Teachers, advocacy groups concerned as state considers more standardized testing

[July 07, 2021]  By Elyse Kelly

(The Center Square) – The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) is considering replacing the state’s single end-of-year standardized exam with three standardized tests throughout the school year for grades three through eight.

Teachers' unions and some education advocacy groups are not in favor of the change, NPR reported.

Thomas Bertrand, executive director of the Illinois Association of School Boards, says it’s a delicate balance to maintain between assessing progress and meeting students’ academic and emotional needs.

“If you talk to the practitioners in the classroom, I think there’s going to be some concern about increasing testing right now with all of the other needs that students and teachers are going to have,” he said.

After a year-and-a-half of potential learning loss from pandemic-style schooling, Bertrand said educators are already feeling the pressure.

“Teachers are concerned ,you know, about how much they have on their plate already, and now more tests will be part of that going into the fall,” he said.

Bertrand says there is one key make-or-break factor to the idea of adding more testing:

“How much time will be dedicated towards testing that will be taken away from instruction – I think that’s always a concern in the classroom is how much time is spent testing and then how results are used,” he said.

Many educators are keen for some kind of change to the standardized testing regimen as current final exam results come in too late for teachers to use them to help students, NPR reported.

Greg Bishop | Watchdog.org

Bertrand said there simply may be no need for added testing, as many districts have a good handle on progress assessment already. He points to his own experience as a school administrator.

“We had a whole battery of local assessments that teachers developed and teachers administered to their students throughout the school year to assess their progress,” he said.

“So I think districts have a lot of resources locally to assess the progress of students that’s already available to them. So it’s just finding the right balance between how much testing is enough and at what level, should it occur.”

Bertrand said the ISBE should consider some questions when weighing whether to add more tests into the school year.

“Clearly identifying what’s the purpose of the assessment, and how quickly will the results be turned around and how much time will the assessments take?” he said.