Assessment Update:
Background
On March 25, 2021, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) submitted a proposal to the U.S. Department of Education to reduce the number of students who take state tests this spring, as well as the number of hours spent on those tests. Instead of testing all of the students who typically participate (about 700,000 students), OSPI proposed to test a statistically representative sample of approximately 50,000 students.
Although the Department granted OSPI a waiver for some accountability requirements — including the need to identify schools for support using data from 2020–21 and the expected 95% participation rate on state assessments — they were not supportive of OSPI’s sampling approach related to assessments.
As of the end of March, nearly two-thirds of elementary students, and just under half of middle and high school students, in Washington were receiving at least some of their instruction each week in person in their school buildings.
In light of the limited in-person instructional hours, State Superintendent Chris Reykdal has decided Washington State will not administer Smarter Balanced Assessments (SBA) or the Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science (WCAS) in spring 2021. Standardized testing this spring will not support our student's mental health and is not the best use of our limited remaining in-person instructional time this school year. In addition, without a rigorous sampling methodology, state assessments this spring would yield inequitable access to supports for remote learners, a substantial number of students and families opting out, and results would not be reliable or actionable. Moving the testing window to the fall allows educators to focus on engaging their students and families over the last few months of school and preparing for a comprehensive opening of schools this fall.
Spring 2021 Test Plan
Planning for Fall 2021
Since the fall testing is just a postponement of the 2021 spring testing, students will be assessed at the grade level they are in this spring of 2021. Students who are currently in grade 3 this spring, will take the grade 3 assessments this fall when they are in grade 4. Students who are currently in grade 8, will take the grade 8 assessments this fall when they are in grade 9.
Since students in grade 2 do not take the state assessments, they will not take the assessments this fall when they enter grade 3. The same would apply to students who are currently in grade 9; since ninth graders do not take the state assessments, they will not take the assessments this fall when they enter grade 10.
We expect we might also need to participate in grade-level testing in the spring of 2022 but have yet to hear the final word on that.
High school students seeking to pursue the state assessments as a graduation pathway will have opportunities to do so in the 2021–22 school year. We are currently seeking clarification on how many opportunities students will have (fall and spring). Giving students in the class of 2022 and beyond multiple opportunities to meet this graduation requirement would be helpful as they have yet to have an opportunity to take the test (this is the second year testing has been canceled).
Students seeking to graduate this spring may pursue an emergency waiver if needed. However, future graduating classes are not included in this emergency waiver and therefore need every opportunity to meet the requirement via multiple pathway options.
To prepare for testing OSPI has already entered a planning process to explore: