The Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education intends to offer schools and districts some flexibility in how they conduct the upcoming ACT Aspire tests for grades three through 10.
The window for the state-required tests is April 18 through May 16.
The flexibility will be similar to the testing options allowed in spring 2021 because of the covid-19 pandemic, Sheree Baird, the state's program manager for assessment, said Wednesday.
Testing options were allowed last year at a time when vaccines against covid-19 had not yet been approved for those under 18 and the vaccination rate among adults was low.
"This is a much more typical year," Baird told the state's Every Student Succeeds Act advisory committee. "Covid numbers have gone down significantly," she said, "but it's still not completely gone away.
"We still have schools that are impacted by covid. We still have communities that are impacted by covid, so we want to offer flexibilities to schools and families similar to what we did last year -- we are going to continue that again this year."
Students must take the state-required Aspire exams in literacy, math and science in supervised settings and not at their homes. The flexibility options are intended to reduce the numbers of students in testing sessions and to lower the risk of spreading covid-19.
Baird said schools may choose to test some students after regular school hours or on weekends, or at alternate locations.
"We still have parents who are apprehensive about bringing their students to school if they are getting their instruction in a digital format," she said.
"These are flexibilities that we are still allowing our schools to utilize, to offer to parents. Once again, this is all in an effort to help schools meet the goal of testing at least 95% of their students."
The minimum 95% testing rate is a requirement of both the federal Every Student Succeeds Act and Arkansas' school accreditation standards.
Dozens of Arkansas schools bear an extra burden in the upcoming ACT Aspire testing season -- that of raising their percentage of student test-takers to at least 95% to avoid state and federal interventions.
The affected schools and districts are those in which less than 95% of eligible students took the tests in spring 2021.
A total of 56 districts and 111 schools received state Board of Education waivers for last year's subpar testing rate -- which would typically be a violation of state rules for accreditation and could lead to a school's accreditation status being cited and possibly put on probation.
Additionally, 10 of those 56 school districts had campuses that tested at less than 95% for their students overall or for subgroups of students in both 2018-19 and 2020-21. (No Aspire testing was done in 2020, when on-campus instruction shut down to limit the spread of covid-19.)
Districts with campuses that tested at less than 95% for students overall or for subgroups of students in each of two years included North Little Rock, Conway and Fayetteville.
As a result of having two years of testing rates below 95%, the districts for the 10 schools recently submitted required plans for bumping up the numbers of test-taking students this year.
The plans are meant to support the schools in their efforts to hit the 95% mark or better this year, not to penalize them, said Kimberly Mundell, a spokesperson for the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education.
The state rule says that "Each public school shall assess at least 95% of its students on the annual statewide summative student assessment."
While the state Education Board in February could and did waive Arkansas' 95% testing standard for the affected schools and districts, the requirement in the federal school accountability law still applied.
So the districts in which schools fell short of the 95% threshold for two years -- either in their schoolwide populations or for one or more subgroups, such as students from low-income families or students who receive special education services -- had to submit plans.
The schools that submitted plans are:
• Arkansas Virtual Academy Middle School.
• Decatur High School.
• Fayetteville High School.
• Gravette High School.
• North Little Rock High School.
• Conway High School.
• Arkansas Consolidated High School at Alexander and Mansfield, part of the state Division of Youth Services.
• Graduate Arkansas charter high school.
• Lee High School, based in Marianna.
• Premier High School of Little Rock, a charter school sponsored by Responsive Education Solutions.
The one-page plans show the percentages of students tested in 2018, 2019 and 2021. Each of the plans include nearly identical, generic language such as "Work with the district test coordinator to ensure that students test early in the testing window. Complete makeup testing early and utilize the makeup testing window. Submit Reason Not Tested corrections."