Can a new assessment for students help schools create a more 鈥渓iterate citizenry鈥�?
By trying to align tests more closely with curriculum and standards鈥攚hile developing an assessment format that covers both English/language arts and social studies鈥擫ouisiana officials are working to develop a system they say is used successfully in other countries. And they say there鈥檚 no reason it can鈥檛 work here.
Louisiana, along with New Hampshire, is one of two states so far to win federal approval to try out new tests that differ from the traditional end-of-year summative exams that became the norm after the No Child Left Behind Act鈥檚 passage nearly two decades ago and continue into the Every Student Succeeds Act era.
Through ESSA鈥檚 Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority, up to seven states can establish, operate, and evaluate a new testing system that they plan to eventually take statewide. Crucially, these pilot exams must gauge students鈥� progress to the same standards as the state tests already in use, and they must be aligned with state standards.
So far, the federal pilot program hasn鈥檛 attracted much interest: In the second round of the application period with the U.S. Department of Education near the end of last year, only Georgia and North Carolina applied, although Hawaii, Kansas, and South Carolina previously expressed interest. The lack of interest is likely because there鈥檚 no additional federal money for the pilot, as well as technical challenges for states to overcome.
The Louisiana pilot relies on the state鈥檚 model curriculum, which roughly 80 percent of districts in Louisiana use. But more broadly, said Jessica Baghian, an assistant superintendent in the Louisiana education department, the pilot is a step toward the state鈥檚 goal of aligning high-quality standards, curriculum, and tests, while also attempting to ensure that a wider group of students is exposed to important background and topical knowledge in the classroom.
鈥淲e think it鈥檚 ultimately an equity play,鈥� Baghian said.
Hot and Warm Reads
In 2015, New Hampshire won federal approval to conduct a pilot of competency-based exams in a few districts鈥攃ompetency-based learning allows students to demonstrate proficiency in a topic without a prerequisite amount of seat time. The state used the assessment pilot application to continue this program鈥攚ith some changes鈥攚hich is called the Performance Assessment of Competency Education.
By contrast, Louisiana is trying out its own approach for the first time this school year. The pilot is being conducted with the participation of 2,400 students in the 7th grade, with the goal of making it operational for 7,400 students in grades 6-8 in the 2019-20 school year in districts that are using the state鈥檚 model curriculum and choose to participate. (This year, the pilot is under way in four districts, including one charter school district.)
Essentially, the assessment Louisiana is piloting will consist of three sections, with each building upon the previous one.
The first will include texts students have already had exposure to in class, called 鈥渉ot reads鈥� by the state, in order to grasp their understanding of material at the core of the state鈥檚 model curriculum. The state calls this material 鈥渁nchor鈥� texts.
The second will ask students to deal with 鈥渨arm reads,鈥� which consist of reading material related to the 鈥渉ot reads.鈥� On this portion of the pilot exam, students will be asked to demonstrate their knowledge of things like setting and the author鈥檚 strategy.
Finally, the third section will require students to write an essay based on both the 鈥渉ot reads鈥� and 鈥渨arm reads.鈥�
鈥楲iterate Citizenry鈥�
The description of the pilot proposal, titled, 鈥淟iterate Citizenry in Public Schools: A New Vision for Assessment in Louisiana,鈥� says that 鈥渁 focus on discrete reading skills dominates鈥� English classrooms. But students with relatively large amounts of background knowledge, the state pointed out, tend to read at higher levels.
鈥淎dults comprehend and evaluate news articles, workplace documents, novels, web pages, and social-media posts not just because they know what individual words mean but because they know something about the topic each text contains,鈥� the state wrote in its proposal.
Baghian said traditional standardized tests often assume a certain level of background knowledge鈥攕uch as whether students know about or have seen Leonardo鈥檚 鈥淢ona Lisa,鈥� for example鈥攂ut in a way that often prioritizes relatively privileged life experiences rather than what students have actually dealt with in class.
She said the approach Louisiana is taking in the pilot is more focused on students鈥� classroom instruction and experiences, relies on teachers to build the items, and has generated positive feedback from students so far.
鈥淭he test felt like it was a culmination of what they鈥檇 done in class, more so than the tests they鈥檙e used to taking,鈥� Baghian said. The next round of the pilot will take place in May, after an initial round at the start of this year.
Scott Marion, the executive director of the Center for Assessment who has worked with Louisiana on the pilot, said, 鈥淭he lack of connection between actual curriculum and assessments is a unique feature of educational systems鈥� in the United States. (The center works on testing and accountability with states and districts.)
Programs such as the International Baccalaureate, Marion said, rely on the same model Louisiana鈥檚 pilot ultimately does.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always that trade-off of flexibility and standardization,鈥� Marion said. 鈥淗ow do we make things comparable but flexible?鈥�
Others involved in studying, creating, and evaluating new forms of assessment say that efforts in Louisiana and New Hampshire could eventually affect what happens in federal policy down the road. The conversations started by the pilot, even among the vast majority of states that haven鈥檛 indicated an interest in the pilot itself so far, could lead to dramatic changes across the country in testing, said Lillian Pace, the vice president of policy and advocacy at KnowledgeWorks, a nonprofit that works on personalized learning and trends in teaching.
鈥淐an we get different models to emerge so that we can evaluate them and figure out what assessment could look like when we get to the next reauthorization of [federal education law]?鈥�
Baghian made it clear that in the state鈥檚 view, the new test is not some sort of magic elixir for challenges in Louisiana public schools: 鈥淭he test is not going to solve achievement gaps.鈥�
And Cynthia Posey, the legislative director for the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, said her union is still waiting to see whether the new assessment will disrupt instruction in social studies as well as English/language arts. She鈥檚 worried that despite what the state says, the model curriculum鈥檚 emphasis on what she called 鈥渃old reads鈥� (dealing with texts students haven鈥檛 previously encountered) could cause problems with the assessment pilot.
A spokeswoman for the state education department said that view is based on a misunderstanding of the model curriculum.
Posey also said she still doesn鈥檛 know how the test will be used in teacher evaluations. (Test scores in certain grades and subjects currently factor into state teacher ratings.)
鈥淭here鈥檚 just a whole bunch of unanswered questions about it,鈥� Posey said.
Louisiana鈥檚 approach to the challenge of orienting tests toward students鈥� deep knowledge of a topic rather than rote skills is creative and holds potential, said Sandy Kress, who worked on the legislation that became the No Child Left Behind law as an adviser to President George W. Bush. But Kress cited three key issues that have hobbled previous attempts at new assessments.
鈥淔irst, can we see the innards of the test they propose? And second, can we determine whether it is aligned in a solid way with the standards of the state?鈥� he said. 鈥淭he third aspect would be maybe the most complicated: Can it be used by the state in terms of measuring different levels of proficiency?鈥�
