Testing

Highlights

Same testing schedule. Every Student Succeeds does not change No Child Left Behind’s testing schedule. Reading and math tests are administered every year in grades 3-8, and once in high school. Science tests are given once in each grade band: grades 3-5, 6-9, and 10-12.

Flexibility with testing form. Under No Child Left Behind, states administered one yearly test. Every Student Succeeds allows states to consolidate results from multiple interim tests into a final score. Additionally, upon state approval, school districts may give a nationally recognized test in high school (such as the SAT or ACT) in lieu of state assessments.

State flexibility with testing limits and opt outs. No Child Left Behind did not address testing limits or state opt out laws. As long as states meet federal testing requirements, Every Student Succeeds allows states to limit the percentage of class time spent testing. The new law also allows states to decide how to grade schools that test fewer than 95 percent of their students.

Innovative testing pilot program. Seven states may participate in a five-year pilot program to develop innovative tests, which may be used in only a few districts at the beginning of the program. The innovative assessments may be non-standardized and managed locally, so that not all students in the state take the same tests.

Testing

Under Every Student Succeeds, states must adopt “challenging” content standards for at least reading, math, and science. The standards must have at least three levels of achievement, and align with credit-bearing class requirements at state colleges and universities. ¹ The U.S. Department of Education may not “influence, incentivize, or coerce” states into adopting a particular set of standards, including the Common Core State Standards. ²

Schedule

Testing schedules have remained the same under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), Tennessee’s waivers, and now the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Students are tested in:

• reading and math: once in grades 3-8, and at least once in high school; and
• science: at least once in grades 3-5, 6-9, and 10-12. ^{3, 4, 5}

Form

Under No Child Left Behind, states gave one yearly test in each subject, and states may continue using a single test under Every Student Succeeds. Under ESSA, however, states now have the option to administer multiple interim tests throughout the year and consolidate results into one final score. ⁶

Tests must measure student proficiency based on the state’s standards, but may also track student growth. Additionally, the new law states that tests “may be partially delivered in the form of portfolios, projects, or extended performance tasks.” ⁷

Upon state approval, school districts now have the option to give a nationally recognized test in high school – such as the ACT or SAT – instead of the state end-of-course subject tests. ⁸

Limits

Neither No Child Left Behind nor Tennessee’s waivers addressed limits on test time. Every Student Succeeds allows states to set target limits on the percentage of class time spent on testing. For example, a state could plan on spending no more than 2 percent of classroom time on state tests. States must still meet federal requirements for accountability testing and follow the same testing schedule. ⁹

Opt Outs

As of publication, Tennessee does not have state policies allowing parents to opt their students out of state tests. No Child Left Behind, Tennessee’s waivers, and now Every Student Succeeds all require schools to test 95 percent of all students and subgroups. Under NCLB and the waivers, schools with participation rates lower than 95 percent automatically failed that year in the accountability system. ^10, 11

While schools are still required to test 95 percent of students under ESSA, states now have the power to decide how a student test participation rate of less than 95 percent affects a school’s performance in the accountability system. Schools with lower participation rates no longer fail by default in the federal law. ¹²

Subgroup Reporting

No Child Left Behind required schools to disaggregate test scores by gender, racial/ethnic group, English learner status, migrant status, disability status, and economically disadvantaged status. ¹³ Tennessee’s waiver, however, allowed districts to combine scores for some racial and ethnic minorities into one “super-subgroup.” Thus, districts were graded on the performance of only four subgroups:

• black, Hispanic, and Native American students;
• English learner students;
• students with disabilities; and
• economically disadvantaged students. ¹⁴

Every Student Succeeds does not allow super-subgroup reporting; under the new law, scores must be disaggregated separately for racial and ethnic minorities, in addition to English learner, disability, and low-income status. ¹⁵  While scores must also be reported by gender and migrant status, these two subgroups are not factored into the accountability system. ¹⁶

Special Groups

Special Education

Students with disabilities receive “appropriate accommodations” when taking state tests. ¹⁷ Under Every Student Succeeds, no more than 1 percent of all students in the state may take alternate tests based on alternate achievement standards. ¹⁸

Data published for school year 2014-15 reports that 139,232 of Tennessee’s 995,892 children enrolled in public schools were identified as students with disabilities, or 14 percent. ¹⁹ Based on these estimates, about 7.2 percent of Tennessee’s special education students could take ESSA’s alternate tests. ²⁰ In school year 2014-15, 7,961 students took at least one alternative assessment. ²¹

English Learners

Under Every Student Succeeds, states have two options regarding newly arrived English learners. For such students who have gone to school in the United States for less than a year:

1. States may waive the first administration of the reading test. English learners still take state tests in other subjects, but the results are not included in the accountability system. In the following years, English learners take all tests and results are reported as normal.
2. States may give all state tests in English learners’ first year, but gradually scale up to full reporting:
   1. in the first year, the test results do not count in the accountability system;
   2. in the second year, only student growth factors into the accountability system; and
   3. in the third year, both proficiency and growth are reported as normal.

After students are no longer identified as English learners, states may continue reporting them under the English learner subgroup for up to four years, increased from two years under Tennessee’s waiver. ^22,  23

Innovative Testing Pilot Program

Seven states, or a consortium of states, may participate in a pilot program to develop innovative assessments. States may start using the new testing system in only a few school districts, but must aim toward statewide use. The new tests must align with state standards, and report the same information as current state tests, including separate reporting of results by student subgroup (e.g., special education or low-income status). ²⁴ In New Hampshire, the only state currently operating an innovative testing pilot, the participating districts are not required to give the same standardized assessments as the rest of the state. Instead, all pilot program districts must base their tests on the same state-approved guidelines of what students should know. As long as these baselines are met, however, districts have freedom to develop and manage the new tests at the local level. ²⁵

Similarly, the federal pilot in Every Student Succeeds waives the requirement that all students in the state take the same tests. Additionally, the innovative assessments do not need to follow the standard testing schedule and may be administered less frequently than every year. ²⁶

The innovative assessment system may use competency-based assessments, where students progress at their own pace. ²⁷ Or, tests may be embedded into the curriculum and students’ day-to-day work, a concept known as “instructionally embedded assessments,” so that students are measured throughout the year. The new system may also use performance assessments, which encourage practical application of skills. ^28,  29 For an English class, for example, students might write a research paper and correctly analyze sources to demonstrate reading comprehension.

ESSA’s initial pilot program may last up to five years, contingent on a two-year extension on the original three-year authorization. If the system meets certain criteria, states may use the innovative assessment systems for accountability purposes in lieu of the state standardized tests. Following the initial pilot program with seven states, the remaining states may apply to try innovative testing. ³⁰

Innovative Testing:
New Hampshire

Prior to ESSA, in March 2015 the state of New Hampshire received a waiver from the U.S. Department of Education to try an innovative assessment system. The Performance Assessment for Competency Education (PACE) pilot was implemented in four of New Hampshire’s school districts.

Under PACE, students take the statewide test (equivalent to Tennessee’s TCAPs) once in elementary school, once in middle school, and once in high school. In the other years, districts use their own locally-developed tests based on state-designed competencies and approved by the state.

_{Source:
Deborah S. Delisle, Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education, “Performance Assessment of Competency Education (PACE) Pilot,” letter, addressed to New Hampshire Department of Education, March 5, 2015, http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/NH_PACE_3.5.15.pdf (accessed Jan. 13, 2016);
New Hampshire Department of Education, New Hampshire Accountability 3.0 Model Overview, July 18, 2014, pp.6-8,http://www.education.nh.gov/assessment-systems/documents/faq.doc
(accessed Feb. 24, 2016).}

¹ Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Public Law 114-95, § 1111(b)(1) et seq., 2015.

² Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Public Law 114-95, § 1111(j)(1), 2015.

³ Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, U.S. Code 20 (2012), § 6311(b)(3)(C).

⁴ Tennessee Department of Education, Tennessee ESEA Flexibility Request, July 2015, p. 38, http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/esea-flexibility/flex-renewal/tnrenewalreq2015.pdf (accessed Dec. 5, 2015).

⁵ Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Public Law 114-95, § 1111(b)(2)(B)(v), 2015.

⁶ Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Public Law 114-95, § 1111(b)(2)(B)(viii), 2015.

⁷ Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Public Law 114-95, § 1111(b)(2)(B)(vi), 2015.

⁸ Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Public Law 114-95, § 1111(b)(2)(H), 2015.

⁹ Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Public Law 114-95, § 1111(b)(2)(L), 2015.

¹⁰ Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, U.S. Code 20 (2012), § 6311(b)(2)(I)(ii).

¹¹ Tennessee Department of Education, Tennessee ESEA Flexibility Request, July 2015, p. 65, http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/esea-flexibility/flex-renewal/tnrenewalreq2015.pdf (accessed Dec. 5, 2015).

¹² Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Public Law 114-95, § 1111(c)(4)(E), 2015.

¹³ Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, U.S. Code 20 (2012), § 6311(b)(3)(C)(xiii).

¹⁴ Tennessee Department of Education, Tennessee ESEA Flexibility Request, July 2015, p. 45, http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/esea-flexibility/flex-renewal/tnrenewalreq2015.pdf (accessed Dec. 5, 2015).

¹⁵ Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Public Law 114-95, § 1111(b)(2)(B)(xi), 2015.

¹⁶ Mary Batiwalla, Executive Director, Office of Accountability, Tennessee Department of Education, e-mail, March 14, 2016

¹⁷ Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Public Law 114-95, § 1111(b)(2)(B)(vii)(II), 2015.

¹⁸ Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Public Law 114-95, § 1111(b)(2)(D), 2015.

¹⁹ Tennessee Department of Education, 2015 State Report Card, https://www.tn.gov/education/topic/report-card (accessed Feb. 9, 2016).

²⁰ 1 percent of 995,892 is 9,958.92. That is 7.2 percent of 139,232.

²¹ Mary Batiwalla, Executive Director, Office of Accountability, Tennessee Department of Education, e-mail, March 14, 2016.

²² Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Public Law 114-95, § 1111(b)(3), 2015

²³ Tennessee Department of Education, Tennessee ESEA Flexibility Request, July 2015, p. 68, http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/esea-flexibility/flex-renewal/tnrenewalreq2015.pdf (accessed Dec. 5, 2015).

²⁴ Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Public Law 114-95, § 1204, 2015.

²⁵ New Hampshire Department of Education, New Hampshire Accountability 3.0 Model Overview, July 18, 2014, education.nh.gov/assessment-systems/documents/faq.doc (accessed Feb. 24, 2016).

²⁶ Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Public Law 114-95, § 1204, 2015.

²⁷ Office of Research and Education Accountability, Competency-based Education in Grades K-12, Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, January 2016, http://www.comptroller.tn.gov/Repository/RE/Competency%20Based%20Education.pdf (accessed Jan. 16, 2016).

²⁸ Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Public Law 114-95, § 1204(a), 2015.

²⁹ New Hampshire Department of Education, “Governor Hassan, Department of Education Announce Federal Approval of New Hampshire’s Pilot Competency-Based Assessment Program,” March 5, 2015, http://education.nh.gov/news/pace.htm (accessed Dec. 22, 2015).

³⁰ Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, Public Law 114-95, § 1204, 2015.