Tennessee to cut testing time for students
Tennessee has cut the first part of spring standardized testing to create only one assessment window at the end of the school year.
The changes are expected to reduce testing time for students and teachers by about 30 percent and are made possible by the Tennessee Department of Education’s two-year, $60 million contract with Minnesota-based Questar Assessment, which was finalized Thursday morning.
For grade 3-8 students, that’s about three-and-a-half hours less time spent on state-mandated standardized testing each year. High school students will also see a cut in year-end tests with a typical 11th-grader seeing about the same reduction in testing time.
“This keeps flexibility for schools, but also maximizes instructional time,” said Education Commissioner Candice McQueen to reporters on Thursday. “And it will have a positive impact for school climate.”
McQueen praised Questar for helping eliminate the first part of spring testing.
“It is a blessing that we found a partner that wants what we wanted, but also was able to match the feedback we were getting throughout the state,” McQueen said.
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McQueen also answered questions posed by lawmakers, who worried about Questar’s ability to meet the requirements of a new law saying testing materials will be released to parents and educators.
Again, McQueen expressed confidence in the vendor.
“We will be able to deliver on as many test items as we are allowed,” she said.
The state has also taken a slow approach to online assessments after issues in the 2015-16 school year with testing.
For districts statewide in the 2016-17 school year, that means students in grades 3-8 will take tests on paper and pencil. And the department will work with Questar to provide an online option for year-end high school exams if both the schools and the testing platform demonstrate early proof of successful online administration.
Tennessee had been searching for a new test vendor since April, when the education department canceled the contract of testing company Measurement Inc. The vendor had numerous issues in fulfilling its contract with the state, including missteps that led to the cancellation of online tests in the 2015-16 school year.
Those missteps caused plenty of issues for the education department, including some that will carry into the 2016-17 school year. Social studies tests for grades 3-8 won’t be measured due to the issues the state saw last year with its previous test vendor. The eventual cancellation of elementary and middle school testing caused a delay in test development.
All students will be given a required test that will be used to help develop social studies questions for the 2017-18 year. By that time, every test will be ready for students, according to Nakia Towns, assistant commissioner of data and research for the State Department of Education.
The state paid $1.6 million for Measurement Inc. to develop testing materials, and the department is in settlement negotiations with the company. The cancelled contract also led to the education department canceling grades 3-8 TNReady testing and announced it would eliminate accountability measures for those grades.
All high schools were required to take TNReady paper tests in the 2015-16 school year, with Pearson Education being awarded an $18.5 million contract to score those tests.
With a new vendor and a culmination to the issues that plagued Tennessee last year, McQueen said she hopes for a reboot of the conversation around testing, which has grown less supportive. She's continued to apologize for the last year.
"We have a moment in time to rebuild the trust that was lost," she said. "We have to make this the background and not the forefront."
Reach Jason Gonzales at 615-259-8047 and on Twitter @ByJasonGonzales.
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What it means for students
For all students, the cut to the first part of standardized assessments in spring means all students will take only one test at the end of the year.
In grades 3-8, that's about 200 minutes less time spent testing for every student. And in grades 9-11, it means students will spend 225 minutes less time testing during year-end assessments.