On March 17, 2015, the VT State Board of Education adopted a
Statement and Resolution on the Appropriate Use of SBAC Standardized Tests and School Accountability that is cause for celebration! It represents another giant step, by our state's Board of Education, toward rational, research-based assessment policy designed to improve learning for kids.
The document can be found at the link above, and appears in its entirety below.
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Statement and Resolution on the Appropriate Use of
SBAC Standardized Tests
and School Accountability
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
This spring, students across the state will take the new SBAC standardized tests. These
assessments focus on English Language Arts and Mathematics and were developed to measure
student mastery of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), which are part of a larger set of
Vermont standards. The comprehensive set addresses what we want our students to know and
to be able to do to thrive beyond school, whether in college, civic life or careers.
Since the adoption of the CCSS standards in 2010, the state has provided extensive
professional development to educators. Furthermore, local districts and teachers have invested
substantial resources and efforts to support the development and use of curriculum that is
aligned with the Common Core. Yet, the SBAC tests create implementation challenges for both
schools and students:
- The new tests involve performance tasks that assess students’ ability to problem
solve in an applied context. This is an improvement, yet it is a substantial change
from earlier approaches to assessment. This means that SBAC scores cannot be
compared with the earlier NECAP scores. They represent a new direction.
- The SBAC tests are administered via computer. This approach holds strong
promise for individualizing testing, adapting for individual student disabilities,
and testing knowledge in applied settings. However, this format is untested in
broad scale application.
- All schools have had to make sure they have enough computer capacity and
sufficient internet access for all students to take the tests within the prescribed
time frame. The schools in the state are to be commended for their extensive
preparations and investments. However, we should not confuse this significant
effort with equitable access to advanced technology across the state.
- Districts that have more access and whose students have more familiarity with
technology will find it easier to administer these tests. This raises the question as
to how much the tests measure reading and mathematics skills, and how much
they measure computer access and literacy.
- The new tests purport to measure progress towards “college and career
readiness.” While test designers have enlisted numerous professional judgment
committees to aggregate opinions as to what this means, the tests have not been
externally validated as measuring these important attributes.
We expect that, over time, the new computer adaptive tests will be better than their
predecessors. As one student noted after taking the field test last spring, the new test is
different “because on this one you actually have to think.” However, the use of such tests will
not be without challenges that are unrelated to how well teachers are teaching and how much
our students have learned.
The State Board believes standardized tests play an important but limited public
assurance role in education. Well-designed tests can help us evaluate our progress towards
greater equity of outcomes for our students. Educators can use tests to set realistic targets for
improvement. We can use test scores as one trigger for more detailed evaluation of schools and
supervisory units to learn what schools might be doing very effectively or to help identify
strategies schools can use to get better.
The State Board also realizes the real limitations of what we can conclude about learning
based on test scores, particularly in the first few years of implementation of a new test and new
standards. Our students are being tested as if they had access to Common Core-aligned
curricula for their entire educational career.
We must also view the testing program in the broader context of Vermont education. In
addition to the CCSS, the Vermont State Board of Education also adopted the Next Generation
Science Standards in June of 2013 and the Education Quality Standards in December of 2013.
Concurrently, the Vermont State Legislature passed Act 77 that created flexible pathways with
the new requirement for Personalized Learning Plans for all students in seventh grade and
above. And, the entire state educational system is working to implement Act 166, which
provides universal access to PreKindergarten. These are great and worthy initiatives. Yet the
State Board is keenly aware that districts across the state have been experiencing increasing
fiscal stress and declining enrollments, which in turn have opened difficult conversations about
consolidation.
Consequently, the Vermont State Board of Education proclaims;
WHEREAS, schools in the state of Vermont are still transitioning to the new Common Core
Standards, a progression of various skills to be developed throughout an educational career,
and this transition is not yet complete; and
WHEREAS, This test administration is the first time educators in the State of Vermont have
been asked to administer a test using a computerized delivery system which is yet to be proven
and the first time many students have experienced this testing format; and
WHEREAS, the Vermont State Board of Education has already expressed in detail their views
on the proper role of Standardized Testing on the Resolution on Assessment and Accountability
on August 26, 2014; and
WHEREAS, the appropriate and future use of these tests as required in the federal Elementary
and Secondary Education Act is uncertain, which greatly influences both policy and
expenditure decisions for states, and
WHEREAS, numerous states have expressed similar reservations and the California Board of
Education suspended the state's school accountability system on March 11, 2015 for one year to
give teachers and students time to adjust to new standardized tests aligned with Common Core
standards;
Therefore be it –
RESOLVED that the Vermont State Board of Education will not use SBAC scores for the 2014-15
year for the purpose of annual school evaluation determinations; and
RESOLVED that the Vermont State Board believes that until students’ elementary through high
school education has been guided by the new standards and schools have had practice with
administering the SBAC test and interpreting SBAC results, the results of the SBAC assessment
will not support reliable and valid inferences about student performance, and thus should not
be used as the basis for any consequential purpose; and
RESOLVED that until empirical studies confirm a sound relationship between performance on
the SBAC and critical and valued life outcomes (“college and career-ready”), test results should
not be used to make normative and consequential judgments about schools and students; and
RESOLVED that the Vermont State Board of Education finds it inappropriate to use the results
of this assessment, a pilot test, for any form of accountability that could misidentify and/or
mislabel schools and divert attention from the more comprehensive Vermont Education Quality
Review and any findings that might come out of that review; and
RESOLVED that the Vermont State Board of Education supports the Secretary of Education’s
efforts to fully implement the Education Quality Standards, through an Education Quality
Review process; an assessment that will reflect the values of Vermont and will give a more
holistic view of the status of Vermont Schools than the SBAC assessments; and
RESOLVED that the Vermont State Board of Education calls on Vermont state legislators to
sufficiently fund the Agency of Education to provide the resources and capacity needed to
implement the Education Quality Review Process; and
RESOLVED, that the Vermont State Board of Education again calls on the United States
Congress and Administration to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
(currently known as the “No Child Left Behind Act") to reduce testing mandates, promote
multiple forms of evidence of student learning and school quality, eschew the use of student
test scores in evaluating educators, and allow flexibility that reflects the unique circumstances
of all states.
