Reducing North Carolina’s emphasis on standardized testing has been a goal of state education leaders. They’ve talked about using the flexibility in the new Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA as a way to do that. Yet, the proposal the state board of education approved last month, keeps standardized tests as the main measure to hold schools accountable.
MARK RUMSEY: So Gwen, what is the Every Student Succeeds Act?
GWENDOLYN GLENN: ESSA is the federal law that replaced No Child Left Behind, which required annual standardized testing. The new law still requires this testing but gives states flexibility in determining how much weight test scores are given in grading schools. As part of the two-year process, state education officials had to collect comments from parents, teachers, school administrators and others. What they heard was that people wanted schools to be judged on other factors besides just testing. And that’s what the state board had wanted to do too.
MARK RUMSEY: What other ways to measure schools are we talking about?
GG: There’s a long list of things that schools can consider. Frank Barnes is in charge of accountability for CMS. He hoped the state would have included some of these alternative ways, since he says test scores are only one measure of a school.
BARNES: We’d like to look at different ways to measure how good our schools are, like perceptions of our schools by parents, teachers, or looking at attendance data, or looking at out-of-school suspensions. Those are things that matter, that give us some insight into how our schools are doing.
GG: There’s a concern that relying only on test scores can stigmatize schools, especially those with high concentrations of poverty. Those schools may be experiencing growth, but test scores may still be low.
MR: The state board of education was in favor of adding these measures. So why does North Carolina’s proposal not include them?
GG: That’s because state board of education members say their hands were tied. North Carolina currently grades it schools on an A-F scale. Eighty percent is based on how well students score on the tests. Twenty percent is based on how well the school did based on the previous year. Supporters say that makes it easy for parents to judge a school. Many lawmakers liked that system and decided to keep it. So they passed legislation in August that required North Carolina’s ESSA plan to make tests scores the main way to evaluate schools. State Representative Craig Horn of Union County voted for it. He co-chairs the house’s k-12 education committee.
HORN: Taxpayers want to know what they’re getting for what they paying, so how do we hold teachers accountable for delivering a quality education? The scorecard has been based on test scores. I say to the public and educators help me find a better way to keep score.
GG: Horn did say he’d like to see school grades rely more on growth than just purely test scores, but says the support wasn’t there at this point.
MR: So did the state law increase the number of tests students will take?
GG: No, and that’s what Horn pointed out. Now, ESSA encourages states to get rid of unnecessary tests and the state law didn’t prevent the state board of education from reducing the number of tests students take. But the board didn’t go down that road - besides plans to eliminate two math tests for 7th and 8th graders who take advanced math. They were taking two at the end of the year--the plan is to only take one.
Mark Jewell, President of the North Carolina Association of Educators, sees the state’s application as a missed opportunity, especially after he says so many people for years have pushed to reduce the emphasis on standardized tests.
MJ: What we had was a doubling down on state testing and using test scores, so it was very disappointing. We’ll see little difference in this plan and No Child Left Behind.”
GG: Jewell says the focus on testing takes away from classroom instruction and creates undue stress for students. A teacher advisor to the state board of education expressed a similar frustration during board discussions about the plan in August. Bobbie Cavnar said the plan doubles down on test scores and the state missed a chance to make meaningful changes.
MR: What do state board of education members say about the plan they approved?
GG: Many say they see the plan as a work in progress and that many of the concerns raised can be addressed later. Board member Eric Davis holds out hope that will happen and the state will reduce the focus on high stakes testing.
DAVIS: We’re gonna continue to work on techniques to better measure the performance of our students to provide better feedback to our teachers and when we arrive at something that will work and we think should be implemented we will advocate to the General Assembly and ask that they modify the statute accordingly.
GG: State Superintendent Mark Johnson campaigned on a platform of reducing testing and said the state’s proposal was one way to do that. But last month, he told the Raleigh News and Observer that he’s comfortable with what the state submitted and expects the plan will still change.
