Education Week - July 20, 2016 - 26

Buzz Builds on ESSA's Testing Pilot CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21 or as a consortium. (In this case, a consortium can only have up to four members). After three years, the education secretary could open it up to more states-even all states. States that want to participate in the pilot would have to clear some high hurdles. For instance, they'd have to make sure that their tests are valid and reliable for all students and for particular subgroups of students, including Englishlanguage learners and students in special education, two populations that aren't always easy to test. And they'd have to check to make sure the results are comparable across districts, so that a particular score or outcome means the same thing from one district to the next. New Hampshire does this by having students take the state assessment in certain grades. In proposed regulations for the pilot, the department listed other options for clearing this bar. By the end of the demonstration period, the districts would need to include a representative sample of students from around the state. For instance, a state with a large ELL population-such as California- would need to ensure that there were plenty of ELLs taking the tests in the trial districts. These new systems would have to be able to be scaled statewide by the end of the pilot period. That last requirement might be the toughest, said Scott Marion, the executive director of the Center for Assessment, a nonprofit organization that is working with New Hampshire on its performance tasks. "The thing that scares ... everybody is scaling statewide," he said. "They want you to have these guardrails, so it's not like any district could just waltz in [to the pilot]. You have to earn your way in." Weighing the Challenges But Donna Harris-Aikens, the ESSA implementation lead for the National Education Association, thinks those challenges are surmountable. "I think it will be challenging to scale up statewide," she said. "But I don't think it will be impossible. There are states that are looking for a different way to demonstrate [student] progress. We are hoping and encouraging people to spend some time trying to figure out if they can do this." One reality that has states that might otherwise be excited about jumping into the pilot worried: There's no federal money tied to it. That gives Amy Fowler, the deputy secretary of education in Ver- NEW APPROACHES mont, some pause-especially given all the tricky technical work the pilot requires. "Many folks in my state are saying it would be so great if we could take our own test. It would be so great. But do we want to give up other things that money could be used for? Right now, we're feeling like it's not the most efficient way to go, even though it's attractive to educators." Still, the program is generating plenty of interest. A big group of states-including Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, New Hampshire, Ohio, Tennessee, and Vermont, along with the District of Columbia and more-participated in a webinar that the Council of Chief State School Officers held earlier this year to talk about the pilot's potential. Meanwhile, the CCSSO is advising states to examine the testing flexibility already in place in ESSA, to see if they can accomplish what they want on assessments without having to join the pilot. Under the new law, states can try out computer-adaptive assessments or use a series of short-term or interim assessments instead of one big summative test-all without having to participate in the pilot. Fowler, for instance, thinks Vermont may be able to do some of The U.S. Department of Education has proposed rules for states hoping to snare one of seven spots in its new Innovative Assessment pilot program, which would let them design their testing programs under the Every Student Succeeds Act. Among the highlights: * States that want in on the pilot don't have to come up with a new testing system for every subject and every grade-they could try a more innovative format just for 3rd grade science tests, for instance. * The goal is one system eventually; the draft regulations make it clear that states are supposed to come up with one system that can eventually be scaled statewide. * Districts could try a handful of schools at first, rather than districtwide, or all at once. * The department would offer states four options to show that these new systems produce results comparable to those of their state's test. Among them: giving the state test once in each grade where there is an innovative test, and giving the state test to a representative sample of students in certain grades. * States hoping to be selected for the pilot will have to lay out in detail what they intend to do, show their plans have support from the field, describe their budget, timeline, and evaluation plans, and how they intend to support teachers and students in using these new tests. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education what it wants to do-such as possibly moving toward a science test that incorporates at least some performance elements-using that flexibility. But Paul Leather, the deputy commissioner in New Hampshire, is urging his colleagues to give the innovative assessment pilot a go, despite the many challenges. "It's really been very rewarding work," he said. "Schools and districts have gained a lot. It's a little higher bar than what we're used to ... but I think everyone would say that it's been worth it." 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August 1 SEL August 1 Special Needs VR/AR More than 80% of the sessions and workshops at SXSWedu are fueled by the than community and collected via 80% and of theworkshops sessions and The majority ofMore the sessions at PanelPicker, a crowd-sourced digital workshops SXSWedu are fueled SXSWedu are fueled by theatcommunity and colby the community and collected via platform. Once the entry process lected via PanelPicker, a crowd-sourced digital PanelPicker, a public crowd-sourced theonline is thenisdigital given platform. This closes two-step process your the platform. Once the entry process toinprovide feedback opportunityopportunity to have a voice what creative and and closes the public is then given the thought-provoking programming isidea scheduled votetoon eachfeedback submitted. opportunity provide and at SXSWedu, March 6-9, vote 2017. on each idea submitted. PANELPICKER TIMELINE PANELPICKER TIMELINE June 28,28, 2016 June 2016 EntryProcess Process Opens Entry Opens 2016 JulyJuly 22,22, 2016 Entry Closes EntryProcess Process Closes August 8, 2016 Community Voting Starts August 8, 2016 September 2, 2016 September 2, 2016 Community Voting Starts Community Voting Ends Community Voting Ends Visitsxswedu.com/speak17 sxswedu.com/speak totolearn Visit learnmore! more! Visit sxswedu.com/speak to learn more! 26 | EDUCATION WEEK | July 20, 2016 | www.edweek.org http://www.sxswedu.com/speak17 http://www.edweek.org

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