JEFFERSON CITY — Several school districts in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ area are set to move away from annual standardized tests in favor of more frequent testing aimed at providing quicker results to students and teachers.
Affton, Lindbergh, Mehlville, Parkway, Pattonville, Ritenour districts and Confluence Academies charter schools in ºüÀêÊÓƵ are set to adopt the change, which is part of a push toward new methods for evaluating student progress instead of backloading testing each spring.
“We’re looking at how we can redesign an assessment with real-time information to truly personalize that experience for our kids instead of that one-size-fits-all approach to education,†said Lindbergh Superintendent Tony Lake. “This is really to be more transparent and to be held accountable for things that are meaningful for students, teachers and parents.â€
The changes were approved unanimously Tuesday by the Missouri board of education. In all, 20 districts statewide were granted “innovation waivers†to spurn spring standardized tests.
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Lake compared the tests administered each spring — known as the Missouri Assessment Program — to an autopsy, because the results come back too late for educators to diagnose or treat any problems. Districts that received waivers will start students with an initial assessment this fall, then test throughout the school year.
Those districts must present the board with a draft of an alternative program for evaluating students by early 2024.
The “ongoing, continuous measurements really do allow for in-the-classroom teachers to make modifications,†said state board member Mary Schrag, who owns a physical therapy clinic in West Plains. “In health care, with early intervention, we always have more success.â€
The innovation waivers allow districts to move beyond the No Child Left Behind era of standardized testing that began in the early 2000s, where the focus was on scores from whole districts and subgroups rather than individual students, administrators said.
The plan is to expand the waivers statewide and eventually eliminate the once-a-year, high-stakes Missouri Assessment Program tests. Hancock Place, Hazelwood, Rockwood, Special School District of ºüÀêÊÓƵ County, University City, Valley Park and Webster Groves are in the second group of districts in the process of requesting the innovation waivers.
Federal rules dictate that all school districts in the state continue to give the annual MAP test, but network leaders are preparing waivers for that, too.
“MAP testing is not an effective way for us to help kids. We think there’s a better way for the state to hold districts accountable, that’s rooted in the idea of competency-based learning,†said Kevin Beckner, assistant superintendent of teaching, learning and accountability at Parkway School District. “We want to make sure the kids are ready for high school or college or career.â€
After approving the waivers on Tuesday, the board of education released statewide MAP results from spring 2023. District and school-level results will be available in December.
In most subjects and grade levels, test scores have yet to rebound to pre-pandemic numbers. Statewide, 44% of students tested proficient in English, a decrease of 5 percentage points from 2019. In math, 40% were proficient, down 4 percentage points from 2019. Proficiency in science increased slightly to 39% over the last year but still down from 42% in 2019.
In ºüÀêÊÓƵ and Kansas City, charter school students as a whole fell below statewide averages. In English, 28% of charter school students tested proficient, along with 24% in math and 23% in science.
Proficient is defined as meeting expectations for moving on to the grade level without needing additional support. Students who test in the “basic†range below proficient should not be described as failing, state officials said.