Published: March 7, 2025
Spring is in the Air! Our thoughts and senses turn to melting snow, maple syrup, robins, and crocuses pushing up through the earth for a bit of the spring sunshine. Those of us in education also know that March brings thoughts of impending state tests. We begin to think about preparing students for how to navigate the testing platform and the loss of instructional time. Outside of our classrooms, mother nature is working her magic and inside our classrooms, standardized testing is disrupting all of our routines.
Assessment is a complex and multi-faceted topic in education and it serves many different functions. At All Learners Network, we are strong believers in assessment - formative assessment that is. We know that formative assessment is the key which allows all educators to become responsive decision makers. The formative assessment we espouse highlights students strengths which guide educators to create learning opportunities for all students to build deep conceptual understanding of important math concepts. Formative assessment helps educators create effective cycles of instruction and interventions. Formative assessment is timely and is assessment for learning. It occurs when students are in the process of learning, when tweaks can be made to instruction, to ensure that progress is consistent and continuous. It can be used as a progress monitoring tool. Teachers and students alike are active during the process of formative assessment.
So what purpose does standardized assessment serve if we can get all the most current information about what our students know through frequent formative assessments?
Much like going to the doctor for your annual physical exam, a standardized test can let you know how the “system” is working. It’s a kind of dip-stick to see where the system is working and where it isn’t working. Standardized assessments are assessments of learning. Administrators can capture a big picture of how students, overall and by grade levels, are performing during one period of time (similar to an annual physical). Each schools’ students are measured against and/or compared to other schools and grade levels across the state or nationally based on the standards. In many ways the “system” is assessed at a procedural level with limited information or insight about conceptual understanding. Standardized testing results provide a 10,000 foot view of math achievement within a snapshot in time.
It’s possible that administrators use the results to analyze how a new math program might be impacting instruction. They could identify specific areas for improvement in instruction, such as students receiving special education services, or students in particular grade bands, or specific content areas across multiple grade levels. Administrators might see gaps in achievement in specific areas and use that information to set goals and allocate resources or funding for professional development. Some teachers may see and reflect upon the results of their teaching practices across several cohorts of students as well.
Many times the results of a standardized assessment are not available to schools, teachers, and parents until months after the tests were administered. Whether students ever see the results varies upon their age, school and parental decisions. The results are not actionable in terms of helping to craft next instructional steps. The students have moved on to the next grade and often scattered into different classrooms.
As I stated earlier, assessments are a complex and multi-faceted topic in education and it serves many different functions. Standardized tests do serve a purpose and can provide school districts with certain kinds of data. We believe the best kind of data is the data we see and hear from our students on a daily basis about their understanding of important math concepts. That’s the kind of data that is actionable and can be used to inform our instructional decisions immediately. The progression below highlights the power of formative assessment- from analyzing student work to identifying student strengths on a HLC Progression to choosing “just-right” tasks highlights - helping students grow and learn.
I’ll end my thoughts about this subject with a memory of a conversation I had about assessments with a favorite colleague of mine. He once compared assessments to something similar to being a chef creating a batch of soup for their restaurant. Standardized assessment (summative testing) is similar to cooking the soup and serving it without tasting it first. The customer gets what they get - for good or bad. Formative Assessment is similar to cooking a batch of soup but tasting it along the way to adjust the seasoning so it comes out just right. I want to make sure that we are serving our soup - intentional, informed instruction - just right for our students! Bon appetite!
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What Now?
1. Check out our blog “The Complexity of Assessments” for more on the role of assessments in math class.
2. Sign up for an All Learners Online (ALO) account to download our High Leverage Concepts Assessments.
3. Bring All Learners Network (ALN) into your school or district for embedded professional development.
All Learners Network is committed to a new type of math instruction. We focus on supporting pedagogy so that all students can access quality math instruction. We do this through our online platform, free resources, events, and embedded professional development. Learn more about how we work with schools and districts here.
