The debate about the role of testing in schools is loud and divisive—and too often, we’re presented with the false choice of either measuring our students’ progress or developing teachers and students to make that progress. The truth is, our country needs to do both. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), long overdue for reauthorization, is a part of getting there. ESEA is neither a silver bullet nor an end in itself for the nation’s goals, but it will help us toward the educational equity and excellence that our children so sorely need.
Much of the debate around ESEA hinges on measurement: the way we track schools’ and students’ success. Students, families, and educators are living this right now—spring is the season of standardized tests. It’s far from a perfect system: Children feel defined by their bubble-sheets, and teachers feel the sting of having their own—and their students’—progress represented by numbers, when so many strengths can’t be measured in multiple choice.
{mosads}We hear diverse perspectives on this from the nearly 50,000 corps members and alumni of Teach For America. Teachers note that their students gain stress—and lose instructional days—from testing. They also report that the results of those tests help them grow as educators, and help them target their students’ struggles and strengths.
Whether or not the state measures their progress, a top student from a school in a low-income district will too often feel the shock of showing up at college far less prepared than his peers (if he makes it at all). Effective data allows teachers, parents, legislators, and students themselves to see this difference early on and work to change the outcome. Policymakers might not hear the voices of the 80 percent of Latino fourth-graders who aren’t able to meet national standards in reading each year, but they can see the data.
Having access to the results of annual statewide assessments – and dividing, or disaggregating, them by categories of race, ethnicity, gender, English language learners, and income background—is a matter of empowerment and transparency. It allows teachers to do meaningful analysis of their students’ progress and helps them get their students where they need to be. It allows students to see how some of their skills compare to those of their peers across schools and throughout their state. It allows parents to understand what their children are learning—to celebrate success and to advocate for change if they feel their child isn’t learning enough. It also makes the problem clear for lawmakers—with data, the disparity is impossible to ignore.
At Teach For America, we’ve worked hard to help our teachers gather this type of data and make sense of it. But we’ve also realized its limitations. Alongside careful measurement, we need to help our teachers develop holistic visions of student success and the skills they need to fulfill those visions. Our nation can do the same.
Measuring student results is critical, but it’s not a solution in itself. Our country needs to invest in cultivating local visions for well-rounded and fully nurtured children with the skills and character strengths they need for long-term success. We need to develop, support and reward our teachers and school leaders to realize these visions.
In 2001, our nation’s political leaders came together for the first time to commit to measuring and disaggregating student progress. At the time, this felt like a real victory – a civil rights victory and a first step towards real progress to those who’ve seen the power of clear goals and accountability in other sectors. In the decade that followed, we saw both strengths and weaknesses to this approach; the reauthorization of ESEA is an opportunity to build off what’s worked and shift what hasn’t. Going forward, we need measurement–but we also need to invest more in teacher development and local innovation.
We hope that Congress can find a path to collaborating and coming together, for the sake of our nation’s children, the health of our communities, and our shared prosperity. Under the leadership of Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the Senate’s bipartisan bill recognizes the critical role statewide assessments and disaggregated student achievement data must play. The bill is a step in the right direction.
We should embrace statewide assessments and transparency while channeling more of our resources where they will have the greatest impact: Toward our educators and the innovations that will enable them to achieve higher and higher levels of excellence and equity. If we can do this, we can help our students become the well-rounded leaders they have the potential to be. That is a goal worth working for.
Beard is co-CEO of Teach For America. Kopp is founder and board chair of Teach For America.