As you all know, National PTA’s From Report to Results initiative centers on the belief that access to meaningful education data through state report cards and accountability are an equity issue. State assessments allow us to understand student growth and achievement, but importantly, they seek to ensure that schools are serving all students well. The information gathered from assessments can also help to make sure students and schools are receiving the necessary resources and supports in order to reach their full potential and help schools develop plans to better support student learning and achievement.
National PTA believes in the importance of high-quality assessments as one data-point to understand student learning and progress. You can read National PTA’s position statement on annual state assessments here.
In light of COVID-19, we are seeing and hearing that some states are beginning to discuss the possibility of applying for state assessment waivers for 2020-21 school year. This is concerning because we will again have no objective way to see how all students are progressing across each state, and whether schools are meeting the needs of all students which could lead to growing achievement gaps, which will be more difficult to narrow in the future.
To better understand parent perspectives on state assessments required under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), and how states can continue to objectively measure student learning in this current environment, we will be conducting parent focus groups on this topic. We will be sharing those results with you, along with resources and guidance to support your communications to parents in your state about the state assessments.
If you registered for National PTA’s virtual Convention, we hope you were able to watch, What’s Next for School Reopening & Student Assessment?. You if haven’t been able to view the session yet, it’s available on-demand if you are registered for Convention.
As a reminder, we encourage you to utilize and share the Community Conversations resources to have important and meaningful conversations with schools leaders (principals and superintendents) about how your child’s school will ensure all students’ needs are being met and that future plans are developed to address learning in light of the various models of instruction and learning that students will experience this coming school year.
