspend activities. These decisions have many wide-ranging implications, and one such implication we’re focused on at the Center is the short- and long-term impact to assessment and accountability systems.