It appears Ivory Soap-certain that students in Arkansas will see no more of that (awfully named) Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers test. Instead, the folks at the more familiar ACT offices will probably take over. That is, if the governor of this state gets his wish. And he's likely to.
If plans go through, next year students in Arkansas will take the third set of tests in the course of three years. Gone is the late and unlamented Benchmark test. Gone is the current test. Next year, students will likely take something called the ACT Aspire.
And here some of us thought the whole purpose of taking standardized tests was to get testing data from a number of years--from the same test--so the state can see if any progress is being made in the classroom. If the state keeps changing tests year-to-year, that's . . . a dream come true for anybody who dislikes the idea of accountability in the public schools.
But the state's education leaders say they'll support the governor, which means changes are coming. Again. The state's Board of Education could make it official today.
It doesn't take much of a leap to think that maybe, perhaps, who knows, killing the current test might have had something to do with politics. (In education? The very thought!) Some folks in these latitudes, and not just these latitudes, are so unimpressed with the current president of the United States that they oppose anything he supports, and he supported the Common Core standards that a majority of states adopted back in 2010. No need to go into detail about all the teachers and professors and reformers who put together Common Core back in 2009. Details, details.
This new test, this ACT Aspire exam, will take about four hours to complete. It can be given digitally or the old-fashioned way with pencil and paper. And it's also used by other states.
For example, South Carolina.
And don't forget Alabama.
Also, there's Wisconsin.
And . . . that's it.
The two Southeastern Conference states on that list give the ACT Aspire to kids in grades three through eight. Wisconsin uses the test only for high schoolers. And we just got word that South Carolina only uses certain parts of the ACT test, so . . .
Next year, once Arkansas is finished testing its kids and the results come back, we can compare how well our grade schoolers are learning to kids in Alabama. And only Alabama. High school students in Arkansas will be able to measure how well they're doing when compared to . . . Wisconsin's high schoolers, and Wisconsin's only.
Some comparison. Clearly this is a step back for education in Arkansas.
Some have suggested that the ACT Aspire will catch on quickly, and more states are sure to adopt the test. Fine. But wouldn't it have been wiser for Arkansas to join if and when the test becomes popular and a majority of states, or near-majority, are already on board? Why adopt this test now when the only thing we really know is that just three other states use parts of it?
Ah, well. At this point, in this political atmosphere, there may be nothing left to do but give the ACT Aspire test next year, and hope that the state keeps it for at least a few more years so parents, teachers, voters and taxpayers can finally see what progress is being made in the schools, if any. And maybe by that time more states will have the chance to give the test to their own students. But that's going to take years.
Call it a pause for accountability. Our children didn't deserve this.
Editorial on 06/11/2015