Testing will happen with modifications
One of the few normal events to take place this school year will be state testing. In spite of the pandemic resulting in a loss of in-person instruction, the U.S. Department of Education has mandated that schools will test as usual.
This news brought mixed reactions from Pendleton County School Superintendent Joe Buerkley.
“While I was disappointed with the U.S. Department of Education’s announcement that schools were to continue with state testing this year,” he shared, “I was pleased the state modified the test to reduce the amount of in-person instructional time spent on assessment.”
Those modifications do not back off of a 14-day testing window that is held at the very end of school, but it does, according to Buerkley, allow for more flexibility.
“Schools can test any rime within those 14 days with the only stipulation being the content must be tested in the following order: reading, mathematics, science and on-demand writing.” The order has not changed from earlier years.
While the order of the test has not changed, testing time itself--the number of hours and items on the test, has changed to help accommodate for more in-person instructional time.
“This year,” Buerkley says, “all tested content areas in grades 3 through 8 and grade 11 will test 60 minutes with the exception of the writing test at grades 8 and 11 being 90 minutes.
“All assessments will be given online this year.”
With all the pandemic disruption that affected schools as of March 13, 2020, it is easy to forget that no students were tested last year because the school year ended abruptly. What was supposed to be a break to allow the pandemic spread to slow turned into an abrupt ending of in-person instruction for the 2019-2020 school year.
So, while principals were grateful that the testing time was reduced “so that in-person time can be focused on instruction,” Buerkley said, one teacher saw a positive in a return of testing because of the events of last year.
“I did have a teacher state she felt it was positive to have another form of data to allow teachers to identify and gaps in stduent learning, especially since no state assessment was giving last year.”
Buerkley agreed, and he credited his teachers and students with the ability to take this in stride.
“We expect teachers and students to take on this challenge as they have all other challenges this year, and we look forward to the data we will receive in the fall. It is important to have data that will help us identify current areas of learning loss as it can be addressed in the future.”
That “learning loss” is a concern for Buerkley, and he sees students and teachers working to be proactive in addressing issues that are always a priority during the school year--gaps in learning.
“I hate that [testing] will cause them to lose invaluable instructional time [that includes identifying those gaps]; however, we know our stduents and teachers understand the significance of the state assessment, and this data will also be put to good use in the future.”
While state assessments are often a point of contention within communities and with parents, Buerkley encourages all stake-holders to see this mandate as a positive for students.
“We would like for the community to know that as we move forward with the federal government’s decision to administer state testing this year, we will use the data gathered to support our students in the upcoming year.”