Education in Mississippi: We need to rethink how we use state assessments

Alison Rausch
Guest columnist

The week before Spring break in March 2020, I gave my special education students an informal reading and math assessment to determine their level. I never imagined the coronavirus pandemic would prevent us from returning to school for the remainder of the school year.

As we began the first week of school in August, I administered another such assessment. As I read the results, I held back the tears.

Alison Rausch

One student, Richy, had dropped two grade levels in reading and math between March and August. When talking to Richy’s general education teachers, I learned that his academic performance had declined much more than that of his peers, both with and without disabilities. Richy, I knew, did not have access to the internet at home and his education consisted of paper-pencil work. Because of COVID-19, his teachers weren’t able to provide him with meaningful support.

I felt overwhelmed by how much Richy needed to catch up. Thankfully, the data I held in my hands would serve as a guide in formulating a plan to help him.

State Superintendent of Education Carey Wright stated in a presentation to the Mississippi Senate Education Committee in January that while we need to administer state assessments, we should waive the passing requirements for high school assessments and third grade reading assessments but address accountability concerns.

I agree with her. We need to administer state assessments to create achievable plans, know our starting point, and understand where to direct resources. However, we should not use those scores for the purpose of meeting the current accountability model requirements which primarily uses statewide assessments.

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Even before COVID-19, educators like me understood the inequitable distribution of financial, personnel, and physical resources among the school districts. Some districts already had measures in place to make continuous virtual learning possible, while others lacked the resources to do much more than distribute paper packets.

In some of our districts, students had access to the internet and devices, while in others students had to drive miles to the local school or restaurant to complete assignments on a device.

With state assessments in place, decision makers will be able to compare the strategies each district used to continue educating students during the pandemic and distribute resources according to need. Assessments would allow for educational triage, so that the state could allocate funding to the most severely affected districts and to students most in need. With extra funding, districts could hire extra personnel, provide after-school programs, offer counseling to those most vulnerable, and address other urgent needs of their students and educators.

On the other hand, assessments shouldn’t be used for accountability this year. The Mississippi accountability model and federal guidelines force schools to measure a student’s growth from one school year’s assessment data to the next. While every student in our state has been affected by the pandemic, students did not have equitable tools to deal with these effects.

I believe our state should consider ways to address accountability concerns without relying on statewide assessment results. Now is the time to use the assessment data as a new starting point rather than comparing data from the 2018-2019 school year. This would allow teachers more time to focus on the whole child and on their emotional, physical, academic, and behavioral needs rather than academics only. Then, school districts could set future goals to ensure academic success.

In August, my district opted for a four-day week schedule and Richy attended school on Fridays to gain extra help. By using intensive, data-based interventions, he has continued to improve in his reading and math. Despite this, it will take Richy considerable time to make up for lost time.

For years, we have used state assessments to judge the effectiveness of our teachers, schools, and districts. Let this be a year that we administer state assessments to gather formal data for the purposes of truly strengthening our educational system by supporting our teachers with achievable goals, resources to reach those goals, and lessening the inequitable opportunities for students.

Alison Rausch is a fifth and sixth grade special education teacher in both the resource and inclusive setting at Wheeler Attendance Center in Booneville. She is a Teach Plus Mississippi Policy Fellowship alumna.