Educational Assessment and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

Summary

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA; P.L. 114-95), specifies the requirements for assessments that states must incorporate into their state accountability systems to receive funding under Title I-A. While many of the assessment requirements of the ESEA have not changed from the requirements put into place by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB; P.L. 107-110), the ESSA provides states some new flexibility in meeting them. This report has been prepared in response to congressional inquiries about the revised educational accountability requirements in the ESEA, enacted through the ESSA, and implications for state assessment systems that are used to meet these requirements. While these changes have the potential to add flexibility and nuance to state accountability systems, for these systems to function effectively the changes need to be implemented in such a way as to maintain the validity and reliability of the required assessments. To this end, the report also explores current issues related to assessment and accountability changes made by the ESSA.

The ESEA continues to require that states implement high-quality academic assessments in reading, mathematics, and science. States must test all students in reading and mathematics annually in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school. States must also test all students in science at least once within three grade spans (grades 3-5, 6-9, and 10-12). Assessments in other grades and subject areas may be administered at the discretion of the state. All academic assessments must be aligned with state academic standards and provide “coherent and timely” information about an individual student’s attainment of state standards and whether the student is performing at grade level (e.g., proficient). The reading and mathematics assessment results must be used as indicators in a state’s accountability system to differentiate the performance of schools.

State accountability systems continue to be required to report on student proficiency on reading and mathematics assessments. However, a singular focus on student proficiency has been criticized for many reasons, most notably that proficiency may not be a valid measure of school quality or teacher effectiveness. It is at least partially a measure of factors outside of the school’s control (e.g., demographic characteristics, prior achievement), and may result in instruction being targeted toward students just below the proficient level, possibly at the expense of other students. In response, the ESSA provides the option for student achievement to be measured based on proficiency and student growth. While measures of student growth remain optional, prior to the enactment of the ESSA, states were only able to include measures of student growth in their accountability systems if they received a waiver from the U.S. Department of Education to do so.

The ESSA also authorizes two new assessment options to meet the requirements discussed above. First, in selecting a high school assessment for reading, mathematics, or science (grades 10-12), a local educational agency (LEA) may choose a “nationally-recognized high school academic assessment,” provided that it has been approved by the state. Second, the ESSA explicitly authorizes the use of “computer adaptive assessments” as state assessments. Previously, it was unclear whether computer adaptive assessments met the requirement that statewide assessments be the same assessments used to measure the achievement of all elementary and secondary students. Computer adaptive assessments adjust to a student’s individual responses, which means that all students will not see the exact same questions. The ESSA added language clarifying that students do not have to be offered the same assessment items on a computer adaptive assessment. The ESSA also authorizes an exception to state assessment requirements for 8th grade students taking advanced mathematics in middle school that permits them to take an end-of-course assessment rather than the 8th grade mathematics assessment, provided certain conditions are met.

The ESSA added specific provisions related to the assessment of “students with the most significant cognitive disabilities” that were previously addressed only in regulations. It made changes in how English learners (ELs) have their assessment results included in states’ accountability systems as well.

Additionally, the ESEA as amended through the ESSA now requires LEAs to notify parents of their right to receive information about assessment opt-out policies in the state. If excessive numbers of students opt out of state assessments, however, it may undermine the validity of a state’s accountability system.

States continue to be required to administer 17 assessments annually to meet the requirements of Title I-A. These requirements have been implemented within a crowded landscape of state, local, and classroom uses of educational assessments, raising concerns about over-testing of students. The ESSA added three new provisions related to testing burden: (1) each state may set a target limit on the amount of time devoted to the administration of assessments; (2) LEAs are required to provide information on the assessments used, including the amount of time students will spend taking them, and (3) the Secretary of Education may reserve funds from the State Assessment Grant program for state and LEA assessment audits.