Proposal Summary
Each spring, about 25 million elementary, middle, and high school students nationwide sit down for state exams in reading, math, and science. If parents and educators get the state test results back quickly, they can act on it. Parents could invest in extra learning supports or even consider a different school for their child. Teachers could use the summer to review their students’ performance and adjust their lesson plans. Principals could use the results to assign students in need of extra support to their best teachers.
Unfortunately, none of these use cases are possible with the current slow pace that states release their results. This piece This proposal argues that Congress should amend the federal testing rule to require states to send preliminary results to caregivers and educators within two weeks of a test’s administration. States could take more time to produce vetted results for public accountability purposes, but the preliminary results would provide immediate, actionable information to the people in the best positions to act. A quick return of state test results should be the standard operating practice across the country, and that will only happen with congressional action.
