Standardized Testing and COVID-19?
- Shaina Thomas
- Mar 30, 2021
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 10, 2021
As depicted in the Simpson's clip below, standardized testing has since been heavily criticized across the United States. Presently, as the world adjusts in response to an existing pandemic, standardized testing remains in question.
GUIDING REFLECTION QUESTION: What does the research say about the value of standardized testing in light of the COVID pandemic, equity concerns, the digital divide, and learning loss?
According to Neill (2009), standardized testing is a civil rights issue for Black and Latino students in American public schools. In addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, equity concerns, the digital divide and learning loss, there are historical and existing gaps in system deficiencies that must be considered when interrogating continued standardized testing. In 2016, due to the complex history of racial and cultural injustices within American school systems, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) outlined reaffirmed resolutions of 1976 and 2014 that were ratified in 2016 by the National Board of Directors regarding the interrogation of standard grading policies. Within this resolve, the NAACP (2016) advised state agencies to “urge their respective States to establish an Office of Consumer Affairs in Testing and Student Evaluation” (p. 2) in order to ensure accountability within assessments that measure student learning. The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) has since filed suits in federal court against the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) high school exit test (Zehr, 1999). Hoffman et al. (2001) have raised a relevant question woven in their study entitled, High-stakes testing in reading: Today in Texas, tomorrow? As high-stakes assessments continue across America, such requests by organizations representing Black and other communities of color that seek to ratify education gaps (caused by historical and present inequities) have not been met.
Neill (2009) reintroduces Ladson-Billings (2006) cultural responsiveness rooted in a Critical Race Theory approach that claims that as opposed to an “education gap” that there is an existing “education debt” that has been caused due to a “lack of adequate educational opportunity for African-American students accumulating since slavery and segregation” (p. 5). Presently, this education debt could increase as Black, other students of color and students impacted by system deficiencies navigate changing school conditions due to distanced learning requirements. In fact, in addition to a historical and present education debt, school campus closures caused by coronavirus have led to students facing a “homework gap” (Auxier & Anderson, 2020) as presented in recent data. Concluded in the study, such a gap is especially true for students who are from lower-income households. These realities call for policy makers, district and school leaders to return to an existing civil rights issue: reevaluating the use of high-stakes standardized testing and their impact on student self-efficacy, academic performance and life outcomes.
In the study, Projecting the Potential Impact of COVID-19 School Closures on Academic Achievement (Kuhfeld et al., 2020), four research questions were considered. These questions investigated the possible scenarios, learning patterns, Fall 2020 scores disrupted by COVID-19 in comparison to assumed normal scores of 2019-2020 and projected subsequent learning rate over the course of the 2020-2021 school year. Most importantly, the final question examined how COVID-19 school closures may affect achievement gaps by socioeconomic status. Such questions led to an analytic sample resulting in several analyses that can prepare educators and policymakers for what they may face in the upcoming school year.
Today, as important as it has been for decades, policymakers must develop healthy educational systems that prioritize students’ unique needs. Students must be given equitable and just educational opportunities, especially students of color and students within low-income households. High-stakes standardized testing must be interrogated and replaced with inclusive measurement tools for students to demonstrate mastery. As emphasized by Neill (2009) and many other equity advocates, assessments should offer performance-based approaches that engage student self-evaluation and a widened scope into a students’ ability to be both a creative and critical thinker.
References
Auxier, B. and Anderson, M. (2020). As schools close due to the coronavirus, some U.S.
students face a digital ‘homework gap.’ Pew Research Center.
Hoffman, J., Assaf, L., & Paris, S. (2001). High-Stakes Testing in Reading: Today in Texas,
Tomorrow? The Reading Teacher, 54(5), 482-492. Retrieved February 19, 2021, from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20204940
Kuhfeld, M., Soland, J. & Tarasawa, B. (2020). Projecting the Potential Impact of COVID-19
School Closures on Academic Achievement. Educational Researcher, 49(8). Retrieved
February 16, 2021, from
Ladson-Billings, G. (2006). From the Achievement Gap to the Education Debt: Understanding
Achievement in U.S. Schools. American Educational Research Association, 35(7), 3-12.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). (2016). Standard
Grading Policies. Constitution of the NAACP, Article IX, Section 1. Retrieved February
19, 2021, form
Neill, M. (2009). A child is not a test score: Assessment as a civil rights issue. Root and
Branch 2(2), 28-35.
Zehr, M. (1999). Texas Exit Exam Under Challenge in Federal Court. Education Week.
Retrieved February 19, 2020, from
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